100个儿童英语小故事: The Unwise Hans 愚蠢的汉斯

 

007 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 sometime¹, 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 clog² and good quality mud³. 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 muttering⁴ 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 roasted⁶." "Then roast⁵ my crow, as well, please." "What should we do? There is 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 sauce⁷?"

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. 

1 sometime   

adv.将来某一时候；改天

参考例句：

• He came sometime last month.上个月某个时候他曾经来过。
• It will happen sometime and somewhere.有朝一日这总会在什么地方发生的。

2 clog   

vt.塞满，阻塞；n.[常pl.]木屐

参考例句：

• In cotton and wool processing,short length fibers may clog sewers.在棉毛生产中，短纤维可能堵塞下水管道。
• These streets often clog during the rush hour.这几条大街在交通高峰时间常常发生交通堵塞。

3 mud   

n.泥，泥浆

参考例句：

• The swimming pool is filled up with mud.游泳池里全是泥。
• A car ran past,spotting my coat with mud.一辆汽车驶过，给我的外衣溅上了泥点。

4 muttering   

轻声低语，咕哝地抱怨( mutter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was muttering away to himself. 他不停地喃喃自语。
• She was muttering to herself. 她不停地喃喃自语。

5 roast   

v.烤，炙，烘；n.烤肉；adj.烤(烘)过的

参考例句：

• There's a piece of roast beef.这儿有一块烤牛肉.
• Put the meat into the oven to roast.把肉放到炉子里去烤。

6 roasted   

a.烤好的

参考例句：

• I love the delightful odour of freshly roasted coffee beans. 我喜欢新烘咖啡豆的清香气味。
• They roasted his new book. 他们狠狠地挖苦他的新书。

7 sauce   

n.酱油，酱汁；调味汁

参考例句：

• Some cream will enrich the sauce.在调味汁里加一些奶油会使其味道更加丰富。
• This sauce is too thick-- add some milk.调味汁太稠，再加点奶.