那些給我智慧和勇氣的寓言故事36:蠍子和烏龜

A Tortoise and Scorpion had contracted a great intimacy, and bound themselves with such ties of friendship, that the one could not live without the other.

烏龜和蠍子建立了深厚的友誼，他們結伴同行，誰也離不開誰。

One day these inseparable companions, finding themselves obliged to change their habitation, traveled together; but in their meeting with a large and deep river, the Scorpion making a stop, said to the Tortoise:

一天，這對形影不離的朋友覺得應該改變一下生活環境，於是就決定一起旅行。在路上，他們遇到一條又寬又深的河流。蠍子停下來，對烏龜說：

“My dear friend, you are well provided for what we see before us, but how shall I get over this water?”

“親愛的朋友，你能順利渡過前面這條河，可我怎麼過得去呢？”

“Never trouble yourself, my dear friend, for that,”replied the Tortoise,“I will carry you upon my back secure from all danger.”

“不要急，親愛的朋友，”烏龜說，“我揹着你過河，這樣就不會有任何危險了。”

On this, the Scorpion, without hesitation, got upon the back of the Tortoise, who immediately took water and began to swim. But he had hardly got half way across the river, when he heard a terrible rumbling upon his back; which made him ask the Scorpion what he was doing.

就這樣，蠍子毫不猶豫地爬到烏龜的背上，烏龜立即跳入水中朝對岸游去。但當烏龜游到一半時，他聽到背上一陣刺耳的聲音，於是就問蠍子在幹什麼。

“Doing!”replied the Scorpion,“why, I am whetting my sting, to try whether I can bore this horny cuirass of yours, that covers yours flesh like a shield, from all injuries.”

“幹什麼！”蠍子回答道，“哦，我在磨我的刺，看我能否刺穿你那如盾牌般堅固、使你免受傷害的盔甲。”

“Oh, ungrateful wretch,”cried the Tortoise,“wouldst thou, at a time when I am giving thee such a demonstration of my friendship, wouldst thou at such a time, pierce with thy venomous sting, the defense that Nature has given me, and take away my life? It is well, however, I have it in my power both to save myself and reward thee as thou deservest. ”

“哦，忘恩負義的傢伙！”烏龜叫道，“我對你這麼好，你卻企圖用毒刺刺穿大自然賜予我的盔甲，想要我的命嗎？好吧，我有能力拯救自己並讓你受到懲罰。”

So saying, he sunk his back to some depth under water, threw off the Scorpion, and left him to pay with his life for his monstrous ingratitude.

說着，烏龜沉入水底，拋開蠍子，讓他爲自己的忘恩負義付出生命的代價。