There was once a man called Frederick: he had a wife whose name was Catherine, and they had not long been married. One day Frederick said. ‘Kate! I am going to work in the fields; when I come back I shall be hungry so let me have something nice cooked, and a good draught of ale.’ ‘Very well,’ said she, ‘it shall all be ready.’ When dinner-time drew nigh, Catherine took a nice steak, which was all the meat she had, and put it on the fire to fry. The steak soon began to look brown, and to crackle in the pan; and Catherine stood by with a fork and turned it: then she said to herself, ‘The steak is almost ready, I may as well go to the cellar for the ale.’ So she left the pan on the fire and took a large jug and went into the cellar and tapped the ale cask. The beer ran into the jug and Catherine stood looking on. At last it popped into her head, ‘The dog is not shut up--he may be running away with the steak; that’s well thought of.’ So up she ran from the cellar; and sure enough the rascally cur had got the steak in his mouth, and was making off with it.
从前有个叫弗雷德里克的人，他娶了个名叫凯瑟琳的妻子，两人新婚不久。有一天，弗雷德里克说：‘凯特！我要去田里干活，回来时一定饿了，给我做点好吃的，再倒杯好啤酒。’‘好的，’她说，‘都会准备好的。’快到吃午饭的时候，凯瑟琳把她仅有的一块好牛排放在火上煎。牛排很快开始变褐，在锅里发出噼啪声；凯瑟琳站在旁边用叉子翻动它，然后自言自语道：‘牛排快好了，我去地窖取啤酒吧。’于是她把锅留在火上，拿起一个大罐子走进地窖，打开酒桶。啤酒流进罐子里，凯瑟琳站在一旁看着。突然她想到：‘狗没拴好——它可能会叼走牛排；这主意不错。’于是她从地窖跑上来，果然那只坏狗嘴里叼着牛排，正想溜走呢。
Away ran Catherine, and away ran the dog across the field: but he ran faster than she, and stuck close to the steak. ‘It’s all gone, and “what can’t be cured must be endured”,’ said Catherine. So she turned round; and as she had run a good way and was tired, she walked home leisurely to cool herself.
凯瑟琳跑开了，狗也追着跑过田野：但它跑得比她快，紧紧叼着那块牛排。‘全没了，真是“既成事实，只能忍受”’，凯瑟琳说道。于是她转身往回走；由于已经跑了一段路，感到疲惫，她便慢悠悠地步行回家以凉快一下。
Now all this time the ale was running too, for Catherine had not turned the cock; and when the jug was full the liquor ran upon the floor till the cask was empty. When she got to the cellar stairs she saw what had happened. ‘My stars!’ said she, ‘what shall I do to keep Frederick from seeing all this slopping about?’ So she thought a while; and at last remembered that there was a sack of fine meal bought at the last fair, and that if she sprinkled this over the floor it would suck up the ale nicely. ‘What a lucky thing,’ said she, ‘that we kept that meal! we have now a good use for it.’ So away she went for it: but she managed to set it down just upon the great jug full of beer, and upset it; and thus all the ale that had been saved was set swimming on the floor also. ‘Ah! well,’ said she, ‘when one goes another may as well follow.’ Then she strewed the meal all about the cellar, and was quite pleased with her cleverness, and said, ‘How very neat and clean it looks!’
这时，凯瑟琳忘了关龙头，啤酒一直在流。当酒壶装满后，酒液顺着地板流淌，直到木桶空了。她走到地窖楼梯口时，看到了发生的一切。“天哪！”她说，“我该怎么让弗雷德里克不看到满地狼藉呢？”她沉思了一会儿，最后想起上次集市上买过一袋细面粉，如果把它撒在地板上，就能把啤酒吸干。“多亏我们留着那袋面粉啊！”她说，“现在总算派上用场了。”于是她跑去取面粉，却不慎将袋子放在装满啤酒的大酒壶上，导致酒壶翻倒，原本救下的啤酒也流到了地上。“唉，”她说，“一个倒了，另一个跟着倒也无妨。”随后她把面粉撒遍整个地窖，对自己的机智颇为得意，说道：“看起来多么整洁干净啊！”
At noon Frederick came home. ‘Now, wife,’ cried he, ‘what have you for dinner?’ ‘O Frederick!’ answered she, ‘I was cooking you a steak; but while I went down to draw the ale, the dog ran away with it; and while I ran after him, the ale ran out; and when I went to dry up the ale with the sack of meal that we got at the fair, I upset the jug: but the cellar is now quite dry, and looks so clean!’ ‘Kate, Kate,’ said he, ‘how could you do all this?’ Why did you leave the steak to fry, and the ale to run, and then spoil all the meal?’ ‘Why, Frederick,’ said she, ‘I did not know I was doing wrong; you should have told me before.’
