小学英语英语故事童话故事CrackandCrook克利克和克罗克

1、Crack and Crook 克利克和克罗克Crack and Crook TOC o 1-5 h z Ina di stant towntherewas a famous thief known as Crack, whomnobody had ever beenableto catch The mainambition of this Crackwasto meet Crook,another notorious thief,and form a partnershipwithhim One day asCrackwas eating lunchat the tavern across

2、thetable from a stranger, he wont to look at his watch and found it missing The only person in this world who could have taken i t wit hout my knowledge, he thought, is Crook So what did Crack do but t urn right around and steal Crooks purse When the stranger got ready to pay for his lunch, he found

3、 his purse gone and said to his t able companion, “Well, well, you must be Crack” “And you must be Crook” “Right” “Fine, we* 11 work togetherThey went to the city and made for the king* s treasury, which was completely surrounded by guards The thieves therefore dug an undergrou nd tunnel into the tr

4、easury and stole everything Surveying his loss, the king had noideahowhe mightcatch therobbers He went toa man named Snare,whohadbeen putin prisonfor stealing, and said, “If you can tell me who committed this robbery, I 11 set you f ree and make you a marquis” Snare replied, “It can be none other th

5、an Crack or Crook, or both of them together, since they are the most notorious thieves alive Bu t I* 11tell youhow you can catch them Havethe price of meat raisedtoone hundred dollars a pound The person who pays thatmuch for itwill be yourthief”Theking had theprice of meat raised to one hundred doll

6、arsa pound,andeverybodystopped buying meat Finally it was reportedthat afriarhad gone toacertainbutcherandboughtmeatSnaresaid,“That had to be Crack or Crook in disguise Ill now disguise myself and go around tothehousesbeggingIfanybodygivesmemeat,I11makea red markonthe front door,andyourguardscango a

7、ndarrest the thieves”But when he made a red mark on Crack* s house, the thief saw it an d went and marked all the other doors in the city with red, so th ere was no telling in the end where Crack and Crook lived Snare said to the king, Didnt I tel 1 you they were foxy? But the res someone else foxie

8、r than they are Here，s the next thing to do: put a tub of boiling pitch at the bottom of the treasury steps W hoever goes down to steal will fall right into it, and his dead bo dy will give him away”Crack and Crook had run out of money in the meantime and decided t o go back to the treasury for more

9、 Crook went in first, but it wa s dark, and he fell into the tub Crack came along and tried to pu 11 his friends body out of the pitch, but it stuck fast in the t ub He then cut off the head and carried it awayThe next day the king went to see if he had caught the thief Thi s time we got him! We got

10、 him!” But the corpse had no head, so t hey were none the wiser about the thief or any accomplices he might have hadSnare said, “Theres one more thing we can do: have the dead man d ragged through the cityby two horses The housewhereyou hearsomeone weeping has to be the thieft s house”In effect, whe

11、n Crook，swife looked out thewindow andsaw herhusbandt s body being draggedthrough the street,shebeganscreamingandcrying But Crack was there and knew rightawaythatwould betheir undoing He therefore started smashing dishes right and left and th rashing the poor woman at the same time Attracted by all

12、that screa mi ng, the guards came in and found a man beating his wife for brea king up all the dishes in the houseThe king then had a decree posted on every street corner that he w ould peirdon the thief who had robbed him, if the thief now managed to steal the sheets out from under him at night Cra

13、ck camo forwar d and said he could do itThat night the king undressed and went to bed with his gun to wait for the thief Crack got a dead body from a gravedigger, dressed i t in his own clothes, and carried it to the roof of the royal pal ace At midnight the cadaver, held by a rope, was dangling bef

14、ore th e king, s windows Thinking it was Crack, the king fired one shot and watched him fall, cord and all He ran downstairs to see if he wa s deadWhiletheking was gone, Crack slippedinto his room andstole the sheets He was therefore pardoned, and so that he wouldnt h ave tostealanylonger, the king

15、married hisdaughter to him(Monferrato)NOTES:“Crack and Crook/， (Cric e Croc) from Comparetti, 13, Monferrato, Pied montThis is one of the oldest and most famous tales, which has occupied the attention of scholars for generations The Piedmontese version I foil owed is fai thful to the oldest traditio

16、n and includes the curio us character-names and a brisk dose of rustic cunning Herodotus (Hist ories) tel 1s in detai 1 about Egyptian King Rhampsini tus* s treasure, ch ief source of the vast narrative tradition concerning wily robbers pu t to the test by a ruler The beheading of a cadaver so it wi

17、ll n ot be recognized is also encountered in Pciusanias, who presents the myth of Trophonius and Agamedes (Description of Greece, IX, 372) Eith er through the Greeks or through oriental tradition the tale enteredmedieval literature, in the various translations of the Book of the Seven Sages and othe

18、r Italian, English, and German texts Li terary v ersions by Italian Renaissance story writers are numerousCopyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino, translated by George Martin,Pantheon Books, New York 1980克利克和克罗克在一个遥远的小镇上，有一个出了名的盗贼，人送外号克利克，并且认为永远也不会有人 抓到他。这个盗贼很想结识另一个与他同样知名的外

19、号叫克罗克的盗贼，想与他联手作案。 一天，克利克在一家酒馆吃饭，同桌坐着一位陌生人。克利克要看时间的时候才发现怀表已 经不翼而匕了。克利克想：要是这人能不被我觉察而偷走我的表，那他一定就是克罗克。他 回手就偷来了那个人的钱包。陌生人要付帐的时候发现自己的钱包也没了，便对同桌的人说:“看来你就是克利克了。”另一个答道：“那你一定就是克罗克喽。”“对“好极了，我们合伙吧。”就这样两个盗贼联起手来。两个人进城，来到了由侍卫严密把守的国王宝库。他们挖了 条通向宝库的地道，盗走了宝 库里的一些东西。国王眼看着宝库被盗，却找不到一点盗贼的线索，就去找一位关押在狱的 盗贼，人称灰浆盆，国王对他说：“你要是能

20、告诉我偷宝库的人是谁，我就放了你，还封你 为侯爵。”灰浆盆答道：“这一定是克利克和克罗克联手干的，他们是两个最棒的盗贼。不过，我有办 法抓住他们。您下令把肉价抬高到每磅一百里拉，谁还去买肉，谁就一定是盗贼。” 国土依计把肉价抬到一百里拉一磅，没有人再去买肉了。好不容易来人报告说有一个修道士 到一家肉铺买过肉。灰浆盆说：“这一定是克利克或克罗克化装的。我也化装成一个乞丐， 挨家挨户去乞讨，谁给我肉吃，我就在他家的门上划一个红色标记，这样侍卫就能抓到他。” 但是当他在克利克家门上划上红色标记时，克利克觉察了。克利克给城里所有人家的门上都 划上了同样的标记，结果灰浆盆一无所获。灰浆盆又向国王献计说：“我不是跟您说过他们是两个很狡猾的人吗？但是，有人比他们更 狡猾。您这么办：让人在宝库台阶的下面放上一桶滚烫的松树油，进去