小学英语英语故事童话故事GreatClausandLittleClaus.doc

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1、GreatClausandLittleClausIN a village there once lived two men who had the same name. They were both called Claus. One of them had four horses, but the other had only one; so to distinguish them, people called the owner of the four horses, “Great Claus,” and he who had only one, “Little Claus.” Now w

2、e shall hear what happened to them, for this is a true story.Through the whole week, Little Claus was obliged to plough for Great Claus, and lend him his one horse; and once a week, on a Sunday, Great Claus lent him all his four horses. Then how Little Claus would smack his whip over all five horses

3、, they were as good as his own on that one day. The sun shone brightly, and the church bells were ringing merrily as the people passed by, dressed in their best clothes, with their prayer-books under their arms. They were going to hear the clergyman preach. They looked at Little Claus ploughing with

4、 his five horses, and he was so proud that he smacked his whip, and said, “Gee-up, my five horses.”“You must not say that,” said Big Claus; “for only one of them belongs to you.” But Little Claus soon forgot what he ought to say, and when any one passed he would call out, “Gee-up, my five horses!”“N

5、ow I must beg you not to say that again,” said Big Claus; “for if you do, I shall hit your horse on the head, so that he will drop dead on the spot, and there will be an end of him.”“I promise you I will not say it any more,” said the other; but as soon as people came by, nodding to him, and wishing

6、 him “Good day,” he became so pleased, and thought how grand it looked to have five horses ploughing in his field, that he cried out again, “Gee-up, all my horses!”“Ill gee-up your horses for you,” said Big Claus; and seizing a hammer, he struck the one horse of Little Claus on the head, and he fell

7、 dead instantly.“Oh, now I have no horse at all,” said Little Claus, weeping. But after a while he took off the dead horses skin, and hung the hide to dry in the wind. Then he put the dry skin into a bag, and, placing it over his shoulder, went out into the next town to sell the horses skin. He had

8、a very long way to go, and had to pass through a dark, gloomy forest. Presently a storm arose, and he lost his way, and before he discovered the right path, evening came on, and it was still a long way to the town, and too far to return home before night. Near the road stood a large farmhouse. The s

9、hutters outside the windows were closed, but lights shone through the crevices at the top. “I might get permission to stay here for the night,” thought Little Claus; so he went up to the door and knocked. The farmers wife opened the door; but when she heard what he wanted, she told him to go away, a

10、s her husband would not allow her to admit strangers. “Then I shall be obliged to lie out here,” said Little Claus to himself, as the farmers wife shut the door in his face. Near to the farmhouse stood a large haystack, and between it and the house was a small shed, with a thatched roof. “I can lie

11、up there,” said Little Claus, as he saw the roof; “it will make a famous bed, but I hope the stork will not fly down and bite my legs;” for on it stood a living stork, whose nest was in the roof. So Little Claus climbed to the roof of the shed, and while he turned himself to get comfortable, he disc

12、overed that the wooden shutters, which were closed, did not reach to the tops of the windows of the farmhouse, so that he could see into a room, in which a large table was laid out with wine, roast meat, and a splendid fish. The farmers wife and the sexton were sitting at the table together; and she

13、 filled his glass, and helped him plenteously to fish, which appeared to be his favorite dish. “If I could only get some, too,” thought Little Claus; and then, as he stretched his neck towards the window he spied a large, beautiful pie,indeed they had a glorious feast before them.At this moment he h

14、eard some one riding down the road, towards the farmhouse. It was the farmer returning home. He was a good man, but still he had a very strange prejudice,he could not bear the sight of a sexton. If one appeared before him, he would put himself in a terrible rage. In consequence of this dislike, the

15、sexton had gone to visit the farmers wife during her husbands absence from home, and the good woman had placed before him the best she had in the house to eat. When she heard the farmer coming she was frightened, and begged the sexton to hide himself in a large empty chest that stood in the room. He

16、 did so, for he knew her husband could not endure the sight of a sexton. The woman then quickly put away the wine, and hid all the rest of the nice things in the oven; for if her husband had seen them he would have asked what they were brought out for.“Oh, dear,” sighed Little Claus from the top of

17、the shed, as he saw all the good things disappear.“Is any one up there?” asked the farmer, looking up and discovering Little Claus. “Why are you lying up there? Come down, and come into the house with me.” So Little Claus came down and told the farmer how he had lost his way and begged for a nights

