English Original
In a village lived a poor old woman who had gathered a dish of beans to cook. To make the fire on her hearth burn faster, she lit it with a handful of straw. As she poured the beans into the pan, one unnoticed bean fell to the ground beside a straw. Soon, a burning coal from the fire jumped down to join them.
The straw spoke first: "Dear friends, where do you come from?"
The coal replied, "I luckily sprang out of the fire. If I hadn't escaped by force, I would certainly have died—burned to ashes."
The bean said, "I also escaped unharmed. But if the old woman had put me in the pan, I would have been mercilessly turned into broth, like my comrades."
"And would I have had a better fate?" said the straw. "The old woman destroyed all my brethren in fire and smoke; she seized sixty at once and took their lives. I luckily slipped through her fingers."
"But what shall we do now?" asked the coal.
"I think," answered the bean, "since we have so fortunately escaped death, we should stay together as good companions. To avoid another misfortune here, we should leave together for a foreign country."
The idea pleased the other two, and they set off together. Soon they came to a little brook. With no bridge or plank, they wondered how to cross.
The straw had an idea: "I will lay myself straight across, and you can walk over me as on a bridge." So the straw stretched from one bank to the other.
The coal, who was of an impetuous nature, stepped boldly onto the new bridge. But upon reaching the middle and hearing the water rush below, she grew afraid, stopped, and dared go no further. The straw, however, began to burn, broke in two, and fell into the stream. The coal slipped after, hissed as she hit the water, and breathed her last.
The bean, who had prudently stayed on the shore, could not help laughing at the event. She laughed so heartily that she burst. She too would have perished if, by good fortune, a tailor traveling in search of work had not sat down to rest by the brook. Having a compassionate heart, he took out his needle and thread and sewed her together. The bean thanked him most prettily, but because the tailor used black thread, all beans since then have had a black seam.
中文翻译
村子里住着一位贫穷的老妇人，她收了一盘豆子准备煮。为了让灶台的火烧得更旺，她用一把稻草点燃了它。当她往锅里倒豆子时，一颗没被注意到的豆子掉到了地上，落在了一根稻草旁边。不久，一块燃烧的煤块从火里跳下来，加入了它们。
稻草首先开口：“亲爱的朋友们，你们从哪里来？”
煤块回答：“我幸运地从火里跳了出来。要不是我拼命逃出来，我肯定已经死了——烧成灰烬了。”
豆子说：“我也毫发无损地逃了出来。但如果老妇人把我放进锅里，我就会像我的同伴们一样，被无情地煮成肉汤。”
“难道我的命运会更好吗？”稻草说，“老妇人用火和烟毁了我所有的弟兄；她一次抓了六十个，夺走了它们的生命。我幸运地从她指缝间溜走了。”
“但我们现在该怎么办？”煤块问。
“我想，”豆子回答，“既然我们如此幸运地逃过一死，我们应该像好伙伴一样待在一起。为了避免在这里再遭不幸，我们应该一起离开，去往异国他乡。”
这个提议让另外两位很高兴，于是它们结伴出发了。不久，它们来到一条小溪边。没有桥也没有木板，它们不知该如何过去。
稻草想到了一个主意：“我会把自己直直地架过去，你们就可以像过桥一样从我身上走过去。”于是，稻草从一岸伸到了另一岸。
性情冲动的煤块大胆地踏上了这座新桥。但走到中间，听到脚下水流湍急时，它害怕了，停下来，不敢再往前走。然而，稻草开始燃烧，断成两截，掉进了溪流。煤块也跟着滑了下去，一碰到水就发出嘶嘶声，咽了气。
谨慎地留在岸上的豆子看到这一幕，忍不住笑了起来。它笑得如此开怀，以至于笑破了肚皮。要不是幸运地遇到一位四处寻找工作的裁缝正好坐在溪边休息，它也同样完蛋了。裁缝心地善良，拿出针线把它缝了起来。豆子非常优雅地道了谢，但因为裁缝用的是黑线，从那以后，所有的豆子都有一条黑色的接缝。