安徒生童话(英文版)有声读物系列之——拇指姑娘（一）

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《拇指姑娘》（一）

Little Tiny or Thumbelina (Part 1)

《拇指姑娘》讲述了一个只有大拇指一半那么大的小姑娘的遭遇和奇遇，这应该是还是小屁孩儿的Alexandria最喜欢的安徒生童话故事了。再后来一点，小屁孩儿对郑渊洁童话里的《罐头小人》那篇也是颇为着迷，以致于小屁孩儿从那时候开始就沉迷与制作微缩家具和小房子，想象着哪天自己也能遇见一个小人儿，就可以让小人儿舒舒服服住进这些小房子，享用那些小屁孩儿用从教室偷拿的粉笔头一刀一刀雕刻的小家具。

一个朋友告诉Alexandria说她也特别喜欢《拇指姑娘》和《罐头小人》，并总结说是不是大家都喜欢这种讲小小人的故事啊？围观的吃瓜群众有没有人点头啊，有没有，有没有？

话说回来，《拇指姑娘》中形形色色的动物角色你有没有在真实生活中遇到可以对号入座的人物呢？有的话，不用留言告诉我哦，自己偷偷乐一下就好。

由于《拇指姑娘》的篇幅较长，因此将被分为3～4集在一周内发布。喜欢这个故事的盆友们要记得追剧哦！

本系列的英文原文(出于版权考虑)使用了Mrs. H.B. Paull于1872年发表的翻译版本。我们比较了若干翻译版本觉得Mrs. H.B. Paull使用的语言朴实却不失趣味，并且文字中没有滥用复杂和华丽的词藻，使得这个版本更符合安徒生童话的风格：以孩童的视角和口吻来叙述故事；也让这个翻译版本非常适合学习英语的人群，包括少年儿童和学习英语的成人。为了方便大家跟随录音阅读英文原文，我们标注了部分单词的读音(音标为美式读音)和释义。

彩色插图是由斯堪地那维亚画家 Svend Otto S. 绘制，是伴随安徒生童话出版最多、传播最广、深受大家喜爱的一套插画，也是小屁孩儿当年那本《安徒生童话选集》中使用的插画。在此分享给大家。

您的点赞与转发，是我们坚持认真制作的最大动力！

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以下是《拇指姑娘》第一集的及英文。

Little Tiny or Thumbelina

by

Hans Christian Andersen

(1835)

Translation by Mrs. H.B. Paull (1872)

Narration by Alexandria (Alex) Wood

Part 1

THERE was once a woman who wished very much to have a little child, but she could not obtain her wish. At last she went to a fairy (['fɛri], n. 仙女，小精灵), and said, “I should so very much like to have a little child; can you tell me where I can find one?”

“Oh, that can be easily managed,” said the fairy. “Here is a barleycorn (['bɑ:likɔ:n], n. 大麦粒) of a different kind to those which grow in the farmer’s fields, and which the chickens eat; put it into a flower-pot, and see what will happen.”

“Thank you,” said the woman, and she gave the fairy twelve shillings, which was the price of the barleycorn. Then she went home and planted it, and immediately there grew up a large handsome flower, something like a tulip (['tjuləp], n. 郁金香) in appearance, but with its leaves tightly closed as if it were still a bud. “It is a beautiful flower,” said the woman, and she kissed the red and golden-colored leaves, and while she did so the flower opened, and she could see that it was a real tulip. Within the flower, upon the green velvet (['velvət], n.天鹅绒，丝绒；天鹅绒似的东西) stamens (['steimən], n. [植]雄蕊), sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden. She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, and they gave her the name of “Thumbelina,” or Tiny, because she was so small. A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue violet-leaves, with a rose-leaf for a maiden. Here she slept at night, but during the day she amused herself on a table, where the woman had placed a plateful of water. Round this plate were wreaths ([ri:θs], n. 花环；花圈, wreath的复数) of flowers with their stems in the water, and upon it floated a large tulip-leaf, which served Tiny for a boat. Here the little maiden sat and rowed herself from side to side, with two oars ([ɔ:z], n. 桨; oar的复数) made of white horse-hair. It really was a very pretty sight. Tiny could, also, sing so softly and sweetly that nothing like her singing had ever before been heard. One night, while she lay in her pretty bed, a large, ugly, wet toad ([təʊd], n. 蟾蜍；癞蛤蟆) crept through a broken pane of glass in the window, and leaped right upon the table where Tiny lay sleeping under her rose-leaf quilt. “What a pretty little wife this would make for my son,” said the toad, and she took up the walnut-shell in which little Tiny lay asleep, and jumped through the window with it into the garden.

