克劳斯和卡罗琳_大小克劳斯(中)

　　And Little Claus told him how he had lost his way, and asked leave to stay there for the night.
　　"Yes, certainly," said the peasant, "but first we must have something to live on."
　　The woman received them both in a very friendly way, spread the cloth on a long table, and gave them a great dish of porridge. The farmer was hungry, and ate with a good appetite; but Little Claus could not help thinking of the capital roast meat, fish, and cake, which he knew were in the oven. Under the table, at his feet, he had laid the sack with the horse"s hide in it; for we know that he had come out to sell it in the town. He could not relish the porridge, so he trod upon the sack, and the dry skin inside crackled quite loudly.
　　"Hush," said Little Claus to his sack; but at the same time he trod on it again, so that it crackled much louder than before.
　　"Why, what have you in your sack?" asked the farmer.
　　"Oh, that"s a magician, "answered Little Claus. "He says we are not to eat porridge, for he has conjured the oven full of roast meat, fish, and cake."
　　"Wonderful!" cried the farmer; and he opened the oven in a hurry, and found all the dainty provisions which his wife had hidden there, but which, as he thought, the wizard had conjured forth. The woman dared not say anything, but put the things at once on the table; and so they both ate of the meat, the fish, and the cake. Now Little Claus again trod on his sack, and made the hide creak.
　　"What does he say now?" said the farmer.
　　"He says," replied Claus, "that he has conjured three bottles of wine for us, too, and that they are also standing there in the oven.
　　Now the woman was obliged to bring out the wine which she had hidden, and the farmer drank it and became very merry. He would have been very glad to own such a conjuror as Little Claus had there in the sack.
　　"Can he conjure the demon forth?" asked the farmer."I should like to see him, fornow I am merry."
　　"Oh, yes." said Little Claus, "my conjuror can do any thing that I ask of him. --Can you not?" he added, and trod on the hide, so that it crackled. "He says "Yes." But the demon is very ugly to look at; we had better not see him. "
　　"Oh, I"m not at all afraid. Pray, what will he look like?"
　　"Why, he"ll look the very image of a parish-clerk."
　　"Ha!" said the farmer, "that is ugly! You must know, I can"t bear the sight of a clerk. But it doesn"t matter now, for I know that he"s a demon, so I shall easily stand it. Now I have courage, but he must not come too near me."
　　"Now I will ask my conjuror," said Little Claus; and he trod on the sack and held his ear down.
　　"What does he say?"
　　"He says you may go and open the chest that stands in the corner, and you will see the demon crouching in it; but you must hold the lid so that he doesn"t slip out."
　　"Will you help me to hold him?" asked the farmer. And he went to the chest where the wife had hidden the real clerk, who sat in there and was very much afraid. The farmer opened the lid a little way and peeped in underneath it.
　　"Ugh! "he cried, and sprang backward."Yes, now I"ve seen him, and he looked exactly like our clerk. Oh, that was dreadful!"
　　Upon this they must drink. So they sat and drank until late into the night.
　　"You must sell me that conjuror," said the farmer. "Ask as much as you like for him. I"ll give you a whole bushel of money directly."
　　"No, that I can"t do," said Little Claus: "only think how much use I can make of this conjuror."
　　"Oh, I should so much like to have him!" cried the farmer; and he went on begging.
　　"Well," said Little Claus, at last, "as you have been so kind as to give me shelter for the night, I will let it be so. You shall have the conjuror for a bushel of money; but I must have the bushel heaped up.
　　"That you shall have," replied the farmer. "But you must take the chest yonder away with you. I will not keep it in my house an hour. One cannot know--perhaps he may be there still."
　　Little Claus gave the farmer his sack with the dry hide in it, and got in exchange a whole bushel of money, and that heaped up. The farmer also gave him a big truck, on which to carry off his money and chest.
　　"Farewell!" said Little Claus; and he went off with his money and the big chest, in which the clerk was still sitting.
