安徒生經典故事兩篇

安徒生，丹麥19世紀著名童話作家，世界文學童話創始人，因爲其童話作品而聞名於世。他通過童話的形式，真實地反映了他所處的那個時代及其社會生活，深厚地表達了平凡人的感情和意願，從而使人們的感情得到淨化與昇華。下面本站小編爲大家帶來安徒生經典故事兩篇，歡迎大家閱讀!

　安徒生經典故事：跛子

There was an old manor house where a young, splendid family lived. They had riches and many blessings; they liked to enjoy themselves, and yet they did a lot of good. They wanted to make everybody happy, as happy as they themselves were.

On Christmas Eve a beautifully decorated Christmas tree stood in the large old hall, where fire burned in the fireplaces and fir branches were hung around the old paintings. Here gathered the family and their guests; here they sang and danced.

The Christmas festivities had already been well under way earlier in the evening in the servants' quarters. Here also stood a large fire tree, with lighted red and white candles, small Danish flags, swans and fishing nets cut out of colored paper and filled with candies and other sweets. The poor children from the parish had been invited, and each had its mother along. The mothers didn't pay much attention to the Christmas tree, but looked rather at the Christmas table, where there lay woolen and linen cloths, for dresses and trousers. Yes, the mothers and the older children looked at this; only the smallest children stretched out their hands toward the candles, the tinsel, and the flags. This whole gathering had come early in the afternoon; they had been served Christmas porridge and roasted goose with red cabbage. Then when the Christmas tree had been looked over and the gifts distributed, each got a small glass of punch and apple-filled æbleskiver.

When they returned to their own humble rooms, they talked about the "good living," by which they meant the good food they had had, and the presents were again thoroughly inspected.

Now, among these folks were Garden-Kirsten and Garden-Ole. They were married, and earned their lodging and their daily bread by weeding and digging in the manor house garden. At every Christmas party they received a goodly share of the gifts, but then they had five children, and all five of them were clothed by the wealthy family.

"Our masters are generous people," they said. "But then they can afford it, and they get pleasure out of it."

"The four children received some good clothing to wear," said Garden-Ole, "but why is there nothing here for the Cripple? They always used to think of him, too, even if he wasn't at the party."

It was the eldest of the children they called the Cripple, although his name was Hans. When little, he had been the most able and the liveliest child, but all of a sudden he had become "loose in the legs," as they called it. He could neither walk nor stand, and now he had been lying in bed for nearly five years.

"Yes, I got something for him, too," said the mother. "But it's nothing much; it is only a book for him to read!"

"That won't make him fat!" said the father.

But Hans was happy for it. He was a very bright boy who enjoyed reading, but who also used his time for working, doing as much as he, who always had to lie bedridden, could, to be of some benefit. He was useful with his hands, knitted woolen stockings, and, yes, even whole bedcovers. The lady at the manor house had praised him and bought them. It was a book of fairy tales Hans had received; in it there was much to read and much to think about.

"It is of no use here in this house," said the parents, "but let him read, for it passes the time, and he can't always be knitting stockings."

Spring came; green leaves and flowers began to sprout, and the weeds, too, as one may call the nettles, even if the psalm speaks so nicely about them:

If every king, with power and might,

Marched forth in stately row,

They could not make the smallest leaf

Upon a nettle grow.

There was much to do in the manor house garden, not only for the gardener and his apprentices, but also for Garden-Kirsten and Garden-Ole.

"It's a lot of hard work," they said. "No sooner have we raked the walks, and made them look nice, than they are stepped on again. There is such a run of visitors at the manor house. How much it must cost! But the owners are rich people!"

"Things are strangely divided," said Ole. "We are our Lord's children, says the pastor. Why such a difference, then?"

"That comes from the fall of man!" said Kirsten.

In the evening they talked about it again, while Cripple-Hans was reading his book of fairy tales. Hard times, work, and toil had made the parents not only hard in the hands but also hard in their judgment and opinion.

They couldn't understand, and consequently couldn't explain, the matter clearly, and as they talked they became more peevish and angry.

