一千零一夜英文故事：Falcon saved His Friend The King

Once upon a time in the country of present Turkey, a king ruled a kingdom. He was very fond of hunting. He was a famous hunter in the kingdom. There was no one to beat him in hunting in his country. 

 

The King had a loyal and intelligent pet Falcon¹. He took the falcon wherever he went for hunting. On one such hunting expedition, the falcon sat on the king's shoulder when he rode into the thick forest. The servants also rode behind him watching the falcon seriously. 

 

At a place he stopped and watched very curiously². He heard a strange noise. There he saw a gazelle and said “How beautiful it is!" 

 

He was very much attracted by the its gracefull walk and the long, slender antlers. Suddenly he took his bow and arrow and aimed at the animal. But the animal quickly sped away from that place. The King and the servants chased it into the forest. But the animal dodged³ them to escape. It sprang between the trees and bushes and ran away into the thick forest. 

 

But when the king continued his chasing, the servants could not follow him and stayed back. The king was isolated⁴ from his servants with his horse and falcon. The evening came. The King felt very tired and he was also thirsty. 

 

He cried “Water! Water please!" 

 

He moved here and there in search of water. He lost his way also. 

 

Finally he came near a pond with little water. He quickly took his jar and filled it with water. As he was exhausted⁵ very much he brought the jar near his mouth, the falcon flapped its wings. The wings, which flung near the jar made the jar to slip and the water flowed out to the ground. 

 

He cried’ “What did you do?" can’t you know, I am thirsty now!" 

 

The King patiently bent⁶ down and refilled his jar with water to drink. When he tried again to drink the falcon again fluttered and spilled the water in the ground. Now the King got angry and said," Are you mad! Don’t you know my thirst? But the falcon continued its flapping around the king. So he thought that the falcon was an ungrateful bird. So he drew out his sward from the cover to kill the falcon. 

 

But the falcon screamed and looked at the king. The King felt that the bird wanted to tell something. 

 

So the king looked up and, there he saw some poisonous snakes on the branches of the tree. Then he knew that the water in the pond was full of poison dropping from the mouth of snakes. If the King drank the water he would be dead. But the falcon prevented its master from drinking the poisonous water. 

 

So the King realized that the faithful falcon had saved his life. So he smiled at the bird and murmured, “ You are my good friend." 

 

It also felt glad that his master understood its' good intention.  

1 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。

2 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

3 dodged   

v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He dodged cleverly when she threw her sabot at him. 她用木底鞋砸向他时，他机敏地闪开了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He dodged the book that I threw at him. 他躲开了我扔向他的书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

5 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

6 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。