　　On the other side of the wood was a great deep river. The water rushed along so rapidly that one could scarcely swim against the stream. A fine new bridge had been built over it. Little Claus stopped on the centre of the bridge, and said quite loud, so that the clerk could hear it,
　　"Ho, what shall I do with this stupid chest? It" s as heavy as if stones were in it. I shall only get tired if I drag it any farther, so I"ll throw it into the river; if it swims home to me, well and good; and if it does not, it will be no great matter."
　　And he took the chest with one hand, and lifted it up a little, as if he intended to throw it into the river.
　　"No! Stop it!" cried the clerk from within the chest; "let me out first!"
　　"Ugh!" exclaimed Little Claus, pretending to be frightened, "he" s in there still! I must make haste and throw him into the river, that he may be drowned."
　　"Oh, no, no!" screamed the clerk. "I"ll give you a whole bushel-full of money if you"ll let me go.
　　"Why, that" s another thing!"said Little Claus; and he opened the chest.
　　The clerk crept quickly out, pushed the empty chest into the water, and went to his house, where Little Claus received a whole bushel-full of money. He had already received one from the farmer, and so now he had his truck loaded with money.
　　"See, I"ve been well paid for the horse," he said to himself when he had got home to his own room, and was emptying all the money into a heap in the middle of the floor. "That will vex Great Claus when he hears how rich I have grown through my one horse; but I won"t tell him about it outright."
　　So he sent a boy to Great Claus to ask for a bushel measure.
　　"What can he want with it?" thought Great Claus. And he smeared some tar underneath the measure, so that some part of whatever was measured should stick to it. And thus it happened; for when he received the measure back, there were three new three-penny pieces adhering thereto.
　　"What"s this?" cried Great Claus; and he ran off at once to Little Claus. "Where did you get all that money from?"
　　"Oh, that"s for my horse"s skin. I sold it yesterday evening."
　　"That" s really being well paid," said Great Claus. And he ran home in a hurry, took an axe, and killed all his four horses; then he flayed them, and caried off their skins to the town.
　　"Hides! Hides! Who" ll buy any hides?" he cried through the streets.
　　All the shoemakers and tanners came running, and asked how much he wanted for them.
　　"A bushel of money for each!" said Great Claus.
　　"Are you mad?" said they. "Do yo think we have money by the bushel?"
　　"Hides! Hides!" he cried again; and to all who asked him what the hides would cost he replied, "A bushel of money.
　　"He wants to make fools of us," they all exclaimed. And the shoemakers took their straps, and the tanners their aprons, and they began to beat Great Claus.
　　"Hides! Hides !" they called after him, jeeringly. "Yes, we"ll tan your hide for you till the red broth runs down. Out of the town with him!" And Great Claus made the best haste he could, for he had never yet been thrashed as he was thrashed now.
　　"Well," said he when he got home, "Little Claus shall pay for this. I"ll kill him for it."
　　Now, at Little Claus" s the old grandmother had died. She had been very harsh andunkind to him, but yet he was very sorry, and took the dead woman and laid her in his warm bed, to see if she would not come to life again. There he intended she should remain all through the night, and he himself would sit in the corner and sleep on a chair, as he had often done before. As he sat there, in the night the door opened, and Great Claus came in with his axe. He knew where Little Claus" s bed stood; and, going straight up to it, he hit the old grandmother on the head, thinking she was Little Claus.
　　"D"ye see," said he,"you shall not make a fool of me again." And then he went home.
　　"That"s a bad fellow, that man," said Little Claus."He wanted to kill me. It wasa good thing for my old grandmother that she was dead already. He would have taken her life."
　　And he dressed his grandmother in her Sunday clothes, borrowed a horse of his neighbour, harnessed it to a car, and put the old lady on the back seat, so that she could not fall out when he drove. And so they trundled through the wood. When the sun rose they were in front of an inn; there Little Claus pulled up, and went in to have some refreshment.
