精彩的童话故事像一棵棵美丽的圣诞树,吸引着无数孩子如痴如醉地去阅读，下面这些是小编为大家推荐的几篇英语童话故事短文带翻译
英语童话故事短文带翻译：THE DARNING-NEEDLE
THERE was once a darning-needle who thought herself so fine that she fancied she must be fitfor embroidery. "Hold me tight," she would say to the fingers, when they took her up, "don'tlet me fall; if you do I shall never be found again, I am so very fine." "That is your opinion, isit?" said the fingers, as they seized her round the body. "See, I am coming with a train," saidthe darning-
needle, drawing a long thread after her; but there was no knot in the fingers then placed the point of the needle against the cook's slipper. There was a crack inthe upper leather, which had to be sewn together. "What coarse work!" said the darning-needle, "I shall never get through. I shall break!- I am breaking!" and sure enough she broke. "Did I not say so?" said the darning-needle, "I know I am too fine for such work as that." "Thisneedle is quite useless for sewing now," said the fingers; but they still held it fast, and the cookdropped some sealing-wax on the needle, and fastened her handkerchief with it in front. "Sonow I am a breast-pin," said the darning-needle; "I knew very well I should come to honorsome day: merit is sure to rise;" and she laughed, quietly to herself, for of course no one eversaw a darning-
needle laugh. And there she sat as proudly as if she were in a state coach, andlooked all around her. "May I be allowed to ask if you are made of gold?" she inquired of herneighbor, a pin; "you have a very pretty appearance, and a curious head, although you arerather small. You must take pains to grow, for it is not every one who has sealing
-wax droppedupon him;" and as she spoke, the darning-needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell outof the handkerchief right into the sink, which the cook was cleaning. "Now I am going on ajourney," said the needle, as she floated away with the dirty water, "I do hope I shall not belost." But she really was lost in a gutter. "I am too fine for this world," said the darning-needle, as she lay in the gutter; "but I know who I am, and that is always some comfort." Sothe darning-needle kept up her proud behavior, and did not lose her good humor. Then therefloated over her all sorts of things,-
chips and straws, and pieces of old newspaper. "See howthey sail," said the darning-needle; "they do not know what is under them. I am here, and hereI shall stick. See, there goes a chip, thinking of nothing in the world but himself-
only a e's a straw going by now; how he turns and twists about! Don't be thinking too much ofyourself, or you may chance to run against a stone. There swims a piece of newspaper; what iswritten upon it has been forgotten long ago, and yet it gives itself airs. I sit here patiently andquietly. I know who I am, so I shall not move." One day something lying close to the darning-
needle glittered so splendidly that she thought it was a diamond; yet it was only a piece ofbroken bottle. The darning-needle spoke to it, because it sparkled, and represented herself asa breast-pin. "I suppose you are really a diamond?" she said. "Why yes, something of thekind," he replied; and so each believed the other to be very valuable, and then they began totalk about the world, and the conceited people in it. "I have been in a lady's work-box," saidthe darning-needle, "and this lady was the cook. She had on each hand five fingers, andanything so conceited as these five fingers I have never seen; and yet they were onlyemployed to take me out of the box and to put me back again." "Were they not high-born?" "High-born!" said the darning-needle, "no indeed, but so haughty. They were five brothers, allborn fingers; they kept very proudly together, though they were of different lengths. The onewho stood first in the rank was named the thumb, he was short and thick, and had only onejoint in his back, and could therefore make but one bow; but he said that if he were cut offfrom a man's hand, that man would be unfit for a soldier. Sweet-
tooth, his neighbor, dippedhimself into sweet or sour, pointed to the sun and moon, and formed the letters when thefingers wrote. Longman, the middle finger, looked over the heads of all the others. Gold-
band,the next finger, wore a golden circle round his waist. And little Playman did nothing at all, andseemed proud of it. They were boasters, and boasters they will remain; and therefore I leftthem." "And now we sit here and glitter," said the piece of broken bottle. At the same momentmore water streamed into the gutter, so that it overflowed, and the piece of bottle was carriedaway. "So he is promoted," said the darning-needle, "while I remain here; I am too fine, butthat is my pride, and what do I care?" And so she sat there in her pride, and had many suchthoughts as these,- "I could almost fancy that I came from a sunbeam, I am so fine. It seemsas if the sunbeams were always looking for me under the water. Ah! I am so fine that even mymother cannot find me. Had I still my old eye, which was broken off, I believe I should weep;but no, I would not do that, it is not genteel to cry." One day a couple of street boys werepaddling in the gutter, for they sometimes found old nails, farthings, and other treasures. Itwas dirty work, but they took great pleasure in it. "Hallo!" cried one, as he pricked himself withthe darning-needle, "here's a fellow for you." "I am not a fellow, I am a young lady," said thedarning-needle; but no one heard her. The sealing-wax had come off, and she was quite black;but black makes a person look slender, so she thought herself even finer than before. "Herecomes an egg-shell sailing along," said one of the boys; so they stuck the darning-needle intothe egg-shell. "White walls, and I am black myself," said the darning-needle, "that looks well;now I can be seen, but I hope I shall not be sea-sick, or I shall break again." She was not sea-sick, and she did not break.
