格林童話：三片蛇葉(中)

　　Once upon a time there was a poor man who could no longer afford to keep his only son. So his son said:" Dear father, you have fallen on very hard times and I'm a burden to you; it will be better if I go away and try to earn my living." His father gave him his blessing and took leave of him with great sadness. At this time the king of a powerful kingdom was engaged in a war; the young man took service with him and joined the fighting. And when they met the enemy a battle took place, and there was great peril and a great hail of bullets, with his comrades falling all round him. And when even the commander was killed the rest wanted to take to their heels, but the young man stepped forward and rallied them, crying:" We must not let our fatherland perish." At this the others followed him, and he pressed forward and defeated the enemy. When the king heard that he owed the victory to him alone, he raised him above all the others, gave him great wealth and made him the first man in his kingdom.

　　The king had a daughter who was very beautiful, but there was also something very strange about her. She had made a vow to take no man for her lord and husband unless he promised to let himself be buried alive with her if she died before him. "If he truly loves me," she said, "why would he want to go on living?" In return she was prepared to do the same for him and go down into the grave with him if he died first. This strange vow had hitherto deterred all suitors, but the young man was so entranced by her beauty that he was heedless of everything, and asked her father for her hand. "But do you know what promise you will have to make?" said the king. "I shall have to go to her grave with her if I outlive her," he replied, "but my love is so great that I care not for this danger." Then the king consented and the marriage was celebrated with great magnificence.

　　They now lived happily and contentedly for a time, and then it happened that the young queen fell seriously ill and no doctor could help her. And when she lay there dead, the young king remembered what he had had to promise, and he was filled with horror at the thought of being buried alive, but there was no help for it: the king had ordered all the gates to be watched, and there was no way of escaping his fate. When the day came for the queen's dead body to be laid to rest in the royal vault, he was taken down into it with her, and then the door was locked and bolted.

　　Beside the coffin stood a table on which there were four candles, four loaves of bread and four bottles of wine. As soon as these provisions gave out he would have to die of hunger. So there he sat full of grief and sorrow, eating only a morsel of bread each day and drinking only a mouthful of wine, and yet he realized that his death was coming closer and closer. Now as he sat there staring in front of him, he saw a snake crawl out of one corner of the vault and approach the coffin. Thinking it was going to gnaw at the dead body, he drew his sword and exclaimed:" You shan't touch her so long as I am alive!" And he hacked the snake into three pieces. A few moments later a second snake came crawling out of the corner, but when it saw the other one lying dead and dismembered it turned back, and presently approached again carrying three green leaves in its mouth. Then it took the three pieces of the snake, put them together the way they belonged, and laid one of the leaves on each of the wounds. At once the dismembered parts joined, the snake stirred and came to life again, and both snakes crawled quickly away leaving the leaves behind them.

　　The unfortunate prince had watched all this, and he now began to wonder whether the miraculous power of the leaves which had restored the snake to life might also help a human being. So he picked up the leaves and laid one of them on the dead woman's mouth and the other two on her eyes. and scarcely had he done so when her blood stirred in her veins, rose into her pallid countenance and gave it the flush of life again. She drew breath, opened her eyes and said:" Alas, where am I?" "You are with me, my dear wife," he answered and told her all that had happened and how he had revived her. Then he gave her some wine and bread and when she had recovered her strength she stood up, and they went to the door and knocked on it and shouted so loudly that the guards heard them and reported it to the king. The king himself came down and opened the door; he found both of them in full health and vigor, and rejoiced with them that now all their troubles were over. But the young king took the three snake-leaves with him, gave them to a servant and said:" Keep them carefully for me, and carry them on you wherever you go; who knows what trouble they may yet help us out of."

　　But since being brought back to life his wife had undergone a change: it was as if all her love for husband had been drained out of her heart. Some time later he decided to make a voyage across the sea to visit his old father, and after they had boarded the ship she forgot the great love and grace he had shown her and how he had saved her from death, and conceived a guilty passion for the ship's captain. One day when the young king was lying there asleep, she called the captain and seized her sleeping husband by the head and made the captain take him by the feet, and thus they threw him into the sea. When this shameful deed had been done she said to the captain:" Now let's go home, and we'll say he died at sea. You can leave it to me to keep singing your praises to my father till he marries me to you and makes you heir to his crown." But the faithful servant, who had witnessed the whole thing, secretly lowered a small boat from the ship and set out in it, following his master and letting the traitors sail away. He fished up the drowned man, and by putting the three snake-leaves, which he had with him, on the young king's eyes and mouth, he successfully restored him to life.

