Someone said that telling story is very important to our life. So, herein a good story I translated from a
blog I would like to share everyone here who is still keep on learning English. This is my first try, so I would appreciate if someone nice could point out my mistakes might exist, thanks in advance.


------------------------------------'Here it goes' Division..------------------------------------------------------------------------------


What Does A Woman Really Want? Money? Status? Diamond? Or Beauty?

Maybe you will find the answer after finishing the article below,

What Does A Woman Really Want? (Forwarded from Liu Yun Wu Lei)

Our American Teacher assigned a homework for us in an English oral class, viewthread an article and think about a question of this
article, then discuss it in English in the next class. I translate this article into Chinese, the main idea as below,

The young Arthur King was captured in ambush of the neighbouring country. But the king of that country did not kill him
because he was touched by Arthur's young and optimistic characteristics, and promised him he would be free if he could answer a very difficult
question. There was one year for him to look for the answer to this question. If he could not give the king the right answer on the last day, Arthur would be
executed.

The question is, what does a woman really want?

Even the most knowledgeble person would be puzzled by this question, so was for the young Arthur. This is unanswerable
question for Arthur. But it would be better than be executed, so Arthur accepted the question from the king and promised will give
him the answer on the last day of the year.

Arthur came back to his country and solicit the answer from everyone: princess,prostitute, priest, sapience and aulic clown.
Unfortuanetly nobody could give him a satisfactory answer. People told him to consult an old witch, only she would know the right
answer. They warned him, her charge was very very high and she was famous for her expensive charge among the country.
The last day was coming. Arthur had no other choice but had to find the witch. The witch promised to answer his question but he
must accept her transfered term: marry her his closest friend Karven who is the one of the nobblest round-table knight same as
Arthur King. Arthur was quite aghast and watched again the witch, bow-backed, ugly and only one tooth, smelly as the stinky slot
and often making the indecent noise. He never saw such disharmony bugaboo.
He refused, he could not force his friend to marry such a woman and bear the horrific spiritual load.

Karven heard about this news and talked to Arthur, "I am agreed to marry the witch. Nothing is more important than saving Arthur's life and protecting the round-table. " So the wedding was announced. Then the witch answered Arthur's question,

What a woman really wants is dominating the destiny of herself.
　　
Immediately,everyone knew the witch threw out a great truth and Arthur's life will be rescued. So the king of neighbouring country set free the King Arthur as promised and gave him eternal freedom.
　　
Then let's watch the wedding of Karven and the witch. What a wedding! Arthur King cried in the ineluctable and desperate grief. Karven was humble as usual but the witch showed her worst terrible behavior: eatting by her hands, hiccoughing and breaking wind. That made everyone disgust and uncomfortable.
　　
When the terrible newly-married night was coming, Karven still faced it bravely and stepped into the bridal chamber. What a scene was in front of him! A beautiful girl he never saw lied half on the bed! Karven was astonished and asked her what happened. The beauty answered, because Karven was nice to her while she still was an ugly witch, so she was half day in her terrible side and half day on her beautiful side in a day.
　　
So which side of her did Karven want at day or night?
　　
What a cruel question! Karven began to think about his dilemma, choose to show a beautiful woman in front of his friends at day while face an old, ugly as a ghost witch in his own room at night? Or choose an ugly witch wife at day but with a beautiful woman spending every intimate moment at night?
　　
If you were Karven, what will you choose?
On the the second day of the oral class , the answers were multifarious. Included into two juntas, one was choosing being a witch at day while a beauty at night because the wife is belonged to ownself, there was no need to be vanity-oriented,just you-know-what is fine; another one was choosing being a beauty at day because they can win other's jealousy, as to the night, can make fun outside, so it doesn't matter to be beautiful or ugly or not while be back the dark house.
　　
The teacher said nothing after listening all the answer from the students, just asked whether we wanted to know the answer of Karven. We said sure yes. The teacher said, "Karven did not make any choice, just told his wife, 'Now that what the woman really wants is dominating her own destiny, then you decide it.' so the witch chose to be a beautiful woman both at day and night,"
　　
Everyone was silent--Unexpectly nobody made the same choice as Karven. Aren't we selfish sometimes? Trying to arrange other's life according to our like and dislike but never think about their willings. You will get more if you respect and understand others. Will we get more if we show more love or care to others?
　

