小学英语 英语故事（童话故事）The Man Wreathed in Seaweed 一身海草的人

TheManWreathedinSeaweed一身海草的人The Man Wreathed in SeaweedA king had his crier announce in the town squares that whoever found his missing daughter would be rewarded with a fortune But the announcement brought no results, since no one had any idea of the girls whereabouts She had been kidnapped one night, and they had already looked the world over for herA sea captain suddenly had the thought that since she wasnt on land she might well be on the sea, so he got a ship ready to go out in search of her But when the time came to sign up the crew, not one sailor stepped forward, since no one wanted to go on a dangerous expedition that would last no telling how longThe captain waited on the pier, but fearful of being the first to embark, no one approached his ship Also on the pier was Samphire Starboard, a reputed tramp and tippler, whom no ship captain was ever willing to sign onListen, said our captain, how would you like to sail with me?Id like to very muchCome aboard, thenSo Samphire Starboard was the first to embark After that, other sailors took heart and boarded the shipOnce he was on the ship, Samphire Starboard did nothing but stand around all day long with his hands in his pockets and dream about the taverns he had left behind The other sailors cursed him because there was no knowing when the voyage would end, provisions were scarce, and he did nothing to earn his keep The captain decided to get rid of him See that little island? he asked, pointing to an isolated reef in the middle of the sea Get into a rowboat and go explore it Well be cruising right around hereSamphire Starboard stepped into the rowboat, and the ship sailed away at full speed, leaving him stranded in the middle of the sea He approached the reef, spied a cave, and went in Tied up inside was a very beautiful maiden, who was none other than the kings daughterHow did you manage to find me? she askedI was fishing for octopi, explained SamphireI was kidnapped by a huge octopus, whose prisoner I now am, said the kings daughter Flee before it returns But note that for three hours a day it changes into a red mullet and can be caught But your have to kill the mullet at once, or it will change into a sea gull and fly awaySamphire Starboard hid his boat and waited out of sight on the reef From the sea emerged the octopus, which was so large that it could reach clear around the island with its tentacles All its suckers shook, having smelled a man on the reef But the hour arrived when it had to change into a fish, and suddenly it became a red mullet and disappeared into the sea Samphire Starboard lowered fishing nets and pulled them back up full of gurnard, sturgeon, and dentex The last haul produced the red mullet, shaking like a leaf Samphire raised his oar to kill it, but instead of the red mullet he struck the sea gull flying out of the net and broke its wing The gull then changed back into an octopus, whose wounded tentacles spurted dark red blood Samphire was upon it instantly and beat it to death with the oar The kings daughter gave him a diamond ring as a token of the gratitude she would always feel toward himCome and Ill take you to your father, he said, showing her into his boat But the boat was tiny and they were out in the middle of the sea After rowing and rowing they spied a ship in the distance Samphire signaled to it with an oar draped with the kings daughters gown The ship spotted them and took them aboard It was the same ship that had earlier discharged and abandoned Samphire Seeing him back with the kings daughter, the captain said, Poor Samphire Starboard! Here we thought you were lost and now, after looking all over for you, we see you return with the kings daughter! That calls for a real celebration! To Samphire Starboard, whod not touched a drop of wine for months on end, that seemed too good to