o maidens in the shed associated themselves.

在鋪路工當中它們是 “少女”，並且決定不放棄這個光榮的稱呼，不讓自己被誤稱為 “夯”。

they were “maidens” among the paver folk, and determined not to give up this honorable appellation, and let themselves be miscalled “rammers.

“‘少女’是人的稱呼，而‘手夯’是個物件，我們可不想被叫做物件 —— 那是在侮辱我們。”

“maiden is a human name, but hand-rammer is a thing, and we won’t be called things — that’s insulting us.”

“我的愛人可能會打算放棄婚約，” 最年輕的那個說道，她已經和一把鋪路工用的錘子訂了婚；而錘子是那種能像機器一樣把大木樁打進地裡的東西，所以它做的事和十個 “少女” 以類似方式做的事規模一樣大。

“my lover would be ready to give up his engagement,” said the youngest, who was betrothed to a paver’s hammer; and the hammer is the thing which drives great piles into the earth, like a machine, and therefore does on a large scale what ten maidens effect in a similar way.

“他想娶我這個‘少女’，但要是我成了‘手夯’，他還會不會要我就不好說了，所以我不會讓我的名字被改掉。”

“he wants to marry me as a maiden, but whether he would have me were I a hand-rammer is a question, so I won’t have my name changed.”

“而我，” 年長些的那個說，“寧願把我的兩條胳膊都折斷。”

“And I,” said the elder one, “would rather have both my arms broken off.”

但是獨輪車卻有不同的看法；獨輪車被認為是有點分量的，因為它覺得自己是馬車的四分之一，畢竟它是靠一個輪子行走的。

but the wheelbarrow was of a different opinion; and the wheelbarrow was looked upon as of some consequence, for he considered himself a quarter of a coach, because he went about upon one wheel.

“我必須提請你們注意，” 它說，“‘少女’這個名字太普通了，遠沒有‘手夯’或者‘搗實器’那麼文雅，後一個名字也有人提議過，要是用了它，你們就能被歸入印章那一類了；想想國家的大印吧，它蓋下皇家印章，讓法律生效！不，就你們的情況而言，