安徒生童话-THE TRAVELLING COMPANION

1872 FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN THE TRAVELLING COMPANION by Hans Christian Andersen POOR John was very sad; for his father was so ill, he had nohope of his recovery. John sat alone with the sick man in the littleroom, and the lamp had nearly burnt out; for it was late in the night. You have been a good son, John, said the sick father, and Godwill help you on in the world. He looked at him, as he spoke, withmild, earnest eyes, drew a deep sigh, and died; yet it appeared asif he still slept. John wept bitterly. He had no one in the wide world now; neitherfather, mother, brother, nor sister. Poor John! he knelt down by thebed, kissed his dead fathers hand, and wept many, many bittertears. But at last his eyes closed, and he fell asleep with his headresting against the hard bedpost. Then he dreamed a strange dream;he thought he saw the sun shining upon him, and his father alive andwell, and even heard him laughing as he used to do when he was veryhappy. A beautiful girl, with a golden crown on her head, and long,shining hair, gave him her hand; and his father said, See what abride you have won. She is the loveliest maiden on the whole earth.Then he awoke, and all the beautiful things vanished before hiseyes, his father lay dead on the bed, and he was all alone. Poor John! During the following week the dead man was buried. The sonwalked behind the coffin which contained his father, whom he so dearlyloved, and would never again behold. He heard the earth fall on thecoffin-lid, and watched it till only a corner remained in sight, andat last that also disappeared. He felt as if his heart would breakwith its weight of sorrow, till those who stood round the grave sang apsalm, and the sweet, holy tones brought tears into his eyes, whichrelieved him. The sun shone brightly down on the green trees, as if itwould say, You must not be so sorrowful, John. Do you see thebeautiful blue sky above you? Your father is up there, and he prays tothe loving Father of all, that you may do well in the future. I will always be good, said John, and then I shall go to bewith my father in heaven. What joy it will be when we see each otheragain! How much I shall have to relate to him, and how many thingshe will be able to explain to me of the delights of heaven, andteach me as he once did on earth. Oh, what joy it will be! He pictured it all so plainly to himself, that he smiled evenwhile the tears ran down his cheeks. The little birds in the chestnut-trees twittered, Tweet,tweet; they were so happy, although they had seen the funeral; butthey seemed as if they knew that the dead man was now in heaven, andthat he had wings much larger and more beautiful than their own; andhe was happy now, because he had been good here on earth, and theywere glad of it. John saw them fly away out of the green trees intothe wide world, and he longed to fly with them; but first he cut out alarge wooden cross, to place on his fathers grave; and when hebrought it there in the evening, he found the grave decked out withgravel and flowers. Strangers had done this; they who had known thegood old father who was now dead, and who had loved him very much. Early the next morning, John packed up his little bundle ofclothes, and placed all his money, which consisted of fifty dollarsand a few shillings, in his girdle; with this he determined to try hisfortune in the world. But first he went into the churchyard; and, byhis fathers grave, he offered up a prayer, and said, Farewell. As he passed through the fields, all the flowers looked freshand beautiful in the warm sunshine, and nodded in the wind, as if theywished to say, Welcome to the green wood, where all is fresh andbright. Then John turned to have one more look at the old church, in whichhe had been christened in his infancy, and where his father hadtaken him every Sunday to hear the service and join in singing thepsalms. As he looked at the old tower, he espied the ringer standingat one of the narrow openings, with his little pointed red cap onhis head, and shading his eyes from the sun with his bent arm. Johnnodded farewell to him, and the little ringer waved his red cap,laid his hand on his heart, and kissed his hand to him a great manytimes, to show that he felt kindly towards him, and wished him aprosperous journey. John continued his journey, and thought of all the wonderfulthings he should see in the large, beautiful world, till he foundhimself farther away from home than ever he had been before. He didnot even know the names of the places he passed through, and couldscarcely understand the language of the people he met, for he wasfar away, in a strange land. The first night he slept on a haystack,out in the fields, for there was no other bed for him; but it seemedto him so nice and comfortable that even a king need not wish for abetter. The field, the brook, the haystack, with the blue sky above,formed a beautiful sleeping-room. The green grass, with the little redand white flowers, was the carpet; the elder-bushes and the hedgesof wild roses looked like garlands on the walls; and for a bath hecould have the clear, fresh water of the brook; while the rushes bowedtheir heads to him, to wish him good morning and good evening. Themoon, like a large lamp, hung high up in the blue ceiling, and hehad no fear of its setting fire to his curtains. John slept here quitesafely all night; and when he awoke, the sun was up, and all thelittle birds were singing round him, Good morning, good morning.Are you not up yet? It was Sunday, and the bells were ringing for church. As thepeople went in, John followed them; he heard Gods word, joined insinging the psalms, and listened to the preacher. It seemed to himjust as if he were in his own church, where he had been christened,and had sung the psalms with his father. Out in the churchyard wereseveral graves, and on some of them the grass had grown very high.John thought of his fathers grave, which he knew at last would looklike these, as he was not there to weed and attend to it. Then heset to work, pulled up the high grass, raised the wooden crosses whichhad fallen down, and replaced the wreaths which had been blown awayfrom their places by the wind, thinking all