花园里的独角兽

The Unicorn in the Garden

花园中的独角兽

By James Thurber

詹姆斯·瑟伯

reprinted from Fables For Our Time

选自《当代寓言集》

Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him.

从前，在一个阳关明媚的早晨，一个男人坐在屋子的一角吃早餐。正吃着炒蛋时，他抬头突然看到花园中有一只白色的独角兽，只见它头上长着金色的犄角，正悄悄地在那里撕扯玫瑰花。男人见状，到楼上的卧室里找妻子商量。妻子这时睡的正香，他叫醒她，说：“花园里有只独角兽，在吃玫瑰哩。”妻子睁开一只眼睛，气呼呼地看着他。

"The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; now he was browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn," said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he said,"ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch."

“神话中才有独角兽。”说完，翻过身去继续睡。男人只好自己下楼到花园中去。独角兽还在那里，正在吃郁金香。“独角兽，你过来”，说着，他摘了一朵百合花递过去。独角兽一声不响地把百合吃了。花园里有只独角兽，男人高兴得不得了，他再次上楼叫醒妻子，告诉她：“独角兽吃了一朵百合。”她妻子坐起来，冷冷地看着他，“你这个呆子，看来要把你送到精神病院才行!”

The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.

男人讨厌别人叫他“呆子”，讨厌“精神病院”这样的字眼，尤其是在这样一个阳光灿烂的早晨，还有一只独角兽在自家花园里的早晨！想了想，他又回到屋子里，再次告诉妻子：“它前额正中有一只金色的犄角。”说完，他又回到花园里看独角兽。这时，独角兽已经走了。男人在玫瑰丛中坐下，慢慢睡去了。

As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest.

就在丈夫走出房间时，妻子迅速起来穿戴好。她心情非常爽快，眼里闪着洋洋得意的光。她先后给警察局和精神科医生打电话，告诉他们赶紧到自己家里来，并且要带上约束衣（用来束缚精神病患者—译者注）。几位警察和那位接到电话的精神医生随即赶来，他们坐在椅子上，好奇地看着女人。

"My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lilly," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.

她开口了：“我丈夫今天早上看到一只独角兽。”警察和精神医生面面相觑。“他告诉我独角兽吃了一朵百合。”警察和精神医生面面相觑。“他说独角兽的前额正中有一只金色的犄角。”这时，精神医生悄悄暗示了警察一下，警察们从椅子上跳起来，把女人抓住。他们费了好大的劲才把女人制服了，因为她一直在挣扎，但最终还是被制服了。他们给她穿上约束衣时，她丈夫进来了。

"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jaybird."

“你告诉你妻子你见到独角兽？”警察问道。“怎么可能”，男人答道，“独角兽那是神话里的动物呀。”“这就是我们想知道的。”精神医生说，“把她带走。很抱歉，先生，可是你夫人疯了。”

So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.

就这样，警察和精神医生把他那又叫又骂的妻子带走了，把她关进了精神病院。从此，男人过上了幸福的生活。

Moral: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.

寓意：雏鸟未孵出，莫急先数蛋。（不要过早地打如意算盘。）

（原文模仿了美国的谚语“Don't count your chickens before they are hatched”，意为：在小鸡孵出之前不要过早地乐观。同时，原句中的booby 还有“疯人”的意思，有一语双关的效果。—译者注）

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