English Original
Ah! yes, that was little Tuk: in reality his name was not Tuk, but that was what he called himself before he could speak plain: he meant it for Charles, and it is all well enough if one does but know it. He had now to take care of his little sister Augusta, who was much younger than himself, and he was, besides, to learn his lesson at the same time; but these two things would not do together at all. There sat the poor little fellow, with his sister on his lap, and he sang to her all the songs he knew; and he glanced the while from time to time into the geography-book that lay open before him. By the next morning he was to have learnt all the towns in Zealand by heart, and to know about them all that is possible to be known.
His mother now came home, for she had been out, and took little Augusta on her arm. Tuk ran quickly to the window, and read so eagerly that he pretty nearly read his eyes out; for it got darker and darker, but his mother had no money to buy a candle.
"There goes the old washerwoman over the way," said his mother, as she looked out of the window. "The poor woman can hardly drag herself along, and she must now drag the pail home from the fountain. Be a good boy, Tukey, and run across and help the old woman, won't you?"
So Tuk ran over quickly and helped her; but when he came back again into the room it was quite dark, and as to a light, there was no thought of such a thing. He was now to go to bed; that was an old turn-up bedstead; in it he lay and thought about his geography lesson, and of Zealand, and of all that his master had told him. He ought, to be sure, to have read over his lesson again, but that, you know, he could not do. He therefore put his geography-book under his pillow, because he had heard that was a very good thing to do when one wants to learn one's lesson; but one cannot, however, rely upon it entirely. Well, there he lay, and thought and thought, and all at once it was just as if someone kissed his eyes and mouth: he slept, and yet he did not sleep; it was as though the old washerwoman gazed on him with her mild eyes and said, "It were a great sin if you were not to know your lesson tomorrow morning. You have aided me, I therefore will now help you; and the loving God will do so at all times." And all of a sudden the book under Tuk's pillow began scraping and scratching.
"Kickery-ki! kluk! kluk! kluk!"--that was an old hen who came creeping along, and she was from Kjoge. "I am a Kjoger hen," said she, and then she related how many inhabitants there were there, and about the battle that had taken place, and which, after all, was hardly worth talking about.
"Kribledy, krabledy--plump!" down fell somebody: it was a wooden bird, the popinjay used at the shooting-matches at Prastoe. Now he said that there were just as many inhabitants as he had nails in his body; and he was very proud. "Thorwaldsen lived almost next door to me. Plump! Here I lie capitally."
But little Tuk was no longer lying down: all at once he was on horseback. On he went at full gallop, still galloping on and on. A knight with a gleaming plume, and most magnificently dressed, held him before him on the horse, and thus they rode through the wood to the old town of Bordingborg, and that was a large and very lively town. High towers rose from the castle of the king, and the brightness of many candles streamed from all the windows; within was dance and song, and King Waldemar and the young, richly-attired maids of honor danced together. The morn now came; and as soon as the sun appeared, the whole town and the king's palace crumbled together, and one tower after the other; and at last only a single one remained standing where the castle had been before, and the town was so small and poor, and the school boys came along with their books under their arms, and said, "2000 inhabitants!" but that was not true, for there were not so many.
And little Tukey lay in his bed: it seemed to him as if he dreamed, and yet as if he were not dreaming; however, somebody was close beside him.
"Little Tukey! Little Tukey!" cried someone near. It was a seaman, quite a little personage, so little as if he were a midshipman; but a midshipman it was not.
"Many remembrances from Corsor. That is a town that is just rising into importance; a lively town that has steam-boats and stagecoaches: formerly people called it ugly, but that is no longer true. I lie on the sea," said Corsor; "I have high roads and gardens, and I have given birth to a poet who was witty and amusing, which all poets are not. I once intended to equip a ship that was to sail all round the earth; but I did not do it, although I could have done so: and then, too, I smell so deliciously, for close before the gate bloom the most beautiful roses."
Little Tuk looked, and all was red and green before his eyes; but as soon as the confusion of colors was somewhat over, all of a sudden there appeared a wooded slope close to the bay, and high up above stood a magnificent old church, with two high pointed towers. From out the hill-side spouted fountains in thick streams of water, so that there was a continual splashing; and close beside them sat an old king with a golden crown upon his white head: that was King Hroar, near the fountains, close to the town of Roeskilde, as it is now called. And up the slope into the old church went all the kings and queens of Denmark, hand in hand, all with their golden crowns; and the organ played and the fountains rustled. Little Tuk saw all, heard all. "Do not forget the diet," said King Hroar.
