“嘟呜！嘟呜！” 她们俩对着邻居家的鸽舍里的鸽子叫着。“你们听说了吗？你们听说了吗？嘟呜！有一只母鸡为了公鸡把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了；要是她还没被冻死的话，也会被冻死的。嘟呜！”

“too-whoo! too-whoo!” they both hooted into the neighbour’s dove-cot to the doves inside. “have you heard? have you heard? too-whoo! there is a hen who has plucked out all her feathers for the sake of the cock; she will freeze to death, if she is not frozen already. too-whoo!”

“在哪儿？在哪儿？” 鸽子们咕咕地叫着。

“where? where?” cooed the doves.

“在邻居家的院子里。我都差不多亲眼看见了。讲这个故事好像不太合适，但这事儿千真万确。”

“In the neighbour’s yard. I have as good as seen it myself. It is almost unbeing to tell the story, but there is no doubt about it.”

“我们跟你们说的每一个字都要相信。” 鸽子们说道，然后朝着它们的家禽院咕咕地叫着传下去。“有一只母鸡 —— 不，有人说有两只 —— 把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了，为的是不和其他鸡一样，好吸引公鸡的注意。”

“believe every word of what we tell you,” said the doves, and cooed down into their poultry-yard. “there is a hen — nay, some say that there are two — who have plucked out all their feathers, in order not to look like the others, and to attract the attention of the cock.

这可是个危险的游戏，因为很容易就会着凉，然后发烧死掉，而且这两只（母鸡）都已经死了。

It is a dangerous game, for one can easily catch cold and die from fever, and both of these are dead already.”

“醒醒！醒醒！” 公鸡打鸣着，飞到了它栖息的木板上。它眼里还带着睡意，但还是叫着：“三只母鸡因为对一只公鸡不幸的爱恋而死了。它们把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了。这是个可怕的故事：我可不会就这么自己闷着，得把它传出去。”

“wake up! wake up!” crowed the cock, and flew upon his board. Sleep was still in his eyes, but yet he crowed out: “three hens have died of their unfortunate love for a cock. they had plucked out all their feathers. It is a horrible story: I will not take it to myself, but let it go farther.”

“传出去！” 蝙蝠尖叫着，母鸡们咯咯叫着，公鸡们打鸣着，“传出去！传出去！” 就这样，这个故事从一个家禽院传到另一个家禽院，最后又传回了它真正开始的地方。

“Let it go farther,” shrieked the bats, and the hens clucked and the cocks crowed, “Let it go farther! Let it go farther!” In this way the story travelled from poultry-yard to poultry-yard, and at last came back to the place from which it had really started.

“五只母鸡，” 现在故事变成了这样，“把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了，为的是展示她们当中谁因为爱那只公鸡变得最瘦，然后她们就互相啄，直到血流下来，倒地而死，让她们的家族蒙羞，也让她们的主人遭受了巨大损失。”

“Five hens,” it now ran, “have plucked out all their feathers to show which of them had grown leanest for love of the cock, and then they all pecked at each other till the blood ran down and they fell down dead, to the derision and shame of their family, and to the great loss of their owner.”

那只掉了根松散小羽毛的母鸡自然没认出这就是自己的故事，作为一只体面的母鸡，它说：“我看不起那些家禽；不过还有更多这样的呢。这种事可不该隐瞒，我会尽全力把这个故事登到报纸上，好让全国都知道；那些母鸡罪有应得，她们的家族也是。”

the hen who had lost the loose little feather naturally did not recognise her own story, and being a respectable hen, said: “I despise those fowls; but there are more of that kind. Such things ought not to be concealed, and I will do my best to get the story into the papers, so that it bees known throughout the land; the hens have richly deserved it, and their family too.”

它真的登上报纸了，被印了出来；毫无疑问，一根小羽毛很容易就变成了五只母鸡（的故事）。

It got into the papers, it was printed; and there is no doubt about it, one little feather may easily grow into five hens.