The debtor and his sow 欠债人和母猪

A man of Athens fell into debt and was pressed for the money by his creditor; but he had no means of paying at the time, so he begged for delay. But the creditor refused and said he must pay at once. Then the debtor fetched a sow-the only one he had-and took her to market to offer her for sale. It happened that his creditor was there too. Presently a buyer came along and asked if the sow produced good litters. "Yes," said the debtor, "very fine ones, and the remarkable thing is that she produces females at the Mysteries and males at the Panathenea." (These were two Greek festivals. The Athenians always sacrifice a sow at one, and a boar at the other, while at the Dionysia they sacrifice a kid.) At that the creditor, who was standing by, put in, "Don't be surprised, sir. Why still better, at the Dionysia this sow has kids!"

一个雅典人欠了别人的钱，债主三番几次来催他还钱，但他当时根本没有办法还钱，所以请求延期几天。可是，债主却不答应，让他立刻还钱。迫不得已，欠债人把家中仅有的母猪带到市场上去卖。碰巧，债主也在那个市场里。过了一会儿，有一个买主走上前来，问这头母猪是否还能下小猪崽。“当然了，”欠债人回答说，“能生下很好的小猪崽，而且更惊人的事，她还能在女神节生下小母猪，在帕纳西尼亚节生下小公猪。”（这是希腊的两个节日，雅典人总是在女神节杀一只小母猪祭祀，在帕那尼西亚节杀一只小公猪祭祀，而在狂欢节杀一只小山羊做祭祀品。）债主听到他说的话，立刻站起来插话道：“一点都不奇怪，先生，为什么呢，因为更厉害的是，在狂欢节时，她还会生下小山羊呢！”