小学英语 英语故事（童话故事）The Three Castles 三个城堡

TheThreeCastles三个城堡The Three CastlesA boy had taken it into his head to go out and steal He also told his motherArent you ashamed! said his mother Go to confession at once, and youll see what the priest has to say to youThe boy went to confession Stealing is a sin, said the priest, unless you steal from thievesThe boy went to the woods and found thieves He knocked at their door and got himself hired as a servantWe steal, explained the thieves, but were not committing a sin, because we rob the tax collectorsOne night when the thieves had gone out to rob a tax collector, the boy led the best mule out of the stable, loaded it with gold pieces, and fledHe took the gold to his mother, then went to town to look for work In that town was a king who had a hundred sheep, but no one wanted to be his shepherd The boy volunteered, and the king said, Look, there are the hundred sheep Take them out tomorrow morning to the meadow, but dont cross the brook, because they would be eaten by a serpent on the other side If you come back with none missing, Ill reward you Fail to bring them all back, and Ill dismiss you on the spot, unless the serpent has already devoured you tooTo reach the meadow, he had to walk by the kings windows, where the kings daughter happened to be standing She saw the boy, liked his looks, and threw him a cake He caught it and carried it along to eat in the meadow On reaching the meadow, he saw a white stone in the grass and said, Ill sit down now and eat the cake from the kings daughter But the stone happened to be on the other side of the brook The shepherd paid no attention and jumped across the brook, with the sheep all following himThe grass was high there, and the sheep grazed peacefully, while he sat on the stone eating his cake All of a sudden he felt a blow under the rock which seemed to shake the world itself The boy looked all around but, seeing nothing, went on eating his cake Another blow more powerful than the first followed, but the shepherd ignored it There was a third blow, and out from under the rock crawled a serpent with three heads In each of its mouths it held a rose and crawled toward the boy, as though it wanted to offer him the roses He was about to take them, when the serpent lunged at him with its three mouths all set to gobble him up in three bites But the little shepherd proved the quicker, clubbing it with his staff over one head and the next and the next until the serpent lay deadThen he cut off the three heads with a sickle, putting two of them into his hunting jacket and crushing one to see what was inside What should he find but a crystal key The boy raised the stone and saw a door Slipping the key into the lock and turning it, he found himself inside a splendid palace of solid crystal Through all the doors came servants of crystal Good day, my lord, what are your wishes?I wish to be shown all my treasuresSo they took him up crystal stairs into crystal towers; they showed him crystal stables with crystal horses and arms and armor of solid crystal Then they led him into a crystal garden down avenues of crystal trees in which crystal birds sang, past flowerbeds where crystal flowers blossomed around crystal pools The boy picked a small bunch of flowers and stuck the bouquet in his hat When he brought the sheep home that night, the kings daughter was looking out the window and said, May I have those flowers in your hat?You certainly may, said the shepherd They are crystal flowers culled from the crystal garden of my solid crystal castle