FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BELL-DEEPby Hans Christian Andersen"DING-DONG! ding-dong!" It sounds up from the "bell-deep" in theOdense-Au. Every child in the old town of Odense, on the island ofFunen, knows the Au, which washes the gardens round about the town,and flows on under the wooden bridges from the dam to thewater-mill. In the Au grow the yellow water-lilies and brownfeathery reeds; the dark velvety flag grows there, high and thick; oldand decayed willows, slanting and tottering, hang far out over the...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE HAPPY FAMILYby Hans Christian AndersenTHE largest green leaf in this country is certainly theburdock-leaf. If you hold it in front of you, it is large enough foran apron; and if you hold it over your head, it is almost as good asan umbrella, it is so wonderfully large. A burdock never growsalone; where it grows, there are many more, and it is a splendidsight; and all this splendor is good for snails. The great whitesnails, which grand people in olden times used to have made into...
THE THREE BROTHERS[17][17] From the Polish. Kletke.There was once upon a time a witch, who in the shape of a hawkused every night to break the windows of a certain villagechurch. In the same village there lived three brothers, who wereall determined to kill the mischievous hawk. But in vain did thetwo eldest mount guard in the church with their guns; as soon asthe bird appeared high above their heads, sleep overpowered them,and they only awoke to hear the windows crashing in.Then the youngest brother took his turn of guarding the windows,...
GLOSSARYOFCERTAIN SCOTCH WORDS AND PHRASES,AS APPLIED IN ROB ROY.Aiblins, perhaps.Aik, oak.Airn, iron.Aits, oats.An, if.Andrea Ferrara, Highland broadsword.Auldfarran, sagacious.Bailie, a Scotch magistrate.Bairn, a child.Ban, curse.Barkit aik snag, barked oak stick.Barkit, tanned.Barm, yeast.Bawbee, halfpenny.Baudron, a cat,Bent, the moor or hill-side.Bicker, a wooden vessel.Bicker, to throw stones, to quarrel.Bide, wait.Bield, shelter.Bigging, building.Bike, nest....
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE PEA BLOSSOMby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE were once five peas in one shell, they were green, the shellwas green, and so they believed that the whole world must be greenalso, which was a very natural conclusion. The shell grew, and thepeas grew, they accommodated themselves to their position, and sat allin a row. The sun shone without and warmed the shell, and the rainmade it clear and transparent; it was mild and agreeable in broaddaylight, and dark at night, as it generally is; and the peas as...
THE COMPARISON OF PELOPIDAS WITH MARCELLUSby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHESE are the memorable things I have found in historians concerningMarcellus and Pelopidas. Betwixt which two great men, though innatural character and manners they nearly resemble each other, becauseboth were valiant and diligent, daring and high-spirited, there wasyet some diversity in the one point, that Marcellus in many citieswhich he reduced under his power committed great slaughter; butEpaminondas and Pelopidas never after any victory put men to death, or...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENWHAT ONE CAN INVENTby Hans Christian AndersenThere was once a young man who was studying to be a poet. Hewanted to become one by Easter, and to marry, and to live by poetry.To write poems, he knew, only consists in being able to inventsomething; but he could not invent anything. He had been born toolate- everything had been taken up before he came into the world,and everything had been written and told about."Happy people who were born a thousand years ago!" said he. "It...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE OLD GRAVE-STONEby Hans Christian AndersenIN a house, with a large courtyard, in a provincial town, atthat time of the year in which people say the evenings are growinglonger, a family circle were gathered together at their old home. Alamp burned on the table, although the weather was mild and warm,and the long curtains hung down before the open windows, and withoutthe moon shone brightly in the dark-blue sky.But they were not talking of the moon, but of a large, old stone...
THE YOUNG MAN WHO WOULD HAVE HIS EYES OPENEDOnce upon a time there lived a youth who was never happy unlesshe was prying into something that other people knew nothingabout. After he had learned to understand the language of birdsand beasts, he discovered accidentally that a great deal tookplace under cover of night which mortal eyes never saw. Fromthat moment he felt he could not rest till these hidden secretswere laid bare to him, and he spent his whole time wandering fromone wizard to another, begging them to open his eyes, but foundnone to help him. At length he reached an old magician
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BIRD OF POPULAR SONGby Hans Christian AndersenIT is winter-time. The earth wears a snowy garment, and looks likemarble hewn out of the rock; the air is bright and clear; the windis sharp as a well-tempered sword, and the trees stand like branchesof white coral or blooming almond twigs, and here it is keen as on thelofty Alps.The night is splendid in the gleam of the Northern Lights, andin the glitter of innumerable twinkling stars.But we sit in the warm room, by the hot stove, and talk about...
THE MONKEY AND THE JELLY-FISHChildren must often have wondered why jelly-fishes have noshells, like so many of the creatures that are washed up everyday on the beach. In old times this was not so; the jelly-fishhad as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through hisown fault, as may be seen in this story.The sea-queen Otohime, whom you read of in the story ofUraschimatoro, grew suddenly very ill. The swiftest messengerswere sent hurrying to fetch the best doctors from every countryunder the sea, but it was all of no use; the queen grew rapidlyworse instead of better. Everyone had al
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE RACESby Hans Christian AndersenA PRIZE, or rather two prizes, a great one and a small one, hadbeen awarded for the greatest swiftness in running,- not in a singlerace, but for the whole year."I obtained the first prize," said the hare. "Justice must stillbe carried out, even when one has relations and good friends among theprize committee; but that the snail should have received the secondprize, I consider almost an insult to myself"...
OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESSDavid Hume1741NOTHING is more apt to surprize a foreigner, than theextreme liberty, which we enjoy in this country, ofcommunicating whatever we please to the public, and ofopenly censuring every measure, entered into by the king orhis ministers. If the administration resolve upon war, it is...
THE VOICE OF DEATHONCE upon a time there lived a man whose one wish and prayerwas to get rich. Day and night he thought of nothing else,and at last his prayers were granted, and he became very wealthy.Now being so rich, and having so much to lose, he felt that it wouldbe a terrible thing to die and leave all his possessions behind; so hemade up his mind to set out in search of a land where there was nodeath. He got ready for his journey, took leave of his wife, andstarted. Whenever he came to a new country the first questionthat he asked was whether people died in that land, and when he...
MOTHER HOLLEONCE upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters;one of them was pretty and clever, and the other ugly andlazy. But as the ugly one was her own daughter, she liked her farthe best of the two, and the pretty one had to do all the work of thehouse, and was in fact the regular maid of all work. Every day shehad to sit by a well on the high road, and spin till her fingers wereso sore that they often bled. One day some drops of blood fell onher spindle, so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it, but, asluck would have it, it dropped from her hand and fell right in. She.
THE FIRST WRITING-MACHINESFrom My Unpublished AutobiographySome days ago a correspondent sent in an old typewritten sheet,faded by age, containing the following letter over the signatureof Mark Twain:"Hartford, March 10, 1875."Please do not use my name in any way. Please do not even divulgethat fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped usingthe typewriter, for the reason that I never could write a letterwith it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that Iwould not only describe the machine, but state what progress I had...