"It is a good thing against sea-
sickness to have a steel stomach,and not to forget one's own importance. Now my sea-sickness has past: delicate people canbear a great deal." Crack went the egg-shell, as a waggon passed over it. "Good heavens, howit crushes!" said the darning-needle. "I shall be sick now. I am breaking!" but she did notbreak, though the waggon went over her as she lay at full length; and there let her lie.
织布针
从前有一根织补衣服的针。作为一根织补针来说，她倒还算细巧，因此她就想像自己是一根绣花针。“请你们注意你们现在拿着的这东西吧!”她对那几个取她出来的手指说。“你们不要把我失掉!我一落到地上去，你们就决不会找到我的，因为我是那么细呀!”“细就细好了，”手指说。它们把她拦腰紧紧地捏住。“你们看，我还带着随从啦!”她说。她后面拖着一根长线，不过线上并没有打结。
手指正把这根针钉着女厨子的一只拖鞋，因为拖鞋的皮面裂开了，需要缝一下。“这是一件庸俗的工作，”织补针说。“我怎么也不愿钻进去。我要折断!我要折断了!”——於是她真的折断了。“我不是说过吗?”织补针说，“我是非常细的呀!”
手指想：她现在没有甚么用了。不过它们仍然不愿意放弃她，因为女厨子在针头上滴了一点封蜡，同时把她别在一块手帕上。“现在我成为一根领针(註：领针(brystnaal)是一种装饰*?，穿西装时插在领带上;针头上一般镶有一颗珍珠。)了!”织补针说。“我早就知道我会得到光荣的：一个不平凡的人总会得到一个不平凡的地位!”
於是她心里笑了——当一根织补针在笑的时候，人们是没有办法看到她的外部表情的。她别在那儿，显得很骄傲，好像她是坐在轿车里，左顾右盼似的。“请准许我问一声：您是金子做的吗?”她问她旁边的一根别针。“你有一张非常好看的面孔，一个自己的头脑——只是小了一点。你得使它再长大一点才成，因为封蜡并不会滴到每根针头上的呀。”
织补针很骄傲地挺起身子，结果弄得自己从手帕上落下来了，一直落到厨子正在沖洗的污水沟里去了。“现在我要去旅行了，”织补针说。“我只希望我不要迷了路!”
不过她却迷了路。“就这个世界说来，我是太细了，”她来到了排水沟的时候说。“不过我知道我的身份，而这也算是一点小小的安慰!”
所以织补针继续保持着她骄傲的态度，同时也不失掉她得意的心情。许多不同的东西在她身上浮过去了：菜屑啦，草叶啦，旧报纸碎片啦。“请看它们游得多么快!”织补针说。“它们不知道它们下面还有一件甚么东西!我就在这儿，我坚定地坐在这儿!看吧，一根棍子浮过来了，它以为世界上除了棍子以外再也没有甚么别的东西。它就是这样一个傢伙!一根草浮过来了。你看它扭着腰肢和转动的那副样儿!不要以为自己了不起吧，你很容易撞到一块石头上去呀!一张破报纸游过来了!它上面印着的东西早已被人家忘记了，但是它仍然铺张开来，神气十足。我有耐心地、静静地坐在这儿。我知道我是谁，我永远保持住我的本来面目!”
有一天她旁边躺着一件甚么东西。这东西射出美丽的光彩。织补针认为它是一颗金刚钻。不过事实上它是一个瓶子的碎片。因为它发出亮光，所以织补针就跟它讲话，把自己介绍成为一根领针。“我想你是一颗钻石吧?”她说。“嗯，对啦，是这类东西。”
於是双方就相信自己都是价值很高的物件。他们开始谈论，说世上的人一般都是觉得自己非常了不起。“我曾经在一位小姐的匣子里住过，”织补针说，“这位小姐是一个厨子。她每只手上有五个指头。我从来没有看到像这五个指头那样骄傲的东西，不过他们的作用只是拿着我，把我从匣子里取出来和放进去罢了。”“他们也能射出光彩来吗?”瓶子的碎片问。“光彩!”织补针说，“甚么也没有，不过自以为了不起罢了。他们是五个兄弟，都属於手指这个家族。他们互相标榜，虽然他们是长短不齐：最前面的一个是”笨摸“(註：”笨摸“、”餂罐“、”长人“、”金火“和”比尔——玩朋友“，是丹麦孩子对五个指头所起的绰号。大拇指摸东西不灵活，所以叫做”笨摸“;二指常常代替吞头伸到果酱罐里去餂东西吃，所以叫”餂罐“;四指因为戴戒指，所以看起来像有一道金火;小指叫做”比尔——玩朋友“，因为它甚么用也没有。)，又短又肥。他走在最前列，他的背上只有一个节，因此他只能同时鞠一个躬;不过他说，假如他从一个人身上砍掉的话，这人就不够资格服兵役了。第二个指头叫做”餂罐“，他伸到酸东西和甜东西里面去，他指着太阳和月亮;当大家在写字的时候，他握着笔。第三个指头是”长人“，他伸在别人的头上看东西。第四个指头是”金火“，他腰间围着一条金带子。最小的那个是”比尔——玩朋友“，他甚么事也不做，而自己还因此感到骄傲呢。他们甚么也不做，只是吹牛，因此我才到排水沟里来了!”“这要算是升级!”瓶子的碎片说。
这时有更多的水沖进排水沟里来了，漫得遍地都是，结果把瓶子的碎片沖走了。“瞧，他倒是升级了!”织补针说。“但是我还坐在这儿，我是那么细。不过我也正因此感到骄傲，而且也很光荣!”於是她骄傲地坐在那儿，发出了许多感想。“我差不多要相信我是从日光里出生的了，因为我是那么细呀!我觉得日光老是到水底下来寻找我。啊!我是这么细，连我的母亲都找不到我了。如果我的老针眼没有断了的话，我想我是要哭出来的——但是我不能这样做：哭不是一桩文雅的事情!”
