THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER故事

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　　THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER故事
　　    THERE were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers, who were all
　　    brothers, for they had been made out of the same old tin
　　    spoon. They shouldered arms and looked straight before them,
　　    and wore a splendid uniform, red and blue. The first thing in
　　    the world they ever heard were the words, "Tin soldiers!"
　　    uttered by a little boy, who clapped his hands with delight
　　    when the lid of the box, in which they lay, was taken off.
　　    They were given him for a birthday present, and he stood at
　　    the table to set them up. The soldiers were all exactly alike,
　　    excepting one, who had only one leg; he had been left to the
　　    last, and then there was not enough of the melted tin to
　　    finish him, so they made him to stand firmly on one leg, and
　　    this caused him to be very remarkable.
　　    The table on which the tin soldiers stood, was covered
　　    with other playthings, but the most attractive to the eye was
　　    a pretty little paper castle. Through the small windows the
　　    rooms could be seen. In front of the castle a number of little
　　    trees surrounded a piece of looking-glass, which was intended
　　    to represent a transparent lake. Swans, made of wax, swam on
　　    the lake, and were reflected in it. All this was very pretty,
　　    but the prettiest of all was a tiny little lady, who stood at
　　    the open door of the castle; she, also, was made of paper, and
　　    she wore a dress of clear muslin, with a narrow blue ribbon
　　    over her shoulders just like a scarf. In front of these was
　　    fixed a glittering tinsel rose, as large as her whole face.
　　    The little lady was a dancer, and she stretched out both her
　　    arms, and raised one of her legs so high, that the tin soldier
　　    could not see it at all, and he thought that she, like
　　    himself, had only one leg. "That is the wife for me," he
　　    thought; "but she is too grand, and lives in a castle, while I
　　    have only a box to live in, five-and-twenty of us altogether,
　　    that is no place for her. Still I must try and make her
　　    acquaintance." Then he laid himself at full length on the
            
            

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　　    table behind a snuff-box that stood upon it, so that he could
　　    peep at the little delicate lady, who continued to stand on
　　    one leg without losing her balance. When evening came, the
　　    other tin soldiers were all placed in the box, and the people
　　    of the house went to bed. Then the playthings began to have
　　    their own games together, to pay visits, to have sham fights,
　　    and to give balls. The tin soldiers rattled in their box; they
　　    wanted to get out and join the amusements, but they could not
　　    open the lid. The nut-crackers played at leap-frog, and the
　　    pencil jumped about the table. There was such a noise that the
　　    canary woke up and began to talk, and in poetry too. Only the
　　    tin soldier and the dancer remained in their places. She stood
　　    on tiptoe, with her legs stretched out, as firmly as he did on
　　    his one leg. He never took his eyes from her for even a
　　    moment. The clock struck twelve, and, with a bounce, up sprang
　　    the lid of the snuff-box; but, instead of snuff, there jumped
　　    up a little black goblin; for the snuff-box was a toy puzzle.
　　    "Tin soldier," said the goblin, "don't wish for what does
　　    not belong to you.
　　    But the tin soldier pretended not to hear.
　　    "Very well; wait till to-morrow, then," said the goblin.
　　    When the children came in the next morning, they placed
　　    the tin soldier in the window. Now, whether it was the goblin
　　    who did it, or the draught, is not known, but the window flew
　　    open, and out fell the tin soldier, heels over head, from the
　　    third story, into the street beneath. It was a terrible fall;
　　    for he came head downwards, his helmet and his bayonet stuck
　　    in between the flagstones, and his one leg up in the air. The
　　    servant maid and the litt
　　le boy went down stairs directly to
　　    look for him; but he was nowhere to be seen, although once
　　    they nearly trod upon him. If he had called out, "Here I am,"
　　    it would have been all right, but he was too proud to cry out
　　    for help while he wore a uniform.
　　    Presently it began to rain, and the drops fell faster and
            
            

