小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 英文短篇小说 » Philippine Folk Tales » The Story of Sayen
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
The Story of Sayen
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
 In the depths of a dark forest where people seldom went, lived a wizened1 old Alan.70 The skin on her wrinkled face was as tough as a carabao hide, and her long arms with fingers pointing back from the wrist were horrible to look at. Now this frightful2 creature had a son whose name was Sayen, and he was as handsome as his mother was ugly. He was a brave man, also, and often went far away alone to fight.
 
On these journeys Sayen sometimes met beautiful girls, and though he wanted to marry, he could not decide upon one. Hearing that one Danepan was more beautiful than any other, he determined3 to go and ask her to be his wife.
 
Now Danepan was very shy, and when she heard that Sayen was coming to her house she hid behind the door and sent her servant, Laey, out to meet him. And so it happened that Sayen, not seeing Danepan, married Laey, thinking that she was her beautiful mistress. He took her away to a house he had built at the edge of the forest, for though he wished to be near [61]his old home, he dared not allow his bride to set eyes on his ugly mother.
 
For some time they lived happily together here, and then one day when Sayen was making a plow4 under his house, he heard Laey singing softly to their baby in the room above, and this is what she sang:
 
“Sayen thinks I am Danepan, but Laey I am. Sayen thinks I am Danepan, but Laey I am.”
 
When Sayen heard this he knew that he had been deceived, and he pondered long what he should do.
 
The next morning he went to the field to plow, for it was near the rice-planting time. Before he left the house he called to his wife:
 
“When the sun is straight above, you and the baby bring food to me, for I shall be busy in the field.”
 
Before he began to plow, however, he cut the bamboo supports of the bridge which led to the field, so that when Laey and the baby came with his food, they had no sooner stepped on the bridge than it went down with them and they were drowned. Sayen was again free. He took his spear and his shield and head-ax and went at once to the town of Danepan, and there he began killing5 the people on all sides.
 
Terror spread through the town. No one could stop his terrible work of destruction until Danepan came down out of her house, and begged him to spare part of the people that she might have some from whom to borrow fire.71 Her great beauty amazed him and [62]he ceased killing, and asked her to prepare some betel-nut for him to chew, as he was very tired. She did so, and when he had chewed the nut he spat6 on the people he had killed and they came to life again. Then he married Danepan and took her to his home.
 
Now it happened about this time that the people of Magosang were in great trouble. At the end of a successful hunt, while they were dividing the meat among themselves, the Komow,72 a murderous spirit that looks like a man, would come to them and ask how many they had caught. If they answered, “Two,” then he would say that he had caught two also; and when they went home, they would find two people in the town dead. As often as they went to hunt the Komow did this, and many of the people of Magosang were dead and those living were in great fear. Finally they heard of the brave man, Sayen, and they begged him to help them. Sayen listened to all they told, and then said:
 
“I will go with you to hunt, and while you are dividing the meat, I will hide behind the trees. When the Komow comes to ask how many deer you have, he will smell me, but you must say that you do not know where I am,”
 
So the people went to hunt, and when they had killed two deer, they singed7 them over a fire and began to divide them. Just then the Komow arrived and said:
 
“How many have you?” [63]
 
“We have two,” replied the people.
 
“I have two also,” said the Komow, “but I smell Sayen.”
 
“We do not know where Sayen is,” answered the people; and just then he sprang out and killed the Komow, and the people were greatly relieved.
 
Now when Kaboniyan,73 a great spirit, heard what Sayen had done, he went to him and said:
 
“Sayen you are a brave man because you have killed the Komow, Tomorrow I will fight with you. You must remain on the low ground by the river, and I will go to the hill above.”
 
So the following day Sayen went to the low ground by the river. He had not waited long before he heard a great sound like a storm, and he knew that Kaboniyan was coming. He looked up, and there stood the great warrior8, poising9 his spear which was as large as a big tree.
 
“Are you brave, Sayen?” called he in a voice like thunder as he threw the weapon.
 
“Yes,” answered Sayen, and he caught the spear.
 
This surprised Kaboniyan, and he threw his head-ax which was as large as the roof of a house, and Sayen caught that also. Then Kaboniyan saw that this was indeed a brave man, and he went down to Sayen and they fought face to face until both were tired, but neither could overcome the other.
 
When Kaboniyan saw that in Sayen he had found one as strong and brave even as himself, he proposed that [64]they go together to fight the people of different towns. And they started out at once. Many people were killed by this strong pair, and why they themselves could never be captured was a great mystery. For it was not known that one was the spirit Kaboniyan, and the other the son of an Alan.
 
If he was surrounded in a river, Sayen would become a fish74 and hide so that people could not find him. And if he was entrapped10 in a town, he would become a chicken and go under the house in a chicken-coop. In this way he escaped many times.
 
Finally one night after he had killed many in one town, the people decided11 to watch him, and they saw him go to roost with the chickens. The next day they placed a fish trap under the house near the chicken-coop, and that night when Sayen went under the house he was caught in the trap and killed. 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 wizened TeszDu     
adj.凋谢的;枯槁的
参考例句:
  • That wizened and grotesque little old man is a notorious miser.那个干瘪难看的小老头是个臭名远扬的吝啬鬼。
  • Mr solomon was a wizened little man with frizzy gray hair.所罗门先生是一个干瘪矮小的人,头发鬈曲灰白。
2 frightful Ghmxw     
adj.可怕的;讨厌的
参考例句:
  • How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊!
  • We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。
3 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
4 plow eu5yE     
n.犁,耕地,犁过的地;v.犁,费力地前进[英]plough
参考例句:
  • At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
  • We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后,我们将马上耕田。
5 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
6 spat pFdzJ     
n.口角,掌击;v.发出呼噜呼噜声
参考例句:
  • Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
  • There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。
7 singed dad6a30cdea7e50732a0ebeba3c4caff     
v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 );(毛发)燎,烧焦尖端[边儿]
参考例句:
  • He singed his hair as he tried to light his cigarette. 他点烟时把头发给燎了。
  • The cook singed the chicken to remove the fine hairs. 厨师把鸡燎一下,以便去掉细毛。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
8 warrior YgPww     
n.勇士,武士,斗士
参考例句:
  • The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
  • A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。
9 poising 1ba22ac05fda8b114f961886f6659529     
使平衡( poise的现在分词 ); 保持(某种姿势); 抓紧; 使稳定
参考例句:
  • The dynamic poising of the watch-balance enhances the performance of each movement. 腕表平衡摆轮的动态性能决定了机芯的性能。
  • Also has the poising action to the blood sugar. 对血糖还具有双向平衡作用。
10 entrapped eb21b3b8e7dad36e21d322e11b46715d     
v.使陷入圈套,使入陷阱( entrap的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He was entrapped into undertaking the work. 他受骗而担任那工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He felt he had been entrapped into marrying her. 他觉得和她结婚是上了当。 来自辞典例句
11 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533