有一天几个野孩子在排水沟里找东西——他们有时在这里能够找到旧钉、铜板和类似的物件。这是一件很髒的工作，不过他们却非常欣赏这类的事儿。“哎哟!”一个孩子说，因为他被织补针刺了一下，“原来是你这个傢伙!”“我不是一个傢伙，我是一位年轻小姐啦!”织补针说。可是谁也不理她。她身上的那滴封蜡早已没有了，全身已经变得漆黑。不过黑颜色能使人变得苗条，因此她相信她比以前更细嫩。“瞧，一个蛋壳起来了!”孩子们说。他们把织补针插到蛋壳上面。“四周的墙是白色的，而我是黑色的!这倒配得很好!”织补针说。“现在谁都可以看到我了。——我只希望我不要晕船才好，因为这样我就会折断的!”不过她一点也不会晕船，而且也没有折断。“一个人有钢做的肚皮，是不怕晕船的，同时还不要忘记，我和一个普通人比起来，是更高一招的。我现在一点毛病也没有。一个人越纤细，他能受得住的东西就越多。”“砰!”这时蛋壳忽然裂开了，因为一辆载重车正在它上面碾过去。“我的天，它把我碾得真厉害!”织补针说。“我现在有点晕船了——我要折断了!我要折断了!”
虽然那辆载重车在她身上碾过去了，她并没有折断。她直直地躺在那儿——而且她尽可以一直在那儿躺下去。
英语童话故事短文带翻译：THE DAISY
Now listen! In the country, close by the high road, stood a farmhouse; perhaps you have passedby and seen it yourself. There was a little flower garden with painted wooden palings in front ofit; close by was a ditch, on its fresh green bank grew a little daisy; the sun shone as warmly andbrightly upon it as on the magnificent garden flowers, and therefore it thrived well. Onemorning it had quite opened, and its little snow-white petals stood round the yellow centre, likethe rays of the sun. It did not mind that nobody saw it in the grass, and that it was a poordespised flower; on the contrary, it was quite happy, and turned towards the sun, lookingupward and listening to the song of the lark high up in the air. The little daisy was as happy asif the day had been a great holiday, but it was only Monday. All the children were at school, andwhile they were sitting on the forms and learning their lessons, it sat on its thin green stalkand learnt from the sun and from its surroundings how kind God is, and it rejoiced that thesong of the little lark expressed so sweetly and distinctly its own feelings. With a sort ofreverence the daisy looked up to the bird that could fly and sing, but it did not feel envious. "I can see and hear," it thought; "the sun shines upon me, and the forest kisses me. How rich Iam!" In the garden close by grew many large and magnificent flowers, and, strange to say, theless fragrance they had the haughtier and prouder they were. The peonies puffed themselvesup in order to be larger than the roses, but size is not everything! The tulips had the finestcolours, and they knew it well, too, for they were standing bolt upright like candles, that onemight see them the better. In their pride they did not see the little daisy, which looked over tothem and thought, "How rich and beautiful they are! I am sure the pretty bird will fly down andcall upon them. Thank God, that I stand so near and can at least see all the splendour." Andwhile the daisy was still thinking, the lark came flying down, crying "Tweet," but not to thepeonies and tulips-
no, into the grass to the poor daisy. Its joy was so great that it did not knowwhat to think. The little bird hopped round it and sang, "How beautifully soft the grass is, andwhat a lovely little flower with its golden heart and silver dress is growing here." The yellowcentre in the daisy did indeed look like gold, while the little petals shone as brightly as happy the daisy was! No one has the least idea. The bird kissed it with its beak, sang to it,and then rose again up to the blue sky. It was certainly more than a quarter of an hour beforethe daisy recovered its senses. Half ashamed, yet glad at heart, it looked over to the otherflowers in the garden; surely they had witnessed its pleasure and the honour that had beendone to it; they understood its joy. But the tulips stood more stiffly than ever, their faces werepointed and red, because they were vexed. The peonies were sulky; it was well that they couldnot speak, otherwise they would have given the daisy a good lecture. The little flower could verywell see that they were ill at ease, and pitied them sincerely. Shortly after this a girl came intothe garden, with a large sharp knife. She went to the tulips and began cutting them off, oneafter another. "Ugh!" sighed the daisy, "that is terrible; now they are done for." The girl carriedthe tulips away. The daisy was glad that it was outside, and only a small flower-
it felt verygrateful. At sunset it folded its petals, and fell asleep, and dreamt all night of the sun and thelittle bird. On the following morning, when the flower once more stretched forth its tenderpetals, like little arms, towards the air and light, the daisy recognised the bird's voice, but whatit sang sounded so sad. Indeed the poor bird had good reason to be sad, for it had been caughtand put into a cage close by the open window. It sang of the happy days when it could merrilyfly about, of fresh green corn in the fields, and of the time when it could soar almost up to theclouds. The poor lark was most unhappy as a prisoner in a cage.
