English Original
In the time when our Lord still walked this earth, he and St. Peter stopped one evening at a smith's and received free quarters. Then it came to pass that a poor beggar, hardly pressed by age and infirmity, came to this house and begged alms of the smith.
St. Peter had compassion on him and said, "Lord and master, if it please thee, cure his torments that he may be able to win his own bread." The Lord said kindly, "Smith, lend me thy forge, and put on some coals for me, and then I will make this ailing old man young again."
The smith was quite willing, and St. Peter blew the bellows, and when the coal fire sparkled up large and high our Lord took the little old man, pushed him in the forge in the midst of the red-hot fire, so that he glowed like a rose-bush, and praised God with a loud voice.
After that the Lord went to the quenching tub, put the glowing little man into it so that the water closed over him, and after he had carefully cooled him, gave him his blessing, when behold the little man sprang nimbly out, looking fresh, straight, healthy, and as if he were but twenty. The smith, who had watched everything closely and attentively, invited them all to supper. He, however, had an old half-blind crooked mother-in-law who went to the youth, and with great earnestness asked if the fire had burnt him much. He answered that he had never felt more comfortable, and that he had sat in the red heat as if he had been in cool dew.
The youth's words echoed in the ears of the old woman all night long, and early next morning, when the Lord had gone on his way again and had heartily thanked the smith, the latter thought he might make his old mother-in-law young again likewise, as he had watched everything so carefully, and it lay in the province of his trade. So he called to ask her if she, too, would like to go bounding about like a girl of eighteen. She said, "With all my heart, as the youth has come out of it so well."
So the smith made a great fire, and thrust the old woman into it, and she writhed about this way and that, and uttered terrible cries of murder. "Sit still; why art thou screaming and jumping about so?" cried he, and as he spoke he blew the bellows again until all her rags were burnt.
The old woman cried without ceasing, and the smith thought to himself, "I have not quite the right art," and took her out and threw her into the cooling-tub. Then she screamed so loudly that the smith's wife upstairs and her daughter-in-law heard, and they both ran downstairs, and saw the old woman lying in a heap in the quenching-tub, howling and screaming, with her face wrinkled and shrivelled and all out of shape.
Thereupon the two, who were both with child, were so terrified that that very night two boys were born who were not made like men but apes, and they ran into the woods, and from them sprang the race of apes.
中文翻译
当我们的主还行走在人间的时代，一天晚上，他和圣彼得在一个铁匠家投宿，得到了免费的住处。这时，来了一个年迈体弱、饱受病痛折磨的穷乞丐，到这户人家向铁匠乞讨。
圣彼得怜悯他，说道：“主啊，如果您愿意，请治愈他的痛苦，让他能自食其力吧。”主和蔼地说：“铁匠，把你的熔炉借给我，为我添些煤，我要让这位病弱的老人重获青春。”
铁匠很乐意。圣彼得拉动风箱，当炭火熊熊燃烧、火花四溅时，我们的主将小老头推进熔炉中央的烈火中，他顿时像玫瑰丛一样通红发亮，并高声赞美上帝。
之后，主走到淬火桶旁，将浑身通红的小人儿放进去，让水没过他。待主仔细将他冷却并赐福后，看哪，小人儿敏捷地跳了出来，看起来精神焕发、腰板挺直、健康有力，仿佛只有二十岁。铁匠仔细地观察了全过程，邀请他们所有人共进晚餐。然而，他有一位半瞎驼背的岳母，她走到年轻人面前，急切地问他是否被火烧得很痛。年轻人回答说，他从未感觉如此舒适，坐在炽热的火焰中如同身处清凉的露水中一般。
年轻人的话整夜在老妇人耳边回响。第二天一早，主再次上路并衷心感谢了铁匠。铁匠心想，既然自己看得如此仔细，这又是他本行的手艺，或许也能让他的老岳母返老还童。于是他去问她，是否也想像十八岁少女一样活蹦乱跳。她说：“我全心全意愿意，既然那年轻人结果这么好。”
于是，铁匠生起大火，把老妇人推了进去。她在火中痛苦地扭动翻滚，发出可怕的惨叫。“坐好别动！你为什么这样尖叫乱跳？”他喊道，一边说一边又拉起风箱，直到她身上的破衣服全部烧光。
老妇人不停地哭喊。铁匠心想：“我的技术还不太对。”便把她拉出来，扔进了冷却桶。她随即发出震耳欲聋的尖叫，楼上的铁匠妻子和儿媳都听到了。两人跑下楼，看见老妇人蜷缩在淬火桶里，嚎叫不止，她的脸皱缩变形，完全走了样。
于是，这两位怀孕的妇人惊恐万分，当晚就生下了两个不像人而像猿猴的男孩。他们跑进了森林，猿猴的种族便由此而来。