The Grateful Pedlar

 THERE was once a poor old pedlar who sold ribbons and brooches and tapes and needles; his hair was long and his back was bent¹, and perhaps he did look rather strange; but that was no reason why the boys should have called him names and thrown stones at him as he went through the village. At last a stone hit him on the forehead and he fell on the dusty road, and the bad boys ran away, afraid of what they had done. But one boy named Jack² had seen the thing from a field some way off, and now he came running up, and bathed the poor old man’s head and spoke³ kindly⁴ to him, and when the pedlar was better he said: “You are a good boy and you may have what you like out of my pack.”

 

Now, Jack did not like to take anything valuable out of a poor man’s pack, so he looked at all the pretty things, and then he picked out an old knife.

 

The pedlar laughed. “You have chosen the most valuable thing I have,” he said; “that knife will cut through iron or stone as easily as through butter.”

 

“Oh! then,” said Jack hastily⁵, “let me have these old spectacles⁶.”

 

The pedlar laughed louder than ever.

 

“Those spectacles will make you see to any part of the world, and see through stone or iron as easily as through glass,” he said; “there—take both!”

 

And putting the two into Jack’s hand he vanished—and he did it quite easily, because he was a magician⁷.

 

So now Jack’s fortune was made; he could see where gold and precious stones lay under the earth and he could cut away the rocks that covered them as though they were butter.

 

So he was rewarded for his kind-heartedness.

 

But the greatest reward of all came to him when the Princess of that land was carried off and hidden by an enchanter. And the King, after vainly offering all sorts of other prizes, at last said that any man who could find the Princess and set her free should marry her.

 

So Jack put on his spectacles and saw the Princess sitting crying in a lonely tower. It was a year’s journey off, but he made the journey, and wherever he was, he put on his spectacles again and looked at the beautiful Princess, and that gave him courage.

 

At last he came to the tower, and with his magic knife he cut through the iron door and set the Princess free, and with the same knife he killed the wicked enchanter.

 

Then he took the Princess home in triumph and the grateful pedlar came to the wedding-feast.

 

E. Nesbit.

1 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

5 hastily   

ad.过于匆忙地，急急忙忙地

参考例句：

• I query very much whether it is wise to act so hastily. 我真怀疑如此操之过急地行动是否明智。
• Nothing must be done hastily but killing of fleas. 除非要捉跳蚤，做事不可匆忙。

6 spectacles   

n.眼镜

参考例句：

• a pair of spectacles 一副眼镜
• People wear spectacles so that they can see better. 人们戴眼镜是为了看得更清楚。

7 magician   

n.魔术师，变戏法的人，术士

参考例句：

• With a wave of his hand,the magician made the rabbit vanish.魔术师手一挥兔子便不见了。
• The magician transformed the man into a rabbit.魔术师把那个人变成了兔子。