Произведения андерсена на английском. The Leap-frog - Прыгающая лягушка
Скоро в вашей семье случится долгожданное событие, появится самый главный в вашей жизни человечек. И конечно вы хотите приобрести всё самое лучшее и красивое для своего крохи. И вот вы уже собираетесь бежать в магазин и закупаться всем необходимым, но обязательно найдется человек, который скажет: «А можно ли покупать вещи для новорожденного заранее? Остановись, это же плохая примета!»
. После этих слов даже самый несуеверный человек остановится и задумается, а стоит ли рисковать и что дальше делать? Давайте разбираться!
Есть несколько версий появления плохой приметы, но как бы то ни было, нужно помнить, что все причины уходит корнями в глубокое прошлое и в наши дни не так правильны и рациональны, как раньше.
Примета могла появиться из-за некоторых медицинских факторов.
В давние времена не было такого выбора разнообразной продукции, магазинов в которые можно было выйти и приобрести все что нужно, родители готовились к появлению малыша своими силами и руками. Маме приходилось самостоятельно готовить выкройки, шить маленькие одежки, вязать. Все вышеперечисленные действия отнимали очень много времени, женщина уставала, у неё не оставалось времени на банальную прогулку, она постоянно сидела в одной и той же позе, как правило, ссутулившись и конечно такие моменты не могли положительно сказываться на состоянии ребенка. Женщины, которые готовили преданное во время беременности конечно же чувствовали себя хуже, чем те, которые могли побольше отдохнуть и уделить себе время. Оттуда и могло пойти, что готовиться заранее — плохая примета.
Появление народной приметы можно связать с укладом жизни на Древней Руси.
Давным-давно, на Руси в семьях рождалось огромное количество детей и конечно же одежду было принято передавать от старших деток, младшим. Отсюда тоже могла появиться примета, правда скорее она была больше связанна с нерациональностью таких подготовок, но до наших дней она могла дойти как плохая.
Мистическая причина появления приметы.
Есть такое поверье, что пока одежка лежит бесхозной, в неё подселяются жить всякие нечистики и злые духи. А потом, по поверью, когда родится ребенок, злые духи будут его вытеснять из одежки и мучить, а малыш будет болеть - вот и появилась народная примета. Поэтому о подготовке приданного до родов и речи идти не могло.
Как быть и что делать?
Хочется сказать, что во время беременности вокруг вас сразу появится целый миллион советников. Одни будут говорить, что надо заранее купить то и это и еще вот это, другие будут утверждать, что заранее ни в коем случае ничего покупать нельзя. Сколько людей, столько и мнений и за всеми не успеть. В первую очередь помните, что вы личность и у вас есть свое мнение, свое чувство комфорта и своя интуиция. Это ваша беременность и ваш малыш, и только вам известно, как лучше и правильнее поступить. Если вам комфортнее , значит так и нужно поступить, не боясь ничего. Так поступают миллионы мам и после рожают здоровых, счастливых деток. Если вам спокойнее купить всё после рождения ребенка, значит нужно именно так и поступить, ваше спокойствие и комфорт гораздо важнее, чем одежда для малыша, которую можно купить, когда угодно.
Почему стоит подготовиться заранее?
Покупать заранее вещи для новорожденного, очень распространенная и удобная практика. Давайте рассмотрим плюсы:
1) У вас есть время обдумать что необходимо ребенку, будь то одежда для новорожденного или бутылочка или погремушка. После составления списка и принятия решения обо всем необходимом, можно отправляться в магазин.
2) Покупать вещи для новорожденного до его рождения — удобно. У мамочки есть море свободного времени, она может спокойно пройтись по магазинам и выбрать все самое красивое, качественное и лучшее для своего малыша. И даже если что-то будет упущено, то останется время вернуться и добрать.
3) Если вещи для малыша заранее куплены, а под вещами мы подразумеваем и одежду для новорожденного и кроватку и коляску и комодик, у вас есть время все расставить и разложить. На самом деле это очень важно, потому что по возвращении из роддома у вас все должно быть удобно и под рукой. Конечно же всё проще обустроить до родов.
4) Покупать заранее вещи для новорожденного — занятие жутко приятное. Вы гуляете по магазинам, рассматриваете крохотные вещички, получаете море позитива и радости. Самое главное, что это чувствует ваш карапуз и так же радуется вместе с вами, что может быть лучше?
В чем преимущества покупок после рождения крохи?
Покупать одежду для новорожденных заранее, дело обычное, однако многие предпочитают не спешить с покупками. И в этом тоже есть свои плюсы, о них мы и расскажем:
1) Очень важный и положительный момент — папа идет и выбирает одежду для малыша, всякие нужные мелочи, коляски, кроватки, да что угодно, главное он полным ходом участвует в жизни своего ребенка. Это очень важно и в наши дни такое не часто встречается, обычно такими делами занимаются только мамы.
2) Покупая одежду для новорожденного после родов, вы никогда не попадете впросак, если на УЗИ ошиблись с полом ребенка.
3) По древней традиции вы можете воспользоваться вещами, которые остались от деток ваших родственников или друзей, что существенно сэкономит ваш бюджет.
4) Если новоиспеченная мамочка хочет самостоятельно выбрать вещи для малыша, а времени ходить по магазинам нет — ей на помощь придет всемирная сеть. В интернете всегда можно найти подходящий магазин и заказать то, к чему лежит душа.
5) Если вы дадите свободу выбора одежды для малыша дедушкам и бабушкам, то это только укрепит вашу семью, благодаря безграничному доверию. Вы же сможете сэкономить море времени и сил.
Что необходимо приобрести заранее?
Покупать заранее вещи для новорожденного или нет, индивидуальное дело каждых родителей. Одна есть перечень предметов и вещей, которые так или иначе придется приобрести до родов. Давайте обсудим, что это за вещи:
1) Мы бы рекомендовали купить кроватку, до появления малыша. Кроватка должна быть удобна в использовании как крохе, так и маме, которая будет проводить огромное количество времени рядом с этой кроваткой. Вам будет необходимо пересмотреть кучу разных вариантов, конструкций и цветов кроваток. После рождения ребенка времени на это не останется.
2) Обязательно купите до родов коляску. Коляска так же должна быть удобна маме. Вы должны определиться с удобной моделью коляски, а именно: с её высотой, шириной, с тем какая она в управлении, какая у неё ручка, сумка и еще с громадным количеством мелочей. Если даже вы её не купите до дня икс, то хотя бы остановите свой выбор на том, что вам нужно, чтобы родные просто поехали и купили то, что вам удобно.
3) Есть определённый набор вещичек и гигиенических средств, которые должны быть у каждой роженицы при себе в роддоме. Если вы не хотите покупать лишнее, уточните четко у врача, что необходимо вам и малышу.
Что нужно купить для новорожденного в первый месяц жизни (видео):
В заключении хочется сказать, покупать одежду для новорожденных заранее или нет, выбор ваш и только ваш. В любом случае помните, вы находитесь в самом прекрасно положении в жизни и ждете самого большого чуда! Не зависимо от вашего выбора и примет, у вас родится самый красивый, счастливый и здоровый карапузик и ничто этому не помешает!
There came a soldier marching down the high road-one, two! one, two! He had his knapsack on his back and his sword at his side as he came home from the wars. On the road he met a witch, an ugly old witch, a witch whose lower lip dangled right down on her chest.
«Good evening, soldier,» she said. «What a fine sword you’ve got there, and what a big knapsack. Aren’t you every inch a soldier! And now you shall have money, as much as you please.»
«That’s very kind, you old witch,» said the soldier.
«See that big tree.» The witch pointed to one near by them. «It’s hollow to the roots. Climb to the top of the trunk and you’ll find a hole through which you can let yourself down deep under the tree. I’ll tie a rope around your middle, so that when you call me I can pull you up again.»
«What would I do deep down under that tree?» the soldier wanted to know.
«Fetch money,» the witch said. «Listen. When you touch bottom you’ll find yourself in a great hall. It is very bright there, because more than a hundred lamps are burning. By their light you will see three doors. Each door has a key in it, so you can open them all.
«If you walk into the first room, you’ll see a large chest in the middle of the floor. On it sits a dog, and his eyes are as big as saucers. But don’t worry about that. I’ll give you my blue checked apron to spread out on the floor. Snatch up that dog and set him on my apron. Then you can open the chest and take out as many pieces of money as you please. They are all copper.
«But if silver suits you better, then go into the next room. There sits a dog and his eyes are as big as mill wheels. But don’t you care about that. Set the dog on my apron while you line your pockets with silver.
«Maybe you’d rather have gold. You can, you know. You can have all the gold you can carry if you go into the third room. The only hitch is that there on the money-chest sits a dog, and each of his eyes is as big as the Round Tower of Copenhagen. That’s the sort of dog he is. But never you mind how fierce he looks. Just set him on my apron and he’ll do you no harm as you help yourself from the chest to all the gold you want.»
«That suits me,» said the soldier. «But what do you get out of all this, you old witch? I suppose that you want your share.»
«No indeed,» said the witch. «I don’t want a penny of it. All I ask is for you to fetch me an old tinder box that my grandmother forgot the last time she was down there.»
«Good,» said the soldier. «Tie the rope around me.»
«Here it is,» said the witch, «and here’s my blue checked apron.»
The soldier climbed up to the hole in the tree and let himself slide through it, feet foremost down into the great hall where the hundreds of lamps were burning, just as the witch had said. Now he threw open the first door he came to. Ugh! There sat a dog glaring at him with eyes as big as saucers.
«You’re a nice fellow,» the soldier said, as he shifted him to the witch’s apron and took all the coppers that his pockets would hold. He shut up the chest, set the dog back on it, and made for the second room. Alas and alack! There sat the dog with eyes as big as mill wheels.
«Don’t you look at me like that.» The soldier set him on the witch’s apron. «You’re apt to strain your eyesight.» When he saw the chest brimful of silver, he threw away all his coppers and filled both his pockets and knapsack with silver alone. Then he went into the third room. Oh, what a horrible sight to see! The dog in there really did have eyes as big as the Round Tower, and when he rolled them they spun like wheels.
«Good evening,» the soldier said, and saluted, for such a dog he had never seen before. But on second glance he thought to himself, «This won’t do.» So he lifted the dog down to the floor, and threw open the chest. What a sight! Here was gold and to spare. He could buy out all Copenhagen with it. He could buy all the cake-woman’s sugar pigs, and all the tin soldiers, whips, and rocking horses there are in the world. Yes, there was really money!
In short order the soldier got rid of all the silver coins he had stuffed in his pockets and knapsack, to put gold in their place. Yes sir, he crammed all his pockets, his knapsack, his cap, and his boots so full that he scarcely could walk. Now he was made of money. Putting the dog back on the chest he banged out the door and called up through the hollow tree:
«Pull me up now, you old witch.»
«Have you got the tinder box?» asked the witch.
«Confound the tinder box,» the soldier shouted. «I clean forgot it.»
When he fetched it, the witch hauled him up. There he stood on the highroad again, with his pockets, boots, knapsack and cap full of gold.
«What do you want with the tinder box?» he asked the old witch.
«None of your business,» she told him. «You’ve had your money, so hand over my tinder box.»
«Nonsense,» said the soldier. «I’ll take out my sword and I’ll cut your head off if you don’t tell me at once what you want with it.»
«I won’t,» the witch screamed at him.
So he cut her head off. There she lay! But he tied all his money in her apron, slung it over his shoulder, stuck the tinder box in his pocket, and struck out for town.
It was a splendid town. He took the best rooms at the best inn, and ordered all the good things he liked to eat, for he was a rich man now because he had so much money. The servant who cleaned his boots may have thought them remarkably well worn for a man of such means, but that was before he went shopping. Next morning he bought boots worthy of him, and the best clothes. Now that he had turned out to be such a fashionable gentleman, people told him all about the splendors of their town-all about their King, and what a pretty Princess he had for a daughter.
