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 Faithful Eagle

 忠诚的老鹰

2 The War-horses Turning the Mill

 战马推磨

3 A Silly Village Headman

 笨村长

4 The Three Fish

 三条鱼

5 The Monkey That Could Not be Taught

 不听劝导的猴子

6 The Wolf，the Fox and the Tiger

 狼、狐狸和老虎

7 A Pairof Shoes

 一双鞋

8 The Hung ry Wolf That Waited

 饿我狼的一夜

9 The Unfriendly Swans

 不友善的天鹅

]0 The Cave That Spoke

 会说话的洞穴

11 The Jackal at the Ram Fight

 豺狗舔羊血

12 The Lion and the Woodcutter

 狮子和樵夫

13 Stopping Grief

 节哀

14 The Three-yearold Man

三岁的老人

15 The Jackal's Death

 豺狗之死

16 The Three Robbers

 三个强盗

17 The Lion and the Ram

狮子和绵羊

18 The Owl's Children

猫头鹰的孩子

19 It Tastes Delicious

味道好极了

20 The Donkey in the Tiger Skin

披上虎皮的驴

21 The Bold Hen Sparrow

 苦口婆心的母雀

22 The Wedge—pulling Monkey

 猴子拔楔子

23 The Judge and the Thief

 法官和小偷

24 Whose Son is Better？

 谁的儿子好?

25 The Singing Donkey

 驴要唱歌

26 The Fisherman and the Sea

 渔民和大海

27 False Advice

 错误的忠告

28 The Jackal and the Camel

 豺和骆驼

29 Dogs and Goats

 狗和羊

30 The Donkey Thief

 偷驴贼

31 Dreams of a Poor Man

 一个穷人的梦

32 The Quarrelsome Quails

 爱吵架的鹌鹑

33 The Wooden PilIar

 木桩子的故事

34 Creep and Leap

 虱子和跳蚤

35 TwO Ghosts and Three Treasures

 两个鬼争三样宝物

36 The Camel's Trust Betrayed

 骆驼被出卖

37 The Fou rth Fool

 第四个傻瓜

38 The Lion and the Jackals

 急中生智

39 Tiger Body with a Mouse Heart

 虎身鼠心

40 How Supersmart Ate the Elephant

 豺狗吃大象

41 The Contented Craftsmon

 手艺人的自满

42 The Maid Who Broke the Jar

 婢女破缸

43 The Mice That Set the Elephants Free

 老鼠救大象

44 Spot Gets Captured

 花鹿的遭遇

45 Tall and Short

 高和矮

46 The Jackal's Power

 不自量力的豺狗

47 The Tortoise and the Swans

 乌龟和天鹅

48 Words of Caution

 良言值干金

49 A Change of Name

 改名字

50 Sowing Seeds from a Sedan Chair

 坐轿播种

The War-horses Turning the Mill

Once upon a time, there was a king who trained many strong and powerful war-horses. The ruler of a neighbouring country, which had planned to conquer his land, gave up the idea when he heard that the king had a lot of good horses.

The king knew that his neighbour would not be declaring war on him, so what was the use of keeping the horses any more？

Thus he ordered that the eyes of the horses be covered and he sent the horses to turn the mills to earn more income for the country.

Some years later, the ruler of the neighbouring country had trained his army and horses to try and invade the king's country.

Now the king quickly ordered the war-horses to be sent to the battlefield to defend the country.

The warriors rode on the horses trying to charge at the enemies but the horses now only knew how to turn round and round on the same spot. After so many years of turning the mill, the war-horses had forgotten how to charge at their enemies. Their enemies very easily won the war.

战马推磨

从前，有个国王驯养了很多身强体壮的战马。邻国本想侵占他的领土，却听说他有许多良好的战马，若打起仗来，难以获胜，就放弃了侵占这个国家的念头。

国王听到敌国不战自退的消息，很是高兴。他想：“我驯养战马的目的，是为了抵抗敌国的侵略，现在敌国既然不敢侵略我国了，驯养这些战马还有什么用呢?

于是，国王便下令，把所有战马的眼睛蒙起来，让它们挑起推磨的工作。这样一来，战马不但可以自食其力，还可增加国家的收入。

后来，战马推磨久了，便习惯于原地转圈了。

过了多年以后，邻国兵强马壮了，又来侵略他的领土。这时候，国王想起了战马的用处，立即下令，赶快把战马披挂上阵。

勇士们骑在战马上，列阵挥鞭向敌人冲杀，可惜这些战马由于常年来推磨碾米的缘故，到了战场上只会在原地转圈儿，却不向前冲锋。敌人见状，一起冲杀过来，打败了国王的军队。P6-9

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