《返老还童》故事正文
当我们的主还在地上巡视时，有一天晚上，他带着圣彼得到一个铁匠家投宿，铁匠倒还乐意。这时碰巧来了位乞丐，年迈体弱，精神不振，样子十分可怜，他求铁匠施舍点东西给他，圣彼得很同情他，说：“主呀，如果你愿意，请帮他治一下病吧，让他能够自己挣得食物。”
上帝非常和蔼地说：“师傅，请把你的铁炉借我用一下，加些炭在里面，我要把这老乞丐炼得年轻些。”
铁匠非常乐意，圣彼得便拉起风箱，上帝把乞丐推进炉火中的最旺处，老人在里面烧得像玫瑰般通红，口里还大声赞美着上帝。过了一会儿，上帝踏到水槽前，把这烧红的人放了进去浸在水中，等他冷却后，上帝就向他祝福。过了一会儿，那小个子老人一跃而出，面目一新了，他显得那样挺直、健康，就像一位二十岁的小伙子。铁匠在一旁仔细地瞧着，请他们一起吃了晚饭。铁匠有位半瞎背驼的老岳母，她走到年轻人的跟前，仔细地瞧着，问他炉火可曾烧了他。那人告诉他从来没有这般舒服过，立在炉火中，就像沐浴在清凉的露水中一样。那年青人的话在老妇人的耳边响了一整夜。
第二天早上，上帝准备上路了，他感谢了铁匠，铁匠认为他也能把自己的老岳母变得年轻些，因为昨天的一切他都看在眼里。于是他问岳母是否也想变成个十八岁的少女跳来跳去。她说：“我太想了。”于是铁匠生起了一炉大火，把老妇人推了进去。她在里面翻来覆去，叫得十分可怕。“安静地坐着，你又叫又跳干什么?”铁匠对她叫道。说完他又重新拉风箱，把老妇人的破衣服都烧了个精光。老妇人还是叫不绝口，铁匠便怀疑道：“难到我手艺没学到家?”于是把她拖了出来，扔进水槽里。老人又是一阵尖叫，连住在楼上的铁匠的妻子和老人的媳妇都听见了，她们一齐跑下楼梯来。只见老婆子在水槽里卷成一团，号啕大哭，她的脸已起皱，烧得不成样子了。那两个人正怀着孩子，由于受了惊吓，那天晚上就生下了两个小孩，不像人，而像猴子。
后来他们跑进了森林，从此地上就有了猴子。
《返老还童》读后感：生老病死是每个人都会经历的过程，这时众所周知的常识，我们都只是凡人，不要妄图去改变那些根本无法改变的东西，尤其是像故事里铁匠愚蠢的做法，在火里只可能被毁容或者是烧死，怎么可能变得年轻呢！所以，我们应该自然的接受自己的容貌，不管是怎样的面容，我们都该爱自己，好好生活。
《返老还童》读后感：生老病死是每个人都会经历的过程，这时众所周知的常识，我们都只是凡人，不要妄图去改变那些根本无法改变的东西，尤其是像故事里铁匠愚蠢的做法，在火里只可能被毁容或者是烧死，怎么可能变得年轻呢！所以，我们应该自然的接受自己的容貌，不管是怎样的面容，我们都该爱自己，好好生活。
《返老还童》英文版
While our Lord was still patrolling the earth, one night he took St. Peter to a blacksmith's house. The blacksmith was happy. At this time, a beggar happened to come. He was old, weak and in low spirits. He looked very pitiful. He begged the blacksmith to give him something. St. Peter sympathized with him and said, "Lord, if you like, please help him cure his illness so that he can earn his own food."
God said very kindly, "master, please lend me your iron stove and add some charcoal in it. I'll make the old beggar younger."
The blacksmith was very happy. St. Peter pulled up the bellows. God pushed the beggar into the most prosperous part of the fire. The old man burned like a rose and praised God loudly. After a while, God stepped in front of the sink and put the red man in the water. When he cooled down, God blessed him. After a while, the little old man jumped out and changed his face. He looked so straight and healthy, just like a 20-year-old boy. The blacksmith watched carefully and invited them to dinner. The blacksmith had an old mother-in-law who was half blind and hunchbacked. She went up to the young man, looked carefully and asked him if the fire had burned him. The man told him that he had never been so comfortable. Standing in the fire was like bathing in cool dew. The young man's words rang in the old woman's ears all night.
The next morning, God was ready to go. He thanked the blacksmith. The blacksmith thought he could make his old mother-in-law younger, because he saw everything yesterday. So he asked his mother-in-law if she wanted to become an 18-year-old girl and jump around. "I miss it so much," she said So the blacksmith started a big fire and pushed the old woman in. She tossed and turned inside and screamed horribly. "Sitting quietly, what are you doing shouting and jumping?" Cried the blacksmith to her. Then he pulled the bellows again and burned all the old woman's rags. The old woman still couldn't stop talking, so the blacksmith doubted, "it's so difficult that I haven't learned my craft?" So he dragged her out and threw her into the sink. The old man screamed again. Even the blacksmith's wife who lived upstairs and the old man's daughter-in-law heard it. They ran down the stairs together. I saw the old woman curled up in the sink and wailed. Her face was wrinkled and burned out of shape. The two men were pregnant with children. Because they were frightened, they gave birth to two children that night, not like people, but like monkeys.
Then they ran into the forest and there were monkeys on the ground.
