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◎ Lester E.Garrett
A long time ago, far, far away, there lived two brothers. One of them was quite rich: the other
was very poor. The rich brother lived on a little island; he was a seller3 of salt. He had sold salt for
many years and had got a great deal of money. The other brother was so poor that he had not got
enough food for his wife and children.
His wife said, “What will happen to us? Do you want me and the children to die? There is
nothing to eat. Why don’t you go and ask your brother for some money.”
“My brother loves his money very much. I’m sure that he will not give me any. Perhaps he will
He found his rich brother at home, counting his money.
“What is the matter? Why have you come here?”
“Please, brother, I have no food in my house. Please give me one of those gold pieces you are
counting.”
“No. These are mine. You are very lazy. Why do you not go and work?”
“I have tried to find some work, but I cannot. Now there is no bread in my house for my
children.”
you go away and not come back?”
“Yes. Please give me the bread.”
The rich man threw a loaf of bread to him, and he went away.
While he was on his way to his house, he came to an old man sitting by the side of the road.
“What is that you are carrying?” said the old man. “Is it bread? I have not had any thing to eat
for two days.”
He cut a piece of the loaf and gave it to the old man, who thanked him and began to eat. When
he had finished, the old man said, “Now I will do something for you. I will show you the home of the
fairies7 who live underground. If you show them the bread, they will want to buy it from you. But do
not let them give you any money. Ask them for the little mill that stands behind their door. Do as I
say, and you will become rich. When you come back, I will show you how to use it.”
made by a big rabbit. Inside, the hole grew bigger and a little stone door could be seen.
“That is the fairies’ home. Get in and open the door. I will wait until you come out.” said the old
man.
The poor man got into the hole, opened the door, and went in. It was dark inside the door: for
some time he could see nothing. Then, when he could see more clearly, he saw many little fairies:
they came and stood round him.
“What is that?” said one of them. “Is it white bread? Please give it to us, or sell it to us.”
“No,” said the poor man. “I don’t want gold or silver. Give me that old mill that stands behind
the door, and I will give you the loaf of bread.”
At first they did not want to give him the mill for the bread, so he turned away.
But some of the fairies began to cry, “Let him have the old mill. We never use it now. And only
good people can make it work.”
Then they gave him the mill. He put it under his arm and went out of fairy-land. He fount the
old man waiting for him.
“That is it,” the old man said. “This is how to use it. Only good people can use it. You must
never let any other person use it.”
It was quite late when the poor man reached home.
“Where have you been?” said his wife. “There is no fire and no food in the house. The children
are cold and crying for food. What is that you are carrying. It looks like an old mill.”
“It is a mill,” he said. “Now watch. Say what you want, and you will have it.”
He put the mill on the table and began to turn it. Out of the little mill came wood for the fire, oil10
“It is a magic mill,” said his wife. “Now we are rich.”
“Yes, but no-one must know about it. We must hide it and use it only when no-one is watching.”
The poor man soon became as rich as his brother. He did not keep all the good things for his
own family. He gave many things to poor friends.
When his brother heard about this, he said to himself, “I do not know why my brother has
become rich. I must find the reason for his riches.”
For a long time he tried to find the reason, but he could not. But one day he gave a servant some
money and ordered him to watch the house of his brother at night. That night, the servant looked
and told what he had seen.
The next day the brother got in his boat and sailed across the water. He said to his brother, “I see
that you are now quite rich, and I know the reason. You have a little magic mill. Sell it to me. How
much money do you want for it?”
“I cannot sell it,” said the poor man. “It must never leave my hands. The old man said, ‘There
will be great danger if you sell it or give it to any other person.’ That is what he said.”
Then the rich brother sailed away home. But later, one dark night, he came back, went very
quietly into the house, and stole the mill. He quickly carried it to the sea, where his boat was waiting.
Then he sailed away to his island.
But the bad brother wanted very much to make the mill work. He did not wait until he reached
“Salt,” he said. “Salt is what I sell, and salt is what I want.” Then he began to turn the mill. Then
salt bean15 to come out of the mill. He laughed and began to sing. Masses16 of salt came out and began to
fill the boat. The boat became low in the water. He tried to throw some of the salt into the sea. But
more came in, masses of it. He stopped laughing and singing. Then he began to be afraid.
More salt came out of the mill, and soon the boat was full of it. Then water came in and filled
the boat. The boat went down, down to the bottom17 of the sea, carrying with it the thief and the magic
mill.
