There was once a poor widow who lived in a lonely cottage. In front of the cottage was a garden wherein stood two rose-trees, one of which bore white and the other red roses. She had two children who were like the two rose-trees, and one was called Snow-white, and the other Rose-red. They were as good and happy, as busy and cheerful as ever two children in the world were, only Snow-white was more quiet and gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red liked better to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother, and helped her with her housework, or read to her when there was nothing to do.
从前有一位贫穷的寡妇，独自住在一间偏僻的小屋里。小屋前有一个花园，园中种着两棵玫瑰树，一棵开白花，另一棵开红花。她有两个女儿，就像那两棵玫瑰树一样，一个叫白雪，另一个叫红玫。她们善良快乐，勤劳开朗，是世上最可爱的两个孩子，只是白雪比红玫更文静温柔。红玫喜欢跑到草地和田野里采花捉蝴蝶；而白雪则常待在家里陪母亲做家务，或者在无事时给母亲读书。
The two children were so fond of one another that they always held each other by the hand when they went out together, and when Snow-white said: ‘We will not leave each other,’ Rose-red answered: ‘Never so long as we live,’ and their mother would add: ‘What one has she must share with the other.’
两个孩子彼此非常喜爱，外出时总是手牵着手。当白雪公主说：'我们永不分离'时，玫瑰红便回答：'只要活着就绝不分开'，她们的母亲也会补充道：'一个人拥有的，另一个人也必共享。'
They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red berries, and no beasts did them any harm, but came close to them trustfully. The little hare would eat a cabbage-leaf out of their hands, the roe grazed by their side, the stag leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still upon the boughs, and sang whatever they knew.
他们常常独自跑进森林，采摘红浆果，野兽们并未伤害他们，反而信任地靠近。小兔子会从他们手中吃菜叶，狍子在身旁吃草，雄鹿欢快地在他们身边跳跃，鸟儿则安静地栖息在枝头，唱出它们所知道的一切歌谣。
No mishap overtook them; if they had stayed too late in the forest, and night came on, they laid themselves down near one another upon the moss, and slept until morning came, and their mother knew this and did not worry on their account.
他们没有遭遇任何意外；如果在森林里待得太晚，夜幕降临，他们便彼此依偎着躺在苔藓上，一直睡到清晨到来，而他们的母亲知道这一切，因此从不为他们担心。
Once when they had spent the night in the wood and the dawn had roused them, they saw a beautiful child in a shining white dress sitting near their bed. He got up and looked quite kindly at them, but said nothing and went into the forest. And when they looked round they found that they had been sleeping quite close to a precipice, and would certainly have fallen into it in the darkness if they had gone only a few paces further. And their mother told them that it must have been the angel who watches over good children.
有一次，他们在森林里过夜，黎明将他们唤醒时，看见一个身穿闪亮白裙的美丽孩子坐在他们床边。他站起身，和善地看了他们一眼，却什么也没说，便走进了森林。当他们环顾四周时，发现他们一直睡在悬崖边不远处，若在黑暗中再走几步，就一定会掉下去。他们的母亲告诉他们，那一定是守护善良孩子的天使。
Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother’s little cottage so neat that it was a pleasure to look inside it. In the summer Rose-red took care of the house, and every morning laid a wreath of flowers by her mother’s bed before she awoke, in which was a rose from each tree. In the winter Snow-white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the hob. The kettle was of brass and shone like gold, so brightly was it polished. In the evening, when the snowflakes fell, the mother said: ‘Go, Snow-white, and bolt the door,’ and then they sat round the hearth, and the mother took her spectacles and read aloud out of a large book, and the two girls listened as they sat and spun. And close by them lay a lamb upon the floor, and behind them upon a perch sat a white dove with its head hidden beneath its wings.