　　Then they both rowed day and night with might and main, and their boat sped along so quickly that they got home to the old king before the others. He was astonished to see them arriving alone, and asked what had happened to them. When he heard of his daughter's wickedness he said:" I can't believe that she did so evil a thing, but the truth will soon come to light." He told them both to go into a secret room and let no one know of their presence. Soon after this the big ship came sailing in, and the prince's godless wife appeared before her father with a sorrowful air. He said:" Why have you returned alone? Where is your husband?" "Oh, dear father," she replied, "I have come home in great grief: during the voyage my husband suddenly fell sick and died, and if the kind ship's captain had not helped me it would have gone ill with me. But he was present at my husband's death and can tell you all that happened." The king said:" I will bring this dead man back to life." And he opened the door of the room and told the two men to come out. When the woman saw her husband she stood as if thunderstruck, then fell to her knees and begged for mercy. The king said:" There can be no mercy for you: he was ready to die with you, and he gave you your life back again, but you murdered him in his sleep and you shall have your just reward." Then she and her accomplice were put on board a ship full of holes and sent out to sea, where they soon perished in the waves.

　　從前，有個窮人。他窮得連自己的獨生兒子都養(yǎng)不起。于是他兒子說：“爸爸，您的處境太困難了，我也是您的負(fù)擔(dān)。這樣倒不如讓我出去闖一闖，掙口飯吃。”父親為兒子祈禱祝福，非常難過地和兒子分手了。恰在這個時候，有個強國的國王正在作戰(zhàn)，這個年輕人就跟隨著國王上了戰(zhàn)場。他們遇到敵人，開始戰(zhàn)斗了。在槍林彈雨中，身邊的戰(zhàn)友都倒下了，甚至有的軍官也戰(zhàn)死了，活著的都想逃跑。這時候年輕人走上前來為大家鼓氣，他大聲喊道：“不能讓我們的祖國滅亡!”于是，人們都跟隨他向前沖，打垮了敵軍。國王聽說多虧了這個年輕人才取得勝利的消息，就把他提升到很高的位置，并給了他很多財寶。他在王宮里是一人之下，萬人之上。

　　國王有個公主，非常美麗，只是性情有些古怪。她選擇丈夫的條件是：如果公主先死，活著的丈夫必須和她一起埋葬，否則，就不能成為她的丈夫。公主說：“如果他真心愛我，我死了，他為什么還要活著呢?”同樣，如果丈夫先死了，她也準(zhǔn)備跟著一起進(jìn)墳?zāi)?。這個古怪的誓約，嚇退了所有的求婚人?？墒牵鞯拿烂玻屵@個年輕人陶醉。他義無返顧地向國王要求娶公主為妻。國王說：“你知道應(yīng)該答應(yīng)她些什么嗎?”“如果公主死了，而我還活著，我就會和她一起進(jìn)墳?zāi)埂?rdquo;年輕人回答說：“我愛她愛得那么強烈，深沉，就顧不得什么危險了。”于是國王同意了。他們舉行了非常隆重的婚禮。

　　他們一起幸福，快樂地過了一些日子。突然，年輕的王后患了重病，醫(yī)生們都認(rèn)為不可救藥了。王后死了，年輕的國王回想起從前的誓約，想到就要被活埋，不由得直打哆嗦。老國王派了衛(wèi)兵，看住了所有的城門?？磥恚@悲慘的命運是不能逃避了。在年輕的王后遺體裝進(jìn)王家墓穴的那一天，那年輕的國王也被一同帶進(jìn)墓穴。墓穴的門關(guān)上了，還上了鎖。

