English Original
A mother sat by her sick child's cradle, her heart heavy with fear. The child was pale, its eyes closed, its breath faint and labored. A knock came at the door, and in stepped a poor old man wrapped in a large cloth against the bitter winter cold. As the child slept, the mother warmed some ale for the visitor. The old man—Death himself—rocked the cradle. The mother, exhausted from three sleepless nights, dozed for a moment. When she awoke, both the old man and her child were gone.
The desperate mother ran into the snowy night, where she met Night, a woman in black. To learn Death's path, the mother had to sing all the lullabies she had sung to her child, her tears flowing with each note. Night directed her to a dark pine forest.
Lost at a crossroads, she encountered a frozen thorn-bush. It demanded warmth before giving direction. The mother pressed it to her breast, the thorns piercing her flesh, her blood reviving the bush, which then bloomed in the winter cold and showed her the way.
She reached a vast lake with no way across. In her despair, she wept so bitterly that her eyes fell into the water as two precious pearls. The lake bore her to the opposite shore, where a vast, strange structure stood—Death's greenhouse. Now blind, she was met by an old grave-woman who guarded the place. In exchange for directions, the mother gave her long black hair for the woman's white hair.
Inside the greenhouse, every plant was a human life. The mother, listening for her child's heartbeat, found a sickly blue crocus. The old woman warned her to threaten Death when he came to claim it.
Death arrived, an icy presence. The mother pleaded for her child, but Death explained he was God's gardener, transplanting lives to Paradise. In a moment of despair, she threatened to destroy other flowers, but Death stopped her, asking if she would make another mother suffer.
He returned her eyes, now brighter, and bade her look into a well. There she saw the futures of two lives: one full of joy and blessing, the other of sorrow and misery. Death revealed one was her child's fate but would not say which. Horrified, the mother begged him to spare her child from suffering, even if it meant taking him to God's kingdom.
Finally, understanding, she knelt and prayed, "Oh, hear me not when I pray against Thy will, which is the best!"
Death took her child and vanished into the unknown land.
中文翻译
一位母亲坐在她生病孩子的摇篮边，心中充满了恐惧。孩子脸色苍白，双眼紧闭，呼吸微弱而费力。敲门声响起，一位裹着厚布抵御严冬寒风的穷苦老人走了进来。孩子睡着时，母亲为访客温了些麦芽酒。这位老人——正是死神——摇着摇篮。因三天三夜未眠而精疲力竭的母亲打了个盹。醒来时，老人和她的孩子都不见了。
绝望的母亲冲进雪夜，遇到了黑夜，一位身着黑衣的女子。为了得知死神的去向，母亲必须唱出所有曾为孩子唱过的摇篮曲，她的泪水随着每一个音符流淌。黑夜指引她前往一片黑暗的松林。
在森林岔路口迷失方向时，她遇到了一丛冰冻的荆棘。它要求得到温暖才肯指路。母亲将它紧抱在胸前，荆棘刺入她的皮肉，她的鲜血使荆棘复苏，在寒冷的冬夜绽放花朵，并为她指明了方向。
她来到一个无路可渡的广阔湖泊前。绝望中，她痛哭流涕，以致双眼落入水中，化作两颗珍贵的珍珠。湖泊载她到达对岸，那里矗立着一座巨大而奇特的建筑——死神的温室。如今双目失明的她，遇到了一位看守此地的守墓老妇。为了换取指引，母亲用自己乌黑的长发换取了老妇的白发。
温室内，每一株植物都代表一个人类的生命。母亲倾听着，寻找孩子的心跳，终于找到了一株病恹恹的蓝色番红花。老妇人警告她，当死神前来收取这朵花时，要威胁他。
死神降临，带来一股冰寒之气。母亲恳求归还她的孩子，但死神解释他是上帝的园丁，将生命移植到天堂。在绝望的一刻，她威胁要摧毁其他花朵，但死神制止了她，问她是否想让另一位母亲同样受苦。
死神归还了她的眼睛，如今更加明亮，并让她看向一口深井。她在井中看到了两个生命的未来：一个充满欢乐与祝福，另一个则充满悲伤与苦难。死神透露其中一个是她孩子的命运，但未指明是哪一个。惊恐万分的母亲乞求死神让孩子免受苦难，即使这意味着要将他带入上帝的国度。
最终，她明白了，跪地祈祷：“哦，请不要听从我违背您旨意的祈求，您的旨意才是最好的！”
死神带着她的孩子，消失在未知的国度。