少兒英語頻道為大家整理了《英語童話小故事：The Clever Little Tailor》，供大家學(xué)習(xí)參考。
Once upon a time there was a princess who was ever so proud: if any man came to woo her she would set him a riddle, and if he couldn't guess it he was laughed to scorn and sent packing. She also had it made known that whoever did guess the answer to her riddle should marry her, no matter who he might be. And indeed, in the end it so happened that three tailors were making the attempt at the same time. The two eldest reckoned that as they had already successfully sewn many a delicate stitch, they could hardly go wrong and were bound to succeed here as well; the third was a feckless, giddy young fellow who didn't even know his trade properly but thought he was bound to have luck in this case, for if not, then what luck would he ever have in any other case. The two others said to him: "You'd better just stay at home, you with your feather-brain won't get far." But the young tailor wouldn't be put off, saying that he had set his heart on this enterprise and would manage all right; and off he went, sauntering along as if the whole world belonged to him.
So all three of them appeared before the princess and asked her to put her riddle to them: she would find, they said, that she had met her match this time, because their wits were so sharp that you could thread a needle with them. So the princess said: "I have two kinds of hair on my head, what colours are they?" "That's easy," said the first, "I think they're black and white, like the cloth they call pepper and salt. "The princess said: "You've guessed wrong; let the second of you answer." So the second said: "If it's not black and white, then it's brown and red like my respected father's frock-coat." "Wrong again," said the princess. "Let the third of you answer, I can see he knows it for sure." So the young tailor stepped forward boldly and said: "The princess has silver and gold hair on her head, and those are the two colours." When the princess heard that, she turned pale and nearly fainted away in alarm, for the young tailor had guessed right, and she had been convinced that no one in the world would be able to do so. When she had recovered herself she said: "This still doesn't give you the right to marry me, there's something else you must do first. Down in the stable there's a bear, and you must spend the night with him. If you're still alive when I get up tomorrow morning, then you shall marry me." But she thought that she would get rid of the young tailor in this way, because no one had ever got into this bear's clutches and lived to tell the tale. But the young tailor wasn't to be daunted. "Nothing venture, nothing win," he commented cheerfully.
So that evening our young friend was taken down to the bear's den. And sure enough, the bear at once advanced on the little fellow, meaning to welcome him with a good swipe of his paw. "Not so fast, not so fast," said the young tailor, "I'll soon take the steam out of you." And in leisurely manner, as if he were quite unconcerned, he took some walnuts out of his pocket, cracked them open with his teeth and ate the kernels. When the bear saw this, his appetite was whetted and he wanted some nuts as well. The young tailor put his hand in his pocket and held out some to him: these, however, weren't nuts but pebbles. The bear stuck them in his mouth, but couldn't crack a single one of them, bite as he might. Goodness me, what a booby I am, thought the bear, I can't even crack nuts. And he said to the young tailor: "Hey, crack these nuts for me!" "There now, what a fellow you are!" said the tailor. "A big muzzle like that and you can't even crack a little nut!" And he took the stones, but nimbly put a nut into his mouth instead, and crack! He bit open the shell. "I must try that again," said the bear. "To look at you doing it, you'd think I'd find it easy." So the young tailor gave him another lot of pebbles, and the bear worked away at them, biting for dear life. But as you may imagine, they were more than he could crack. After this, the young tailor pulled out a fiddle from under his coat and began playing a tune on it. When the bear heard the music, he couldn't help himself and began to dance, and when he'd danced for a little he found himself enjoying it so much that he said to the tailor. "Tell me, is it difficult to play the fiddle?" "It's child's play: look, my left hand fingers the strings, my right hand scrapes away at them with the bow, and out comes a merry noise, tralala." "Then I could dance whenever I liked. What do you say to that? Will you give me lessons?" "I'll be delighted to," said the tailor, "If you have the skill for it. but let's have a look at your paws: they're a mighty length, I'll have to pare your nails down a bit." So a vice was fetched, and the bear held out his paws, but the young tailor screwed them in tightly and said: "Now wait till I get the scissors." So saying, he left the bear to stand there and growl, lay down in the corner on a pile of straw and went to sleep.
The princess, hearing the bear growl so loudly that night, assumed that he must be growling with satisfaction, having made an end of the tailor. In the morning she got up feeling very pleased and not worried at all, but when she took a look at the stable there was the young tailor standing outside it cock-a-hoop and safe and sound. So then there was nothing more she could say, because she'd publicly promised to marry him; and the king sent for a carriage to take her and the tailor to church to be married. As they drove off, the other two tailors, who were false-hearted and envied him his good fortune, went into the stable and unscrewed the bear. The bear in a great rage charged off in pursuit of the carriage. The princess heard him growling and snorting and cried out in terror: "Oh, the bear's after us, he's coming to get you!" With great presence of mind the tailor stood on his head, stuck his legs out of the window and shouted: "Do you see this vice? If you don't clear off I'll screw you back into it." When the bear saw that, he turned round and ran away. Our young friend then drove on to the church as calm as you like, and the princess gave him her hand at the altar, and he lived with her as happy as a woodlark. There's a fine of three marks for anyone who doesn't believe this story.