The little daisy would haveliked so much to help it, but what could be done? Indeed, that was very difficult for such asmall flower to find out. It entirely forgot how beautiful everything around it was, how warmlythe sun was shining, and how splendidly white its own petals were. It could only think of thepoor captive bird, for which it could do nothing. Then two little boys came out of the garden;one of them had a large sharp knife, like that with which the girl had cut the tulips. They camestraight towards the little daisy, which could not understand what they wanted. "Here is a finepiece of turf for the lark," said one of the boys, and began to cut out a square round the daisy,so that it remained in the centre of the grass. "Pluck the flower off" said the other boy, and thedaisy trembled for fear, for to be pulled off meant death to it; and it wished so much to live, asit was to go with the square of turf into the poor captive lark's cage. "No let it stay," said theother boy, "it looks so pretty". And so it stayed, and was brought into the lark's cage. The poorbird was lamenting its lost liberty, and beating its wings against the wires; and the little daisycould not speak or utter a consoling word, much as it would have liked to do so.
So theforenoon passed. "I have no water," said the captive lark, "they have all gone out, and forgottento give me anything to drink. My throat is dry and burning. I feel as if I had fire and ice withinme, and the air is so oppressive. Alas! I must die, and part with the warm sunshine, the freshgreen meadows, and all the beauty that God has created." And it thrust its beak into the pieceof grass, to refresh itself a little. Then it noticed the little daisy, and nodded to it, and kissed itwith its beak and said: "You must also fade in here, poor little flower. You and the piece of grassare all they have given me in exchange for the whole world, which I enjoyed outside.
Each littleblade of grass shall be a green tree for me, each of your white petals a fragrant flower. Alas!you only remind me of what I have lost." "I wish I could console the poor lark," thought thedaisy. It could not move one of its leaves, but the fragrance of its delicate petals streamedforth, and was much stronger than such flowers usually have: the bird noticed it, although itwas dying with thirst, and in its pain tore up the green blades of grass, but did not touch theflower. The evening came, and nobody appeared to bring the poor bird a drop of water; itopened its beautiful wings, and fluttered about in its anguish; a faint and mournful "Tweet,tweet," was all it could utter, then it bent its little head towards the flower, and its heart brokefor want and longing. The flower could not, as on the previous evening, fold up its petals andsleep; it dropped sorrowfully. The boys only came the next morning; when they saw the deadbird, they began to cry bitterly, dug a nice grave for it, and adorned it with flowers. The bird'sbody was placed in a pretty red box; they wished to bury it with royal honours. While it wasalive and sang they forgot it, and let it suffer want in the cage; now, they cried over it andcovered it with flowers. The piece of turf, with the little daisy in it, was thrown out on the dustyhighway. Nobody thought of the flower which had felt so much for the bird and had so greatlydesired to comfort it.
雏菊
在乡间的一条大路旁边，有一座别墅。你一定看见过的!别墅前面有一个种满了花的小花园和一排涂了油漆的栅栏。在这附近的一条沟里，一丛美丽的绿草中长着一棵小小的雏菊。太阳温暖地、光明地照着它，正如太阳照着花园里那些大朵的美丽的花儿一样。因此它时时刻刻都在不停地生长。有一天早晨，它的花盛开;它的光亮的小小的花瓣，围绕一个金黄色的太阳的中心撒开来，简直像一圈光带。它从来没有想到，因为它生在草里，人们不会看到它，所以它要算是一种可怜的、卑微的小花。不，它却是非常高兴，它把头掉向太阳，瞧着太阳，静听百灵鸟在高空唱歌。
小雏菊是那么快乐，好象这是一个伟大的节日似的。事实上这不过是星期一，小孩子都上学去了。当他们正坐在凳子上学习的时候，它就坐在它的小绿梗上向温暖的阳光、向周围的一切东西，学习了上帝的仁慈。雏菊觉得它在寂静中感受到的一切，都被百灵鸟高声地、美妙地唱出来了。于是雏菊怀着尊敬的心情像着这只能唱能飞的、幸福的鸟儿凝望，不过，它并不因为自己不能唱歌和飞翔就感到悲哀。
“我能看，也能听，”它想。“太阳照着我，风吻着我。啊，我真是天生的幸运!”