　　The host had very, very much money; he was also a very good man, but exceedingly hot-tempered, as if he had pepper and tobacco in him.
　　"Good morning," said he to Little Claus. "You" ve put on your Sunday clothes early today."
　　"Yes," answered Little Claus;"I" m going to town with my old grandmother; she" s sitting there on the car without. I can"t bring her into the room--will you give her a glass ofmead? But you must speak very loud, for she can"t hear well."
　　"Yes, that I will," said the host. And he poured out a great glass of mead, and went out with it to the dead grandmother, who had been placed upright in the carriage.
　　"Here"s a glass of mead from your son," quoth the host. But the dead woman replied not a word, but sat quite still."Don" t you hear?" cried the host, as loud as he could, "here is a glass of mead from your son!"
　　Once more he called out the same thing, but as she still made not a movement, he became angry at last, and threw the glass in her face, so that the mead ran down over her nose, and she tumbled backwards into the car, for she had only been put upright, and not bound fast.
　　 "Hello!"cried Little Claus, running out at the door, and seizing the host by the breast; "you" ve killed my grandmother now! See, there" s a big hole in her forehead."
　　"Oh, here"s a misfortune! "cried the host, wringing his hands. "That all comes of my hot temper. Dear Little Claus, I"ll give you a bushel of money, and have your grandmother buried as if she were my own; only keep quiet, or I shall have my head cut off, and that would be so very disagreeable!"
　　So Little Claus again received a whole bushel of money, and the host buried the old grandmother as if she had been his own. And when Little Claus came home with all his money, he at once sent his boy to Great Claus to ask to borrow a bushel measure.
　　
　　小克劳斯告诉他自己迷了路,想在这儿借宿。
　　“当然可以啦。”农民说, “但我们还是得先吃点东西吧。”
　　妻子友好地欢迎两个人,铺了桌布在长桌上,给他们一大碗粥吃。农民饿坏了,津津有味地吃了起来。但小克劳斯忍不住去想美味的烤肉、鱼和蛋糕,他知道这些东西就放在炉子里。在桌子下面自己的脚边,放着他的装马皮的袋子。我们都知道的,他是要到城里去卖马皮。粥让他无法下咽,他就踩那个袋子,里面的干马皮发出咔咔的响声。
　　“住嘴!”小克劳斯冲着自己的袋子说。但他边说边踩,所以袋子响得更厉害了。
　　“你这是干吗?袋子里装的什么呀?”农民问。
　　“噢,是个魔法师。”小克劳斯答道,“他说我们不要吃粥,因为他变出了一炉子的烤肉、鱼和蛋糕。”
　　“太好了!”农民叫道。他急忙打开炉子,发现里面全是好饭菜,那是她老婆藏的,但他还以为是魔法师变出来的呢。妻子什么也不敢说,只好马上把那些东西端上桌。这样,他们就都吃上了肉、鱼和蛋糕。小克劳斯又开始踩他的袋子,让它发出咔咔声。
　　“这回他又说什么啦?”农民问道。
　　“他说,”小克劳斯答道:“他给我们变出了三瓶酒,也放在了炉子里。”
　　那个妇女被迫把自己藏在那儿的酒拿了出来,农民喝着酒,情绪更高了。他特别希望自己能有一个像小克劳斯袋子里那样的魔法师。
　　“他能变出魔鬼吗?”农民问,“我很想看看他是什么样子,因为我现在很快活。”
　　“噢,当然可以。”小克劳斯说,“我让我的魔法师变什么,他就能变出什么。你难道变不出来吗?”他说着,又踩了踩马皮,马皮再次咔咔响了起来。“他说可以,但魔鬼长得太难看了,我们还是不见为好。”
　　“噢,我一点也不怕。请告诉我,他长得是什么样子?”