"Some people are prosperous and happy; others live in poverty. Why should we suffer because of our first parents' curiosity and disobedience! We would not have behaved as those two did!"

"Yes, we would!" said Cripple-Hans all of a sudden. "It is all here in this book!"

"What's in the book?" asked the parents.

And Hans read for them the old fairy tale about the woodcutter and his wife. They, too, argued about Adam's and Eve's curiosity, which was the cause of their misfortune also. The king of the country then came by. "Follow me home," he said, "and you shall be as well off as I, with a seven-course dinner and a course for display. That course is in a closed tureen, and you must not touch it, for if you do, your days of leisure are over!" "What can there be in the tureen?" said the wife. "That's none of our business," said the husband. "Well, I'm not inquisitive," said the woman, "but I would like to know why we don't dare lift the lid; it must be something delicious!" "I only hope there is nothing mechanical about it," said the man, "such as a pistol shot, which goes off and awakens the whole house!" "Oh, my!" said the woman, and she didn't touch the tureen. But during the night she dreamed that the lid lifted itself, and from the tureen came an odor of the most wonderful punch, such as is served at weddings and funerals. In it lay a large silver coin bearing the following inscription, "If you drink of this punch, you will become the two richest people in the world, and all other people will become beggars!" Just then the woman awoke and told her husband about her dream. "You think too much about that thing," he said. "We could lift it gently," said the woman. "Gently," said the man. And the woman lifted the lid very, very gently. Then two small, sprightly mice sprang out and disappeared into a mousehole. "Good night," said the king. "Now you can go home and lie in your own bed. Don't blame Adam and Eve any more; you two have been just as inquisitive and ungrateful!"

"Where has that story in the book come from?" said Garden-Ole. "It sounds as if it were meant for us. It is something to think about."

The next day they went to work again, and they were roasted by the sun and soaked to the skin by the rain. Within them were grumbling thoughts as they pondered over the story.

The evening was still light at home after they had eaten their milk porridge.

"Read the story about the woodcutter to us again," said Garden-Ole.

"But there are so many other beautiful stories in this book," said Hans, "so many you don't know."

"Yes, but those I don't care about!" said Garden-Ole. "I want to hear the one I know!"

And he and his wife heard it again.

More than one evening they returned to that story.

"It doesn't quite make everything clear to me," said Garden-Ole. "It's the same with people as it is with sweet milk when it sours; some becomes fine cheese, and the other, only the thin, watery whey; so it is with people; some are lucky in everything they do, live high all their lives, and know no sorrow or want."

This Cripple-Hans heard. His legs were weak, but his mind was bright. He read for them from his book of fairy tales, read about " The Man Without Sorrow and Want." Yes, where could he be found, for found he must be! The king lay on his sickbed and could not be cured unless he wore the shirt that had belonged to, and been worn on the body of, a man who could truthfully say that he had never known sorrow or want. A command was sent to every country in the world, to all castles and manors, to all prosperous and happy people. But upon thorough questioning, every one of them was found to have known sorrow and want. "I haven't!" said the swineherd, who sat laughing and singing on the edge of the ditch. "I'm the happiest person!" "Then give us your shirt," said the messengers. "You will be paid for it with half of a kingdom." But he had no shirt at all, and yet he called himself the happiest person!

"He was a fine fellow!" shouted Garden-Ole, and he and his wife laughed as they hadn't laughed for years.

Then the schoolmaster came by.

"How pleased you are!" he said. "That is unusual in this house. Have you won a prize in the lottery?"

"No, it isn't that sort of pleasure," said Garden-Ole. "It is because Hans has been reading to us from his book of fairy tales; he read about ' 'The Man Without Sorrow and Want,' and that fellow had no shirt. Your eyes get moist when you hear such things, and from a printed book, at that! Everyone has a load to carry; one is not alone in that. That, at least, is a comfort!"

"Where did you get that book?" asked the schoolmaster.

"Our Hans got it at Christmastime over a year ago. The manor house family gave it to him. They know he likes reading and, of course, that he is a cripple. At the time, we would rather have seen him get two linen shirts. But that book is unusual; it can almost answer one's thoughts."

