【儿童英文读物】The Magic Fishbone神奇鱼骨头.docx

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1、【儿童英文读物】The Magic Fishbone神奇鱼骨头The Magic Fishbone The story contained herein was written by Charles Dickens in 1867. It is the second of four stories entitled “Holiday Romance” and was published originally in a childrens magazine in America. It purports to be written by a child aged seven. It was re

2、published in England in “All the Year Round” in 1868. For this and four other Christmas pieces Dickens received £1,000. “Holiday Romance” was published in book form by Messrs Chapman & Hall in 1874, with “Edwin Drood” and other stories. For this reprint the text of the story as it appeared in

3、“All the Year Round” has been followed. There was once a King, and he had a Queen; and he was the manliest of his sex, and she was the loveliest of hers. The King was, in his private profession, Under Government. The Queens father had been a medical man out of town. They had nineteen children, and w

4、ere always having more. Seventeen of these children took care of the baby; and Alicia, the eldest, took care of them all. Their ages varied from seven years to seven months. Let us now resume our story. One day the King was going to the office, when he stopped at the fishmongers to buy a pound and a

5、 half of salmon not too near the tail, which the Queen (who was a careful housekeeper) had requested him to send home. Mr Pickles, the fishmonger, said, “Certainly, sir, is there any other article, Good-morning.” The King went on towards the office in a melancholy mood, for quarter day was such a lo

6、ng way off, and several of the dear children were growing out of their clothes. He had not proceeded far, when Mr Pickless errand-boy came running after him, and said, “Sir, you didnt notice the old lady in our shop.” “What old lady?” enquired the King. “I saw none.” Now, the King had not seen any o

7、ld lady, because this old lady had been invisible to him, though visible to Mr Pickless boy. Probably because he messed and splashed the water about to that degree, and flopped the pairs of soles down in that violent manner, that, if she had not been visible to him, he would have spoilt her clothes.

8、 Just then the old lady came trotting up. She was dressed in shot-silk of the richest quality, smelling of dried lavender. “King Watkins the First, I believe?” said the old lady. “Watkins,” replied the King, “is my name.” “Papa, if I am not mistaken, of the beautiful Princess Alicia?” said the old l

9、ady. “And of eighteen other darlings,” replied the King. “Listen. You are going to the office,” said the old lady. It instantly flashed upon the King that she must be a Fairy, or how could she know that? “You are right,” said the old lady, answering his thoughts, “I am the Good Fairy Grandmarina. At

10、tend. When you return home to dinner, politely invite the Princess Alicia to have some of the salmon you bought just now.” “It may disagree with her,” said the King. The old lady became so very angry at this absurd idea, that the King was quite alarmed, and humbly begged her pardon. “We hear a great

11、 deal too much about this thing disagreeing, and that thing disagreeing,” said the old lady, with the greatest contempt it was possible to express. “Dont be greedy. I think you want it all yourself.” The King hung his head under this reproof, and said he wouldnt talk about things disagreeing, any mo

12、re. “Be good, then,” said the Fairy Grandmarina, “and dont! When the beautiful Princess Alicia consents to partake of the salmonas I think she willyou will find she will leave a fish-bone on her plate. Tell her to dry it, and to rub it, and to polish it till it shines like mother-of-pearl, and to ta

13、ke care of it as a present from me.” “Is that all?” asked the King. “Dont be impatient, sir,” returned the Fairy Grandmarina, scolding him severely. “Dont catch people short, before they have done speaking. Just the way with you grown-up persons. You are always doing it.” The King again hung his hea

14、d, and said he wouldnt do so any more. “Be good then,” said the Fairy Grandmarina, “and dont! Tell the Princess Alicia, with my love, that the fish-bone is a magic present which can only be used once; but that it will bring her, that once, whatever she wishes for, provided she wishes for it at the r

15、ight time. That is the message. Take care of it.” The King was beginning, “Might I ask the reason?” when the Fairy became absolutely furious. “Will you be good, sir?” she exclaimed, stamping her foot on the ground. “The reason for this, and the reason for that, indeed! You are always wanting the rea

16、son. No reason. There! Hoity toity me! I am sick of your grown-up reasons.” The King was extremely frightened by the old ladys flying into such a passion, and said he was very sorry to have offended her, and he wouldnt ask for reasons any more. “Be good then,” said the old lady, “and dont!” With tho