Again all suddenly disappeared. Yes, and whither? It seemed to him just as if one turned over a leaf in a book. And now stood there an old peasant-woman, who came from Soroe, where grass grows in the market-place. She had an old grey linen apron hanging over her head and back: it was so wet, it certainly must have been raining. "Yes, that it has," said she; and she now related many pretty things out of Holberg's comedies, and about Waldemar and Absalon; but all at once she cowered together, and her head began shaking backwards and forwards, and she looked as she were going to make a spring. "Croak! croak!" said she. "It is wet, it is wet; there is such a pleasant deathlike stillness in Sorbe!" She was now suddenly a frog, "Croak"; and now she was an old woman. "One must dress according to the weather," said she. "It is wet; it is wet. My town is just like a bottle; and one gets in by the neck, and by the neck one must get out again! In former times I had the finest fish, and now I have fresh rosy-cheeked boys at the bottom of the bottle, who learn wisdom, Hebrew, Greek--Croak!"
When she spoke it sounded just like the noise of frogs, or as if one walked with great boots over a moor; always the same tone, so uniform and so tiring that little Tuk fell into a good sound sleep, which, by the bye, could not do him any harm.
But even in this sleep there came a dream, or whatever else it was: his little sister Augusta, she with the blue eyes and the fair curling hair, was suddenly a tall, beautiful girl, and without having wings was yet able to fly; and she now flew over Zealand--over the green woods and the blue lakes.
"Do you hear the cock crow, Tukey? Cock-a-doodle-doo! The cocks are flying up from Kjoge! You will have a farm-yard, so large, oh! so very large! You will suffer neither hunger nor thirst! You will get on in the world! You will be a rich and happy man! Your house will exalt itself like King Waldemar's tower, and will be richly decorated with marble statues, like that at Prastoe. You understand what I mean. Your name shall circulate with renown all round the earth, like unto the ship that was to have sailed from Corsor; and in Roeskilde--"
"Do not forget the diet!" said King Hroar.
"Then you will speak well and wisely, little Tukey; and when at last you sink into your grave, you shall sleep as quietly--"
"As if I lay in Soroe," said Tuk, awaking. It was bright day, and he was now quite unable to call to mind his dream; that, however, was not at all necessary, for one may not know what the future will bring.
And out of bed he jumped, and read in his book, and now all at once he knew his whole lesson. And the old washerwoman popped her head in at the door, nodded to him friendly, and said, "Thanks, many thanks, my good child, for your help! May the good ever-loving God fulfil your loveliest dream!"