«Where can I see her?» the soldier inquired.
«You can’t see her at all,» everyone said. «She lives in a great copper castle inside all sorts of walls and towers. Only the King can come in or go out of it, for it’s been foretold that the Princess will marry a common soldier. The King would much rather she didn’t.»
«I’d like to see her just the same,» the soldier thought. But there was no way to manage it, now he lived a merry life. He went to the theatre, drove about in the King’s garden, and gave away money to poor people. This was to his credit, for he remembered from the old days what it feels like to go without a penny in your pocket. Now that he was wealthy and well dressed, he had all too many who called him their friend and a genuine gentleman. That pleased him.
But he spent money every day without making any, and wound up with only two coppers to his name. He had to quit his fine quarters to live in a garret, clean his own boots, and mend them himself with a darning needle. None of his friends came to see him, because there were too many stairs to climb.
One evening when he sat in the dark without even enough money to buy a candle, he suddenly remembered there was a candle end in the tinder box that he had picked up when the witch sent him down the hollow tree. He got out the tinder box, and the moment he struck sparks from the flint of it his door burst open and there stood a dog from down under the tree. It was the one with eyes as big as saucers.
«What,» said the dog, «is my lord’s command?»
«What’s this?» said the soldier. «Have I got the sort of tinder box that will get me whatever I want? Go get me some money,» he ordered the dog. Zip! The dog was gone. Zip! He was back again, with a bag full of copper in his mouth.
Now the soldier knew what a remarkable tinder box he had. Strike it once and there was the dog from the chest of copper coins. Strike it twice and here came the dog who had the silver. Three times brought the dog who guarded gold.
Back went the soldier to his comfortable quarters. Out strode the soldier in fashionable clothes. Immediately his friends knew him again, because they liked him so much.
Then the thought occurred to him, «Isn’t it odd that no one ever gets to see the Princess? They say she’s very pretty, but what’s the good of it as long as she stays locked up in that large copper castle with so many towers? Why can’t I see her? Where’s my tinder box?» He struck a light and, zip! came the dog with eyes as big as saucers.
«It certainly is late,» said the soldier. «Practically midnight. But I do want a glimpse of the Princess, if only for a moment.»
Out the door went the dog, and before the soldier could believe it, here came the dog with the Princess on his back. She was sound asleep, and so pretty that everyone could see she was a Princess. The soldier couldn’t keep from kissing her, because he was every inch a soldier. Then the dog took the Princess home.
Next morning when the King and Queen were drinking their tea, the Princess told them about the strange dream she’d had-all about a dog and a soldier. She’d ridden on the dog’s back, and the soldier had kissed her.
«Now that was a fine story,» said the Queen. The next night one of the old ladies of the court was under orders to sit by the Princess’s bed, and see whether this was a dream or something else altogether. The soldier was longing to see the pretty Princess again, so the dog came by night to take her up and away as fast as he could run. But the old lady pulled on her storm boots and ran right after them. When she saw them disappear into a large house she thought, «Now I know where it is,» and drew a big cross on the door with a piece of chalk. Then she went home to bed, and before long the dog brought the Princess home too. But when the dog saw that cross marked on the soldier’s front door, he got himself a piece of chalk and cross-marked every door in the town. This was a clever thing to do, because now the old lady couldn’t tell the right door from all the wrong doors he had marked.
Early in the morning along came the King and the Queen, the old lady, and all the officers, to see where the Princess had been.
«Here it is,» said the King when he saw the first cross mark.
«No, my dear. There it is,» said the Queen who was looking next door.
«Here’s one, there’s one, and yonder’s another one!» said they all. Wherever they looked they saw chalk marks, so they gave up searching.
The Queen, though, was an uncommonly clever woman, who could do more than ride in a coach. She took her big gold scissors, cut out a piece of silk, and made a neat little bag. She filled it with fine buckwheat flour and tied it on to the Princess’s back. Then she pricked a little hole in it so that the flour would sift out along the way, wherever the Princess might go.
Again the dog came in the night, took the Princess on his back, and ran with her to the soldier, who loved her so much that he would have been glad to be a Prince just so he could make his wife.
The dog didn’t notice how the flour made a trail from the castle right up to the soldier’s window, where he ran up the wall with the Princess. So in the morning it was all too plain to the King and Queen just where their daughter had been.
They took the soldier and they put him in prison. There he sat. It was dark, and it was dismal, and they told him, «Tomorrow is the day for you to hang.» That didn’t cheer him up any, and as for his tinder box he’d left it behind at the inn. In the morning he could see through his narrow little window how the people all hurried out of town to see him hanged. He heard the drums beat and he saw the soldiers march. In the crowd of running people he saw a shoemaker’s boy in a leather apron and slippers. The boy galloped so fast that off flew one slipper, which hit the wall right where the soldier pressed his face to the iron bars.
«Hey there, you shoemaker’s boy, there’s no hurry,» the soldier shouted. «Nothing can happen till I get there. But if you run to where I live and bring me my tinder box, I’ll give you four coppers. Put your best foot foremost.»
The shoemaker’s boy could use four coppers, so he rushed the tinder box to the soldier, and-well, now we shall hear what happened!
Outside the town a high gallows had been built. Around it stood soldiers and many hundred thousand people. The King and Queen sat on a splendid throne, opposite the judge and the whole council. The soldier already stood upon the ladder, but just as they were about to put the rope around his neck he said the custom was to grant a poor criminal one last small favor. He wanted to smoke a pipe of tobacco-the last he’d be smoking in this world.
The King couldn’t refuse him, so the soldier struck fire from his tinder box, once-twice-and a third time. Zip! There stood all the dogs, one with eyes as big as saucers, one with eyes as big as mill wheels, one with eyes as big as the Round Tower of Copenhagen.
«Help me. Save me from hanging!» said the soldier. Those dogs took the judges and all the council, some by the leg and some by the nose, and tossed them so high that they came down broken to bits.
«Don’t!» cried the King, but the biggest dog took him and the Queen too, and tossed them up after the others. Then the soldiers trembled and the people shouted, «Soldier, be our King and marry the pretty Princess.»
So they put the soldier in the King’s carriage. All three of his dogs danced in front of it, and shouted «Hurrah!» The boys whistled through their fingers, and the soldiers saluted. The Princess came out of the copper castle to be Queen, and that suited her exactly. The wedding lasted all of a week, and the three dogs sat at the table, with their eyes opened wider than ever before.
По дороге шел солдат, маршируя – раз, два! Раз, два! Он возвращался с войны домой, с рюкзаком на спине и мечом на боку. По дороге он встретил ведьму, уродливую старую ведьму, ведьму, нижняя губа которой свисала до груди.
«Добрый вечер, солдат», сказала она. «Какой прекрасный меч у тебя, и какой большой рюкзак. И теперь у тебя будет столько денег, сколько пожелаешь».
«Это очень любезно с твоей стороны, старая ведьма», сказал солдат.
«Видишь то большое дерево». Ведьма указала на одно из деревьев рядом с ними. «Оно пустое внутри. Взберись на вершину, и ты увидишь дупло, которое приведет тебя глубоко под дерево. Я обвяжу тебя веревкой, и когда ты дашь сигнал, я вытащу тебя наружу».
«Что мне делать глубоко под деревом? » хотел знать солдат.
«Забрать деньги», сказала ведьма. «Слушай. Когда ты коснёшься дна, то окажешься в большом зале. Там очень ярко, потому что зажжено более ста ламп. В их свете ты увидишь три двери. В каждой двери есть ключ, так что ты сможешь открыть их все. Если ты зайдешь в первую комнату, то увидишь большой сундук посреди комнаты. На нем сидит собака и ее глаза большие как блюдца. Не волнуйся об этом. Я дам тебе мой синий клетчатый передник. Разложи его на полу, схвати собаку и посади в мой передник. Затем ты можешь открыть сундук и взять столько денег, сколько тебе угодно. Они все медные».
«Но если серебряные подходят тебе больше, тогда иди в соседнюю комнату. Там сидит собака, с глазами, большими как мельничные колеса. Но ты не волнуйся. Посади собаку на мой передник, пока будешь набивать карманы серебром».
«А может ты хотел бы иметь золото. Это возможно. В третьей комнате ты можешь взять столько золота, сколько сможешь унести. Единственная помеха в том, что там, на денежном сундуке сидит собака, и каждый ее глаз является столь же большим как Круглая башня Копенгагена. Вот такая это собака. Она выглядит очень свирепо. Но просто посади ее на мой передник и она не причинит тебе вреда, пока ты будешь набирать золото из сундука».
«Это меня устраивает», сказал солдат. «Но что тебе до всего этого, старая ведьма? Я полагаю, что ты хочешь свою долю».
«Нет, конечно», сказала ведьма. «Я не хочу ни копейки. Все, что я прошу, это принести мне огниво, которое моя бабушка забыла, когда в последний раз она была там».
«Хорошо», сказал солдат. «Обвязывай меня веревкой «.
«Вот она», сказала ведьма, «а вот и мой синий клетчатый передник».
Солдат поднялся к дуплу в дереве и спрыгнул в него. Он оказался в большом зале, где горели сотни ламп, как и рассказывала ведьма. Он распахнул первую дверь. Тьфу! Там сидела собака и смотрела на него глазами, большими как блюдца.
«Ты хороший парень», сказал солдат и перенес собаку на фартук ведьмы. Он набил карманы медными монетами. Затем закрыл сундук, посадил на него собаку, и пошел во вторую комнату. Ух и ах! Там сидела собака с глазами, как мельничные колеса.
«Не смотри на меня так», сказал солдат, посадив ее на фартук ведьмы. «Ты склонен напрягать зрение». Когда он увидел сундук наполненный серебром, то вытащил все медные монеты и до краев набил карманы и рюкзак только серебром. Затем он вошел в третью комнату. О, что за ужасное зрелище! У собаки действительно были глаза как Круглая башня.
«Добрый вечер», сказал солдат, и отдал честь, собаке, невиданной прежде. Он опустил собаку на пол и открыл сундук. Какой вид! Здесь было столько золота, что не пришлось бы больше экономить. Он смог бы даже купить весь Копенгаген на эти деньги. Он бы смог купить все самое лучшее – скупить всех молочных поросят, оловянных солдатиков и лошадок-качалок в мире. Это были огромные деньги!
Солдат быстро избавился от всех серебряных монет, которыми он набил карманы и рюкзак, чтобы взять золото. Он наполнил все карманы, рюкзак, шапку и сапоги так, что едва мог ходить. Теперь он был сделан из денег. Посадив собаку на место, он вышел из комнаты и крикнул в дупло дерева:
«Вытаскивай меня, старая ведьма «.
«Ты взял огниво?» спросила ведьма.
«Чертово огниво», выругался солдат. «Я совсем про него забыл». Когда он принес его, ведьма вытащила солдата. Он снова стоял на большой дороге с карманами, ботинками, рюкзаком и шапкой, полными золота.
«Зачем тебе огниво?» спросил он старую ведьму.
«Не твое дело», ответила она. «Ты получил свои деньги, поэтому отдай огниво мне».
«Ерунда», сказал солдат. «Я возьму свой меч и отсеку тебе голову, если ты не скажешь, зачем тебе огниво».
«Я не скажу», закричала ведьма. И солдат отсек ей голову.
Он сложил все деньги в ее передник и перекинул за спину, положил огниво в карман и отправился в город.
Это был великолепный город. Он снял лучший номер в лучшей гостинице, и заказал все самое лучшее на ужин, потому что сейчас он был богатым человеком, у него было так много денег.
Слуга, который чистил сапоги, возможно, думал, что они недостаточно хороши для человека с такими деньгами. Но это было до того как солдат отправился за покупками. На следующее утро он купил сапоги, достойные его, и самую лучшую одежду.
