The Cat on the Dovrefell

Once on a time there was a man up in Finnmark who had caught a great white bear, which he was going to take to the king of Denmark. Now, it so fell out, that he came to the Dovrefell just about Christmas Eve, and there he turned into a cottage where a man lived, whose name was Halvor, and asked the man if he could get house-room there, for his bear and himself.

从前，在芬马克有一个人捕到了一只大白熊，他打算把它带去献给丹麦国王。事情凑巧就发生在圣诞节前夜，他来到了多沃山，转身走进了一间小屋，屋里住着一个名叫哈尔沃的人，他问哈尔沃能不能给自己和这只熊借宿一晚。

“Heaven never help me, if what I say isn’t true!” said the man; “but we can’t give any one house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve such a pack of Trolls come down upon us, that we are forced to flit, and haven’t so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of lending one to any one else.”

“老天在上，我说的句句是实话！”那人说，“可是我们现在没法给任何人借宿，因为每年圣诞节前夜，都会有一大群巨怪下山来找我们的麻烦，我们不得不搬出去，连自己头顶上的一片瓦都保不住，更别说借给别人了。”

“Oh?” said the man, “if that’s all, you can very well lend me your house; my bear can lie under the stove yonder, and I can sleep in the side-room.”

“哦？”那人说，“要是只是这样的话，你完全可以把房子借给我；我的熊可以躺在那边的炉子底下，我就睡在旁边那间小屋里。”

Well, he begged so hard, that at last he got leave to stay there; so the people of the house flitted out, and before they went, everything was got ready for the Trolls; the tables were laid, and there was rice porridge, and fish boiled in lye, and sausages, and all else that was good, just as for any other grand feast.

哦，他苦苦哀求，最后总算获准留下来住；于是这家人都搬了出去，临走前，一切都为巨怪们准备妥当：桌子摆好了，还有米粥、碱水煮鱼、香肠，以及各种美味佳肴，就像准备一场盛大的宴席一样。

So, when everything was ready, down came the Trolls. Some were great, and some were small; some had long tails, and some had no tails at all; some, too, had long, long noses; and they ate and drank, and tasted everything. Just then one of the little Trolls caught sight of the white bear, who lay under the stove; so he took a piece of sausage and stuck it on a fork, and went and poked it up against the bear’s nose, screaming out:

一切准备停当，巨怪们便下来了。有的很大，有的很小；有的长着长尾巴，有的干脆没有尾巴；还有的长着长长的鼻子；它们吃着喝着，尝遍了桌上的一切。就在这时，一个小巨怪看见了躺在炉子底下的白熊；于是它拿起一块香肠插在叉子上，凑过去戳白熊的鼻子，一边喊道：

“Pussy, will you have some sausage?”

“猫咪，要不要来点香肠呀？”

Then the white bear rose up and growled, and hunted the whole pack of them out of doors, both great and small.

白熊一听，立刻站了起来，咆哮着把这一整群巨怪，不管大的小的，全都赶出了门外。

Next year Halvor was out in the wood, on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, cutting wood before the holidays, for he thought the Trolls would come again; and just as he was hard at work, he heard a voice in the wood calling out:

第二年圣诞节前夜的下午，哈尔沃正在树林里砍柴，为过节做准备，因为他料想巨怪们还会再来；正当他忙着干活的时候，他听见树林里有个声音喊道：

“Halvor! Halvor!”

“哈尔沃！哈尔沃！”

“Well”, said Halvor, “here I am.”

“哎，”哈尔沃说，“我在这儿呢。”

“Have you got your big cat with you still?”

“你那只大猫还养着吗？”

“Yes, that I have”, said Halvor; “she’s lying at home under the stove, and what’s more, she has now got seven kittens, far bigger and fiercer than she is herself.”

“是啊，还养着呢。”哈尔沃说，“它现在正躺在家里炉子底下呢，而且，更厉害的是，它如今已经有了七只小猫，一个个都比它自己还要大、还要凶呢。”

“Oh, then, we’ll never come to see you again”, bawled out the Troll away in the wood, and he kept his word; for since that time the Trolls have never eaten their Christmas brose with Halvor on the Dovrefell.

“哦，那我们再也不会来看你了。”那巨怪在林子里大喊了一声，从此便说话算话；因为从那时起，巨怪们就再也没在多沃山上和哈尔沃一起吃过圣诞粥了。