How the Brazilian Beetles Got Their Gorgeous Coats

Origin: Brazil

Cass 译

寓言·童话

How the Brazilian Beetles Got Their Gorgeous Coats

巴西甲壳虫的华丽新装

Origin: Brazil

Cass 译

Track 10

In Brazil the beetles have such beautifully coloured, hard-shelled coats upon their backs that they are often set in pins and necklaces like precious stones. Once upon a time, years and years ago, they had ordinary plain brown coats. This is how it happened that the Brazilian beetle earned a new coat.

One day a little brown beetle was crawling along a wall when a big grey rat ran out of a hole in the wall and looked down scornfully at the little beetle. “O ho!” he said to the beetle, “how slowly you crawl along. You’ll never get anywhere in the world. Just look at me and see how fast I can run.”

The big grey rat ran to the end of the wall, wheeled around, and came back to the place where the little beetle was slowly crawling along at only a tiny distance from where the rat had left her.

“Don’t you wish that you could run like that?” said the big grey rat to the little brown beetle.

“You are surely a fast runner,” replied the little brown beetle politely. Her mother had taught her always to be polite, and had often said to her that a really polite beetle never boasts about her own accomplishments. The little brown beetle never boasted a single boast about the things she could do. She just went on slowly crawling along the wall.

A bright green and gold parrot in the mango tree over the wall had heard the conversation. “How would you like to race with the beetle?” he asked the big grey rat. “I live next door to the tailor bird,”he added, “and just to make the race exciting I’ll offer a bright coloured coat as a prize to the one who wins the race. You may choose for it any colour you like and I’ll have it made to order.”

“I’d like a yellow coat with stripes like the tiger’s,” said the big grey rat, looking over his shoulder at his gaunt grey sides as if he were already admiring his new coat.

“I’d like a beautiful, bright coloured new coat, too,” said the little brown beetle.

The big grey rat laughed long and loud until his gaunt grey sides were shaking. “Why, you talk just as if you thought you had a chance to win the race,” he said, when he could speak.

The bright green and gold parrot set the royal palm tree at the top of the cliff as the goal of the race. He gave the signal to start and then he flew away to the royal palm tree to watch for the end of the race.

The big grey rat ran as fast as he could. Then he thought how very tired he was getting. “What’s the use of hurrying?” he said to himself. “The little brown beetle can not possibly win. If I were racing with somebody who could really run it would be very different.” Then he started to run more slowly, but every time his heart beat it said, “Hurry up! Hurry up!” The big grey rat decided that it was best to obey the little voice in his heart so he hurried just as fast as he could.

When he reached the royal palm tree at the top of the cliff he could hardly believe his eyes. He thought he must be having a bad dream. There was the little brown beetle sitting quietly beside the bright green and gold parrot. The big grey rat had never been so surprised in all his life. “How did you ever manage to run fast enough to get here so soon?” he asked the little brown beetle as soon as he could catch his breath.

The little brown beetle drew out the tiny wings from her sides. “Nobody said anything about having to run to win the race,” she replied, “so I few instead.”

“I did not know that you could fy,” said the big grey rat in a subdued little voice.

“After this,” said the bright green and gold parrot, “never judge any one by his looks alone. You never can tell how often or where you may fnd concealed wings.You have lost the prize.”

Until this day, even in Brazil

where the fowers and birds and beasts and insects have such gorgeous colouring, the rat wears a plain dull grey coat.

Then the parrot turned to the little brown beetle, who was waiting quietly at his side.“What colour do you want your new coat to be?” he asked.

The little brown beetle looked up at the bright green and gold parrot, at the green and gold palm trees above their heads, at the green mangoes with golden flushes on their cheeks lying on the ground under the mango trees, at the golden sunshine upon the distant green hills. “I choose a coat of green and gold,” she said.

From that day to this, the Brazilian beetle has worn a coat of green with golden lights upon it.

