English Original
Once upon a time...
'How astonishingly cold it is! My body is cracking all over!' said the Snow-man. 'The wind is really cutting one's very life out! And how that fiery thing up there glares!' He meant the sun, which was just setting. 'It sha'n't make me blink, though, and I shall keep quite cool and collected.'
Instead of eyes he had two large three-cornered pieces of slate in his head; his mouth consisted of an old rake, so that he had teeth as well. He was born amidst the shouts and laughter of the boys, and greeted by the jingling bells and cracking whips of the sledges.
The sun went down, and the full moon rose, large, round, clear and beautiful, in the dark blue sky.
'There it is again on the other side!' said the Snow-man, thinking the sun had reappeared. 'I have become quite accustomed to its glaring. I wish I knew how to change my position. I should very much like to move about. If I only could, I would glide up and down the ice as I saw the boys doing.'
'Bow-wow!' barked the old yard-dog; he was rather hoarse. 'The sun will soon teach you to run! I saw that with your predecessor! They have all run away!'
'I don't understand you, my friend,' said the Snow-man, looking at the moon. 'That thing up there is to teach me to run?'
'You know nothing at all,' said the yard-dog. 'That is the moon. The sun will come up again tomorrow and will soon teach you how to run away down the gutter. The weather is going to change.'
'I can't understand him,' said the Snow-man; 'but I have an idea he is speaking of something unpleasant. That glaring thing, the sun, is not my friend. I know that by instinct.'
The yard-dog walked three times round himself and then crept into his kennel to sleep.
The weather really did change. Towards morning a dense damp fog lay over the whole neighbourhood; later came an icy wind. But when the sun rose, it was a glorious sight. The trees and shrubs were covered with rime, and looked like a wood of coral. The most delicate twigs, lost among the foliage in summer, came now into prominence, like a spider's web of glistening white. When the sun shone, everything glittered as if sprinkled with diamond dust.
'Isn't it wonderful?' exclaimed a girl walking with a young man in the garden. They stopped near the Snow-man. 'Summer cannot show a more beautiful sight,' she said.
'And one can't get a fellow like this in summer either,' said the young man, pointing to the Snow-man. 'He's a beauty!'
The girl laughed, nodded to the Snow-man, and then they both danced away over the snow.
'Who were those two?' asked the Snow-man of the yard-dog.
'Lovers!' replied the yard-dog. 'They will go into one kennel and gnaw the same bone! They are our masters.'
'The cold is splendid,' said the Snow-man. 'Tell me more. But don't rattle your chain so, it makes me crack!'
The yard-dog told his story: 'I was once a pretty little fellow, lying in a velvet chair. My mistress called me her dear little Alice! But I grew too big and was given to the housekeeper. I went into the kitchen. There was a stove, the most beautiful thing in the world. I used to creep right under it. Ah me! I often dream of that stove still!'
'Is a stove so beautiful?' asked the Snow-man. 'Is it anything like me?'
'It is just the opposite! It is coal-black, has a long neck with a brass pipe, and fire spouts from its mouth. You can see it through the window.'
The Snow-man looked and saw a smooth polished object with a brass pipe. The flicker from the fire reached him. A wonderful feeling came over him which he could not express.
'Why did you leave her?' asked the Snow-man, feeling the stove must be a lady.
'I had to!' said the yard-dog. 'They turned me out and chained me here after I bit a boy who took my bone. I lost my voice. That was the end of happiness!'
The Snow-man was no longer listening; he was gazing into the room where the stove stood. 'How something is cracking inside me!' he said. 'I must get there and lean against the stove, even if I have to break the window!'
'You will never get inside,' said the yard-dog; 'and if you reach the stove, you will disappear.'
'I'm as good as gone already!' answered the Snow-man. 'I believe I'm breaking up!'
The whole day he looked through the window. Towards dusk, the room grew more inviting; the stove gave out a mild light. When the door opened, it flared up—one of its peculiarities—and flickered red upon the Snow-man's white face.
'I can't stand it any longer!' he said. 'How beautiful it looks!'
It was a long night, but he stood wrapt in pleasant thoughts which froze, so that he cracked.
Next morning, the panes of the kitchen window were covered with beautiful ice-flowers, but they blotted out the stove. He couldn't see it. There was cracking inside him and all around.
'Yours is a bad illness for a Snow-man!' said the yard-dog. 'The weather is going to change!'
The weather did change. There came a thaw.
The Snow-man set off. He did not say anything or complain. One morning he broke up altogether. Where he had stood, there remained only the upright broomstick round which the boys had built him.
'Ah! Now I understand,' said the yard-dog. 'That is the raker used to clean the stove! The Snow-man had a stove-raker in his body! And now it's all over with him!'
And before long, it was all over with the winter too.
But the young girl sang:
Woods, your bright green garments don!
Willows, your woolly gloves put on!
Lark and cuckoo, daily sing—
February has brought the spring!
My heart joins in your song so sweet;
Come out, dear sun, the world to greet!
And no one thought of the Snow-man.
