English Original
Once, a big bear and a clever fox bought a firkin of butter together to share at Christmas. They hid it under a thick spruce bush and then lay down on a sunny bank to sleep.
After a while, the fox got up, shook himself, and shouted "Yes!" He ran straight to the firkin and ate a good third of the butter. When he returned, the bear noticed his full belly and asked where he had been.
"Don't you believe I was invited to a childbed feast?" said the fox.
"So, so," said the bear. "What was the child's name?"
"Just-begun," replied the fox.
They lay down to sleep again. Soon, the fox jumped up once more, shouted "Yes!" and ran back to the firkin, eating another large portion. Upon his return, he told the bear he had been invited to another naming feast.
"And what was the child's name this time?" asked the bear.
"Half-eaten," said the fox.
The bear thought this a very queer name but soon fell back asleep. Not long after, the fox got up again, shouted "Yes!" and went to the firkin, this time finishing all the butter. He told the bear he had been to yet another feast.
"And the child's name?" asked the bear.
"Licked-to-the-bottom," answered the fox.
Later, when they went to check the butter and found it all gone, each blamed the other. The fox, whose name was Reynard, proposed a test.
"Let's sleep in the sun," he said. "When we wake, whoever has the greasiest cheeks and chaps is the thief."
The bear agreed, confident he was innocent. While the bear slept, Reynard sneaked to the empty firkin, found a last morsel of butter stuck in a crack, and smeared it on the sleeping bear's face. Then he lay down as if nothing had happened.
When they awoke, the sun had melted the butter, making the bear's whiskers all greasy.
"So it was you, after all, who ate the butter!" declared the fox.
Was it?
中文翻译
从前，一只大熊和一只聪明的狐狸合伙买了一小桶黄油，准备在圣诞节时享用。他们把黄油藏在一丛茂密的云杉下，然后躺在阳光明媚的河岸上睡觉。
过了一会儿，狐狸站起来，抖了抖身子，大喊一声“遵命！”。他径直跑到藏黄油的地方，吃掉了足足三分之一。回来时，熊看到他鼓鼓的肚子，便问他去哪儿了。
“你难道不相信我被邀请去参加一个生子宴会了吗？”狐狸说。
“哦，这样啊，”熊说。“那孩子叫什么名字？”
“刚刚开始，”狐狸回答。
他们又躺下睡觉。不久，狐狸再次跳起来，大喊“遵命！”，跑回去又吃了一大块黄油。回来后，他告诉熊他又被邀请去参加一个命名宴会了。
“这次孩子叫什么名字？”熊问。
“吃掉一半，”狐狸说。
熊觉得这名字很奇怪，但很快又睡着了。没过多久，狐狸第三次起身，大喊“遵命！”，跑去把桶里剩下的黄油吃得一干二净。他告诉熊他又去参加了一个宴会。
“孩子叫什么名字？”熊问。
“舔到底了，”狐狸答道。
后来，他们去查看黄油，发现全没了，互相指责起来。狐狸雷纳德提议做个测试。
“我们在太阳下睡觉吧，”他说。“等我们醒来，谁的脸和下巴最油，谁就是小偷。”
熊同意了，他问心无愧。趁熊熟睡时，雷纳德溜到空桶边，找到裂缝里残留的一点黄油，把它抹在了熊的脸上。然后他也躺下，装作无事发生。
他们醒来时，阳光融化了黄油，弄得熊的胡须油光发亮。
“所以，原来是你吃了黄油！”狐狸宣称。
真的是这样吗？