翠绿的树林里，一条小溪潺潺流过，灿烂的野花装点着林间的小屋。

The murmuring brook¹ in the green forest flowed past glorious wild flowers which decorated the little house there.

红日当空，忽然，一只鹿闯进了小屋的院子里，院里有个小男孩正在玩耍。那只鹿用它的角勾住了男孩的衣服。这把孩子吓住了，于是他放声大哭起来。他妈妈听到后赶紧跑出来看发生了什么事。她出来时刚好看到那只鹿正拖着孩子向山里跑去。

The sun shone high in the sky. Suddenly, a deer raced into the courtyard of the house, where a little boy was playing. The deer hooked the boy's clothing with its antlers. This scared the little boy so much he let out a howl that brought his mother running out to see what the matter was. She came out just in time to see the deer running off toward the mountains with her little boy.

孩子的妈妈感到十分恐慌。她尽全力去追那只鹿，但在没跑多远的地方，就发现她的孩子正安然无恙地坐在草地上。当看到他的妈妈来时，小男孩笑着向妈妈伸出手臂。她把他一把抱起，高兴得哭了。

Of course the boy's mother was horrified²! She ran after the deer as fast as she could go, and not too far away, she found her little boy sitting safely on the grass. When he saw his mother coming, the little boy laughed and stretched out his arms to her. His mother scooped³ him up. She was so happy that she cried.

她匆匆忙忙地把她的宝贝儿子带回家。当回到家时，她停下了脚步，浑身僵硬，被眼前的景象惊呆了。当她出门追赶她的儿子时，屋后的一棵大树倒了下来。在树的重压下，整个屋子都被压垮了。所有的墙都被碾碎了，所有的瓦片都被砸成了粉末，屋里的鸡和狗都死了。如果那时她和她的儿子都在家……

She hurried back to their home with her precious son. When she got there, she stopped dead in her tracks, amazed at what she saw. The huge tree in back of their house had toppled over while she was out chasing after her son. The whole house was crushed under its enormous weight. The walls were squashed, and all the roofing tiles were smashed into powder. The chickens and dogs in the house were all dead. If she and her little boy had been home...

随后，小男孩的妈妈想起了大约一年前的一天，一只躲避猎人的鹿跑到了她的屋子里。她很同情那只可怜的、受了惊吓的鹿，所以她用一些衣服把鹿盖了起来。当猎人尾随他的猎物冲进来时，没找到那只鹿。他想它一定是从后门跑掉了，所以就继续追赶去了。当猎人走得很远的时候，她放出鹿，让它重返树林。

Then the little boy's mother remembered the day about a year before when a deer fleeing a hunter had run into her house. She felt sorry for the poor, frightened deer, so she covered it with some clothes. When the hunter rushed in after his quarry⁴, he couldn't find it. He thought it must have gone out the back door, so he kept chasing it, and when he was far, far away, she uncovered the deer and let it return to the forest.

那只鹿好像明白是她救了它的命，当它离开的时候，一直向她点头，好像在感谢她的仁慈。

The deer seemed to understand that she had saved its life, because as it left, it kept bowing its head to her, as if thanking her for her mercy.

她从来没想过那只鹿会记得她的恩情。那只鹿不知何故，知道了那棵树将会倒下砸向她，所以就回来报恩了。

She never imagined that the deer could remember her kindness. The deer somehow knew the tree was going to fall and crush her, so it came back to show its gratitude⁵.

当那个小男孩的妈妈回想起来这一切后，她说：“救别的生命就等于是救你自己的生命。”

When the boy's mother remembered all this, she said, "Saving the life of another is the same as saving your own life."