The man and the Serpent

A countryman’s son by accident trod upon a Serpent’s tail, which turned and bit him so that he died. The father in a rage got his axe, and pursuing the Serpent, cut off part of its tail. So the Serpent in revenge began stinging several of the Farmer’s cattle and caused him severe loss. Well, the Farmer thought it best to make it up with the Serpent, and brought food and honey to the mouth of its lair, and said to it: “Let’s forget and forgive; perhaps you were right to punish my son, and take vengeance on my cattle, but surely I was right in trying to revenge him; now that we are both satisfied why should not we be friends again?” “No, no,” said the Serpent, “take away your gifts; you can never forget the death of your son, nor I the loss of my tail.” Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.

农夫与蛇

农夫的儿子不小心踩了蛇的尾巴，蛇扭头咬了他一口，他中毒身亡。农夫盛怒之下抄起斧子来寻蛇，砍掉了蛇的一截尾巴。蛇为了报复接连咬了农夫的数头牲畜，给他造成了很大的损失。农夫觉得冤冤相报何时了，还是跟蛇握手言和比较好。于是，他带着食物和蜂蜜来到蛇的巢穴，对它说：“让我们忘掉过去，互相原谅吧。也许你惩罚我儿子，咬死牲口，报复我都是对的，同理，我也应该为他报仇。现在，既然我们都如愿以偿了，为什么不能重修旧好呢？”

“不，不，”蛇说道，“拿走你的礼物，你永远不可能忘记你儿子的死，就像我永远不可能忘掉断尾之痛一样。”

伤害可能被原谅，但永远不会被忘记。

Key points

axe 斧子 forget 忘记 forgive 原谅 lair 巢穴 pursue 追捕

rage 愤怒 revenge 报复 satisfied 满足的 serpent 蛇 sting 叮；蛰

trod 踩，踏（tread 的过去式） vengeance 报复