English Original
The Three Army-Surgeons
There were once three army-surgeons who reckoned that they had nothing more to learn about the art of surgery. They were on their travels and stopped for the night at an inn.
The landlord asked them where they had come from and where they were going. "We're on our travels and living by our skill," they answered.
"Well, just show me what you do," said the landlord.
The first said he would cut off his hand and put it back on again next morning and make it heal; the second said he would tear out his heart and put it back in again next morning so that it would heal; the third said he would gouge out his eyes, and they too would heal when he replaced them next morning.
"If you can do that," said the landlord, "then you've nothing more to learn."
Now they had with them an ointment which was able to close and heal any wound they smeared it on, and they always carried the flask containing it wherever they went. So they cut from their bodies the hand and the heart and the eyes as they had said they would, put them all together on a plate and gave it to the landlord. The landlord gave it to a maidservant, telling her to put it aside in the larder and keep it carefully.
But this maidservant secretly had a sweetheart who was a soldier. When the landlord and the three surgeons and everyone else in the house were asleep, the soldier came and asked her for something to eat. The girl opened the larder and brought in something from it, and she was so much in love with him that she forgot to close the larder door. She sat down with her sweetheart at the table, but as she sat there without a care in the world, the cat came creeping in, found the larder open, snatched the hand and the heart and the eyes, and made off with them.
When the soldier had finished eating and the girl got up to clear away the dishes and lock the larder, she saw at once that the plate was empty. She took fright and said to her young man: "Oh, heaven save me, what am I to do? The hand's gone, and the heart and the eyes are gone!"
"Stop crying," he said, "I'll get you out of this. There's a thief hanging on the gallows out there, and I'll cut his hand off; which hand was it?"
"The right hand."
So the girl gave him a sharp knife, and he went outside, cut the poor sinner's right hand off and brought it in. Then he seized the cat and gouged out its eyes. Now all that was needed was the heart.
"Haven't you just slaughtered some pigs and put their carcasses in the cellar?"
"Yes," said the girl.
"Well, that's all right then," said the soldier, and he went down to the cellar and came back with a pig's heart. The maid put all the things together on a plate and left it in the larder. Then her sweetheart took his leave, and she went to bed thinking all was well.
When the three surgeons got up next morning, they told the maid to fetch them the plate. So she fetched it out of the cupboard, and the first surgeon held the thief's hand in place and smeared the join with his ointment, whereupon the hand at once grew back on to his arm. The second took the cat's eyes and fitted them into his head, and the third put the pig's heart in place.
The landlord stood and watched their skill with admiration, saying that he had never seen such a thing and that he would praise and recommend them to all and sundry. Then they paid their bill and travelled on.
As they were walking along, the one who had the pig's heart kept on leaving the others; every time they passed some corner he would trot over to it and root around in it like a pig. The other two tried to hold him back, but it was no good; he kept running off to wherever the filth was thickest on the ground.
The second of them also began to behave strangely, rubbing his eyes and saying: "My dear fellow, what's the matter with me? These aren't my eyes, I can't see a thing!"
They struggled on till evening, when they came to another inn. They all went into the parlor, and there a rich gentleman was sitting at a table counting money. The surgeon with the thief's hand sidled round behind him, his arm twitched a few times, and finally, when the gentleman had his back turned, he reached out and snatched a handful of coins.
One of the others saw this and said: "My dear fellow, what are you doing? It's wrong to steal!"
"Yes, but I can't stop myself," said his friend. "My hand keeps twitching and just has to help itself."
Then they went to bed. As they lay there in the dark, the one with the cat's eyes woke up, wakened the others and said: "My dear friends, look at this, do you see all these white mice running about?"
The other two sat up but couldn't see a thing. Then he said: "There's something wrong with us. That landlord cheated us, and we must go back to him."
So next morning they set off back and told the landlord that their right organs hadn't been returned to them. The landlord said that it must be the maid's fault, but when he went to call her, she had fled through the back door and didn't reappear.
Then the three of them told the landlord that unless he paid them a great deal of money they'd burn his house; so he gave them all he had and all he could raise, and off they went with it. It was enough to keep them for the rest of their lives, but they'd still rather have had their own organs back.