白雪和玫瑰红把母亲的小屋收拾得井井有条，让人一进去就感到赏心悦目。夏天时，玫瑰红负责打理家务，每天清晨在母亲醒来前，都会在她床边放上一束花环，花环里插着从每棵树上采来的玫瑰。冬天里，白雪生起炉火，把水壶挂在炉架上。那水壶是黄铜制的，擦得锃亮，金光闪闪。傍晚时分，雪花飘落，母亲便说：‘白雪，去把门闩上。’随后她们围坐在炉边，母亲戴上眼镜，大声朗读一本大书，两个女孩则坐着纺线，静静聆听。旁边地板上卧着一只小羊羔，身后栖架上坐着一只白鸽，把头藏在翅膀下。
One evening, as they were thus sitting comfortably together, someone knocked at the door as if he wished to be let in. The mother said: ‘Quick, Rose-red, open the door, it must be a traveller who is seeking shelter.’ Rose-red went and pushed back the bolt, thinking that it was a poor man, but it was not; it was a bear that stretched his broad, black head within the door.
一天晚上，她们正舒适地坐在一起，忽然有人敲门，似乎想进来。母亲说：‘快，玫瑰红，去开门，准是个寻求庇护的旅人。’玫瑰红走过去推开门闩，以为是个穷人，却原来是一只熊，它把宽大的黑脑袋伸进了门内。
Rose-red screamed and sprang back, the lamb bleated, the dove fluttered, and Snow-white hid herself behind her mother’s bed. But the bear began to speak and said: ‘Do not be afraid, I will do you no harm! I am half-frozen, and only want to warm myself a little beside you.’
玫瑰红尖叫着跳开，小羊咩咩叫，鸽子扑棱翅膀，白雪则躲到了母亲床后。但熊开始说话，说道：‘别怕，我不会伤害你们！我快冻僵了，只想在你们身边稍微暖和一下。’
‘Poor bear,’ said the mother, ‘lie down by the fire, only take care that you do not burn your coat.’ Then she cried: ‘Snow-white, Rose-red, come out, the bear will do you no harm, he means well.’ So they both came out, and by-and-by the lamb and dove came nearer, and were not afraid of him. The bear said: ‘Here, children, knock the snow out of my coat a little’; so they brought the broom and swept the bear’s hide clean; and he stretched himself by the fire and growled contentedly and comfortably. It was not long before they grew quite at home, and played tricks with their clumsy guest. They tugged his hair with their hands, put their feet upon his back and rolled him about, or they took a hazel-switch and beat him, and when he growled they laughed. But the bear took it all in good part, only when they were too rough he called out: ‘Leave me alive, children,
‘可怜的熊，’母亲说，‘到火边躺下吧，只要小心别烧了你的皮毛。’随后她喊道：‘白雪公主、玫瑰红，出来吧，熊不会伤害你们，他是善意的。’于是她们俩走了出来，不久小羊和鸽子也靠近了，不再害怕他。熊说：‘孩子们，帮我把皮毛上的雪拍掉一点。’于是她们拿来扫帚，把熊的毛皮扫干净；他便在火边躺下，满足而舒适地低吼着。没过多久，她们便完全把他当作自家人，和他这个笨拙的客人玩起了游戏。她们用手拉扯他的毛发，把脚踩在他的背上，推他滚来滚去，或者拿一根榛树枝条打他，当他低吼时，她们便大笑起来。但熊都欣然接受，只是当她们太过粗鲁时，他便喊道：‘留我一条命吧，孩子们……’
Snow-white, Rose-red, Will you beat your wooer dead?’
白雪，玫瑰红，你们要把你们的追求者打死吗？
When it was bed-time, and the others went to bed, the mother said to the bear: ‘You can lie there by the hearth, and then you will be safe from the cold and the bad weather.’ As soon as day dawned the two children let him out, and he trotted across the snow into the forest.
到了睡觉的时候，其他人都去睡了，母亲对熊说：‘你可以躺在壁炉旁，这样就不会受冻和恶劣天气的侵扰了。’天刚亮，两个孩子就把他放了出去，他便踏着积雪小跑着穿过森林。
Henceforth the bear came every evening at the same time, laid himself down by the hearth, and let the children amuse themselves with him as much as they liked; and they got so used to him that the doors were never fastened until their black friend had arrived.
