第78章 對此毋庸置疑 There Is No Doubt About It(第4/5 頁)

in his eyes, but yet he crowed out: “three hens have died of their unfortunate love for a cock. they had plucked out all their feathers. It is a horrible story: I will not take it to myself, but let it go farther.”

“傳出去！” 蝙蝠尖叫著，母雞們咯咯叫著，公雞們打鳴著，“傳出去！傳出去！” 就這樣，這個故事從一個家禽院傳到另一個家禽院，最後又傳回了它真正開始的地方。

“Let it go farther,” shrieked the bats, and the hens clucked and the cocks crowed, “Let it go farther! Let it go farther!” In this way the story travelled from poultry-yard to poultry-yard, and at last came back to the place from which it had really started.

“五隻母雞，” 現在故事變成了這樣，“把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了，為的是展示她們當中誰因為愛那隻公雞變得最瘦，然後她們就互相啄，直到血流下來，倒地而死，讓她們的家族蒙羞，也讓她們的主人遭受了巨大損失。”

“Five hens,” it now ran, “have plucked out all their feathers to show which of them had grown leanest for love of the cock, and then they all pecked at each other till the blood ran down and they fell down dead, to the derision and shame of their family, and to the great loss of their owner.”

那隻掉了根鬆散小羽毛的母雞自然沒認出這就是自己的故事，作為一隻體面的母雞，它說：“我看不起那些家禽；不過還有更多這樣的呢。這種事可不該隱瞞，我會盡全力把這個故事登到報紙上，好讓全國都知道；那些母雞罪有應得，她們的家族也是。”

the hen who had lost the loose little feather naturally did not recognise her own story, and being a respectable hen, said: “I despise those fowls; but there are more of that kind. Such things ought not to be concealed, and I will do my best to get the story into the papers, so that it bees known throughout the land; the hens have richly deserved it, and their family too.”

它真的登上報紙了，被印了出來