關於這隻赫赫有名的馴鹿Rudolph(魯道夫)，誕生在1939年的一本兒童繪本裡，創作這個霸凌(bullying)故事的作者是Robert L. May，到了1949年，作者的brother-in-law(不知是姐夫或妹婿，X-in-law的意思就是因結婚關係而存在如X的關係，如：mother-in-law, father-in-law...)Johnny Marks把這故事寫成了一首歌，由牛仔歌手Gene Autry演唱，勇奪該年聖誕節Billboard流行歌曲排行榜第一名，接下來許多年穩站第二名，僅次於White Christmas(白色聖誕)。
在此附上原唱者的影音連結 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow-XSn--9nI
🔔歌詞如下
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen(1)
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw him
You would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer
Used to(2) laugh and call him names(3)
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say,
“Rudolph, with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?”
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee(4):
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You'll go down in history(5)!”
註1： 幫聖誕老公公拉雪橇的馴鹿本來是這八隻：Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen。出現在1823年的一首詩A Visit From St. Nicholas (St. Nicholas就是聖誕老公公)，比Rudolph早出道百多年喔！但Rudoph卻成為最有名的馴鹿。
註2： used to + 動詞原型 = "過去一向..."的意思。另一個看起來很類似的 "be/get used to + 動詞ing"，表示"以前沒有但後來漸漸變得熟悉且習慣..."
註3：call 某人(受詞) names = 辱罵某人
註4：glee 快樂(名詞) = happiness, pleasure, excitement
註5：go down in history = 永載史冊、名留青史
從歌詞可看出故事大綱，所以了解我一開始說這是個霸凌(bullying)故事的原因了吧！順帶說明"霸凌"的英文，bully是動詞原型，欺壓弱小的意思，現在流行用語"霸凌"大概就是取其英文發音而來的；動詞原型+ing形成動名詞，可當形容詞用，所以"霸凌故事"是"霸凌的故事"的意思，要說a bullying story，並不是去霸凌某個故事，所以不能用動詞原型喔！
接下來，轉貼英文版故事如下，因為是寫給兒童的繪本故事，所以用字和文法並不難，適合和有學到過去簡單式的孩子一起閱讀。
🎅Once upon a time, there was a reindeer named Rudolph, the only reindeer in the world that had a big red nose. Naturally people called him "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Rudolph was unhappy about his red nose. All the other reindeer laughed at him and nobody wanted to play with him. Rudolph was very sad. "Why do I have such a shiny nose?" he cried.
🎅Christmas Eve came and Santa Claus got his team of reindeer - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen, and the others - ready for their yearly trip to the world. Rudolph wanted to go also but the others laughed at him. “You can’t go. Your nose is too shiny. We don’t want you to come.” Rudolph was very, very sad and went away.
🎅But, that night it was very foggy. Santa knew that the fog was so thick that he wouldn't be able to find a single chimney. Santa didn’t know what to do. How could he go down to Earth? How should he find the children’s homes? They were waiting for their presents!
🎅Suddenly Rudolph appeared, his red nose glowing brighter than ever. Santa saw at once that here was the answer to his problem. He led Rudolph to the front of the sleigh, fastened the harness and climbed in the sleigh. They were off! Rudolph guided Santa and the other reindeer safely to every chimney that night. His shiny nose showed them the way.
🎅And, so it was that Rudolph became the most famous of all the reindeer. Santa Claus told everyone that Rudolph had saved the day, and nobody laughed about his big red nose anymore. And from that Christmas on, Rudolph has been living serenely and happy.
附上此故事和歌詞的來源PDF檔：
https://www.esl101.com/sites/default/files/Rudolph%20Story.pdf
好像任何一個好的作品都是從苦難中形成，即使這麼可愛的童書繪本也不例外.....1938年聖誕節來臨前，作者Bob (Robert的暱稱) May的日子並不好過，那年他34歲，任職於芝加哥的百貨公司Montgomery Ward，從事文案一職；妻子因癌症臥床不起，抗癌兩年，生命幾近尾聲，Bob瀕臨破產邊緣，還要擔負起照顧四歲女兒Barbara的瑣事。有一天晚上，他女兒問他"Why isn't my mommy like everybody else's mommy?"(我媽咪為何不像其他人的媽咪一樣？)當他內心充滿掙扎地回答女兒的問題時，想起自己痛苦的童年...Bob童年體弱多病，常被同伴們欺負取笑...於是，他想給女兒希望，讓她知道being different was nothing to be ashamed of(和其他人不同並不可恥)，再者，希望女兒知道，爸爸愛她，會永遠照顧她；於是Bob開始編了這個紅鼻子馴鹿的故事，Barbara一聽就愛上了這故事，要爸爸每天睡前都要說這個故事，如此一來，故事情節越說越縝密；因為Bob買不起聖誕禮物，他決定把故事做成手工繪本送女兒。12月初Bob的太太過世，雖然心痛，他還是繼續完成這繪本；在聖誕節前幾天他參加公司的party，同事鼓勵他分享這本書，沒想到當他唸完故事後，全體起立鼓掌致意(a standing ovation)，大家都想要擁有一本；公司決定跟Bob買版權，解決他的負債，並且當作聖誕禮物送給來Montgomery Ward百貨公司購物的顧客孩子。接下來六年的聖誕節共送出六百萬本，全美所有大出版商都希望得到這本書的版權，非常出乎意料之外的，百貨公司把版權還給了Bob，四年後Rudolph就讓Bob成為了百萬富翁。後來他再婚，他的brother-in-law把這故事寫成暢銷歌曲....總之，對Bob而言，名利雙收，又有家庭，是個美好結局😊😊😊😀
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