安徒生童话THE PORTERS SON.docx

1、安徒生童话THE PORTERS SON 1872 FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN THE PORTERS SON by Hans Christian Andersen THE General lived in the grand first floor, and the porter livedin the cellar. There was a great distance between the two families-the whole of the ground floor, and the difference in rank; bu

2、t theylived in the same house, and both had a view of the street, and of thecourtyard. In the courtyard was a grass-plot, on which grew a bloomingacacia tree (when it was in bloom), and under this tree satoccasionally the finely-dressed nurse, with the still morefinely-dressed child of the General-

3、little Emily. Before themdanced about barefoot the little son of the porter, with his greatbrown eyes and dark hair; and the little girl smiled at him, andstretched out her hands towards him; and when the General saw thatfrom the window, he would nod his head and cry, Charming! TheGenerals lady (who

4、 was so young that she might very well have beenher husbands daughter from an early marriage) never came to thewindow that looked upon the courtyard. She had given orders, though,that the boy might play his antics to amuse her child, but mustnever touch it. The nurse punctually obeyed the gracious l

5、adysorders. The sun shone in upon the people in the grand first floor, andupon the people in the cellar; the acacia tree was covered withblossoms, and they fell off, and next year new ones came. The treebloomed, and the porters little son bloomed too, and looked like afresh tulip. The Generals littl

6、e daughter became delicate and pale, like theleaf of the acacia blossom. She seldom came down to the tree now,for she took the air in a carriage. She drove out with her mamma,and then she would always nod at the porters George; yes, she usedeven to kiss her hand to him, till her mamma said she was t

7、oo old todo that now. One morning George was sent up to carry the General the lettersand newspapers that had been delivered at the porters room in themorning. As he was running up stairs, just as he passed the door ofthe sand-box, he heard a faint piping. He thought it was some youngchicken that had

8、 strayed there, and was raising cries of distress; butit was the Generals little daughter, decked out in lace and finery. Dont tell papa and mamma, she whimpered; they would be angry. Whats the matter, little missie? asked George. Its all on fire! she answered. Its burning with a brightflame! George

9、 hurried up stairs to the Generals apartments; heopened the door of the nursery. The window curtain was almost entirelyburnt, and the wooden curtain-pole was one mass of flame. Georgesprang upon a chair he brought in haste, and pulled down the burningarticles; he then alarmed the people. But for him

10、, the house wouldhave been burned down. The General and his lady cross-questioned little Emily. I only took just one lucifer-match, she said, and it wasburning directly, and the curtain was burning too. I spat at it, toput it out; I spat at it as much as ever I could, but I could notput it out; so I

11、 ran away and hid myself, for papa and mamma wouldbe angry. I spat! cried the Generals lady; what an expression! Did youever hear your papa and mamma talk about spitting? You must have gotthat from down stairs! And George had a penny given him. But this penny did not go to thebakers shop, but into t

12、he savings-box; and soon there were so manypennies in the savings-box that he could buy a paint-box and color thedrawings he made, and he had a great number of drawings. They seemedto shoot out of his pencil and out of his fingers ends. His firstcolored pictures he presented to Emily. Charming! said

13、 the General, and even the Generals ladyacknowledged that it was easy to see what the boy had meant to draw.He has genius. Those were the words that were carried down intothe cellar. The General and his gracious lady were grand people. They hadtwo coats of arms on their carriage, a coat of arms for

14、each ofthem, and the gracious lady had had this coat of arms embroidered onboth sides of every bit of linen she had, and even on her nightcap andher dressing-bag. One of the coats of arms, the one that belonged toher, was a very dear one; it had been bought for hard cash by herfather, for he had not

15、 been born with it, nor had she; she had comeinto the world too early, seven years before the coat of arms, andmost people remembered this circumstance, but the family did notremember it. A man might well have a bee in his bonnet, when he hadsuch a coat of arms to carry as that, let alone having to

16、carry two;and the Generals wife had a bee in hers when she drove to the courtball, as stiff and as proud as you please. The General was old and gray, but he had a good seat on horseback,and he knew it, and he rode out every day, with a groom behind himat a proper distance. When he came to a party, h

