本书为“世界寓言精选”（英汉读本）中的一本。寓言是当今文学作品中最不可思议的一种体裁。它往往是利用一个饶有趣味的故事，来说明深刻的道理：它在激情中闪烁着理性的智慧光芒，在讽喻中又不乏幽默和情趣。通过这些寓意深长的故事，它能让你多侧面、多视角地去认识世界，认识社会，认识人生……本书，异彩缤纷的寓言故事，就会像流云一样，把你带到那精彩而又生动的故事世界里去。书中的每一个故事都附有插图，逼真生动，可谓图文并茂。对青少年而言具有启迪思维，体会人生哲理与丰富学识的积极作用。

《世界寓言经典丛书》概括了世界各国著名的寓言故事，其中有些寓言甚至可追溯到2500年前。

丛书中的寓言故事蕴涵着丰富的人生哲理与深刻的生活经验。这些故事都闪烁着璀璨的智慧光芒。它们有助于启迪思维、激发创造潜能，同时对认识人生世相、明辨是非及体认人性的尊严与生命的真谛，也能发挥启发性的积极作用。

本丛书共l0本，总共收录了来自50多个国家及地区的逾500个精彩的寓言故事。每个故事都寄寓着不朽的道德价值与生活理念。

1 The Fox and the Grapes

 葡萄是酸的

2 The Beekeeper and the Bees

 无辜的养蜂家

3 The Crow and the Snake

 乌鸦和蛇

4 The Tree and the Axe

 树和斧头

5 The Fortune-teller

 预言家

6 The Dissatisfied Deer

 牡鹿的懊悔

7 The Courageous Boy

 有勇气的男孩

8 The Peacock and the Crane

 爱自夸的孔雀

9 The Ox and the Frog

 不自量的青蛙

10 The Wolf and the Shepherd

 狼和牧羊人

11 The Bronze Pot and the Clay Pot

 铜壶和瓦壶

12 The Crow That Wanted to be White

 乌鸦要变白

13 The Fox That Lost His Tail

 没有尾巴的狐狸

14 The Boys and the Frogs

 孩子和青蛙

15 The Astronomer

 天文学家

16 The Dishonest Friend

 驴和狐狸

17 The Ungrateful Trayellers

 旅行者和梧桐树

18 The Young Man and the Swallow

 年轻人和燕子

19 The Crow That Imitated the Eagle

 乌鸦模仿老鹰

20 The Big Crab and the Little Crab

 大螃蟹和小螃蟹

21 The Flies and the Honey Pot

 苍蝇和蜜罐

22 The Mosquito and the Bull

 蚊子和公牛

23 The BatThatTook Sides

 为何蝙蝠只在夜里出现？

24 The Man and the Lion

 人和狮子

25 The Dog and the Rooster

 狗和公鸡

26 The Wolf That Rang the Bell

 摇铃铛的狼

27 The Old Lady and the Doctor

 老妇人和医生

28 The North Wind and the Sun

 北风和太阳

29 The Thief and His Mother

 小偷和他的母亲

30 The Goatherd and the Wild Goats

 牧人和野山羊

31 The Donkey and His Master

 驴子和他的主人

32 The Rabbits and the Frogs

 兔子和青蛙

33 Sharing a Goat

 狡猾的狐狸

34 The Widow and Her Little Maids

 寡妇和丫头

35 The Frogs That Wanted a King

 青蛙求王

36 The Wolf That Looked for an Excuse

 狼和绵羊

37 The Donkey and the Lion

 驴和狮子

38 The Man and Satyr

 人和森林之神

39 The Lion's ProposaI

 狮子娶妻

40 The Turkey and the Sheep

 绵羊和火鸡

41 The Trayellers and the Wallet

 两个旅行者和钱包

42 The Donkey and the Sacred Statue

 驴和神像

43 The W6lf That Needed Help

 绵羊吓跑了

44 The Lioness and Her Cub

 母狮和小狮子

45 The Merchant and His Friend

 商人和朋友

46 A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

 披上羊皮的狠

47 The Donkey and His Shadow

 驴和它的影子

48 The Wild Boar That Sharpened His Tusks

 野猪磨牙

49 The Fox's Compliments

 狐狸的夸赞

50 The Grasshopper and the Ants

 蚱蜢和蚂蚁

The Fox and the Grapes

One warm sunny morning, a fox was trotting along happily. He kept an eye out for a bird or a rabbit to catch for his lunch. Now and then he would sniff the air for signs of danger. He did not want to get caught by the farmers who hated him for always stealing their chickens.

The fox soon passed a vineyard. The thick stems of the grape vines curled round the strong wooden frames and stood tall in the field. From these thick, strong vines, hung huge bunches of purple grapes which looked plump and juicy.

The walk in the sun had made the fox quite thirsty and he looked longingly at the grapes.

"I must eat some of those grapes before the farmer comes," he thought. He walked up to the nearest vine and stood up on his hind legs. He then tried to pluck the lowest bunch of grapes with his teeth. However, the bunch was too high and he could not reach it. He then ran back a few steps and leaped up towards the bunch, opening his mouth wide and trying to snap at them with his sharp teeth. He missed！

The fox did not give up easily. For a long time, he kept running and leaping at the bunch of grapes. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not reach the grapes.

 In the end, feeling tired and irritated, the fox gave up. As he walked away, he muttered, "I don't really need them at all. They are probably sour grapes anyway."

