安徒生童话-THE SILVER SHILLING.docVIP

1872 FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN THE SILVER SHILLING by Hans Christian Andersen THERE was once a shilling, which came forth from the mint springing and shouting, Hurrah! now I am going out into the wide world. And truly it did go out into the wide world. The children held it with warm hands, the miser with a cold and convulsive grasp, and the old people turned it about, goodness knows how many times, while the young people soon allowed it to roll away from them. The shilling was made of silver, it contained very little copper, and considered itself quite out in the world when it had been circulated for a year in the country in which it had been coined. One day, it really did go out into the world, for it belonged to a gentleman who was about to travel in foreign lands. This gentleman was not aware that the shilling lay at the bottom of his purse when he started, till he one day found it between his fingers. Why, cried he, here is a shilling from home; well, it must go on its travels with me now! and the shilling jumped and rattled for joy, when it was put back again into the purse. Here it lay among a number of foreign companions, who were always coming and going, one taking the place of another, but the shilling from home was always put back, and had to remain in the purse, which was certainly a mark of distinction. Many weeks passed, during which the shilling had travelled a long distance in the purse, without in the least knowing where he was. He had found out that the other coins were French and Italian; and one coin said they were in this town, and another said they were in that, but the shilling was unable to make out or imagine what they meant. A man certainly cannot see much of the world if he is tied up in a bag, and this was really the shillings fate. But one day, as he was lying in the purse, he noticed that it was not qui