A man had two daughters, one of whom he gave in marriage to a gardener, and the other to a potter. After a time he thought he would go and see how they were getting on, and first he went to the gardener's wife. He asked her how she was, and how things were going with herself and her husband. She replied that on the whole they were doing very well: "But," she continued, "I do wish we could have some good heavy rain: the garden wants it badly." Then he went on to the potter's wife and made the same inquiries¹ of her. She replied that she and her husband had nothing to complain of: "But," she went on, "I do wish we could have some nice dry weather, to dry the pottery²." Her father looked at her with a humorous expression on his face. "You want dry weather," he said, "and your sister wants rain. I was going to ask in my prayers that your wishes should be granted³; but how it strikes me I had better not refer to the subject."

 

某人有两个女儿，一个嫁个了园丁，另一个嫁给了陶艺人。过了些日子，父亲心想应该去看看女儿们的生活如何。于是，他先来到嫁给园丁的女儿家里，他问女儿生活过得怎么样，她的丈夫又过得怎么样。女儿回答说一切都很好，“但是，“ 她又补充道，“我真希望能下场大雨，园子里太需要水了。”接着，他又来到嫁给陶艺人的女儿家里，问了同样的问题。女儿说她和丈夫什么都不缺，“可是”，她继续说，“我只希望能有个阳光充足的好天气，好让陶器快点干。”父亲带着滑稽的表情看着女儿，对她说：“你希望出太阳，而你姐姐却盼着下雨，本想祈祷让你的愿望也成真，可是现在，我认为自己最好什么也不管了。”

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