栅栏里面长着许多骄傲的名花——它们的香气越少，就越装模做样。牡丹尽量扩张，想要开得比玫瑰花还大，可是问题并不在于庞大。郁金香的颜色最华丽，它们也知道这个特点，所以它们就特别立得挺直，好叫人能更清楚地看到它们。它心里想：“它们是多么富丽堂皇啊!是的，美丽的鸟儿一定会飞向它们，拜访它们!感谢上帝!我离它们那么近，我能有机会欣赏它们!”正当它正在这样想的时候，“滴丽”——百灵鸟飞下来了，但是他没有飞到牡丹或郁金香上面去——不，他却飞到了草丛里微贱的小雏菊身边来了。雏菊快乐得惊惶起来，真是不知怎么办才好。
这只小鸟在它的周围跳着舞，唱着歌：
“啊，草是多么柔软!请看，这是一朵多么甜蜜的小花儿——它的心是金子，它的衣服是银子!”
雏菊的黄心看起来也的确像金子;它周围的小花瓣白得像银子。
谁也体会不到，小雏菊心里感到多么幸福!百灵鸟用嘴来吻它，对它唱一阵歌，又向蓝色的空中飞去。足足过了一刻钟以后，雏菊才清醒过来。它怀着一种羞怯而又快乐的心情，向花园里的花儿望了一眼。它们一定看见过它所得到的光荣和幸福，它们一定懂得这是多么愉快的事情。可是郁金香仍然像以前那样骄傲;它们的面孔也仍然很刻板和发红，因为它们在自寻烦恼。牡丹花也是头脑不清楚，唉，幸而它们不会讲话，否则雏菊就会挨一顿痛骂。这棵可怜的小花看得很清楚，它们的情绪都不好，这使得它感到苦恼。正在这时候，有一个女孩子拿着一把明晃晃的刀子到花园里来了。她一直走到郁金香中间去，把它们一棵一棵地都砍掉了。
“唉，”小雏菊叹了口气，“这真是可怕。它们现在一切都完了。”
女孩子拿起郁金香走了。雏菊很高兴，自己生在草里，是一棵寒微的小花。它感到很幸运。当太阳落下去以后，它就卷起花瓣，睡着了，它一整夜梦着太阳和那只美丽的小鸟。
第二天早晨，当这花儿向空气和阳光又张开它小手臂般的小白花瓣的时候，它听到了百灵鸟的声音;不过他今天唱得非常悲哀。是的，可怜的百灵鸟是有理由感到悲哀的;他被捕去了。他现在被关在敞开窗子旁边的一个笼子里。他歌唱着自由自在的、幸福的飞翔，他歌唱这田里嫩绿的麦田，他歌唱这他在高空中快乐的飞行。可怜的百灵鸟的心情真是坏极了，因为他是坐在牢笼里的一个囚徒。
小雏菊真希望能够帮助他。不过，它怎么才能办得到呢?是的，要想出一个办法来真不太容易。它现在也忘记了周围的一切景物是多么美丽，太阳普照这多么温暖，它自己的花瓣白得多么可爱。啊!它心中只想着关在牢笼里的雀子，只感到自己一点办法也没有。
这时候有两个男孩子从花园里走出来。有一个男孩子手里拿着一把又大又快的刀子——跟那个女孩子砍掉郁金香的那把刀子差不多。他们一直向小雏菊走来——它一点也猜不到他们的用意。
“我们可以在这儿为百灵鸟挖一快很好的草皮。”一个小孩子说。于是他就在雏菊周围挖了一块四四方方的草皮，使雏菊仍然恰好留在草的中间。
“拔掉这朵花吧”另一个孩子说。
雏菊害怕得发抖来，因为如果它被拔掉，它就会死去的。它现在特别需要活下去，因为它要跟草皮一道到被囚的百灵鸟那儿去。
“不，留下它吧”，头一个孩子说，“它可以作为一种装饰品。”
这么着，它就被留下来了，而且还来到百灵鸟的笼子里去了。
不过这只可怜的鸟儿一直在为失去了自由而啼哭，他用翅膀打着牢笼的铁柱。小雏菊说不出话来，它找不出半个字眼来安慰百灵鸟——虽然它很愿意这么做。一整个上午就这样过去了。
“这儿没有水喝，”被囚禁的百灵鸟说。“大家都出去了，一滴水也没有留给我喝。我的喉咙在发干，在发焦。我身体里像有火，有像有冰，而且空气有非常沉闷，啊，我要死了!我要离开温暖的太阳、新鲜的绿草和上帝所创造的一切美景!”