中午，弗雷德里克回到家。‘现在，妻子，’他喊道，‘你准备了什么晚餐？’‘哦，弗雷德里克！’她回答说，‘我本来正在给你煎牛排；可是当我下楼去取啤酒时，狗把牛排叼走了；等我追过去时，啤酒已经洒光了；然后我想用我们在集市上买的面粉袋来吸干啤酒，结果又把罐子打翻了：不过现在地窖已经完全干了，看起来非常干净！’‘凯特，凯特，’他说，‘你怎么能做出这种事？你为什么要让牛排煎着不管，让啤酒流掉，然后又把面粉糟蹋了？’‘哦，弗雷德里克，’她说，‘我不知道自己做错了；你应该事先告诉我的。’
The husband thought to himself, ‘If my wife manages matters thus, I must look sharp myself.’ Now he had a good deal of gold in the house: so he said to Catherine, ‘What pretty yellow buttons these are! I shall put them into a box and bury them in the garden; but take care that you never go near or meddle with them.’ ‘No, Frederick,’ said she, ‘that I never will.’ As soon as he was gone, there came by some pedlars with earthenware plates and dishes, and they asked her whether she would buy. ‘Oh dear me, I should like to buy very much, but I have no money: if you had any use for yellow buttons, I might deal with you.’ ‘Yellow buttons!’ said they: ‘let us have a look at them.’ ‘Go into the garden and dig where I tell you, and you will find the yellow buttons: I dare not go myself.’ So the rogues went: and when they found what these yellow buttons were, they took them all away, and left her plenty of plates and dishes. Then she set them all about the house for a show: and when Frederick came back, he cried out, ‘Kate, what have you been doing?’ ‘See,’ said she, ‘I have bought all these with your yellow buttons: but I did not touch them myself; the pedlars went themselves and dug them up.’ ‘Wife, wife,’ said Frederick, ‘what a pretty piece of work you have made! those yellow buttons were all my money: how came you to do such a thing?’ ‘Why,’ answered she, ‘I did not know there was any harm in it; you should have told me.’
丈夫心想：‘如果我的妻子这样处理事情，我也得留神了。’他家里有不少金子，于是对凯瑟琳说：‘这些黄纽扣真漂亮！我要把它们装进盒子里埋在花园里，你可千万别靠近或碰它们。’‘不，弗雷德里克，我绝不会那样做。’她刚说完，丈夫一走，就有几个卖陶器的小贩路过，问她要不要买。‘哎呀，我很想买，但我没有钱；如果你们需要黄纽扣的话，我倒可以跟你们交易。’‘黄纽扣！’他们说，‘让我们看看。’‘去花园里按我指的地方挖，就能找到黄纽扣了；我自己不敢去。’于是那帮骗子去了，发现那些所谓的黄纽扣原来是金子，便把它们全拿走了，只留下许多盘子和碗碟给她。随后她把这些东西摆满屋子炫耀。弗雷德里克回来时大喊：‘凯特，你干了什么？’‘你看，’她说，‘我用你的黄纽扣买了所有这些盘子碗碟；不过我没亲手碰它们，是小贩们自己去挖出来的。’‘妻子啊妻子，’弗雷德里克说，‘你干得真漂亮！那些黄纽扣全是我家的钱，你怎么能做出这种事？’‘哎呀，’她答道，‘我又不知道有什么不对；你应该事先告诉我的。’
Catherine stood musing for a while, and at last said to her husband, ‘Hark ye, Frederick, we will soon get the gold back: let us run after the thieves.’ ‘Well, we will try,’ answered he; ‘but take some butter and cheese with you, that we may have something to eat by the way.’ ‘Very well,’ said she; and they set out: and as Frederick walked the fastest, he left his wife some way behind. ‘It does not matter,’ thought she: ‘when we turn back, I shall be so much nearer home than he.’