从此以后，那只熊每天晚上都在同一时间到来，躺在壁炉旁，任由孩子们随意取乐；他们渐渐习惯了它，直到黑朋友到来之前，门从未上锁。
When spring had come and all outside was green, the bear said one morning to Snow-white: ‘Now I must go away, and cannot come back for the whole summer.’ ‘Where are you going, then, dear bear?’ asked Snow-white. ‘I must go into the forest and guard my treasures from the wicked dwarfs. In the winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are obliged to stay below and cannot work their way through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the earth, they break through it, and come out to pry and steal; and what once gets into their hands, and in their caves, does not easily see daylight again.’
春天来临，万物复苏一片翠绿时，一天早晨，熊对白雪说道：‘我现在必须离开，整个夏天都无法回来。’‘那你打算去哪里呢，亲爱的熊？’白雪问道。‘我必须进森林去守护我的财宝，防备那些邪恶的小矮人。冬天大地冻得坚硬时，他们被迫待在地下，无法钻出来；可如今太阳融化并温暖了大地，他们便破土而出，四处窥探偷窃；一旦东西落入他们手中或进入他们的洞穴，就再难重见天日了。’
Snow-white was quite sorry at his departure, and as she unbolted the door for him, and the bear was hurrying out, he caught against the bolt and a piece of his hairy coat was torn off, and it seemed to Snow-white as if she had seen gold shining through it, but she was not sure about it. The bear ran away quickly, and was soon out of sight behind the trees.
白雪公主对他的离去感到十分难过。当她为他打开门闩时，熊正匆匆往外走，结果被门闩挂住，他毛茸茸的外套被撕下了一块。在白雪公主看来，那碎片里似乎闪着金光，但她又不太确定。熊很快跑开了，转眼间便消失在树林后面。
A short time afterwards the mother sent her children into the forest to get firewood. There they found a big tree which lay felled on the ground, and close by the trunk something was jumping backwards and forwards in the grass, but they could not make out what it was. When they came nearer they saw a dwarf with an old withered face and a snow-white beard a yard long. The end of the beard was caught in a crevice of the tree, and the little fellow was jumping about like a dog tied to a rope, and did not know what to do.
不久之后，母亲让孩子们去森林里拾柴火。他们在林中发现一棵被砍倒的大树，树干旁有东西在草丛里来回跳动，但他们看不清那是什么。走近一看，原来是一个小矮人，面容苍老枯槁，留着长达一码的雪白胡须。胡须的末端被卡在树干的裂缝中，这个小家伙像被绳子拴住的狗一样跳来跳去，不知所措。
He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes and cried: ‘Why do you stand there? Can you not come here and help me?’ ‘What are you up to, little man?’ asked Rose-red. ‘You stupid, prying goose!’ answered the dwarf: ‘I was going to split the tree to get a little wood for cooking. The little bit of food that we people get is immediately burnt up with heavy logs; we do not swallow so much as you coarse, greedy folk. I had just driven the wedge safely in, and everything was going as I wished; but the cursed wedge was too smooth and suddenly sprang out, and the tree closed so quickly that I could not pull out my beautiful white beard; so now it is tight and I cannot get away, and the silly, sleek, milk-faced things laugh! Ugh! how odious you are!’