于是他把嘴伸进清凉的草皮去，希望尝到一点凉味。这时他发现了雏菊，于是对它点头，用嘴来吻它，同时说：
“你也只好在这儿枯萎下去了——你这可怜的小花儿!他们把你和跟你生长在一起的这一小块绿草送给我，来代替我在外面的那整个世界!对于我来说，现在每根草就是一株绿树，你的每片白花瓣就是一朵芬芳的花!啊，你使我记起，我丧失了真不知多少东西!”
“我希望我能安慰他一下!”小雏菊想。
但是它连一片花瓣都不能动。不过它精致的花瓣所发出的香气，比它平时所发出的香气要强烈得多。百灵鸟也注意到了这一点，所以虽然他渴得要昏倒，他只是吃力地啄着草叶，而不愿意动这棵花。
天已经黑了，还没有人来送一滴水给这只可怜的鸟儿。他展开美丽的翅膀，痉挛地拍着。他的歌声变成了悲哀的尖叫，他的小头向雏菊垂下来——百灵鸟的心在悲哀和渴望中碎裂了。雏菊再也不像前天晚上那样又把花瓣合上睡一觉。它的心很难过，它的身体病了，它的头倒在土上。
小孩子在第二天早晨才走过来。当他们看见雀子死了的时候，他们都哭起来——哭出许多眼泪。他们为百灵鸟掘了一个平整的坟墓，并且用花瓣把他装饰了一番。百灵鸟的尸体躺在一个美丽的红匣子里，因为他们要为他——可怜的鸟儿——举行一个隆重的葬礼。在他活着能唱歌的时候，人们忘记他，让他坐在牢笼里受苦受难;现在他却得到了尊荣和许多眼泪!
可是那块草皮连带着雏菊被扔到路上的灰尘里去了。谁也没有想到它，而最关心百灵鸟、最愿意安慰他的，却正是雏菊。
英语童话故事短文带翻译：THE CONCEITED APPLE-BRANCH
IT was the month of May. The wind still blew cold; but from bush and tree, field and flower,came the welcome sound, “Spring is come.” Wild-flowers in profusion covered the r the little apple-tree, Spring seemed busy, and told his tale from one of the brancheswhich hung fresh and blooming, and covered with delicate pink blossoms that were just readyto open. The branch well knew how beautiful it was; this knowledge exists as much in the leafas in the blood; I was therefore not surprised when a nobleman’s carriage, in which sat theyoung countess, stopped in the road just by. She said that an apple-branch was a most lovelyobject, and an emblem of spring in its most charming aspect. Then the branch was broken offfor her, and she held it in her delicate hand, and sheltered it with her silk parasol. Then theydrove to the castle, in which were lofty halls and splendid drawing-rooms. Pure white curtainsfluttered before the open windows, and beautiful flowers stood in shining, transparent vases;and in one of them, which looked as if it had been cut out of newly fallen snow, the apple-branch was placed, among some fresh, light twigs of beech. It was a charming sight. Then thebranch became proud, which was very much like human nature.
People of every description entered the room, and, according to their position in society, sodared they to express their admiration. Some few said nothing, others expressed too much,and the apple-branch very soon got to understand that there was as much difference in thecharacters of human beings as in those of plants and flowers. Some are all for pomp andparade, others have a great deal to do to maintain their own importance, while the rest mightbe spared without much loss to society. So thought the apple-branch, as he stood before theopen window, from which he could see out over gardens and fields, where there were flowersand plants enough for him to think and reflect upon; some rich and beautiful, some poor andhumble indeed.
“Poor, despised herbs,” said the apple-branch; “there is really a difference between themand such as I am. How unhappy they must be, if they can feel as those in my position do!There is a difference indeed, and so there ought to be, or we should all be equals.”
And the apple-branch looked with a sort of pity upon them, especially on a certain littleflower that is found in fields and in ditches. No one bound these flowers together in a nosegay;they were too common; they were even known to grow between the paving-stones, shooting upeverywhere, like bad weeds; and they bore the very ugly name of “dog-flowers” or “dandelions.”
“Poor, despised plants,” said the apple-bough, “it is not your fault that you are so ugly, andthat you have such an ugly name; but it is with plants as with men,—there must be adifference.”
“A difference!” cried the sunbeam, as he kissed the blooming apple-branch, and thenkissed the yellow dandelion out in the fields. All were brothers, and the sunbeam kissed them—the poor flowers as well as the rich.
The apple-bough had never thought of the boundless love of God, which extends over allthe works of creation, over everything which lives, and moves, and has its being in Him; he hadnever thought of the good and beautiful which are so often hidden, but can never remainforgotten by Him,—not only among the lower creation, but also among men. The sunbeam, theray of light, knew better.
“You do not see very far, nor very clearly,” he said to the apple-branch. “Which is thedespised plant you so specially pity?”
“The dandelion,” he replied.
“No one ever places it in a nosegay; it is often trodden underfoot, there are so many of them; and when they run to seed, they have flowers like wool, whichfly away in little pieces over the roads, and cling to the dresses of the people. They are onlyweeds; but of course there must be weeds. O, I am really very thankful that I was not made likeone of these flowers.”