　　“啊,他长得就像教区牧师一样。”
　　“哈!”农民说,“那可真难看!你知道,见到牧师我就受不了。但也无所谓啦,因为我知道他是个魔鬼,所以肯定能忍受。我有胆量,但不能让他太靠近我。”
　　“我还得问问我的魔法师。”小克劳斯说。他踩了踩袋子,侧耳倾听。
　　“他怎么说?”
　　“他说你可以去打开那个角落里的箱子,你就会发现里面蹲着个魔鬼。但你要按住盖子,不然他就会溜了。”
　　“你能帮我抓住他吗?”农民问。他走到自己老婆藏牧师的那个箱子边,牧师蹲在里面,吓得要命。农民掀开了一道缝,朝里面窥视。
　　“哇!”他大叫起来,往后一跳。“一点不错,这下我看到他了,长得和我们的牧师简直一模一样。噢,太可怕了!”
　　他们得喝点酒压惊。他们坐下来,一直喝到深夜。
　　“你得把这个魔法师卖给我,”农民说,“你要多少钱都行,我把一大斗钱全给你。”
　　“不行,我可不干。”小克劳斯说,“你想想这个魔法师对我有多大用处!”
　　“噢,我太想得到他了!”农民说。他继续谈价钱。
　　“好吧,”小克劳斯说,“你让我过夜,对我这么好,咱们就这么办吧。你花一斗钱来买这个魔法师,但我要求这斗钱得堆得冒尖儿。”
　　“就照你说的办。”农民答道,“但你必须把那个箱子也带走。我一刻也不想再留着那东西了。谁知道呢――说不定那个魔鬼还在里面呢。”
　　小克劳斯连马皮加袋子都留给了农民,作为交换,自己得了一大斗钱,堆得尖尖的。农民还给了他一辆大车,好让他把钱和箱子带走。
　　“再见!”小克劳斯说。他带着钱和大箱子走了,牧师还呆在箱子里面呢。
　　森林的另一边有条很深的河。水流得很急,人几乎无法游过去。河上新建了一座漂亮的桥,小克劳斯在桥中间停了下来,大声叫喊,好让牧师听见。
　　“哎,我带着这个大笨箱子有什么用?它那么沉,好像里面装的是石头。如果我再拖一段,肯定把我累得筋疲力尽,还不如把它扔进河里呢。如果它能漂到我家,那当然好。如果漂不过去,也不要紧。”
　　他一手抓过箱子,略微拎起来,似乎是要扔进河里。
　　“不!住手!”牧师在箱子里大叫起来,“先放我出去。”
　　“哇!”小克劳斯假装很害怕,惊叫道:“魔鬼还在里面!我得赶紧把他扔进河里,好把他淹死。”
　　“啊,不,不!”牧师尖叫道,“只要你放我出来,我就给你一大斗钱。”
　　“噢,给钱就另当别论了。”小克劳斯说。他打开了箱子。
　　牧师仓皇地爬了出来,把空箱子推进河里,然后回到家。小克劳斯又得了一大斗钱。他已经从农民那儿得了一斗,所以他的车上装满了钱。
　　“瞧,我的一匹马可真赚了不少钱!”他回到家,进了屋子,一边自言自语,一边把所有的钱都倒在地板中央,堆了一堆。“我用一匹马,搞了这么多钱,大克劳斯听了一定会上火的。但我可不能对他讲实话。”
　　于是他派个孩子去找大克劳斯,借一个量斗。
　　“他要这东西有什么用?”大克劳斯心想。他在量斗下面涂了一些沥青,这样不管量什么东西,斗底下都会粘住一些。他得逞了,等他收回量斗时,发现底下粘着崭新的三个硬币。
　　“这是怎么回事?”大克劳斯叫道,他马上跑去见小克劳斯。“你这么多钱都是从哪儿搞的?”
