THE SWINEHERD

THERE was once a poor Prince, who had a kingdom which was quite small, but still it was large enough that he could marry upon it,and that is what he wanted to do.

Now, it was certainly somewhat bold of him to say to the Emperor's daughter,“Will you have me?”But he did venture it, for his name was famous far and wide: there were hundreds of Princesses who would have been glad to say yes; but did she say so? Well, we shall see.

On the grave of the Prince's father there grew a rose bush,a very beautiful rose bush.It bloomed only every fifth year, and even then it bore only a single rose, but what a rose that was! It was so sweet that whoever smelt¹ at it forgot all sorrow and trouble. And then he had a nightingale, which could sing as if all possible melodies were collected in its little throat. This rose and this nightingale the Princess was to have, and therefore they were put into great silver cases and sent to her.

The Emperor caused the presents to be carried before him into the great hall where the Princess was playing at“visiting”with her maids if honour(they did nothing else), and when she saw the great silver cases with the presents in them, she clapped her hands with joy.

“If it were only a little pussy-cat!”said she.

But then came out the splendid rose.

“Oh, how pretty it is made!”said all the court ladies.

“It is more than pretty,”said the Emperor,“it is charming.”

But the Princess felt it, and then she almost began to cry.

“Fie, papa!”she said,“it is not artificial, it's a natural rose!”

“Fie,”said all the court ladies,“it's a natural one!”

“Let us first see what is in the other case before we get angry,”said the Emperor.And then the nightingale came out;it sang so beautifully that they did not at once know what to say against it.

“Superbe! charmant!”said the maids of honour,for they all spoke² French, the one worse than the other.

“How that bird reminds me of the late Empress's musical snuff-box,”said an old cavalier.“Yes, it is the same tone, the same expression.”

“Yes,”said the Emperor;and then he wept like a little child.

“I really hope it is not a natural bird,”said the Princess.

“Yes, it is a natural bird,”said they who had brought it.

“Then let the bird fly away,”said the Princess;and she would by no means allow the Prince to come.

But the Prince was not at all dismayed. He stained his face brown and black, drew his hat down over his brows, and knocked at the door.

“Good day, Emperor,”he said:“could I not be employed here in the castle?”

“Well,”replied the Emperor,“but there are so many who want places;but let me see, I want some one who can keep the pigs,for we have many of them.”

So the Prince was appointed the Emperor's swineherd. He received a miserable³ small room down by the pig-sty,and here he was obliged to stay;but all day long he sat and worked,and when it was evening he had finished a neat little pot, with bells all round it, and when the pot boiled these bells rang out prettily⁴ and played the old melody----

Oh, my darling Augustine,

All is lost, all is lost.

But the cleverest thing about the whole arrangement was,that by holding one's finger in the steam from the pot, one could at once smell what food was being cooked at every hearth⁵ in the town. That was quite a different thing from the rose.

Now the Princess came with all her maids of honour,and when she heard the melody she stood still and looked quite pleased;for she, too, could play“Oh, my darling Augustine.”It was the only thing she could play, but then she played it with one finger.

“Why, that is what I play!”she cried.“He must be an educated swineherd!Hark-ye:go down and ask the price of the instrument.”

So one of the maids of honour had to go down; but first she put on a pair of pattens.

“What do you want for the pot?”inquired the lady.

“I want ten kisses from the Princess,”replied the swineherd.

“Heaven preserve us!”exclaimed the maid of honour.

“Well,I won't sell it for less,”said the swineherd.

“Well, what did he say?”asked the Princess.

“I really can't repeat it, it is so shocking,”replied the lady.

“Well, you can whisper it in my ear.”And the lady whispered it to her----

“He is very rude,”declared the Princess; and she went away. But when she had gone a little way, the bells sounded so prettily----

Oh my darling Augustine,

All is lost, all is lost.

“Hark-ye,”said the Princess:“ask him if he will take ten kisses from my maids of honour.”

“No,thanks,”replied the swineherd:“ten kisses from the Princess, or I shall keep my pot.”

“How tiresome⁶ that is!”cried the Princess.“But at least you must stand round me, so that nobody sees it.”

And the maids of honour stood round her,and spread out their dresses, and then the swineherd received ten kisses, and she received the pot.