他瞪着那两位姑娘，火红的眼睛里喷着火光，喊道：'你们还站在那里干什么？难道不能过来帮帮我吗？' '你这小个子想干什么？'红玫瑰问道。'你这个愚蠢、爱打听的蠢鹅！'矮人回答，'我本来想把树劈开，弄点柴火做饭。我们这种人得到的那点食物，一遇到粗大的木柴就立刻烧光了；我们可不像你们这些粗鲁贪婪的人那样大口吞咽。我刚刚把楔子安全地敲进去，一切进展顺利；但那该死的楔子太光滑了，突然弹了出来，树迅速合拢，把我的漂亮白胡子卡住了；现在它被紧紧夹住，我动弹不得，而这些傻乎乎、油光水滑、一脸奶气的家伙还在笑！唉！你们真让人讨厌！'
The children tried very hard, but they could not pull the beard out, it was caught too fast. ‘I will run and fetch someone,’ said Rose-red. ‘You senseless goose!’ snarled the dwarf; ‘why should you fetch someone? You are already two too many for me; can you not think of something better?’ ‘Don’t be impatient,’ said Snow-white, ‘I will help you,’ and she pulled her scissors out of her pocket, and cut off the end of the beard.
孩子们非常努力地尝试，但无法拔出那把胡子，因为它卡得太紧了。'我去找人帮忙，'红玫瑰说。'你这个愚蠢的鹅！'侏儒咆哮道，'为什么要找人？你们两个已经够多的了；难道你们想不出更好的办法吗？''别着急，'白雪公主说，'我来帮你。'她从口袋里掏出剪刀，剪掉了胡子的一截。
As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he laid hold of a bag which lay amongst the roots of the tree, and which was full of gold, and lifted it up, grumbling to himself: ‘Uncouth people, to cut off a piece of my fine beard. Bad luck to you!’ and then he swung the bag upon his back, and went off without even once looking at the children.
矮人刚感到自己重获自由，便立刻抓起树根旁放着的一袋金子。那袋子里装满了金币，他一边嘟囔着：'粗鲁的家伙，竟敢剪掉我漂亮的胡须！真倒霉！'，一边将袋子甩到背上，头也不回地离开了孩子们。
Some time afterwards Snow-white and Rose-red went to catch a dish of fish. As they came near the brook they saw something like a large grasshopper jumping towards the water, as if it were going to leap in. They ran to it and found it was the dwarf. ‘Where are you going?’ said Rose-red; ‘you surely don’t want to go into the water?’ ‘I am not such a fool!’ cried the dwarf; ‘don’t you see that the accursed fish wants to pull me in?’ The little man had been sitting there fishing, and unluckily the wind had tangled up his beard with the fishing-line; a moment later a big fish made a bite and the feeble creature had not strength to pull it out; the fish kept the upper hand and pulled the dwarf towards him. He held on to all the reeds and rushes, but it was of little good, for he was forced to follow the movements of the fish, and was in urgent danger of being dragged into the water.
不久之后，白雪和玫瑰红去河边捉鱼。她们走近溪流时，看见一个像大蝗虫似的东西正朝水边跳去，仿佛要跳进水里。她们跑过去一看，发现那是个小矮人。“你要去哪儿？”玫瑰红问道，“你难道真的想下水吗？”“我可没那么傻！”小矮人喊道，“你没看见那条该死的鱼想把我拉下去吗？”这个小个子刚才坐在那里钓鱼，不幸的是，风把他的胡须缠在了钓线上；过了一会儿，一条大鱼咬钩了，这可怜的家伙没有力气把它拉上来；鱼占了上风，把小矮人往自己那边拖。他紧紧抓住所有的芦苇和灯心草，但无济于事，因为他不得不跟着鱼的动向移动，眼看就要被拖进水里了。
The girls came just in time; they held him fast and tried to free his beard from the line, but all in vain, beard and line were entangled fast together. There was nothing to do but to bring out the scissors and cut the beard, whereby a small part of it was lost. When the dwarf saw that he screamed out: ‘Is that civil, you toadstool, to disfigure a man’s face? Was it not enough to clip off the end of my beard? Now you have cut off the best part of it. I cannot let myself be seen by my people. I wish you had been made to run the soles off your shoes!’ Then he took out a sack of pearls which lay in the rushes, and without another word he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.