For years and years, the Brazilian beetles were all very proud to wear green and gold coats like that of the beetle who raced with the rat.

Then, once upon a time, it happened that there was a little beetle who grew discontented with her coat of green and gold. She looked up at the blue sky and out at the blue sea and wished that she had a blue coat instead. She talked about it so much that fnally her mother took her to the parrot who lived next to the tailor bird.

“You may change your coat for a blue one,”said the parrot, “but if you change you’ll have to give up something.”

“Oh, I’ll gladly give up anything if only I may have a blue coat instead of a green and gold one,” said the discontented little beetle.

When she received her new coat she thought it was very beautiful. It was a lovely shade of blue and it had silvery white lights upon it like the light of the stars. When she put it on, however, she discovered that it was not hard like the green and gold one. From that day to this, the blue beetles’ coats have not been hard and frm. That is why the jewelers have diffculty in using them in pins and necklaces like other beetles.

From the moment that the little beetle put on her new blue coat she never grew again. From that day to this, the blue beetles have been much smaller than the green and gold ones.

When the Brazilians made their flag they took for it a square of green, the colour of the green beetle’s coat. Within this square, they placed a diamond of gold like the golden lights which play upon the green beetle’s back. Then, within the diamond, they drew a circle to represent the round earth, and they coloured it blue like the coat of the blue beetle. Upon the blue circle they placed stars of silvery white, like the silvery white lights on the back of the blue beetle. About the blue circle of the earth which they thus pictured, they drew a band of white. And upon this band they wrote the motto of their country, “Ordem e Progresso, order and progress.”

巴西甲壳虫背上的外壳色彩艳丽且坚硬，因此常被用来如宝石一般镶嵌在别针或者项链上。很久以前，也就是许多年前，它们只拥有普通的棕色外壳。以下是巴西甲壳虫如何赢得新外壳的故事。

有一天，一只棕色小甲壳虫正沿着墙壁爬行，这时候，一只巨大的灰色老鼠从墙上的一个洞里钻出来，轻蔑地看着这只小甲壳虫。“噢，哼！”他对着小甲壳虫说道，“你爬得真够慢的。你这样永远也到不了世界上任何一个地方。瞧瞧我跑得多快！”

大灰鼠爬到墙的尽头，调转方向往回跑，再次遇到小甲壳虫，她还在慢慢爬行，离刚刚遇到大灰鼠的地方只一小段距离。

“难道你不希望跑得像我这么快吗？”大灰鼠对棕色小甲壳虫说道。

“你的确跑得非常快，”棕色小甲虫礼貌地回答道。母亲教她任何时候都要彬彬有礼，也经常对她说：真正有礼貌的甲壳虫从不吹嘘自己的成就。棕色小甲虫从不夸耀自己所能做的事。她只是默默地在墙上慢慢爬。

墙边芒果树上站着的一只翠绿金黄的鹦鹉听到了他们的对话。“你想不想和小甲壳虫赛跑呢？”他问大灰鼠。“我隔壁住着一位裁缝—缝叶莺，”他补充说道，“为了使比赛更加激动人心，我将为获胜的选手提供一件色彩明亮的外套作为奖品。你们可以选择自己喜欢的颜色，由我来为你们定制。”

“我想要带老虎条纹的黄色外套，”大灰鼠说道，掉过脸瞅着自己不起眼的灰色皮毛，像已在欣赏新外套一样。

“我也想要一件漂亮、鲜艳的新外套，”棕色小甲壳虫这么说道。

大灰鼠哈哈大笑了许久，笑得身上不起眼的灰色皮毛都开始颤抖了。“哎呀！你说得好像自己有机会赢得比赛似的，”他这么说道，这时候才笑得缓过劲儿来。

金绿色鹦鹉定下以峭壁顶上的皇家棕榈树作为比赛的终点。他发出比赛开始的信号，然后飞到皇家棕榈树上盯着比赛终点。

大灰鼠尽可能快地跑着。跑了一会儿，他觉得有点累了。“这么着急干什么？”他喃喃自语。“那只棕色小甲壳虫不可能赢我。如果我是和真正会跑的人比赛，那就大不相同了。”然后他就开始慢慢跑，但是每次他内心都在呼喊：“赶快！赶快！”大灰鼠觉得最好还是听从自己内心的小声音，于是他跑得更快了。