the time, Perhaps someone is doing the same for my fathers grave, as I am not there to doit Outside the church door stood an old beggar, leaning on hiscrutch. John gave him his silver shillings, and then he continuedhis journey, feeling lighter and happier than ever. Towards evening,the weather became very stormy, and he hastened on as quickly as hecould, to get shelter; but it was quite dark by the time he reacheda little lonely church which stood on a hill. I will go in here,he said, and sit down in a corner; for I am quite tired, and wantrest. So he went in, and seated himself; then he folded his hands, andoffered up his evening prayer, and was soon fast asleep anddreaming, while the thunder rolled and the lightning flashedwithout. When he awoke, it was still night; but the storm hadceased, and the moon shone in upon him through the windows. Then hesaw an open coffin standing in the centre of the church, whichcontained a dead man, waiting for burial. John was not at all timid;he had a good conscience, and he knew also that the dead can neverinjure any one. It is living wicked men who do harm to others. Twosuch wicked persons stood now by the dead man, who had been brought tothe church to be buried. Their evil intentions were to throw thepoor dead body outside the church door, and not leave him to rest inhis coffin. Why do you do this? asked John, when he saw what they were goingto do; it is very wicked. Leave him to rest in peace, in Christsname. Nonsense, replied the two dreadful men. He has cheated us; heowed us money which he could not pay, and now he is dead we shallnot get a penny; so we mean to have our revenge, and let him lielike a dog outside the church door. I have only fifty dollars, said John, it is all I possess inthe world, but I will give it to you if you will promise me faithfullyto leave the dead man in peace. I shall be able to get on withoutthe money; I have strong and healthy limbs, and God will always helpme. Why, of course, said the horrid men, if you will pay his debtwe will both promise not to touch him. You may depend upon that;and then they took the money he offered them, laughed at him for hisgood nature, and went their way. Then he laid the dead body back in the coffin, folded the hands,and took leave of it; and went away contentedly through the greatforest. All around him he could see the prettiest little elves dancingin the moonlight, which shone through the trees. They were notdisturbed by his appearance, for they knew he was good and harmlessamong men. They are wicked people only who can never obtain aglimpse of fairies. Some of them were not taller than the breadth of afinger, and they wore golden combs in their long, yellow hair. Theywere rocking themselves two together on the large dew-drops with whichthe leaves and the high grass were sprinkled. Sometimes thedew-drops would roll away, and then they fell down between the stemsof the long grass, and caused a great deal of laughing and noise amongthe other little people. It was quite charming to watch them atplay. Then they sang songs, and John remembered that he had learntthose pretty songs when he was a little boy. Large speckled spiders,with silver crowns on their heads, were employed to spin suspensionbridges and palaces from one hedge to another, and when the tiny dropsfell upon them, they glittered in the moonlight like shining glass.This continued till sunrise. Then the little elves crept into theflower-buds, and the wind seized the bridges and palaces, andfluttered them in the air like cobwebs. As John left the wood, a strong mans voice called after him,Hallo, comrade, where are you travelling? Into the wide world, he replied; I am only a poor lad, I haveneither father nor mother, but God will help me. I am going into the wide world also, replied the stranger;shall we keep each other company? With all my heart, he said, and so they went on together. Soonthey began to like each other very much, for they were both good;but John found out that the stranger was much more clever thanhimself. He had travelled all over the world, and could describealmost everything. The sun was high in the heavens when they seatedthemselves under a large tree to eat their breakfast, and at thesame moment an old woman came towards them. She was very old andalmost bent double. She leaned upon a stick and carried on her backa bundle of firewood, which she had collected in the forest; her apronwas tied round it, and John saw three great stems of fern and somewillow twigs peeping out. just as she came close up to them, herfoot slipped and she fell to the ground screaming loudly; poor oldwoman, she had broken her leg! John proposed directly that they shouldcarry the old woman home to her cottage; but the stranger opened hisknapsack and took out a box, in which he said he had a salve thatwould quickly make her leg well and strong again, so that she would beable to walk home herself, as if her leg had never been broken. Andall that he would ask in return was the three fern stems which shecarried in her apron. That is rather too high a price, said the old woman, nodding herhead quite strangely. She did not seem at all inclined to part withthe fern stems. However, it was not very agreeable to lie there with abroken leg, so she gave them to him; and such was the power of theointment, that no sooner had he rubbed her leg with it than the oldmother rose up and walked even better than she had done before. Butthen this wonderful ointment could not be bought at a chemists. What can you want with those three fern rods? asked John ofhis fellow-traveller. Oh, they will make capital brooms, said he; and I like thembecause I have strange whims sometimes. Then they walked ontogether for a long distance. How dark the sky is becoming, said John; and look at thosethick, heavy clouds. Those are not clouds, replied his fellow-traveller; they aremountains- large lofty mountains- on the tops of which we should beabove the clouds, in the pure, free air. Believe me, it isdelightful to ascend so high, tomorrow we shall be there. But themountains were not so near as they appeared; they had to travel awhole day before they reached them, and pass through black forests andpiles of rock as large as a town. The journey