凯瑟琳沉思了一会儿，最后对丈夫说：‘听我说，弗雷德里克，我们很快就能把金子追回来：快追那伙小偷。’‘好吧，我们试试，’他回答说，‘不过你带上些黄油和奶酪吧，路上好有点吃的。’‘好的，’她说，于是他们出发了；由于弗雷德里克走得最快，他把妻子远远甩在了后面。‘没关系，’她想，‘等我们往回走时，我比他离家里更近一些。’
Presently she came to the top of a hill, down the side of which there was a road so narrow that the cart wheels always chafed the trees on each side as they passed. ‘Ah, see now,’ said she, ‘how they have bruised and wounded those poor trees; they will never get well.’ So she took pity on them, and made use of the butter to grease them all, so that the wheels might not hurt them so much. While she was doing this kind office one of her cheeses fell out of the basket, and rolled down the hill. Catherine looked, but could not see where it had gone; so she said, ‘Well, I suppose the other will go the same way and find you; he has younger legs than I have.’ Then she rolled the other cheese after it; and away it went, nobody knows where, down the hill. But she said she supposed that they knew the road, and would follow her, and she could not stay there all day waiting for them.
此刻，她来到了一座小山顶上，山脚下有一条狭窄的小路，马车经过时车轮总会擦伤两旁的树木。‘啊，你看，’她说，‘这些可怜的小树被磨得多么青紫受伤啊，它们恐怕永远好不了了。’于是她心生怜悯，用黄油把那些树都涂了一遍，这样车轮就不会再那么伤害它们了。当她正在做这件好事时，一块奶酪从篮子里掉了出来，顺着山坡滚了下去。凯瑟琳回头张望，却看不见它滚到了哪里，便说道：‘好吧，我想另一块奶酪会跟着去找到它的；它的腿比我年轻呢。’于是她把另一块奶酪也推了下去，让它跟着滚走，至于它最终滚到了哪里，无人知晓。但她心想，它们一定认得路，会跟着她走，自己也不能整天站在那里等它们。
At last she overtook Frederick, who desired her to give him something to eat. Then she gave him the dry bread. ‘Where are the butter and cheese?’ said he. ‘Oh!’ answered she, ‘I used the butter to grease those poor trees that the wheels chafed so: and one of the cheeses ran away so I sent the other after it to find it, and I suppose they are both on the road together somewhere.’ ‘What a goose you are to do such silly things!’ said the husband. ‘How can you say so?’ said she; ‘I am sure you never told me not.’
最后她追上了弗雷德里克，他让她给他点吃的。于是她把干面包给了他。‘黄油和奶酪呢？’他问。‘哦！’她回答说，‘我用黄油给那些被车轮磨得难受的可怜树木涂了油；其中一个奶酪跑掉了，所以我派另一个去追它找回来，我想它们现在一定在路上的某个地方待在一起了。’‘你真是个傻瓜，做这种傻事！’丈夫说。‘你怎么能这么说呢？’她回道，‘我敢肯定你从未告诉过我不能这么做。’
They ate the dry bread together; and Frederick said, ‘Kate, I hope you locked the door safe when you came away.’ ‘No,’ answered she, ‘you did not tell me.’ ‘Then go home, and do it now before we go any farther,’ said Frederick, ‘and bring with you something to eat.’
他们一起吃了干面包；弗雷德里克说："凯特，你走的时候把门锁好了吗？" "没有，"她回答，"你没告诉我。" "那你回家去，在我们继续前行之前先把门锁好，再带点吃的来。"
Catherine did as he told her, and thought to herself by the way, ‘Frederick wants something to eat; but I don’t think he is very fond of butter and cheese: I’ll bring him a bag of fine nuts, and the vinegar, for I have often seen him take some.’
凯瑟琳照他说的做了，心里却暗自思忖：‘弗雷德里克想要点吃的；不过我觉得他并不太喜欢黄油和奶酪。我给他带一袋精选的坚果吧，还有醋，因为我常看见他吃些醋。’
When she reached home, she bolted the back door, but the front door she took off the hinges, and said, ‘Frederick told me to lock the door, but surely it can nowhere be so safe if I take it with me.’ So she took her time by the way; and when she overtook her husband she cried out, ‘There, Frederick, there is the door itself, you may watch it as carefully as you please.’ ‘Alas! alas!’ said he, ‘what a clever wife I have! I sent you to make the house fast, and you take the door away, so that everybody may go in and out as they please--however, as you have brought the door, you shall carry it about with you for your pains.’ ‘Very well,’ answered she, ‘I’ll carry the door; but I’ll not carry the nuts and vinegar bottle also--that would be too much of a load; so if you please, I’ll fasten them to the door.’
