1、TheDarning-Needle织补针Once upon a time there was a darning needle who imagined she was so fine that she really was a sewing needle.Be careful and hold me tightly! she warned the fingers that picked her up. Dont drop me! If I fall on the floor you may never find me again; thats how fine I am!Thats what
2、 you think! replied the fingers, and squeezed her around the waist.Look, here I come with my train! said the darning needle, and she drew a long thread behind her, but there was no knot in the thread.The fingers aimed the needle straight at the cooks slipper, where the upper leather had burst and ha
3、d to be sewed together.My! What vulgar work! sniffed the darning needle. Ill never get through! Look out! Im breaking! Im breaking in two. And just then she did break. I told you so, she said. Im much too delicate!Well, shes no good now, thought the fingers, but they had to hold on to her all the sa
4、me. For the cook dropped a little sealing wax on the end of the needle to make a head, and then she pinned her kerchief together with it in front.Look! Now Im a breastpin, said the needle. I knew perfectly well Id be honored. If you are something you always amount to something.Then she laughed, but
5、it was inwardly, because no one can ever really see a darning needle laugh. There she sat on the cooks bosom, proud as if she were in a state coach, and looked all around her.May I be permitted to inquire if youre made of gold? she very politely asked a little pin near her. You look pretty, and you
6、have a head of your own, but its rather small. You must be careful to grow bigger. Not everyone can have sealing wax on one end like me!Then the darning needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell right out of the kerchief into the sink, at the very moment the cook was rinsing it out.Looks now a
7、s if we are off on a journey, she said to herself. Lets hope I dont get lost. But she really was lost down the drain.Im too fine for this world, she observed calmly as she lay in the gutter outside. But I know who I am, and thats always a satisfaction. So the darning needle was still proud, and she
8、never lost her good humor. She watched the many strange things floating above her-chips and straws and pieces of old newspapers.Look at them sail! she said to herself. They dont know whats down below them! Here I sit! I can sting! Look at that stick go, thinking of nothing in the world but himself-a
9、 stick! And thats exactly what he is! And theres a straw floating by; look at him twist and look how he turns! Youd better not think so much about yourself up there! Youll run into the curb! There goes a newspaper. Everybody has forgotten what was written on it, but still it spreads itself out, whil
10、e I sit quietly down here below. I know who I am, and I shall never forget it!One day the darning needle saw something beside her that glittered splendidly in the sunbeams. It was only a bit of broken bottle, but because the darning needle was quite sure it was something valuable like a diamond she
11、spoke to it, introducing herself as a breastpin.I suppose youre a diamond? she asked.Yes, something like that, was the reply.Then, since each thought the other was very important, they began talking about the world, and how conceited everyone was.I used to live in a ladys case, said the darning need
12、le. And this lady was a cook. On each hand she had five fingers, and you never saw anything so conceited as those five fingers! And yet they were only there so that they could hold me, take me out of my case, and put me back into it.Did they shine? asked the bit of bottle glass.Shine? Not at all, sa
13、id the darning needle. They were arrogant. There were five brothers, all belonging to the Finger family, and they kept close together, although they were all of different lengths. The one on the outside, Thumbling, who walked out in front of the others, was short and fat and had only one joint in hi
14、s back, so he could only make a single bow. But he insisted that if he were cut off a persons hand, that person could not be a soldier. Lickpot, the second one, pushed himself into sweet and sour, and pointed at the sun and the moon, and it was he who pressed on the pen when they wrote. Longman, the
15、 third, looked over the heads of the others. Guldbrand was the fourth-he always wore a golden belt around his waist. And little Peter Playfellow didnt do anything at all, and was very proud of it. They did nothing but brag all the time; thats why I went down the sink.And now we just sit here and gli
16、tter, said the bit of broken bottle. But just then a flood of water came rushing down the gutter so that it overflowed and swept the bottle glass away.See now! Hes been promoted, remarked the darning needle, but Im still here. Im too fine for that sort of thing. But thats my pride, and that is very
17、commendable! So she sat up straight, lost in many big thoughts. I almost think I was born a sunbeam, Im so fine; besides, the sunbeams always seem to be trying to get to me, under the water. Im so fine that even my mother cant find me. If I had my old eye, the one that broke off, I think I might cry
18、 about that. But no! I think I wouldnt cry anyway; its not at all refined to cry.One day some street boys were grubbing in the gutter, looking for coins and things of that sort. It was filthy work, but they were having a wonderful time.Ouch! one cried as he pricked himself on the darning needle. You
19、re a pretty sharp fellow!Im not a fellow; Im a young lady, replied the darning needle. But of course they couldnt hear her.Her sealing wax had come off, and she had turned black; but black always makes you look more slender, and she was sure she was even finer than before.Look! cried the boys. Here
20、comes an eggshell sailing along, And they stuck the darning needle fast into the shell.White walls, and I am black myself! cried the darning needle. Thats very becoming! People can really see me now! I only hope Im not seasick; that would surely break me! But she wasnt seasick, and she did not break
21、. Its a very good protection against seasickness to have a steel stomach and to remember that one is a little finer than ordinary human beings. Oh, yes! Im all right. The finer you are, the more you can bear.Crack! went the eggshell at that moment, for a heavily loaded wagon ran over it.Goodness, Im being crushed! cried the darning needle. Im going to get really seasick now! Im breaking! Im breaking! But she didnt break, though the wagon went over her; she lay at full length along the cobblestones, and there well leave her.
