学文网“My poor flowers are quite dead!” said little Ida.“They were so pretty yesterday evening, and now all the leaves hang withered. Why do they do that?” she asked the student, who sat on the sofa;for she liked him very much. He knew the prettiest stories, and could cut out the most amusing pictures―hearts, with little ladies in them who danced, flowers, and great castles in which one could open the doors: he was a merry student. “Why do the flowers look so faded today?” she asked again, and showed him a whole bouquet, which was quite withered.
“Do you know what’s the matter with them?” said the student. “The flowers have been at a ball last night, and that’s why they hang their heads.”
“But flowers cannot dance!” cried little Ida.
“Oh ,yes,”said the student, “when it grows dark, and we are asleep, they jump about merrily. Almost every night they have a ball.”
“Can no children go to this ball?”
“Yes,”said the student. “quite little daisies, and lilies of the valley.”
“Where do the most beautiful flowers dance?” asked little Ida.
“Have you not often been outside the town-gate, by the great castle, where the king lives in summer, and where the beautiful garden is ,with all the flowers? You have seen the swans ,which swim up to you when you want to give them bread crumbs? There are capital balls there,believe me.”
“I was out there in the garden yesterday, with my mother,” said Ida; “but all the leaves were off the trees, and there was not one flower left. Where are they? In the summer I saw so many.”
“They are within ,in the castle,” replied the student. “You must know ,as soon as the king and all the court go to town, the flowers run out of the garden into the castle, and are merry. You should see that. The two most beautiful roses seat themselves on the throne, and then they are king and queen; all the red coxcombs range themselves on either side, and stand and bow; they are the chamberlains. Then all the pretty flowers come, and there is a great ball. The blue violets represent little naval cadets: they dance with hyacinths and crocuses, which they call young ladies; they tulips and the great tiger-lilies are old ladies who keep watch that the dancing is well done, and that everything goes on with propriety.”
“But,” asked little Ida, “does nobody do anything to the flowers, for dancing in the king’s castle?”
“There is nobody who really knows about it,” answered the student. “Sometimes, certainly ,the old steward of the castle comes at night ,and he has to watch there. He has a great bunch of keys with him; but as soon as the floweres hear the keys rattle they are quite quiet, hide behind the long curtains, and only poke their heads out. Then the old steward says, ‘ I smell that there are flowers here,’ but he cannot see them.”
“That is famous!” cried little Ida, clapping her hands. “But should not I be able to see the flowers?”
“Yes,” said the student; “only remember, when you go out again, to peep through the window; then you will see them. That is what I did today. There was a long yellow lily lying on the sofa and stretching herself. She imagined herself to be a court lady.”
“Can the flowers out of the Botanical Garden get there? Can they go the long distance?”
“Yes ,certainly,” replied the student; “if they like they can fly. Have you not seen the beautiful butterflies, red ,yellow, and white? They almost look like flowers; and that is what they have been.They have flown off their stalks high into the air, and have beaten it with their leaves, as if these leaves were little wings, and thus they flew. And because they behaved themselves well ,they got leave to fly about in the daytime too, and were not obiliged to go home again and to sit still upon their stalks; and thus at last the leaves became real wings. That you have seen yourself. It may be, however, that the flowers in the Botanical Garden have never been in the king’s castle, or that they don’t know of the merry proceedings there at night. Therefore I will tell you something: he will be very much surprised, the botanical professor, who lives close by here. You know him ,do you not ? When you come into his garden, you must tell one of the flowers that there is a great ball yonder in the castle. Then that flower will tell it to all the rest, and then they will fly away: if the professor then comes out into the garden, there will not be a single flower left, and he won’t be able to make out, where they are gone.”
