The Star Money

There was once on a time a little girl whose father and mother were dead, and she was so poor that she no longer had any little room to live in, or bed to sleep in, and at last she had nothing else but the clothes she was wearing and a little bit of bread in her hand which some charitable soul had given her. She was, however, good and pious. And as she was thus forsaken by all the world, she went forth into the open country, trusting in the good God.

从前有个小女孩，父母都去世了，她穷得连一个可以居住的小房间、一张可以睡觉的床都没有了，最后除了身上穿的衣服，和手里一小块某位善心人给她的面包之外，什么都没有了。可她心地善良，虔诚信主。她就这样被整个世界抛弃，便走进了旷野，把一切都托付给了慈爱的上帝。

Then a poor man met her, who said, “Ah, give me something to eat, I am so hungry!” She reached him the whole of her piece of bread, and said, “May God bless it to thy use,” and went onwards. Then came a child who moaned and said, “My head is so cold, give me something to cover it with.” So she took off her hood and gave it to him; and when she had walked a little farther, she met another child who had no jacket and was frozen with cold.

这时来了一个可怜的男人，对她说：“啊，给我点吃的吧，我实在饿坏了！”她便把她那一整块面包都递给了他，说道：“愿上帝保佑这块面包对你有用。”说完便继续赶路。接着来了一个孩子，呻吟着说：“我的头好冷，给我点什么盖一盖吧。”于是她摘下自己的兜帽，给了他；又走了没多远，遇见了另一个孩子，没有外套穿，冻得瑟瑟发抖。

Then she gave it her own; and a little farther on one begged for a frock, and she gave away that also. At length she got into a forest and it had already become dark, and there came yet another child, and asked for a little shirt, and the good little girl thought to herself, “It is a dark night and no one sees thee, thou canst very well give thy little shirt away,” and took it off, and gave away that also.

于是她又把自己的外套给了他；再往前走了一小段路，又有人向她讨要一件长袍，她便也把那件给了出去。终于她走进了一片森林，天已经黑了下来，这时又来了一个孩子，向她讨要一件小衬衫，这个善良的小女孩心里想：“这是个漆黑的夜晚，没有人能看见你，你完全可以把你的小衬衫也送出去。”于是她便脱下衬衫，也送给了那孩子。

And as she so stood, and had not one single thing left, suddenly some stars from heaven fell down, and they were nothing else but hard smooth pieces of money, and although she had just given her little shirt away, she had a new one which was of the very finest linen. Then she gathered together the money into this, and was rich all the days of her life.

正当她这样站着，身上再没有一件东西剩下的时候，忽然从天上落下几颗星星，原来那些不过是些坚硬光滑的银币。虽然她刚刚才把自己的小衬衫送了人，可她身上竟又穿上了一件用最精细的亚麻布做成的新衬衫。于是她把那些银币都收进了这件衬衫里，从此一生富足无忧。