葡萄是酸的

一个阳光和煦的早晨，有只狐狸沿着一条小径走，附近便是农庄i狐狸一边走，一边向四周张望，希望能猎到鸟儿或兔子作为早餐。

狐狸也不时提防农夫的袭击。由于他经常偷捉农夫的鸡只来吃，所以村庄里的农夫都不喜欢他，也从不放过捕捉他的机会。

狐狸经过一个葡萄园。满园的葡萄树藤攀缘木架而上，高高地在木架上盘绕茁长。茂密且青葱的葡萄树，悬挂着一大串一大串的葡萄，看起来是那么水灵和美味。

由于在太阳底下走了一段路，令狐狸感到非常口渴，看到这些葡萄更令他垂涎。狐狸心想，这些葡萄一定很甜，不但美味，还可解渴。

“在农夫还没到来之前，我一定要采些葡萄吃。”狐狸想。

于是，他走到最靠近的葡萄树，用后肢支撑身体站立起来。然后，他尝试利用牙齿去采摘最低的一串葡萄。可是，他碰不到那串葡萄。

狐狸向后退了几步，然后冲向前一跃，他张大的嘴巴几乎可咬到葡萄串，可是最终却扑了个空！

狐狸并不放弃。他再次向后退，又再冲前几步一跃……同样的动作尝试了数十次，仍然没办法摘下葡萄。

最后，狐狸疲累不堪，汗如雨下，心里失望不已。终于，他放弃了！

“我不要吃这些葡萄了，它们都是酸的！”狐狸自言自语地走开了。

Moral故事哲理：

When we cannot gct what We want,we sometimes，pretend that we don't really need them．

吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸，这种自我安慰不失为健康的心态，至少可把那种失落感排遣掉。P1-4

PREFACE

A fable is an interesting short story intended to impart a philosophy of life or to tell a moral lesson. Since time immemorial, most fables from around the world have animals as their main characters sharing humanly mind and sentiment. They speak the human language and are as emotional as you and I.

Around the sixth century B.C. in India, a Sanskrit version of Panchatantra was believed to be the earliest fables in our entire planet. Later, fables from Aesop, La Fontaine, Lessing and Kriloff were made known to the public in Greece, France, Germany and Russia respectively. In the meantime, a myriad of fabulous stories were rife in ancient China during the Spring and Autumn period, and the period of the Warring States. These fables were mostly published in the works of various scholars. The more famous ones include Zhuang Zhou, Meng Ke, Han Fei and so on. Many postHan dynaSty fabulists hadalso come out with fantastic stories which serve as a link between the past and the future.

Despite their imaginative features, these ancient and modern fables from around the world boast of being "the language of human wisdom" as the storylines are practically true-to-life. The fabulists often gain various experiences and les sons from our everyday life, pick up the moist typical ones, polish them up and turn them into fabulous stories through personification, exaggeration, bsymbolization, simile, metaphor and other literary skills, providing the general audience with well-intentioned guidance and practical advice. They serve to help us gain a better understanding and management of everyday life, including our words and deeds.

As an effort to share various brilliant fabulous masterpieces from around the world with our gen eral audience, Penerbit Arowana Sdn Bhd hascompiled and published a series of books entitled "World's Great Fables". Some of the most interesting fables were painstakingly selected, rewritten in a simple style, and enhanced with lively and attractive illustrations.

"World's Great Fables" is a set of readers which can be enjoyed by both the young and the old.

                   Heng Kay Song

                   Lecturer

            Department of Chinese Studies

            University of Malaya

序

寓言，是通过一个生动、有趣的小故事，来阐发人生的哲理和寄托道德的教训。古今中外，绝大多数的寓言都是以飞禽走兽作为故事的“主人公”，但是它们的思想感情却是人的思想感情，它们也说人所说的话，拥有人的七情六欲，因此这些飞禽走兽实际上就是“人的化身”。

大约在公元前六世纪左右，印度出现了梵文本的《五卷书》，它可能是世上最早的寓言故事。后来，在希腊出现了《伊索寓言》，在法国出现了《拉封丹寓言》、 在德国出现了《莱辛寓言》，在俄国出现了《克雷洛夫寓言诗》等等。至于口国，早在几乎同个时候的春秋战国时代，也涌现了大量的寓言故事。这些寓言故事大多散布在诸子的著作里。其中尤以，《庄子》、《孟子》、《韩非子》等子书上的寓言，最为脍炙人口。汉代以后的寓言家也扮演承先启后的角色，撰写了许多非常精彩的寓言故事。

这些古今中外的寓言故事，虽具有虚构、幻想的特点，可是它们的虚构与幻想却是扎根于人类生活的现实基础上，可说是“人类智慧的语言”。寓言的作者们，从人类生活的实践中积累了各种各样的经验与教训，从中选择最有代表性的某一些，加以提炼，并通过“拟人”、“夸张”、“象征”、“譬喻”等表现手法，写成了寓言故事，为广大的读者提供善意的指导与警诫性的规劝。它们既能帮助我们认识生活，也能帮助我们驾驭生活，指导日常的言与行。

金龙鱼出版社为了让广大的读者分享来自世界各国寓言家的智慧结晶品，特编撰了一套《世界寓言精选》，精心选择最有代表性、最精彩的寓言故事，以浅白流畅的文字配以生动优美的插图，图文并茂地呈现给读者。更难能可贵的是在每一则寓言的末尾，编者还提纲挈领地指出寓言所蕴含的人生哲理。

我认为这一套《世界寓言精选》是一套益智的健康读物，不仅适合儿童阅读，同时也适合青少年，甚至成年人阅读，可谓“老少咸宜”。

马来西亚大学中文系

王介英讲师