　　“噢,是靠马皮得来的。我昨天晚上把它给卖了。”
　　“可真卖了个好价钱。”大克劳斯说。他赶紧跑回家,操起斧头,把自己的四匹马全都杀死了。然后他剥了皮,将马皮带到城里去卖。
　　“马皮!马皮!谁买马皮?”他沿着大街叫卖。
　　所有的鞋匠和制革匠都跑过来,问他马皮怎么卖。
　　“一桶钱一个!”大克劳斯叫道。
　　“你疯了吗?”大家都说,“你以为我们有成斗的钱吗?”
　　“马皮!马皮!”他又叫卖起来。谁要是过来问马皮的价格,他就回答:“一桶钱!”
　　“他这是拿我们开心。”人们都大喊起来。鞋匠拿过皮带,制革匠拿过围裙,大家一起痛揍大克劳斯。
　　“马皮!马皮!”他们都追着他大叫,取笑他。“我们来加工你的皮,直到它鲜血直流!快滚出城去!”大克劳斯没命地逃跑,他还从来没有这么被人痛打过。
　　“好啊!”他回到家,说,“小克劳斯得偿还这笔债。我要干掉他。”
　　这时候,小克劳斯的奶奶在家里死了。她心挺狠的,对小克劳斯不好。但小克劳斯还是很难过,他把奶奶的尸体抱起来,放到自己温暖的床上,想看看她能不能再活过来。他准备让她在床上躺整整一夜,自己则坐在一个角落里,在一个椅子上睡。他从前经常在这儿睡。他坐在那儿,夜里门开了,大克劳斯提着斧头进了屋。他知道小克劳斯的床在哪儿,所以就直奔那里,朝小克劳斯奶奶头上就是一斧头――他还以为那是小克劳斯呢。
　　“这回你明白了吧,”他说,“你再也不能耍我了!”然后他就回了家。
　　“真是个大坏蛋!”小克劳斯说,“他竟然想杀死我。好在我的老奶奶本来就死了,要不然她就让他给杀掉了。”
　　他给奶奶穿上她星期天去教堂时穿的衣服,还从邻居家买了一匹马,套上车,将老太太放在后座上,这样一来他驾车的时候奶奶就不至于掉下来。就这样,他们越过森林。太阳升起的时候,他们来到一家小旅馆。小克劳斯停下车,进去歇歇,吃点东西。
　　老板十分有钱,心肠也很好,但他脾气很火爆,好像身体里装着胡椒和烟草似的。
　　“早上好,”他对小克劳斯说,“今儿这么早就穿上礼拜天的好衣服啦。”
　　“是啊,”小克劳斯回答道,“我和我的老奶奶一起进城去。我没法把她弄进屋――你能给她一杯蜂蜜酒吗?不过你得大声说话才行,因为她耳朵背。”
　　“好吧,我会的。”老板说。他倒了一大杯蜂蜜酒,拿出去给老奶奶。奶奶端坐在马车里。
　　“这是你的孩子给你买的一杯蜂蜜酒。”老板大声说。但已经死了的老奶奶没有回答,还是照样静静地坐着。“你没听见吗?”老板用尽力气吼道,“这是你的孩子给你买的蜂蜜酒!”
　　他又这样喊了一遍,但她还是一动不动。最后他生气了,把杯子甩在老太太的脸上,蜂蜜酒顺着她的鼻子流了下来。她向后倒在车里,因为她本来是被扶直的,没有被绑紧。
　　“喂!”小克劳斯叫道。他跑出门,一把抓住老板的胸口,说,“你杀了我的奶奶!瞧,他的前额上有个大洞。”
　　“啊,真是太不幸了!”老板叫道,急得直搓手。“这都怪我的火爆脾气。亲爱的小克劳斯,我给你一斗钱,再把你奶奶埋掉,当作我自己奶奶一样。只是请你别声张,否则我会被杀头的,那样可就糟糕了!”
　　就这样,小克斯又得到了满满一斗钱,老板把老奶奶埋了,就像埋自己的奶奶一样。小克斯带上所有的钱回到家,他又派他的孩子去找大克劳斯借量斗。
　　(未完待续)