　　在棺材的旁邊放著一張桌子，上面有四支蠟燭，四個面包和四瓶葡萄酒。這些東西用完了，他也就要餓死了。他在無限痛苦和悲傷中，每天只吃一點面包，喝一小口酒。可是他依然意識到死期越來越近了。正當(dāng)他一動不動向前看著的時候，突然見到墓穴的一角爬出一條蛇，直向棺材爬去。他想，蛇是來咬公主尸體的。于是，他拔出寶劍說：“只要我還活著，你就別想碰她。”他把這條蛇砍成四段。不一會兒，又一條蛇爬了過來，看見這條蛇死了并被分了尸，就立刻退回去了。隨后那條蛇叼著三張綠葉又出現(xiàn)了。然后，那條蛇把死去的蛇按原樣擺好，在每個傷口處放上一張綠葉。不大一會，那斷開的地方，又接到了一起。死了的蛇，又復(fù)活了，動彈了。接著，兩條蛇很快地爬走了?？删G葉還留在那兒。這不幸的國王，看到這一切，開始考慮：這綠色的葉子具有能使死蛇復(fù)活的神奇效力，不知會不會讓死人復(fù)活。于是他揀起三片葉子，一片放在妻子的嘴上，另兩片放在眼睛上。剛放好，王后的血就在血管里流動起來。她蒼白的臉上出現(xiàn)了紅潤。她吸了一口氣，睜開了眼睛，說：“哎呀，我這是在哪里呀?”他回答道：“你在我的身邊，我親愛的妻子!”他又把發(fā)生的一切和她復(fù)活的經(jīng)過講給她聽。然后，他給王后喝了點酒，吃了點面包。她有了力氣，站了起來。于是，他們到墓穴口，敲打著大門，大聲呼喊起來。衛(wèi)兵聽到后，急忙報告了國王。國王親自來了，打開了大門，看到他們既健壯，又精神，自然是十分驚喜。年輕的國王帶回來了三片蛇的葉子，把它們交給了仆人說：“好好保存著，要隨身攜帶，說不定以后遇到什么危難，它會幫助我們的!”

　　可是，自從王后復(fù)活后，變化很大，好象對丈夫的愛，一下子全都消失了似的。過了一些日子，年輕的國王想要越海航行去看望他年老的父親。他們上船后，王后完全忘記了丈夫?qū)λ囊黄媲楹途让?，竟對船長產(chǎn)生了不該產(chǎn)生的愛情。一天，當(dāng)年輕的國王正在睡覺的時候，她喊來船長，自己揪住丈夫的頭，讓船長抱著丈夫的兩只腳，把丈夫扔到大海里去了。干完這卑鄙的勾當(dāng)，她對船長說：“現(xiàn)在咱們就可以回家了。就說他半道上死了。我在父王面前好好夸夸你，讓他準(zhǔn)許我們結(jié)婚，那時你就是他的王冠繼承人!”可是，那個忠實的仆人，把他們那些卑鄙的勾當(dāng)全看在眼里。他偷偷地從大船上下來，放下一只小船，向主人的方向追去，讓那些壞人駕著大船先走了。仆人把死了的國王撈上船，把帶在身邊蛇的三片綠葉放在他眼睛上，嘴上。國王竟真的復(fù)活了。

　　他們兩人使出了全身的力氣，白天黑夜地劃船，小船像箭似的飛奔，竟比大船提早到了老國王那兒。國王見到只是他們兩個人回來，非常驚訝，問發(fā)生了什么事。當(dāng)他一聽說女兒干了那樣的壞事以后，就說：“我還不相信她那么壞，真相會很快弄清楚的!”然后，吩咐他們到一個密室里藏起來，不讓任何人知道他倆回來了。不久，大船到了。那無法無天的妻子帶著悲傷的面容，走到父親面前。國王問：“你怎么一個人回來了?你的丈夫呢?”“啊，爸爸!”她回答說，“真是難過死了。丈夫在航海中死了。要是沒有這好心的船長幫助的話，我也會遭受不幸的命運的。我丈夫死的時候他就在跟前，他能告訴你發(fā)生的一切。”國王說：“我要讓死人復(fù)活。”國王打開了密室的門，把那兩個人叫了出來。妻子一看見丈夫，猶如遭到了雷擊，馬上跪下請求饒命。國王說：“不能寬容你!他愿意和你一起死，救你復(fù)活。而你呢，竟在他睡覺的時候害死他，你應(yīng)該得到報應(yīng)!”然后，她和船長一起被裝進(jìn)一個鑿了孔的船上，船被推到海里去了，不一會兒，就沉進(jìn)了浪濤里。