English Original
There was once a poor shepherd-boy whose father and mother were dead. He was placed by the authorities in the house of a rich man, who was to feed him and bring him up. However, the man and his wife had bad hearts. They were greedy and anxious about their riches, and vexed whenever the boy ate a morsel of their bread. The poor boy got little to eat, but received many blows.
One day, he had to watch a hen and her chickens. The hen ran through a hedge, and a hawk darted down and carried her off. The boy shouted, but it was no use. The farmer heard the noise, saw his hen was gone, and in a rage beat the boy so severely that he could not stir for two days.
Then the boy had to care for the chickens alone. Thinking it wise, he tied them all together with a string so the hawk could not steal any. But after two days, worn out with running and hunger, he fell asleep. The bird of prey came, seized one chicken, and since the others were tied to it, carried them all off and devoured them. The farmer, seeing this, beat the boy unmercifully, forcing him to lie in bed for several days.
When the boy recovered, the farmer said, "You are too stupid to be a herdsman. You must go as an errand-boy." He sent the boy to the judge with a basket of grapes and a letter. Tormented by hunger and thirst on the way, the boy ate two bunches. The judge counted the grapes and said, "Two clusters are missing." The boy honestly confessed. The judge wrote to the farmer, asking for more grapes.
The boy had to make the delivery again. Again, he was extremely hungry and thirsty, and again ate two bunches. This time, he first took the letter out of the basket, put it under a stone, and sat on it, thinking the letter could not see and betray him. The judge, however, again asked about the missing grapes. "Ah," said the boy, "how did you know? The letter couldn't have seen, for I put it under a stone!" The judge laughed at the boy's simplicity and sent a letter cautioning the farmer to treat the boy better, feed him well, and teach him right from wrong.
"I will soon show you the difference," said the hard man. "If you want to eat, you must work. And if you do anything wrong, you shall be sufficiently taught by blows."
The next day, he set the boy a hard task: to chop two bundles of straw into chaff within five hours, threatening a severe beating if he failed. The farmer then left for the fair with his family, leaving the boy only a small bit of bread. The boy worked with all his might. As he grew warm, he took off his little coat and threw it on the straw. In his haste and terror, without noticing, he chopped his coat along with the straw. Realizing the misfortune too late, he cried, "Now all is over with me! The wicked man will kill me. Rather than that, I will take my own life."
The boy remembered the farmer's wife saying, "I have a pot with poison under my bed." (She had said this to keep away greedy people, for it actually contained honey.) The boy crept under the bed, brought out the pot, and ate all the honey. "Folks say death is bitter, but it tastes sweet to me," he said. He sat down, prepared to die, but instead felt strengthened. "It cannot have been poison," he thought. He then recalled the farmer mentioning a small bottle of fly poison in his clothes box. (It was actually Hungarian wine.) The boy found the bottle and emptied it. "This death tastes sweet too," he said. Soon, the wine went to his head. Feeling his end was near, he said, "I will go to the churchyard and seek a grave."
He staggered to the churchyard and laid himself in a newly dug grave. He lost his senses more and more. Hearing music from a nearby wedding at an inn, he fancied he was in Paradise, until he lost all consciousness. The poor boy never awoke again; the heat of the strong wine and the cold night-dew deprived him of life, and he remained in the grave.
When the farmer heard of the boy's death, he was terrified of being brought to justice. His distress was so powerful that he fell fainting to the ground. His wife, who was standing at the hearth with a pan of hot fat, ran to help him. But flames darted against the pan, the whole house caught fire, and in a few hours it lay in ashes. They spent the rest of their years in poverty and misery, tormented by the pangs of conscience.
中文翻译
从前有一个可怜的牧童，父母双亡。当局将他安置在一个富人家里，由富人负责抚养他。然而，这对夫妇心肠很坏。他们贪婪吝啬，每当男孩吃他们一小口面包，他们就恼怒不已。可怜的孩子吃得很少，却挨了很多打。
一天，他必须照看一只母鸡和它的小鸡。母鸡带着小鸡钻过树篱，一只鹰猛扑下来把母鸡抓走了。男孩大声喊叫，但无济于事。农夫听到声音，看到母鸡不见了，勃然大怒，把男孩打得两天动弹不得。
之后，男孩不得不独自照顾小鸡。他认为把所有的鸡用绳子拴在一起很聪明，这样鹰就偷不走了。但两天后，他又累又饿，睡着了。猛禽来了，抓住一只小鸡，由于其他小鸡都被拴在一起，它就把所有小鸡都抓走吃掉了。农夫看到这一幕，无情地殴打了男孩，迫使他在床上躺了好几天。
男孩恢复后，农夫说：“你太笨了，当不了牧人。你必须去当跑腿的。”他让男孩给法官送一篮葡萄和一封信。路上，男孩又饿又渴，忍不住吃了两串葡萄。法官数了数葡萄说：“少了两串。”男孩老实承认了。法官给农夫写了信，要求再送一些葡萄来。
男孩不得不再次去送。他又一次饥渴难耐，又吃了两串。这次，他先把信从篮子里拿出来，压在石头下面，自己坐在石头上，以为信就看不见、告不了密了。然而，法官再次问起缺失的葡萄。“啊，”男孩说，“你怎么知道的？信不可能看见，因为我把它压在石头下面了！”法官被男孩的天真逗笑了，他写信告诫农夫要对男孩好一点，让他吃饱喝足，并教他分辨是非。
“我很快就会让你知道区别，”狠心的男人说。“想吃就得干活。要是做错了事，一顿好打就是给你的教训。”
第二天，他给男孩布置了一项艰巨的任务：在五小时内把两捆稻草切碎成秣料，并威胁说如果完不成就要狠狠揍他。然后，农夫带着家人去赶集了，只给男孩留了一小块面包。男孩拼命干活。他干得身上发热，就把小外套脱下来扔在稻草上。匆忙和恐惧中，他没注意，把自己的外套和稻草一起切碎了。等他发现时已经太晚了，他哭道：“这下我全完了！那个恶毒的人会杀了我的。我宁愿自己了断。”
男孩想起农夫的妻子说过：“我床底下有一罐毒药。”（她这么说只是为了防贪吃的人，其实里面是蜂蜜。）男孩爬到床下，拿出罐子，把蜂蜜全吃了。“人们都说死亡是苦的，但我觉得很甜，”他说。他坐下来等死，却反而觉得更有力气了。“这不可能是毒药，”他想。接着他想起农夫曾说过，他放衣服的箱子里有一小瓶灭蝇药。（那其实是匈牙利葡萄酒。）男孩找到瓶子，一饮而尽。“这种死亡尝起来也很甜，”他说。很快，酒劲上了头。他感到末日将近，说：“我要去教堂墓地，找个坟墓。”
他摇摇晃晃地走到教堂墓地，躺进一个新挖的坟墓里。他的意识越来越模糊。听到附近客栈传来婚礼的音乐，他幻想自己已经到了天堂，直到完全失去知觉。这个可怜的孩子再也没有醒来；烈酒的热度和夜晚的寒露夺去了他的生命，他就留在了自己躺进的坟墓里。
农夫听到男孩的死讯，害怕被追究责任。他极度惊恐，晕倒在地。他的妻子当时正站在炉边，手里拿着一锅热油，见状跑过去帮他。但火焰窜到了锅上，整个房子都着了火，几个小时后化为灰烬。他们在贫困和悲惨中度过了余生，备受良心的谴责。