18、lodging.“All right,” said the farmer; “but we must have something to eat first.”The woman received them both very kindly, laid the cloth on a large table, and placed before them a dish of porridge. The farmer was very hungry, and ate his porridge with a good appetite, but Little Claus could not help

19、 thinking of the nice roast meat, fish and pies, which he knew were in the oven. Under the table, at his feet, lay the sack containing the horses skin, which he intended to sell at the next town. Now Little Claus did not relish the porridge at all, so he trod with his foot on the sack under the tabl

20、e, and the dry skin squeaked quite loud. “Hush!” said Little Claus to his sack, at the same time treading upon it again, till it squeaked louder than before.“Hallo! what have you got in your sack!” asked the farmer.“Oh, it is a conjuror,” said Little Claus; “and he says we need not eat porridge, for

21、 he has conjured the oven full of roast meat, fish, and pie.”“Wonderful!” cried the farmer, starting up and opening the oven door; and there lay all the nice things hidden by the farmers wife, but which he supposed had been conjured there by the wizard under the table. The woman dared not say anythi

22、ng; so she placed the things before them, and they both ate of the fish, the meat, and the pastry.Then Little Claus trod again upon his sack, and it squeaked as before. “What does he say now?” asked the farmer.“He says,” replied Little Claus, “that there are three bottles of wine for us, standing in

23、 the corner, by the oven.”So the woman was obliged to bring out the wine also, which she had hidden, and the farmer drank it till he became quite merry. He would have liked such a conjuror as Little Claus carried in his sack. “Could he conjure up the evil one?” asked the farmer. “I should like to se

24、e him now, while I am so merry.”“Oh, yes!” replied Little Claus, “my conjuror can do anything I ask him,can you not?” he asked, treading at the same time on the sack till it squeaked. “Do you hear? he answers Yes, but he fears that we shall not like to look at him.”“Oh, I am not afraid. What will he

25、 be like?”“Well, he is very much like a sexton.”“Ha!” said the farmer, “then he must be ugly. Do you know I cannot endure the sight of a sexton. However, that doesnt matter, I shall know who it is; so I shall not mind. Now then, I have got up my courage, but dont let him come too near me.”“Stop, I m

26、ust ask the conjuror,” said Little Claus; so he trod on the bag, and stooped his ear down to listen.“What does he say?”“He says that you must go and open that large chest which stands in the corner, and you will see the evil one crouching down inside; but you must hold the lid firmly, that he may no

27、t slip out.”“Will you come and help me hold it?” said the farmer, going towards the chest in which his wife had hidden the sexton, who now lay inside, very much frightened. The farmer opened the lid a very little way, and peeped in.“Oh,” cried he, springing backwards, “I saw him, and he is exactly l

28、ike our sexton. How dreadful it is!” So after that he was obliged to drink again, and they sat and drank till far into the night.“You must sell your conjuror to me,” said the farmer; “ask as much as you like, I will pay it; indeed I would give you directly a whole bushel of gold.”“No, indeed, I cann

29、ot,” said Little Claus; “only think how much profit I could make out of this conjuror.”“But I should like to have him,” said the fanner, still continuing his entreaties.“Well,” said Little Claus at length, “you have been so good as to give me a nights lodging, I will not refuse you; you shall have t

30、he conjuror for a bushel of money, but I will have quite full measure.”“So you shall,” said the farmer; “but you must take away the chest as well. I would not have it in the house another hour; there is no knowing if he may not be still there.”So Little Claus gave the farmer the sack containing the

31、dried horses skin, and received in exchange a bushel of moneyfull measure. The farmer also gave him a wheelbarrow on which to carry away the chest and the gold.“Farewell,” said Little Claus, as he went off with his money and the great chest, in which the sexton lay still concealed. On one side of th

32、e forest was a broad, deep river, the water flowed so rapidly that very few were able to swim against the stream. A new bridge had lately been built across it, and in the middle of this bridge Little Claus stopped, and said, loud enough to be heard by the sexton, “Now what shall I do with this stupi

33、d chest; it is as heavy as if it were full of stones: I shall be tired if I roll it any farther, so I may as well throw it in the river; if it swims after me to my house, well and good, and if not, it will not much matter.”So he seized the chest in his hand and lifted it up a little, as if he were g

