英美民间故事：The Athenian and the Theban

An Athenian and a Theban were on the road together, and passed the time in conversation, as is the way of travelers. After discussing a variety of subjects they began to talk about heroes, a topic that tends to be more fertile than edifying1. Each of them was lavish2 in his praises of the heroes of his own city, until eventually the Theban asserted that Hercules was the greatest hero who had ever lived on earth, and now occupied a foremost place among the gods; while the Athenian insisted that Theseus was far superior, for his fortune had been in every way supremely3 blessed, whereas Hercules had at one time been forced to act as a servant. And he gained his point, for he was a very glib4 fellow, like all Athenians; so that the Theban, who was no match for him in talking; cried at last in some disgust, "All right, have your way; I only hope that, when our heroes are angry with us, Athens may suffer from the anger of Hercules, and Thebes only from that of Theseus."

一个雅典人和一个底比斯人一同走在路上，就像其他旅行者一样，他们用聊天来打发时间。聊了一些其他话题之后，他们开始谈起英雄，虽然没有什么教育意义，但这可是一个颇有谈资的内容，一提到赞美各自城市的英雄，两个人侃侃而谈。后来，底比斯断言，赫拉克勒斯是地球上曾经存在过的最伟大的英雄，现在占据了众神之中的首要位置。而雅典人则坚持认为，提修斯远远超过了赫拉克勒斯，因为他的命运在各方面都得到了充分的眷顾，而赫拉克勒斯曾一度被迫充当奴隶。他达到了自己的目的，因为他像所有雅典人一样，是一个非常圆滑的家伙。而底比斯人在谈话中根本不是他的对手，最后有些反感地大吼道：“好吧，随便你，我只希望，当我们的英雄对我们生气时，雅典人会从赫拉克勒斯的愤怒中遭殃，而底比斯人则从提修斯的愤怒中受苦。”