Теперь, когда он оказался таким модным джентльменом, люди рассказал ему все о великолепии их города — все об их короле, и его прекрасной дочери принцессе.
«Где я могу ее увидеть?» спросил солдат. «Вы совсем не сможете ее увидеть», сказали все. «Она живет в большом медном замке, огороженном стенами и башнями. Только король может войти и выйти из него, потому что было предсказано, что принцесса выйдет замуж за простого солдата. Король делает все, что бы этого не случилось».
«Я бы очень хотел ее увидеть», подумал солдат. Но у него не было такой возможности.
Теперь солдат жил веселой жизнью. Он ходил в театры, прогуливался по королевскому саду и раздавал деньги бедным. Это было в его пользу, ибо он вспоминал о старых днях, каково это идти без гроша в кармане. Теперь, когда он был богат и хорошо одет, у него было слишком много тех, кто называл его своим другом и настоящим джентльменом. Это было ему приятно.
Но он тратил деньги каждый день, не зарабатывая их. И, в конце концов, остался с двумя медяками в кармане. Он вынужден был съехать со своей прекрасной квартиры и жить на чердаке, самостоятельно чистить свои сапоги и ремонтировать их штопальной иглой. Ни один из его друзей не пришел к нему, потому что было слишком много лестниц, чтобы подняться.
Однажды вечером, сидя в темноте, не имея даже денег на покупку свечи, он вдруг вспомнил, что у него есть огниво, которое он взял, когда ведьма отправила его в дупло.
Он вытащил огниво, и в тот момент, когда он высек искры из кремня, его дверь распахнулась, и солдат увидел собаку, что была под деревом. Это была та, у которой глаза как блюдца.
«Чего пожелает мой господин?», спросила собака.
«Что это?» удивился солдат. «Неужели это огниво, которое исполнит мои желания и даст мне все, что я захочу? Дай мне немного денег», приказал он собаке.
Хоп! Собака пропала. Раздался свист и она вернулась, держа во рту сумку, полную медяков.
Теперь солдат узнал, что за замечательное огниво у него было. Чиркнешь один раз, появится собака, охраняющая сундук с медными монетами. Чиркнешь дважды, и придет собака охраняющая серебро. А если трижды, то, собака, которая охраняет золото.
Солдат вернулся в свою просторную квартиру, защеголял в модной одежде. Сразу же появились друзья, которые его очень сильно любили.
Тогда мысль пришла ему в голову, «Разве это не странно, что никто никогда не пытался увидеть принцессу? Говорят, она очень красивая, но что от этого проку, пока она остается запертой в этом большом медном замке с таким количеством башен? Почему я не могу ее увидеть? Где мое огниво? »
Он высек искры, и появилась собака, с глазами как блюдца.
«Сейчас поздно», сказал солдат. «Практически полночь. Но я хочу увидеть принцессу, хотя бы только на мгновение».
Собака вышла за дверь и до того как солдат смог в это поверить, она вернулась со спящей принцессой на спине. Она была так прекрасна, что каждый сразу мог видеть, что это принцесса. Солдат не смог удержаться и поцеловал ее. Собака отнесла принцессу домой.
На следующее утро, когда король и королева пили чай, принцесса рассказала о странном сне, все о собаке и солдате. Как она ездила на спине у собаки, и как солдат поцеловал ее.
«Прекрасный рассказ», сказала Королева. На следующую ночь одной из старых придворных дам было приказано сидеть у постели принцессы, и посмотреть, был ли это сон или нет.
Солдат очень тосковал и хотел увидеть прекрасную принцессу снова. И собака снова пришла за ней ночью, взвалила на спину и понеслась так быстро, как только могла бежать. Но старушка надела сапоги-скороходы и бросилась вслед за ними. Когда она увидела, как собака с принцессой исчезают в большом доме, она подумала: «Теперь я знаю, где это», и нарисовала мелом большой крест на двери. После этого она отправилась домой спать. Вскоре собака вернула принцессу домой. Когда собака обнаружила крест на двери, она пометила мелом все двери в городе. Это было очень мудро, потому что теперь старушка, не могла сказать, какую именно дверь она отметила.
Рано утром король и королева, старушка, и все офицеры, пошли в город, чтобы посмотреть, где была принцесса.
«Вот здесь», сказал король, увидев первый крестик. «Нет, мой дорогой. Это там», сказала Королева, которая искала по соседству. «Вот здесь, и здесь и еще вон там!» сказали все. Куда бы они ни посмотрели, везде были отметки, поэтому они отказались от поисков. Но королева, была необыкновенно умная женщина, которая могла намного больше, чем просто ездить в карете. Она взяла большие золотые ножницы, отрезала кусок шелка, и сделала аккуратный мешочек, наполнила его лучшей гречневой мукой и привязала на спину принцессе. Затем она проколола небольшое отверстие в нем, так чтобы мука высыпалась по дороге, куда бы принцесса ни пошла.
Ночью опять пришла собака, закинула принцессу на спину и понесла ее к солдату, который влюбился так сильно, что захотел стать принцем, чтобы жениться на принцессе. Собака не заметила муку, оставляющую след от замка до окна солдата. Таким образом, утром королю и королеве было ясно, где была их дочь. Они схватили солдата и посадили его в тюрьму.
Там было темно, он был мрачен, и они сказали ему: «Завтра тебя повесят». Это не подбодрило его, а что касается огнива, то оно осталось в гостинице.
Утром, сквозь узкое окошко, солдат мог видеть, как люди спешили посмотреть на его казнь. Он услышал барабаны и увидел марширующих солдат. В толпе бегущих людей он увидел мальчика сапожника в кожаном фартуке и башмаках. Мальчик бежал так быстро, что один его башмак слетел с ноги и угодил прямо в решетки, к которым солдат прижался щекой.
«Эй, мальчик, не спиши так», закричал солдат. «Ничего не может произойти, пока я здесь. Но если ты пойдешь ко мне домой и принесешь огниво, то я дам тебе четыре медяка на новые башмаки».
Мальчик сапожника не мог упустить четыре медяка, поэтому он бросился за огнивом для солдата.
И сейчас мы узнаем, что же произошло.
За городом была построена высокая виселица. Вокруг нее стояли солдаты и много сотен тысяч людей. Король и королева сидели на роскошном троне, напротив них судьи и совет. Солдат уже стоял на лестнице, но перед тем как засунуть голову в петлю он сказал, что обычай дает бедному преступнику право на последнее желание. Он хотел выкурить трубку табака последний раз в этом мире.
Король не мог ему отказать, поэтому солдат высек огонь из его огнива — раз, два, три. Раздался свист, и появились собаки, одна с глазами, как блюдца, другая с глазами, как мельничные колеса, а третья с глазами, как Круглая башня Копенгагена.
«Помогите мне. Спасите меня от виселицы!» попросил солдат.
Собаки схватили судей и совет, кого за ногу, а кого и за нос и подбросили их так высоко, что они разбились насмерть.
«Не надо!» воскликнул король, но самая большая собака взяла его и королеву тоже, и подбросила их выше других. Тогда воины задрожали, а люди закричали: «Солдат, будь нашим королем и женись на прекрасной принцессе».
Они посадили солдата в королевскую карету. Все три собаки танцевали перед ним, и кричали «Ура!» Мальчики свистели, засунув пальцы в рот, а солдаты отдали честь. Принцесса вышла из медного замка, чтобы стать королевой. Свадьба длилась целую неделю, и три собаки сидели за столом, а их глаза открылись шире, чем когда-либо прежде.
Сказки Ганса Христиана Андерсена на английском
The Princess and the Pea - Принцесса на горошине
There was once upon a time a Prince who wanted to marry a Princess, but she must be a true Princess. So he traveled through the whole world to find one, but there was always something against each. There were plenty of Princesses, but he could not find out if they were true Princesses. In every case there was some little defect, which showed the genuine article was not yet found. So he came home again in very low spirits, for he had wanted very much to have a true Princess. One night there was a dreadful storm; it thundered and lightened and the rain streamed down in torrents. It was fearful! There was a knocking heard at the Palace gate, and the old King went to open it.
There stood a Princess outside the gate; but oh, in what a sad plight she was from the rain and the storm! The water was running down from her hair and her dress into the points of her shoes and out at the heels again. And yet she said she was a true Princess!
‘Well, we shall soon find that!’ thought the old Queen. But she said nothing, and went into the sleeping-room, took off all the bed-clothes, and laid a pea on the bottom of the bed. Then she put twenty mattresses on top of the pea, and twenty eider-down quilts on the top of the mattresses. And this was the bed in which the Princess was to sleep.
The next morning she was asked how she had slept.
‘Oh, very badly!’ said the Princess. ‘I scarcely closed my eyes all night! I am sure I don’t know what was in the bed. I laid on something so hard that my whole body is black and blue. It is dreadful!’
Now they perceived that she was a true Princess, because she had felt the pea through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down quilts.
No one but a true Princess could be so sensitive.
So the Prince married her, for now he knew that at last he had got hold of a true Princess. And the pea was put into the Royal Museum, where it is still to be seen if no one has stolen it. Now this is a true story.
The Flying Trunk - Сундук-самолёт
There was once a merchant who was so rich that he could have paved the whole street, and perhaps even a little side-street besides, with silver. But he did not do that; he knew another way of spending his money. If he spent a shilling he got back a florin-such an excellent merchant he was till he died.
Now his son inherited all this money. He lived very merrily; he went every night to the theatre, made paper kites out of five-pound notes, and played ducks and drakes with sovereigns instead of stones. In this way the money was likely to come soon to an end, and so it did.
At last he had nothing left but four shillings, and he had no clothes except a pair of slippers and an old dressing-gown.
His friends did not trouble themselves any more about him; they would not even walk down the street with him.
But one of them who was rather good-natured sent him an old trunk with the message, ‘Pack up!” That was all very well, but he had nothing to pack up, so he got into the trunk himself.
It was an enchanted trunk, for as soon as the lock was pressed it could fly. He pressed it, and away he flew in it up the chimney, high into the clouds, further and further away. But whenever the bottom gave a little creak he was in terror lest the trunk should go to pieces, for then he would have turned a dreadful somersault-just think of it!
In this way he arrived at the land of the Turks. He hid the trunk in a wood under some dry leaves, and then walked into the town. He could do that quite well, for all the Turks were dressed just as he was-in a dressing-gown and slippers.
He met a nurse with a little child.
‘Halloa! you Turkish nurse,’ said he, ‘what is that great castle there close to the town? The one with the windows so high up?’
‘The sultan’s daughter lives there,’ she replied. ‘It is prophesied that she will be very unlucky in her husband, and so no one is allowed to see her except when the sultan and sultana are by.’
‘Thank you,’ said the merchant’s son, and he went into the wood, sat himself in his trunk, flew on to the roof, and crept through the window into the princess’s room.
She was lying on the sofa asleep, and was so beautiful that the young merchant had to kiss her. Then she woke up and was very much frightened, but he said he was a Turkish god who had come through the air to see her, and that pleased her very much.
They sat close to each other, and he told her a story about her eyes. They were beautiful dark lakes in which her thoughts swam about like mermaids. And her forehead was a snowy mountain, grand and shining. These were lovely stories.
Then he asked the princess to marry him, and she said yes at once.
‘But you must come here on Saturday,’ she said, ‘for then the sultan and the sultana are coming to tea with me. They will be indeed proud that I receive the god of the Turks. But mind you have a really good story ready, for my parents like them immensely. My mother likes something rather moral and high-flown, and my father likes something merry to make him laugh.’
‘Yes, I shall only bring a fairy story for my dowry,’ said he, and so they parted. But the princess gave him a sabre set with gold pieces which he could use.
Then he flew away, bought himself a new dressing-gown, and sat down in the wood and began to make up a story, for it had to be ready by Saturday, and that was no easy matter.
When he had it ready it was Saturday.
The sultan, the sultana, and the whole court were at tea with the princess.
