小学英语 英语故事(童话故事)The Hardy Tin Soldier 坚定的锡兵
法的本质-基督教十戒
The Hardy Tin Soldier 坚定的锡兵
THERE were
once five-and-twenty tin soldiers; they were all
brothers, for they had
all been born of one
old tin spoon. They shouldered their muskets, and
looked straight
before them; their uniform was
red and blue, and very splendid. The first thing
they
had heard in the world, when the lid was
taken off their box, had been the words
soldiers had been given to him, for it was
his birthday; and now he put them upon
the
table. Each soldier was exactly like the rest; but
one of them had been cast
last of all, and
there had not been enough tin to finish him; but
he stood as firmly
upon his one leg as the
others on their two; and it was just this Soldier
who became
remarkable.
On the table on
which they had been placed stood many other
playthings, but the toy
that attracted most
attention was a neat castle of cardboard. Through
the little
windows one could see straight into
the hall. Before the castle some little trees
were placed round a little
looking-glass,
which was to represent a clear lake. Waxen swans
swam on this lake,
and were mirrored in it.
This was all very pretty; but the prettiest of all
was a
little lady, who stood at the open door
of the castle; she was also cut out in paper,
but she had a dress of the clearest gauze, and
a little narrow blue ribbon over her
shoulders, that looked like a scarf; and in
the middle of this ribbon was a shining
tinsel
rose as big as her whole face. The little lady
stretched out both her arms, for she was a
dancer; and then she lifted one leg so
high
that the Tin Soldier could not see it at all, and
thought that, like himself,
she had but one
leg.
a castle, and I have only a box, and
there are five-and-twenty of us in that. It
is
no place for her. But I must try to make
acquaintance with her.
And then he lay down at
full length behind a snuff-box which was on the
table; there
he could easily watch the little
dainty lady, who continued to stand upon one leg
without losing her balance.
When the
evening came all the other tin soldiers were put
into their box, and the
people in the house
went to bed. Now the toys began to play at
to join, but could not lift the lid. The
nutcracker threw somersaults, and the pencil
amused itself on the table: there was so much
noise that the canary woke up, and
began to
speak too, and even in verse. The only two who did
not stir from their places
were the Tin
Soldier and the Dancing Lady: she stood straight
up on the point of
one of her toes, and
stretched out both her arms; and he was
just
as enduring on his one leg; and he never turned
his eyes away from her.
Now the clock struck
twelve--and, bounce! the lid flew off the snuff-
box; but there
was no snuff in it, but a
little black Goblin: you see, it was a trick.
But the Tin Soldier pretended not to hear
him.
But when the morning came, and
the children got up, the Tin Soldier was placed in
the window; and whether it was the Goblin or
the draught that did it, all at once
the
window flew open, and the Soldier fell head over
heels out of the third story.
That was a
terrible passage! He put his leg straight up, and
stuck with helmet
downward and his bayonet
between the paving-stones.
The servant-maid
and the little boy came down directly to look for
him, but though
they almost trod upon him,
they could not see him. If the Soldier had cried
out
I
am!they would have found him; but he
did not think it fitting to call out loudly,
because he was in uniform.
Now it began to
rain; the drops soon fell thicker, and at last it
came down into
a complete stream.
When the
rain was past, two street boys came by.
look!said one of them: lies a Tin Soldier. He
must come out and ride
in the boat.
And
they made a boat out of a newspaper, and put the
Tin Soldier in the middle of
it, and so he
sailed down the gutter, and the two boys ran
beside him and clapped
their hands.
Goodness preserve us! how the waves rose in
that gutter, and how fast the stream
ran! But
then it had been a heavy rain. The paper boat
rocked up and down, and
sometimes turned round
so rapidly that the Tin Soldier trembled; but he
remained
firm, and never changed countenance,
and looked straight before him, and shouldered
his musket.
All at once the boat went into
a long drain, and it became as dark as if he had
been
in his box.
the little lady only
sat here with me in the boat, it might be twice as
dark -{or
what I should care.
Suddenly
there came a great Water Rat, which lived under
the drain.
But the Tin Soldier kept
silence, and held his musket tighter than ever.
The boat
went on, but the Rat came after it.
Hu! how he gnashed his teeth, and called out
to the bits of straw and wood.
But the
stream became stronger and stronger. The Tin
Soldier could see the bright
daylight where
the arch ended; but he heard a roaring noise,
which might well frighten
a bolder man. Only
think--just where the tunnel ended, the drain ran
into a great
canal; and for him that would
have been as dangerous as for us to be carried
down
a great waterfall.
Now he was already
so near it that he could not stop. The boat was
carried out, the
poor Tin Soldier stiffening
himself as much as he could, and no one could say
that
he moved an eyelid. The boat whirled
round three or four times, and was full of water
to the very edge--it must
sink. The
Tin Soldier stood up to his neck in water, and the
boat sank deeper and
deeper, and the paper was
loosened more and more; and now the water closed
over the
soldier's head. Then he thought of
the pretty little Dancer, and how he should never
see Her again; and it sounded in the Soldier's
ears:
For this day thou must die!
And
now the paper parted, and the Tin Soldier fell
out; but at that moment he was
snapped up by a
great fish.
Oh, how dark it was in that fish's
body! It was darker yet than in the drain tunnel;
and then it was very narrow too. But the Tin
Soldier remained unmoved, and lay at
full
length shouldering his musket.
The fish swam
to and fro; he made the most wonderful movements,
and then became quite
still. At last something
flashed through him like lightning. The daylight
shone quite
clear, and a voice said aloud, Tin
Soldier!The fish had been caught, carried
to
market, bought,
and taken into the kitchen,
where the cook cut him open with a large knife.
She seized
the Soldier round the body with
both her hands and carried him into the room,
where
all were anxious to see the remarkable
man who had traveled about in the inside of
a
fish; but the Tin Soldier was not at all proud.
They placed him on the table, and
there --no!
What curious things may happen in the world. The
Tin Soldier was in the
very room in which he
had been before! he saw the same children, and the
same toys
stood on the table; and there was
the pretty castle with the graceful little Dancer.
She was still balancing herself on one leg,
and
held the other extended in the air. She
was hardy too. That moved the Tin Soldier;
he
was very nearly weeping tin tears, but that would
not have been proper. He looked
at her, but
they said nothing to each other.
Then one of
the little boys took the Tin Soldier and flung him
into the stove. He
gave no reason for doing
this. It must have been the fault of the Goblin in
the
snuff-box.
The Tin Soldier stood there
quite illuminated, and felt a heat that was
terrible;
but whether this heat proceeded from
the real fire or from love he did not know.
The colors had quite gone off from him; but
whether that had happened on the journey,
or
had been caused by grief, no one could say. He
looked at the little lady, she
looked at him,
and he felt that he was melting; but he still
stood firm, shouldering
his musket. Then
suddenly the door flew open, and the draught of
air caught the Dancer,
and she flew like a
sylph just into the stove to the Tin Soldier, and
flashed up
in a flame, and she was gone. Then
the Tin Soldier melted down into a lump; and when
the servant-maid took the ashes out next day,
she found him in
the shape of a little tin
heart. But of the Dancer nothing remained but the
tinsel
rose, and that was burned as black as a
coal.