Oh, once upon a time down in Arkansas.

There lived a squatter with a stubborn jaw.

His nose was ruby red and his whiskers gray;

Sitting on his doorstep, he would fiddle all the day.

One day there passed a traveler with weary step and slow,

and asked the fiddler,

“Where does this road go?”

The fiddler answered placidly,

“It doesn’t go nowhere.

For a hundred years or more it’s always stayed right there.”

 

The traveler was trying to explain,

when all at once the sky began to rain.

The old roof leaked like a waterfall,

but it really didn’t seem to bother him at all.

So the traveler said,

“Pardon me, it’s none of my affair,

but it appears your roof needs repair.”

But the fiddler kept a fiddling as he began to fret,

“How do you expect a man to fix it when it’s wet?”

The traveler replied,

“That is all quite true, but this what I think you ought to do:

Get busy on a day that is fair and bright;

Take some tar and shingles and fix your roof up right.”

But the old man kept on fiddling a playing at this reel,

as he kept rhythm with his leathery heel.

“Why should I waste a sunny day,”

he muttered with a sigh,

“when my cabin roof never leaks when it’s dry!”

 

哦，曾幾何時在阿肯色州。 

那裡住著一個擅自佔地的人，他的下巴沾滿汙漬。 

他的鼻子呈紅寶石色，鬍鬚呈灰色；

他坐在家門口，整天都在拉小提琴。 

有一天，一個旅者疲憊不堪，步伐緩慢， 

並問小提琴手， 

「這條路通向哪？」 

小提琴手平靜地回答， 

「它不會無處可去。 

一百年或更長時間，它一直都在那裡。」

 

旅者試圖解釋， 

這時天空一下子開始下雨。 

舊屋頂像瀑布一樣漏水， 

但真的似乎並沒有惱怒他。 

所以旅者說， 

「對不起，這不關我的事， 

但看起來你的屋頂需要維修。」

但小提琴手在他開始擔心時不停地拉小提琴，

 「你怎麼能指望一個男人全身溼答答的時候去修理它？」 

旅者回答， 

「你這樣說是沒錯，但我認為你應該這樣做： 

天氣變好放晴時就該動手； 

拿些柏油和木瓦，然後把你的屋頂修好。」

但這位老人繼續拉小提琴演奏輕快的蘇格蘭雙人舞曲 

同時用他的皮鞋輕拍地面。 

「為什麼我要浪費一個陽光燦爛的日子，」 

他嘆口氣，

 「我的小屋屋頂天氣好時永遠不會漏水！」