Little Tukey did not at all know what he had dreamed, but the loving God knew it.
中文翻译
啊！是的，那就是小杜克。实际上他的名字不叫杜克，但那是他还说不清楚话时对自己的称呼：他指的是查尔斯，只要知道这一点就行了。他现在得照顾比他小得多的妹妹奥古斯塔，同时还要学习功课；但这两件事根本无法兼顾。这个可怜的小家伙坐在那里，妹妹坐在他的膝上，他给她唱所有他会唱的歌；同时，他不时瞥一眼摊在面前的地理书。到第二天早上，他必须背熟西兰所有的城镇，并尽可能了解关于它们的一切。
他的妈妈现在回家了，因为她出去了，把小小的奥古斯塔抱在怀里。杜克赶紧跑到窗边，如饥似渴地读着书，几乎要把眼睛看花了；因为天色越来越暗，但他的妈妈没钱买蜡烛。
“街对面那个洗衣的老太婆来了，”妈妈望着窗外说。“那可怜的女人几乎走不动了，她现在还得把水桶从泉边拖回家。做个好孩子，杜克，跑过去帮帮那个老太太，好吗？”
于是杜克赶紧跑过去帮了她；但当他回到房间时，天已经完全黑了，至于点灯，那是想都不用想的事。他现在得上床睡觉了；那是一张旧折叠床；他躺在上面，想着他的地理课，想着西兰，想着老师告诉他的一切。他当然应该把功课再读一遍，但你知道，他做不到。因此他把地理书放在枕头底下，因为他听说当一个人想记住功课时，这样做很有用；但是，不能完全依赖它。他就这样躺着，想了又想，突然，仿佛有人亲吻了他的眼睛和嘴巴：他睡着了，又好像没睡着；仿佛那个洗衣的老太婆用她温和的眼睛凝视着他，说：“如果你明天早上不知道功课，那将是一大罪过。你帮助过我，所以我现在要帮助你；仁慈的上帝也会一直这样做。”突然，杜克枕头下的书开始刮擦作响。
“咯咯-咯！咯咯！咯咯！咯咯！”——那是一只老母鸡爬了过来，她来自克厄。“我是一只克厄母鸡，”她说，然后她讲述了那里有多少居民，以及发生过的一场战斗，不过那场战斗根本不值得一提。
“克里布里，克拉布里——扑通！”有什么东西掉了下来：那是一只木鸟，普拉斯特射箭比赛中用的靶鸟。现在他说那里的居民和他身上的钉子一样多；他非常自豪。“托瓦尔森几乎就住在我隔壁。扑通！我躺在这里舒服极了。”
但小杜克不再躺着了：突然，他骑上了马。他全速奔驰，不停地奔驰。一位头戴闪亮羽饰、衣着华丽的骑士，把他抱在身前的马背上，就这样他们骑马穿过树林，来到了古老的博丁堡镇，那是一个很大、很热闹的城镇。高高的塔楼从国王的城堡中耸立，许多蜡烛的光芒从所有窗户里流泻出来；里面歌舞升平，国王瓦尔德马尔和年轻、盛装打扮的宫女们一起跳舞。黎明来临；太阳一出现，整个城镇和国王的宫殿就一起坍塌了，一座塔接着一座塔；最后只剩下孤零零的一座塔立在原来城堡所在的地方，城镇变得又小又穷，小学生们夹着书本走来，说：“2000个居民！”但这不是真的，因为没有那么多人。
小杜克躺在床上：他觉得好像在做梦，又好像没在做梦；然而，有人就在他身边。
“小杜克！小杜克！”附近有人喊道。那是一个水手，一个相当小的人物，小得像个海军候补生；但他不是海军候补生。
“科瑟尔向你致以许多问候。那是一个正在崛起的重要城镇；一个热闹的城镇，有汽船和驿马车：以前人们说它丑，但现在不再是这样了。我躺在海边，”科瑟尔说；“我有公路和花园，我还孕育了一位机智有趣的诗人，并非所有诗人都如此。我曾打算装备一艘能环游世界的船；但我没有这样做，尽管我可以做到：而且，我闻起来如此芬芳，因为就在城门前盛开着最美丽的玫瑰。”
小杜克看着，眼前一片红绿交错；但当色彩的混乱稍稍平息，突然，海湾附近出现了一个树木繁茂的斜坡，高处矗立着一座宏伟的老教堂，有两座高高的尖塔。山坡上喷涌出粗壮的水流，水花四溅；旁边坐着一位头戴金冠的白发老国王：那是赫罗尔国王，在喷泉附近，靠近现在称为罗斯基勒的城镇。丹麦所有的国王和王后，手挽着手，都戴着金冠，沿着斜坡走进那座老教堂；风琴奏响，喷泉潺潺作响。小杜克看到了一切，听到了一切。“别忘了议会，”赫罗尔国王说。
一切又突然消失了。是的，去了哪里？他觉得就像翻了一页书。现在那里站着一个老农妇，她来自索勒，那里的市场都长满了草。她头上和背上披着一块旧的灰色亚麻围裙：围裙湿透了，肯定下过雨了。“是的，下过雨了，”她说；然后她讲述了霍尔堡喜剧中的许多趣事，以及关于瓦尔德马尔和阿布萨隆的事；但她突然蜷缩起来，头开始前后摇晃，看起来好像要跳起来。“呱！呱！”她说。“湿了，湿了；索勒有一种愉快的、死一般的寂静！”她突然变成了一只青蛙，“呱”；然后又变成了一个老妇人。“人必须根据天气穿衣，”她说。“湿了，湿了。我的城镇就像一个瓶子；从瓶塞进去，也必须从瓶口出来！从前我有最好的鱼，现在瓶底有一些脸蛋红扑扑的男孩，他们学习智慧、希伯来语、希腊语——呱！”
她说话时，声音就像青蛙的叫声，或者像穿着大靴子走过沼泽地；总是同一个音调，如此单调，如此令人厌倦，以至于小杜克沉沉地睡着了，顺便说一句，这对他没有任何害处。
但即使在这个睡眠中，也来了一个梦，或者别的什么：他的小妹妹奥古斯塔，那个蓝眼睛、金色卷发的小女孩，突然变成了一个高挑美丽的姑娘，虽然没有翅膀却能飞翔；她现在飞越西兰——飞过绿色的森林和蓝色的湖泊。
“你听到公鸡叫了吗，杜克？喔喔喔！公鸡从克厄飞起来了！你将有一个农场，那么大，哦！那么大！你将不再挨饿受渴！你将在世上取得成功！你将成为一个富有而快乐的人！你的房子将像国王瓦尔德马尔的塔一样高耸，并将像普拉斯特那样装饰着大理石雕像。你明白我的意思。你的名字将像那艘本应从科瑟尔起航的船一样，名扬四海；在罗斯基勒——”
“别忘了议会！”赫罗尔国王说。
“那么你将说得又好又明智，小杜克；当你最终沉入坟墓时，你将睡得如此安宁——”
“就像我躺在索勒一样，”杜克说着醒了过来。天已大亮，他现在完全想不起他的梦了；不过，这完全没有必要，因为一个人可能无法知道未来会带来什么。
他从床上跳起来，读着他的书，突然之间，他完全掌握了所有的功课。那个洗衣的老太婆把头探进门来，友好地对他点点头，说：“谢谢，非常感谢，我的好孩子，谢谢你的帮助！愿仁慈的上帝实现你最美好的梦想！”
小杜克完全不知道他梦见了什么，但仁慈的上帝知道。