The schoolmaster took the book and opened it.

"Let's have the same story again," said Garden-Ole. "I don't quite get it yet. And then he must also read the one about the woodcutter."

These two stories were enough for Ole. They were like two sunbeams pouring into that humble room, into the oppressed thoughts that had made them cross and grumbly. Hans had read the whole book, read it many times. The fairy tales carried him out into the world, where he, of course, could not go because his legs would not carry him. The schoolmaster sat beside his bed; they talked together, and both of them enjoyed it.

From that day on, the schoolmaster visited Hans often when his parents were at work, and every time he came it was a great treat for the boy. How attentively he listened to what the old man told him - about the size of the world and about its many countries, and that the sun was nearly half a million times larger than the earth and so far away that a cannon ball in its course would take twenty-five years to travel from the sun to the earth, while the light beams could reach the earth in eight minutes. Of course, every studious schoolboy knew all that, but to Hans this was all new, and even more wonderful than what he had read in the book of fairy tales.

Two or three times a year the schoolmaster dined with the manor house family, and on one of these occasions he told of how important the book of fairy tales was in the poor house, how alone two stories in it had been the means of spiritual awakening and blessing, that the sickly, clever little boy had, through his reading, brought meditation and joy into the house. When the schoolmaster departed from the manor house, the lady pressed two shiny silver dollars in his hand for little Hans.

"Father and Mother must have them," said the boy, when the schoolmaster brought him the money.

And Garden-Ole and Garden-Kirsten both said, "Cripple-Hans, after all, is also a profit and a blessing to us!"

A couple of days later, when the parents were away at work at the manor house, the owners' carriage stopped outside; it was the kindhearted lady who came, happy that her Christmas gift had afforded so much comfort and pleasure to the boy and his parents. She brought fine bread, fruit, and a bottle of sweet sirup, but what was still more wonderful, she brought him, in a gilded cage, a little blackbird which whistled quite charmingly. The bird cage was placed on the old cabinet close by the boy's bed; there he could see and hear the bird; yes, and people way out on the highway could hear it sing.

Garden-Ole and Garden-Kirsten didn't return home until after the lady had driven away. Even though they saw how happy Hans was, they thought there would only be trouble with the present he had received.

"Rich people don't think very clearly," they said. "Now we have that to look after. Cripple-Hans can't do it. In the end, the cat will get it!"

Eight days went by, and still another eight days. During that time the cat was often in the room without frightening the bird, to say nothing of not harming it.

Then one day a great event occurred. It was in the afternoon, while the parents and the other children were at work, and Hans was quite alone. He had the book of fairy tales in his hand and was reading about the fisherman's wife who got her wishes fulfilled; she wished to be king, and that she became; she wished to be emperor, and that, too, she became; but then she wished to be the good Lord - and thereupon she again sat in the muddy ditch she had come from.

Now that story had nothing whatsoever to do with the bird or the cat, but it happened to be the story he was reading when this occurrence took place; he always remembered that afterward.

The cage stood on the cabinet, and the cat stood on the floor and stared, with its yellow-green eyes, at the bird. There was something in the cat's look that seemed to say, "How beautiful you are! I'd like to eat you!" That Hans understood; he could read it in the cat's face.

"Get away, cat!" he shouted. "You get out of this room!"

It looked as if the cat were getting ready to leap. Hans couldn't reach it and had nothing to throw at it but his greatest treasure, the book of fairy tales. This he threw, but the cover was loose and flew to one side, while the book itself, with all its leaves, flew to the other side. The cat slowly stepped backward in the room and looked at Hans as if to say, "Don't get yourself mixed up in this matter, little Hans! I can walk and I can jump. You can do neither."

Hans was greatly worried and kept his eyes on the cat, while the bird also became uneasy. There wasn't a person he could call; it seemed as if the cat knew that, and it prepared itself to jump again. Hans shook his bedcover at it - he could, remember, use his hands - but the cat paid no attention to the bedcover. And after Hans had thrown it without avail, the cat leaped up onto the chair and onto the sill; there it was closer to the bird.

