武太白·白话英语2016-2021文章总目录
上图是用Word 2019检测出来的本故事文本适用年级信息，其中Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level=8.3。一般来说，中国学生的英语阅读能力比英美学生落后4-6年。按照中位值，8.3+5=13.3年级，相当于国内的大一大二学生。上海地区的小朋友高一高二即可试读本故事。
如果对于故事内容非常熟悉，那么初中生也可以读一读这个故事。
内容提要：国王的仆人偷吃了一口白蛇肉，获得了理解动物语言的能力，并且使用它帮助王后找到了戒指。国王因为误解了仆人，答应给仆人一匹马和一些钱，从此仆人开启了更加神奇的旅程。
A
long time ago there lived a king who was famed for his wisdom through all the
land. Nothing was hidden from him, and it seemed
as if news of the most secret things
was brought to him through the air. But
he had a strange custom; every day after dinner, when the table was cleared,
and no one else was present, a trusty servant had to bring him one more dish. It was covered,
however, and even the servant did not know what was in it, neither did anyone know, for the King never took off the cover to eat of it until he was
quite alone.
This had gone on for a long time, when
one day the servant, who took away the dish, was overcome with such curiosity that he could not help carrying the dish into his room. When he had carefully locked the door, he lifted up the
cover, and saw a white snake lying on the dish. But when he saw it he could
not deny himself the pleasure of tasting it, so he cut off a little bit and put it into his mouth. No sooner had it touched his tongue than he heard a strange whispering of little voices outside his window. He went and listened, and then noticed that it was the sparrows who were chattering together, and
telling one another of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fields
and woods. Eating the snake had given him power of understanding the language
of animals.
Now it so happened that on this very day
the Queen lost her most beautiful ring, and suspicion of having stolen it fell upon this trusty servant, who was allowed to go everywhere. The King ordered the man to be brought
before him, and threatened with angry words that unless he could before the
morrow point out the thief, he himself
should be looked upon as guilty and executed. In vain he declared his innocence. In his trouble and fear he went down into the courtyard and thought long and hard.
Now some ducks were sitting together quietly by a brook and taking their rest; and, whilst they were making
their feathers smooth with their bills, they were having a confidentia conversation together. The servant stood by and listened. They were telling
one another of all the places where they had been waddling about all the morning, and what good food they had found, and one said in a pitiful tone, “Something lies heavy on
my stomach; as I was eating in haste I swallowed a ring which lay under the Queen’s window.” The servant at once seized her, carried her to the kitchen, and said to the cook, “Here
is a fine duck; roast her for dinner.” “Yes,” said the cook, and weighed her in
his hand; “she has spared no trouble to fatten herself, and has been
waiting to be roasted long enough.” And as he prepared the duck for dinner, he found the ring inside.
The
servant could now easily prove his innocence; and the King, to make amends for
the wrong, allowed him to ask a favor, and promised him the best place in the
court that he could wish for. The servant refused everything, and only asked
for a horse and some money for traveling, as he had a mind to see the world and
go about a little.
When his request was granted he set out on his way, and one day came to a pond, where he saw three fishes
caught in the reeds and gasping for
water. Now, though it is said that fishes are dumb, he heard them complaining that they must perish so
miserably, and, as he had a kind heart, he got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into the water. They quivered with delight, put out their heads, and cried to him, “We will remember you and repay you
for saving us!”
He rode on, and after a while it seemed to him that he heard a voice in the sand at his feet. He listened, and
heard an ant-king complain, “Why can not folks, with their clumsy beasts, keep off our bodies? That stupid horse, with his heavy hoofs, has been treading down my people without mercy!” So he turned on to a side path and the
ant-king cried out to him, “We will remember you - one good turn deserves another!”
The path led him into a wood, and here he saw two old ravens standing by their nest, and throwing out their young ones. “Out with you, you idle, good-for-nothing creatures!” cried they; “we can not find food for you any
longer; you are big enough, and can provide for yourselves.” But the poor young
ravens lay upon the ground, flapping their wings, and crying, “Oh, what
helpless chicks we are! We must shift for ourselves, and yet we can not fly! What can we do, but lie here and starve?” So the
good young fellow climbed down, and gave them his own food which he had been carrying for his lunch. Then
they came hopping up to it, satisfied their hunger, and cried, “We will remember you - one good turn deserves another!”
And
when he had gone on a long way
further, he came to a large city. There was a great noise and crowd in the streets, and a man rode up on
horseback, crying aloud, “The King’s
daughter wants a husband; but whoever sues for her hand must perform a hard task, and if he does not
succeed he will forfeit his life.” Many had already made the attempt, but in vain; nevertheless when the youth saw the King’s daughter he was so overcome by her great beauty that he forgot all danger, went before the King, and declared himself a suitor.
So he was led out to the sea, and a gold ring was
thrown into it, in his sight; then the King ordered him to fetch this ring up from the bottom of the
sea, and added, “If you come up again without it you will be thrown in again
and again until you perish amid the waves.” All the people grieved for the
handsome youth; then they went away, leaving him alone by the sea.
He
stood on the shore and considered what he should do, when suddenly he saw three
fishes come swimming towards him, and they were the very fishes whose lives he
had saved. The one in the middle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shore at the youth’s feet, and when he had taken it up and opened it, there lay the gold ring in the shell. Full of joy he took it to the King, and expected that he would grant him the promised reward.
But when the proud princess saw that he was not her
equal in birth, she scorned him, and required him first to perform another task. She went
down into the garden and strewed with her own hands ten sacks-full of
millet-seed on the grass; then she said, “Tomorrow morning before sunrise
these must be picked up, and not a single
grain be wanting.”
The youth
sat down in the garden and considered
how it might be possible to perform this task, but he could think of nothing, and there he sat sorrowfully awaiting the break of day, when he should be led to death. But as soon as the first
rays of the sun shone into the garden he saw
all the ten sacks standing side by side, quite full, and not a single grain was
missing. The ant-king had come in the night with thousands and thousands
of ants, and the grateful creatures had by great industry picked up all the millet-seed and gathered them into
the sacks.
Presently the King’s daughter herself came down
into the garden, and was amazed to see that the young man had done the task she had given him. But she could not yet
conquer her proud heart, and said, “Although he has performed both the tasks, he shall not be my husband
until he has brought me an apple from the Tree of Life.”
The youth did not know where the Tree of Life stood, but he set out, and
would have gone on forever, as long as his legs would carry him, though he
had no hope of finding it. After he
had wandered through three kingdoms, he came one evening to a wood, and lay down under a
tree to sleep. But he heard a rustling in the
branches, and a golden apple fell into his hand. At the same time three ravens flew down to him,
perched themselves upon his knee, and said, “We are the three young ravens whom
you saved from starving; when we had grown big, and heard that you were seeking
the Golden Apple, we flew over the sea to the end of the world, where the Tree of Life stands, and have brought you
the apple.”
The youth, full of joy, set out homewards, and took
the Golden Apple to the King’s beautiful daughter, who had no more
excuses left to make. They cut the Apple of Life in two and ate it together;
and then her heart became full of love for him, and they lived in undisturbed
happiness to a great age.
“武太白英语”公众号致力于英语启蒙到高中水平的英语学习内容。关注本站，获取每工作日高质量文章推送！
努力更新，期待打赏