儿童故事集：Bertie’s Christmas Storynory

Now, this morning it is a bit cold in this part of the world. Mr Frosty has been to visit, and the vegetable patch is white and glistening¹. There is ice on the pond.

 

“Brrrr,” said Colin the Carp. “It is too cold in this stupid pond.”

 

“You know what today is, don’t you?” said Bertie.

 

“Nope,” said Tim the Tadpole², who had not learned to say no properly yet.

 

“It is Christmas,” said Bertie.

 

—

 

Bertie, Tim the Tadpole, Sadie the Swan, the lovely Princess Beatrice, and even Colin the Grumpy Carp, all wish you a Wonderful Christmas and a very Happy Holiday, wherever you are in the world!

 

In this special Storynory you can hear how Bertie used to enjoy Christmas when he was a handsome prince. Now he is a frog, he is rather sad that he is left out of the celebrations at the palace, but the lovely Princess Beatrice comes to the rescue.

 

Story by Bertie.

 

Read by Natasha. Duration 8 minutes.

Proofread³ by Claire Deakin.

 

 

Now, this morning it’s a bit cold in this part of the world. Mr Frosty has been to visit, and the vegetable patch is white and glistening. There’s ice on the pond.

 

“Brrrr,” said Colin the Carp. “It’s too cold in this stupid pond.”

 

“You know what today is, don’t you?” Said Bertie.

 

“Nope,” said Tim the Tadpole, who hadn’t learned to say, “no,” properly yet.

 

“It’s Christmas,” said Bertie.

 

“Not interested,” said Colin, who is a very grumpy fish, who doesn’t like anything much. Not even Christmas.

 

“What’s Christmas?” Asked Tim.

 

Everybody was used to little Tim asking stupid questions, but Prince Bertie was amazed that his friend hadn’t heard of Christmas.

 

“You don’t know about Christmas, young Tim,” boomed Bertie. “My, my. I’ll show you. Let’s go over to the palace.”

 

“But I can’t walk,” said Tim. “I haven’t got any legs.”

 

So Tim climbed onto Bertie’s back, and then Bertie hopped⁴ up the garden to the palace. Tim was a bit frightened, because he had never left the pond before.

 

“Hold on there, little Tim,” boomed Bertie, as he leaped up onto a ledge⁵. They looked through the window. Tim was amazed, as he saw the Christmas tree with the lights sparkling on it. He saw all the children opening their presents, and the huge feast on the table.

 

“I’ve never seen anything so magical, Bertie,” he said. “How I wish we could have Christmas down on the pond.”

 

Bertie felt a little tear in his froggy eye as he thought of all the lovely Christmases he had enjoyed when he was a prince, opening hundreds of presents, and stuffing himself with chocolates, mince⁶ pies and cake until he felt quite sick. He remembered how in the afternoon, when he had taken his nap, he would go out onto the balcony of the palace and make a special Christmas speech to all the crowds of people who came to see him. “May you all be happy this coming year,” he would say, “And thank you for all the toys and lovely presents you sent me for Christmas.”

 

Then Princess Beatrice, who is as kind as she is beautiful, would go to the hospital, and give some of Bertie’s toys to the poorly little children who were spending Christmas there. Prince Bertie had so many toys, that he didn’t really mind letting her give some away, although he probably would have minded if somebody not quite so lovely as Princess Beatrice had done it.

 

So Bertie sat on the window ledge remembering all the happy Christmases he had spent in the past. Then he remembered how he had been turned into a frog, and how the lovely Princess Beatrice could no longer marry him. He would never spend another Christmas with Princess Beatrice now. “Sniff⁷ sniff, croak⁸ croak,” he said, because this was the saddest Christmas Day he had ever spent.

 

Just then, as Bertie was crying some more froggy tears, the door of the palace opened. The noise startled Bertie, and he fell from the window ledge onto the ground. “Argghhh,” he croaked⁹. “Eeeekkkkk,” yelped¹⁰ Tim.

 

“Oh, look, there’s a frog,” said Princess Beatrice, as she stepped onto the pathway.

 

She picked him up in her hand and carried him back to the pond. She didn’t even notice little Tim who was clinging by his tail with all his might, hanging on to Bertie’s big toe.

 

Bertie felt very happy to be so close to Princess Beatrice again, because he loved her so very much. But he also felt a bit sad, because she didn’t realise he was Prince Bertie at all and just thought he was a frog.

 

How he longed to be a prince again! “Croak croak,” he said. Princess Beatrice just laughed because she could not understand any of his croaks¹¹. Then she put him down by the side of the pond, and she took a mince pie out of her handbag, where she always kept nice things in case she saw a little child or a furry¹² animal to whom she could give a present. “I’m sure all the creatures who live in the pond would like that,” she said, in the loveliest, gentlest voice that Tim the Tadpole had ever heard.

 

Colin the Grumpy Carp wanted to look out of the water at her, but he banged his head on the ice. “Mince pies!” He grumped. “I don’t like them. Why can’t she give us some dead insects?”

 

“Oh, do be quiet Colin,” said Sadie the beautiful black swan. “I think Christmas is lovely. I think we should celebrate it every year on the pond from now on.”

 

If enough children keep listening to Bertie’s Stories, perhaps by next year he will have turned back into a prince and he can marry the lovely Princess Beatrice. Then the royal couple will come down to the pond and bring lots and lots of mince pies and Christmas Pudding and fat juicy flies for the pond life to enjoy a super duper lunch.

 

So tell all your friends to go to Storynory.com, to visit Bertie, and hear all his stories, so maybe next year Bertie will be able to open all his presents again in the palace with Princess Beatrice.

1 glistening   

adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》

2 tadpole   

n.[动]蝌蚪

参考例句：

• As a tadpole changes into a frog,its tail is gradually absorbed.蝌蚪变成蛙，它的尾巴就逐渐被吸收掉。
• It was a tadpole.Now it is a frog.它过去是蝌蚪，现在是一只青蛙。

3 proofread   

vt.校正，校对

参考例句：

• I didn't even have the chance to proofread my own report.我甚至没有机会校对自己的报告。
• Before handing in his application to his teacher,he proofread it again.交给老师之前，他又将申请书补正了一遍。

4 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

5 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

6 mince   

n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说

参考例句：

• Would you like me to mince the meat for you?你要我替你把肉切碎吗？
• Don't mince matters,but speak plainly.不要含糊其词，有话就直说吧。

7 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

8 croak   

vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚

参考例句：

• Everyone seemed rather out of sorts and inclined to croak.每个人似乎都有点不对劲，想发发牢骚。
• Frogs began to croak with the rainfall.蛙随着雨落开始哇哇叫。

9 croaked   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• The crow croaked disaster. 乌鸦呱呱叫预报灾难。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• 'she has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. “她有一个漂亮的脑袋跟着去呢，”雅克三号低沉地说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

10 yelped   

v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelped in pain when the horse stepped on his foot. 马踩了他的脚痛得他喊叫起来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A hound yelped briefly as a whip cracked. 鞭子一响，猎狗发出一阵嗥叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 croaks   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的第三人称单数 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• A burst of noisy croaks came from the pond. 从池塘里传来了一阵喧噪的蛙鸣。 来自互联网
• The noise in the zoo turned out to be the croaks of bullfrogs. 动物园里喧噪得很，原来是一群牛蛙在叫。 来自互联网

12 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。