Hans could feel his own warm blood rushing through his body, but that he didn't think of; he thought only about the cat and the bird. The boy could not get out of bed without help; nor, of course, could he stand on his legs, much less walk. It was as if his heart turned inside him when he saw the cat leap straight from the window onto the cabinet and push the cage so that it overturned. The bird fluttered about bewilderedly in the cage.

Hans screamed; a great shock went through him. And without thinking about it, he sprang out of bed, moved toward the cabinet, chased the cat down, and got Hold of the cage, where the bird was flying about in great fear. Holding the cage in his hand, he ran out of the door, onto the road. Then tears streamed from his eyes, and joyously he shouted, "I can walk! I can walk!" He had recovered the use of his limbs. Such a thing can happen, and it had indeed happened to Hans.

The schoolmaster lived near by, and to him he ran on his bare feet, clad only in his shirt and jacket, and with the bird in the cage.

"I can walk!" he shouted. "Oh, Lord, my God!" And he cried out of sheer joy.

And there was joy in the house of Garden-Ole and Garden-Kirsten, "We shall never live to see a happier day," said both of them.

Hans was called to the manor house. He had not walked that road for many years. The trees and the nut bushes, which he knew so well, seemed to nod to him and say, "Good day, Hans! Welcome back out here!" The sun shone on his face and right into his heart.

The owners of the manor house, that young, blessed couple, let him sit with them, and looked as happy as if he were one of their own family. But the happiest of the two was the lady, for she had given him the book of fairy tales and the little songbird. The bird was now dead, having died of fright, but it had been the means of getting his health back. And the book had brought the awakening to him and his parents; he still had it, and he wanted to keep it and read it, no matter how old he became. Now he also could be of help to his family. He wanted to learn a trade; most of all he wanted to be a bookbinder, "because," he said, "then I can get all the new books to read!"

Later in the afternoon the lady called both his parents up to her. She and her husband had talked about Hans - he was a fine and clever boy, with a keen appreciation of reading and a capacity for learning. Our Lord always rewards the good.

That evening the parents were really happy when they returned home from the manor house, especially Kirsten.

But the following week she cried, for then little Hans went away. He was dressed in good, new clothes. He was a good boy, but now he must travel far away across the sea, go to school, and learn Latin. And many years would pass before they would see him again.

The book of fairy tales he did not take with him, because his parents wanted to keep that in remembrance. And the father often read from it, but only the two stories, for those he understood.

And they had letters from Hans, each one happier than the last. He lived with nice people, in good circumstances. But best of all, he liked to go to school; there was so much to learn and to know. He only wished to live to be a hundred years old, and eventually to become a schoolmaster.

"If we could only live to see it!" said the parents, and held each other's hands.

"Just think of what has happened to Hans!" said Ole. "Our Lord thinks also of the poor man's child! And to think that this should have happened to the Cripple! Isn't it as if Hans might have read it for us from the book of fairy tales!"

　安徒生經典故事：開門的鑰匙

EVERY key has its story,and there are many keys;the chamberlain's key,the clock-key,r's key; we could tell about all the keys,but now we shall only tellabout the chamberlain's door-key.

It came into being at a locksmith's,but it could wellbelieve that it was at a blacksmith's,it was hammered andfiled so was too big for the trousers pocket,so ithad to be carried in the coat it lay for themost part in the dark,but it also had its appointed placeon the wall,by the side of the chamberlain's portrait fromchildhood's days,in which he looked like a force-meatball with a frill on.

They say that every person has in his character andconduct something of the constellation he was born under,the bull,the virgin,or the scorpion,as they are called inthe chamberlain's wife named none of these,but said her husband was born under the"sign of thewheelbarrow",because he had always to be shoved for-ward.

His father pushed him into an office,his motherpushed him into marriage,and his wife pushed him up tobe chamberlain,but she did not say so,she was an excel-lent discreet woman,who was silent in the right place,andtalked and pushed in the right place.

Now he was up in years,"well proportioned,"as hesaid himself,a man with education,good humour,and aknowledge of keys as well,something which we shall un-derstand better presently.

