oet answered and said with pride, “I have but now finished the greatest of my poems, perchance the greatest poem yet written in Greek. It is an invocation to Zeus the Supreme.”
Then he took from beneath his cloak a parchment, saying,“Here, behold, I have it with me, and I would fain read it to you. Come, let us sit in the shade of that white cypress.”
And the poet read his poem. And it was a long poem.
And the other poet said in kindliness, “This is a great poem. It will live through the ages, and in it you shall be glorified.”
And the first poet said calmly,“And what have you been writing these late days?”
And the other answered,“I have written but little. Only eight lines in remembrance of a child playing in a garden.” And he recited the lines.
The first poet said, “Not so bad, not so bad.”
And they parted.
And now after two thousand years the eight lines of the one poet are read in every tongue, and are loved and cherished.
And though the other poem has indeed come down through the ages in libraries and in the cells of scholars, and though it is remembered, it is neither loved nor read.
流浪者 第五章（1）
露丝小姐
有一次，三个男人从远处看见一座白色的房子，它孤零零地坐落在一个绿色的山头上。其中一位说：“那是露丝小姐的房子，她是一个女巫。”
第二个人说：“你错了，露丝小姐是个漂亮的女人，她住在那里是献身于她的梦想。”
第三个人说：“你们都错了，露丝小姐是这片土地的拥有者。她从她的农奴身上吸血。”
他们边走边讨论露丝小姐，到达一个十字路口时遇见一位老人，其中一位问道：“您能跟我们说说住在山那边的露丝小姐吗？”
老人抬起头来，笑着说：“我九十岁了，当我还是一个小男孩的时候记得露丝小姐，可是露丝小姐八十年前就死了，现在房子里空空如也，猫头鹰在那里嗷嗷直叫，有时，人们说那里鬼魂萦绕。”
Lady Ruth
Three men once looked from afar upon a white house that stood alone on a green hill. One of them said, “That is the house of Lady Ruth. She is an old witch.”
The second man said,“You are wrong. Lady Ruth is a beautiful woman who lives there consecrated unto her dreams.”
The third man said,“You are both wrong. Lady Ruth is the holder of this vast land, and she draws blood from her serfs.”
And they walked on discussing Lady Ruth. Then when they came to a crossroad they met an old man, and one of them asked him, saying,“Would you please tell us about the Lady Ruth who lives in that white house upon the hill?”
And the old man raised his head and smiled upon them, and said,“I am ninety of years, and I remember Lady Ruth when I was but a boy. But Lady Ruth died eighty years ago, and now the house is empty. The owls hoot therein, sometimes, and people say the place is haunted.”
老鼠与猫
一天傍晚，一位诗人遇上一个农民。诗人很冷淡，农民很腼腆，但他们还是攀谈起来了。
农民说：“让我给你讲述一个我最近听来的小故事。一只老鼠被捕鼠器夹住了，当时它正高兴地吃着边上放的奶酪。一只猫站在一旁，老鼠战栗了一会儿，但它知道它在老鼠夹里是安全的。
“猫说话了：‘我的朋友，这是你的最后一顿饭了。’
“‘是的，’老鼠回答道，‘我只有一条命，因此只能死一次。可是你呢？人们说你有九条命。那不就意味着你要死九次吗？’”
农民望着诗人说：“这不是一个很奇怪的故事吗？”
诗人没有回答，他走开时在心底说：“我们肯定有九条命，肯定有九条。我会死九次，九次死掉。也许只有一条命更好一些。被捕鼠器夹住—一点奶酪将是农民生命的最后晚餐。况且，我们不是沙漠丛林里的狮子的亲属吗？”
The Mouse and The Cat-_-!-_-!
Once on an evening a poet met a peasant. The poet was distant and the peasant was shy, yet they conversed.
And the peasant said, “Let me tell you a little story which I heard of late. A mouse was caught in a trap, and while he was happily eating the cheese that lay therein, a cat stood by. The mouse trembled awhile, but he knew he was safe within the trap.
“Then the cat said, ‘You are eating your last meal, my friend.’
“‘Yes,’answered the mouse, ‘One life have I, therefore one death. But what of you? They tell me you have nine lives. Doesn’t that mean that you will have to die nine times?’”
流浪者 第五章（2）
And the peasant looked at the poet and he said, “ls not this a strange story?”
And the poet answered him not, but he walked away saying in his soul, “To be sure, nine lives have we, nine lives to be sure. And we shall die nine times, nine times shall we die. Perhaps it were better to have but one life, caught in a trap—the life of a peasant with a bit of cheese for the last meal. And yet, are we not kin unto the lions of the desert and the jungle?”
诅 咒
一位海上的老人对我说：“那是三十年前，一个水手和我的女儿私奔了。我从心里诅咒他们，因为在这个世界上我只爱我的女儿。”
“不久之后，年轻的水手和他的船一起沉入海底了, 他去了，我也永远失去了我亲爱的女儿。”
“因此，你看，我是杀死一个青年和一个少女的凶手，是我的诅咒毁了他们。现在，在走向坟墓的途中，我祈求上帝的宽恕。”
这就是老人所说的。但他的言语中还是有种炫耀的意味，他似乎为他的诅咒的