He was most graciously received.
‘Will you tell us a story?’ said the sultana; ‘one that is thoughtful and instructive?’
‘But something that we can laugh at,’ said the sultan.
‘Oh, certainly,’ he replied, and began: ‘Now, listen attentively. There was once a box of matches which lay between a tinder-box and an old iron pot, and they told the story of their youth.
‘”We used to be on the green fir-boughs. Every morning and evening we had diamond-tea, which was the dew, and the whole day long we had sunshine, and the little birds used to tell us stories. We were very rich, because the other trees only dressed in summer, but we had green dresses in summer and in winter. Then the woodcutter came, and our family was split up. We have now the task of making light for the lowest people. That is why we grand people are in the kitchen.”
‘”My fate was quite different,” said the iron pot, near which the matches lay.
‘”Since I came into the world I have been many times scoured, and have cooked much. My only pleasure is to have a good chat with my companions when I am lying nice and clean in my place after dinner.”
‘”Now you are talking too fast,” spluttered the fire.
‘”Yes, let us decide who is the grandest!” said the matches.
‘”No, I don’t like talking about myself,” said the pot.
‘”Let us arrange an evening’s entertainment. I will tell the story of my life.
‘”On the Baltic by the Danish shore-”
‘What a beautiful beginning!” said all the plates. “That’s a story that will please us all.”
‘And the end was just as good as the beginning. All the plates clattered for joy.
‘”Now I will dance,” said the tongs, and she danced. Oh! how high she could kick!
‘The old chair-cover in the corner split when he saw her.
‘The urn would have sung but she said she had a cold; she could not sing unless she boiled.
‘In the window was an old quill pen. There was nothing remarkable about her except that she had been dipped too deeply into the ink. But she was very proud of that.
‘”If the urn will not sing,” said she, “outside the door hangs a nightingale in a cage who will sing.”
‘”I don’t think it’s proper,” said the kettle, “that such a foreign bird should be heard.”
‘”Oh, let us have some acting,” said everyone. “Do let us!”
‘Suddenly the door opened and the maid came in. Everyone was quite quiet. There was not a sound. But each pot knew what he might have done, and how grand he was.
‘The maid took the matches and lit the fire with them. How they spluttered and flamed, to be sure! “Now everyone can see,” they thought, “that we are the grandest! How we sparkle! What a light-”
‘But here they were burnt out.’
‘That was a delightful story!’ said the sultana. ‘I quite feel myself in the kitchen with the matches. Yes, now you shall marry our daughter.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ said the sultan, ‘you shall marry our daughter on Monday.’ And they treated the young man as one of the family.
The wedding was arranged, and the night before the whole town was illuminated.
Biscuits and gingerbreads were thrown among the people, the street boys stood on tiptoe crying hurrahs and whistling through their fingers. It was all splendid.
‘Now I must also give them a treat,’ thought the merchant’s son. And so he bought rockets, crackers, and all the kinds of fireworks you can think of, put them in his trunk, and flew up with them into the air.
Whirr-r-r, how they fizzed and blazed!
All the Turks jumped so high that their slippers flew above their heads; such a splendid glitter they had never seen before.
Now they could quite well understand that it was the god of the Turks himself who was to marry the princess.
As soon as the young merchant came down again into the wood with his trunk he thought, ‘Now I will just go into the town to see how the show has taken.’
And it was quite natural that he should want to do this.
Oh! what stories the people had to tell!
Each one whom he asked had seen it differently, but they had all found it beautiful.
‘I saw the Turkish god himself,’ said one. ‘He had eyes like glittering stars, and a beard like foaming water.’
‘He flew away in a cloak of fire,’ said another. They were splendid things that he heard, and the next day was to be his wedding day.
Then he went back into the wood to sit in his trunk; but what had become of it? The trunk had been burnt. A spark of the fireworks had set it alight, and the trunk was in ashes. He could no longer fly, and could never reach his bride.
She stood the whole day long on the roof and waited; perhaps she is waiting there still.
But he wandered through the world and told stories; though they are not so merry as the one he told about the matches.
The Leap-frog - Прыгающая лягушка
A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Leap-frog once wanted to see which could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and everybody else besides to come to see the festival. Three famous jumpers were they, as everyone would say, when they all met together in the room.
“I will give my daughter to him who jumps highest,” exclaimed the King; “for a competition without a prize would not be so amusing.”
The Flea was the first to step forward. He had exquisite manners, and bowed to the company on all sides; for he had noble blood, and was, moreover, accustomed to live close to human beings; and that makes a great difference.
Then came the Grasshopper. He was considerably heavier, but he was well-mannered, and wore a green uniform, which he had by right of birth; he said, moreover, that he belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family. The fact was, he had been just brought out of the fields, and put in a cardboard box.. “I sing so well,” said he, “that sixteen native grasshoppers grew thin from sheer envy when they heard me.
And that is how the Flea and the Grasshopper introduced themselves, and thought they were quite good enough to marry a Princess.
The Leap-frog said nothing; but because he said nothing, people thought he was all the cleverer. ; and when the housedog snuffed at him with his nose, he decided the Leap-frog was of good family. The old councillor asserted that the Leap-frog was a prophet; for one could see on his back, if there would be a severe or mild winter.
“I say nothing,” exclaimed the King; “but I have my own opinion, nonetheless.”
Now the contest was to take place. The Flea jumped so high that nobody could see where he went to; so they all said he had not jumped at all; and that he had cheated.
The Grasshopper jumped only half as high; but he leaped into the King’s face, and that was ill-mannered.
The Leap-frog stood still for a long time lost in thought; People began to think that he would not jump at all.
“I only hope he is not unwell,” said the house-dog; when, pop! he made a jump into the lap of the Princess, who was sitting on a little golden stool close by.
At this, the King said, “There is nothing above my daughter; therefore nobody should jump higher than her. But for this, one must possess understanding, and the Leap-frog has shown that he has understanding. He is brave and intellectual.”
And so he won the Princess.
“It’s all the same to me,” said the Flea. “She may have the old Leap-frog, for all I care. I jumped the highest; but in this world merit seldom meets its reward. Looks is what people appreciate now-a-days.”
The Flea then went to serve abroad in the army, where, it is said, he was killed.
The Grasshopper sat on a green bank, and reflected on worldly things; and he said too, “Yes, looks are everything. A fine appearance is what people care about.” And then he began chirping his peculiar melancholy song, from which we have taken this story; and which may, very possibly, be all untrue.
The Tinderbox - Огниво
A soldier came marching along the high road–left, right! A left, right! He had his knapsack on his back and a sword by his side, for he had been to the wars and was now returning home.
An old Witch met him on the road. She was very ugly to look at: her bottom-lip hung down to her breast.
‘Good evening, Soldier!’ she said. ‘What a fine sword and knapsack you have! You are the very picture of a fine soldier! You ought to have as much money as you can carry!’
‘Thank you, old Witch,’ said the Soldier.
‘Do you see that great tree there?’ said the Witch, pointing to a tree beside them. ‘It is hollow within. You must climb up to the top, and then you will see a hole through which you can let yourself down into the tree. I will tie a rope round your waist, so that I may be able to pull you up again when you call.’
‘What shall I do down there?’ asked the Soldier.
‘Get money!’ answered the Witch. ‘Listen! When you reach the bottom of the tree you will find yourself in a large hall; it is light there, for there are more than three hundred lamps burning. Then you will see three doors, which you can open–the keys are in the locks. If you go into the first room, you will see a great chest in the middle of the floor with a dog sitting upon it; he has eyes as large as saucers, but you needn’t trouble about him. I will give you my blue-check apron, which you must spread out on the floor, and then go back quickly and fetch the dog and set him upon it; open the chest and take as much money as you like. It is copper there. If you would rather have silver, you must go into the next room, where there is a dog with eyes as large as mill-wheels. But don’t take any notice of him; just set him upon my apron, and help yourself to the money. If you prefer gold, you can get that too, if you go into the third room, and as much as you like to carry. But the dog that guards the chest there has eyes as large as the Round Tower at Copenhagen! He is a savage dog, I can tell you; but you needn’t be afraid of him either. Only, put him on my apron and he won’t touch you, and you can take out of the chest as much gold as you like!’
‘Come, this is not bad!’ said the Soldier. ‘But what am I to give you, old Witch; for surely you are not going to do this for nothing?’
‘Yes, I am!’ replied the Witch. ‘Not a single farthing will I take! For me you shall bring nothing but an old tinder-box which my grandmother forgot last time she was down there.’
‘Well, tie the rope round my waist! ‘said the Soldier.
‘Here it is,’ said the Witch, ‘and here is my blue-check apron.’
Then the Soldier climbed up the tree, let himself down through the hole, and found himself standing, as the Witch had said, underground in the large hall, where the three hundred lamps were burning.
Well, he opened the first door. Ugh! there sat the dog with eyes as big as saucers glaring at him.
‘You are a fine fellow!’ said the Soldier, and put him on the Witch’s apron, took as much copper as his pockets could hold; then he shut the chest, put the dog on it again, and went into the second room. Sure enough there sat the dog with eyes as large as mill-wheels.
‘You had better not look at me so hard!’ said the Soldier. ‘Your eyes will come out of their sockets!’
And then he set the dog on the apron. When he saw all the silver in the chest, he threw away the copper he had taken, and filled his pockets and knapsack with nothing but silver.
Then he went into the third room. Horrors! the dog there had two eyes, each as large as the Round Tower at Copenhagen, spinning round in his head like wheels.
‘Good evening!’ said the Soldier and saluted, for he had never seen a dog like this before. But when he had examined him more closely, he thought to himself: ‘Now then, I’ve had enough of this!’ and put him down on the floor, and opened the chest. Heavens! what a heap of gold there was! With all that he could buy up the whole town, and all the sugar pigs, all the tin soldiers, whips and rocking-horses in the whole world. Now he threw away all the silver with which he had filled his pockets and knapsack, and filled them with gold instead–yes, all his pockets, his knapsack, cap and boots even, so that he could hardly walk. Now he was rich indeed. He put the dog back upon the chest, shut the door, and then called up through the tree:
‘Now pull me up again, old Witch!’
‘Have you got the tinder-box also?’ asked the Witch.
‘Botheration!’ said the Soldier, ‘I had clean forgotten it!’ And then he went back and fetched it.
The Witch pulled him up, and there he stood again on the high road, with pockets, knapsack, cap and boots filled with gold.
‘What do you want to do with the tinder-box?’ asked the Soldier.
‘That doesn’t matter to you,’ replied the Witch. ‘You have got your money, give me my tinder-box.’
‘We’ll see!’ said the Soldier. ‘Tell me at once what you want to do with it, or I will draw my sword, and cut off your head!’
‘No!’ screamed the Witch.
The Soldier immediately cut off her head. That was the end of her! But he tied up all his gold in her apron, slung it like a bundle over his shoulder, put the tinder-box in his pocket, and set out towards the town.
It was a splendid town! He turned into the finest inn, ordered the best chamber and his favourite dinner; for now that he had so much money he was really rich.
It certainly occurred to the servant who had to clean his boots that they were astonishingly old boots for such a rich lord. But that was because he had not yet bought new ones; next day he appeared in respectable boots and fine clothes. Now, instead of a common soldier he had become a noble lord, and the people told him about all the grand doings of the town and the King, and what a beautiful Princess his daughter was.
‘How can one get to see her?’ asked the Soldier.
‘She is never to be seen at all!’ they told him; ‘she lives in a great copper castle, surrounded by many walls and towers! No one except the King may go in or out, for it is prophesied that she will marry a common soldier, and the King cannot submit to that.’
‘I should very much like to see her,’ thought the Soldier; but he could not get permission.
