English Original
Once upon a time, two poor woodcutters were making their way home through a great pine forest. It was winter, and a night of bitter cold. The snow lay thick upon the ground and the branches. The frost snapped the little twigs as they passed, and the mountain torrent hung motionless, frozen by the Ice-King.
So cold was it that the animals and birds were bewildered.
'Ugh!' snarled the Wolf, limping with his tail between his legs. 'This is monstrous weather. Why doesn't the Government look to it?'
'Weet! weet! weet!' twittered the green Linnets. 'The old Earth is dead and laid out in her white shroud.'
'The Earth is going to be married, and this is her bridal dress,' whispered the Turtle-doves, their pink feet frost-bitten, yet feeling duty-bound to be romantic.
'Nonsense!' growled the Wolf. 'It's all the Government's fault, and if you don't believe me, I shall eat you.' The Wolf had a thoroughly practical mind.
'Well,' said the Woodpecker, a born philosopher, 'I don't care for explanations. If a thing is so, it is so, and at present it is terribly cold.'
Terribly cold it certainly was. The little Squirrels rubbed each other's noses for warmth. The Rabbits curled up in their holes. Only the great horned Owls seemed to enjoy it, their feathers stiff with rime, rolling their large yellow eyes and calling, 'Tu-whit! Tu-whoo! What delightful weather!'
The two Woodcutters pressed on, blowing on their fingers and stamping their iron-shod boots. They sank into a snowdrift and emerged white as millers; they slipped on frozen marsh-ice, their faggots scattering; once, fearing they were lost—knowing snow is cruel to those who sleep in her arms—they trusted in Saint Martin, retraced their steps warily, and finally reached the forest's outskirts. Far below, they saw the lights of their village.
Overjoyed, they laughed aloud. The Earth seemed a flower of silver, the Moon a flower of gold.
Yet their laughter turned to sadness as they remembered their poverty. 'Why make merry,' said one, 'when life is for the rich? Better we had died in the forest.'
'Truly,' answered his companion, 'much is given to some, little to others. Injustice has parcelled out the world; only sorrow is divided equally.'
As they bewailed their misery, a strange thing happened. A very bright and beautiful star fell from heaven. It slipped down the sky, passing other stars, and seemed to sink behind a clump of willow trees near a sheepfold.
'Why! A crock of gold for whoever finds it!' they cried, and ran eagerly.
One outran the other, forced his way through the willows, and lo! There on the white snow lay a golden thing. He hastened to it, stooped, and placed his hands upon it. It was a cloak of golden tissue, curiously wrought with stars and wrapped in many folds. He cried to his comrade of the treasure fallen from the sky.
They sat in the snow and loosened the folds to divide the gold. But, alas! No gold, nor silver, nor any treasure was within—only a little child, asleep.
One said to the other: 'This is a bitter ending to our hope. What profit is a child to a man? Let us leave it here. We are poor and have children of our own to feed.'
中文翻译
从前，两个贫穷的樵夫正穿过一片大松林回家。那是冬天，一个严寒的夜晚。地上和树枝上都积着厚厚的雪。他们经过时，霜冻折断了两旁的小树枝，山间的激流也静止不动，被冰霜之王吻得凝固了。
天气如此寒冷，连动物和鸟儿都感到困惑。
“呃！”狼龇牙咧嘴地叫着，夹着尾巴一瘸一拐地走着。“这天气太可怕了。政府怎么不管管？”
“吱！吱！吱！”绿朱顶雀叽叽喳喳地说。“古老的大地死了，他们给她穿上了白色的寿衣。”
“大地要结婚了，这是她的婚纱，”斑鸠们低声私语，它们粉红的小脚已经冻伤，但仍觉得有义务浪漫地看待这个情景。
“胡说！”狼咆哮道。“这都是政府的错，如果你们不信，我就把你们吃了。”狼的头脑非常务实。
“好吧，”啄木鸟说，它天生是个哲学家，“我不在乎什么解释。事情是怎样就是怎样，而现在就是冷得可怕。”
天气确实冷得可怕。小松鼠们互相摩擦鼻子来取暖。兔子们蜷缩在洞里。只有大角鸮似乎很享受，它们的羽毛因白霜而僵硬，转动着黄色的大眼睛，呼喊着：“嘟-咻！嘟-呜！多好的天气啊！”
两个樵夫继续前行，朝手指哈着气，踩着他们包着铁皮的靴子。他们曾陷入深深的雪堆，出来时像磨坊主一样浑身雪白；他们曾在冻结的沼泽冰面上滑倒，柴捆散落一地；有一次，他们以为自己迷路了——知道雪对睡在她怀抱中的人是残酷的——他们信赖守护旅人的圣马丁，小心翼翼地原路折返，最终到达了森林的边缘。远远的下方，他们看到了村庄的灯火。
他们欣喜若狂，放声大笑。大地在他们眼中像一朵银花，月亮像一朵金花。
然而，笑过之后，他们想起了自己的贫穷，又悲伤起来。“我们为什么要高兴呢？”其中一个说，“生命是属于富人的，而不是我们这样的人。我们还不如冻死在森林里，或者让野兽吃了我们。”
“确实，”他的同伴回答，“有些人得到很多，有些人得到很少。不公正划分了这个世界，除了悲伤，没有什么能平均分配。”
正当他们互相哀叹自己的不幸时，一件奇怪的事情发生了。一颗非常明亮美丽的星星从天上坠落。它滑过天际，掠过其他星辰，在他们惊奇的注视下，似乎坠落在不远处羊圈旁的一丛柳树后面。
“嘿！谁找到它，谁就得到一罐金子！”他们喊道，然后急切地跑过去。
其中一个比同伴跑得快，超过了对方，挤过柳丛，到了另一边。看啊！白雪上确实躺着一个金色的东西。他急忙跑过去，弯下腰，把手放在上面。那是一件金线织成的斗篷，精巧地绣着星星，裹了很多层。他朝同伴大喊，说他找到了天上掉下来的宝藏。
他们在雪地里坐下，解开斗篷的褶皱，想分掉里面的金子。但是，唉！里面没有金子，没有银子，也没有任何财宝——只有一个熟睡的小孩子。
其中一个对另一个说：“这对我们的希望真是个苦涩的结局。一个孩子对男人有什么好处？我们把它留在这里吧。我们很穷，还有自己的孩子要养。”