"The Belowground People" 地低下的人

Here is a story from the A-mei tribe.  It is here because I thought it was cute.  I have translated it from "Taiwanese Folk Stories," 台灣民間故事 a collection that appeared in 1996.  The Chinese text was written by 洪淑英, 區世皓, and 謝桂芳, the English (of course) was written by me.

地低下的人 "The Belowground People"

大家都知道, 天上住著神仙, 地上住著人, 那麼地低下, 住著什麼呢?  小朋友絕對想不到, 地低下也住著人呢!  這是流傳在台灣阿美族的一個故事.  As everyone knows, the spirits dwell in heaven and people dwell on the earth.  But what about below the ground?  What lives there?  Children will certainly not realize that people also live below the ground!  This is a story passed down through Taiwan's A-mei tribe.

很久很久以前, 地上和地下都住著人.  地上的人地下的人很好, 有時候, 地上的人就到地下去玩, 地下的人也經常到地上頭來玩兒.  A very long time ago, the aboveground people and the belowground people got along very well.  Sometimes the aboveground people would go below the ground to play, and sometimes the belowground people would come up to play.

有一天, 有一個地下的人到地上頭來買東西.  地上的人惡作劇, 裝了一袋子的蜜蜂, 騙地下的人說袋子裡有希罕的寶貝, 回到家才能打開來看.  地下的人聽了, 高高興興的把袋子背回家去了.  On one day, a belowground person came up out of the earth to buy things.  The aboveground people played a trick on him, and filled a bag full of bees.  They told the belowground person that there was a great treasure inside the bag, but that he should wait until he got home to open it.  After the belowground person heard this, he happily shouldered the bag home.

地下的人回到家, 興匆匆的把袋子打開.  啊, 不得了了!  袋子裡飛出黑壓壓的一群蜜蜂!  蜜蜂用屁股上的針, 螫地下人的眼睛, 鼻子... 地下的人全身腫起一個一個大包, 痛得拼命的跳.  這些腫起來的包, 後來變成一個一個的疔, 有時候痛, 有時候不痛.  After the belowground person arrived home he hurriedly opened the bag.  Ah!  This was too much!  A dense swarm of bees flew out of the bag!  The bees used the stingers on their bums to sting the belowground people in their eyes and noses... until the belowground people were covered from head to toe in boils.  It hurt so much that they jumped as if their lives depended on it.  Sometimes afterward the boils would hurt, and sometimes they would stop hurting.

痛起來的時候, 可真要命, 地下的人忍不住痛, 用力的跳.  轟隆!  轟隆!  地上就開始搖搖晃晃起來.  從此, 地上就有了地震.  When the boils started hurting it was almost too much for the belowground people to take, and they could not stand it.  They would jump with all their strength.  Boom!  Boom!  The land above them would begin to shake and shudder, and from this time there were earthquakes on the land.