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　　    faster, till there was a heavy shower. When it was over, two
　　    boys happened to pass by, and one of them said, "Look, there
　　    is a tin soldier. He ought to have a boat to sail in."
　　    So they made a boat out of a newspaper, and placed the tin
　　    soldier in it, and sent him sailing down the gutter, while the
　　    two boys ran by the side of it, and clapped their hands. Good
　　    gracious, what large waves arose in that gutter! and how fast
　　    the stream rolled on! for the rain had been very heavy. The
　　    paper boat rocked up and down, and turned itself round
　　    sometimes so quickly that the tin soldier trembled; yet he
　　    remained firm; his countenance did not change; he looked
　　    straight before him, and shouldered his musket. Suddenly the
　　    boat shot under a bridge which formed a part of a drain, and
　　    then it was as dark as the tin soldier's box.
　　    "Where am I going now?" thought he. "This is the black
　　    goblin's fault, I am sure. Ah, well, if the little lady were
　　    only here with me in the boat, I should not care for any
　　    darkness."
　　    Suddenly there appeared a great water-rat, who lived in
　　    the drain.
　　    "Have you a passport?" asked the rat, "give it to me at
　　    once." But the tin soldier remained silent and held his musket
　　    tighter than ever. The boat sailed on and the rat followed it.
　　    How he did gnash his teeth and cry out to the bits of wood and
　　    straw, "Stop him, stop him; he has not paid toll, and has not
　　    shown his pass." But the stream rushed on stronger and
　　    stronger. The tin soldier could already see daylight shining
　　    where the arch ended. Then he heard a roaring sound quite
　　    terrible enough to frighten the bravest man. At the end of the
　　    tunnel the drain fell into a large canal over a steep place,
　　    which made it as dangerous for him as a waterfall would be to
　　    us. He was too close to it to stop, so the boat rushed on, and
　　    the poor tin soldier could only hold himself as stiffly as
　　    possible, without moving an eyelid, to show that he was not
            
            

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　　    filled with water to the very edge; nothing could save it from
　　    sinking. He now stood up to his neck in water, while deeper
　　    and deeper sank the boat, and the paper became soft and loose
　　    with the wet, till at last the water closed over the soldier's
　　    head. He thought of the elegant little dancer whom he should
　　    never see again, and the words of the song sounded in his
　　    ears-
　　    "Farewell, warrior! ever brave,
　　    Drifting onward to thy grave."
　　    Then the paper boat fell to pieces, and the soldier sank
　　    into the water and immediately afterwards was swallowed up by
　　    a great fish. Oh how dark it was inside the fish! A great deal
　　    darker than in the tunnel, and narrower too, but the tin
　　    soldier continued firm, and lay at full length shouldering his
　　    musket. The fish swam to and fro, making the most wonderful
　　    movements, but at last he became quite still. After a while, a
　　    flash of lightning seemed to pass through him, and then the
　　    daylight approached, and a voice cried out, "I declare here is
　　    the tin soldier." The fish had been caught, taken to the
　　    market and sold to the cook, who took him into the kitchen and
　　    cut him open with a large knife. She picked up the soldier and
　　    held him by the waist between her finger and thumb, and
　　    carried him into the room. They were all anxious to see this
　　    wonderful soldier who had travelled about inside a fish; but
　　    he was not at all proud. They placed him on the table, and-
　　    how many curious things do happen in the world!- there he was
　　    in the very same room from the window of which he had fallen,
　　    there were the same children, the same playthings, standing on
　　    the table, and the pretty castle with the elegant little
　　    dancer at the door; she still balanced herself on one leg, and
　　    held up the other, so she was as firm as himself. It touched
　　    the tin soldier so much to see her that he almost wept tin
　　    tears, but he kept them back. He only looked at her and they
　　    both remained silent. Presently one of the little boys took up
            
            

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　　    the tin soldier, and threw him into the stove. He had no
　　    reason for doing so, therefore it must have been the fault of
　　    the black goblin who lived in the snuff-box. The flames
　　    lighted up the tin soldier, as he stood, the heat was very
　　    terrible, but whether it proceeded from the real fire or from
　　    the fire of love he could not tell. Then he could see that the
　　    bright colors were faded from his uniform, but whether they
　　    had been washed off during his journey or from the effects of
　　    his sorrow, no one could say. He looked at the little lady,
　　    and she looked at him. He felt himself melting away, but he
　　    still remained firm with his gun on his shoulder. Suddenly the
　　    door of the room flew open and the draught of air caught up
　　    the little dancer, she fluttered like a sylph right into the
　　    stove by the side of the tin soldier, and was instantly in
　　    flames and was gone. The tin soldier melted down into a lump,
　　    and the next morning, when the maid servant took the ashes out
　　    of the stove, she found him in the shape of a little tin
　　    heart. But of the little dancer nothing remained but the
　　    tinsel rose, which was burnt black as a cinder.
　　    THE END