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Little Tuk小杜克Yes,they calledhim Little Tuk,but it was nothis realname;he hadcalled himselfso beforehecould speakplainly,and hemeant itfor Charles.It was all verywell forthose whoknewhim,but notfor strangers.Little Tukwas leftat hometo takecare of his littlesister,Gustava,who wasmuch youngerthanhimself,and he had to learn hislessons atthe same time,and thetwo thingscould notverywell beperformed together.The poorboy satthere withhis sisteron hislap,and sungtoher all the songshe knew,and nowand thenhe lookedinto hisgeography lessonthat layopenbefore him.By thenext morninghe hadtolearnby heartall the towns inZealand,and allthatcould bedescribed of them.His mothercame homeat last,and tooklittle Gustavain herarms.Then Tukran to the window,and readso eagerlythat henearly readhis eyesout;for it hadbecome darkerand darkerevery minute,and hismother hadno moneyto buya light.uThere goesthe old washerwoman up the lane,“said themother,as shelooked outof thewindow;the poorwoman canhardly dragherself along,and nowshe hadto draga pailof waterfrom thewell.Be agood boy,Tuk,and runacross and help the old woman,won tyou”So Tukran acrossquickly,and helpedher,but whenhe cameback intothe roomitwas quite dark,and there was nota wordsaid abouta light,so hewas obligedto goto bedon hislittle trucklebedstead,and therehe layand thoughtofhisgeography lesson,and ofZealand,and ofall themasterhad toldhim.He oughtreally tohave readit overagain,but hecould notfor wantoflight.So heput thegeography bookunder his pillow,for hehad heardthat thiswas a greathelp towardslearning alesson,but notalways to be dependedupon.He stilllay thinkingandthinking,when all at onceit seemedas ifsome onekissed himon hiseyes andmouth.He sleptandyet hedid notsleep;and itappeared as if the oldwasherwomanlooked athim withkind eyesand said,“It wouldbe agreat pityif youdid notknow yourlesson to-morrow morning;you helpedme,and nowI willhelp you,and Providencewill alwayskeep thosewho helpthemselves;andat thesametimethe bookunder Tukspillowbegan tomove about.Cluck,cluck,cluck,“crieda henas shecrept towardshim.I ama henfrom Kjoge,“1and thenshe toldhim howmanyinhabitants thetown contained,and abouta battlethat hadbeen foughtthere,which reallywasnot worthspeaking of.uCrack,crack,“down fellsomething.It wasa woodenbird,the parrotwhich isused asa targetasPreesto.2He saidthere wereas manyinhabitants inthat townas hehad nailsin hisbody.Ue wasvery proud,and said,uThorwalsden livedclose tome,3and hereI amnow,quitecomfortable.”But nowlittle Tukwas nolonger inbed;all ina momenthe foundhimself onhorseback.Gallop,gallop,away hewent,seated infront ofa richly-attired knight,with awaving plume,who heldhimon thesaddle,and sothey rodethrough thewood bytheoldtown ofWordingburg,which wasverylarge andbusy.The kings castlewas surroundedby loftytowers,and radiantlight streamedfromallthewindows.Within therewere songsand dancing;King Waldemar and theyounggayly-dressed ladiesof thecourt weredancing together.Morning dawned,and asthe sunrose,the wholecity and the kingThetown nowappeared smalland poor,and theschool-boys readin theirbooks,which theycarriedunder theirarms,that itcontained twothousand inhabitants;but thiswasamere boast,forit did not containso many.And againlittle Tuklay inhis bed,scarcely knowingwhether hewas dreamingor not,for someonestood byhim.