He was always in a good humour,every one thoughtmuch of him and liked to talk with he went into thetown,it was difficult to get him home again if mother wasnot with him to push him must talk with everyacquaintance he had many acquaintances,andthe result was bad for the dinner.

His wife watched from the window."Now he iscoming!"said she to the servant,"put on the pot!Nowhe is stopping to talk to some one,so take off the pot,orthe food will be cooked too much!Now he is coming!Yes,put the pot on again!"But he did not come for allthat.

He would stand right under the window and nod upto her,but if an acquaintance came past,then he couldnot help it,he must say a word or two to him;if anotherone came past while he talked with the first,he held thefirst one by the button-hole and seized the other one bythe hand,whilst he shouted to another one who was pass-ing.

It was a trial of patience for his wife."Chamber-lain!Chamberlain!"she shouted then."Yes,the man isborn under the sign of the wheelbarrow,he cannot comeaway unless he is pushed!"

He liked very much to go into the book shops,tolook at the books and gave the bookseller alittle present,to be allowed to take the new books hometo read—that is to say,to have leave to cut the books upthe long way,but not along the top,because then theycould not be sold as was a living journal of eti-quette,knew everything about engagements,weddings,funerals,literary talk and town gossip;he threw out mys-terious allusions about knowing things which got it from the door-key.

As young newly married people the chamberlain andhis wife had lived on their own estate,and from that timethey had the same door-key,but then they did not knowits wonderful power—they only got to know that later on.

It was in the time of Frederick Ⅵnhagen atthat time had no gas;it had oil lamps;it had no Tivolior Casino,no tramways and no e were notmany amusements compared to what there are nday people went out of the town on an excursion to thechurchyard,read the inscriptions on the graves,sat in thegrass and ate and drank,or they went to Fredericksberg,where the band played before the castle,and many peoplewatched the royal family rowing about on the little,narrowcanals where the old king steered the boat,and he and thequeen bowed to all the people without making any perous families came out there from the town anddrank their evening could get hot water at apeasant's little house,outside the garden,but they had tobring the other things with them.

The chamberlain's family went there one sunny Sun-day afternoon;the servant went on first with the tea-bas-ket,and a basket with eatables."Take the door-key!"saidthe wife,"so that we can slip in ourselves when we comeback;you know they lock up at dusk,and the bell-wirewas broken yesterday!We shall be late in coming home!After we leave Fredericksberg we shall go to the theatre tosee the pantomime."

And so they went to Fredericksberg,heard the music,saw the royal boat with the waving flag,saw the old king, and the white r they had had a good tea,theyhurried off,but did not come in time to the theatre.

The rope-dance was over and the stilt-dance was pastand the pantomime begun:they were too late,as usual,and it was the chamberlain's fault;every minute he stoodand talked to some acquaintance on the way;in the theatrehe also found good friends,and when the performance wasover,he and his wife must necessarily go in with a family, to enjoy a glass of punch:it would only take about tenminutes,but they dragged on to an talked icularly entertaining was a Swedish Baron,orwas he a German?The chamberlain did not exactly remem-ber,but on the contrary,the trick he taught him with thekey he remembered for all was extraordinarilyinteresting!he could get the key to answer everything he asked it about,even the most secret things.

The chamberlain's key was peculiarly fitted for this,it was heavy in the wards,and it must hang aron let the handle of the key rest on the first finger of his right e and easy it hung there,every pulse- beat in the finger point could set it in motion,so that it turned,and if that did not happen,then the Baron knew how to make it turn as he wished without being noticed.

Every turning was a letter,from A,and as far down the alphabet as one the first letter was found,the key turned to the opposite side,and then one sought for the next letter,and so one got the whole word, then whole sentences;the answer to the was all fabrication,but always was also the chamberlain's first idea,but he did not stick to it.

"Man!Man!"shouted his wife."The west gate is shut at twelve o'clock!we will not get in,we have only a quarter of an hour." They had to hurry themselves;several people who wished to get into the town went quickly past they approached the last guard-house,the clock struck twelve,and the gate banged to:many people stood shut out,and amongst them the chamberlain and his wife and the girl with the stood there in great terror,others in vexation:each took it in his own way.

