意大利童話 Money Can Do Everything 有錢能使鬼推磨

　　There was once a prince as rich as cream, who took it into his head to put up a palace right across the street from the king's, but a palace far more splendid than the king's Once it was finished, he put on its front in bold lettering: MONEY CAN DO EVERYTHING

　　When the king came out and saw that, he sent immediately for the prince, who was new in town and hadn't yet visited the court

　　"Congratulations," the king said "Your palace is a true wonder My house looks like a hut compared with it Congratulations! But was it your idea to put up the words: Money can do everything?"

　　The prince realized that maybe he had gone too far

　　"Yes it was," he answered, "but if Your Majesty doesn't like it, I can easily have the letters stripped off"

　　"Oh, no, I wouldn't think of having you do that I merely wanted to hear from your own lips what you meant by such a statement For instance, do you think that, with your money, you could have me assassinated?"

　　The prince realized he had got himself into a tight spot

　　"Oh, Majesty, forgive me I'll have the words removed at once And if you don't like the palace, just say so, and I'll have it torn down too"

　　"No, no, leave it the way it is But since you claim a person with money can do anything, prove it to me I'll give you three days to try to talk to my daughter If you manage to speak to her, well and good; you will marry her If not, I'll have you beheaded Is that clear?"

　　The prince was too distressed to eat, drink, or sleep Day and night, all he thought of was how he might save his neck By the second day he was certain of failure and decided to make his will His plight was hopeless, for the king's daughter had been closed up in a castle surrounded by one hundred guards Pale and limp as a rag, the prince lay on his bed waiting to die, when in walked his old nurse, a decrepit old soul now who had nursed him as a baby and who still worked for him Finding him so haggard, the old woman asked what was wrong Hemming and hawing, he told her the whole story

　　"So?" said the nurse "And you're giving up, like that? You make me laugh! I'll see what I can do about all this!"

　　Off she wobbled to the finest silversmith in town and ordered him to make a solid silver goose that would open and close its bill The goose was to be as big as a man and hollow inside "It must be ready tomorrow," she added

　　"Tomorrow? You're crazy!" exclaimed the silversmith

　　"Tomorrow I said!" The old woman pulled out a purse of gold coins and continued, "Think it over This is the down payment I'll give you the rest tomorrow when you deliver the goose"

　　The silversmith was dumbfounded "That makes all the difference in the world," he said "I'll do my best to have the goose tomorrow"

　　The next day the goose was ready, and it was a beauty

　　The old woman said to the prince, "Take your violin and get inside the goose Play as soon as we reach the road"

　　They wound their way through the city, with the old woman pulling the silver goose along by a ribbon and the prince inside playing his violin The people lined the streets to watch: there wasn't a soul in town that didn't come running to see the beautiful goose Word of it reached the castle where the king's daughter was shut up, and she asked her father to let her go and see the unusual sight

　　The king said, "Time's up for that boastful prince tomorrow You can go out then and see the goose"

　　But the girl had heard that the old woman with the goose would be gone by tomorrow Therefore the king had the goose brought inside the castle so his daughter could see it That's just what the old woman was counting on As soon as the princess was alone with the silver goose and delighting in the music pouring from its bill, the goose suddenly opened and out stepped a man

　　"Don't be afraid," said the man "I am the prince who must either speak to you or be decapitated by your father tomorrow morning You can say you spoke to me and save my life".

　　有錢能使鬼推磨

　　從前有一位十分富有的王子，他要在王宮的對面造一座宮殿，而且造得比王宮還要宏偉富麗。宮殿一落成，他就在門前寫了“有錢能使鬼推磨”幾個大字。

　　國王外出巡游，看見了寫在門前的這些字，馬上召見王子。這時，王子剛到都城不久，還沒有去拜見國王。

　　“恭喜你啦，”國王說，“你的宮殿真是富麗堂皇啊，相比之下，我的小宮不過是茅廬寒舍。真是恭喜你了!不過，在門前寫的‘有錢能使鬼推磨’是你出的主意嗎?”

　　王子意識到，自己可能做得太過份了。

　　“是的，是我，”王子答覆說，“可是，如果陛下不喜歡，我就派人把這些字刮掉，這很方便。”

　　“哦，不必了。我并不打算讓你刮掉，只是想叫你親自告訴我，你那句話的意思是什么。比如說，你有錢就可以派人行刺我嗎?”