女孩们及时赶到，她们紧紧抓住他，试图将他的胡须从绳索上解开，但徒劳无功，胡须和绳索已缠在一起。除了拿出剪刀剪掉胡须外别无他法，结果胡须的一小部分被剪掉了。侏儒见状尖叫道：‘你这蘑菇头，竟敢毁人的面容？难道剪掉我胡须的末端还不够吗？现在你连最好的部分都剪掉了！我无法面对我的族人。我真希望你们把鞋底都跑烂了！’随后，他从芦苇丛中取出一袋珍珠，一言不发地拖走它，随即消失在石头后面。
It happened that soon afterwards the mother sent the two children to the town to buy needles and thread, and laces and ribbons. The road led them across a heath upon which huge pieces of rock lay strewn about. There they noticed a large bird hovering in the air, flying slowly round and round above them; it sank lower and lower, and at last settled near a rock not far away. Immediately they heard a loud, piteous cry. They ran up and saw with horror that the eagle had seized their old acquaintance the dwarf, and was going to carry him off.
不久之后，母亲让两个孩子去镇上买针线、带子和丝带。他们走的路穿过一片荒野，上面散落着巨大的岩石。在那里，他们注意到一只大鸟在空中盘旋，在他们头顶上方缓慢地绕圈飞行；它越飞越低，最后停在附近一块岩石旁。紧接着，他们听到一声响亮而凄厉的叫声。他们跑过去，惊恐地发现那只老鹰已经抓住了他们以前的熟人——那个小矮人，并准备将他带走。
The children, full of pity, at once took tight hold of the little man, and pulled against the eagle so long that at last he let his booty go. As soon as the dwarf had recovered from his first fright he cried with his shrill voice: ‘Could you not have done it more carefully! You dragged at my brown coat so that it is all torn and full of holes, you clumsy creatures!’ Then he took up a sack full of precious stones, and slipped away again under the rock into his hole. The girls, who by this time were used to his ingratitude, went on their way and did their business in town.
孩子们满怀怜悯，立刻紧紧抓住那个小人，与老鹰角力许久，直到最后他松开了战利品。小矮人从最初的惊恐中回过神来，便用尖细的嗓音喊道：‘你们就不能更小心些吗？你们拽我的棕色外套，把它扯得全是破洞！真是笨手笨脚的家伙！’随后，他提起一袋宝石，又钻回岩石下的小洞里溜走了。那两个女孩早已习惯了他的忘恩负义，便继续上路，进城办她们的事情去了。
As they crossed the heath again on their way home they surprised the dwarf, who had emptied out his bag of precious stones in a clean spot, and had not thought that anyone would come there so late. The evening sun shone upon the brilliant stones; they glittered and sparkled with all colours so beautifully that the children stood still and stared at them. ‘Why do you stand gaping there?’ cried the dwarf, and his ashen-grey face became copper-red with rage. He was still cursing when a loud growling was heard, and a black bear came trotting towards them out of the forest. The dwarf sprang up in a fright, but he could not reach his cave, for the bear was already close. Then in the dread of his heart he cried: ‘Dear Mr Bear, spare me, I will give you all my treasures; look, the beautiful jewels lying there! Grant me my life; what do you want with such a slender little fellow as I? you would not feel me between your teeth. Come, take these two wicked girls, they are tender morsels for you, fat as young quails; for mercy’s sake eat them!’ The bear took no heed of his words, but gave the wicked creature a single blow with his paw, and he did not move again.