What was to be done? Fortunately,it had been settled lately that one of the town gates should not be locked,and through the guardhouse there,foot-passengers could slip into the town.

The way was not very short,but the weather was beautiful,the sky clear and starry,frogs croaked in ditch and ** began to sing,one song after anoth- er,but the chamberlain neither sang nor looked at the stars,nor even at his own feet,so he fell all his length, along by the ditch;one might have thought that he had been drinking too much,but it was not the punch,it was the key,which had gone to his head and was turning about there.

Finally they got to the guard-house,slipped over thebridge and into the town.

"Now I am glad again,"said the wife."Here is ourdoor!" "But where is the door-key?"said the chamberlain. It was neither in the back pocket,nor the side pocket.

"Merciful God!"shouted his wife."Have you not gotthe key?You have lost it with your key-tricks with can we get in now?The bell-wire was brokenyesterday,and the policeman has no key for the e in despair!"

The servant girl began to sob,the chamberlain wasthe only one who had any self-possession.

"We must break one of the chandler's window- panes,"said he;"get him up and then slip in." He broke one pane,he broke two."Petersen!"he shouted,and stuck his umbrella handle through the panes;the cellar-man's daughter inside cellar-manthrew open the shop door and shouted"Police!"and beforehe had seen the chamberlain's family,recognized and letthem in;the policeman whistled,and in the next street an-other policeman answered with a le ran to thewindows."Where is the fire?Where is the disturbance?"they asked,and were still asking when the chamberlain wasalready in his room;there he took his coat off,and in itlay the door-key-not in the pocket,but in the lining;ithad slipped down through a hole,which should not havebeen in the pocket.

From that evening the door-key had a particularlygreat significance,not only when they went out in theevening,but when they sat at home,and the chamberlainshowed his cleverness and let the key give answers to himself thought of the most likely answer,and sohe let the key give it,till at last he believed in it himself;but the apothecary—a young man closely related to thechamberlain—did not apothecary had a goodcritical head;he had,from his schooldays,written criti-cisms on books and theatres,but without signing his name,that does so was what one calls a wit,but didnot believe in spirits,and least of all in key-spirits.

"Yes,I believe,I believe,"said he,"dear cham-berlain,I believe in the door-key and all key-spirits,asfirmly as I believe in the new science which is beginningto be known,table-turning and spirits in old and new you heard about it?I have!I have doubted,you know I am a sceptic,but I have become converted byreading in a quite trustworthy foreign paper,a you imagine,chamberlain—I give you the sto-ry as I have it."Two clever children had seen their par-ents waken the spirit in a big little oneswere alone and would now try in the same way to rub lifeinto an old life came,the spirit awoke,butit would not tolerate the command of the children;itraised itself,a crash sounded,it shot out its drawers andlaid each of the children in a drawer and ran with themout of the open door,down the stair and into the street,along to the canal,into which it rushed and drowned bothof little ones were buried in Christian ground,but the bureau brought into the council room,triedfor child murder,and burnt alive in the market.

"I have read it!"said the apothecary,"read it in aforeign paper,it is not something that I have is,the key take me,true!now I swear a solemn oath!" The chamberlain thought that such a tale was toorude a e two could never talk about the key,the apothecary was stupid on the subject of keys.

The chamberlain made progress in the knowledge ofkeys;the key was his amusement and his hobby.

One evening the chamberlain was just about to go tobed—he stood half undressed,and then he heard aknocking on the door out in the passage;it was the cellar-man who came so late;he also was half undressed,buthe had,he said,suddenly got a thought which he wasafraid he could not keep over the night.

"It is my daughter,Lotte-Lena,I must speak is a pretty girl,and she is confirmed,andnow I would like to see her well placed."

"I am not yet a widower,"said the chamberlain,andsmiled,"and I have no son I can offer her!"

