我讲了一个别人不曾提起的故事。”
流浪者 第四章（5）
老人抬起头回答道：“我的朋友，每个人告诉你的都确确实实存在，只是很少有人把事实添加到不同的事实上，进一步找出其中的真相。”
The Field of Zaad
Upon the road of Zaad a traveler met a man who lived in a nearby village, and the traveler, pointing with his hand to a vast field, asked the man saying, “Was not this the battle-ground where King Ahlam overcame his enemies?”
And the man answered and said, “This has never been a battle-ground. There once stood on this field the great city of Zaad, and it was burnt down to ashes. But now it is a good field, is it not?”
And the traveler and the man parted.
Not a half mile farther the traveler met another man, and pointing to the field again, he said, “So that is where the great city of Zaad once stood?”
And the man said, “There has never been a city in this place. But once there was a monastery here, and it was destroyed by the people of the South Country.”
Shortly after, on that very road of Zaad, the traveler met a third man, and pointing once more to the vast field he said, “Is it not true that this is the place where once there stood a great monastery?”
But the man answered, “There has never been a monastery in this neighborhood, but our fathers and our forefathers have told us that once there fell a great meteor on this field.”
Then the traveler walked on, wondering in his heart. And he met a very old man, and saluting his he said,“Sir, upon this road I have met three men who live in the neighborhood and I have asked each of them about this field, and each one denied what the other had said, and each one told me a new tale that the other had not told.”
Then the old man raised his head, and answered, “My friend, each and every one of these men told you what was indeed so, but few of us are able to add fact to different fact and make a truth thereof.”
金腰带
一天，两个人在路上碰见了，他们结伴去科伦斯城的萨拉米斯。下午的时候，他们到了一条宽阔的大河边，河上没有桥。他们要么游过去，要么另外找一条路，可他们压根不识路。
他们对彼此说：“让我们游过去吧，毕竟，河并不是那么宽。”于是他们跳进了河里，游了起来。
其中一个深谙水性，到了河中间，反倒迷失了，被激流给卷走了。另一个人从未游过泳，竟笔直地渡过了河，他远远地站在岸边，看见同伴还在水里挣扎，就又跳进水里，把他安全地带上了岸。
被水流冲走的那个人说：“你不是告诉我你不会游泳吗，那你怎么顺畅大胆地游过去了呢？”
这个人回答道：“我的朋友，你看见我系的这条腰带了吗？里面装满了金币，那是我足足干了一年，为我的妻儿挣的。是这条金腰带的分量带我渡过了河，要把我送到妻儿身边，我游泳的时候，我的妻儿就在我的臂膀上。”
于是，他们继续朝着萨拉米斯城进发。
The Golden Belt
Once upon a day two men who met on the road were walking together toward Salamis, the City of Columns. In the mid-afternoon they came to a wide river and there was no bridge to cross it. They must needs swim, or seek another road unknown to them.
流浪者 第四章（6）
And they said to one another, “Let us swim. After all, the river is not so wide.” And they threw themselves into the water and swam.
And one of the men who had always known rivers and the ways of rivers, in mid-stream suddenly began to lose himself, and to be carried away by the rushing waters, while the other who had never swum before crossed the river straight-way and stood upon the farther bank. Then seeing his companion still wrestling with the stream, he threw himself again into the waters and brought him also safely to the [email protected]本@作@品@由@@網@友@整@理@上@傳@
And the man who had been swept away by the current said, “But you told me you could not swim. How then did you cross that river with such assurance?”
And the second man answered, “My friend, do you see this belt which girdles me? It is full of golden coins that I have earned for my wife and my children, a full year’s work. It is the weight of this belt of gold that carried me across the river, to my wife and my children. And my wife and my children were upon my shoulders as I swam.”
And the two men walked on together toward Salamis.
红色的土壤
一棵树对一个人说：“我的根扎在红色土壤的深处，我应该奉献给你我的果实。”
这个人对这棵树说：“我们太像了。我的根也深埋在红色的土壤里。红色的土壤给你力量、赐予我你的果实，红色的土壤教会我接受你的果实，要知恩图报。”
The Red Earth
Said a tree to a man, “My roots are in the deep red earth, and I shall give you of my fruit.”
And the man said to the tree, “How alike we are. My roots are also deep in the red earth. And the red earth gives you power to bestow upon me of your fruit, and the red earth teaches me to rec