THE TALE OF GINGER AND PICKLES

Once upon a time there was a village shop. The name over the window was “Ginger and Pickles.” It was a little small shop just the right size for Dolls—Lucinda and Jane Doll-cook always bought their groceries at Ginger and Pickles. The counter inside was a convenient height for rabbits. Ginger and Pickles sold red spotty pocket-handkerchiefs at a penny three farthings. They also sold sugar, and snuff and goloshes. In fact, although it was such a small shop it sold nearly everything—except a few things that you want in a hurry—like bootlaces, hair-pins and mutton chops.

Ginger and Pickles were the people who kept the shop. Ginger was a yellow tom-cat, and Pickles was a terrier. The rabbits were always a little bit afraid of Pickles. The shop was also patronized by mice—only the mice were rather afraid of Ginger. Ginger usually requested Pickles to serve them, because he said it made his mouth water.

“I cannot bear,” said he, “to see them going out at the door carrying their little parcels.”

“I have the same feeling about rats,” replied Pickles, “but it would never do to eat our customers; they would leave us and go to Tabitha Twitchit's.”

“On the contrary, they would go nowhere,” replied Ginger gloomily.

(Tabitha Twitchit kept the only other shop in the village. She did not give credit.)

Ginger and Pickles gave unlimited credit.

Now the meaning of “credit” is this—when a customer buys a bar of soap, instead of the customer pulling out a purse and paying for it—she says she will pay another time. And Pickles makes a low bow and says, “With pleasure, madam,” and it is written down in a book.

The customers come again and again, and buy quantities, in spite of being afraid of Ginger and Pickles. But there is no money in what is called the “till”.

The customers came in crowds every day and bought quantities, especially the toffee customers. But there was always no money; they never paid for as much as a pennyworth of peppermints. But the sales were enormous, ten times as large as Tabitha Twitchit's.

As there was always no money, Ginger and Pickles were obliged to eat their own goods. Pickles ate biscuits and Ginger ate a dried haddock. They ate them by candle-light after the shop was closed. `When it came to Jan. 1st there was still no money, and Pickles was unable to buy a dog licence.

“It is very unpleasant, I am afraid of the police,” said Pickles.

“It is your own fault for being a terrier; I do not require a licence, and neither does Kep, the Collie dog.”

“It is very uncomfortable, I am afraid I shall be summoned. I have tried in vain to get a licence upon credit at the Post Office,” said Pickles.“The place is full of policemen. I met one as I was coming home. Let us send in the bill again to Samuel Whiskers, Ginger, he owes 22/9 for bacon.”

“I do not believe that he intends to pay at all,” replied Ginger.

“And I feel sure that Anna Maria pockets things—Where are all the cream crackers?”

“You have eaten them yourself,” replied Ginger.

Ginger and Pickles retired into the back parlour. They did accounts. They added up sums and sums, and sums.

“Samuel Whiskers has run up a bill as long as his tail; he has had an ounce and three-quarters of snuff since October. What is seven pounds of butter at 1/3, and a stick of sealing wax and four matches?”

“Send in all the bills again to everybody ‘with compts’” replied Ginger.

After a time they heard a noise in the shop, as if something had been pushed in at the door. They came out of the back parlour. There was an envelope lying on the counter, and a policeman writing in a notebook!

Pickles nearly had a fit, he barked and he barked and made little rushes.

“Bite him, Pickles! bite him!” spluttered Ginger behind a sugar-barrel, “he's only a German doll!”

The policeman went on writing in his notebook; twice he put his pencil in his mouth, and once he dipped it in the treacle.

Pickles barked till he was hoarse. But still the policeman took no notice. He had bead eyes, and his helmet was sewed on with stitches. At length on his last little rush—Pickles found that the shop was empty. The policeman had disappeared. But the envelope remained.

“Do you think that he has gone to fetch a real live policeman? I am afraid it is a summons,” said Pickles.

“No,” replied Ginger, who had opened the envelope, “it is the rates and taxes, ￡ 3 19 11 3/4.”