There came presently across the fields a whole group of children, the youngest of whom wasso small that it had to be carried by the others; and when he was seated on the grass, amongthe yellow flowers, he laughed aloud with joy, kicked out his little legs, rolled about, plucked theyellow flowers, and kissed them in childlike innocence. The elder children broke off the flowerswith long stems, bent the stalks one round the other, to form links, and made first a chain forthe neck, then one to go across the shoulders, and hang down to the waist, and at last awreath to wear round the head, so that they looked quite splendid in their garlands of greenstems and golden flowers. But the eldest among them gathered carefully the faded flowers, onthe stem of which was grouped together the seed, in the form of a white feathery e loose, airy wool-flowers are very beautiful, and look like fine snowy feathers or down. Thechildren held them to their mouths, and tried to blow away the whole coronal with one puff ofthe breath. They had been told by their grandmothers that who ever did so would be sure tohave new clothes before the end of the year. The despised flower was by this raised to theposition of a prophet or foreteller of events.
“Do you see,” said the sunbeam, “do you see the beauty of these flowers? do you see theirpowers of giving pleasure?”
“Yes, to children,” said the apple-bough.
By-and-by an old woman came into the field, and, with a blunt knife without a handle,began to dig round the roots of some of the dandelion-plants, and pull them up. With some ofthese she intended to make tea for herself; but the rest she was going to sell to the chemist,and obtain some money.
“But beauty is of higher value than all this,” said the apple-tree branch;
“only the chosenones can be admitted into the realms of the beautiful. There is a difference between plants, justas there is a difference between men.”
Then the sunbeam spoke of the boundless love of God, as seen in creation, and over allthat lives, and of the equal distribution of His gifts, both in time and in eternity.
“That is your opinion,” said the apple-bough.
Then some people came into the room, and, among them, the young countess,—the ladywho had placed the apple-bough in the transparent vase, so pleasantly beneath the rays of thesunlight. She carried in her hand something that seemed like a flower. The object was hiddenby two or three great leaves, which covered it like a shield, so that no draught or gust of windcould injure it, and it was carried more carefully than the apple-branch had ever been. Verycautiously the large leaves were removed, and there appeared the feathery seed-crown of thedespised dandelion. This was what the lady had so carefully plucked, and carried home so safelycovered, so that not one of the delicate feathery arrows of which its mist-like shape was solightly formed, should flutter away. She now drew it forth quite uninjured, and wondered at itsbeautiful form, and airy lightness, and singular construction, so soon to be blown away bythe wind.
“See,” she exclaimed, “how wonderfully God has made this little flower. I will paint it withthe apple-branch together. Every one admires the beauty of the apple-bough; but this humbleflower has been endowed by Heaven with another kind of loveliness; and although they differ inappearance, both are the children of the realms of beauty.”
Then the sunbeam kissed the lowly flower, and he kissed the blooming apple-branch,upon whose leaves appeared a rosy blush.
自负的苹果树枝
那正是五月。风吹来仍然很冷;但是灌木和大树，田野和草原，都说春天已经到来了。处处都开满了花，一直开到灌木丛组成的篱笆上。春天就在这儿讲它的故事。它在一棵小苹果树上讲——这棵树有一根鲜艳的绿枝：它上面布满了粉红色的、细嫩的、随时就要开放的花苞。它知道它是多么美丽——它这种先天的知识深藏在它的叶子里，好像是流在血液里一样。因此当一位贵族的车子在它面前的路上停下来的时候，当年轻的伯爵夫人说这根柔枝是世界上最美丽的东西、是春天最美丽的表现的时候，它一点也不感到惊奇。接着这枝子就被折断了。她把它握在柔嫩的手里，并且还用绸阳伞替它遮住太阳。他们回到他们华贵的公馆里来。这里面有许多高大的厅堂和美丽的房间。洁白的窗帘在敞着的窗子上迎风飘荡;好看的花儿在透明的、发光的花瓶里面亭亭地立着。有一个花瓶简直像是新下的雪所雕成的。这根苹果枝就插在它里面几根新鲜的山毛榉枝子中间。看它一眼都使人感到愉快。
这根枝子变得骄傲气来;这也是人之常情。
各色各样的人走过这房间。他们可以根据自己的身份来表示他们的赞赏。有些人一句话也不讲;有些人却又讲得太多。苹果枝子知道，在人类中间，正如在植物中间一样，也存在着区别。
“有些东西是为了好看;有些东西是为了实用;但是也有些东西却是完全没有用，”苹果树枝想。
正因为它是被放在一个敞着的窗子面前，同时又因为它从这儿可以看到花园和田野，因此它有许多花儿和植物供它思索和考虑。植物中有富贵的，也有贫贱的——有的简直是太贫贱了。
“可怜没有人理的植物啊!”苹果枝说。“一切东西的确都有区别!如果这些植物也能像我和我一类的那些东西那样有感觉，它们一定会感到多么不愉快啊。一切东西的确有区别，而且的确也应该如此，否则大家就都是一样的了!”
