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02 The Naked King Long, long time ago, there lived a very fancy king. The king changed his clothes 12 times a day. He really liked to show off to his subjects. "My clothes are the best in the world." One day, two tailors planned a trick. "Why don't we teach that stupid and extravagant king a lesson. He doesn't even worry about his starving people." "That's right! He thinks he's the best." The two men went to see the king. "Oh, the world's most marvelous king! We have brought the most beautiful cloth in the whole world." "However, not everyone is able to see the cloth. Those that tell lies and have bad hearts are not able to see this fine cloth." After the king heard those words, he became very interested. "Could there really be such a cloth? If I can make clothes out of those cloths, my clothes will be the best in the whole world. Hurry and show me the cloth." The king began to get more and more greedy. The tailors pretended that the cloth was real, as they showed it to the king. The king and the fine-spoken subjects could not see anything before them. But none of them could show that they could not see it. The king and his fine-spoken subjects just looked at each other. Then, the tailor quickly spoke in a arrogant manner. "Well, is there no honest man here? How can you look at this beautiful cloth and not praise it?" Among the subjects, one of them made a flattering comment out loud. "Wow! This is the first time that I have seen such a wonderful cloth." All the subjects tried to be the first to praise the cloth. Then, the king was amazed with the beauty of the cloth, too. The king gave the money and ordered them to make his clothes. For several days, the tailors pretended to be making the clothes. The king became worried and told one of his subjects to go and see how the clothes was coming along. The subject could not say how much the clothes had been completed. As hard as he looked, he could not see it. But, he could not say that he was unable to see it. Instead, he pretended to be amazed at how beautiful it was coming along. A few days later, the tailors came back with the king's clothes. "Here you are, try on this clothes." The king was not able to honestly say that he could not see the clothes. He, too, pretended to look over it. One man said, "Your majesty, let's go and show off your finest clothes in the world." The subjects all agreed at the same time. "Yes, that is a good idea." The king walked out to the street very proudly and walked with pride. All the people in the land came out to see the king's new clothes. They were all surprised, though. Just then, a little girl shouted out, "Our king is naked!" Then everyone said, "He's naked, he's naked!" The king now realized the truth. However, with only his undergarments on, he still walked in a dignified manner. Even though he was embarrassed, he could not stop walking. Why not? Because he was the king. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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03 Last Dream for an Old Oak Tree Once upon a time, there was a large oak tree in the forest. This oak tree was very old. One day during the hot summer, a mayfly flew by and alighted on a leaf of the oak tree. "Mayfly, you must be so sad." "Why?" "You get to live only one day." The oak tree felt sorry for the mayfly. Mayfly asked, "Don't you live for one day?" "No, I live much longer than you do." The mayfly nodded and asked, "Really? Then, are you happy now?" "Yes, I am very happy," replied the oak tree. Then the mayfly smiled and said, "I am very happy, too. Although I get to live only one day, it doesn't matter. You get to live much longer than I do, but we are both happy, aren't we?" The oak tree and the mayfly kept on talking to each other. Eventually, the mayfly leaned on the oak tree and felt asleep. "Mayfly!" The oak tree called the mayfly, but the mayfly did not respond. It had died. "Mayfly, have a happy dream." The oak tree blessed the mayfly for the last time. Many weeks then passed. Spring, summer and fall went by, and winter came. Finally, the long-awaited day of Christmas came. The oak tree wanted to rest now. The oak tree had a dream on Christmas day. In it, pretty flowers were abundant and butterflies were flying in a green forest. In this dream, the oak tree met the mayfly. The mayfly said, "Come play here. It is such a happy place." The oak tree was very pleased indeed to see the mayfly. While the oak tree was sleeping, its root were cut. It was time for the oak tree to die. The oak tree went to a happy world, dreaming. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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04 The Ugly Duckling A mother duck was brooding on her eggs near the margin of a pond. A flock of lovely baby ducks was soon born, making sweet peeping sounds when the eggs were broken. But one egg remained unbroken. "It is strange. Why has this egg not broken?" The mother duck continued her brooding. At last, the egg was broken and a baby duck was born. However that baby duck was very ugly compared to the other baby ducks. The mother duck was worried, but still she took the baby ducks near the water and taught them how to swim. The ugly ducking also swam with his brothers and sisters, moving his legs eagerly. "It is lucky though. That baby swims well." Still his brothers pecked at the ugly duckling with their bills. "How hideous this baby duck is. We don't want to see you. Go to a cat." His brothers gave a very hard time to the poor ducking. "Stop it, don't do that!" The mother duck sighed and said, "Ah! I wish that this baby could live happily at another place." The baby duck heard what his mother said and dropped tears of sorrow saying, "Mom, I will leave. Good-bye." The ugly ducking left his nest beyond the pond. When he entered the forest, other birds were frightened by the baby duck and ran away. "Why do they run away? Is it because I am so awful?" The baby duck became sadder and plodded along the field. Near the water beside the field, two wild ducks were playing around. "Yah, what is that ugly duck? Let's make fun of him." The two wild ducks flew up in the air and threw stones at the baby duck. "Bang! Bang!" At that time, a hunter shot his gun. The two wild ducks fell down dead to the ground. "Uh? What is this small bird?" The hunter took home the awkward little baby duck along with the two wild ducks. "Dad, what is this poor-looking bird?" "I took it with me in order to give it to you, my son. It was trembling with fear in the water." The children gave a hard time to the baby duck by pulling its wings and tail. "That hurts! Ow!" The baby duck spilled a jug of milk while running away from the cruel hands of the children. The dishes on the table were also broken. The angry hunter sent out the baby duck with flourish of his broomstick. And so the after being cast out from the house of the hunter, the ugly ducking spent a long and cold winter alone. Finally spring came. The baby duck had a good stretch and flew up in the air vigorously. "Uh! I'm flying!" Upon the lake, a flock of white and pretty swans were playing around while swimming. "They are indeed pretty birds." The baby duck became sad. "Those birds may not like me as I'm so ugly." The baby duck tried to run away from the group of beautiful swans. "Hi! Where are you going? Come and play around with us!" The baby duck approached the swans hesitatingly. At that moment, the baby duck saw his own appearance reflected to the lake. There was one more beautiful swan gliding gracefully across the waster. The ugly duckling who overcame all suffering had finally become a beautiful swan. And so he lived happily ever after. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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05 Nightingale A long time ago in China there lived an emperor. The emperor loved to read books. One day, in the book he was reading, it wrote, "The most beautiful precious treasure is the bird nightingale." The emperor had never seen or heard of nightingale. "What is nightingale?" No one has ever seen or heard of it. The emperor was very curious as to what nightingale was. "Bring nightingale to me at once." The servants were worried by the emperor's command. They looked here and there. One day a little girl said that she knew of nightingale. She said that the bird she had was nightingale. It was a small cute bird. At once nightingale was brought to the emperor. The emperor was very happy. "Ah, is this bird called nightingale?" For the first time in his life, he heard the beautiful voice and was impressed and deeply moved. "Please give me nightingale and I will reward you handsomely." So nightingale came to live in the palace. Everyday nightingale sang for the emperor. Emperor was happy every time he heard nightingale sing. He was so proud of nightingale that he allowed the servants to hear it too. However, nightingale was not happy. Nightingale felt trapped and had no freedom. One day the neighboring country sent a gift to the emperor. It was a nightingale doll made of jewels and gold. Every time the doll was wound up it sang beautifully. Furthermore, the emperor if wanted could hear it everyday. "It's really amazing. Its beauty is the finest in the world." The real nightingale was sad. The real nightingale decided to leave. It flew off into the forest of freedom. The nightingale doll kept on singing. One day the doll broke. No body was able to fix it. The emperor was heart broken. The emperor became ill. He just laid there waiting to die. Just then, from the window, a beautiful song came flowing in. Everyone looked. Sitting by the window, nightingale began singing. Shortly after, the emperor became better. Nightingale was happy. Soon, the emperor's face was filled with happiness once again. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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06 The Wild Swans Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there were eleven princes and a single princess, by the name of Elsa. One day, their mother died of a disease. Eventually the king married again. The new queen hated the twelve children. She said craftily, "Elisa is weak, and it would be good for her to go to the country for recuperation." The king was grateful to the queen, as she seemed to care for the health of his daughter. Therefore, the princess was sent off to the remotest corner of the country. The queen then changed the eleven princes into swans through her magic power, and sent them away from the royal palace. The princes flew away crying sadly. "Oh! I fell good. It is my world now." After some time, the king missed princess Elisa and sent for her. The queen had princess Elisa wear a dirty and worn-out dress. The king was very