VOA慢速英语：华盛顿·欧文《魔鬼与汤姆·沃克》

Our story today is, "The Devil and Tom Walker. " It was written by Washington Irving. Here is Shep O'Neal with our story.

Before we begin our story, let us go back 300 years to the late 1600s. In those years, one of the most famousmen in the world was Captain William Kidd. CaptainKidd was a pirate. He sailed the seas, capturing anyships he found. He and his men took money from theseships. Captain Kidd hid this money in different places.

Captain Kidd was captured by the English in Boston,Massachusetts and executed in the year 1701.

From that time on, people all over the world searched inmany places for Captain Kidd's stolen money.

The people who lived in Massachusetts in theseventeen hundreds believed Captain Kidd buriedsome of his treasure near Boston. Not far from Bostonwas a small river which ran into the Atlantic Ocean. Anold story said that Captain Kidd had come up this riverfrom the ocean. Then he buried his gold and silver andjewels under a big tree.

The story said that this treasure was protected by thedevil himself, who was a good friend of Captain Kidd.

In the year seventeen twenty-seven, a man named TomWalker lived near this place. Tom Walker was not apleasant man. He loved only one thing -- money. Therewas only one person worse than Tom. That was hiswife. She also loved money. These two were so hungryfor money that they even stole things from each other.

One day, Tom Walker was returning home through a dark forest. He walkedslowly and carefully, so that he would not fall into a pool of mud.

At last, he reached a piece of dry ground. Tom sat down on a tree that hadfallen. As he rested, he dug into the earth with a stick. He knew the story thatIndians had killed prisoners here as sacrifices to the Devil. But this did nottrouble him. The only devil Tom was afraid of was his wife.

Tom's stick hit something hard. He dug it out of the earth. It was a humanskull. In the skull was an Indian ax.

Suddenly, Tom Walker heard an angry voice: "Don't touch that skull!"

Tom looked up. He saw a giant sitting on a broken tree. Tom had never seensuch a man. He wore the clothes of an Indian. His skin was almost black andcovered with ashes. His eyes were big and red. His black hair stood up fromhis head. He carried a large ax.

The giant asked, "What are you doing on my land?" But Tom Walker was notafraid. He answered, "What do you mean? This land belongs to MisterPeabody."

The strange man laughed and pointed to the tall trees. Tom saw that one of the trees had been cut by an ax. He looked more closely and saw that thename Peabody had been cut into the tree. Mr. Peabody was a man who gotrich by stealing from Indians.

Tom looked at the other trees. Every one had the name of some rich,important man from Massachusetts. Tom looked at the tree on which he wassitting. It also had a name cut into it -- the name of Absalom Crowninshield.Tom remembered that Mister Crowninshield was a very rich man. People saidhe got his money as Captain Kidd did -- by stealing ships.

Suddenly, the giant shouted: "Crowninshield is ready to be burned! I'm goingto burn many trees this winter!"

Tom told the man that he had no right to cut Mister Peabody's trees. Thestranger laughed and said, "I have every right to cut these trees. This landbelonged to me a long time before Englishmen came to Massachusetts. TheIndians were here. Then you Englishmen killed the Indians. Now I showEnglishmen how to buy and sell slaves. And I teach their women how to bewitches."

Tom Walker now knew that the giant was the Devil himself. But Tom Walkerwas still not afraid.

The giant said Captain Kidd had buried great treasures under the trees, butnobody could have them unless the giant permitted it. He said Tom could havethese treasures. But Tom had to agree to give the giant what he demanded.

Tom Walker loved money as much as he loved life. But he asked for time tothink.

Tom went home. He told his wife what had happened. She wanted CaptainKidd's treasure. She urged him to give the Devil what he wanted. Tom saidno.

At last, Misses Walker decided to do what Tom refused to do. She put all hersilver in a large piece of cloth and went to see the dark giant. Two dayspassed. She did not return home. She was never seen again.

People said later that Tom went to the place where he had met the giant. Hesaw his wife's cloth hanging in a tree. He was happy, because he wanted toget her silver. But when he opened the cloth, there was no silver in it -- only ahuman heart.

Tom was sorry he lost the silver, but not sorry he lost his wife. He wanted tothank the giant for this. And so, every day he looked for the giant. Tom finallydecided that he would give the giant what he wanted in exchange for CaptainKidd's treasure.

One night, Tom Walker met the giant and offered his soul in exchange forCaptain Kidd's treasure. The Devil now wanted more than that. He said thatTom would have to use the treasure to do the Devil's work. He wanted Tom tobuy a ship and bring slaves to America.

As we have said, Tom Walker was a hard man who loved nothing but money. But even he could not agree to buy and sell human beings as slaves. Herefused to do this.

The Devil then said that his second most important work was lending money. The men who did this work for the Devil forced poor people who borrowedmoney to pay back much more than they had received.

Tom said he would like this kind of work. So the Devil gave him Captain Kidd'streasure.

A few days later, Tom Walker was a lender of money in Boston. Everyonewho needed help -- and there were many who did -- came to him. TomWalker became the richest man in Boston. When people were not able to payhim, he took away their farms, their horses, and their houses.

As he got older and richer, Tom began to worry. What would happen when hedied? He had promised his soul to the Devil. Maybe. . .maybe. . . he couldbreak that promise.

Tom then became very religious. He went to church every week. He thoughtthat if he prayed enough, he could escape from the Devil.

One day, Tom took the land of a man who had borrowed money. The poorman asked for more time to pay. "Please do not destroy me!" he said. "Youhave already taken all my money!"

Tom got angry and started to shout, "Let the Devil take me if I have taken anymoney from you!"

That was the end of Tom Walker. For just then, he heard a noise. He openedthe door. There was the black giant, holding a black horse. The giant said, "Tom, I have come for you." He picked up Tom and put him on the horse.Then he hit the horse, which ran off, carrying Tom.

Nobody ever saw Tom Walker again. A farmer said that he saw the blackhorse, with a man on it, running wildly into the forest.

After Tom Walker disappeared, the government decided to take Tom'sproperty. But there was nothing to take. All the papers which showed that Tomowned land and houses were burned to ashes. His boxes of gold and silverhad nothing in them but small pieces of wood. The wood came from newly cuttrees. Tom's horses died, and his house suddenly burned to ashes.

You have heard the story, "The Devil and Tom Walker." It was written byWashington Irving. Our storyteller was Shep O'Neal.____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

treasure– n. a large collection of money, jewels or other things of great value

devil- n. the Devil the most powerful spirit of evil in Christianity, Judaism, andIslam who is often represented as the ruler of hell

skull - n. the structure of bones that form the head and face of a person oranimal

ax- n. a tool that has a heavy metal blade and a long handle and that is usedfor chopping wood

giant- n. a legendary creature usually thought of as being an extremely largeand powerful person

witch- n. a woman who is thought to have magic powers

lend - v. to give (something) to (someone) to be used for a period of time andthen returned

slave- n. someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced towork for that person without pay