be trueThey were almost in sight of their home port when the captain led Samphire to a table and placed several bottles of wine before him Samphire drank and drank until he fell unconscious to the floor Then the captain said to the kings daughter, Dont you dare tell your father that drunkard freed you Tell him that I freed you myself, since Im the captain of the ship and ordered him to rescue youThe kings daughter neither agreed nor disagreed I know what Ill tell him, she answeredTo be on the safe side, the captain decided to do away with Samphire Starboard once and for all That night, they picked him up, still as drunk as could be, and threw him into the sea At dawn the ship was in sight of port With flags they signaled they were bringing home the kings daughter safe and sound A band played on the pier, where the king waited with the entire courtA date was chosen for the kings daughter to wed the captain On the day of the wedding, the mariners in port saw a man emerge from the water He was covered from head to foot with seaweed, and out of his pockets and the holes in his clothes swam fish and shrimps It was none other than Samphire Starboard He climbed out of the water and went ambling through the city streets, with seaweed draping his head and body and dragging along behind him At that very moment the wedding procession was moving through the street and came face to face with the man wreathed in seaweed Everyone stopped Who is this? asked the king Seize him! The guards came up, but Samphire Starboard raised a hand and the diamond on his finger sparkled in the sunlightMy daughters ring! exclaimed the kingYes, said the daughter, this man was my rescuer and will be my bridegroomSamphire Starboard told the story, and the captain was imprisoned Green though he was with seaweed, Samphire took his place beside the bride clad in white and was joined to her in matrimony(Riviera ligure di ponente)NOTES:The Man Wreathed in Seaweed (Luomo verde dalghe) from Andrews, 7, Menton, told by the widow LavignaThis sea tale transfers to an unusual setting a plot well known throughout Europe: that of the younger brother who goes down into the well to free the princess and is subsequently abandoned there himself (cf my no78) Andrewss collection of tales presents no more than brief summaries in French; for this tale, then, as well as the following, taken from the same compilation, I gave free rein to my imagination in supplying details, while adhering to the basic plot I chose the name Baciccin Tribordo (Giovanni Battista Starboard) to replace the original name whose meaning is not very clear In the original text, the princess is abducted by a dragon instead of by an octopus, and the dragon changes into a barnacle, which seemed to me too easy to catchCopyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,translated by George Martin,Pantheon Books, New York 1980一身海草的人有一个国王让人在各个广场上喊话，谁能找回他失踪的女儿，就奖赏谁。可是国王的号令并无效果，因为谁也不知道在哪里可以找到他的女儿。一天夜晚，她被人掳走，国王查遍了所有的角落也找不到她的踪迹。一位有经验的船长突然想到，如果陆地上找不到踪迹，就有可能在海上。于是，他准备好了一艘船，打算出海寻找。但是当他想要招募水手的时候，却找不到一个人：没人愿意参加这个看不到归期的冒险旅程。船长站在堤坝上望着，没有人靠近，也没有人敢带头登船。巴奇钦特里波尔多也在堤坝上，他是一个出了名的酒鬼，一个有名的流浪汉，没人愿意雇用他。“哎，你愿意上船吗？”船长对他说。“我吗？愿意。”“那么上船吧。”巴奇钦特里波尔多第一个上了船。这样，其他一些水手胆子也大了起来，登上了甲板。在船上，巴奇钦特里波尔多整天把两只手揣在兜里，怀念岸上的那些小酒馆。大家都骂他，因为航程遥遥无期，食品储备有限，可是还得养活像他这样一个无所事事的人。船长决定甩掉他。“你看见那个小岛了吗？”船长指着海面一个礁石岛对他说，“你划着小舢板过去查看查看，我们就在附近转转。”巴奇钦特里波尔多下到舢板上，大船却全速开走了，将他一个人留在大海中，巴奇钦划向礁石。他看见礁石上有一个大山洞，便走了进去。在山洞的尽头绑着一个非常美丽的姑娘，正是国王的女儿。“你是怎么找到我的？”她问巴奇钦特里波尔多。“我来这里是为了钓章鱼。”巴奇钦说。“我就是被一条巨大的章鱼抓来关在这里的，”国王的女儿说，“趁它还没回来，你先躲起来吧。不过，你记着，这条章鱼每天有三个小时会变成红鲤鱼，那时候容易钓到它，但你必须马上杀死它，不然，它会变成一只红嘴鸥飞走。”巴奇钦特里波尔多将自己和小船都藏在小岛上。这时，从海里钻出了那条巨大的章鱼，它的每条须爪都可以绕岛一周。他嗅到小岛上来了陌生人，所有的吸盘都蠕动起来。正巧，到了它该变成鱼的时候了，转眼间，它变成了一条红鲤鱼，消失在海水中。巴奇钦特里波尔多立即撒下鱼网，可是每次网上来的只是些鲻鱼、鲟鱼、利齿鱼，终于，出现了浑身抖动着的红鲤鱼。巴里钦马上挥起桨，想要给它致命的一击，没想到他打到的不是红鲤鱼，而是一只正要从鱼网中飞起来的海鸥，红鲤鱼已经不见了。由于船桨刮破了海鸥的一只翅膀，它飞不起来了。于是，海鸥又变成了章鱼，不过它的须爪上全是伤口，往外淌着黑色的血。巴奇钦跳到章鱼的背上，用船桨打死了它。国王的女儿为了表示自己