Now he lived very gaily, went to the theatre, drove in the King’s garden, and gave the poor a great deal of money, which was very nice of him; he had experienced in former times how hard it is not to have a farthing in the world. Now he was rich, wore fine clothes, and made many friends, who all said that he was an excellent man, a real nobleman. And the Soldier liked that. But as he was always spending money, and never made any more, at last the day came when he had nothing left but two shillings, and he had to leave the beautiful rooms in which he had been living, and go into a little attic under the roof, and clean his own boots, and mend them with a darning-needle. None of his friends came to visit him there, for there were too many stairs to climb.
It was a dark evening, and he could not even buy a light. But all at once it flashed across him that there was a little end of tinder in the tinder-box, which he had taken from the hollow tree into which the Witch had helped him down. He found the box with the tinder in it; but just as he was kindling a light, and had struck a spark out of the tinder-box, the door burst open, and the dog with eyes as large as saucers, which he had seen down in the tree, stood before him and said:
‘What does my lord command?’
‘What’s the meaning of this?’ exclaimed the Soldier. ‘This is a pretty kind of tinder-box, if I can get whatever I want like this. Get me money!’ he cried to the dog, and hey, presto! he was off and back again, holding a great purse full of money in his mouth.
Now the Soldier knew what a wonderful tinder-box this was. If he rubbed once, the dog that sat on the chest of copper appeared; if he rubbed twice, there came the dog that watched over the silver chest; and if he rubbed three times, the one that guarded the gold appeared. Now, the Soldier went down again to his beautiful rooms, and appeared once more in splendid clothes. All his friends immediately recognised him again, and paid him great court.
One day he thought to himself: ‘It is very strange that no one can get to see the Princess. They all say she is very pretty, but what’s the use of that if she has to sit for ever in the great copper castle with all the towers? Can I not manage to see her somehow? Where is my tinder-box?’ and so he struck a spark, and, presto! there came the dog with eyes as large as saucers.
‘It is the middle of the night, I know,’ said the Soldier; ‘but I should very much like to see the Princess for a moment.’
The dog was already outside the door, and before the Soldier could look round, in he came with the Princess. She was lying asleep on the dog’s back, and was so beautiful that anyone could see she was a real Princess. The Soldier really could not refrain from kissing her–he was such a thorough Soldier. Then the dog ran back with the Princess. But when it was morning, and the King and Queen were drinking tea, the Princess said that the night before she had had such a strange dream about a dog and a Soldier: she had ridden on the dog’s back, and the Soldier had kissed her.
‘That is certainly a fine story,’ said the Queen. But the next night one of the ladies-in-waiting was to watch at the Princess’s bed, to see if it was only a dream, or if it had actually happened.
The Soldier had an overpowering longing to see the Princess again, and so the dog came in the middle of the night and fetched her, running as fast as he could. But the lady-in-waiting slipped on soft rubber shoes and followed them. When she saw them disappear into a large house, she thought to herself: ‘Now I know where it is; ‘and made a great cross on the door with a piece of chalk. Then she went home and lay down, and the dog came back also, with the Princess. But when he saw that a cross had been made on the door of the house where the Soldier lived, he took a piece of chalk also, and made crosses on all the doors in the town; and that was very clever, for now the lady-in-waiting could not find the right house, as there were crosses on all the doors.
Early next morning the King, Queen, ladies-in-waiting, and officers came out to see where the Princess had been.
‘There it is!’ said the King, when he saw the first door with a cross on it.
‘No, there it is, my dear!’ said the Queen, when she likewise saw a door with a cross.
‘But here is one, and there is another!’ they all exclaimed; wherever they looked there was a cross on the door. Then they realised that the sign would not help them at all.
But the Queen was an extremely clever woman, who could do a great deal more than just drive in a coach. She took her great golden scissors, cut up a piece of silk, and made a pretty little bag of it. This she filled with the grains of porridge oats, and tied it round the Princess’ neck; this done, she cut a little hole in the bag, so that the grains would strew the whole road wherever the Princess went.
In the night the dog came again, took the Princess on his back and ran away with her to the Soldier, who was very much in love with her, and would have liked to have been a Prince, so that he might have had her for his wife.
The dog did not notice how the grains were strewn right from the castle to the Soldier’s window, where he ran up the wall with the Princess.
In the morning the King and the Queen saw plainly where their daughter had been, and they took the Soldier and put him into prison.
There he sat. Oh, how dark and dull it was there! And they told him: ‘To-morrow you are to be hanged.’ Hearing that did not exactly cheer him, and he had left his tinder-box in the inn.
Next morning he could see through the iron grating in front of his little window how the people were hurrying out of the town to see him hanged. He heard the drums and saw the soldiers marching; all the people were running to and fro. Just below his window was a shoemaker’s apprentice, with leather apron and shoes; he was skipping along so merrily that one of his shoes flew off and fell against the wall, just where the Soldier was sitting peeping through the iron grating.
‘Oh, shoemaker’s boy, you needn’t be in such a hurry!’ said the Soldier to him. ‘There’s nothing going on till I arrive. But if you will run back to the house where I lived, and fetch me my tinder-box, I will give you four shillings. But you must put your best foot foremost.’
The shoemaker’s boy was very willing to earn four shillings, and fetched the tinder-box, gave it to the Soldier, and–yes–now you shall hear.
Outside the town a great scaffold had been erected, and all round were standing the soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of people. The King and Queen were sitting on a magnificent throne opposite the judges and the whole council.
The Soldier was already standing on the top of the ladder; but when they wanted to put the rope round his neck, he said that the fulfilment of one innocent request was always granted to a poor criminal before he underwent his punishment. He would so much like to smoke a small pipe of tobacco; it would be his last pipe in this world.
The King could not refuse him this, and so he took out his tinder-box, and rubbed it once, twice, three times. And lo, and behold I there stood all three dogs–the one with eyes as large as saucers, the second with eyes as large as mill-wheels, and the third with eyes each as large as the Round Tower of Copenhagen.
‘Help me now, so that I may not be hanged!’ cried the Soldier. And thereupon the dogs fell upon the judges and the whole council, seized some by the legs, others by the nose, and threw them so high into the air that they fell and were smashed into pieces.
‘I won’t stand this!’ said the King; but the largest dog seized him too, and the Queen as well, and threw them up after the others. This frightened the soldiers, and all the people cried: ‘Good Soldier, you shall be our King, and marry the beautiful Princess!’
Then they put the Soldier into the King’s coach, and the three dogs danced in front, crying ‘Hurrah!’ And the boys whistled and the soldiers presented arms.
The Princess came out of the copper castle, and became Queen; and that pleased her very much.
The wedding festivities lasted for eight days, and the dogs sat at table and made eyes at everyone.
The Swineherd - Свинопас
ONCE upon a time there lived a poor prince; his kingdom was very small, but it was large enough to enable him to marry, and marry he would. It was rather bold of him that he went and asked the emperor’s daughter: “Will you marry me?” but he dared to do so, for his name was known far and wide, and there were hundreds of princesses who would have gladly accepted him, but would she do so? Now we shall see.
On the grave of the prince’s father grew a rose-tree, the most beautiful of its kind. It bloomed only once in five years, and then it had only one single rose upon it, but what a rose! It had such a sweet scent that anyone who smelt it instantly forgot all sorrow and grief. He had also a nightingale, which could sing as if every sweet melody was in its throat. He wanted to give this rose and the nightingale to the princess; and therefore both were put into big silver cases and sent to her.
The emperor ordered them to be carried into the great hall where the princess was just playing “Visitors are coming” with her ladies-in-waiting; when she saw the large cases with the presents inside, she clapped her hands for joy.
‘If only it were a little pussy cat!’ she said. But the rose-tree with the beautiful rose came out.
“Oh, how nicely it is made,” exclaimed the ladies.
“It is more than nice,” said the emperor, “it is charming.”
The princess touched it and nearly began to cry.
‘Ugh! Papa,’ she said, ‘it is not artificial, it is REAL!’
‘Ugh!’ said all the ladies-in-waiting, ‘it is real!’
“Let us first see what the other case contains before we are angry,” said the emperor; then the nightingale was taken out, and it sang so beautifully that no one could possibly say anything unkind about it.
“Superbe, charmant,” said the ladies of the court, for they all prattled French, one worse than the other.
“How much the bird reminds me of the musical box of the late lamented empress,” said an old courtier, “it has exactly the same tone, the same execution.”
“You are right,” said the emperor, and began to cry like a little child.
“I hope it is not real,” said the princess.
“Yes, certainly it is real,” replied those who had brought the presents.
“Then let it fly,” said the princess, and refused to see the prince.
But the prince was not discouraged. He painted his face, put on common clothes, pulled his cap over his forehead, and came back.
“Good day, emperor,” he said, “could you not give me a job at the court?”
‘Yes,’ said the Emperor, ‘but there are so many who ask for a place that I don’t know whether there will be one for you; but, still, I will remember you. But wait a moment, it has just occurred to me that I need someone to look after my pigs, for I have so very many of them.’
Thus the prince was appointed imperial swineherd, and he lived in a wretchedly small room near the pigsty; there he worked all day long, and when it was night he made a pretty little pot. There were little bells round the rim, and when the water began to boil in it, the bells began to play the old tune:
“Ah Dear Augustine!
All is Gone, gone gone !”
But there was something even more wonderful than that. When you put a finger into the steam rising from the pot, you could at once smell what meals were cooking on every fire in the whole town. That was indeed much more remarkable than the rose. When the princess with her ladies passed by and heard the tune, she stopped and looked quite pleased, for she also could play it-in fact, it was the only tune she could play on the piano, and she played it with one finger.
“That is the tune I know,” she exclaimed. “He must be a well-educated swineherd. Go and ask him how much the instrument is.”
One of the ladies had to go and ask. Before she went into the muddy field, she put wooden clogs on her feet.
“What will you take for your pot?” asked the lady.
“I will have ten kisses from the princess,” said the swineherd.
“God forbid,” said the lady.
“Well, I cannot sell it for less,” replied the swineherd.
“What did he say?” said the princess.
“I really cannot tell you,” replied the lady.
“You can whisper it into my ear.”
“It is very naughty,” said the princess, and walked off.
But when she had gone a little distance, the bells rang again so sweetly:
“Ah! Dear Augstine !
All is gone, gone, Gone!”
“Ask him,” said the princess, “if he will be satisfied with ten kisses from one of my ladies.”
“No, thank you,” said the swineherd: “ten kisses from the princess, or I keep my pot.”
“That is tiresome,” said the princess. “But you must stand before me, so that nobody can see it.”
The ladies placed themselves in front of her and spread out their dresses, and she gave the swineherd ten kisses and received the pot.
That was a pleasure! Day and night the water in the pot was boiling; there was not a single fire in the whole town of which they did not know what was preparing on it, the chamberlain’s as well as the shoemaker’s. The ladies danced and clapped their hands for joy.
“We know who will eat soup and pancakes; we know who will eat porridge and cutlets; oh, how interesting!”
“Very interesting, indeed,” said the mistress of the household. “But you must not betray me, for I am the emperor’s daughter.”
“Of course not,” they all said.
The swineherd-that is to say, the prince-but they believed that he was a real swineherd-did not waste a single day without doing something; he made a rattle, which, when turned quickly round, played all the dance tunes known since the creation of the world.
“But that is superb,” said the princess passing by. “I have never heard a more beautiful sound. Go down and ask him what the musical instrument costs; but I shall not kiss him again.”
“He will have a hundred kisses from the princess,” said the lady, who had gone down to ask him.
“I believe he is mad,” said the princess, and walked off, but soon she stopped. “One must encourage art,” she said. “I am the emperor’s daughter! Tell him I will give him ten kisses, as I did the other day; the remainder one of my ladies can give him.”
“But we do not like to kiss him” said the ladies.
“That is nonsense,” said the princess; “if I can kiss him, you can also do it. Remember that I give you food and employment.” And the lady had to go down once more.
“A hundred kisses from the princess,” said the swineherd, “or everybody keeps his own.”
