The Ass and the Dog 驴和狗

An ass¹ and a dog were on their travels together, and, as they went along, they found a sealed packet lying on the ground. The ass picked it up. Broke the seal, and found it contained some writing, which he proceeded to read out aloud to the dog. As he read on it turned out to be all about grass and barley² and hay-in short, all the kinds of fodder³ that asses⁴ are fond of. The dog was a good deal bored with listening to all this, till at last his impatience⁵ got the better of him, and he cried, "Just skip a few pages, friend, and see if there isn't something about meat and bones." The ass glanced all through the packet, but fund nothing of the sort, and said so. Then the Dog said in disgust, "Oh, throw it away, do: what's the good of a thing like that?"

 

一头驴和一只狗一起外出旅行，走了一段路后，他们发现地上有一封密封好的信。驴捡起来，撕开封印，发现上面有写好的字，便大声读给狗听。可是，信里提到的几乎全是干草、大麦和糠麸之类驴喜欢的东西。听到这些内容，狗觉得很无聊，终于不耐烦地对驴喊道：“赶紧跳过这些内容，朋友，看看，看看下面有没有提到肉和骨头之类的东西。”驴浏览了一下信的全部内容，没有发现任何狗所想要的东西，就如实说了。然后，狗就带着厌恶的表情说：“把它扔了吧，朋友，这封信有什么意思呀？”

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