He tossed her the bouquet, which she caughtWhen he got back to the stone the next day, he crushed a second serpent head and found a silver key He lifted the stone, slipped the silver key into the lock and entered a solid silver palace Silver servants came running up saying, Command, our lord! They took him off to show him silver kitchens, where silver chickens roasted over silver fires, and silver gardens where silver peacocks spread their tails The boy picked a little bunch of silver flowers and stuck them in his hat That night he gave them to the kings daughter when she asked for themThe third day, he crushed the third head and found a gold key He slipped the key into the lock and entered a solid gold palace, where his servents were gold too, from wig to boots; the beds were gold, with gold sheets, pillows, and canopy; and in the aviaries fluttered hundreds of gold birds In a garden of gold flowerbeds and fountains with gold sprays, he picked a small bunch of gold flowers to stick in his hat and gave them to the kings daughter that nightNow the king announced a tournament, and the winner would have his daughter in marriage The shepherd unlocked the door with the crystal key, entered the crystal palace and chose a crystal horse with crystal bridle and saddle, and thus rode to the tournament in crystal armor and carrying a crystal lance He defeated all the other knights and fled without revealing who he wasThe next day he returned on a silver horse with trappings of silver, dressed in silver armor and carrying his silver lance and shield He defeated everyone and fled, still unknown to all The third day he returned on a gold horse, outfitted entirely in gold He was victorious the third time as well, and the princess said, I know who you are Youre the man who gave me flowers of crystal, silver, and gold, from the gardens of your castles of crystal, silver, and goldSo they got married, and the little shepherd became kingAnd all were very happy and gay, But to me who watched they gave no thought nor pay(Monferrato)NOTES:The Three Castles (I tre castelli) from Comparetti, 62 and 22, Monferrato, PiedmontThese two Piedmontese tales are variants of a single type I took the beginning from one and concluded with the other Nothing was added; I merely underlined a few elements already in the text (such as the tax collector) and the rhythmCopyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,translated by George Martin,Pantheon Books, New York 1980三个城堡有个小伙子突然想要去偷东西，他把这个念头跟妈妈一说，妈妈就说：“你不觉得羞耻吗？你马上去忏悔，听听神父给你的劝告。”小伙子去忏悔，神父说：“偷窃是罪过，但假如你偷窃的对象是贼，罪孽还不算深。”于是，小伙子来到森林里，找到了一处贼窝，他敲开门，请贼人收下他做仆从。贼人说：“我们偷东西，但我们并没有罪，因为我们偷的都是些收苛捐杂税的人。”一天晚上，贼人们出去偷一个收税官的家，小伙子从马厩里挑了最好的骡子，驮了一袋金币溜走了。他把金币送给妈妈，然后进城去找活干。城里住着一个国王，养了一百只羊。但是没人愿意给他放羊。小伙子去了。国王对他说：“你听着，这里是一百只羊，明天早上你带它们到那边的草场上去放牧，但不要靠近那条小溪，那里有一条大蛇，会把羊吃掉。如果你把羊全给我带回来，我就给你赏钱；但如果你丢了羊，自己又没被蛇吃掉，我就会立即赶你走。”要去草场，得从王宫的窗户下走过，公主正站在窗前往下边望着。她看见小伙子，顿生爱慕之心，扔给他一块蛋糕。牧羊小伙子一把接住蛋糕，收起来准备牧羊的时候吃。到了草场，他远远看见草丛中有一块白石头，心想：“我正好可以坐在上边吃公主给我的蛋糕。”可是石头在小溪对岸，牧羊小伙子没想太多就跳过小溪，羊群也跟着过来了。草场上青草茂盛，绵羊都在安静地吃草，小伙子也坐在石头上，吃着蛋糕。突然，他感觉到被石头下的什么东西顶了一下，好像整个世界往下塌陷似的一震。小伙子往四周看看，什么也没有，就继续吃蛋糕。这时从石头下又传来一声更大的响动，牧羊小伙子假装什么也没听到。当第三次震动的时候，从石头下钻出一条长着三个头的蛇，每张嘴都衔着一朵玫瑰，三只头一齐朝着牧羊小伙子伸过来，好像要把玫瑰送给他。小伙子正要伸手去接玫瑰，蛇却张开三张嘴向他猛扑过来，它只消每张嘴咬一口就能把小伙子一下子吃了。好在牧羊小伙子比它更敏捷，他用手里的牧羊棍照每个蛇头上猛力一击，巨蛇被打死了。然后，他用镰刀把三只蛇头都割了下来，他把两只蛇头装起来，砸开了剩下的那只蛇头，想看看里边是什么。在蛇头里藏着一把水晶钥匙，小伙子搬开石头，发现有道门，门上有一个锁眼。他把水晶钥匙插进去，门开了，里面是一个用水晶做成的雄伟的宫殿。见到小伙子进来，宫殿的门全开了，走出一些水晶仆人，说：“您好主人，有什么吩咐？”“我命令你们带着我去查看一下我的珍宝。”这些水晶人拥着他顺着水晶楼梯爬上一座水晶塔，让他看了水晶马厩和里面的水晶马，看了所有的水晶兵器和水晶盔甲。然后，他们陪着他来到一处水晶花园，林阴道两边的水晶树上有一些水晶鸟在欢快地叫着，花坛中的水晶花都在盛开着，花坛四周是一个个水晶