從前有一個公主是如此的驕傲：如果有任何人向她求婚，她就給他出一個謎語，如果他猜不出來，他被嘲笑并趕走。她還對大家說，誰猜到她的謎語要娶她，不管是誰。事實(shí)上，在端碰巧三個裁縫做的同時，嘗試。兩個年紀(jì)大的心里想，他們已經(jīng)成功地許多精細(xì)的針線活，他們幾乎不可能出錯而且一定會成功的；第三是無能的，輕浮的年輕人甚至不知道自己的主業(yè)而以為他會有這樣的運(yùn)氣，如果不是，那么幸運(yùn)的是他有在任何其他情況下。二人對他說：“你呆在家里，你和你的笨腦袋不會走的很遠(yuǎn)?！钡切〔每p不會推遲，說他已經(jīng)將他的心對本企業(yè)和管理所有的權(quán)利；和他去了，好像整個閑逛世界屬于他。 他們?nèi)齻€人來到公主面前，請她給他們出謎語：他們說，她會發(fā)現(xiàn)，，她這回遇上了對手，因?yàn)樗麄兊乃季S都很鋒利，可以穿針引線。公主說：“我有兩種我頭上的頭發(fā)，都是什么顏色的？”這很簡單，”第一個人說，“我想他們是黑色和白色，喜歡他們叫胡椒和鹽布。”公主說：“你猜錯了；第二個回答吧?！钡诙€說：“要不是黑色和白色的，那就是棕色和紅色就像我尊敬的父親的長禮服?！薄坝皱e了，”公主說?！弊尩谌齻€回答，我能看出來他肯定知道。”于是小裁縫大膽的走上前說：“公主的頭發(fā)是金色和銀色的，就是這兩種顏色?！碑?dāng)公主聽到這個，她臉色蒼白，差點(diǎn)昏倒，因?yàn)槟贻p的小裁縫猜對了，她一直深信這個世界上沒人可以做到。當(dāng)她恢復(fù)了自己，她說：“這還不意味著你就嫁給我，還有些事你必須做的第一件事。下面的獸欄里有一只熊，你必須和他過夜。如果你仍然活著，明天早晨起床時，我就和你結(jié)婚?！钡詾樗軘[脫這樣年輕的小裁縫，因?yàn)檫€沒有陷入這種熊皮活著出來。但小裁縫并不氣餒。”沒有風(fēng)險，沒有勝利，”他開心地說。 所以那個晚上我們年輕的朋友被放在了熊的窩。果然，在小家伙曾經(jīng)先進(jìn)的熊，用它那有力的爪子歡迎他的意思?！辈灰?，沒有這么快，”小裁縫說，“我會很快把你安靜下來的。“在悠閑的方式，好像他一點(diǎn)也不在意，他從口袋里拿出一些核桃，破開牙關(guān)，吃果仁。當(dāng)熊看見，他的食欲刺激了他想要一些堅果和。年輕的小裁縫把手伸進(jìn)口袋里拿出一些他：這些，不過，不是核桃而是鵝卵石。熊把石頭放進(jìn)嘴里，但不能開一個咬他們，他會。我的天哪，什么安慰我，以為熊，我甚至不能堅果。他對小裁縫說：“嘿，我*這些堅果！”現(xiàn)在，你是什么人！”小裁縫說。”這么大一張嘴居然咬不開一個小堅果！”他把石頭，可靈活地把一個堅果放進(jìn)嘴里相反，裂紋！他咬開殼?！蔽乙僭囈淮?，”熊說?！笨茨阕?，你想我會很容易找到。于是小裁縫又給了他一個很大的鵝卵石，和熊過了，咬著親愛的生活。但你可以想象，他們是比他可以*。在這之后，年輕的小裁縫拿出小提琴在他的外套，開始演奏曲子。熊聽到了音樂，他不由自主的開始跳舞，當(dāng)他一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己喜歡它這么多，他對小裁縫說跳舞?！备嬖V我，拉小提琴是不是很難？”這是孩子們的游戲：看，我的左手手指撥動琴弦，右手刮著弓，發(fā)出了歡快的聲音，噠啦啦?！薄拔腋吲d的時候就可以跳舞。你怎么說？你能教教我嗎？”我很樂意，”小裁縫說，“如果你有這方面的技能。但是讓我們看看你的手掌，他們太長，我得把你的指甲剪下來一點(diǎn)。”于是鉗子，熊伸出爪子，小裁縫，但他們緊緊地說：“現(xiàn)在等我拿剪刀來?！彼f，只剩下熊站在那里咆哮，躺在稻草堆上睡覺。公主聽到熊的吼叫，那天晚上，以為他是因?yàn)闈M足，有結(jié)果了小裁縫。她早上起來感覺很高興不用再擔(dān)心了，但是當(dāng)她馬棚外面有它得意洋洋，安全和無害的小裁縫站。所以她無話可說了，因?yàn)樗?dāng)眾答應(yīng)嫁給他；王又派了一輛四輪馬車帶她和小裁縫去教堂結(jié)婚。當(dāng)他們離開的時候，另外兩個裁縫，心地很壞很嫉妒他的好運(yùn)氣，走進(jìn)馬廄，擰開熊。在一個偉大的憤怒在馬車后面猛追熊。公主聽到他的咆哮著，喘著氣，驚恐地大叫：“哦，熊在我們后，他是來給你！”隨著大量思維裁縫站在他的頭上，把兩只腳窗外喊道：“你看到這副嗎？如果你不清楚我將去你的回?！爱?dāng)熊看見，轉(zhuǎn)身就跑。我們年輕的朋友然后開車去教堂平靜如你喜歡，并給他的公主在她的手上，他和她幸福的生活在一起。有任何人誰不相信這個故事的三個標(biāo)志。