The Iguana and the Turtle.

 Narrated by Sixto Guico of Binalonan, Pangasinan, who says that the story is fairly¹ common among the Pangasinanes.

 

Once upon a time there lived two good friends,—an iguana² and a turtle. They always went fishing together. One day the turtle invited the iguana to go catch fish in a certain pond that he knew of. After they had been there about two hours, the old man who owned the pond came along. The iguana escaped, but the turtle was caught. The old man took the turtle home, tied a string around its neck, and fastened it under the house.

 

Early in the morning the iguana went to look for his friend the turtle. The iguana wandered everywhere looking for him, and finally he found him under the old man’s house, tied to a post.

 

“What are you doing here, my friend?” said the iguana.

 

“That old man wants me to marry his daughter, but I do not want to marry her,” said the turtle.

 

Now, the iguana very much wanted a wife, and he was delighted at this chance. So he asked the turtle to be allowed to take his place. The turtle consented³. So the iguana released⁴ the turtle, and was tied up in his place. Then the turtle made off as fast as he could.

 

When the old man woke up, he heard some one saying over and over again, “I want to marry your daughter.” He became angry, and went down under the house to see who was talking. There he found the iguana saying, “I want to marry your daughter.” The old man picked up a big stick to beat its head, but the iguana cut the string and ran away.

 

On his way he came across the turtle again, who was listening to the sound produced by the rubbing⁵ of two bamboos when the wind blew. “What! are you here again?” said the iguana.

 

[384]“Be quiet!” said the turtle. “I am listening to the pipe of my grandfather up there. Don’t you hear it?”

 

The iguana wanted to see the turtle’s grandfather, so he climbed up the tree, and put his mouth between the two bamboos that were rubbing together. His mouth was badly pinched⁶, and he fell down to the ground. The turtle meanwhile had disappeared.

 

MORAL⁷: This teaches that the one who believes foolishly will be injured⁸.

 

1 fairly   

adv.公正地，正当地；相当；完全，简直

参考例句：

• I think I was quite fairly treated by the police.我认为警察对我非常公正。
• It fairly destroyed the machine.它将那部机器完全毁了。

2 iguana   

n.美洲大蜥蜴，鬣鳞蜥

参考例句：

• With an iguana,you really don't have to say surprise.惊喜两字已经不足以形容这只鬣鳞蜥了。
• I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguanadj.打开计算机准备制作一部关于我的宠物蜥蜴的电影。

3 consented   

v.同意( consent的过去式和过去分词 )；赞成；允许；顺从

参考例句：

• My parents have consented. 我父母已经同意了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her father reluctantly consented to the marriage. 她父亲勉强地答应了这桩婚姻。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

5 rubbing   

n. 摩擦, 研磨, 按磨

参考例句：

• This insect makes its strange noise by rubbing its back legs together. 这只昆虫摩擦它的两条后腿发出一种奇怪的声音。
• Jerry was already unhappy because he fumbled the ball,but his teammates kept rubbing it in. 本来杰瑞就很不高兴，因为他失了球，而他的队友们还一再提那件事。

6 pinched   

adj.短缺的，匮乏的v.夹痛( pinch的过去式和过去分词 )；逮捕；盗窃；使入不敷出

参考例句：

• He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger. 他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A man pinched her bum on the train so she hit him. 在火车上有人捏她屁股，她打了那人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 moral   

adj.道德(上)的，有道德的；n.品行，寓意，道德

参考例句：

• Moral beauty ought to be ranked above all other beauty.品德之美应列于其他美之上。
• He deceived us into believing that he could give us moral support.他骗得我们相信他能给我们道义上的支持。

8 injured   

adj.受伤的

参考例句：

• Our best defender is injured and won't be able to play today.我们最佳的防守员受伤了，今天不能参加比赛。
• The injured men have been dug out of the snow.受伤人员从雪中被挖了出来。