100个儿童英语小故事: Big Klaus and Little Klaus 大克劳斯和小克劳斯

 

021 Big Klaus and Little Klaus

A long time ago, two farmers of the same name, "Klaus", lived in a town. One of the two had four horses, but the other had only one horse. So, people in the village called the first Klaus with four horses 'Big Klaus' and the second Klaus with one horse 'Little Klaus'.

The two Klauses lent each other their horses to plow¹ the soil. The little Klaus lent his one horse for six days to the big Klaus, but the big Klaus lent his four horses to the little Klaus just for one day.But the diligent² and warm-hearted little Klaus did not complain. The little Klaus shouted to the horses courageously³. "Come on, cheer up, my horses!"

However, the big Klaus heard this sound and got angry. "Why are they yours? You have only one horse. If you call them yours again, I will kill your horse." But the little Klaus unconsciously repeated calling them 'my horses' while he was joyfully⁴ working. The big Klaus killed the little Klaus' horse as he said he would.

The little Klaus felt sad and removed the horse's skin. He carried it to the market to sell it. While he was heading to the market, it got dark. The little Klaus knocked on a door of a farmer's house near by. "Would you please let me stay in your house for tonight?" Then, the farmer's wife came out. "I can't let you sleep in my house, because my husband is not here." She said and closed the door.

He crawled into the barn secretly. The little Klaus was surprised. He could look into the farmer's house through a small window. There were wine and roasted meat on the table, and the wife of the farmer and a priest were having dinner happily. 

In fact, the owner of the house hated the priest so much that the farmer's wife invited and served food to the priest secretly while her husband went out. But then, the farmer came back to his house suddenly. The surprised farmer's wife hid the priest in a box in a corner of the room, and she hid the food in the fireplace.

When the farmer came into the barn to tie his horses, he found the little Klaus in his barn. "Who is it? What are you doing here?" "Sir, I was on my way to sell this horse skin in the market, but I had to spend the night in this barn because it was dark outside." "Then, you can stay in my house." He took the little Klaus into his house.

The wife of the farmer served a cup of soup and pretended that nothing had happened. The little Klaus could not stop thinking about the delicious food that he saw before. 'I wish I could eat the delicious food.' He stepped on the bag with the horse's skin under his feet while he was thinking like this. "Peep!"

"What was that?" The farmer asked about the sound. The little Klaus thought for a moment and said, "The little juggler⁵ in my bag asked us to look in the fireplace." The farmer looked into the fireplace and shouted out loudly, "Oh, it's strange! There is delicious food in the fireplace!"

After having the delicious food and wine with the little Klaus, the farmer said, "I want to see a devil. Why don't you ask the juggler?" The little Klaus stepped on the bag again, and said, "He said there is one devil with the appearance of a priest in that box."

The farmer was surprised when he opened the box as the small Klaus had told him to do. "Oh my! It is true that there is a devil with the appearance of a priest in the box!" The farmer asked the little Klaus for a favor earnestly. "Please give me your bag and the juggler in it. I will give you a package of gold coins for it." "If you really want it. Ok, I will." "Instead, take that box and the devil away for me."

The little Klaus took the box away and left for his town. The little Klaus said loudly on purpose, "This box is too heavy. I will throw this box into a river." "Wait! I will give you a package of gold coins, so please let me out. "The priest in the box cried out in panic.

"Well, okay. I will let you out." The little Klaus opened the cover of the box and took out the priest. The priest gave him a package filled with gold coins. When the little Klaus came back to town with packages of gold coins, the big Klaus was astonished. "How on earth did a stupid guy like you make so much money?" "I just sold my horse skin." The little Klaus said pretending that nothing had happened.

As soon as the big Klaus heard the little Klaus, he killed his four horses and removed their skin. He went to the market to sell them, but no one wanted to buy his horse skin at an expensive price. The big Klaus was very angry when he found out that he was fooled and came back to town.

"You lied to me, you are evil!" The big Klaus seized the little Klaus and pushed him into a bag, and he bound it up tightly. "I will throw you into a river." While the big Klaus was carrying the bag on his shoulder to a river, he found a church. "I have to pray for a moment." The big Klaus put the bag down in front of the church and went in.

Then, a very old man fell over the bag when he was passing by the church with a number of cows. "Ouch, I am still young, but I have to go to Heaven now." The little Klaus shouted in surprise. The old man sighed with sadness when he heard the little Klaus. "Well, I am old enough to go to Heaven now, but I am still staying here."

"If you untie⁶ this bag and stay here instead of me, you can go to Heaven." The little Klaus shouted. "Is it true? I will do it delightfully⁷." The old man untied⁸ the bag, and got into it. Then, he asked the little Klaus to do him a favor. "Young man, please take care of my cows for me." The little Klaus bound up the bag tightly and went back to his house with the herd⁹ of cows.

After a while, the big Klaus went out of the church and went to the river with the bag. He had no idea what was in the bag and threw it into the river as hard as he could. The big Klaus felt happy and went back to his house, but he saw the little Klaus driving a herd of cattle.

The big Klaus was astonished and said, "What? What happened?" The little Klaus smiled and answered. "Thank you for throwing me into the river very much. I got these cows from a young lady at the bottom of the river."

As soon as the big Klaus heard the story, he asked the little Klaus to throw him into the river. "If I can't get cows, that will be your last day." They went to the river. The big Klaus went into a bag with rocks to reach the bottom of the river as fast as possible.

"Okay. Throw me into the river now." The little Klaus bound the bag tightly and threw the bag into the river. The bag dived with a splash and sank down in the river. At last, the greedy and stupid big Klaus could never go back to his house.

1 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

2 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

3 courageously   

ad.勇敢地，无畏地

参考例句：

• Under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the army and civilians in flooded areas fought the floods courageously, reducing the losses to the minimum. 在中共中央、国务院的正确领导下，灾区广大军民奋勇抗洪，把灾害的损失减少到了最低限度。
• He fought death courageously though his life was draining away. 他虽然生命垂危，但仍然勇敢地与死亡作斗争。

4 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

5 juggler   

n. 变戏法者, 行骗者

参考例句：

• Dick was a juggler, who threw mists before your eyes. 迪克是个骗子，他在你面前故弄玄虚。
• The juggler juggled three bottles. 这个玩杂耍的人可同时抛接3个瓶子。

6 untie   

vt.解开，松开；解放

参考例句：

• It's just impossible to untie the knot.It's too tight.这个结根本解不开。太紧了。
• Will you please untie the knot for me?请你替我解开这个结头，好吗？

7 delightfully   

大喜，欣然

参考例句：

• The room is delightfully appointed. 这房子的设备令人舒适愉快。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The evening is delightfully cool. 晚间凉爽宜人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 untied   

松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决

参考例句：

• Once untied, we common people are able to conquer nature, too. 只要团结起来，我们老百姓也能移山倒海。
• He untied the ropes. 他解开了绳子。

9 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。