Worn down by a life of hunting where one day meant feast and the next meant famine, an old wolf stands on the ridge and gazes longingly at the warm, comfortable life in the village below. When a witch offers to turn him into a man in exchange for his freedom, the wolf agrees without a second thought. Only on the night he hears his own kind howling from the deep forest does he realize just how precious the thing he traded away truly was.
On the Ridge, Looking Down at the Village
深秋的傍晚，一只老狼趴在上，舔着前爪上一道还没好的伤口。
On a late-autumn evening, an old wolf lay sprawled on the mountain ridge, licking a wound on his front paw that had not yet healed.
它已经两天没吃东西了，肚子饿得发慌，山风一吹，浑身的毛都立了起来。
He hadn't eaten in two days, and his stomach gnawed with hunger; when the mountain wind blew through, every hair on his body stood on end.
山脚下的村庄亮起了一盏盏灯，烟囱里冒出，隐约还飘来一阵炖肉的香味。
Down at the foot of the mountain, the village lit up lamp by lamp, smoke curled from the chimneys, and faintly there drifted up the smell of stewing meat.
Old Wolf
“看看人家，”老狼盯着那片灯火嘟囔，“天一黑就有热饭热汤，哪像我，连下顿在哪儿都不知道。”
"Look at them," the old wolf muttered, staring at the cluster of lights. "The moment it gets dark they've got hot food and hot soup. Not like me — I don't even know where my next meal's coming from."
它越看越，连那道伤口的疼都忘了，直到月亮爬上了树梢。
The longer he looked, the more he ached with envy — he even forgot the pain of his wound — until the moon had climbed to the treetops.
The Witch's Offer
第二天清早，一个的老太婆从林子里钻出来，眯着眼笑，仿佛早就听见了它夜里那番话。
Early the next morning, an old woman leaning on a cane emerged from the woods, squinting and smiling, as if she had heard every word he'd spoken in the night.
Witch
“想过那种日子，是吧？”老太婆压低了声音，“我能把你变成人，住进村里，吃饱穿暖。”
"You'd like a life like that, wouldn't you?" the old woman said, lowering her voice. "I can turn you into a man — you'd move into the village, eat your fill, and stay warm."
Old Wolf
“真的？那我要拿什么换？”狼的耳朵一下子竖了起来，往前凑了半步。
"Really? And what would I have to give in return?" The wolf's ears shot up, and he edged half a step closer.
Witch
“也不要多，”她伸出干瘦的手指点了点它的胸口，“就拿你那身想跑就跑的自由来换，公平吧？”
"Not much at all," she said, reaching out a bony finger and poking him in the chest. "Just that freedom of yours — the kind where you run whenever you please. Fair enough, isn't it?"
Old Wolf
“换！”它想都没想就答应了，满脑子全是那碗热汤，根本没把“自由”两个字放在心上。
"Deal!" he agreed without a moment's thought, his mind full of nothing but that bowl of hot soup — the word "freedom" never even crossed his heart.
Living in the Village
魔法一过，狼成了村里一个年轻力壮的长工，住进了一间带屋顶的小屋。
The moment the spell took hold, the wolf became a young, strong farmhand in the village, settled into a little hut with a roof over his head.
头几天，他确实吃得饱、睡得暖，可没过多久就觉得处处都不对劲。
For the first few days he truly did eat well and sleep warm, but before long he began to feel that something was off about everything.
The Master
“天没亮就得起来挑水，吃饭要等大伙儿一起，门口那条狗见了你都不许追。”主人一条一条交代。
"You're up hauling water before dawn, you wait for everyone before you eat, and that dog by the gate — you mustn't chase it, even when it comes at you." The master laid out the rules one by one.
夜里躺在床上，他睡不着，老想起从前在山里追着风跑、想停就停的那股痛快劲儿。
Lying in bed at night, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep, forever recalling how it had felt back in the mountains — chasing the wind, stopping whenever he liked, and how wonderfully free that had been.
The Wolf (Now a Man)
“饭是有了，”他对着黑黢黢的屋顶低声说，“可这心里头，怎么的，比饿肚子还难受。”
"I've got food now," he whispered to the pitch-black ceiling, "but my heart feels so hollow — worse than going hungry ever was."
The Howl in the Night
一个起风的夜里，山那头忽然传来一声长长的，接着又是一声，一声接一声。
On a windy night, a long wolf's howl suddenly carried over from the far side of the mountain, then another, and another after that.
他猛地从床上坐起来，心跳得厉害，喉咙里竟不由自主地想跟着应上一声。
He bolted upright in bed, his heart pounding, and his throat ached to answer back with a howl of its own, whether he willed it or not.
那一刻他全明白了：原来他要的从来不是一间小屋，而是想跑就跑、想嚎就嚎的那条命。
In that instant he understood it all: what he had wanted all along was never a little hut, but a life where he could run when he pleased and howl when he pleased.
The Wolf (Now a Man)
天还没亮，他就摸黑跑去敲老太婆的门：“把我变回去，要冷要饿我都认了，我不要这屋顶了！”
Before dawn broke, he groped through the dark and ran to pound on the old woman's door: "Turn me back! Cold, hunger — I'll take it all. I don't want this roof anymore!"
天亮时，一只老狼又出现在上，迎着冷风深深吸了一口气，朝那群同伴的方向纵身奔去。
As day broke, an old wolf appeared once more on the ridge, drew a deep breath into the cold wind, and bounded off toward where his pack was waiting.