"You understand me,I suppose,Chamberlain,"saidthe cellar-man."She can play the piano,and sing;you might be able to hear her up here in the don'tknow all that that girl can hit can imitate every-body in speaking and is made for comedy' and that is a good way for pretty girls of good family'theymight be able to marry a count,but that is not the thoughtwith me or can sing and she can play pi-ano!so I went with her the other day up to the sang,but she has not the finest kind of voicefor a woman;she has not the canary-shriek in the highestnotes which one demands in lady singers,and so they ad-vised her against that ,I thought,if she can-not be a singer,she can at any rate be an actress,whichonly requires y I spoke to the instructor,asthey call him.'Has she education?'he asked.'No,'saidI,'absolutely none!''Education is necessary for anartist!'said can get that yet,I thought,and so Iwent can go into a lending library and read whatis as I sat this evening,undressing,it occurredto me,why hire books when one can borrow them?Thechamberlain is full up with books,let her read them;thatis education enough,and she can have that free!"

"Lotte-Lena is a nice girl!"said the chamberlain,"apretty girl!She shall have books for her hasshe that which one calls'go'in her brain-genius?And hasshe,what is of as much importance-luck?"

"She has twice won a prize in the lottery,"said thecellar-man,"once she won a wardrobe,and once six pairsof sheets;I call that luck,and she has that!"

"I will ask the key!"said the heplaced the key upon his forefinger and on the cellar-man'sforefinger,let it turn itself and give letter by letter.

The key said,"Victory and Fortune!"and so Lotte-Lena's future was settled.

The chamberlain at once gave her two books to read: the play of"Dyveke"and Knigge's"Intercourse withPeople".

From that evening a kind of closer acquaintanceshipbetween Lotte-Lena and the chamberlain's family came up into the family,and the chamberlain thoughtthat she was an intelligent girl;she believed in him andin the chamberlain's wife saw,in the boldnesswith which she every moment showed her great ignorance,something childish and couple,each intheir own way,thought much of her,and she of them.

"There is such a nice smell upstairs,"said e was a smell,a scent of apples in the pas-sage,where the wife had laid out a whole barrel of"grey-stone"e was also an incense smell of rosesand lavender through all the rooms.

"It is something lovely,"said eyeswere delighted with the many lovely flowers,which thechamberlain's wife always had here;yes,even in winterthe lilac and cherry branches flowered leaflessbranches were cut off and put in water,and in the warmroom they soon bore leaves and flowers.

"One might believe that the bare branches weredead,but,look!how they rise up from the dead."

"That has never occurred to me before,"said Lotte-Lena."Nature is charming!"

And the chamberlain let her see his"Key-book"where he had written the remarkable things the key hadsaid,even about half of an apple cake which had disap-peared from the cupboard just the evening when the ser-vant girl had a visit from her chamberlainasked his key,"Who has eaten the apple cake—the cator the sweetheart?"and the door-key answered,"Thesweet-heart!"The chamberlain knew it before he asked,and the servant girl confessed:the cursed key kneweverything.

"Yes,is it not remarkable?"said the chamberlain."The key!the key!and about Lotte-Lena it predicted'Victory and Fortune!'—We shall see that yet—I answerfor it!

"That is delightful,"said Lotte-Lena.

The chamberlain's wife was not so confident,but shedid not express her doubt when her husband could hear it, but confided to Lotte-Lena that the chamberlain,when hewas a young man,had been quite given up to the any one at that time had pushed him,he would certainlyhave been trained as an actor,but the family pushed theother insisted on going on the stage,and to getthere he wrote a comedy.

"It is a great secret I confide to you,little comedy was not bad,it was accepted at theRoyal Theatre and hissed off the stage,so that it has neverbeen heard of since,and I am glad of it.I am his wife andknow ,you will go the same way;—I wish youeverything good,but I don't believe it will happen,I donot believe in the key!"

Lotte-Lena believed in it;and the chamberlain agreedwith r hearts understood each other in all virtueand girl had several abilities which the cham-berlain e-Lena knew how to make starchfrom potatoes,to make silk gloves from old silk stockingsand to cover her silk dancing-shoes,although she had hadthe means to buy everything had what the chan-dler called "money in the table-drawer,and bonds in thebank" chamberlain's wife thought she would make agood wife for the apothecary,but she did not say so anddid not let the key say it apothecary was goingto settle down soon,and have his own business in one ofthe nearest and biggest provincial towns.

