圣诞节前夜悬挂圣诞袜传统的由来(1/3)

There was an interesting legend about the tradition of hanging socks on Christmas Eve. Long ago, there was a kindly nobleman whose wife had died of an illness leaving the nobleman and his three daughters in despair. After losing all his money in useless and bad inventions the family had to move to a peasant's cottage, where the daughters did their own cooking, sewing and cleaning. When it came time for the daughters to marry, the father became even more depressed as his daughters could not marry without dowries, money and property given to the new husband's family. One night after the daughters had washed out their clothing they hung their stockings over the fireplace to dry. That night Saint Nicholas, knowing the despair of the father, stopped by the nobleman's house.

关于在圣诞节前夜悬挂圣诞袜有一个有趣的传说。很久很久以前有一个心地善良的贵族，他的妻子因病去逝，抛下他和他的三个女儿。这个贵族尝试了不少发明，但都失败了，他也因此耗尽了钱财，所以他们不得不搬到一座农舍里生活，他的女儿们也只得亲自烧煮、缝纫和打扫。女儿们陆续到了出嫁的年龄，父亲却变得更加沮丧，因为他没法给女儿们嫁妆、钱财和财产好让她们带到各自的丈夫家去。 一天晚上，女儿们洗完衣服后将长统袜挂在壁炉前烘干。就在那天晚上，圣人尼古拉斯知道了她们父亲的境况后，来到她们的家门前。