had been so fatiguingthat John and his fellow-traveller stopped to rest at a roadsideinn, so that they might gain strength for their journey on the morrow.In the large public room of the inn a great many persons wereassembled to see a comedy performed by dolls. The showman had justerected his little theatre, and the people were sitting round the roomto witness the performance. Right in front, in the very best place,sat a stout butcher, with a great bull-dog by his side who seemed verymuch inclined to bite. He sat staring with all his eyes, and so indeeddid every one else in the room. And then the play began. It was apretty piece, with a king and a queen in it, who sat on a beautifulthrone, and had gold crowns on their heads. The trains to theirdresses were very long, according to the fashion; while theprettiest of wooden dolls, with glass eyes and large mustaches,stood at the doors, and opened and shut them, that the fresh air mightcome into the room. It was a very pleasant play, not at allmournful; but just as the queen stood up and walked across thestage, the great bull-dog, who should have been held back by hismaster, made a spring forward, and caught the queen in the teeth bythe slender wrist, so that it snapped in two. This was a very dreadfuldisaster. The poor man, who was exhibiting the dolls, was muchannoyed, and quite sad about his queen; she was the prettiest dollhe had, and the bull-dog had broken her head and shoulders off. Butafter all the people were gone away, the stranger, who came with John,said that he could soon set her to rights. And then he brought out hisbox and rubbed the doll with some of the salve with which he had curedthe old woman when she broke her leg. As soon as this was done thedolls back became quite right again; her head and shoulders werefixed on, and she could even move her limbs herself: there was nowno occasion to pull the wires, for the doll acted just like a livingcreature, excepting that she could not speak. The man to whom the showbelonged was quite delighted at having a doll who could dance ofherself without being pulled by the wires; none of the other dollscould do this. During the night, when all the people at the inn were gone to bed,some one was heard to sigh so deeply and painfully, and the sighingcontinued for so long a time, that every one got up to see whatcould be the matter. The showman went at once to his little theatreand found that it proceeded from the dolls, who all lay on the floorsighing piteously, and staring with their glass eyes; they allwanted to be rubbed with the ointment, so that, like the queen, theymight be able to move of themselves. The queen threw herself on herknees, took off her beautiful crown, and, holding it in her hand,cried, Take this from me, but do rub my husband and his courtiers. The poor man who owned the theatre could scarcely refrain fromweeping; he was so sorry that he could not help them. Then heimmediately spoke to Johns comrade, and promised him all the money hemight receive at the next evenings performance, if he would onlyrub the ointment on four or five of his dolls. But thefellow-traveller said he did not require anything in return, exceptingthe sword which the showman wore by his side. As soon as he receivedthe sword he anointed six of the dolls with the ointment, and theywere able immediately to dance so gracefully that all the living girlsin the room could not help joining in the dance. The coachman dancedwith the cook, and the waiters with the chambermaids, and all thestrangers joined; even the tongs and the fire-shovel made anattempt, but they fell down after the first jump. So after all itwas a very merry night. The next morning John and his companion leftthe inn to continue their journey through the great pine-forests andover the high mountains. They arrived at last at such a great heightthat towns and villages lay beneath them, and the church steepleslooked like little specks between the green trees. They could seefor miles round, far away to places they had never visited, and Johnsaw more of the beautiful world than he had ever known before. The sunshone brightly in the blue firmament above, and through the clearmountain air came the sound of the huntsmans horn, and the soft,sweet notes brought tears into his eyes, and he could not helpexclaiming, How good and loving God is to give us all this beauty andloveliness in the world to make us happy! His fellow-traveller stood by with folded hands, gazing on thedark wood and the towns bathed in the warm sunshine. At this momentthere sounded over their heads sweet music. They looked up, anddiscovered a large white swan hovering in the air, and singing asnever bird sang before. But the song soon became weaker and weaker,the birds head drooped, and he sunk slowly down, and lay dead attheir feet. It is a beautiful bird, said the traveller, and these largewhite wings are worth a great deal of money. I will take them with me.You see now that a sword will be very useful. So he cut off the wings of the dead swan with one blow, andcarried them away with him. They now continued their journey over the mountains for manymiles, till they at length reached a large city, containing hundredsof towers, that shone in the sunshine like silver. In the midst of thecity stood a splendid marble palace, roofed with pure red gold, inwhich dwelt the king. John and his companion would not go into thetown immediately; so they stopped at an inn outside the town, tochange their clothes; for they wished to appear respectable as theywalked through the streets. The landlord told them that the king was avery good man, who never injured any one: but as to his daughter,Heaven defend us! She was indeed a wicked princess. She possessed beauty enough-nobody could be more elegant or prettier than she was; but what ofthat? for she was a wicked witch; and in consequence of her conductmany noble young princes had lost their lives. Any one was atliberty to make her an offer; were he a prince or a beggar, itmattered not to her. She would ask him to guess three things which shehad just thought of, and if he succeed, he was to marry her, and beking over all the land when her father died; but if he could not guessthese three things, then she ordered him to be