当他到达峭壁顶上的皇家棕榈树时，他根本不敢相信自己的眼睛，他觉得自己一定是在做噩梦。棕色小甲壳虫正安静地坐在金绿色鹦鹉的旁边。大灰鼠一生中从未感到如此惊讶过。“你怎么可能跑得这么快，这么早到达终点？”他喘了喘气之后，这样问棕色小甲壳虫道。

棕色小甲壳虫从身体侧面展开自己的小翅膀。“比赛没有规定一定是要用‘跑’的，”她回答道，“所以我飞过来了。”

“我并不知道你会飞呀，”大灰鼠低声弱弱地说道。

“这以后你就该知道，”金绿色鹦鹉说道，“人不可貌相。你永远不知道何时或是何地，可能会发现隐藏的翅膀。你输掉比赛了。”

直到今天，巴西的鲜花、昆虫和飞禽走兽都拥有绚丽的色彩，只有老鼠依然穿着沉闷的灰色外套。

接着鹦鹉转过身，棕色小甲壳虫正安静地在他身边等待着。“你希望你的新外套是什么颜色呢？”他问道。

棕色小甲壳虫抬头看看色彩鲜艳的金绿色鹦鹉，又看看他们头顶上金绿色的棕榈树；她低头看看芒果树下，那散落在地上的青黄相间的芒果；接着眺望了一眼远处青山上闪耀的金色阳光。“我决定要一件金绿色的外套，”她回答道。

从那一天起，巴西甲壳虫穿上了带着金色光点的绿色新衣。

多年以来，巴西甲壳虫都为能够像那只和老鼠赛跑的小甲壳虫一样穿上金绿色的外套而感到十分骄傲。

后来，却碰巧有那么一只小甲壳虫，她对自己金绿色的外套并不满意。她抬头看着蓝天，又望望大海，希望自己拥有一件蓝色的外套。她经常这么说，最后，她妈妈只能带她去那只住在缝叶莺隔壁的鹦鹉家。

“你可以换一件蓝色的外套，”鹦鹉说道，“但是为此你必须放弃某样东西。”

“噢，我心甘情愿放弃任何东西，只要能把我金绿色的外套换成蓝色的，”这只不满的小甲壳虫说道。

小甲壳虫收到新外套之后觉得十分漂亮。那是一抹很可爱的蓝色，还带着银白色的光点，就像星星的光芒。但是，她穿上之后，发现新外套不如原来金绿色的外套那么坚硬。从那一天起，蓝色甲壳虫的外壳就不再坚硬牢固了。这就是宝石匠们无法像使用其他甲壳虫外壳一样，把蓝色甲壳虫的外壳镶嵌在别针和项链上的原因。

从小甲壳虫披上蓝色外套那一刻起，她也不再长大了。从此之后，蓝色甲壳虫就比金绿色甲壳虫小得多。

当巴西人制作国旗的时候，选取了绿色的长方形，正是绿色甲壳虫外衣的颜色。在长方形之内，他们加上一个金黄色的菱形，就像绿色甲壳虫背上金色光点的颜色。然后，在菱形之内，他们画了一个代表着地球的圆圈，漆成蓝色，就像蓝色甲壳虫外壳的颜色。在蓝色的圆圈之上他们加了银白色的星星，就如蓝色甲壳虫背上的银白色光点。在他们所画的代表地球的蓝色圆圈之上还有一条白色带子，上面写着他们国家的座右铭：“秩序与进步。”