中文(简体)
A Tiny Girl from Corn
There was once a woman who had the greatest longing for a little tiny child, but she had no idea where to get one;
so she went to an old witch and said to her, "I do so long to have a little child, will you tell me where I can get one?"
"Oh, we shall be able to manage that," said the witch. "Here is a barley corn for you;
it is not at all the same kind as that which grows in the peasant's field, or with which chickens are fed; plant it in a flower pot and you will see what will appear."
"Thank you, oh, thank you!" said the woman, and she gave the witch twelve pennies,
then went home and planted the barley corn, and a large, handsome flower sprang up at once;
it looked exactly like a tulip, but the petals were tightly shut up, just as if they were still in bud.
"That is a lovely flower," said the woman, and she kissed the pretty red and yellow petals;
as she kissed it, the flower burst open with a loud snap.
It was a real tulip. You can see that;
but right in the middle of the flower on the green stool sat a little tiny girl, most lovely and delicate;
she was not more than an inch in height, so she was called Thumbelisa.
Her cradle was a smartly varnished walnut shell, with the blue petals of violets for a mattress and a rose-leaf to cover her;
she slept in it at night, but during the day, she played about on the table where the woman had placed a plate,
surrounded by a wreath of flowers on the outer edge with their stalks in water.
A large tulip petal floated on the water and on this little Thumbelisa sat and sailed about from one side of the plate to the other;
she had two white horsehairs for oars.
It was a pretty sight.
She could sing, too, with such delicacy and charm as was never heard before.
One night, as she lay in her pretty bed, a great ugly toad hopped in at the window, for there was a broken pane.
Ugh! How hideous that great wet toad was;
it hopped right down on the table where Thumbelisa lay fast asleep, under the red rose-leaf.
"Here is a lovely wife for my son," said the toad,
and then she took up the walnut shell where Thumbelisa slept and hopped away with it through the window, down into the garden.
A great broad stream ran through it, but just at the edge it was swampy and muddy, and it was here that the toad lived with her son.
Ugh! How ugly and hideous he was too, exactly like his mother.
"Koax, koax, brekke-ke-kex," that was all he had to say when he saw the lovely little girl in the walnut shell.
Share this article to
完成阅读