苹果枝对某些花儿——像田里和沟里丛生的那些花儿——特别表示出怜悯的样子。谁也不把他们扎成花束。它们是太普通了，人们甚至在铺地石中间都可以看得到。它们像野草一样，在什么地方都冒出来，而且它们连名字都很丑，叫做什么“魔鬼的奶桶”(注：即蒲公英，因为它折断后可以冒出像牛奶似的白浆。)。
“可怜被人瞧不起的植物啊!”苹果枝说。“你们的这种处境，你们的平凡，你们所得到的这些丑名字，也不能怪你们自己!在植物中间，正如在人类中间一样，一切都有个区别啦!”
“区别?”阳光说。它吻着这盛开的苹果枝，但是它也吻着田野里的那些黄色的“魔鬼的奶桶”。阳光的所有弟兄们都吻着它们——吻着下贱的花，也吻着富贵的花。
苹果枝从来就没想到，造物主对一切活着和动着的东西都一样给以无限的慈爱。它从来没有想到，美和善的东西可能会被掩盖住了，但是并没有被忘记——这也是合乎人情的。
太阳光——明亮的光线——知道得更清楚：
“你的眼光看得不远，你的眼光看得不清楚!你特别怜悯的、没有人理的植物，是哪些植物呢?”
“魔鬼的奶桶!”苹果枝说。“人们从来不把它扎成花束。人们把它踩在脚底下，因为它们长得太多了。当它们在结子的时候，它们就像小片的羊毛，在路上到处乱飞，还附在人的衣上。它们不过是野草罢了!——它们也只能是野草!啊，我真要谢天谢地，我不是它们这类植物中的一种!”
从田野那儿来了一大群孩子。他们中最小的一个是那么小，还要别的孩子抱着他。当他被放到这些黄花中间的时候，他乐得大笑起来。他的小腿踢着，遍地打滚。他只摘下这种黄花，同时天真烂漫地吻着它们。那些较大的孩子把这些黄花从空梗子上折下来，并且把这根梗子插到那根梗子上，一串一串地联成链子。他们先做一个项链，然后又做一个挂在肩上的链子，一个系在腰间的链子，一个悬在胸脯上的链子，一个戴在头上的链子。这真成了绿环子和绿链子的展览会。但是那几个大孩子当心地摘下那些落了花的梗子——它们结着以白绒球的形式出现的果实。这松散的、缥缈的绒球，本身就是一件小小的完整的艺术品;它看起来像羽毛、雪花和茸毛。他们把它放在嘴面前，想要一口气把整朵的花球吹走，因为祖母曾经说过：谁能够这样做，谁就可以在新年到来以前得到一套新衣。
所以在这种情况下，这朵被瞧不起的花就成了一个真正的预言家。
“你看到没有?”太阳光说。“你看到它的美没有?你看到它的力量没有?”
“看到了，它只能和孩子在一道时是这样!”苹果枝说。
这时有一个老太婆到田野里来了。她用一把没有柄的钝刀子在这花的周围挖着，把它从土里取出来。她打算把一部分的根子用来煮咖啡吃;把另一部分拿到一个药材店里当做药用。
“不过美是一种更高级的东西呀!”苹果枝说。“只有少数特殊的人才可以走进美的王国。植物与植物之间是有区别的，正如人与人之间有区别一样。”
于是太阳光就谈到造物主对于一切造物和有生命的东西的无限的爱，和对于一切东西永恒公平合理的分配。
“是的，这不过是你的看法!”苹果枝说。
这时有人走进房间里来了。那位美丽年轻的伯爵夫人也来了——把苹果枝插在透明的花瓶中，放在太阳光里的人就是她。她手里拿着一朵花——或者一件类似花的东西。这东西被三四片大叶子掩住了：它们像一顶帽子似地在它的周围保护着，使微风或者大风都伤害不到它。它被小心翼翼地端在手中，那根娇嫩的苹果枝从来也没受过这样的待遇。
那几片大叶子现在轻轻地被挪开了。人们可以看到那个被人瞧不起的黄色“魔鬼的奶桶”的柔嫩的白绒球!这就是它!她那么小心地把它摘下来!她那么谨慎地把这带回家，好使那个云雾一般的圆球上的细嫩柔毛不致被风吹散。她把它保护得非常完整。她赞美它漂亮的形态，它透明的外表，它特殊的构造，和它不可捉摸的、被风一吹即散的美。
“看吧，造物主把它创造得多么可爱!”她说。“我要把这根苹果枝画下来。大家现在都觉得它非凡地漂亮，不过这朵微贱的花儿，以另一种方式也从上天得到了同样多的恩惠。虽然它们两者都有区别，但它们都是美的王国中的孩子。”
于是太阳光吻了这微贱的花儿，也吻了这开满了花的苹果枝——它的花瓣似乎泛出了一阵难为情的绯红。