漫步歷史洪流

The Two Frogs and the Well

A story by Aesop.
Adapted by Bertie.
Read by Richard.
Produced by Jana Elizabeth.
Song sung by Jana Elizabeth

Hello,
This is Richard, and I’m here with a fable by Aesop which is ever so short. As it’s such a teeny weeny squib of a tale, there’s time to tell it to you in three forms: a story, a poem, and a song.

First the story

It was hot. It was so terribly hot that the trees were sweating. The ponds were empty. The wells were dry. The ducks were thirsty. Now there were two frogs who were so parched that the younger one said:

“Any more of this heat and we’re going to shrivel up so small that we’ll be tadpoles again.”

The old frog croaked back, “If we don’t find a well with some water in it, we’re going to die!”

And so they both decided that their only chance was to search far and wide until they found a better place to live. And so off they hopped over the fields and far away. At last, just as their legs had the final bit of energy left in them, they found a well.

“This better have a few drops left or that’s it for us,” said the older frog. They both peeped over the edge and low and behold – lovely water that was deep, deep deep. In they both tumbled, head over heals, and drank their fill.

The young frog exclaimed, “Oh my, this is the life, let’s stay here in this well forever!”

But the older one shook his head and said, “No dear boy, it is wiser to climb out of this well right away. For if the hot weather continues, the water here will sink down, and we shall go lower down too, and what do you think will happen?”

“Er, it will all dry up?” suggested the young frog.

“Yes, and then what shall we do? For we shall be right at the bottom of a very deep dry well, and it will be impossible for us to jump out.”

And so the moral of this story is –

‘Look before you leap.’

And that was the story of The Two Frogs and the Well, by Aesop. Now in the 19th Century, an English poet called Jeffreys Taylor turned the fable into verse. I thought you might like to hear his poem.

The Two Frogs

, by Jeffreys Taylor

THE day was hot,—the heat was dire,
Enough to make a post perspire;
The ponds were empty pumps were dry,
The ducks were thirsty, so was I.

Two frogs resolved (quite right I think)
To take a tour in search of drink;
And long they sped them on their way,
And many a dangerous leap had they;

But there appear’d a well at length,
Which both approach’d with failing strength;
But when they gave an anxious peep,
Alas! ’twas twenty fathoms deep!

“Well,” said the youngest, “let’s descend;”
“No,” said the other, “youthful friend;
For should the water dry here too,
I ask thee what we then should do?”

Deep was the well, not quite so deep
Our moral lies,—”look ere you leap.

And that was The Two Frogs by Jeffreys Taylor.

And now, as you may know, Although Aesop was Greek, many of his fables originated in India. We thought you might like to hear a little Indian song about a frog jumping into a well. It’s sung, in Hindi, by Storynory’s Jana Elizabeth.

Song – Baba Dudua

And that was the traditional Indian song called Baba Dudua.
Sung by Jana Elizabeth.
Guitar by Andrew Kinnear.

I hope you have enjoyed our variations on the ancient tale of the two frogs. For now, from me, Richard Scott at Storynory.com
Ribbit..

Story source－storynory

翻譯：

兩只青蛙和井

伊索寓言的故事。

由伯蒂改編。
由理查朗讀。
由珍娜‧伊莉莎白製作。
由珍娜‧伊莉莎白歌唱。

你好，
我是理查，在這裡我有一篇非常短的伊索寓言。因為它是如此小的一個諷刺故事，接下來的時間會以一個故事、 一首詩和一首歌這三種形式告訴你。

首先是故事

天氣很熱。天氣炎熱得樹都冒出水氣。池塘是乾的。井是乾的。鴨子都渴了。現在有兩只渴得要命的青蛙，較年輕的一隻說︰

「再更熱一點，我們就會萎縮變小，將會導致我們變回小蝌蚪。」

老青蛙呱呱的回應，「如果我們找不到有一些水的井，我們就會死 ！」

因此牠們兩個都決定遍及各處的搜尋，直到牠們找到更好的居住地，這是牠們唯一的機會。所以牠們跳過了田野和遙遠的地方。最後，在牠們的腿剩最後一點力量時，牠們終於找到一口井。

「這口井最好有剩下一些水，供給我們。」老青蛙說。牠們兩個都從邊緣窺視並往下看 —那有可愛的並且很深、很深、很深的水。牠們都在墜落，神魂顛倒神清氣爽(？)，並且牠們喝得很滿足。

小青蛙大聲叫道：「我的天啊！這就是生活，讓我們永遠待在這口井裡！」

但是老青蛙搖了搖頭並說：「不，親愛的孩子，馬上爬出這口井才是明智的做法。如果天氣持續的炎熱下去，這裡的水會漸漸地下降，並且我們也將會跟著下去，那麼你認為會發生什麼事？」

年輕的青蛙聯想到，「呃，它將會乾涸？」

「是的，那我們該怎麼辦？因為我們將在很深的枯井底部，而且我們不可能跳得出去。」

所以這個故事的寓意就是 —

「三思而後行。」

這就是兩只青蛙和井的伊索寓言故事。在 19 世紀，一位叫傑佛瑞斯‧泰勒的英國詩人將寓言故事變成詩。我認為你可能會想聽一聽他的詩。

兩只青蛙

由傑佛瑞斯‧泰勒創作

天氣很熱， — 熱得可怕，
足以輕易的出汗
池塘是空的，泵是乾的
鴨子渴了，我也是。

兩只青蛙下定決心 （我覺得相當正確）
尋找水源之旅；
他們長途跋涉，
他們經歷了許多的危險；

終於出現一口井，
兩隻青蛙接近力量耗盡；
當他們急切的張望，
噫！ ’那是二十英尋深 ！

「很好！」最年輕的說「我們下去吧！」
「不，」另一隻說，「年輕的朋友；
因為這裡的水應該也會乾，
我問你，我們之後應該怎麼做？」

深深的井，不是那麼深
我們的寓意在於—"三思而後行。

這就是傑佛瑞‧斯泰勒的兩只青蛙。

現在，如你所知，雖然伊索是希臘人，他的很多寓言起源於印度。我們認為你可能會想聽一些關於一隻青蛙跳進井的印度歌曲。這是首印度語的歌曲，由Storynory 的 珍娜‧伊莉莎白唱。

歌曲 —Baba Dudua

這是傳統的印度歌曲叫Baba Dudua。
由珍娜‧伊莉莎白歌唱。
由安德魯 · 肯尼爾彈吉他。

我希望你會喜歡我們對兩隻青蛙的古老故事所做的變動。現在，來自我，理查 ・ 斯科特在 Storynory.com

故事來源－storynory

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解釋：
　英尋（測量水深單位，合1.8米或6英尺）

錯誤修正：
　head over heels 意即「摔個四腳朝天」，常引申指對某人或某事物「著迷到失去理智；被迷得神魂顛倒」的意思。因此head over heels才為「神魂顛倒」之意。

附記：
　而在google查head over heals時卻是自動搜尋head over heels，由於只差了一個英文字母，因此沒有注意到有誤。

　heal有治癒的意思，而在此若直接翻譯則會變成「頭被治癒了」，這樣對應到前面的文章會變得很奇怪，因此猜想head over heals會不會是「神清氣爽」的意思，而在google上搜尋或其他翻譯字典上翻譯「神清氣爽」卻沒有出現，而是出現其他單字。head over heals卻是怎麼都搜尋不到，我不知道是該篇文章書寫有誤，還是其他原因！？