她回到家后，把后门闩好，却把前门卸了下来，说道：‘弗雷德里克让我锁上门，但如果我把门带走，哪里会比现在更安全呢？’于是她不慌不忙地赶路。当她追上丈夫时，喊道：‘瞧，弗雷德里克，这就是门本身，你可以像你想的那样小心看守它。’‘唉！唉！’他说，‘我有个多么聪明的妻子啊！我让你把门锁好，你却把门拆走了，这样谁都可以随意进出——不过既然你把门带来了，你就得背着它走以表你的辛劳。’‘好吧，’她回答，‘我会背门，但不会同时背着坚果和醋瓶，那太重了；所以如果你同意的话，我就把它们绑在门上。’
Frederick of course made no objection to that plan, and they set off into the wood to look for the thieves; but they could not find them: and when it grew dark, they climbed up into a tree to spend the night there. Scarcely were they up, than who should come by but the very rogues they were looking for. They were in truth great rascals, and belonged to that class of people who find things before they are lost; they were tired; so they sat down and made a fire under the very tree where Frederick and Catherine were. Frederick slipped down on the other side, and picked up some stones. Then he climbed up again, and tried to hit the thieves on the head with them: but they only said, ‘It must be near morning, for the wind shakes the fir-apples down.’
弗雷德里克自然对那个计划毫无异议，于是他们动身进树林去寻找小偷；但他们没能找到。天色渐暗时，他们爬上一棵树过夜。刚上去不久，那伙正被他们寻找的无赖便出现了。他们确实是些大坏蛋，属于那种在东西丢失前就能先找到的人；他们累了，便在弗雷德里克和凯瑟琳所在的树下生起火坐下。弗雷德里克从另一侧溜下，捡起一些石头，然后重新爬上去，试图用石头砸那些小偷的脑袋；但他们只说：‘快到早晨了，风把松果吹下来了。’
Catherine, who had the door on her shoulder, began to be very tired; but she thought it was the nuts upon it that were so heavy: so she said softly, ‘Frederick, I must let the nuts go.’ ‘No,’ answered he, ‘not now, they will discover us.’ ‘I can’t help that: they must go.’ ‘Well, then, make haste and throw them down, if you will.’ Then away rattled the nuts down among the boughs and one of the thieves cried, ‘Bless me, it is hailing.’
凯瑟琳把门扛在肩上，开始感到十分疲惫；但她以为那是门上的坚果太重了，于是轻声说道：‘弗雷德里克，我得把坚果放下了。’‘不行，’他回答，‘现在不能放，他们会发现我们的。’‘我管不了那么多：它们必须放下。’‘好吧，那你快点把它们扔下去吧。’于是坚果噼里啪啦地顺着树枝滚落下来，其中一个强盗喊道：‘天哪，下起冰雹了。’
A little while after, Catherine thought the door was still very heavy: so she whispered to Frederick, ‘I must throw the vinegar down.’ ‘Pray don’t,’ answered he, ‘it will discover us.’ ‘I can’t help that,’ said she, ‘go it must.’ So she poured all the vinegar down; and the thieves said, ‘What a heavy dew there is!’
过了一会儿，凯瑟琳觉得门还是太重了，便低声对弗雷德里克说：‘我得把醋倒掉。’‘求你别这样，’他回答，‘那会暴露我们的。’‘我没办法，’她说，‘必须倒掉。’于是她把所有的醋都倒了下去；窃贼们说道：‘这露水可真重啊！’
At last it popped into Catherine’s head that it was the door itself that was so heavy all the time: so she whispered, ‘Frederick, I must throw the door down soon.’ But he begged and prayed her not to do so, for he was sure it would betray them. ‘Here goes, however,’ said she: and down went the door with such a clatter upon the thieves, that they cried out ‘Murder!’ and not knowing what was coming, ran away as fast as they could, and left all the gold. So when Frederick and Catherine came down, there they found all their money safe and sound.
最后，凯瑟琳突然想到，一直以来如此沉重的其实是门本身：于是她低声对弗雷德里克说，‘我得尽快把门拆掉。’但他恳求并祈祷她不要这么做，因为他确信那会暴露他们。‘那就试试看吧，’她说，随即把门砸下，重重地落在那些小偷身上，吓得他们大喊‘杀人啦！’，不知发生了什么事，便拼命逃窜，丢下了所有的金子。于是当弗雷德里克和凯瑟琳下来时，发现他们的钱都安然无恙。