17、se words, Grandmarina vanished, and the King went on and on and on, till he came to the office. There he wrote and wrote and wrote, till it was time to go home again. Then he politely invited the Princess Alicia, as the Fairy had directed him, to partake of the salmon. And when she had enjoyed it ve

18、ry much, he saw the fish-bone on her plate, as the Fairy had told him he would, and he delivered the Fairys message, and the Princess Alicia took care to dry the bone, and to rub it, and to polish it till it shone like mother-of-pearl. And so when the Queen was going to get up in the morning, she sa

19、id, “O, dear me, dear me; my head, my head!” and then she fainted away. The Princess Alicia, who happened to be looking in at the chamber-door, asking about breakfast, was very much alarmed when she saw her Royal Mamma in this state, and she rang the bell for Peggy, which was the name of the Lord Ch

20、amberlain. But remembering where the smelling-bottle was, she climbed on a chair and got it, and after that she climbed on another chair by the bedside and held the smelling-bottle to the Queens nose, and after that she jumped down and got some water, and after that she jumped up again and wetted th

21、e Queens forehead, and, in short, when the Lord Chamberlain came in, that dear old woman said to the little Princess, “What a Trot you are! I couldnt have done it better myself!” But that was not the worst of the good Queens illness. O, no! She was very ill indeed, for a long time. The Princess Alic

22、ia kept the seventeen young Princes and Princesses quiet, and dressed and undressed and danced the baby, and made the kettle boil, and heated the soup, and swept the hearth, and poured out the medicine, and nursed the Queen, and did all that ever she could, and was as busy busy busy, as busy could b

23、e. For there were not many servants at that Palace, for three reasons; because the King was short of money, because a rise in his office never seemed to come, and because quarter day was so far off that it looked almost as far off and as little as one of the stars. But on the morning when the Queen

24、fainted away, where was the magic fish-bone? Why, there it was in the Princess Alicias pocket. She had almost taken it out to bring the Queen to life again, when she put it back, and looked for the smelling-bottle. After the Queen had come out of her swoon that morning, and was dozing, the Princess

25、Alicia hurried up-stairs to tell a most particular secret to a most particularly confidential friend of hers, who was a Duchess. People did suppose her to be a Doll; but she was really a Duchess, though nobody knew it except the Princess. This most particular secret was a secret about the magic fish

26、-bone, the history of which was well known to the Duchess, because the Princess told her everything. The Princess kneeled down by the bed on which the Duchess was lying, full-dressed and wide awake, and whispered the secret to her. The Duchess smiled and nodded. People might have supposed that she n

27、ever smiled and nodded, but she often did, though nobody knew it except the Princess. Then the Princess Alicia hurried downstairs again, to keep watch in the Queens room. She often kept watch by herself in the Queens room; but every evening, while the illness lasted, she sat there watching with the

28、King. And every evening the King sat looking at her with a cross look, wondering why she never brought out the magic fish-bone. As often as she noticed this, she ran up-stairs, whispered the secret to the Duchess over again, and said to the Duchess besides, “They think we children never have a reaso

29、n or a meaning!” And the Duchess, though the most fashionable Duchess that ever was heard of, winked her eye. “Alicia,” said the King, one evening when she wished him Good Night. “Yes, Papa.” “What is become of the magic fish-bone?” “In my pocket, Papa.” “I thought you had lost it?” “O, no, Papa.” “

30、Or forgotten it?” “No, indeed, Papa.” And so another time the dreadful little snapping pug-dog next door made a rush at one of the young Princes as he stood on the steps coming home from school, and terrified him out of his wits and he put his hand through a pane of glass, and bled bled bled. When t

31、he seventeen other young Princes and Princesses saw him bleed bleed bleed, they were terrified out of their wits too, and screamed themselves black in their seventeen faces all at once. But the Princess Alicia put her hands over all their seventeen mouths, one after another, and persuaded them to be

32、 quiet because of the sick Queen. And then she put the wounded Princes hand in a basin of fresh cold water, while they stared with their twice seventeen are thirty-four put down four and carry three eyes, and then she looked in the hand for bits of glass, and there were fortunately no bits of glass

33、there. And then she said to two chubby-legged Princes who were sturdy though small, “Bring me in the Royal rag-bag; I must snip and stitch and cut and contrive.” So those two young Princes tugged at the Royal rag-bag and lugged it in, and the Princess Alicia sat down on the floor with a large pair o