“Place yourselves before me,” said the princess then. They did as they were ordered, and the princess kissed him.
“I wonder what that crowd near the pigsty means!” said the emperor, who had just come out on his balcony. He rubbed his eyes and put his spectacles on.
“The ladies of the court are up to some mischief, I think. I shall have to go down and see.” He pulled up his shoes, for they were down at the heels, and he was very quick about it. When he had come down into the courtyard he walked quite softly, and the ladies were so busily engaged in counting the kisses, that all should be fair, that they did not notice the emperor. He raised himself on tiptoe.
“What does this mean?” he said, when he saw that his daughter was kissing the swineherd, and then hit their heads with his shoe just as the swineherd received the sixty-eighth kiss.
“Go out of my sight,” said the emperor, for he was very angry; and both the princess and the swineherd were banished from the empire. There she stood and cried, the swineherd scolded her, and the rain came down in torrents.
“Alas, unfortunate creature that I am!” said the princess, “I wish I had accepted the prince. Oh, how wretched I am!”
The swineherd went behind a tree, wiped his face, threw off his poor attire and stepped forth in his princely clothes; he looked so beautiful that the princess could not help bowing to him.
“I have now learnt to look down on you,” he said. “You refused an honest prince; you did not appreciate the rose and the nightingale; but you did not mind kissing a swineherd for his toys; you have no one but yourself to blame!”
And then he returned into his kingdom and left her behind. She could now sing at her leisure:
“Ah Dear Augustine!
All is Gone, gone gone !”
The Happy Family - Счастливая семья
Really, the largest green leaf in this country is a dockleaf; if one holds it before one, it is like a whole apron, and if one holds it over one"s head in rainy weather, it is almost as good as an umbrella, for it is so immensely large. The burdock never grows alone, but where there grows one there always grow several: it is a great delight, and all this delightfulness is snails" food. The great white snails which persons of quality in former times made fricassees of, ate, and said, "Hem, hem! how delicious!" for they thought it tasted so delicate--lived on dockleaves, and therefore burdock seeds were sown.
Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the mastery over them--it was a whole forest of burdocks. Here and there stood an apple and a plum-tree, or else one never would have thought that it was a garden; all was burdocks, and there lived the two last venerable old snails.
They themselves knew not how old they were, but they could remember very well that there had been many more; that they were of a family from foreign lands, and that for them and theirs the whole forest was planted. They had never been outside it, but they knew that there was still something more in the world, which was called the manor-house, and that there they were boiled, and then they became black, and were then placed on a silver dish; but what happened further they knew not; or, in fact, what it was to be boiled, and to lie on a silver dish, they could not possibly imagine; but it was said to be delightful, and particularly genteel. Neither the chafers, the toads, nor the earth-worms, whom they asked about it could give them any information--none of them had been boiled or laid on a silver dish.
The old white snails were the first persons of distinction in the world, that they knew; the forest was planted for their sake, and the manor-house was there that they might be boiled and laid on a silver dish.
"You must not scold him," said Mother Snail. "He creeps so carefully; he will afford us much pleasure--and we have nothing but him to live for! But have you not thought of it? Where shall we get a wife for him? Do you not think that there are some of our species at a great distance in the interior of the burdock forest?"
"Black snails, I dare say, there are enough of," said the old one. "Black snails without a house--but they are so common, and so conceited. But we might give the ants a commission to look out for us; they run to and fro as if they had something to do, and they certainly know of a wife for our little snail!"
"I know one, sure enough--the most charming one!" said one of the ants. "But I am afraid we shall hardly succeed, for she is a queen!"
"That is nothing!" said the old folks. "Has she a house?"
"She has a palace!" said the ant. "The finest ant"s palace, with seven hundred passages!"
"I thank you!" said Mother Snail. "Our son shall not go into an ant-hill; if you know nothing better than that, we shall give the commission to the white gnats. They fly far and wide, in rain and sunshine; they know the whole forest here, both within and without."
"We have a wife for him," said the gnats. "At a hundred human paces from here there sits a little snail in her house, on a gooseberry bush; she is quite lonely, and old enough to be married. It is only a hundred human paces!"
"Well, then, let her come to him!" said the old ones. "He has a whole forest of burdocks, she has only a bush!"
And so they went and fetched little Miss Snail. It was a whole week before she arrived; but therein was just the very best of it, for one could thus see that she was of the same species
Now they lived a very lonely and happy life; and as they had no children themselves, they had adopted a little common snail, which they brought up as their own; but the little one would not grow, for he was of a common family; but the old ones, especially Dame Mother Snail, thought they could observe how he increased in size, and she begged father, if he could not see it, that he would at least feel the little snail"s shell; and then he felt it, and found the good dame was right.
One day there was a heavy storm of rain.
"Hear how it beats like a drum on the dock-leaves!" said Father Snail.
"There are also rain-drops!" said Mother Snail. "And now the rain pours right down the stalk! You will see that it will be wet here! I am very happy to think that we have our good house, and the little one has his also! There is more done for us than for all other creatures, sure enough; but can you not see that we are folks of quality in the world? We are provided with a house from our birth, and the burdock forest is planted for our sakes! I should like to know how far it extends, and what there is outside!"
"There is nothing at all," said Father Snail. "No place can be better than ours, and I have nothing to wish for!"
"Yes," said the dame. "I would willingly go to the manorhouse, be boiled, and laid on a silver dish; all our forefathers have been treated so; there is something extraordinary in it, you may be sure!"
"The manor-house has most likely fallen to ruin!" said Father Snail. "Or the burdocks have grown up over it, so that they cannot come out. There need not, however, be any haste about that; but you are always in such a tremendous hurry, and the little one is beginning to be the same. Has he not been creeping up that stalk these three days? It gives me a headache when I look up to him!"
And then the marriage was celebrated. Six earth-worms shone as well as they could. In other respects the whole went off very quietly, for the old folks could not bear noise and merriment; but old Dame Snail made a brilliant speech. Father Snail could not speak, he was too much affected; and so they gave them as a dowry and inheritance, the whole forest of burdocks, and said--what they had always said--that it was the best in the world; and if they lived honestly and decently, and increased and multiplied, they and their children would once in the course of time come to the manor-house, be boiled black, and laid on silver dishes. After this speech was made, the old ones crept into their shells, and never more came out. They slept; the young couple governed in the forest, and had a numerous progeny, but they were never boiled, and never came on the silver dishes; so from this they concluded that the manor-house had fallen to ruins, and that all the men in the world were extinct; and as no one contradicted them, so, of course it was so. And the rain beat on the dock-leaves to make drum-music for their sake, and the sun shone in order to give the burdock forest a color for their sakes; and they were very happy, and the whole family was happy; for they, indeed were so.
Список произведений в архиве - List of Stories in the Archive
1. Foreword by Virginia Haviland
2. Introduction by Erik Christian Haugaard
3. The Tinderbox
4. Little Claus and Big Claus
5. The Princess and the Pea
6. Little Ida"s Flowers
7. Inchelina
8. The Naughty Boy
9. The Traveling Companion
10. The Little Mermaid
11. The Emperor"s New Clothes
12. The Magic Galoshes
13. The Daisy
14. The Steadfast Tin Soldier
15. The Wild Swans
16. The Garden of Eden
17. The Flying Trunk
18. The Storks
19. The Bronze Pig
20. The Pact of Friendship
21. A Rose From Homer"s Grave
22. The Sandman
23. The Rose Elf
24. The Swineherd
25. The Buckwheat
26. The Angel
27. The Nightingale
28. The Sweethearts
29. The Ugly Duckling
30. The Pine Tree
31. The Snow Queen
32. Mother Elderberry
33. The Darning Needle
34. The Bell
35. Grandmother
36. The Hill of the Elves
37. The Red Shoes
38. The Jumping Competition
39. The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep
40. Holger the Dane
41. The Little Match Girl
42. From the Ramparts of the Citadel
43. From a Window in Vartov
44. The Old Street Lamp
45. The Neighbors
46. Little Tuck
47. The Shadow
48. The Old House
49. A Drop of Water
50. The Happy Family
51. The Story of a Mother
52. The Collar
53. The Flax
54. The Bird Phoenix
55. A Story
56. The Silent Album
57. The Old Gravestone
58. There Is a Difference
59. The World"s Most Beautiful Rose
60. The Year"s Story
61. On the Last Day
62. It is Perfectly True!
63. The Swans" Nest
64. A Happy Disposition
65. Grief
66. Everything in its Right Place
67. The Pixy and the Grocer
68. The Millennium
69. Under the Willow Tree
70. Five Peas From the Same Pod
71. A Leaf From Heaven
72. She was no Good
73. The Last Pearl
74. The Two Maidens
75. The Uttermost Parts of the Sea
76. The Piggy Bank
77. Ib and Little Christina
78. Clod Hans
79. The Thorny Path
80. The Servant
81. The Bottle
82. The Philosopher"s Stone
83. How to Cook Soup Upon a Sausage Pin
84. The Pepperman"s Nightcap
85. Something
86. The Old Oak Tree"s Last Dream
87. The Talisman
88. The Bog King"s Daughter
89. The Winners
90. The Bell Deep
91. The Evil King
92. What the Wind Told About Valdemar Daae and
93. H
is Daughters
94. The Girl Who Stepped on Bread
95. The Watchman of the Tower
96. Anne Lisbeth
97. Children"s Prattle
98. A String of Pearls
99. The Pen and the Inkwell
100. The Dead Child
101. The Cock and the Weathercock
102. Lovely"
103. A Story from the Dunes
104. The Puppeteer
105. The Two Brothers
106. The Old Church Bell
107. The Twelve Passengers
108. The Dung Beetle
109. What Father Does is Always Right
110. The Snowman
111. In the Duckyard
112. The Muse of the Twentieth Century
113. The Ice Maiden
114. The Butterfly
115. Psyche
116. The Snail and the Rosebush
117. `The Will-O"-The-Wisps Are in Town, Said the
Bog Witch
118. The Windmill
119. The Silver Shilling
120. The Bishop of Børglum Cloister and his Kinsmen
121. In the Children"s Room
122. The Golden Treasure
123. How the Storm Changed the Signs
124. The Teapot
125. The Songbird of the People
126. The Little Green Ones
127. The Pixy and the Gardener"s Wife
128. Peiter, Peter, and Peer
129. Hidden But Not Forgotten
130. The Janitor"s Son
131. Moving Day
132. The Snowdrop
133. Auntie
134. The Toad
135. Godfather"s Picture Book
136. The Rags
137. The Two Islands
138. Who Was The Happiest?
139. The Wood Nymph
140. The Family of Hen-Grethe
141. The Adventures of a Thistle
142. A Question of Imagination
143. Luck Can Be Found in a Stick
144. The Comet
145. The Days of the Week
146. The Sunshine"s Story
147. Great-Grandfather
148. The Candles
149. The Most Incredible
150. What the Whole Family Said
151. Dance, Dance, Dolly Mine!
152. It is you the Fable is About
153. The Great Sea Serpent
154. The Gardener and His Master
155. The Professor and the Flea
156. The Story Old Johanna Told
157. The Front Door Key
158. The Cripple
159. Auntie Toothache
160. Translator"s Note
161. Author"s Preface and Notes
The Tinder Box (с переводом)
There came a soldier marching down the high road-one, two! one, two! He had his knapsack on his back and his sword at his side as he came home from the wars. On the road he met a witch, an ugly old witch, a witch whose lower lip dangled right down on her chest.
«Good evening, soldier,» she said. «What a fine sword you’ve got there, and what a big knapsack. Aren’t you every inch a soldier! And now you shall have money, as much as you please.»
«That’s very kind, you old witch,» said the soldier.
«See that big tree.» The witch pointed to one near by them. «It’s hollow to the roots. Climb to the top of the trunk and you’ll find a hole through which you can let yourself down deep under the tree. I’ll tie a rope around your middle, so that when you call me I can pull you up again.»