17、e looked somehow as ifhe were riding into the room upon his high horse; and he had orders,too, such a number that no one would have believed it; but that wasnot his fault. As a young man he had taken part in the great autumnreviews which were held in those days. He had an anecdote that he toldabout

18、those days, the only one he knew. A subaltern under his ordershad cut off one of the princes, and taken him prisoner, and the Princehad been obliged to ride through the town with a little band ofcaptured soldiers, himself a prisoner behind the General. This wasan ever-memorable event, and was always

19、 told over and over again everyyear by the General, who, moreover, always repeated the remarkablewords he had used when he returned his sword to the Prince; thosewords were, Only my subaltern could have taken your Highnessprisoner; I could never have done it! And the Prince had replied,You are incom

20、parable. In a real war the General had never takenpart. When war came into the country, he had gone on a diplomaticcareer to foreign courts. He spoke the French language so fluentlythat he had almost forgotten his own; he could dance well, he couldride well, and orders grew on his coat in an astound

21、ing way. Thesentries presented arms to him, one of the most beautiful girlspresented arms to him, and became the Generals lady, and in time theyhad a pretty, charming child, that seemed as if it had dropped fromheaven, it was so pretty; and the porters son danced before it in thecourtyard, as soon a

22、s it could understand it, and gave her all hiscolored pictures, and little Emily looked at them, and was pleased,and tore them to pieces. She was pretty and delicate indeed. My little Roseleaf! cried the Generals lady, thou art bornto wed a prince. The prince was already at the door, but they knew n

23、othing of it;people dont see far beyond the threshold. The day before yesterday our boy divided his bread and butterwith her! said the porters wife. There was neither cheese normeat upon it, but she liked it as well as if it had been roast beef.There would have been a fine noise if the General and h

24、is wife hadseen the feast, but they did not see it. George had divided his bread and butter with little Emily, andhe would have divided his heart with her, if it would have pleasedher. He was a good boy, brisk and clever, and he went to the nightschool in the Academy now, to learn to draw properly.

25、Little Emily wasgetting on with her education too, for she spoke French with herbonne, and had a dancing master. George will be confirmed at Easter, said the porters wife;for George had got so far as this. It would be the best thing, now, to make an apprentice of him,said his father. It must be to s

26、ome good calling- and then he wouldbe out of the house. He would have to sleep out of the house, said Georges mother.It is not easy to find a master who has room for him at night, and weshall have to provide him with clothes too. The little bit of eatingthat he wants can be managed for him, for hes

27、quite happy with afew boiled potatoes; and he gets taught for nothing. Let the boy gohis own way. You will say that he will be our joy some day, and theProfessor says so too. The confirmation suit was ready. The mother had worked it herself;but the tailor who did repairs had cut them out, and a capi

28、talcutter-out he was. If he had had a better position, and been able to keep a workshopand journeymen, the porters wife said, he might have been a courttailor. The clothes were ready, and the candidate for confirmation wasready. On his confirmation day, George received a great pinchbeckwatch from hi

29、s godfather, the old iron mongers shopman, the richestof his godfathers. The watch was an old and tried servant. It alwayswent too fast, but that is better than to be lagging behind. Thatwas a costly present. And from the Generals apartment there arrived ahymn-book bound in morocco, sent by the litt

30、le lady to whom George hadgiven pictures. At the beginning of the book his name was written, andher name, as his gracious patroness. These words had been written atthe dictation of the Generals lady, and the General had read theinscription, and pronounced it Charming! That is really a great attentio

31、n from a family of such position,said the porters wife; and George was sent up stairs to showhimself in his confirmation clothes, with the hymn-book in his hand. The Generals lady was sitting very much wrapped up, and had thebad headache she always had when time hung heavy upon her hands. Shelooked at George very pleasantly, and wished him all prosperity, andthat he might never have her headache. The General was walking aboutin his dressing-gown. He had a cap with a long tassel on his head, andRussian boots with red tops on his feet. He walked three times upand down the room, abs