**The End**

Thank you for sharing this article with us. I really like the flavor of calm and trust from this story, especially:

"Karven did not make any choice, just told his wife, 'Now that what the woman really wants is dominating her own destiny, then you decide it.' so the witch chose to be a beautiful woman both at day and night,"

As far as I know it, different woman wants different things. Or more accurately, different people, regardless of gender, wants different things at different times; depending on their current social, financial and mental conditions

It's a beautiful story about Karven and the Witch. A touching tale of faithful friendship between King Arthur and his knight....

Well done, lotty! Despite a few grammatic errors, the translation was pretty good!

原帖由 FelixOng 于 2008-7-11 00:29 发表
....It's a beautiful story about Karven and the Witch. A touching tale of faithful friendship between King Arthur and his knight....

What is a Shame! I did not catch the most important feature: Have a brother like Karven!

Thank you Lotty for your good words! Actually I benefit from this article very much.


Your story makes me feel so vivid the witch is: have a bright side and a dark shadow ( a small piece ) in the heart. Fortunately, Karven knows how to switch them...Probably Karven also owns the key for modern HR. We need steal it...

i want to dominate the destinies of all the people.

原帖由 lotty 于 2008-7-19 20:48 发表
er... well Sunbird.. should not being a qualified witch had a large piece of dark shadow in her heart (her charge is the most expensive among the country... and show the ugliest facet b4 ppl, and I th ...

Witches and Wizards are not always evil. This is a stereotyped view of the people with this profession. Yes, witches and wizards are like doctors, lawyers etc. They are just work titles.

King Arthur's magician was a Wizard called Merlin. In the legends, Merlin was a good guy. In the TV shows and movies, Samantha was a good witch in "Bewitched" and Gandalf was a powerful and good wizard in "Lord of the Rings"

The most common "medicine man" or "Sharman" in many races and tribes all over the globe are considered witches or wizards.

In this story, maybe the witch was placed under a spell by another evil witch; and the spell was broken unintentionally by Kraven who would love her regardless of her appearance -- just like the plot in another fairy tale, where a princess kissed a frog and we all know what the frog turned into....

原帖由 FelixOng 于 2008-7-27 10:57 发表


Witches and Wizards are not always evil. This is a stereotyped view of the people with this profession. Yes, witches and wizards are like doctors, lawyers etc. They are just work titles.

King A ...

Theoretically true. However, this is a case of gender inequality, and is a good example why women think respect is important. The word witch seems to be associated with evil supernatural power for most people. If you call a woman witch, I can guarantee that she will be offended. On the other hand, if you call a man wizard, he will be very happy. It gives the impression that he is extremely good at something.

Maybe all.

Maybe a woman wants a good husband!~~~~

NO WOMEN NO CRY！

AN OLD SONG~MAYBE THE ANSWER

Awesome, see what I found today!--- the original english version about this story, paste here to share with you all.


****************cute line*******************

A MUST READ FOR ALL MEN

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Arthur and the Witch:
Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.
The question?... .What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.
He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.
Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer.
But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.
The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.
The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!
Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc.. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.
He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur.
He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.
Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:
What a woman really wants, she answered.... is to be in charge of her own life.
Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared.
And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.
The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened
The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.
Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day....or night?
Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?
What would YOU do?
What Lancelot chose is below. BUT....make YOUR choice before you scroll down below. OKAY?





Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.
Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.
Now ....what is the moral to this story?

Scroll down



The moral is.....
If you don't let a woman have her own way....
Things are going to get ugly

Yet again, poor Gawain gets pushed aside by Lancelot.
In 1985, a TV movie called _Arthur the King_ conflated Malory (Malcolm
McDowell as Arthur, Rupert Everett as Lancelot) with _Connecticut
Yankee_ (with Dyan Cannon as Hank Morgan!) and also with _Ragnell_,
except "Lady Ragnell" is a young woman cursed with a pig's nose, rather
than a crone or witch, and she, too, says that women want sovereignty
over themselves (not over their husbands). I remember back in the 80s
hearing a woman on NPR who was identified as a Chaucer scholar (can't
remember who it was) saying the same thing about the Loathly Lady's
answer in Chaucer, so this feminist take on the answer is not new.
Ironic that the joke at the end of this is so very much not feminist.
I'm just sayin'.
AB

Mistaken summaries like this ignore the crucial insertion in WofB's tale of the curtain lecture, which argues in effect that the knight's objections are baseless. Accepting her for what she is gives her the power to become a responsive blessing to him rather than a domineering imposition.

BSL