The Hawk and the Hen

 A hawk¹ flying about in the sky one day decided² that he would like to marry a hen whom he often saw on earth. He flew down and searched until he found her, and then asked her to become his wife. She at once gave her consent on the condition that he would wait until she could grow wings like his, so that she might also fly high. The hawk agreed to this and flew away, after giving her a ring as an engagement³ present and telling her to take good care of it.

 

The hen was very proud of the ring and placed it around her neck. The next day, however, she met the cock who looked at her in astonishment⁴ and said:

 

“Where did you get that ring? Do you not know that you promised to be my wife? You must not wear the ring of anyone else. Throw it away.”

 

And the hen threw away the beautiful ring.

 

Not long after this the hawk came down bringing beautiful feathers to dress the hen. When she saw him coming she was frightened and ran to hide behind the door, but the hawk called to her to come and see the beautiful dress he had brought her.

 

The hen came out, and the hawk at once saw that the ring was gone.

 

“Where is the ring I gave you?” he asked. “Why do you not wear it?” [213]

 

The hen was frightened and ashamed to tell the truth so she answered:

 

“Oh, sir, yesterday when I was walking in the garden, I met a large snake and he frightened me so that I ran as fast as I could to the house. Then I missed the ring and I searched everywhere but could not find it.”

 

The hawk looked sharply⁵ at the hen, and he knew that she was deceiving him. Then he said to her:

 

“I did not believe that you could behave so badly. When you have found the ring I will come down again and make you my wife. But as a punishment for breaking your promise, you must always scratch the ground to look for the ring. And every chicken of yours that I find, I shall snatch⁶ away.”

 

Then he flew away, and ever since all the hens throughout the world have been scratching to find the hawk’s ring.

1 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

2 decided   

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。

3 engagement   

n.订婚，婚约，约定，约会

参考例句：

• I can't see you on Monday because I have a previous engagement.星期一我不能见你，因为我有约在先。
• It was my mother's very own engagement ring.这正是我母亲自己的订婚戒指。

4 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

5 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

6 snatch   

n.抢夺，碎片，一阵，一瞬间，一点点；v.夺取，抢劫，抓住

参考例句：

• The magazine was snatch from my hand before I could read it.我还没来得及看那期杂志，就被从我手里抢走了。
• He had a snatch of sleep sitting in his chair.他坐在椅子里稍睡片刻。