Then there was rejoicing!All the evening and all the day long the pot was kept boiling; there was not a kitchen hearth in the whole town of which they did not know what it had cooked,at the shoemaker's as well as the chamberlain's. The ladies danced with pleasure, and clapped their hands.

“We know who will have sweet soup and pancakes for dinner,and who has hasty pudding and cutlets;how interesting that is!”“Very interesting!”said the head ladysuperintendent.

“Yes, but keep counsel,for I'm the Emperor's daughter.”

“Yes, certainty,”said all.

The swineherd, that is to say, the Prince----but of course they did not know but that he was a real swineherd----let no day pass by without doing something, and so he made a rattle⁷; when any person swung this rattle, he could play all the waltzes, hops,and polkas that have been known since the creation of the world.

“But that is superbe!”cried the Princess, as she went past.“I have never heard a finer composition.Hark-ye: go down and ask what the instrument costs; but I give no more kisses.”

“He demands a hundred kisses from the Princess,”said the maid of honour who had gone down to make the inquiry⁸.

“I think he must be mad,”exclaimed the Princess; and she went away;but when she had gone a little distance she stood still.“One must encourage art,”she observed.“I am the Emperor's daughter!Tell him he shall receive ten kisses, like last time, and he may take the rest from my maids of honour.”

“Ah,but we don't like to do it!”said the maids of honour.

“That's all nonsense!”retorted the Princess,“and if I can allow myself to be kissed, you can too;remember,I give you board and wages.”

And so the maids of honour had to go down to him again.

“A hundred kisses from the Princess,”said he,“or each shall keep his own.”

“Stand round me,”said she then; and all the maids of honour stood round her while he kissed the Princess.

“What is that crowd down by the pig-sty?”asked the Emperor, who had stepped out to the balcony. He rubbed his eyes, and put on his spectacles.“Why, those are the maids of honour, at their tricks, yonder; I shall have to go down to them.”

And he pulled up his slippers¹⁰ behind, for they were shoes that he had trodden down at heel. Gracious mercy,how he hurried!So soon as he came down in the courtyard, he went quite softly, and the maids of honour were too busy counting the kisses, and seeing fair play, to notice the Emperor.Then he stood on tiptoe.

“What's that?”said he, when he saw that there was kissing going on; and he hit them on the head with his slipper⁹, just as the swineherd was taking the eighty-sixth kiss.

“Be off!”said the Emperor, for he was angry.

And the Princess and the swineherd were both expelled from his dominions¹¹. So there she stood and cried,the rain streamed down, and the swineherd scolded.

“Oh, miserable wretch¹² that I am!”said the Princess;“if I had only taken the handsome Prince! Oh,how unhappy I am!”

Then the swineherd went behind a tree, washed the stains from his face, threw away the shabby clothes, and stepped forth¹³ in his princely attire¹⁴, so handsome that the Princess was fain to bow before him.

“I have come to this,that I despise you,”said he.“You would not have an honest Prince;you did not value the rose and the nightingale, but for a plaything you kissed the swineherd,and now you have your reward.”

And then he went into his kingdom and shut the door in her face, and put the bar on.So now she might stand outside and sing----

Oh, my darling Augustine,

All is lost,all is lost.

1 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

2 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。

3 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

4 prettily   

adv.优美地；可爱地

参考例句：

• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back.此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。
• She pouted prettily at him.她冲他撅着嘴，样子很可爱。

5 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

6 tiresome   

adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的

参考例句：

• His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。

7 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

8 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

9 slipper   

n.拖鞋

参考例句：

• I rescued the remains of my slipper from the dog.我从那狗的口中夺回了我拖鞋的残留部分。
• The puppy chewed a hole in the slipper.小狗在拖鞋上啃了一个洞。

10 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

11 dominions   

统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图

参考例句：

• The King sent messengers to every town, village and hamlet in his dominions. 国王派使者到国内每一个市镇，村落和山庄。
• European powers no longer rule over great overseas dominions. 欧洲列强不再统治大块海外领土了。

12 wretch   

n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人

参考例句：

• You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他，还埋怨他，真不知好歹。
• The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。

13 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

14 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。