34、f scissors and a needle and thread, and snipped and stitched and cut and contrived, and made a bandage and put it on, and it fitted beautifully, and so when it was all done she saw the King her Papa looking on by the door. “Alicia.” “Yes, Papa.” “What have you been doing?” “Snipping stitching cuttin

35、g and contriving, Papa.” “Where is the magic fish-bone?” “In my pocket, Papa.” “I thought you had lost it?” “O, no, Papa.” “Or forgotten it?” “No, indeed, Papa.” After that, she ran up-stairs to the Duchess and told her what had passed, and told her the secret over again, and the Duchess shook her f

36、laxen curls and laughed with her rosy lips. Well! and so another time the baby fell under the grate. The seventeen young Princes and Princesses were used to it, for they were almost always falling under the grate or down the stairs, but the baby was not used to it yet, and it gave him a swelled face

37、 and a black eye. The way the poor little darling came to tumble was, that he slid out of the Princess Alicias lap just as she was sitting in a great coarse apron that quite smothered her, in front of the kitchen-fire, beginning to peel the turnips for the broth for dinner; and the way she came to b

38、e doing that was, that the Kings cook had run away that morning with her own true love who was a very tall but very tipsy soldier. Then, the seventeen young Princes and Princesses, who cried at everything that happened, cried and roared. But the Princess Alicia (who couldnt help crying a little hers

39、elf) quietly called to them to be still, on account of not throwing back the Queen up-stairs, who was fast getting well, and said, “Hold your tongues, you wicked little monkeys, every one of you, while I examine baby!” Then she examined baby, and found that he hadnt broken anything, and she held col

40、d iron to his poor dear eye, and smoothed his poor dear face, and he presently fell asleep in her arms. Then, she said to the seventeen Princes and Princesses, “I am afraid to lay him down yet, lest he should wake and feel pain, be good, and you shall all be cooks.” They jumped for joy when they hea

41、rd that, and began making themselves cooks caps out of old newspapers. So to one she gave the salt-box, and to one she gave the barley, and to one she gave the herbs, and to one she gave the turnips, and to one she gave the carrots, and to one she gave the onions, and to one she gave the spice-box,

42、till they were all cooks, and all running about at work, she sitting in the middle smothered in the great coarse apron, nursing baby. By and by the broth was done, and the baby woke up smiling like an angel, and was trusted to the sedatest Princess to hold, while the other Princes and Princesses wer

43、e squeezed into a far-off corner to look at the Princess Alicia turning out the saucepan-full of broth, for fear (as they were always getting into trouble) they should get splashed and scalded. When the broth came tumbling out, steaming beautifully, and smelling like a nosegay good to eat, they clap

44、ped their hands. That made the baby clap his hands; and that, and his looking as if he had a comic toothache, made all the Princes and Princesses laugh. So the Princess Alicia said, “Laugh and be good, and after dinner we will make him a nest on the floor in a corner, and he shall sit in his nest an

45、d see a dance of eighteen cooks.” That delighted the young Princes and Princesses, and they ate up all the broth, and washed up all the plates and dishes, and cleared away, and pushed the table into a corner, and then they in their cooks caps, and the Princess Alicia in the smothering coarse apron t

46、hat belonged to the cook that had run away with her own true love that was the very tall but very tipsy soldier, danced a dance of eighteen cooks before the angelic baby, who forgot his swelled face and his black eye, and crowed with joy. And so then, once more the Princess Alicia saw King Watkins t

47、he First, her father, standing in the doorway looking on, and he said: “What have you been doing, Alicia?” “Cooking and contriving, Papa.” “What else have you been doing, Alicia?” “Keeping the children light-hearted, Papa.” “Where is the magic fish-bone, Alicia?” “In my pocket, Papa.” “I thought you

48、 had lost it?” “O, no, Papa.” “Or forgotten it?” “No, indeed, Papa.” The King then sighed so heavily, and seemed so low-spirited, and sat down so miserably, leaning his head upon his hand, and his elbow upon the kitchen table pushed away in the corner, that the seventeen Princes and Princesses crept softly out of the kitchen, and left him alone with the Princess Alicia and the angelic baby. “What is the matter, Papa?” “I am dreadfully poor, my child.” “Have you no money at all, Papa?” “None my child.” “Is there no way left of getting any, Papa?