Tales From The Thousand And One Nights

词汇提示

1.sharpers 骗子

2.jeweler 珠宝商

3.genealogist 谱系学家

4.smashed 打碎

5.lineage 血缘

6.bushy 浓密

7.immunity 豁免

8.adulterer 奸夫

9.swindle骗子

原文

Story 10: The Story of the Three Sharpers

Along time ago there were three sharpers.

Everyday they searched through the garbage piles to find some coins or pieces of silver.

Every night they spent everything they found on food, drugs and a candle.

Three days passed and they found nothing.

They were very hungry.

They decided to beat each other up outside of the palace to get attention.

The guards saw them and brought them in.

The King questioned them.

They said they were masters of special skills.

One said he was a jeweler, one said he was a genealogist of horses, and one said he was a genealogist of humans.

The King decided to test them.

He gave them apartments and food.

When the time came for them to prove their skills, he called for them, one by one.

The jeweler was asked to examine a precious stone.

He told the King there was a worm, or defect in the stone.

The King ordered the stone to be smashed and they discovered there was really a defect.

The King asked how he knew this and the jeweler said, "The sharpness of my sight."

Next,the King was given a black horse.

He asked the horse specialist if the horse was a pure breed.

He said no, the mother was a buffalo cow.

The King asked how he knew this and he said, "The horse's hoof is round and the hooves of bison are long and shaped like a duck."

The King asked the third sharper about the genealogy of his wife, the Queen.

He told the King that the Queen's mother was a gypsy.

The King asked how could he have known this and he answered that he noticed her lineage from the shape of her eyes and her bushy eyebrows.

The King asked to know about his own lineage.

The third Sharper made the King promise him immunity if he told him.

The King agreed.

The King was told he was not true King; he was the son of a cook.

The King's mother confessed it was true, saying she could not get pregnant from her husband the King, so she took the cook as a lover to get pregnant.

The King, her husband, never knew.

The King said, "I am not fit to be a king, I am the son of an adulterer."

He gave his king...

英文名著分集阅读 《一千零一夜》 part6（story10）

英文名著分集阅读《一千零一夜》 part6（story10）