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很久以前，兔子是个了不起的猎手。他和奶奶一起住在密克马克大森林深处的一座小屋里。冬天，兔子设下陷阱和圈套捉猎物吃。他捉了很多小动物和鸟，有一天他发现一个神秘的人一直在偷他陷阱里的猎物。兔子和奶奶没有东西吃，只能忍饥挨饿。尽管他每天一大早就去查看陷阱，可陷阱总是空空的。 起初兔子以为小偷是只狡猾的狼獾。一天早上，兔子顺着自己设置圈套的绳子，发现了长长窄窄的脚印。他想那应该是小偷的脚印，脚印看上去像月光一样。兔子从此早晨起得越来越早，但长脚印的主人总是比他更早，陷阱也总是空的。 兔子非常聪明地用绳子打了个圈套做成陷阱，他确信这样一来小偷来时就可以捉到他。他手持绳子的一端躲在一丛灌木丛中，从这儿可以看到他的圈套。本来，他在那儿等着的时候，月光非常明亮，但突然间月亮消失了，天黑了下来，只有几颗星星还在闪耀，天空并没有云彩，兔子不知道月亮发生了什么事情。 有什么人或是什么东西悄悄地从树丛中走过来，刹那间，兔子几乎被一道明亮的白光刺瞎了眼睛。那道光径直朝他的陷阱走去，穿过他设的圈套时闪闪发光。兔子疾如闪电般猛拉绳子收紧了套索。圈套那儿传来了挣扎的声音，一道光从一边倒向另一边。兔子手上的绳子被用力往外拽着，他知道已经捉住了小偷，就把绳子系在旁边的一棵小树上把圈套拉紧。 兔子跑回去告诉奶奶发生的事情。奶奶是个非常睿智的老太太，她告诉孙子必须立刻回去看看捉住的是什么人或是什么东西。兔子非常害怕，想等到天亮再回去。但奶奶说那可能就太晚了，所以兔子又回到了陷阱那里。 兔子走近了陷阱，看到那道亮光还在那儿。那道光太强了，刺伤了他的眼睛， 他跑到附近的小溪用冰冷的水洗了洗眼睛，但还是刺痛难当。于是他做了些大雪球朝那亮光扔去，想把它扑灭。雪球靠近亮光时，兔子听到咝咝的响声，雪球全都融化了。接着，兔子到小溪边挖了大把大把的黏土，做成很多大黏土球。他一向投掷很准，便用尽全身力气把球扔向那道跳跃着的白光。球重重地打在俘虏身上，疼得他大叫起来。 这时，传来了一个奇怪的声音，颤声问兔子为什么捉他，并要求兔子立刻放了他，因为他是月亮里的人，必须在黎明来临前回到家。他的脸已经被泥巴弄脏了，兔子靠近了陷阱，月人看见了他，威胁说如果兔子不立刻放了他，就杀了他和他整个部落。 兔子害怕极了，跑回去告诉了奶奶他抓住的奇怪俘虏。奶奶大吃一惊，让兔子立即回去放了那个人。兔子回去了，声音都吓得打颤，他告诉月人如果答应再也不来偷猎物，就放了他。为了确保万无一失，兔子要求月人发誓不再回来吃猎物。月人发誓他永远也不会那么做了。耀眼的光线让兔子几乎看不见东西，但最后他设法用牙咬断了绳索，月人很快就消失在天空中，身后留下一道明亮的光痕。 兔子几乎被那道强光刺瞎了眼睛，肩膀也疼得厉害。即便今天，兔子也会不停地眨眼，光线对他们来说似乎太强烈了；他们的眼睑是粉红色的，看到强光眼睛就水汪汪的；他们的嘴唇不停地颤动着诉说着他们的恐惧。 月人再也没到地球上来过。当他照耀大地时，我们还可以看到兔子扔在他脸上的泥巴的痕迹。有时候他会消失几个晚上，那是他想擦去脸上的泥巴痕迹，世界漆黑一片；月人再露脸时，我们看到他永远也擦不掉他那光亮的脸上的泥巴痕了。 Long ago, Rabbit was a great hunter. He lived with his grandmother in a lodge which stood deep in the Micmac forest. It was winter and Rabbit set traps and laid snares1 to catch game for food. He caught many small animals and birds, until one day he discovered that some mysterious being was robbing his traps. Rabbit and his grandmother became hungry. Though he visited his traps very early each morning, he always found them empty. At first Rabbit thought that the robber might be a cunning wolverine2, until one morning he found long, narrow footprints alongside his trap line. It was, he thought, the tracks of the robber, but they looked like moonbeams. Each morning Rabbit rose earlier and earlier, but the being of the long foot was always ahead of him and always his traps were empty. Rabbit made a trap from a bowstring3 with the loop so cleverly fastened that he felt certain that he would catch the robber when it came. He took one end of the thong with him and hid himself behind a clump of bushes from which he could watch his snare. It was bright moonlight while he waited, but suddenly it became very dark as the moon disappeared. A few stars were still shining and there were no clouds in the sky, so Rabbit wondered what had happened to the moon. Someone or something came stealthily4 through the trees and then Rabbit was almost blinded by a flash of bright, white light which went straight to his trap line and shone through the snare which he had set. Quick as a lightning flash，Rabbit jerked the bowstring and tightened the noose5. There was a sound of struggling and the light lurched from side to side. Rabbit knew through the tugging on his string that he had caught the robber. He fastened the bowstring to a nearby sapling6 to hold the loop tight. Rabbit raced back to tell his grandmother, who was a wise old woman, what had happened. She told him that he must return at once and see who or what he had caught. Rabbit, who was very frightened, wanted to wait for daylight but his grandmother said that might be too late, so he returned to his trap line. When he came near his traps, Rabbit saw that the bright light was still there. It was so bright that it hurt his eyes. He bathed them in the icy water of a nearby brook, but still they smarted. He made big snowballs and threw them at the light, in the hope of putting it out. As they went close to the light, he heard them sizzle and saw them melt. Next, Rabbit scooped up great pawfuls of soft clay from the stream and made many big clay balls. He was a good shot and threw the balls with all of his force at the dancing white light. He heard them strike hard and then his prisoner shouted. Then a strange, quivering voice asked why he had been snared and demanded that he be set free at once, because he was the man in the moon and he must be home before dawn came. His face had been spotted with clay and, when Rabbit went closer, the moon man saw him and threatened to kill him and all of his tribe if he were not released at once. Rabbit was so terrified that he raced back to tell his grandmother about his strange captive8. She too was much afraid and told Rabbit to return and release the thief immediately. Rabbit went back, and his voice shook with fear as he told the man in the moon that he would be released if he promised never to rob the snares again. To make doubly sure, Rabbit asked him to promise that he would never return to eat, and the moon man swore that he would never do so. Rabbit could hardly see in the dazzling9 light, but at last he managed to gnaw through the bowstring with his teeth and the man in the moon soon disappeared in the sky, leaving a bright trail of light behind him. Rabbit had been nearly blinded by the great light and his shoulders were badly scorched10. Even today, rabbits blink as though light is too strong for their eyes; their eyelids are pink, and their eyes water if they look at a bright light. Their lips quiver, telling of Rabbit’s terror. The man in the moon has never returned to earth. When he lights the world, one can still see the marks of the clay which Rabbit threw on his face. Sometimes he disappears for a few nights, when he is trying to rub the marks of the clay balls from his face. Then the world is dark; but when the man in the moon appears again, one can see that he has never been able to clean the clay marks from his shining face. |