“Tuk!little Tuk!”said avoice.It wasa verylittle personwho spoke.He wasdressed asasailor,and lookedsmall enoughtobea middy,but hewas notone.I bringyou manygreetingsfrom Corsoe.5It isa risingtown,full oflife.It hassteamships andmail-coaches.In timespastthey usedto callit ugly,but thatis nolonger true.I lieon thesea-shore,said Cors0e;“I havehigh-roads andpleasure-gardens;I havegiven birthto apoet whowas wittyandentertaining,which theyare notall.I oncewanted tofit outa shipto sailround theworld,but Idid notaccomplish it,though mostlikely Imight havedone so.But Iam fragrantwithperfume,for close to mygates mostlovely rosesbloom.”Then beforethe eyesof little Tuk appeareda confusionof colors,red andgreen;but itclearedoff,and hecould distinguisha cliffclosetothe bay,the slopesof whichwere quiteovergrownwith verdure,and onits summitstood afine oldchurch withpointed towers.Springs of waterflowed outof thecliff inthick waterspouts,so thattherewasa continualsplashing.Closeby satan oldking witha goldencrown onhis whitehead.This was King Hroarof theSprings6and nearthe springsstood thetown ofRoeskilde,as it is called.Then allthe kingsand queensofDenmark wentuptheascent totheoldchurch,hand inhand,with goldencrowns ontheir heads,while theorgan playedandthefountains sentforth jetsofwater.Little Tuk saw andheard itall.Don tforget thenames ofthese towns,“said KingHroar.All atonce everythingvanished;but where!It seemedto himlike turningover theleaves ofabook.And nowthere stoodbefore himan oldpeasant woman,who hadcome fromSor07where thegrassgrows in the market-place.She hada greenlinen apronthrown overher headand shoulders,and itwasquitewet,as ifithadbeen rainingheavily.Yes,that ithas,“said she,andthen,just asshe wasgoing totell himagreatmany prettystories fromHolberg,s comedies,and aboutWaldemarandAbsalom,she suddenlyshrunk uptogether,and waggedher headasifshewere a frog aboutto spring.Croak,“she cried;itisalways wet,and asquiet asdeath inSore.”Then little Tuksawshe waschanged intoafrog.Croak,“and againshe wasan oldwoman.One mustdress accordingtotheweather,“said she.It iswet,and mytown isjustlike abottle.By the cork we must goin,and bythecorkwemustcome outagain.In oldentimesI hadbeautiful fish,and nowI havefresh,rosy-cheeked boysinthebottom ofthe bottle,andthey learnwisdom,Hebrew andGreek.”uCroak.How itsounded likethe cryofthefrogs onthe moor,or likethe creakingof greatbootswhen someone ismarching,一always thesame tone,so monotonousand wearing,that littleTukat lengthfell fastasleep,and thenthe soundcould notannoy him.But evenin thissleepcame adream orsomething likeit.His littlesister Gustava,with herblue eyes,and faircurlyhair,had grownup abeautiful maidenall atonce,and withouthaving wingsshe couldfly.Andthey flewtogether overZealand,over greenforests andblue lakes.“Hark,so youhear thecock crow,littleTuk.Cock-a-dood1e_doo.The fowlsare flyingoutof Kjoge.You shallhave alarge farm-yard.You shallnever sufferhunger orwant.The birdofgood omenshall beyours,and you shall becomea richand happyman;your houseshall riseuplike KingWal demars towers,and shallbe richlyadorned withmarble statues,like thoseatPresto.Understand mewell;your nameshall travelwith fameround theworld likethe shipthatwas tosail fromCorsoe,and atRoeskilde,一Don tforget thenames ofthetowns,asKingHroarsaid,一youshal1speak we11and clearlylittleTuk,and whenat lastyou liein yourgraveyou shallsleep peacefully,as一”“As ifI layin Sor0,“said littleTuk awaking.It wasbright daylight,andhecould notrememberhis dream,but thatwas notnecessary,for weare notto know what willhappen tousin thefuture.Then hesprang outof bedquickly,and readover hislesson inthe book,and knewitallatonce quitecorrectly.The oldwasherwoman puther headin atthe door,and noddedtohim quitekindly,andsaid,“Many thanks,you goodchild,for yourhelp yesterday.I hopeall yourbeautiful dreamswillcome true.”LittleTukdidnotat allknowwhathehaddreamt,but Oneabove did.。