中文翻译
从前……
“这天气冷得可真惊人啊！我全身都在开裂！”雪人说。“这风简直要把人的命给刮出来！天上那个火红的东西瞪得可真凶！”他指的是正在下山的太阳。“不过它可别想让我眨眼，我会保持冷静和镇定的。”
他的眼睛是头上两块大三角石板；嘴巴是一把旧耙子，所以他也有牙齿。他是在男孩们的叫喊和欢笑声中诞生的，迎接他的是雪橇叮当的铃声和噼啪作响的鞭子声。
太阳下山了，一轮满月升上深蓝色的天空，又大又圆，清澈美丽。
“它又跑到另一边去了！”雪人说，以为太阳又出现了。“我已经很习惯它刺眼的光芒了。我真希望我知道怎么改变位置。我非常想动一动。要是我能像那些男孩们一样，在冰上滑行就好了。”
“汪！汪！”老看院狗叫道；他嗓子有点嘶哑。“太阳很快就会教会你怎么跑的！我见过你的前任就是这样！他们都跑掉了！”
“我不明白你的意思，朋友，”雪人看着月亮说。“天上那个东西是要教我跑吗？”
“你什么都不知道，”看院狗说。“那是月亮。太阳明天早上还会升起来，很快就会教你顺着水沟跑掉。天气要变了。”
“我听不懂他的话，”雪人说；“但我感觉他在说些不愉快的事。那个刺眼的东西，太阳，不是我的朋友。我本能地知道这一点。”
看院狗绕着自己走了三圈，然后爬进他的狗窝睡觉了。
天气真的变了。快到早晨时，整个街区笼罩着一层浓密潮湿的雾；后来刮起了冰冷的风。但当太阳升起时，景色壮丽。树木和灌木都覆盖着白霜，看起来像一片珊瑚林。最纤细的枝条，在夏天淹没在树叶中，现在变得突出，像一张闪闪发光的白色蜘蛛网。阳光照耀时，一切都闪闪发光，仿佛撒上了钻石粉末。
“是不是很美？”一个和年轻男子在花园里散步的女孩惊叹道。他们在雪人附近停下。“夏天也看不到比这更美的景色了，”她说。
“而且夏天也找不到这样的家伙，”年轻人指着雪人说。“他是个美人！”
女孩笑了，朝雪人点了点头，然后两人在雪地上跳着舞离开了。
“那两个人是谁？”雪人问看院狗。
“恋人！”看院狗回答。“他们会进同一个窝，啃同一根骨头！他们是我们的主人。”
“寒冷真美妙，”雪人说。“再给我讲讲。但别把你的链子弄得哗啦响，那让我开裂！”
看院狗讲了他的故事：“我曾经是个漂亮的小家伙，躺在天鹅绒椅子上。我的女主人叫我亲爱的小爱丽丝！但我长得太大了，被送给了管家。我去了厨房。那里有个炉子，是世界上最美丽的东西。我常常爬到它正下方。唉！我现在还常常梦见那个炉子！”
“炉子有那么美吗？”雪人问。“它像我吗？”
“它正好相反！它是煤黑色的，有个长脖子和黄铜管子，火从它的嘴里喷出。你可以从窗户看到它。”
雪人望去，看见一个光滑锃亮、带有黄铜管子的物体。炉火的闪烁光芒穿过雪地传到他这里。一种奇妙的感觉涌上他的心头，他无法表达。
“你为什么离开她？”雪人问，觉得那炉子一定是位女士。
“我不得不离开！”看院狗说。“我咬了一个抢我骨头的男孩后，他们把我赶出门，用链子拴在这里。我嗓子坏了。那就是幸福的终结！”
雪人不再听了；他凝视着放着炉子的房间。“我身体里有什么东西在开裂！”他说。“我必须到那里去，靠在炉子上，哪怕得先打破窗户！”
“你永远进不去的，”看院狗说；“就算你碰到炉子，你也会消失的。”
“我已经跟消失差不多了！”雪人回答。“我觉得我要散架了！”
一整天他都透过窗户望着。黄昏时分，房间显得更加诱人；炉子发出柔和的光。门打开时，炉火腾起——这是它的一个特性——红色的火光在雪人白色的脸上闪烁。
“我再也受不了了！”他说。“它看起来多美啊！”
那是个漫长的夜晚，但他站在那里，沉浸在愉快的思绪中，这些思绪冻结了，以至于他开裂了。
第二天早上，厨房窗户的玻璃上覆盖着美丽的冰花，但它们遮住了炉子。他看不见它了。他的体内和周围都在开裂。
“对你这个雪人来说，这可是种重病！”看院狗说。“天气要变了！”
天气真的变了。解冻来临了。
雪人开始融化了。他什么也没说，也没有抱怨。一天早上，他完全垮掉了。在他曾经站立的地方，只剩下那根直立的扫帚柄，男孩们就是围着它把他堆起来的。
“啊！现在我明白了，”看院狗说。“那是用来通炉子的耙子！雪人身体里有一把炉耙！现在他全完了！”
不久之后，冬天也全完了。
但那个年轻姑娘唱道：
树林啊，披上你鲜绿的外衣！
柳树啊，戴上你毛茸茸的手套！
云雀和布谷鸟，天天歌唱——
二月已把春天带到！
我的心也加入你们甜美的歌谣；
出来吧，亲爱的太阳，把世界拥抱！
再没有人想起那个雪人了。