There was once a cook named Gretel, who wore shoes with red heels, and when she walked out with them on, she turned herself this way and that, was quite happy and thought: ‘You certainly are a pretty girl!’ And when she came home she drank, in her gladness of heart, a draught of wine, and as wine excites a desire to eat, she tasted the best of whatever she was cooking until she was satisfied, and said: ‘The cook must know what the food is like.’
从前有个名叫格蕾泰尔的厨娘，她穿着一双红底鞋。当她穿着这双鞋出门时，总是左右扭动，满心欢喜地想：‘你真是个漂亮姑娘！’回到家后，她因心中喜悦而喝了一杯葡萄酒；酒能激发食欲，于是她在烹饪过程中尝遍了最好的食材，直到心满意足，并说道：‘厨娘必须知道食物的味道。’
It came to pass that the master one day said to her: ‘Gretel, there is a guest coming this evening; prepare me two fowls very daintily.’ ‘I will see to it, master,’ answered Gretel. She killed two fowls, scalded them, plucked them, put them on the spit, and towards evening set them before the fire, that they might roast. The fowls began to turn brown, and were nearly ready, but the guest had not yet arrived. Then Gretel called out to her master: ‘If the guest does not come, I must take the fowls away from the fire, but it will be a sin and a shame if they are not eaten the moment they are at their juiciest.’ The master said: ‘I will run myself, and fetch the guest.’ When the master had turned his back, Gretel laid the spit with the fowls on one side, and thought: ‘Standing so long by the fire there, makes one sweat and thirsty; who knows when they will come? Meanwhile, I will run into the cellar, and take a drink.’ She ran down, set a jug, said: ‘God bless it for you, Gretel,’ and took a good drink, and thought that wine should flow on, and should not be interrupted, and took yet another hearty draught.
有一天，主人对她说：'格蕾特，今晚有位客人要来，请为我准备两只鸡，做得精致些。'‘我会照办的，主人，’格蕾特答道。她杀了两只鸡，烫过毛，拔干净，穿在烤叉上，傍晚时分放在火前烘烤。鸡肉渐渐变黄，快要熟了，可客人还没到。于是格蕾特对主人喊道：‘如果客人不来，我就得把鸡从火上拿下来；但若不在最鲜嫩多汁时吃掉，那便是罪过和羞耻了。’主人说：‘我去亲自接客人吧。’主人一转身，格蕾特就把烤叉连同鸡放到一边，心想：‘在火边站这么久，让人又热又渴；谁知道他们什么时候来？趁现在，我去地窖喝口水。’她跑下楼，拿起一只酒壶，说道：‘上帝保佑你，格蕾特，’然后痛饮一口，心想酒应该一直流着，不能中断，于是又豪爽地喝了一大口。
Then she went and put the fowls down again to the fire, basted them, and drove the spit merrily round. But as the roast meat smelt so good, Gretel thought: ‘Something might be wrong, it ought to be tasted!’ She touched it with her finger, and said: ‘Ah! how good fowls are! It certainly is a sin and a shame that they are not eaten at the right time!’ She ran to the window, to see if the master was not coming with his guest, but she saw no one, and went back to the fowls and thought: ‘One of the wings is burning! I had better take it off and eat it.’ So she cut it off, ate it, and enjoyed it, and when she had done, she thought: ‘The other must go down too, or else master will observe that something is missing.’ When the two wings were eaten, she went and looked for her master, and did not see him. It suddenly occurred to her: ‘Who knows? They are perhaps not coming at all, and have turned in somewhere.’ Then she said: ‘Well, Gretel, enjoy yourself, one fowl has been cut into, take another drink, and eat it up entirely; when it is eaten you will have some peace, why should God’s good gifts be spoilt?’ So she ran into the cellar again, took an enormous drink and ate up the one chicken in great glee. When one of the chickens was swallowed down, and still her master did not come, Gretel looked at the other and said: ‘What one is, the other should be likewise, the two go together; what’s right for the one is right for the other; I think if I were to take another draught it would do me no harm.’ So she took another hearty drink, and let the second chicken follow the first.
