They were carving little wooden horses and doing it very quickly. The oldest boy made the first cuts in the rude block. Father Herder finished hewing out the form and then passed it along to Mother Herder, who, with her small, sharp tools, quickly and neatly separated the hind legs, smoothed and shaped them, cut down the front legs until they were slender and shapely, modeled the ears, the nose, the neck, until the little horse, no larger than your hand, looked quite alive. Then she passed it to her boy Henrico, who, with a little tool, made some long, fine lines to represent the mane.
他们雕刻小木马,动作很快。大一点的男孩先在粗木块上砍了几下。赫尔德爸爸完成了表格的切割,然后把它传给了赫尔德妈妈,她用小而锋利的工具,迅速而整齐地分开后腿,抚平并塑造它们,把前腿剪短,直到修长匀称,塑造耳朵、鼻子、脖子的模型,直到比你的手还小的小马看上去活灵活现。然后她把它递给她的儿子亨利科,亨利科用一个小工具画了几条长长的细线来表示鬃毛。
John went and stood behind Henrico. He longed to take the little tool and try, but he only said, “It looks easy to do.”
约翰走过去站在亨利科的后面。他很想拿起这个小工具试一试,但他只是说:“看起来很容易。”
“Yes,” said Henrico, proudly, “I learned it all this winter. When I first tried, the lines went crosswise and looked not at all like a horse’s mane. But now, see,” and he moved the tool very quickly; the shavings rolled out, and the mane grew under his skillful touch in quite a wonderful way.
“是的,”亨利科骄傲地说,“整个冬天我都在学。当我第一次尝试的时候,这些线是横向的,看起来一点也不像马鬃。但是现在,你看,”他很快地移动了工具;刨花滚了出来,鬃毛在他的巧手下活灵活现。