The Hen and the Cat

 A Cat arose in her house, went to a Hen and said to her: "Let us make friendship!"

 

The Hen replied to the Cat: "Dost thou like me for a friend?"

 

The Cat said, "Yes," and went away, and after having been at home for a while, she sent her child to the Hen, saying, "Go and tell the Hen to rise up early to-morrow morning, and to come and accompany me to a neighbouring town."

 

The child arose, went to the Hen's house and saluted¹ her.

 

The Hen arose, and asked it: "Thou child of the Cat, dost thou come to me in peace?"

 

The Cat's child replied, "I come in peace; my mother has sent me to thee."

 

The Hen said to the Cat's child, "Say what thy mother has sent thee for; let me know."

 

After the Cat's child had told it to the Hen, it said: "I will go," and set out and went home.

 

When it was gone the Hen arose, called a child of hers, and said: "Go

and ask the Cat at what time we shall go to the neighbouring town?"

When the child had already started, she called it back again, saying,

"Come back, I will tell thee something."

 

The child returned, and when it had come to its mother, she said to it, "When thou goest to the Cat, open thy ears and hear well what she says, and come and tell me."

 

The child went to the Cat, and saluted her, and when the Cat arose and came out to it, the Hen's child was standing² there. The Cat asked the Hen's child, "Why did thy mother send thee to me?"

 

The Hen's child said, "My mother said I must come and ask thee how early shall we go to the neighbouring town?"

 

The Cat said to the Hen's child, "Go and tell thy mother to arise and come at the cockcrowing; for what should eat her?"

 

The Hen's child returned to its mother, and said to her, "Behold³ I went to the Cat's place where thou sentest me, and am come back."

 

The Hen said to her child, "What did the Cat say? Let me hear what word she spoke⁴?"

 

Her child answered and said to her, "My mother, the word which the Cat spoke is this: 'Go and tell thy mother to come to me when the cock crows, that we may go; for what should eat her?'"

 

Its mother, the Hen, said to her child, "My child, lie down in your house, for I have heard what the Cat said."

 

The child of the Hen obeyed her mother, went and lay down, and also her mother lay down. They slept their sleep until the cock crew, which when the Cat heard, she arose, got ready and waited for the Hen, thinking, "May she come that we may go!" The cock crew the second time, and the Cat looked out on the way whence the Hen was to come, thinking, "May she come that we may go!"

 

The Hen did not get up at home and day came on. When it became day, the Cat arose in her house, went to the Hen's home, and said to her, "Hen, thou sentest thy child to me, and asked at what time thou shouldst rise up, and I said to thy child, 'Go and tell thy mother to come when the cock crows, that we may go.' Did it not tell thee what it was told by me, that thou art still sitting at home although it has become day?"

 

The Hen said to the Cat, "Sister Cat, if thou wishest to have me for a friend, I must never get up in my house and come out at night."

 

The Cat said to the Hen, "What art thou afraid of that thou sayest, 'I will never come out at night'? What is there in the way?"

 

The Hen listened to what the Cat said, got herself ready and called her children, saying, "Come and let us accompany the Cat to a neighbouring town!" All the children arose and when they had set out on their way, the Cat went before, and having gone on a little, she seized two of the children of the Hen; and the Hen saw that the cat was seizing two of her children; so she said to the Cat, "Sister Cat, we have scarcely set out on our way and dost thou seize two of my children?"

 

The Cat replied, "Thy two children which I took have not strength enough to walk; therefore did I take them to my bosom⁵ that we may go on."

 

The Hen said to the Cat, "If thou actest thus, I and thou must dissolve our friendship."

 

The Cat replied, "If thou wilt⁶ not have a friend, I shall let thee go home." So, as the Hen began to go home, the Cat made a bound, and seized the Hen's head, whereupon the Hen cried for help. All the people of the town heard her, arose, ran, and when they were come, the Cat was holding the Hen's head tight. When the Cat saw the people of the town, she left the Hen, ran away, and entered the forest.

 

There the Hen was standing and the people of the town said to her: "Foolish one, didst thou, a Hen, arise and go to befriend a Cat? If we had not heard thy screams, and come to thee, she would have killed thee and carried away all thy children into her forest."

 

The Hen said to the people of the town: "God bless you: you have taken me out of the Cat's mouth."

 

The people of the town said to her: "To-day our Lord has delivered thee, but for the future do thou no more make friendship with the Cat. The Cat is too cunning for thee: beware of the Cat in future!"

 

I have heard old people say, that on that day the cats and the fowls⁷ dissolved their friendship. This is finished.

1 saluted   

v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• The sergeant stood to attention and saluted. 中士立正敬礼。
• He saluted his friends with a wave of the hand. 他挥手向他的朋友致意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 bosom   

n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的

参考例句：

• She drew a little book from her bosom.她从怀里取出一本小册子。
• A dark jealousy stirred in his bosom.他内心生出一阵恶毒的嫉妒。

6 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

7 fowls   

鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马

参考例句：

• A great number of water fowls dwell on the island. 许多水鸟在岛上栖息。
• We keep a few fowls and some goats. 我们养了几只鸡和一些山羊。