«What would I do deep down under that tree?» the soldier wanted to know.
«Fetch money,» the witch said. «Listen. When you touch bottom you’ll find yourself in a great hall. It is very bright there, because more than a hundred lamps are burning. By their light you will see three doors. Each door has a key in it, so you can open them all.
«If you walk into the first room, you’ll see a large chest in the middle of the floor. On it sits a dog, and his eyes are as big as saucers. But don’t worry about that. I’ll give you my blue checked apron to spread out on the floor. Snatch up that dog and set him on my apron. Then you can open the chest and take out as many pieces of money as you please. They are all copper.
«But if silver suits you better, then go into the next room. There sits a dog and his eyes are as big as mill wheels. But don’t you care about that. Set the dog on my apron while you line your pockets with silver.
«Maybe you’d rather have gold. You can, you know. You can have all the gold you can carry if you go into the third room. The only hitch is that there on the money-chest sits a dog, and each of his eyes is as big as the Round Tower of Copenhagen. That’s the sort of dog he is. But never you mind how fierce he looks. Just set him on my apron and he’ll do you no harm as you help yourself from the chest to all the gold you want.»
«That suits me,» said the soldier. «But what do you get out of all this, you old witch? I suppose that you want your share.»
«No indeed,» said the witch. «I don’t want a penny of it. All I ask is for you to fetch me an old tinder box that my grandmother forgot the last time she was down there.»
«Good,» said the soldier. «Tie the rope around me.»
«Here it is,» said the witch, «and here’s my blue checked apron.»
The soldier climbed up to the hole in the tree and let himself slide through it, feet foremost down into the great hall where the hundreds of lamps were burning, just as the witch had said. Now he threw open the first door he came to. Ugh! There sat a dog glaring at him with eyes as big as saucers.
«You’re a nice fellow,» the soldier said, as he shifted him to the witch’s apron and took all the coppers that his pockets would hold. He shut up the chest, set the dog back on it, and made for the second room. Alas and alack! There sat the dog with eyes as big as mill wheels.
«Don’t you look at me like that.» The soldier set him on the witch’s apron. «You’re apt to strain your eyesight.» When he saw the chest brimful of silver, he threw away all his coppers and filled both his pockets and knapsack with silver alone. Then he went into the third room. Oh, what a horrible sight to see! The dog in there really did have eyes as big as the Round Tower, and when he rolled them they spun like wheels.
«Good evening,» the soldier said, and saluted, for such a dog he had never seen before. But on second glance he thought to himself, «This won’t do.» So he lifted the dog down to the floor, and threw open the chest. What a sight! Here was gold and to spare. He could buy out all Copenhagen with it. He could buy all the cake-woman’s sugar pigs, and all the tin soldiers, whips, and rocking horses there are in the world. Yes, there was really money!
In short order the soldier got rid of all the silver coins he had stuffed in his pockets and knapsack, to put gold in their place. Yes sir, he crammed all his pockets, his knapsack, his cap, and his boots so full that he scarcely could walk. Now he was made of money. Putting the dog back on the chest he banged out the door and called up through the hollow tree:
«Pull me up now, you old witch.»
«Have you got the tinder box?» asked the witch.
«Confound the tinder box,» the soldier shouted. «I clean forgot it.»
When he fetched it, the witch hauled him up. There he stood on the highroad again, with his pockets, boots, knapsack and cap full of gold.
«What do you want with the tinder box?» he asked the old witch.
«None of your business,» she told him. «You’ve had your money, so hand over my tinder box.»
«Nonsense,» said the soldier. «I’ll take out my sword and I’ll cut your head off if you don’t tell me at once what you want with it.»
«I won’t,» the witch screamed at him.
So he cut her head off. There she lay! But he tied all his money in her apron, slung it over his shoulder, stuck the tinder box in his pocket, and struck out for town.
It was a splendid town. He took the best rooms at the best inn, and ordered all the good things he liked to eat, for he was a rich man now because he had so much money. The servant who cleaned his boots may have thought them remarkably well worn for a man of such means, but that was before he went shopping. Next morning he bought boots worthy of him, and the best clothes. Now that he had turned out to be such a fashionable gentleman, people told him all about the splendors of their town-all about their King, and what a pretty Princess he had for a daughter.
«Where can I see her?» the soldier inquired.
«You can’t see her at all,» everyone said. «She lives in a great copper castle inside all sorts of walls and towers. Only the King can come in or go out of it, for it’s been foretold that the Princess will marry a common soldier. The King would much rather she didn’t.»
«I’d like to see her just the same,» the soldier thought. But there was no way to manage it,
Now he lived a merry life. He went to the theatre, drove about in the
King’s garden, and gave away money to poor people. This was to his credit, for he remembered from the old days what it feels like to go without a penny in your pocket. Now that he was wealthy and well dressed, he had all too many who called him their friend and a genuine gentleman. That pleased him
But he spent money every day without making any, and wound up with only two coppers to his name. He had to quit his fine quarters to live in a garret, clean his own boots, and mend them himself with a darning needle. None of his friends came to see him, because there were too many stairs to climb.
One evening when he sat in the dark without even enough money to buy a candle, he suddenly remembered there was a candle end in the tinder box that he had picked up when the witch sent him down the hollow tree. He got out the tinder box, and the moment he struck sparks from the flint of it his door burst open and there stood a dog from down under the tree. It was the one with eyes as big as saucers.
«What,» said the dog, «is my lord’s command?»
«What’s this?» said the soldier. «Have I got the sort of tinder box that will get me whatever I want? Go get me some money,» he ordered the dog. Zip! The dog was gone. Zip! He was back again, with a bag full of copper in his mouth.
Now the soldier knew what a remarkable tinder box he had. Strike it once and there was the dog from the chest of copper coins. Strike it twice and here came the dog who had the silver. Three times brought the dog who guarded gold.
Back went the soldier to his comfortable quarters. Out strode the soldier in fashionable clothes. Immediately his friends knew him again, because they liked him so much.
Then the thought occurred to him, «Isn’t it odd that no one ever gets to see the Princess? They say she’s very pretty, but what’s the good of it as long as she stays locked up in that large copper castle with so many towers? Why can’t I see her? Where’s my tinder box?» He struck a light and, zip! came the dog with eyes as big as saucers.
«It certainly is late,» said the soldier. «Practically midnight. But I do want a glimpse of the Princess, if only for a moment.»
Out the door went the dog, and before the soldier could believe it, here came the dog with the Princess on his back. She was sound asleep, and so pretty that everyone could see she was a Princess. The soldier couldn’t keep from kissing her, because he was every inch a soldier. Then the dog took the Princess home.
Next morning when the King and Queen were drinking their tea, the Princess told them about the strange dream she’d had-all about a dog and a soldier. She’d ridden on the dog’s back, and the soldier had kissed her.
«Now that was a fine story,» said the Queen. The next night one of the old ladies of the court was under orders to sit by the Princess’s bed, and see whether this was a dream or something else altogether. The soldier was longing to see the pretty Princess again, so the dog came by night to take her up and away as fast as he could run. But the old lady pulled on her storm boots and ran right after them. When she saw them disappear into a large house she thought, «Now I know where it is,» and drew a big cross on the door with a piece of chalk. Then she went home to bed, and before long the dog brought the Princess home too. But when the dog saw that cross marked on the soldier’s front door, he got himself a piece of chalk and cross-marked every door in the town. This was a clever thing to do, because now the old lady couldn’
tell the right door from all the wrong doors he had marked.
Early in the morning along came the King and the Queen, the old lady, and all the officers, to see where the Princess had been.
«Here it is,» said the King when he saw the first cross mark.
«No, my dear. There it is,» said the Queen who was looking next door.
«Here’s one, there’s one, and yonder’s another one!» said they all. Wherever they looked they saw chalk marks, so they gave up searching.
The Queen, though, was an uncommonly clever woman, who could do more than ride in a coach. She took her big gold scissors, cut out a piece of silk, and made a neat little bag. She filled it with fine buckwheat flour and tied it on to the Princess’s back. Then she pricked a little hole in it so that the flour would sift out along the way, wherever the Princess might go.
Again the dog came in the night, took the Princess on his back, and ran with her to the soldier, who loved her so much that he would have been glad to be a Prince just so he could make his wife.
The dog didn’t notice how the flour made a trail from the castle right up to the soldier’s window, where he ran up the wall with the Princess. So in the morning it was all too plain to the King and Queen just where their daughter had been.
They took the soldier and they put him in prison. There he sat. It was dark, and it was dismal, and they told him, «Tomorrow is the day for you to hang.» That didn’t cheer him up any, and as for his tinder box he’d left it behind at the inn. In the morning he could see through his narrow little window how the people all hurried out of town to see him hanged. He heard the drums beat and he saw the soldiers march. In the crowd of running people he saw a shoemaker’s boy in a leather apron and slippers. The boy galloped so fast that off flew one slipper, which hit the wall right where the soldier pressed his face to the iron bars.
«Hey there, you shoemaker’s boy, there’s no hurry,» the soldier shouted. «Nothing can happen till I get there. But if you run to where I live and bring me my tinder box, I’ll give you four coppers. Put your best foot foremost.»
The shoemaker’s boy could use four coppers, so he rushed the tinder box to the soldier, and-well, now we shall hear what happened!
Outside the town a high gallows had been built. Around it stood soldiers and many hundred thousand people. The King and Queen sat on a splendid throne, opposite the judge and the whole council. The soldier already stood upon the ladder, but just as they were about to put the rope around his neck he said the custom was to grant a poor criminal one last small favor. He wanted to smoke a pipe of tobacco-the last he’d be smoking in this world.
The King couldn’t refuse him, so the soldier struck fire from his tinder box, once-twice-and a third time. Zip! There stood all the dogs, one with eyes as big as saucers, one with eyes as big as mill wheels, one with eyes as big as the Round Tower of Copenhagen.
«Help me. Save me from hanging!» said the soldier. Those dogs took the judges and all the council, some by the leg and some by the nose, and tossed them so high that they came down broken to bits.
«Don’t!» cried the King, but the biggest dog took him and the Queen too, and tossed them up after the others. Then the soldiers trembled and the people shouted, «Soldier, be our King and marry the pretty Princess.»
So they put the soldier in the King’s carriage. All three of his dogs danced in front of it, and shouted «Hurrah!» The boys whistled through their fingers, and the soldiers saluted. The Princess came out of the copper castle to be Queen, and that suited her exactly. The wedding lasted all of a week, and the three dogs sat at the table, with their eyes opened wider than ever before.
Огниво
Шел солдат по дороге: раз-два! раз-два! Ранец за спиной, сабля на боку; он шел домой с войны. На дороге встретилась ему старая ведьма - безобразная, противная: нижняя губа висела у нее до самой груди.
- Здорово, служивый! - сказала она. - Какая у тебя славная сабля! А ранец-то какой большой! Вот бравый солдат! Ну сейчас ты получишь денег, сколько твоей душе угодно.
- Спасибо, старая ведьма! - сказал солдат.
- Видишь вон то старое дерево? - сказала ведьма, показывая на дерево, которое стояло неподалеку. - Оно внутри пустое. Влезь наверх, там будет дупло, ты и спустись в него, в самый низ! А перед тем я обвяжу тебя веревкой вокруг пояса, ты мне крикни, и я тебя вытащу.
- Зачем мне туда лезть? - спросил солдат.
