安徒生童话全集:英文版(全2册)

　　he Gardener and the Noble Family　　bout four miles from the city stood an old manor house withthick walls．towers，and pointed gables．Here lived，but onlyin the Summer seaS0n a rich and noble family． Of all thedifferent estates they owned，this was the best and the mostbeautiful：on the outside it looked as if it had just been cast in a，foundrv．and the inside was made for comfort and ease．．Fhefamily coat of arms was carved in stone over the gate；beautitUllscs climbed about the arnls and the balconies；the COHrtyardwas covered with grass：there were red thorn and whit‘th”1”I，and many’“‘flowers even outside the greenhouse．　　Thc oWncrs of the manor house also had a very skillful gardener．It was aoleasure to see the flower garden，thc orchard，and the vegetable garden，A partLf thc manor’s original old garden was still there’consisting of a icw box—treehedCes Cut S0 that they formed crowns and pyramids． Behind these stoo．d two old，htv trees，almost always without leaves，and one might easily think that a stormor．aterspout had scattered great lumps of dirt on their branches；bu；each lump．was a bird’s nest．Here，from time immemorial．a screaming swarin ot crows an．drooks had built their nests：it was a regular bird town，and the birds were tn‘oWners，thc manor’s oldest family—thc real lordship！Thc people below mean！nothing to them：they tolerated these crawling creatures，even if every now andthcn t‘cv shot with their guns，making the birds’backbones shiver，so that everybird flew up in fear and cried，“Rak！Rak！”　　The gardener often spoke to the noble family about cutting down the Old tr，ee，s； did not look well，and by taking them away they might also get nd theshriacking birds，which then would probably look for another place．But the fa，milydid not want to give up either the trees or the swarm of birds；that was somethingthe manOr C0uld not lose． something from the olden times，which should never beforgotten．　　Wda；Whv．those trees are thc birds’heritage by this time，so let them keep them，mv good Larsen！”Larsen was the gardener‘s name，but that 1s oi very tittleenCe to this story．　　“Haen’t you space enough to work in ittle Larsen？Have you not the flowergarden．the greenhouse，the orchard，and the vegetable garden ‘Ycs．those he had，andhc cared for them；he kept them in order and cultivatedthcm with affection and ability，and that the noble family knew；but they did—n”tconccal from him that they often saw flowers and tasted fruits in other people’shomcs that surpassed what they had in their garden，and that made the gardenersad．for he always wished to do his best and really did his best．He was~ood’hearted and a gOOd and faithful worker．一 One dav the nOb．1e family sent for him and told him，very kindly，that the daybefore．at some distinguished friend’s home，they had eaten apples and pears thatwere so juicy and so well flavored that they and all the other guests had expressedthcir admiration．It was doubtful if the fruits were native，but they’ought to beimposed and grown here．provided thc climate would permit it．It was known thathad been bought from the finest fruit dealer in thc city，and it was decided　　to go ther‘and find ou．‘where these”“pearcal leand then order some slips for grafting The gardener knew the fruit dealer　　……