“Cluck，cluck！”And some fowls came.They tripped about in the cabbage(cabbage n.［植］甘蓝，卷心菜)garden.The Fowl who marched at the head of them had a long sight，and she spied the Caterpillar on the green leaf，and pecked at it，so that the Caterpillar fell on the ground，where it twisted and writhed(writhe v.翻腾).The Fowl looked at it first with one eye and then with the other，for she did not know what the end of this writhing would be.
“咕！咕！”发出这样一个声音。接着就有一些母鸡进来了。她们在莱园里蹒跚地走着。走在最前面的那只母鸡是远视眼。她一眼就瞧见了那片皱菜叶上的毛虫。她啄了一口，弄得它滚到地上来，卷做一团。母鸡先用一只眼睛瞧了它一下，接着又用另一只眼睛瞧了它一下，因为她猜不透，它这样卷一下究竟要达到一个什么目的。
“It doesnt do that with a good will.”thought the Fowl，and lifted up her head to peck at the Caterpillar(caterpillar n.毛虫).The Toad was so horrified at this，that she came crawling straight up towards the Fowl.
“它这样做决不是出于什么好意！”母鸡想。于是它抬起头来又啄了毛虫一下。癞蛤蟆吓了一大跳，无意之中爬到鸡面前去了。
“Aha，it has allies.”quoth the Fowl.“Just look at the crawling thing！”And then the Fowl turned away.“I dont care for the little green morsel，it would only tickle my throat.”The other fowls took the same view of it，and they all turned away together.
“它居然还有援军！”母鸡说。“瞧这个爬行的东西！”母鸡转身就走。“我不在乎这一小口绿色的食物，这只会弄得我的喉咙发痒！”别的鸡也和她有同样的看法，因此大家就走开了。
“I writhed myself free.”said the Caterpillar.“What a good thing it is when one has presence of mind！But the hardest thing remains to be done，and that is to get on my leaf again.Where is it？”
“我卷动一下就逃脱了！”毛虫说。“可见镇定自若是有利的。不过最艰难的事情还在后面——怎样回到白菜叶上去。它在什么地方呢？”
And the little Toad came up and expressed her sympathy.She was glad that in her ugliness she had frightened the fowls.“What do you mean by that？”cried the Caterpillar.“I wriggled myself free from the Fowl.You are very disagreeable to look at.Cannot I be left in peace on my own property？Now I smell cabbage，now I am near my leaf.Nothing is so beautiful as property.But I must go higher up.”
小癞蛤蟆走过来，表示同情。能用它丑陋的外貌把母鸡吓跑，这让她很高兴。“你这是什么意思？”毛虫问。“事实上是我自己逃开她的，你的样子的确难看！让我回到我原来的地方去吧！我现在已经可以闻到白菜的气味了！我现在已经走近的菜叶了！什么地方也没有自己的家好。我得爬上去！”
“Yes，higher up，”said the little Toad，“higherup！She feels just as I do，but shes not in a good humor today.Thats because of the fright(fright n.惊骇，吃惊).We all want to go higher up.”And she looked up as high as ever she could.
“是的，爬上去！”小癞蛤蟆说，“爬上去！它想的跟我一样。只是它今天的心情不大好，这大概是因为她吓了一跳的缘故。我们大家都要向上爬！”因此她就尽量地抬头朝上面看。
The stork sat in his nest on the roof of the farmhouse.He clapped with his beak，and the Motherstork clapped with hers.
鹳鸟正坐在农家屋顶上的窝里。他叽哩咕噜地在讲些什么，鹳鸟妈妈也在叽哩咕噜地讲些什么。
“How high up they live！”thought the Toad.“If one could only get as high as that！”
“他们住得多高啊！”癞蛤蟆想。“我希望也能爬得那么高！”
In the farmhouse lived two young students，the one was a poet and the other a scientific searcher into the secrets of nature.The one sang and wrote joyously of everything that God had created，and how it was mirrored in his heart.He sang it out clearly，sweetly，richly，in wellsounding verses(verse n.韵文，诗，诗节，诗句，诗篇)，while the other investigated created matter itself，and even cut it open where need was.He looked upon Gods creation as a great sum in arithmetic—subtracted(subtract v.(～from)减去，减)，multiplied(multiply v.繁殖，乘，增加)，and tried to know it within and without，and to talk with understanding concerning it，and that was a very sensible thing，and he spoke joyously and cleverly of it.They were good，joyful men，those two，
农舍里住着两个年轻的学生。一个是诗人，另一个是博物学家。一个歌颂和欢乐地描述上帝所创造的一切以及他自己心中的感受，他用简单、明了、丰富、和谐的诗句把这一切都唱出来。另一个找来一些东西，而且在必要的时候，还要对它们进行分析。他把我们上帝创造出来的东西当作数学，一会儿减，一会儿乘。他想知道事物的里里外外，找出其中的道理。他懂得全部的奥妙，他欢乐地、聪明地谈论着它。他们两人都很善良、快乐。
“There sits a good specimen of a toad，”said the naturalist.“I must have that fellow in a bottle of spirits.”
“那儿有一个完整的癞蛤蟆标本，”博物学家说。“我得把它放在酒精里保存起来。”
“You have two of them already.”replied the poet.“Let the thing sit there and enjoy its life.”
“你已经有了两个呀！”诗人说，“你让它安静地坐着，享受自己的生活吧！”
“But its so wonderfully ugly.”persisted the first.
“不过它是丑得那么可爱！”博物学家说。
“Yes，if we could find the jewel in its head.”said the poet，“I too should be for cutting it open.
“是的，如果你能在它头上找出一颗宝石来！”诗人说，“那么我都要帮助你把它剖开。”
“A jewel！”cried the naturalist.“You seem to know a great deal about natural history.”
“宝石！”博物学家喊道。“你倒是一个博物学专家呢！”
“But is there not something beautiful in the popular belief that just as the toad is the ugliest of animals，it should often carry the most precious jewel in its head？Is it not just the same thing with men？What a jewel that was that Aesop had，and still more，Socrates！”
“民间不是有一个美丽的传说，说最丑的动物癞蛤蟆头上藏着一颗最贵重的宝石吗？人不也是一样吗？伊索和苏格拉底不都是有一颗宝石吗？”
The Toad did not hear any more，nor did she understand half of what she had heard.The two friends walked on，and thus she escaped the fate of being bottled up in spirits.