- За деньгами! - сказала ведьма. - Знай, что когда ты доберешься до самого низа, то увидишь большой подземный ход; в нем горит больше сотни ламп, и там совсем светло. Ты увидишь три двери; можешь отворить их, ключи торчат снаружи. Войди в первую комнату; посреди комнаты увидишь большой сундук, а на нем собаку: глаза у нее, словно чайные чашки! Но ты не бойся! Я дам тебе свой синий клетчатый передник, расстели его на полу, а сам живо подойди и схвати собаку, посади ее на передник, открой сундук и бери из него денег вволю. В этом сундуке одни медяки; захочешь серебра - ступай в другую комнату; там сидит собака с глазами, как мельничные колеса! Но ты не пугайся: сажай ее на передник и бери себе денежки. А захочешь, так достанешь и золота, сколько сможешь унести; пойди только в третью комнату. Но у собаки, что сидит там на деревянном сундуке, глаза - каждый с круглую башню. Вот это собака! Злющая-презлющая! Но ты ее не бойся: посади на мой передник, и она тебя не тронет, а ты бери себе золота, сколько хочешь!
- Оно бы недурно! - сказал солдат. - Но что ты с меня за это возьмешь, старая ведьма? Ведь что-нибудь да тебе от меня нужно?
- Я не возьму с тебя ни полушки! - сказала ведьма. - Только принеси мне старое огниво, его позабыла там моя бабушка, когда спускалась в последний раз.
- Ну, обвязывай меня веревкой! - приказал солдат.
- Готово! - сказала ведьма. - А вот и мой синий клетчатый передник! Солдат влез на дерево, спустился в дупло и очутился, как сказала ведьма, в большом проходе, где горели сотни ламп.
Вот он открыл первую дверь. Ох! Там сидела собака с глазами, как чайные чашки, и таращилась на солдата.
- Вот так молодец! - сказал солдат, посадил пса на ведьмин передник и набрал полный карман медных денег, потом закрыл сундук, опять посадил на него собаку и отправился в другую комнату. Ай-ай! Там сидела собака с глазами, как мельничные колеса.
- Нечего тебе таращиться на меня, глаза заболят! - сказал солдат и посадил собаку на ведьмин передник. Увидев в сундуке огромную кучу серебра, он выбросил все медяки и набил оба кармана и ранец серебром. Затем солдат пошел в третью комнату. Фу ты пропасть! У этой собаки глаза были ни дать ни взять две круглые башни и вертелись, точно колеса.
- Мое почтение! - сказал солдат и взял под козырек. Такой собаки он еще не видывал.
Долго смотреть на нее он, впрочем, не стал, а взял да и посадил на передник и открыл сундук. Батюшки! Сколько тут было золота! Он мог бы купить на него весь Копенгаген, всех сахарных поросят у торговки сластями, всех оловянных солдатиков, всех деревянных лошадок и все кнутики на свете! На все хватило бы! Солдат повыбросил из карманов и ранца серебряные деньги и так набил карманы, ранец, шапку и сапоги золотом, что еле-еле мог двигаться. Ну, наконец-то он был с деньгами! Собаку он опять посадил на сундук, потом захлопнул дверь, поднял голову и закричал:
- Тащи меня, старая ведьма!
- Огниво взял? - спросила ведьма.
- Ах черт, чуть не забыл! - сказал солдат, пошел и взял огниво.
Ведьма вытащила его наверх, и он опять очутился на дороге, только теперь и карманы его, и сапоги, и ранец, и фуражка были набиты золотом.
- Зачем тебе это огниво? - спросил солдат.
- Не твое дело! - ответила ведьма. - Получил деньги, и хватит с тебя! Ну, отдай огниво!
- Как бы не так! - сказал солдат. - Сейчас же говори, зачем тебе оно, не то вытащу саблю да отрублю тебе голову.
- Не скажу! - уперлась ведьма.
Солдат взял и отрубил ей голову. Ведьма повалилась мертвая, а он завязал все деньги в ее передник, взвалил узел на спину, сунул огниво в карман и зашагал прямо в город.
Город был чудесный; солдат остановился на самом дорогом постоялом дворе, занял самые лучшие комнаты и потребовал все свои любимые блюда - теперь ведь он был богачом!
Слуга, который чистил приезжим обувь, удивился, что у такого богатого господина такие плохие сапоги, но солдат еще не успел обзавестись новыми. Зато на другой день он купил себе и хорошие сапоги и богатое платье. Теперь солдат стал настоящим барином, и ему рассказали обо всех чудесах, какие были тут, в городе, и о короле, и о его прелестной дочери, принцессе.
- Как бы ее увидать? - спросил солдат.
- Этого никак нельзя! - сказали ему. - Она живет в огромном медном замке, за высокими стенами с башнями. Никто, кроме самого короля, не смеет ни войти туда, ни выйти оттуда, потому что королю предсказали, будто дочь его выйдет замуж за простого солдата, а короли этого не любят!
«Вот бы на нее поглядеть!» - подумал солдат.
Да кто бы ему позволил?!
Теперь-то он зажил весело: ходил в театры, ездил кататься в королевский сад и много помогал бедным. И хорошо делал: он ведь по себе знал, как плохо сидеть без гроша в кармане! Теперь он был богат, прекрасно одевался и приобрел очень много друзей; все они называли его славным малым, настоящим кавалером, а ему это очень нравилось. Так он все тратил да тратил деньги, а вновь-то взять было неоткуда, и осталось у него в конце концов всего-навсего две денежки! Пришлось перебраться из хороших комнат в крошечную каморку под самой крышей, самому чистить себе сап
ги и даже латать их; никто из друзей не навещал его, - уж очень высоко было к нему подниматься!
Раз как-то, вечером, сидел солдат в своей каморке; совсем уже стемнело, и вспомнил про маленький огарочек в огниве, которое взял в подземелье, куда спускала его ведьма. Солдат достал огниво и огарок, но стоило ему ударить по кремню, как дверь распахнулась, и перед ним очутилась собака с глазами, точно чайные чашки, та самая, которую он видел в подземелье.
- Что угодно, господин? - пролаяла она.
- Вот так история! - сказал солдат. - Огниво-то, выходит, прелюбопытная вещица: я могу получить все, что захочу! Эй ты, добудь мне деньжонок! - сказал он собаке. Раз - ее уж и след простыл, два - она опять тут как тут, а в зубах у нее большой кошель, набитый медью! Тут солдат понял, что за чудное у него огниво. Ударишь по кремню раз - является собака, которая сидела на сундуке с медными деньгами; ударишь два - является та, которая сидела на серебре; ударишь три - прибегает собака, что сидела на золоте.
Солдат опять перебрался в хорошие комнаты, стал ходить в щегольском платье, и все его друзья сейчас же узнали его и ужасно полюбили.
Вот ему и приди в голову: «Как это глупо, что нельзя видеть принцессу. Такая красавица, говорят, а что толку? Ведь она век свой сидит в медном замке, за высокими стенами с башнями. Неужели мне так и не удастся поглядеть на нее хоть одним глазком? Ну-ка, где мое огниво?» И он ударил по кремню раз - в тот же миг перед ним стояла собака с глазами, точно чайные чашки.
- Теперь, правда, уже ночь, - сказал солдат.- Но мне до смерти захотелось увидеть принцессу, хоть на одну минуточку!
Собака сейчас же за дверь, и не успел солдат опомниться, как она явилась с принцессой. Принцесса сидела у собаки на спине и спала. Она была чудо как хороша; всякий сразу бы увидел, что это настоящая принцесса, и солдат не утерпел и поцеловал ее, - он ведь был бравый воин, настоящий солдат.
Собака отнесла принцессу назад, и за утренним чаем принцесса рассказала королю с королевой, какой она видела сегодня ночью удивительный сон про собаку и солдата: будто она ехала верхом на собаке, а солдат поцеловал ее.
- Вот так история! - сказала королева.
И на следующую ночь к постели принцессы приставили старуху фрейлину - она должна была разузнать, был ли то в самом деле сон или что другое.
А солдату опять до смерти захотелось увидеть прелестную принцессу. И вот ночью опять явилась собака, схватила принцессу и помчалась с ней во всю прыть, но старуха фрейлина надела непромокаемые сапоги и пустилась вдогонку. Увидав, что собака скрылась с принцессой в одном большом доме, фрейлина подумала: «Теперь я знаю, где их найти!»взяла кусок мела, поставила на воротах дома крест и отправилась домой спать. Но собака, когда понесла принцессу назад, увидала этот крест, тоже взяла кусок мела и наставила крестов на всех воротах в городе. Это было ловко придумано: теперь фрейлина не могла отыскать нужные ворота- повсюду белели кресты.
Рано утром король с королевой, старуха фрейлина и все офицеры пошли посмотреть, куда это ездила принцесса ночью.
- Вот куда! - сказал король, увидев первые ворота с крестом.
- Нет, вот куда, муженек! - возразила королева, заметив крест на других воротах.
- Да и здесь крест и здесь! - зашумели другие, увидев кресты на всех воротах. Тут все поняли, что толку им не добиться.
Но королева была женщина умная, умела не только в каретах разъезжать. Взяла она большие золотые ножницы, изрезала на лоскутки штуку шелковой материи, сшила крошечный хорошенький мешочек, насыпала в него мелкой гречневой крупы, привязала его на спину принцессе и потом прорезала в мешочке дырочку, чтобы крупа могла сыпаться на дорогу, по которой ездила принцесса.
Ночью собака явилась опять, посадила принцессу на спину и понесла к солдату; солдат так полюбил принцессу, что начал жалеть, отчего он не принц, - так хотелось ему жениться на ней. Собака и не заметила, что крупа сыпалась за нею по всей дороге, от самого дворца до окна солдата, куда она прыгнула с принцессой. Поутру король и королева сразу узнали, куда ездила принцесса, и солдата посадили в тюрьму.
Как там было темно и скучно! Засадили его туда и сказали: «Завтра утром тебя повесят!» Очень было невесело услышать это, а огниво свое он позабыл дома, на постоялом дворе.
Утром солдат подошел к маленькому окошку и стал смотреть сквозь железную решетку на улицу: народ толпами валил за город смотреть, как будут вешать солдата; били барабаны, проходили полки. Все спешили, бежали бегом. Бежал и мальчишка-сапожник в кожаном переднике и туфлях. Он мчался вприпрыжку, и одна туфля слетела у него с ноги и ударилась прямо о стену, у которой стоял солдат и глядел в окошко.
- Эй ты, куда торопишься! - сказал мальчику солдат. - Без меня ведь дело не обойдется! А вот, если сбегаешь туда, где я жил, за моим огнивом, получишь четыре монеты. Только живо!
Мальчишка был не прочь получить четыре монеты, он стрелой пустился за огнивом, отдал его солдату и… А вот теперь послушаем!
За городом построили огромную виселицу, вокруг стояли солдаты и сотни тысяч народу. Король и королева сидели на роскошном троне прямо против судей и всего королевского совета.
Солдат уже стоял на лестнице, и ему собирались накинуть веревку на шею, но он сказал, что, прежде чем казнить преступника, всегда исполняют какое-нибудь его желание. А ему бы очень хотелось выкурить трубочку,- это ведь будет последняя его трубочка на этом свете!
Король не посмел отказать в этой просьбе, и солдат вытащил свое огниво. Ударил по кремню раз, два, три - и перед ним предстали все три собаки: собака с глазами, как чайные чашки, собака с глазами, как мельничные колеса, и собака с глазами, как круглая башня.
- А ну помогите мне избавиться от петли!- приказал солдат.
И собаки бросились на судей и на весь королевский совет: того за ноги, того за нос да кверху на несколько сажен, и все падали и разбивались вдребезги!
- Не надо! - закричал король, но самая большая собака схватила его вместе с королевой и подбросила их вверх вслед за другими. Тогда солдаты испугались, а весь народ закричал:
- Служивый, будь нашим королем и возьми за себя прекрасную принцессу!
Солдата посадили в королевскую карету, и все три собаки танцевали перед ней и кричали «ура». Мальчишки свистели, засунув пальцы в рот, солдаты отдавали честь. Принцесса вышла из своего медного замка и сделалась королевой, чем была очень довольна. Свадебный пир продолжался целую неделю; собаки тоже сидели за столом и таращили глаза.
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