“This is the last straw,” said Pickles, “let us close the shop.”

They put up the shutters, and left. But they have not removed from the neighbourhood. In fact some people wish they had gone further.

Ginger is living in the warren. I do not know what occupation he pursues; he looks stout and comfortable.

Pickles is at present a gamekeeper.

The closing of the shop caused great inconvenience. Tabitha Twitchit immediately raised the price of everything a half-penny; and she continued to refuse to give credit.

Of course there are the tradesmen's carts—the butcher, the fishman and Timothy Baker. But a person cannot live on “seed wigs” and sponge-cake and butter-buns—not even when the sponge-cake is as good as Timothy's!

After a time Mr. John Dormouse and his daughter began to sell peppermints and candles. But they did not keep “self-fitting sixes”; and it takes five mice to carry one seven-inch candle. Besides—the candles which they sell behave very strangely in warm weather. And Miss Dormouse refused to take back the ends when they were brought back to her with complaints.

And when Mr. John Dormouse was complained to, he stayed in bed, and would say nothing but “very snug”; which is not the way to carry on a retail business.

So everybody was pleased when Sally Henny Penny sent out a printed poster to say that she was going to re-open the shop—“Henny's Opening Sale! Grand co-operative Jumble! Penny's penny prices! Come buy, come try, come buy!” The poster really was most 'ticing.

There was a rush upon the opening day. The shop was crammed with customers, and there were crowds of mice upon the biscuit canisters. Sally Henny Penny gets rather flustered when she tries to count out change, and she insists on being paid cash; but she is quite harmless. And she has laid in a remarkable assortment of bargains.

There is something to please everybody.

THE END

姜和腌菜的故事

从前，在一个村子里有一家店铺，窗户上的店名是“姜和腌菜”。那是一家很小的店，大小只适合玩偶们——露辛达和厨娘简总是来这家店买食物和杂货。店里面柜台的高度对兔子们来说倒是很适合。姜和腌菜出售带红点的手帕，一便士三法寻[1]一条。他们还出售糖、鼻烟和雨靴。实际上，尽管这是一家很小的店铺，但它几乎什么都卖——除非是一些特别急需的东西——比方说鞋带、发卡和羊排。

姜和腌菜是开店的人的名字。姜是一只黄色的公猫，腌菜是一只猎犬。兔子们始终有点儿害怕腌菜。店里面也有老鼠来光顾——只是老鼠们都有点儿害怕姜。姜总是让腌菜招待老鼠，因为他说老鼠会让他流口水。

“我受不了，”他说，“我没办法看着他们带着小包袱出门去。”

“我对老鼠也有相同的感觉。”腌菜回答说，“但是我们绝对不能吃我们的顾客，不然他们会不再光顾这里，改去塔比莎·特迟特的店了。”

“不，他们谁的店都去不了了。”姜闷闷不乐地回答。

塔比莎·特迟特开着村子里的另外一家店，村子里面只有这两家店。塔比莎从来都不赊账。

姜和腌菜是允许无限制地赊账的。

赊账的意思就是：当客人买了一块肥皂，她没有拿出钱包付款，而是说下次再给钱。腌菜会深深鞠一躬，说：“当然可以，夫人。”然后便将账目记录在一个本子上。

顾客会一次又一次光顾店里，买很多东西，尽管他们还是害怕姜和腌菜。但是所谓的“钱柜”里面却一直都没有钱。

每天，顾客们都一批批地来，买很多东西，特别是太妃糖。但是总是见不到钱，哪怕只买一便士的薄荷糖，那些顾客也从来没有付过钱。但是店里的销售量巨大，是塔比莎·特迟特店的十倍。

由于总是收不到钱，姜和腌菜不得不吃自己的货物。腌菜吃饼干，姜吃鳕鱼干。他们在小店关门后，点着蜡烛吃这些东西。到了元旦的时候，他们依然没有钱，腌菜没办法去买狗证。

“真是让人难过，我很担心警察。”腌菜说。

“身为一只猎犬是你的错，我就不需要证件，牧羊犬凯普也不需要。”