surprised to see the dirty princess Elisa. "Elisa, how do you dress yourself?" Then the queen said quickly, "Dear lord, it seems that princess Elisa has gone mad." The king was furious and sent the princess away from him. "Ah! Where are my brothers?" The princess asked a man passing by, "Have you ever seen eleven princes?" The man said, "I have not seen eleven princes but I have seen eleven swans. Strangely the swans wore golden crowns. You may find them near the river." Princess Elisa waited for her brothers near the river hoping to find them. At night, eleven swans swooped down to the ground and were turned into the form of princes. "My brothers!" "Elisa!" They cried and embraced each other. The brothers were trapped under the spell of the wicked queen, and were forced to become swans and fly around to look for something to eat during the day. Elisa prayed earnestly, "Dear God, please release the magic curse from my brothers." In her dreams that night, a fairy appeared and said, "Make mantles for your brothers with hemp and have them wear the mantles. However, you should not speak at all until those mantles are made completely." The princes thought that Elisa, who did not speak and merely kept knitting, had become strange. One day, a prince from a neighboring kingdom saw the knitting princess when he was out hunting. The prince took Elisa to his palace saying to himself, "She is a really beautiful lady. I am going to make her happy." But Elisa did not say anything, and only kept knitting eagerly. At nightfall of the next day, the hemp was all used up. Elisa picked some more hemp near a grave but was caught by the prince. The prince said, "You dared to go to a grave at night? You must be a witch. Take this witch and burn her at the stake!" Princess Elisa was unable to say anything and was imprisoned. Princess Elisa continued knitting without taking rest even in the prison. Princess Elisa was finally knitting the eleventh mantle, while being carried on a cart going to the burning place. The villagers threw stones at her while shouting, "That witch is still knitting. Burn her at the stake!" At that precise moment, the eleven swans flew in. Princess Elisa threw the finished mantles to the swans. Only then, princess Elisa opened her moth. "I now can speak. I am not a witch." They donned the knitted hoods they were turned back into princes. The princess told the prince what had happened up to that time. Thereafter, the prince and princess Elisa lived happily together in their kingdom. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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07 The Unwise Hans In the countryside, there lived three brothers. The first and second brothers were very wise. But the third was not very wise. People called him unwise Hans. All three of the brothers wanted to marry the princess. The princess had said that she wanted to marry the wisest man on the land. "We only have one week." So in order to marry the princess, they hurried off on their way. The father of the three brothers gave horses to only two of the sons. The first brother got a brown horse and the second brother got a white horse. But no horse was given to Hans. The unwise Hans left on a goat, instead of a horse. The older brothers laughed at Hans. Still, Hans left with his brothers. After sometime, Hans picked up a dead crow on the road. "Brothers, look at this." "What are you going to do with that?" "I'm going to give it to the princess." The brothers continued to laugh at Hans. As Hans was going along the road, besides the crow, he picked up an old wooden clog and good quality mud. The older brothers no longer paid attention to Hans' strange behavior and hurried off on their horses reaching the castle before Hans. In front of the castle there stood the princess and many people who wanted to marry her. However, all the people who went inside of the princess' room came out stuttering and muttering quietly to themselves. Finally, the first brother went in. "You're not right. Please go." The first brother had forgotten everything that he had memorized. So, he could not say one word. Next the second brother went in. The princess told him to leave, as well. The second brother could not understand the princess' question. Hans was the last person to go in. "The room is hot." "The rooster is being roasted." "Then roast my crow, as well, please." "What shall we do? There's no plate." "Here it is." Hans showed the old wooden clog that he had hidden. The princess made a smile on her face. "Then where can we get the sauce?" Hans showed her the mud that he had picked up on the road,too. "Ha, Ha, Ha- this is really fun." The unwise Hans gave the princess the wisest answers. That's how the princess and the unwise Hans got married. The unwise Hans became the king of that land. