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On these occasions he usually slept with the donkey in its little thatched stable.
每当家里来了客人，沙斯塔就得这样，早就习惯了。
But it was much too early to go to sleep yet, and Shasta, who had never learned that it is wrong to listen behind doors, sat down with his ear to a crack in the wooden wall of the cottage to hear what the grown-ups were talking about. And this is what he heard.
然而，这个时间睡觉还太早，沙斯塔便把耳朵贴在墙上，偷听“泰坎”和阿什伊什的谈话。谁都没有教过他偷听是不道德的行为。于是他听到了这些：
"And now, O my host," said the Tarkaan,"I have a mind to buy that boy of yours."
“伙计，跟你商量个事儿，”泰坎说，“我想买下你的孩子。”
"O my master/'replied the fisherman (and Shasta knew by the wheedling tone the greedy look that was probably coming into his face as he said it),
“哎呀，王爷，”渔夫回答道，沙斯塔听着这谄媚的语气就能想象出渔夫是有多贪婪了，
"what price could induce your servant, poor though he is, to sell into slavery his only child and his own flesh?
“虽然我很穷，但我怎会因你出高价就把独子卖了呢？
Has not one of the poets said, 'Natural affection is stronger than soup and offspring more precious than carbuncles?'"
不是有诗人说过‘血浓于水，亲情无价’吗？”
"It is even so," replied the guest dryly. "But another poet has likewise said, "He who attempts to deceive the judicious is already baring his own back for the scourge."
“尽管这样，”客人冷冷地说，“还有诗人说‘欺骗智者，早晚会玩火自焚’。
Do not load your aged mouth with falsehoods. This boy is manifestly no son of yours, for your cheek is as dark as mine but the boy is fair and white like the accursed but beautiful barbarians who inhabit the remote North."
你一把年纪却满嘴谎言，那孩子根本不是你亲生的。看你那张黑脸，再看那孩子白皙的面孔，他就像令人讨厌但美丽的北方人，你们怎么可能是父子呢？”
"How well it was said," answered the fisherman, "that Swords can be kept off with shields but the Eye of Wisdom pierces through every defence! Know then, O my formidable guest, that because of my extreme poverty I have never married and have no child.
“俗话说得好，”阿什伊什答道，“明人不说暗话，我也不瞒您啦，尊贵的老爷。我实在是太穷了，根本没钱娶老婆，更没儿子。
But in that same year in which the Tisroc (may he live forever) began his august and beneficent reign, on a night when the moon was at her full, it pleased the gods to deprive me of my sleep.
但在万寿无疆的太洛帝登上王位的那年，有天晚上月亮特别圆，我睡不着，就去了海滩。
Therefore I arose from my bed in this hovel and went forth to the beach to refresh myself with looking upon the water and the moon and breathing the cool air.
本来我想着看看海水和月亮，呼吸点儿新鲜空气，让自己平静些就去睡觉。
And presently I heard a noise as of oars coming to me across the water and then, as it were, a weak cry.
可我却听到了划桨声，混合着微弱的哭声。
And shortly after, the tide brought to the land a little boat in which there was nothing but a man lean with extreme hunger and thirst who seemed to have died but a few moments before (for he was still warm), and an empty water-skin, and a child, still living.
过了一会儿，一只小船被冲到了岸上。我上前一看，发现船里有个死去的瘦弱男子，一个空水袋和一个气息微弱的孩子。从男人尸体的温热我判断，他可能才刚刚死去。
"Doubtless," said I, "these unfortunates have escaped from the wreck of a great ship, but by the admirable designs of the gods, the elder has starved himself to keep the child alive and has perished in sight of land."
估计他们是从失事的大船上逃出来的，那男人可能把所有食物和水都留给了孩子，并坚持到靠近陆地时才死去。
Accordingly, remembering how the gods never fail to reward those who befriend the destitute, and being moved by compassion (for your servant is a man of tender heart) —"
当然，也是因为我心肠好，老爷，不然上天也不会将这个孩子赐给我。”
"Leave out all these idle words in your own praise," interrupted the Tarkaan.
“别说那些自夸的废话了，”泰坎打断阿什伊什说，
"It is enough to know that you took the child — and have had ten times the worth of his daily bread out of him in labour, as anyone can see.
“我知道这个孩子是你收养的就行了。谁都看得出来，这孩子给你带来的好处，远比你养他所付出的多。
And now tell me at once what price you put on him, for I am wearied with your loquacity."
你打算多少钱才把他卖给我，直说吧，我不想再听你啰唆了！”
"You yourself have wisely said," answered Arsheesh, "that the boy's labour has been to me of inestimable value.
“您看，老爷，您自己也说了，”阿什伊什回答，“这个孩子对我大有用处，
This must be taken into account in fixing the price. For if I sell the boy I must undoubtedly either buy or hire another to do his work."
如果我把他卖给您，我还得再买或租个孩子来代替他干活儿。”
"I'll give you fifteen crescents for him," said the Tarkaan.
“我出15 个克利申买他。”泰坎说。
"Fifteen!" cried Arsheesh in a voice that was something between a whine and a scream. "Fifteen! For the prop of my old age and the delight of my eyes! Do not mock my grey beard, Tarkaan though you be. My price is seventy. "
“十五个？”阿什伊什夸张地惊叫，“您出十五个克利申就想把我预备养老的儿子买走？虽然您是泰坎老爷，但也不能这样嘲弄我这老头子呀。至少七十个克利申。”
At this point Shasta got up and tiptoed away. He had heard all he wanted, for he had open listened when men were bargaining in the village and knew how it was done.
听到这里，沙斯塔便走开了。他已经知道了一切。因为常在村里听大人们讨价还价，沙斯塔很清楚怎么做生意。
He was quite certain that Arsheesh would sell him in the end for something much more than fifteen crescents and much less than seventy, but that he and the Tarkaan would take hours in getting to an agreement.
他明白，自己最终会以高于十五克利申又低于七十克利申的价格被卖掉。为了达成这次生意，阿什伊什和泰坎至少还得磨好几个小时。
You must not imagine that Shasta felt at all as you and I would feel if we had just overheard our parents talking about selling us for slaves.
虽然沙斯塔听到了自己要被阿什伊什卖做奴隶的消息，可是他一点儿也不难过。