“这真让人不安，我觉得自己会被法院传召。我试了去邮局赊账办理证件，可是没成功，”腌菜说，“这里四处都是警察，回家的路上我就碰上了一个。”

“咱们再给络腮胡塞缪尔寄一次账单吧，姜，他买腌肉欠了我们二十二先令九便士。”

“我相信他根本就没打算还。”姜说。

“而且我觉得安娜·玛丽亚在偷东西——那些奶油饼干都到哪儿去了？”

“你自己把它们都吃了。”姜回答。

姜和腌菜回到了后厅。他们算了算账目，加了一笔又一笔。

“络腮胡塞缪尔欠的账单有他的尾巴那么长了。自从十月份到现在，他已经买了一又四分之三盎司的鼻烟了。还用一先令三便士的价格买了七磅黄油，还有一条封蜡和四盒火柴，这该是多少？”

“给每个人都再寄一遍账单明细吧。”姜说。

过了一会儿，他们听到店铺那边传来一些响动，好像是有人从门口那里塞进来了什么。他们从后厅出来，发现柜台上有一个信封，一个警察正在笔记本上写着什么。

腌菜火冒三丈，他不停地叫啊叫啊，还跑来跑去。

“去咬他，腌菜！去咬他！”姜躲在一个糖桶后面，气急败坏地说，“他不过是个德国娃娃。”

那个警察继续在自己的本子上写着，他有两次把铅笔放进了嘴里，有一次把笔蘸进了糖浆里。

腌菜一直叫着，直到他的嗓子都哑了。但是那个警察依然没有理会。那警察有一双豆子眼，头盔是缝在头上的。终于，在最后一次跑过去看的时候，腌菜终于发现店里面没人了，那个警察不见了。不过那个信封还在那里。

“你觉得他是去叫一个真正的警察了吗？我担心那是张传票。”腌菜说。

“不是，”姜回答，他打开了信封，“是税单，需要交三英镑十九先令十一便士三法寻。”

“这是压死我们的最后一根稻草了。”腌菜说，“咱们把店关了吧。”

他们关上了门板，然后离开了。但是他们没有搬离这一片社区。实际上，有些人希望他们能够搬得远一些。

姜住在兔子洞中，我不知道他找到了什么工作，不过他看上去很强壮，日子过得很舒心。

腌菜现在是个猎场看守。

他们的店铺关门造成了很大的不便。塔比莎·特迟特立刻就把所有东西的价格提高了半个便士，她依然拒绝赊账。

当然，也有一些商人赶着马车过来——有屠夫、渔夫，还有面包商蒂莫西。但是，没有人能只依靠“芝麻发糕”、松糕和黄油小圆面包生活呀——哪怕那松糕做得像蒂莫西家做的那么美味！

过了一段日子，睡鼠约翰先生和他的女儿开始卖薄荷糖和蜡烛。但是他们没有调整蜡烛的长短，一根七英寸长的蜡烛，需要五只老鼠才能搬动。另外——他们卖的蜡烛在温暖的天气就会奇怪地起反应。睡鼠小姐拒绝回收那些投诉的顾客所带来的蜡烛头儿。

而当睡鼠约翰先生接待那些投诉的顾客时，他就躺在床上，除了说“很舒服啊”，其他的什么也不说。这可不是运营零售业的正确方法。

所以，当大家看到小母鸡萨利贴出一张印刷的海报说自己要重开那家店铺的时候，都十分开心。“母鸡家开业大促销！大酬宾大让利！超低价！快来买，快来试，快来买呀！”海报真的非常吸引人。

在开业那天，店里的人太多了。店铺里面挤满了顾客，饼干罐上站着一群一群的老鼠。小母鸡萨利手忙脚乱地给顾客找零钱，但是她坚持顾客必须付现金，不过她没什么恶意。而且，她店里有很多很多的特价商品。

在这里，每个人都能找到满意的东西。

* * *

[1]法寻（farthing）：英国旧硬币，值四分之一旧便士。