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The Spirit in the Glass Bottle II
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Then suddenly he thought that he heard a voice. Listening, he became aware of someone calling out with a muffled voice, "Let me out. Let me out." He looked around but could not see anything. Then he thought that the voice was coming out of the ground, so he shouted, "Where are you?"
忽然，他觉得听见了一点儿动静。小伙子屏息静听，果然听见一个低沉的声音在说：「放我出去！放我出去！」他四处搜寻，却甚么也没有发现，似乎那声音是从地底下钻出来的。他於是大声喊叫道：「你在哪儿啊？」
The voice answered, "I am stuck down here among the oak roots. Let me out. Let me out."
那声音回答说：「我在这儿，埋在老橡树的树根下面。放我出去！放我出去！」
The student began to scrape about beneath the tree, searching among the roots, until at last he found a glass bottle in a little opening. Lifting it up, he held it against the light, and then saw something shaped like a frog jumping up and down inside.
"Let me out. Let me out," it cried again, and the student, thinking no evil, pulled the cork from the bottle. Immediately a spirit ascended from it and began to grow. It grew so fast that within a few moments a horrible fellow, half as big as the tree, was standing there before the student.
小伙子开始在树根周围挖了起来，终於在一处小土坑里找到了一只玻璃瓶。他抢起玻璃瓶，对着阳光看了看，只见有一个青蛙模样的小东西，在瓶中疯狂地上窜下跳。「放我出去！放我出去！」那个小东西又喊了起来，而小伙子呢，想也没想就拔掉了瓶塞。说时迟，那时快，那个精灵一下子就从玻璃瓶里窜了出来，立刻开始不停地变大，转瞬之间，变成了一个十分可怕的巨人，个头儿有小伙子跟前的那棵老橡树的一半那么高。
"Do you know," he cried in an terrifying voice, "what your reward is for having let me out?"
「你知道吗，」这个大妖怪声音粗哑，语气吓人，问小伙子，「你把我放出来，会得到甚么回报呀？」
"No," replied the student fearlessly. "How should I know that?" 「不知道，」小伙子毫无惧色地回答说，「我怎么会知道呢？」
"Then I will tell you," shouted the spirit. "I must break your neck for it."「告诉你，」妖怪回答说「我为此一定得拧断你的脖子。」。
"You should have said so sooner," answered the student, "for then I would have left you shut up inside. However, my head is going to stay where it is until more people have been consulted."
「你要是早点儿告诉我就好啦，我就不会放你出来了。我的脑袋嘛，你可碰不得，你必须先去和其他的人商量商量才是。」
"More people here, more people there," shouted the spirit. "You shall have the reward you have earned. Do you think that I was shut up there for such a long time as a favor? No, it was a punishment. I am the mighty Mercurius. I must break the neck of whomsoever releases me."
「甚么这个那个的，反正你一定得接受你应该得到的回报。难道你以为，我是被无缘无故地关押在那儿的吗？不是的，这是对我的惩罚。我是威力无比的墨丘利尤斯呀，不管谁放我出来，我一定得拧断他的脖子。」
"Calm down," answered the student. "Not so fast. First I must know that you really were shut up in that little bottle, and that you are the right spirit. If you can indeed get inside again, then I will believe it, and you may do with me whatsoever you want."
「好吧，」小伙子冷静地回答说，「不过，这可急不得。首先呢，你得向我证明一下，刚才坐在那个小瓶子里的人确确实实就是你这么个庞然大物。你要是能再钻进去，我就服气了，然后，我就任你处置好啦。」
The spirit said arrogantly, "that is an easy trick," pulling himself in and making himself as thin and short as he had been before. He then crept back into the opening and through the neck of the bottle. He was scarcely inside when the student pushed the cork back into the bottle, and threw it back where it had been among the oak roots. And thus the spirit was deceived.
妖怪趾高气扬地回答道：「小菜一碟。」说着就开始把身子缩小，越缩越小，最后小到能够从瓶口钻进去了。妖怪刚钻进瓶子里，小伙子立刻麻利地把瓶塞用力塞紧，随手把瓶子扔回到树根旁的老地方。妖怪就这样被挫败了。
The student was about to return to his father, but the spirit cried out pitifully, "Oh, do let me out. Oh, do let me out." "No," answered the student, "not a second time. I will not release a person who once tried to kill me, now that I have captured him again."
此时，小伙子打算回到父亲身边去。谁知那个妖怪却尖着嗓子淒淒惨惨地嚎叫起来：「喂，放我出去吧！放我出去吧！」小伙子斩钉截铁地回答说「不！」，他绝不再做那种蠢事了。
"If you will set me free," cried the spirit, "I will give you so much that you will have enough for all the days of your life."
可妖怪硬叫他听听条件……——保证不拧断他的脖子，还给他一大笔财富，他一辈子也花不完，用不尽。
"No," answered the student, "you would cheat me like you tried to the first time." 「大概，」小伙子回答道，「你想用刚才的办法再骗我一次。」
"You are giving away your own good fortune," said the spirit. "I will not harm you, but instead will reward you richly."「你要是不答应，就错过了自己荣华富贵的机会啦，」妖怪庄严地说，「我发誓，绝不碰你一根毫毛。」
The student thought, "I will venture it. Perhaps he will keep his word, and in any event he will not get the better of me." So he pulled out the cork, and the spirit rose up from the bottle as before, and extended himself, becoming as large as a giant.
小伙子就想：「不妨再冒它一次险，兴许他言而有信呢。」於是，小伙子又拔掉了瓶塞，妖怪钻出来后越变越大，又变成了一个巨人。
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