The debtor and his sow 欠债人和母猪

A man of Athens fell into debt and was pressed for the money by his creditor¹; but he had no means of paying at the time, so he begged for delay. But the creditor refused and said he must pay at once. Then the debtor² fetched a sow-the only one he had-and took her to market to offer her for sale. It happened that his creditor was there too. Presently a buyer came along and asked if the sow produced good litters. "Yes," said the debtor, "very fine ones, and the remarkable³ thing is that she produces females at the Mysteries and males at the Panathenea." (These were two Greek festivals. The Athenians always sacrifice a sow at one, and a boar at the other, while at the Dionysia they sacrifice a kid.) At that the creditor, who was standing⁴ by, put in, "Don't be surprised, sir. Why still better, at the Dionysia this sow has kids!"

 

一个雅典人欠了别人的钱，债主三番几次来催他还钱，但他当时根本没有办法还钱，所以请求延期几天。可是，债主却不答应，让他立刻还钱。迫不得已，欠债人把家中仅有的母猪带到市场上去卖。碰巧，债主也在那个市场里。过了一会儿，有一个买主走上前来，问这头母猪是否还能下小猪崽。“当然了，”欠债人回答说，“能生下很好的小猪崽，而且更惊人的事，她还能在女神节生下小母猪，在帕纳西尼亚节生下小公猪。”（这是希腊的两个节日，雅典人总是在女神节杀一只小母猪祭祀，在帕那尼西亚节杀一只小公猪祭祀，而在狂欢节杀一只小山羊做祭祀品。）债主听到他说的话，立刻站起来插话道：“一点都不奇怪，先生，为什么呢，因为更厉害的是，在狂欢节时，她还会生下小山羊呢！”

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