　　王子感覺到，他的處境不妙了。

　　“哦，陛下，請您恕罪。我立刻將那些字刮掉。如果您不喜歡這座宮殿的話，您只管說，我可把它拆毀。”

　　“不，不，不要動它?？墒牵热荒阏f，有錢什么事都能辦到，那么你就得向我證實這話是不是真的。我限你三天之內(nèi)同我女兒談話，如果辦到了，我就讓你跟她結(jié)婚。要不，我就砍掉你的腦袋!懂嗎?”

　　王子愁得吃不下飯，睡不著覺。他日夜想的是怎樣才能保住自己的腦袋。到了第二天，他確信自己無路可走了，就決定寫遺囑。他一籌莫展，因為國王的女兒被關(guān)在一座城堡里，周圍有一百名衛(wèi)兵看守著。王子臉色蒼白，無精打采，躺在床上等死;就在這時候，他的老奶媽走進(jìn)屋來。王子從小是她奶大的，后來她一直服侍他，現(xiàn)在已是個老態(tài)龍鐘的老太婆了。老奶媽看見王子面容憔悴，便問他有什么不舒服。王子哼哼唧唧地把事情一五一十全都告訴了她。

　　“就這件事?”老奶媽說，“你就毫無辦法了嗎?真讓人笑掉大牙!讓我想想看，能幫你什么忙呢。”

　　老奶媽顫顫巍巍地走了出去，到了城里最出名的銀匠家里。她向銀匠定做了一只銀鵝;這只銀鵝做得要象人一般大，肚子里是空的，還要會張嘴、閉嘴。“必須明天做好!”她又加了一句。

　　“明天?你說胡話!”銀匠驚叫起來。

　　“明天必須做好!”老奶媽掏出一個裝著金幣的錢包，接著說：“你再想想吧。這是現(xiàn)錢，剩下的錢等你明天交貨時再付給你。”

　　銀匠驚呆了，“這樣的話，咱們好商量，好商量，我盡量照辦，明天交貨。”

　　第二天，銀鵝做好了，做得非常漂亮。

　　老奶媽對王子說：“帶上你的提琴，鉆到鵝肚子里去。我們一到街上，你就在里面拉琴。”

　　老奶媽在前面用一根緞帶拖著銀鵝，王子在里面拉著提琴，他們在城里走街串巷地兜著圈子。人們夾道觀看這只漂亮的銀鵝，城里的人沒有不跑出來看的。消息傳到了關(guān)著國王女兒的城堡里，她要求父親準(zhǔn)許她出去看一看這只銀鵝。

　　國王說：“明天，那個牛皮王子的死期就到了，那時你再出去看銀鵝吧。”

　　可是公主聽說，那個拖著銀鵝的老婆婆明天就要離開了。國王只好叫人把銀鵝帶到城堡里來，讓他女兒看一眼。這正是老奶媽巴不得的事。公主獨自看著這只銀鵝，聽著從它嘴里傳出的琴聲，感到十分愜意。這時，銀鵝突然打開了，一個男人走了出來。

　　“別害怕，”這個男人說，“我是一位王子，必須跟您說話，否則明天早晨您父親就要殺我的頭了。請您對您父親說，說您跟我已談過話了，這樣就救了我的命。”

　　第二天，國王召見了王子。“喂，錢使你跟我女兒談話了嗎?”

　　“是的，陛下，”王子回答說。

　　“怎么?你是說，你跟她談過話了?”

　　“問她吧。”

　　公主走了進(jìn)來，講了王子藏在銀鵝中的事，而銀鵝卻又是國王親自下令讓帶入城堡的。

　　聽到這里，國王摘下王冠，戴到王子頭上。“這樣看來，你不但有錢，而且還有個聰明的頭腦!我把女兒嫁給你，你們幸福地生活吧!”

　　(熱那亞地區(qū))

　　注釋：

　　材料來源：詹姆士·安德魯斯編《利古里亞故事集》(巴黎，1892年版)第六十四篇;搜集地區(qū)：熱那亞;講述者：凱特瑞納·格蘭迪。

　　這是一篇起源于東方的故事(收集在用梵語寫的動物故事集中)。在熱那亞人的傳說里，這篇故事有自己的獨特之處，它強(qiáng)調(diào)了功利主義和商業(yè)道德(那位國王的最后一句評語與整個故事不協(xié)調(diào)，我決定贊頌聰明;再說，這也是適當(dāng)?shù)?hellip;…)