小学英语英语故事（童话故事）ThePrinceWhoMarriedaFrog王子娶了一只青蛙.docx

ThePrinceWhoMarriedaFrog王子娶了一只青蛙The Prince Who Married a FrogThere was once a king who had three sons of marriageable age In order to avoid any dispute over their choice of three brides, he said, Aim as far as you can with the sling There where the stone falls you will get your wifeThe three sons picked up their slings and shot The oldest boy sent his stone flying all the way to the roof of a bakery, so he got the baker girl The second boy released his stone, which came down on the house of a weaver The youngest sons stone landed in a ditchImmediately after the shots, each boy rushed off to his betrothed with a ring The oldest brother was met by a lovely maiden as fresh as a newly baked cake, the middle brother by a fair girl with silky hair and skin, while the youngest, after looking and looking, saw nothing but a frog in that ditchThey returned to the king to tell him about their betrothed Now, said the king, whoever has the best wife will inherit the kingdom Here begin the tests He gave them each some hemp to be spun and returned within three days, to see which betrothed was the best spinnerThe sons went to their betrothed and urged them to spin their best Highly embarrassed, the youngest boy took the hemp to the rim of the ditch and called:Frog, frog!Who calls?Your love who loves you notIf you love me not, never mind Later you shall, when a fine figure I cutThe frog jumped out of the water onto a leaf The kings son gave her the hemp, telling her hed pick up the spun thread three days laterThree days later the older brothers anxiously hastened to the baker girl and the weaver girl to pick up their spun hemp The baker girl produced a beautiful piece of work; the weaver girl, who was an expert at this sort of thing, had spun hers to look like silk But how did the youngest son fare? He went to the ditch and called:Frog, frog!Who calls?Your love who loves you notIf you love me not, never mind Later you shall, when a fine figure I cutShe jumped onto a leaf holding a walnut in her mouth He was somewhat embarrassed to give his father a walnut while his brothers brought spun hemp He nevertheless took heart and presented the king with the walnut The king, who had already scrutinized the handiwork of the baker and the weaver girls, cracked open the walnut as the older brothers looked on, snickering Out came cloth as fine as gossamer that continued to unroll until the throne room was covered with it But theres no end to this cloth! exclaimed the king No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the cloth came to an endBut the father refused to accept the idea of a frog becoming queen His favorite hunting bitch had just had three puppies, which he gave the three sons Take them to your betrothed and go back for them a month later The one whos taken the best care of her dog will become the queenA month later, the baker girls dog had turned into a big, fat mastiff, having got all the bread he could eat The weavers dog, not nearly so well supplied, was now a half-starved hound The youngest son came in with a small box The king opened it and out jumped a tiny, beribboned poodle, impeccably groomed and perfumed, that stood on its hind legs and marched and countedNo doubt about it, said the king, my youngest son will be king, and the frog will be queenThe wedding of all three brothers was set for the same day The older brothers went for their brides in garlanded carriages drawn by four horses, and the brides climbed in, decked with feathers and jewelsThe youngest boy went to the ditch, where the frog awaited him in a carriage fashioned out of a fig leaf and drawn by four snails They set out He walked ahead while the snails followed, pulling the fig leaf with the frog upon it Every now and then he stopped for them to catch up with him, and once he even fell asleep When he awakened, a gold carriage had pulled up beside him It was drawn by two white horses, and inside on velvet upholstery, sat a maiden as dazzling as the sun and dressed in an emarald-green gownWho are you? asked the youngest sonI am the frogHe couldnt believe it, so the maiden opened a jewel case containing the fig leaf, the frog skin, and four snail shells I was a princess turned into a frog, and the only chance I had of getting my human form back was for a kings son to agree to marry me the way I wasThe king was overjoyed and told his two older sons, who were consumed with envy, that whoever picked the wrong wife was unworthy of the crown So the youngest boy and his bride became king and queen(Monferrato)NOTES:The Prince Who Married a Frog (Il principe che spos una rana) from Comparetti, 4, Monferrato, PiedmontThe tale of the frog bride is common to all of Europe; scholars have counted 300 versions Comparing it, for instance, with Grimm, no63, or with Afanasevs The Frog Prince, this variant which we can classify as distinctly Italian (since it shows up uniformly throughout the Peninsula, even if slinging to locate the bride is rather rare) stands out in its near-geometrical logic and linearityCopyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,translated by George Martin,Pantheon Books, New York 1980王子娶了一只青蛙从前，有一个国王，他的三个儿子都到了娶妻的年龄了。为了不让三个王子在挑选新娘的时候发生争斗，国王对他们说：“你们用投石器尽力向远处拋石头，石头落在哪里，你们就娶哪里的姑娘为妻。”三个儿子拿了投石器拋出石头。大儿子把石头拋在了一家面包房的屋顶上，于是他娶了那面包女工。二儿子把石头拋进了一个纺织女工的家里。而小儿子拋的石头则落进了一条水沟里。投完石头，三个王子赶快带着订婚戒指去找各自的未婚妻。大王子找到的是一个美丽的姑娘，皮肤柔嫩得像刚出炉的蛋糕；二王子找到的是一个脸色苍白的姑娘，身体纤细得像根线；而小王子朝水沟里望啊、望啊，最后只找到一只青蛙。三个王子回来向国王禀告了自己找到的未婚妻的情况。国王说：“这样吧，谁的妻子最优秀，谁就能继承王位。现在我们就试试她们。”他给每个儿子分了一些麻，让他们的未婚妻在三天内纺出来，比比谁纺得更好。儿子们找到自己的未婚妻，叮嘱她们仔细地纺。小王子觉得很沮丧，他拿着麻，来到水沟边，喊道：“青蛙啊，青蛙！”“谁在喊我呀？”“不太喜欢你的未婚夫！”“你现在不喜欢我，当你看到我美丽时，一定会喜欢我。”青蛙从水中跳出来，落在一片叶子上。小王子把麻交给她，告诉她三天后他会来取纺好的线。三天过后，两个哥哥急不可耐地跑到面包女工和纺织女工那里取纺好的线，面包女纺得很漂亮，而纺织女就更不必说了，纺线是她最拿手的，纺出来的麻线像丝一样细。小王子怎么样了呢？他来到水沟边：“青蛙啊，青蛙！”“谁在喊我呀？”“不太喜欢你的未婚夫！”“你现在不喜欢我，当你看到我美丽时，一定会喜欢我！”青蛙跳到一片叶子上，嘴里衔着一颗核桃。两位哥哥都带来了纺好的线，自己却只带回一颗核桃见父亲，小王子很难为情，他硬着头皮来到父亲面前。国王先是翻来覆去地查看了面包女和纺织女纺出的线，然后才打开小王子带来的核桃，两位哥哥在旁边暗暗地讥笑他。国王打开核桃，从里面取出了一球细线，细得像蜘蛛网一样，国王拽呀拽，拉呀拉，越拉越长，拉出来的线堆满了整个大殿。“这线怎么没有个头啊！”国王话刚一出口，线就拉到头了。国王不甘心就这样让一只青蛙当上王后。正好，他