于是她再次把鸡放回火上，刷油并欢快地转动烤叉。但烤肉的香气如此诱人，格蕾特心想：‘或许该尝尝味道了！’她用手指蘸了蘸肉汁，说道：‘啊！这鸡真香！现在不吃真是罪过和遗憾！’她跑到窗边，想看看主人是否带着客人来了，却不见人影，便又回到鸡旁，心想：‘一只翅膀烤焦了，不如切下来吃掉。’于是她切下一只翅膀，津津有味地吃了起来。吃完后她想：‘另一只也得处理掉，否则主人会发现少了东西。’两只翅膀都吃光后，她再次去找主人，仍不见踪影。忽然她灵机一动：‘谁知道呢？他们或许根本不来，已经在别处歇脚了。’于是她说：‘好吧，格蕾特，尽情享用吧！一只鸡已经动过了，再喝一口酒，把整只都吃光；等它下肚，你就安心了，何必糟蹋上帝赐予的美味呢？’于是她再次跑进地窖，痛饮一大口，兴高采烈地把那只鸡吃得一干二净。当第一只鸡被吞下后，主人仍未出现，格蕾特看着第二只鸡说道：‘一只如此，另一只也该如此，二者本应成双；对一只适用的，对另一只也适用；我想再喝一口酒也无妨。’于是她又痛饮一大口，让第二只鸡紧随第一只下了肚。
While she was making the most of it, her master came and cried: ‘Hurry up, Gretel, the guest is coming directly after me!’ ‘Yes, sir, I will soon serve up,’ answered Gretel. Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps. Presently the guest came, and knocked politely and courteously at the house-door. Gretel ran, and looked to see who was there, and when she saw the guest, she put her finger to her lips and said: ‘Hush! hush! go away as quickly as you can, if my master catches you it will be the worse for you; he certainly did ask you to supper, but his intention is to cut off your two ears. Just listen how he is sharpening the knife for it!’ The guest heard the sharpening, and hurried down the steps again as fast as he could. Gretel was not idle; she ran screaming to her master, and cried: ‘You have invited a fine guest!’ ‘Why, Gretel? What do you mean by that?’ ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘he has taken the chickens which I was just going to serve up, off the dish, and has run away with them!’ ‘That’s a nice trick!’ said her master, and lamented the fine chickens. ‘If he had but left me one, so that something remained for me to eat.’ He called to him to stop, but the guest pretended not to hear. Then he ran after him with the knife still in his hand, crying: ‘Just one, just one,’ meaning that the guest should leave him just one chicken, and not take both. The guest, however, thought no otherwise than that he was to give up one of his ears, and ran as if fire were burning under him, in order to take them both with him.
她正忙得不可开交时，主人走过来喊道：‘格蕾特，快点！客人马上就要到了！’‘好的，先生，我马上就来上菜。’格蕾特答道。与此同时，主人检查餐桌是否摆好，拿起那把准备切鸡的大刀，在台阶上磨了起来。不一会儿，客人来了，礼貌而客气地敲了敲门。格蕾特跑过去开门，探头一看是谁，见到客人后，她把手指放在唇边，低声说：‘嘘！嘘！快走吧，越快越好！要是被我家主人抓住，你就惨了！他确实请你来吃晚饭，但他打算割下你的两只耳朵。你听，他正在磨刀呢！’客人听到磨刀声，立刻慌忙顺着台阶飞快地跑开了。格蕾特也没闲着，她尖叫着跑去找主人，喊道：‘您请了个多么好的客人啊！’‘怎么了，格蕾特？你这是什么意思？’‘是啊，’她说，‘他把我正要端上桌的鸡都拿走了，还带着跑了！’‘这倒是个好把戏！’主人说道，惋惜那些上好的鸡。‘要是他肯留下一只，至少还能留点给我吃。’他喊住客人，但客人假装没听见。于是主人手里仍握着刀追了上去，喊道：‘就一只，就一只！’意思是让客人留下一只鸡，别把两只都拿走。可客人却以为是要他交出一只耳朵，吓得魂飞魄散，拼命奔跑，仿佛脚下有火在烧，一心只想把两只耳朵都带走。