MOTHER, the light has grown grey in the sky; I do not know what the time is. 妈妈，天空上的光成了灰色了；我不知道是什么时候了。

There is no fun in my play, so I have come to you. It is Saturday, our holiday. 我玩得怪没劲儿的，所以到你这里来了。这是星期六，是我们的休息日。

Leave off your work, mother; sit here by the window and tell me where the desert of Tep?ntar in the fairy tale is? 放下你的活计，妈妈；坐在靠窗的一边，告诉我童话里的特潘塔沙漠在什么地方？

The shadow of the rains has covered the day from end to end. 雨的影子遮掩了整个白天。

The fierce lightning is scratching the sky with its nails. 凶猛的电光用它的爪子抓着天空。

When the clouds rumble¹ and it thunders, I love to be afraid in my heart and cling to you.

当乌云在轰轰地响着，天打着雷的时候，我总爱心里带着恐惧爬伏到你的身上。

When the heavy rain patters for hours on the bamboo leaves, and our windows shake and rattle² at the gusts³ of wind, I like to sit alone in the room, mother, with you, and hear you talk about the desert of Tep?ntar in the fairy tale.

当大雨倾泻在竹叶子上好几个钟头，而我们的窗户为狂风震得格格发响的时候，我就爱独自和你坐在屋里，妈妈，听你讲童话里的特潘塔沙漠的故事。

Where is it, mother, on the shore of what sea, at the foot of what hills, in the kingdom of what king?

它在哪里，妈妈，在哪一个海洋的岸上，在哪些个山峰的脚下，在哪一个国王的国土里？

There are no hedges there to mark the fields, no footpath⁴ across it by which the villagers reach their village in the evening, or the woman who gathers dry sticks in the forest can bring her load to the market. With patches of yellow grass in the sand and only one tree where the pair of wise old birds have their nest, lies the desert of Tep?ntar.

田地上没有此疆彼壤的界石，也没有村人在黄昏时走回家的，或妇人在树林里捡拾 枯枝而捆载到市场上去的道路。沙地上只有一小块一小块的黄色草地，只有一株树，就是那一对聪明的老鸟儿在那里做窝的，那个地方就是特潘塔沙漠。

I can imagine how, on just such a cloudy day, the young son of the king is riding alone on a grey horse through the desert, in search of the princess who lies imprisoned⁵ in the giant's palace across that unknown water.

我能够想象得到，就在这样一个乌云密布的日子，国王的年轻的儿子，怎样地独自 骑着一匹灰色马，走过这个沙漠，去寻找那被囚禁在不可知的重洋之外的巨人宫里的公主。

When the haze⁶ of the rain comes down in the distant sky, and lightning starts up like a sudden fit of pain, does he remember his unhappy mother, abandoned by the king, sweeping⁷ the cow-stall and wiping her eyes, while he rides through the desert of Tep?ntar in the fairy tale?

当雨雾在遥远的天空下降，电光像一阵突然发作的痛楚的痉挛似地闪射的时候，他 可记得他的不幸的母亲，为国王所弃，正在扫除牛棚，眼里流着眼泪，当他骑马走过童话里的特潘塔沙漠的时候？

See, mother, it is almost dark before the day is over, and there are no travellers yonder on the village road.

看，妈妈，一天还没有完，天色就差不多黑了，那边村庄的路上没有什么旅客了。

The shepherd boy has gone home early from the pasture, and men have left their fields to sit on mats under the eaves of their huts, watching the scowling⁸ clouds.

牧童早就从牧场上回家了，人们都已从田地里回来，坐在他们草屋的檐下的草席上，眼望着阴沉的云块。

Mother, I have left all my books on the shelf--do not ask me to do my lessons now.

妈妈，我把我所有的书本都放在书架上了——不要叫我现在做功课。

When I grow up and am big like my father, I shall learn all that must be learnt.

当我长大了，大得像爸爸一样的时候，我将会学到必须学的东西的。

But just for to-day, tell me, mother, where the desert of Tep?ntar in the fairy tale is?

但是，今天你可得告诉我，妈妈，童话里的特潘塔沙漠在什么地方？