第400章
《安徒生童话英文版 全TXT版》章节:第400章,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
' he asked. She wept and said,'I wanted to kiss the hen and beg her pardon for frightening heryesterday; but I was afraid to tell you.'
"And the father kissed the innocent child's forehead, and I kissedher on the mouth and eyes."
THIRD EVENING
"In the narrow street round the corner yonder- it is so narrowthat my beams can only glide for a minute along the walls of thehouse, but in that minute I see enough to learn what the world is madeof- in that narrow street I saw a woman. Sixteen years ago thatwoman was a child, playing in the garden of the old parsonage, inthe country. The hedges of rose-bush were old, and the flowers werefaded. They straggled wild over the paths, and the ragged branchesgrew up among the boughs of the apple trees; here and there were a fewroses still in bloom- not so fair as the queen of flowers generallyappears, but still they had colour and scent too. The clergyman'slittle daughter appeared to me a far lovelier rose, as she sat onher stool under the straggling hedge, hugging and caressing her dollwith the battered pasteboard cheeks.
"Ten years afterwards I saw her again. I beheld her in asplendid ballroom: she was the beautiful bride of a rich merchant. Irejoiced at her happiness, and sought her on calm quiet evenings-ah, nobody thinks of my clear eye and my silent glance! Alas! myrose ran wild, like the rose bushes in the garden of the parsonage.There are tragedies in every-day life, and tonight I saw the lastact of one.
"She was lying in bed in a house in that narrow street: she wassick unto death, and the cruel landlord came up, and tore away thethin coverlet, her only protection against the cold. 'Get up!' saidhe; 'your face is enough to frighten one. Get up and dress yourself,give me money, or I'll turn you out into the street! Quick- get up!'She answered, 'Alas! death is gnawing at my heart. Let me rest.' Buthe forced her to get up and bathe her face, and put a wreath ofroses in her hair; and he placed her in a chair at the window, witha candle burning beside her, and went away.
"I looked at her, and she was sitting motionless, with her handsin her lap. The wind caught the open window and shut it with acrash, so that a pane came clattering down in fragments; but still shenever moved. The curtain caught fire, and the flames played abouther face; and I saw that she was dead. There at the open window satthe dead woman, preaching a sermon against sin- my poor faded rose outof the parsonage garden!"
FOURTH EVENING
"This evening I saw a German play acted," said the Moon. "It wasin a little town. A stable had been turned into a theatre; that isto say, the stable had been left standing, and had been turned intoprivate boxes, and all the timber work had been covered withcoloured paper. A little iron chandelier hung beneath the ceiling, andthat it might be made to disappear into the ceiling, as it does ingreat theatres, when the ting-ting of the prompter's bell is heard,a great inverted tub has been placed just above it.
"'Ting-ting!' and the little iron chandelier suddenly rose atleast half a yard and disappeared in the tub; and that was the signthat the play was going to begin. A young nobleman and his lady, whohappened to be passing through the little town, were present at theperformance, and consequently the house was crowded. But under thechandelier was a vacant space like a little crater: not a singlesoul sat there, for the tallow was dropping, drip, drip! I saweverything, for it was so warm in there that every loophole had beenopened. The male and female servants stood outside, peeping throughthe chinks, although a real policeman was inside, threatening themwith a stick. Close by the orchestra could be seen the noble youngcouple in two old arm-chairs, which were usually occupied by hisworship the mayor and his lady; but these latter were to-day obligedto content themselves with wooden forms, just as if they had beenordinary citizens; and the lady observed quietly to herself, 'Onesees, now, that there is rank above rank;' and this incident gave anair of extra festivity to the whole proceedings. The chandelier gavelittle leaps, the crowd got their knuckles rapped, and I, the Moon,was present at the performance from beginning to end."
FIFTH EVENING
"Yesterday," began the Moon, "I looked down upon the turmoil ofParis. My eye penetrated into an apartment of the Louvre. An oldgrandmother, poorly clad- she belonged to the working class- wasfollowing one of the under-servants into the great emptythrone-room, for this was the apartment she wanted to see- that shewas resolved to see; it had cost her many a little sacrifice, and manya coaxing word, to penetrate thus far. She folded her thin hands,and looked round with an air of reverence, as if she had been in achurch.
"'Here it was!