英语短篇小说欣赏-Little Girls Wiser than Men
Little Girls Wiser than MenIt was an early Easter. Sledging was only just over; snow still lay in the
yards; and water ran in streams down the village street. Two little girls from
different houses happened to meet in a lane between twohomesteads, where the
dirty water after running through the farmyards had formed a large puddle. One
girl was very small, the other a little bigger.
Their mothers had dressed them both in new frocks. The little one wore a
blue frock the other a yellow print, and both had red kerchiefs on their
heads.
They had just come from church when they met, and first they showed each
other their finery, and then they began to play. Soon the fancy took them to
splash about in the water, and the smaller one was going to step into the
puddle, shoes and all, when the elder checked her:
“Don’t go in so, Malasha,” said she, “your mother will scold you. I will
take off my shoes and stockings, and you take off yours.”
They did so, and then, picking up their skirts, began walking towards each
other through the puddle. The water came up to Malasha’s ankles, and she
said:
“It is deep, Akoulya, I’m afraid!”
“Come on,” replied the other. “Don’t be frightened. It won’t get any
deeper.”
When they got near one another, Akoulya said:
“Mind, Malasha, don’t splash. Walk carefully!”
She had hardly said this, when Malasha plumped down her foot so that the
water splashed right on to Akoulya’s frock. The frock was splashed, and so were
Akoulya’s eyes and nose. When she saw the stains on her frock, she was angry and
ran after Malasha to strike her. Malasha was frightened, and seeing that she had
got herself into trouble, she scrambled out of the puddle, and prepared to run
home. Just then Akoulya’s mother happened to be passing, and seeing that her
daughter’s skirt was splashed, and her sleeves dirty, she said:
“You naughty, dirty girl, what have you been doing?”
“Malasha did it on purpose,” replied the girl.
At this Akoulya’s mother seized Malasha, and struck her on the back of her
neck. Malasha began to howl so that she could be heard all down the street.
Her mother came out.
“What are you beating my girl for?” said she; and began scolding her
neighbor. One word led to another and they had an angry quarrel. The men came
out and a crowd collected in the street, every one shouting and no one
listening. They all went on quarrelling, till one gave another a push, and the
affair had very nearly come to blows, when Akoulya’s old grandmother, stepping
in among them, tried to calm them.
“What are you thinking of, friends? Is it right to behave so? On a day like
this, too! It is a time for rejoicing, and not for such folly as this.”
They would not listen to the old woman and nearly knocked her off her feet.
And she would not have been able to quiet the crowd if it had not been for
Akoulya and Malasha themselves. While the women were abusing each other, Akoulya
had wiped the mud off her frock, and gone back to the puddle.
She took a stone and began scraping away the earth in front of the puddle
to make a channel through which the water could run out into the street.
Presently Malasha joined her, and with a chip of wood helped her dig the
channel.
Just as the men were beginning to fight, the water from the little girls’
channel ran streaming into the street towards the very place where the old woman
was trying to pacify the men. The girls followed it; one running along each
side
of the little stream.
“Catch it, Malasha! Catch it!” shouted Akoulya; while Malasha could not
speak for laughing.
Highly delighted, and watching the chip float along on their stream, the
little girls ran straight into the group of men; and the old woman, seeing them,
said to the men:
“Are you not ashamed of yourselves? To go fighting on account of these
lassies, when they themselves have forgotten all about it, and are playing
happily together. Dear little souls! They are wiser than you!”
The men looked at the little girls and were ashamed, and, laughing at
themselves, went back each to his own home.
“Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter
into the kingdom of heaven.”
页:
[1]