Lotte-Lena constantly read the books she had bor-rowed from the kept them for two years,but by that time she knew by heart all the parts of"Dyveke",but she only wished to appear in one of them,that of Dyveke herself,and not in the capital where therewas so much jealousy,and where they would not have her. She would begin her artistic career(as the chamberlaincalled it)in one of the bigger provincial towns.

Now it was quite miraculous,that it was just thevery same place where the young apothecary had settledhimself as the town's youngest,if not the only,apothe-cary.

The long-looked-for evening came when Lotte-Lenashould make her first appearance and win victory and for-tune,as the key had chamberlain was not

there,he was ill in bed and his wife nursed him;he hadto have warm bandages and chamomile tea;the bandageson the stomach and the tea in the stomach.

The couple were not present themselves at the per-formance of"Dyveke",but the apothecary was there andwrote a letter about it to his relative the chamberlain'swife.

"If the chamberlain's key had been in my pocket,"he wrote,"I would have taken it out and whistled in it;she deserved that,and the door-key deserved it,whichhad so shamefully lied to her with its'Victory and For-tune'."

The chamberlain read the whole thingwas malice,said he—hatred of the key—which venteditself on the innocent girl.

And as soon as he rose from his bed,and was him-self again,he sent a short but venomous letter to theapothecary,who answered it as if he had not found any-thing but jest and good humour in the whole epistle.

He thanked him for that as for every future,benevo-lent contribution to the publication of the key's incompa-rable worth and ,he confided to thechamberlain,that he,besides his work as apothecary,was writing a great key romance,in which all the charac-ters were keys;without exception,keys."The door-key"was naturally the leading person,and the chamberlain'sdoor-key was the model for him,endowed with propheticvision and the other keys must revolveround it;the old chamberlain's key,which knew thesplendor and festivities of the court;the clock-key,little, fine,and elegant,costing three-pence at the iron-mon-ger's;the key of the pulpit,which reckons itself amongthe clergy,and has,by sitting through the night in thekey-hole,seen dining-room,the wood-houseand the wine-cellar keys all appear,curtsy,and revolvearound the sunbeams light it up like silver; the wind,the spirit of the universe,rushes in on it,sothat it is the key of all keys,it was the cham-berlain's door-key,now it is the key of the gate of Heav-en,it is the Pope's key,it is"infallible".

"Malice,"said the chamberlain,"colossal malice!"

He and the apothecary did not see each other againexcept at the funeral of the chamberlain's wife.

She died first.

There was sorrow and regret in the thebranches of cherry-tree,which had sent out fresh shootsand flowers,sorrowed and withered;they stood forgotten,she cared for them no more.

The chamberlain and the apothecary followed her cof-fin,side by side,as the two nearest relations;here was notime or inclination for wrangling.

Lotte-Lena sewed the mourning-band round the cham-berlain's was here in the house,come back longago without victory and fortune in her artistic itwould come;Lotte-Lena had a key had said it,and the chamberlain had said it.

She came up to talked of the dead,andthey wept,Lotte-Lena was tender;they talked of art,andLotte-Lena was strong.

"The theatre life is charming,"said she,"but thereis so much quarrelling and jealousy!I would rather go myown t myself,then art!"

Knigge had spoken truly in his chapter about actors;she saw that the key had not spoken truly,but she did notspeak about that to the chamberlain;she thought too muchof him.

The door-key was his comfort and consolation all theyear of asked it questions and it gave when the year was ended,and he and Lotte-Lena sat together one evening,he asked the key,

"Shall I marry,and whom shall I marry?"

There was no one to push him,he pushed the key, and it said"Lotte-Lona" it was said,and Lotte-Lenabecame the chamberlain's wife.

"Victory and Fortune!"These words had been saidbeforehand—by the door-key.

　結束語：

安徒生運用童話的形式訴說着他的愛、他對世事的洞察以及對生命的追問，他填補了全世界孩子童年的夢境，向他們傳遞了現實世界的真善美，以上的安徒生經典童話故事希望大家喜歡!