34、oing to throw it into the water.“No, leave it alone,” cried the sexton from within the chest; “let me out first.”“Oh,” exclaimed Little Claus, pretending to be frightened, “he is in there still, is he? I must throw him into the river, that he may be drowned.”“Oh, no; oh, no,” cried the sexton; “I wi

35、ll give you a whole bushel full of money if you will let me go.”“Why, that is another matter,” said Little Claus, opening the chest. The sexton crept out, pushed the empty chest into the water, and went to his house, then he measured out a whole bushel full of gold for Little Claus, who had already

36、received one from the farmer, so that now he had a barrow full.“I have been well paid for my horse,” said he to himself when he reached home, entered his own room, and emptied all his money into a heap on the floor. “How vexed Great Claus will be when he finds out how rich I have become all through

37、my one horse; but I shall not tell him exactly how it all happened.” Then he sent a boy to Great Claus to borrow a bushel measure.“What can he want it for?” thought Great Claus; so he smeared the bottom of the measure with tar, that some of whatever was put into it might stick there and remain. And

38、so it happened; for when the measure returned, three new silver florins were sticking to it.“What does this mean?” said Great Claus; so he ran off directly to Little Claus, and asked, “Where did you get so much money?”“Oh, for my horses skin, I sold it yesterday.”“It was certainly well paid for then

39、,” said Great Claus; and he ran home to his house, seized a hatchet, and knocked all his four horses on the head, flayed off their skins, and took them to the town to sell. “Skins, skins, wholl buy skins?” he cried, as he went through the streets. All the shoemakers and tanners came running, and ask

40、ed how much he wanted for them.“A bushel of money, for each,” replied Great Claus.“Are you mad?” they all cried; “do you think we have money to spend by the bushel?”“Skins, skins,” he cried again, “wholl buy skins?” but to all who inquired the price, his answer was, “a bushel of money.”“He is making

41、 fools of us,” said they all; then the shoemakers took their straps, and the tanners their leather aprons, and began to beat Great Claus.“Skins, skins!” they cried, mocking him; “yes, well mark your skin for you, till it is black and blue.”“Out of the town with him,” said they. And Great Claus was o

42、bliged to run as fast as he could, he had never before been so thoroughly beaten.“Ah,” said he, as he came to his house; “Little Claus shall pay me for this; I will beat him to death.”Meanwhile the old grandmother of Little Claus died. She had been cross, unkind, and really spiteful to him; but he w

43、as very sorry, and took the dead woman and laid her in his warm bed to see if he could bring her to life again. There he determined that she should lie the whole night, while he seated himself in a chair in a corner of the room as he had often done before. During the night, as he sat there, the door

44、 opened, and in came Great Claus with a hatchet. He knew well where Little Clauss bed stood; so he went right up to it, and struck the old grandmother on the head. thinking it must be Little Claus.“There,” cried he, “now you cannot make a fool of me again;” and then he went home.“That is a very wick

45、ed man,” thought Little Claus; “he meant to kill me. It is a good thing for my old grandmother that she was already dead, or he would have taken her life.” Then he dressed his old grandmother in her best clothes, borrowed a horse of his neighbor, and harnessed it to a cart. Then he placed the old wo

46、man on the back seat, so that she might not fall out as he drove, and rode away through the wood. By sunrise they reached a large inn, where Little Claus stopped and went to get something to eat. The landlord was a rich man, and a good man too; but as passionate as if he had been made of pepper and

47、snuff.“Good morning,” said he to Little Claus; “you are come betimes to-day.”“Yes,” said Little Claus; “I am going to the town with my old grandmother; she is sitting at the back of the wagon, but I cannot bring her into the room. Will you take her a glass of mead? but you must speak very loud, for

48、she cannot hear well.”“Yes, certainly I will,” replied the landlord; and, pouring out a glass of mead, he carried it out to the dead grandmother, who sat upright in the cart. “Here is a glass of mead from your grandson,” said the landlord. The dead woman did not answer a word, but sat quite still. “

49、Do you not hear?” cried the landlord as loud as he could; “here is a glass of mead from your grandson.”Again and again he bawled it out, but as she did not stir he flew into a passion, and threw the glass of mead in her face; it struck her on the nose, and she fell backwards out of the cart, for she was only seated there, not tied in.“Hallo!” cried Little Claus, rushing out of the door, and seizing hold of the landlord by the throat; “you have ki