当他们再次穿过荒野回家时，意外发现了那个小矮人。他已将一袋宝石倒在一处干净的地方，没想到这么晚还会有人来这里。夕阳照在那些璀璨的宝石上，它们闪烁着五彩斑斓的光芒，美丽极了，孩子们不禁停下脚步，呆呆地凝视着。‘你们为什么张着嘴傻站着？’小矮人大声喊道，他那灰败的脸因愤怒而变得铜红。他还在咒骂时，一阵低沉的咆哮声传来，一只黑熊从森林中朝他们走来。小矮人惊恐地跳了起来，却来不及逃回洞穴，因为黑熊已经近在咫尺。在极度的恐惧中，他哭喊道：‘亲爱的熊先生，饶了我吧！我把所有的财宝都给你；看，那些美丽的宝石就在那儿！求您饶我一命，像我这样瘦小的家伙，您又何必在意呢？我的肉在您嘴里根本感觉不到。不如把这两个坏女孩带走吧，她们可是鲜嫩的美味，像小鹌鹑一样肥美；看在慈悲的份上，请吃掉她们！’黑熊并未理会他的话，只是用爪子轻轻拍了一下那个恶毒的家伙，那家伙便一动不动了。
The girls had run away, but the bear called to them: ‘Snow-white and Rose-red, do not be afraid; wait, I will come with you.’ Then they recognized his voice and waited, and when he came up to them suddenly his bearskin fell off, and he stood there a handsome man, clothed all in gold. ‘I am a king’s son,’ he said, ‘and I was bewitched by that wicked dwarf, who had stolen my treasures; I have had to run about the forest as a savage bear until I was freed by his death. Now he has got his well-deserved punishment.
女孩们已经跑开了，但熊向她们喊道：‘白雪和玫瑰红，不要害怕；等等，我这就跟你们一起走。’于是她们认出了他的声音，便停下脚步等待。当他突然走近时，他身上的熊皮脱落了，站在那里的是一位英俊的男子，全身披着金衣。他说：‘我是国王的儿子，被那个邪恶的矮人施了魔法，他偷走了我的财宝；我不得不像野兽一样在森林里流浪，直到他的死亡让我重获自由。现在，他得到了应有的惩罚。'
Snow-white was married to him, and Rose-red to his brother, and they divided between them the great treasure which the dwarf had gathered together in his cave. The old mother lived peacefully and happily with her children for many years. She took the two rose-trees with her, and they stood before her window, and every year bore the most beautiful roses, white and red.
白雪公主嫁给了他，红玫瑰则嫁给了他的哥哥，他们二人共同分得了小矮人在洞穴中积攒的巨额财富。老母亲与孩子们和睦幸福地生活了许多年。她带去了两棵玫瑰树，将它们种在窗前，每年都能开出最美丽的白玫瑰和红玫瑰。
*****
（文本分隔符）
The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859), were born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, in the German state of Hesse. Throughout their lives they remained close friends, and both studied law at Marburg University. Jacob was a pioneer in the study of German philology, and although Wilhelm’s work was hampered by poor health the brothers collaborated in the creation of a German dictionary, not completed until a century after their deaths. But they were best (and universally) known for the collection of over two hundred folk tales they made from oral sources and published in two volumes of ‘Nursery and Household Tales’ in 1812 and 1814. Although their intention was to preserve such material as part of German cultural and literary history, and their collection was first published with scholarly notes and no illustration, the tales soon came into the possession of young readers. This was in part due to Edgar Taylor, who made the first English translation in 1823, selecting about fifty stories ‘with the amusement of some young friends principally in view.’ They have been an essential ingredient of children’s reading ever since.
格林兄弟雅各布（1785-1863）和威廉（1786-1859）出生于黑森州法兰克福附近的哈瑙。他们一生亲密无间，均在马尔堡大学研习法律。雅各布是德国语文学研究的先驱；尽管威廉因健康状况不佳而工作受阻，兄弟二人仍合作编纂了一部德语词典，该词典直至他们去世一个世纪后才完成。然而，他们最广为人知（且普遍公认）的成就是：从口头来源收集了二百多篇民间故事，并于1812年和1814年分两卷出版《儿童与家庭童话集》。尽管他们的初衷是将这些材料作为德国文化和文学历史的一部分加以保存，且初版附有学术注释并无插图，但这些故事很快便为年轻读者所拥有。这在一定程度上归功于埃德加·泰勒，他于1823年完成了首个英译本，精选了约五十篇故事，“主要旨在供几位年轻朋友消遣”。自此以后，这些故事便成为儿童阅读中不可或缺的组成部分。