中文翻译
三个军医
从前有三个军医，他们自认为在外科医术上已无所不知。他们正在旅行，一天晚上在一家旅店投宿。
店主问他们从哪里来，要到哪里去。他们回答说：“我们靠手艺旅行谋生。”
“那让我见识一下你们的本事吧，”店主说。
第一个军医说他可以砍下自己的手，第二天早上再接回去让它愈合；第二个说他可以掏出自己的心脏，第二天早上再放回去让它愈合；第三个说他可以剜出自己的眼睛，第二天早上装回去也能愈合。
“如果你们能做到这些，”店主说，“那你们确实没什么可学的了。”
他们随身带着一种药膏，只要涂抹在任何伤口上，伤口就能闭合愈合。他们总是带着装药膏的小瓶。于是，他们按照所说，从身上切下手、心脏和眼睛，一起放在一个盘子里交给了店主。店主又把盘子交给一个女仆，吩咐她放到食品储藏室里小心保管。
但这个女仆私下有个当兵的情人。等店主、三个军医和屋里所有人都睡着后，士兵来了，向她要东西吃。女孩打开储藏室拿了点吃的出来，她爱他爱得如此痴迷，竟忘了关门。她和情人坐在桌边，正当她无忧无虑地坐着时，猫悄悄溜了进来，发现储藏室门开着，叼起军医们的手、心和眼睛就跑掉了。
士兵吃完，女孩起身收拾碗碟去锁储藏室时，立刻发现盘子空了。她吓坏了，对情郎说：“天啊，救救我，我该怎么办？手不见了，心和眼睛也不见了！”
“别哭了，”他说，“我会帮你解决的。外面绞刑架上吊着个小偷，我去把他的手砍下来；是哪只手？”
“右手。”
于是女孩给了他一把锋利的刀，他出去砍下那个可怜的罪人的右手带了回来。接着他抓住猫，剜出了它的眼睛。现在就缺心脏了。
“你们不是刚宰了几头猪，把猪肉放在地窖里吗？”
“是的，”女孩说。
“那就好办了，”士兵说着，下到地窖拿了一个猪心回来。女仆把所有的东西一起放在盘子里，留在了储藏室。然后她的情人告辞了，她也上床睡觉，以为万事大吉。
第二天早上，三个军医起床，让女仆把盘子拿来。她从橱柜里取出盘子，第一个军医把小偷的手对准位置，在接合处抹上药膏，手立刻长回了他的胳膊上。第二个拿起猫眼装进自己眼眶，第三个把猪心放进了胸膛。
店主站在一旁，钦佩地看着他们的技艺，说他平生从未见过这等事，并说要向各色人等赞扬推荐他们。然后他们付了账，继续上路。
走着走着，装了猪心的那个军医总是离开同伴；每次经过角落，他都会小跑过去，像猪一样用鼻子到处拱。另外两个想拉住他，但没用；他总是跑到地上最肮脏的地方去。
第二个军医也开始行为怪异，揉着眼睛说：“老兄，我这是怎么了？这不是我的眼睛，我什么都看不见了！”
他们艰难地走到傍晚，来到了另一家旅店。他们走进客厅，看到一个有钱的绅士正坐在桌边数钱。装了小偷手的军医悄悄溜到他身后，手臂抽搐了几下，最后，趁绅士转身时，他伸手从钱堆里抓了一把硬币。
另一个看见了，说：“老兄，你在干什么？偷东西是不对的！”
“是啊，但我控制不住自己，”他的朋友说，“我的手不停地抽搐，非要自己动手不可。”
然后他们上床睡觉。黑暗中躺着时，装了猫眼的军医醒了，叫醒其他人说：“朋友们，快看，你们看见这些到处乱跑的白老鼠了吗？”
另外两个坐起来，但什么也看不见。于是他说：“我们出问题了。那个店主骗了我们，我们必须回去找他。”
于是第二天早上他们返回去，告诉店主他们真正的器官没有被归还。店主说这一定是女仆的错，但当他要去叫她时，她已经从后门逃走了，再没出现。
然后三人告诉店主，除非他付一大笔钱，否则就烧了他的房子；于是他把自己所有的和能筹到的钱都给了他们，他们带着钱走了。这些钱够他们用一辈子了，但他们宁愿要回自己的器官。