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一位魔术师正在乡村集市的露天舞台上表演。他从帽子里变出一只兔子，顿时掌声如雷。 附近的树丛后面有只老虎正在看表演，魔术师和观众对此一无所知。当天晚上，老虎拦住了正要回家的魔术师。 “我看到你从帽子里取出了一只兔子，"他说，“给我变一只幼仔丨" “兔子一直都在那袋子里。”魔术师脱口而出，浑身哆嗦。“我是无法凭空变出兔子的。” "识相的话就变一只小老虎出来!"老虎吼道。 "好的，好的。”魔术师转念一想说，"但得花些时间。至少一个月。” "我可以等！” "还有一件事。”魔术师说，心里有了主意。“在这期间，你都得节食，只能喝牛奶，吃大米。” "牛奶和大米?” “否则戏法就不灵了。” “好吧，’’老虎最后说，"我只吃牛奶和大米。” 老虎离开了。一个月后，他回来了。 "现在给我幼仔。”他说，声音低得几乎听不见。节食已让他变得极度虚弱。 魔术师召集全村的人来观看这次魔术表演。 “这次表演专门献给在场的一位嘉宾，”他宣布，"所以，我将从帽子里变出的不是兔子而是他家族的一位年轻成员。” 他口中念念有词，手在帽子上来回晃了几次，然后大喊一声，把手伸进帽子里，取出一只可爱的小动物。 “是只小猫！”观众哄堂大笑。小猫喵喵地叫了起来。 老虎生气了。他大声地咱哮起来，或者说至少他是这样打算的，但虚弱的身体令他从嘴里发出的是一声响亮的"喵”！ 村民们欢笑着跳起舞来。老虎羞愧难当，跳下座位，逃跑了。从此，再也没有人见过他。 Tiger’s Cub A magician was demonstrating his tricks at a country fair on an open-air stage. He got loud applause when he took out a rabbit from his hat. Unknown to the magician and the spectators，a tiger was watching the show from behind some bushes, nearby. Later that night, the tiger waylaid the magician as he was going home. “I saw you pull a rabbit out of your hat，” he said. “Pull out a cub for me!” “The rabbit was in the bag all the time," blurted the magician, trembling from head to toe. “I cannot create animals out of thin air!” “Produce a tiger cub if you know what's good for you!” snarled the beast. “All right, all right!” said the magician, thinking fast. “But it’ll take some time. A month at least. ” “I can wait! ” “There’s another thing，” said the magician, a plan forming in his mind. “You'll have to stay on a diet of milk and rice during the entire period!” “Milk and rice!” “Otherwise the trick will not work.” “All right,” said the tiger, finally. “I’ll live on milk and rice.” He went away and returned a month later. “Now let me have the cub,” he said, in a barely audible voice, his diet having made him extremely weak. The magician called the whole village to witness the magic trick. “This is a special show for our guest here,” he announced. “So instead of pulling out a rabbit from my hat I’ll pull out a young member of his family. ” He muttered some mumbo-jumbo, passed his hands over the hat several times, and then with a loud cry plunged his hand into the hat and pulled out a small cuddly animal. “A kitten!” guffawed the spectators. The kitten meowed. The tiger was not amused. He let out a mighty roar, or at least he had intended to roar but in his weakened state the sound that emerged from his mouth was a loud “MEEEEE-OOOWWW! ” The villagers rocked with laughter. The tiger felt so ashamed that he leapt out of his seat and ran away, and was never seen again. |