“我可怜的花儿全死了，”小伊达说，“它们昨天晚上还开得那么鲜艳，现在所有的花瓣都蔫了。这是什么原因？”她问一个坐在沙发上的学生，因为小伊达非常喜欢他。他知道最好听的故事，还能剪出最有趣的***案――比如有小姑娘在里面跳舞的心，各种花儿，人可以打开门的城堡等等。他是一个快活的学生。“为什么花儿这么枯萎？”她又追问道，并把枯败的一束花指给他看。
“你不知道是怎么回事吗？”学生说，“花儿昨晚上去参加了一个舞会，这就是它们头耷拉下来的原因。”
“但花儿不会跳舞啊！”小伊达叫道。
“噢，当然会，”学生说，“天黑下来，我们都睡觉以后，它们就快活地跳了起来。几乎每天晚上它们都举行舞会。”
“孩子们不能参加这个舞会吗？”
“可以，”学生说，“小雏菊和山谷里的百合花也都可以。”
“最美丽的花儿都在哪儿跳舞？”小伊达问。
“你不是常去城门外吗？就在大城堡旁边，国王夏天去避暑的地方。那儿有漂亮的花园，里面长着各种花儿。你在那儿看到天鹅了吧？你准备给它们面包屑的时候，它们就会朝你游过来。它们就是在那儿举行盛大的舞会的，请相信我。”
“我昨天还去了那个花园，和我妈妈一起。”小伊达说，“但树叶全落了，一朵花都没剩。它们在哪里？夏天的时候我看到有好多。”
“它们在里面，城堡里面。”学生答道，“你要知道，国王和他的大臣们一回城，那些花儿就从花园里跑进城堡里去了。它们十分快活，你得清楚这一点。两朵最漂亮的玫瑰花坐在了王座上，它们就成了国王和王后。所有的红鸡冠花在两边排好，站立行礼它们都是侍从。然后所有的漂亮花儿全来了，举办一个盛大的舞会。蓝色的紫罗兰代表小海***学员：它们将风信子、藏红花称为年轻的女士，和它们一起跳舞。郁金香和百合花就是年老的女士，它们负责监督把舞会办成功，监督大家举止要得体。”
“但是，”小伊达问，“难道没有人来管吗？就随便让它们在国王的城堡里跳舞？”
“实际上没人知道这事，”学生答道，“当然，有时城堡里的老管理员夜里会来，他得照管那里，但花儿一听到钥匙转动的声音，就安静了下来，藏到长长的窗帘后面去了，只探出脑袋偷看。于是老管理员会说：“我好像闻到了花香。”但他看不到花儿。
“这真太有趣了！”小伊达边叫边拍手，“难道我不能去看这些花儿吗？”
“当然可以，”学生说，“只是要记住，你再去那的时候，从窗户偷偷朝里看，那样你就能看到了。我今天就是这么干的。沙发上躺着一朵长百合，伸直了身子，她以为自己是个贵妇人呢。”
“外面植物园的花儿也能去那儿吗？它们可得走很长一段路。”
“当然，也可以的。”学生答道，“如果它们愿意，它们可以飞去的。你没有看到过美丽的蝴蝶吗？红的、黄的、白的都有。它们看起来就像花儿一样，它们实际就是花儿。它们从花枝上高高地飞到空中，拍打着自己的叶子，好像这些叶子就是小翅膀，这样它们就能飞了。因为它们举止得体，所以它们还可以在白天飞，也不必再回家，重新坐在自己的花枝上。就这样，那些叶子最终成为翅膀了，就像你看到的那样。不过植物园里的花儿恐怕从来没进过国王的城堡，或者它们不知道那儿晚上有那么快乐的活动。因此我得告诉你一件事，会让那位植物学教授非常吃惊，他就住在附近。你认识他，对吧？当你走进他的花园时，你必须告诉其中的一朵花儿，就说在外面的城堡里举行盛大的舞会。那朵花儿就会告诉其他花儿，然后它们就会一起飞走的。如果这时教授来到花园，会发现一朵花儿都不剩了。他怎么也想不出来，这些花儿都到哪儿去了。”