In the swampy (['swɔmpi], n. 沼泽的;) margin of a broad stream in the garden lived the toad, with her son. He was uglier even than his mother, and when he saw the pretty little maiden in her elegant bed, he could only cry, “Croak, croak, croak.”

“Don’t speak so loud, or she will wake,” said the toad, “and then she might run away, for she is as light as swan’s down. We will place her on one of the water-lily leaves out in the stream; it will be like an island to her, she is so light and small, and then she cannot escape; and, while she is away, we will make haste and prepare the state-room under the marsh, in which you are to live when you are married.”

Far out in the stream grew a number of water-lilies, with broad green leaves, which seemed to float on the top of the water. The largest of these leaves appeared farther off than the rest, and the old toad swam out to it with the walnut-shell, in which little Tiny lay still asleep. The tiny little creature woke up very early in the morning, and began to cry bitterly when she found where she was, for she could see nothing but water on every side of the large green leaf, and no way of reaching the land. Meanwhile the old toad was very busy under the marsh, decking her room with rushes and wild yellow flowers, to make it look pretty for her new daughter-in-law. Then she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf on which she had placed poor little Tiny. She wanted to fetch the pretty bed, that she might put it in the bridal chamber to be ready for her. The old toad bowed low to her in the water, and said, “Here is my son, he will be your husband, and you willlive happily in the marsh by the stream.”

“Croak, croak, croak,” was all her son could say for himself; so the toad took up the elegant little bed, and swam away with it, leaving Tiny all alone on the green leaf, where she sat and wept. She could not bear to think of living with the old toad, and having her ugly son for a husband. The little fishes, who swam about in the water beneath, had seen the toad, and heard what she said, so they lifted their heads above the water to look at the little maiden. As soon as they caught sight of her, they saw she was very pretty, and it made them very sorry to think that she must go and live with the ugly toads. “No, it must never be!” so they assembled together in the water, round the green stalk ([stɔk], n. (植物的)茎，秆) which held the leaf on which the little maiden stood, and gnawed ([nɔːd], v. 咬；gnaw的过去分词) it away at the root with their teeth. Then the leaf floated down the stream, carrying Tiny far away out of reach of land.

Tiny sailed past many towns, and the little birds in the bushes saw her, and sang, “What a lovely little creature;” so the leaf swam away with her farther and farther, till it brought her to other lands. A graceful little white butterfly constantly fluttered (动词原形： flutter，['flʌtɚ], vi. 飘动；鼓翼；) round her, and at last alighted on the leaf. Tiny pleased him, and she was glad of it, for now the toad could not possibly reach her, and the country through which she sailed was beautiful, and the sun shone upon the water, till it glittered (动词原形： glitter，['ɡlitɚ], vi. 闪光；闪烁) like liquid gold. She took off her girdle (['gɝdl],n. 腰带) and tied one end of it round the butterfly, and the other end ofthe ribbon she fastened to the leaf, which now glided on much faster than ever, taking little Tiny with it as she stood. Presently a large cockchafer (['kɑktʃeifɚ], n. 金龟子) flew by; the moment he caught sight of her, he seized her round her delicate waist with his claws, and flew with her into a tree. The green leaf floated away on the brook, and the butterfly flew with it, for he was fastened to it, and could not get away.

End of Part 1

I was glad there for a moment that Tiny got away from the ugly toad. 

But now a cockchafer? Is Tiny in any danger? 

Be sure to tune in next time to find out.

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