小学英语 英语故事(童话故事)The Three Castles 三个城堡
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The
Three
Castles
三个城堡
The Three
Castles
A boy had taken it
into his head to go out and steal He also told his
mother
you
ashamed!
said
his
mother
to
confession
at
once,
and
you'll
see
what
the
priest has to say to you
The boy went to
confession
from thieves
The
boy
went
to
the
woods
and
found
thieves
He
knocked
at
their
door
and
got
himself
hired as a servant
explained the thieves,
not committing a sin, because we rob
the tax collectors
One
night
when
the
thieves
had
gone
out
to
rob
a
tax
collector,
the
boy
led
the
best
mule out
of the stable, loaded it with gold pieces, and
fled
He took the gold to his mother,
then went to town to look for work In that town
was
a king who had a hundred sheep, but
no one wanted to be his shepherd The boy
volunteered, and the king said,
tomorrow morning to the meadow, but
don't cross the brook, because they would be
eaten
by
a
serpent
on
the
other
side
If
you
come
back
with
none
missing,
I'll
reward
you
Fail
to
bring
them
all
back,
and
I'll
dismiss
you
on
the
spot,
unless
the
serpent
has already devoured
you too
To
reach
the
meadow,
he
had
to
walk
by
the
king's
windows,
where
the
king's
daughter
happened to be
standing She saw the boy, liked his looks, and
threw him a cake He
caught it and
carried it along to eat in the meadow On reaching
the meadow, he saw
a white stone in the
grass and said,
king's
daughter
shepherd
paid
no
attention
and
jumped
across
the
brook,
with
the
sheep
all
following
him
The
grass
was
high
there,
and
the
sheep
grazed
peacefully,
while
he
sat
on
the
stone
eating
his cake All of a sudden he felt a blow under
the
rock which seemed to
shake
the world itself The boy looked
all around but, seeing nothing, went on eating his
cake Another blow more powerful than
the first followed, but the shepherd ignored
it
There
was
a
third
blow,
and
out
from
under
the
rock
crawled
a
serpent
with
three
heads
In each of its mouths it held a rose and crawled
toward the boy, as though
it
wanted
to
offer
him
the
roses
He
was
about
to
take
them,
when
the
serpent
lunged
at him with its three
mouths
all
set
to
gobble him up in
three bites
But the
little
shepherd proved the quicker, clubbing
it with his staff over one head and the next
and the next until the serpent lay dead
Then
he
cut
off
the
three
heads
with
a
sickle,
putting
two
of
them
into
his
hunting
jacket and crushing one to see what was
inside What should he find but a crystal
key
The
boy
raised
the
stone
and
saw
a
door
Slipping
the
key
into
the
lock
and
turning
it,
he
found
himself
inside
a
splendid
palace
of
solid
crystal
Through
all
the
doors
came servants of
crystal
So they took him up
crystal stairs into crystal towers; they showed
him crystal
stables with crystal horses
and arms and armor of solid crystal Then they led
him
into a crystal garden down avenues
of crystal trees in which crystal birds sang,
past
flowerbeds
where
crystal
flowers
blossomed
around
crystal
pools
The
boy
picked
a
small
bunch
of
flowers
and
stuck
the
bouquet
in
his
hat
When
he
brought
the
sheep
home that night, the king's daughter
was looking out the window and said,
have those flowers in your
hat?
crystal
garden
of
my
solid
crystal
castle
He
tossed
her
the
bouquet,
which
she
caught
When he got back to the stone the next
day, he crushed a second serpent head and
found a silver key He lifted the stone,
slipped the silver key into the lock and
entered
a
solid
silver
palace
Silver
servants
came
running
up
saying,
our
lord!
They
took
him
off
to
show
him
silver
kitchens,
where
silver
chickens
roasted
over
silver
fires,
and
silver
gardens
where
silver
peacocks
spread
their
tails
The
boy picked a little bunch of silver
flowers and stuck them in his hat That night
he gave them to the king's daughter
when she asked for them
The third day,
he crushed the third head and found a gold key He
slipped the key
into the lock and
entered a solid gold palace, where his servents
were gold too,
from wig to boots; the
beds were gold, with gold sheets, pillows, and
canopy; and
in
the
aviaries
fluttered
hundreds
of
gold
birds
In
a
garden
of
gold
flowerbeds
and
fountains
with
gold
sprays,
he
picked
a
small
bunch
of
gold
flowers
to
stick
in
his
hat and
gave them to the king's daughter that night
Now the king announced a tournament,
and the winner would have his daughter in
marriage The shepherd unlocked the door
with the crystal key, entered the crystal
palace and chose a crystal horse with
crystal bridle and saddle, and thus rode to
the tournament in crystal armor and
carrying a crystal lance He defeated all the
other knights and fled without
revealing who he was
The
next
day
he
returned
on
a
silver
horse
with
trappings
of
silver,
dressed
in
silver
armor
and
carrying
his
silver
lance
and
shield
He
defeated
everyone
and
fled,
still
unknown
to
all
The
third
day
he
returned
on
a
gold
horse,
outfitted
entirely
in
gold
He was
victorious the third time as well, and the
princess said,
are
You're
the
man
who
gave
me
flowers
of
crystal,
silver,
and
gold,
from
the
gardens
of your castles of crystal, silver, and
gold
So they got married, and the little
shepherd became king
And all were
very happy
and gay,
But
to me who watched they
gave
no thought nor pay
(Monferrato)
NOTES:
Three
Castles
(I
tre
castelli)
from
Comparetti,
62
and
22,
Monferrato,
Piedmont
These
two
Piedmontese
tales
are
variants
of
a
single
type
I
took
the
beginning
from
one
and
concluded
with
the
other
Nothing
was
added;
I
merely
underlined
a
few
elements
already in the text
(such as the tax collector) and the rhythm
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected
and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated
by George Martin,
Pantheon Books, New
York 1980