100个有趣的英文小故事之The Brave Tin Soldier
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The Brave Tin Soldier
by
Hans Christian Andersen
THERE were once five-and-
twenty tin soldiers, who were all brothers,
for they had been made out of the same
old tin spoon. They
shouldered arms and
looked straight before them, and wore a
splendid uniform, red and blue. The
first thing in the world they ever
heard were the words,
clapped his hands with delight when the
lid of the box, in which they
lay, was
taken off. They were given him for a birthday
present, and he
stood at the table to
set them up. The soldiers were all exactly alike,
excepting one, who had only one leg; he
had been left to the last, and
then
there was not enough of the melted tin to finish
him, so they
made him to stand firmly
on one leg, and this caused him to be very
remarkable.
The table on
which the tin soldiers stood, was covered with
other
playthings, but the most
attractive to the eye was a pretty little paper
castle. Through the small windows the
rooms could be seen. In front
of the
castle a number of little trees surrounded a piece
of
looking-glass, which was intended to
represent a transparent lake.
Swans,
made of wax, swam on the lake, and were reflected
in it. All
this was very pretty, but
the prettiest of all was a tiny little lady, who
stood at the open door of the castle;
she, also, was made of paper,
and she
wore a dress of clear muslin, with a narrow blue
ribbon over
her shoulders just like a
scarf. In front of these was fixed a glittering
tinsel rose, as large as her whole
face. The little lady was a dancer,
and
she stretched out both her arms, and raised one of
her legs so
high, that the tin soldier
could not see it at all, and he thought that she,
like himself, had only one leg.
live in, five-and-twenty of
us altogether, that is no place for her. Still I
must try and make her
acquaintance.
length on the table behind
a snuff-box that stood upon it, so that he
could peep at the little delicate lady,
who continued to stand on one
leg
without losing her balance. When evening came, the
other tin
soldiers were all placed in
the box, and the people of the house went
to bed. Then the playthings began to
have their own games together,
to pay
visits, to have sham fights, and to give balls.
The tin soldiers
rattled in their box;
they wanted to get out and join the amusements,
but they could not open the lid. The
nut-crackers played at leap-frog,
and
the pencil jumped about the table. There was such
a noise that
the canary woke up and
began to talk, and in poetry too. Only the tin
soldier and the dancer remained in
their places. She stood on tiptoe,
with
her legs stretched out, as firmly as he did on his
one leg. He
never took his eyes from
her for even a moment. The clock struck
twelve, and, with a bounce, up sprang
the lid of the snuff-box; but,
instead
of snuff, there jumped up a little black goblin;
for the snuff-box
was a toy puzzle.
you.
But the tin
soldier pretended not to hear.
When the children came in
the next morning, they placed the tin
soldier in the window. Now, whether it
was the goblin who did it, or the
draught, is not known, but the window
flew open, and out fell the tin
soldier, heels over head, from the
third story, into the street beneath.