There, at the bottom of the sea, the mill is still turning, making more and more salt.
很久以前，在很远很远的地方，住着两个兄弟。其中一个相当富有，另一个却非常贫
穷。富兄弟住在一个小岛上，他是一个盐商。他卖盐已经很多年了，挣了不少钱。另一个兄
弟穷得连他妻子和孩子都吃不饱。
他的妻子说：“我们该怎么办？你想让我和孩子们死去吗？没有东西可吃了。你为什么不
去找你兄弟要些钱？”
“我的兄弟特别吝惜自己的钱。我确信他一分钱也不会给我的。也许他会给我一把盐。但
不管怎么样，我还是要去见他。”
他上了他的小船，朝他兄弟住的那个小岛驶去。
他发现他的富兄弟正在家里点钱。
“什么事呀？你怎么到这儿来了？”
“对不起，兄弟，我家里没吃的了。请你从正在点的金币中给我一枚吧！”
“不行，这些都是我的。你太懒惰了。你为什么不去工作？”
“我已经努力去找些活干了，但是我找不到。现在，我家里都没有面包给孩子们吃了。”
“我不会给你钱的，但我给你一块面包。如果我给你一块面包，你就离开，不要回来好
吗？”
“好吧，给我面包吧。”
这位富人扔了一块面包给他，他就走了。
在回家的路上，他碰见一位老人坐在路边。
“你拿的是什么东西？”老人问，“是面包吗？我已经两天没有吃过东西了。”
他切下一片面包给了这位老人。老人向他道谢，并开始吃起来。吃完面包后，老人
说：“现在我要为你做点事。我带你去住在地底下的仙女的家。如果你给她们展示这块面包，
她们就会愿意买下它。但是，不要让她们给你钱，要她们在门后立着的那个小磨。照我说的
那样做，你就会变得富有。当你回来的时候，我会教你怎样使用那小磨。”
然后，老人就带他来到了森林里。他指了指地上的一个洞，这个洞看上去像是兔子挖
的，越往里面洞也越大，可以看到一扇小石门。
“那就是小仙女的家。进去然后打开门，我等着你出来。”老人说。
这个穷人进了洞，打开门进去了。门里边很黑：好大一会儿，他什么也看不见。然后，
当他能看清楚一些时，他见到很多小仙女，她们都围着他站着。
“那是什么？”其中一个问道，“是白面包吗？请把它给我们吧，或卖给我们。”
“我们要用金子、银子买你的面包。”另一个说。
“不，”穷人说，“我不要金子或银子。只要把门后立着的那个旧磨给我，我就给你们这块
面包。”
开始时，她们不愿用她们的磨换面包，于是，他转身就走。
然而，有些仙女叫了起来：“给他那旧磨吧，我们现在根本用不着。只有好人才能使用
它。”
于是，她们把磨给了他。他把磨夹在腋下，走出了仙女的住所。他发现那位老人正等着
他。
“就是它，”老人说，“这是使用它的办法。只有好人才能用它，你千万别让其他人使
用。”
这个穷人到家时，天色已经相当晚了。
“你去哪儿了？”他的妻子说，“家里没有火，没有饭吃。孩子们这么冷，哭着要东西吃。
你拿的那是什么东西？看上去像一个旧磨。”
“就是一个旧磨，”他说，“现在来瞧瞧。你说要什么，它就有什么。”
他把磨放在桌子上，开始转动。从小磨里出来了烤火用的柴火，点灯和做饭菜用的油，
还有衣服、玉米和其他很多东西。
“真是一个神磨，”他的妻子说，“现在我们富有了。”
“是的，但是，一定不能让任何人知道它。我们必须把它藏起来，只有在没人时才能拿出
来用。”
这个穷人很快变得像他兄弟一样富有。他没有把好东西都留在自己家。他把许多东西送
给那些穷苦的朋友。
当他的兄弟听说了这事后，心里想：“我不知道为什么我的兄弟变富了，我必须找到他变
富的原因。”
很长一段时间，他试着找出原因，但他还是找不到。有一天，他给了一个仆人一些钱，
命令他在晚上监视他兄弟的家。那天晚上，这个仆人透过窗户看到他们全家人围着磨站着，
那个磨正在工作。他回去把他的所见全部说了出来。
第二天，这位富兄弟上了船，开过岸来。他对他的兄弟说：“我看你现在很富有，我也知
道为什么。你有一个小神磨，把它卖给我吧。你想要多少钱？”
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