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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08 Thumbelina Once upon a time there lived a woman who had no children. The woman went to a sorcerer and begged, "I want to raise a prettybaby." The sorcerer then gave her a flower seed. As soon as the seed was planted, a tulip blossomed forth. From the floral leaf, a lovely baby girl who was as short as athumb was born. "Mother, how are you?" The baby girl who came out from the flower said hello to her motherwith a beautiful voice. The woman was very happy and wanted to give her a prettyname. "A baby who is as short as a thumb... I will name her asThumbelina." Thumbelina led a happy life sailing her ship across a pondfilled with flowers. But one night, there appeared a horrible looking toad whenThumbelina was asleep. "She is really a pretty girl. I am going to make her mybride." The toad carried the sleeping girl on his warty back and went tohis pond. Thumbelina woke up in the morning, and was so surprised that shecould do nothing but weep silently. She thought that she would rather die than become the wife of atoad. The fish who saw this unhappy event were sympathetic towards thepoor girl, and said, "Thumbelina is pitiful. Let's help her." The fish cut the leaf of a lotus flower on which Thumbelina wasriding, so that she could run away from the toad. She was roaming around the riverside riding on the leaf of a lotusflower. At that time, a beetle came flying about and spied the top of thehead of Thumbelina. "Uh! She is a very pretty girl. Okay, I am going to make her myfriend." The beetle grabbed Thumbelina and flew into the forest. "How about that? She is my friend. Isn't she very pretty?" The beetle bragged about her to his other beetle friends, but theyall thought that she was an odd creature. "What? She only has two legs but has no wings like we do. It'sreally strange." With his friends making fun of him, the beetle began to dislikeThumbelina. He went away with his friends, leaving the girl alone in thebranches. She spent many lonely days eating tree fruits and flowers. "Dear God, please send me to my mother." Thumbelina wandered around the forest shivering from cold andhunger. After some time, it began to snow. Thumbelina was looking for a place to take shelter when she finallysaw a twinkling light. "I am Thumbelina. Please allow me to take a rest in yourhouse." A field mouse woman greeted the girl warmly saying, "Oh my dear,please come in." The field mouse woman loved Thumbelina as if she were her owndaughter. One day, a rich mole from a neighboring burrow came to the housefor a holiday. He said, "She is a really pretty girl. It would be good if shebecame the wife of my son." The field mouse woman was very happy about what the rich mole said.But Thumbelina did not like that haughty fellow. Yet she was unable to reject what the field mouse woman wanted. Thumbelina was taking a walk sadly in an underground passage,which was actually the house of the mole. At that time, she found a swallow that had fallen on theground. "Ah, poor swallow. Please gain your strength." Thumbelina nursed the swallow earnestly. Finally, spring came, and the swallow gained strength and was aboutto leave the underground passage. He said, "Dear Thumbelina, come with me to the flower country wherethere is nothing but sun and flowers." She agreed and rode on the back of the swallow to the flowerland, where the prince of the country greeted her saying, "Welcome,Thumbelina! I was waiting for you." There began a great party to welcome the happy girl. The prince said, "Dear Thumbelina, will you please marry me andbecome the queen of the flower country?" She said, "Yes, I will!" The prince then gave his royal crown and wings to Thumbelina. To her bird companion she said, "Dear swallow, please deliver thisnews to my mother." Thereafter, the prince and Thumbelina led a very happy life in theflower country. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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09 The Little Match Girl It was a Christmas eve with heavy snow. A little girl was selling matches on the street. "Matches, matches!" But no one looked at her. She had lost her parents a few days ago, and she was selling matches without a coat in the cold weather. She didn't even sell one box. The girl was so hungry that she couldn't even open her mouth. Then, a carriage came close to her. Trying to keep away from the carriage, she slipped and fell on the ice, and she lost her shoes. She had to walk on the snowy street with bare feet. Over a window, she saw a family gathered under a warm and bright light. They seemed so happy. The snow began to fall more heavily. "It's so cold." Her body was frozen hard. Even though she was hungry and felt pain in her feet, she couldn't go back home because she couldn't sell any matches. "Matches, you want some matches?" The people walking on the street looked very happy holding each other's arms. But no one bought the girl's matches. "Ho~ ho~!" She tried to warm up her hands and feet, but it only made her hungrier. "It's so cold. Why is it so cold today? I have to skip my meal today because I couldn't sell any of these matches." She lit a match to warm up her body. Even though it was a small light, it made her a little warmer. She felt as if she was sitting right next to a fireplace. "Oh, it's warm!" She kept lighting matches. Suddenly, a table full of delicious food came up in front of her. "Oh, it looks delicious." As she lit another match, a Christmas tree appeared. "How beautiful!" She lit the last match. Then, her grandmother appeared. "Sweetie, come to Heaven with me." The girl's grandmother held her tight in her arms and rose up to the sky. The next day, she was dead and found in the street. "Poor girl, maybe she tried to warm herself with these matches.Tut, tut." People felt pity for the girl and buried her in the ground in the sunlight. 音频文件mp3下载 |
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