fiction and short story

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THE COUNT AND THE WEDDING GUEST by: O. Henry (1862-1910)

THE COUNT AND THE WEDDING GUEST by: O. Henry (1862-1910)

[SIZE=-1]A week after the announcement the two sat on the same bench in the downtown park, while the fluttering leaves of the trees made a dim kinetoscopic picture of them in the moonlight. But Donovan had worn a look of abstracted gloom all day. He was so silent to-night that love's lips could not keep back any longer the questions that love's heart propounded.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"What's the matter, Andy, you are so solemn and grouchy to-night?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Nothing, Maggie."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"I know better. Can't I tell? You never acted this way before. What is it?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"It's nothing much, Maggie."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Yes it is; and I want to know. I'll bet it's some other girl you are thinking about. All right. Why don't you go get her if you want her? Take your arm away, if you please."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"I'll tell you then," said Andy, wisely, "but I guess you won't understand it exactly. You've heard of Mike Sullivan, haven't you? 'Big Mike' Sullivan, everybody calls him."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"No, I haven't," said Maggie. "And I don't want to, if he makes you act like this. Who is he?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"He's the biggest man in New York," said Andy, almost reverently. "He can about do anything he wants to with Tammany or any other old thing in the political line. He's a mile high and as broad as East River. You say anything against Big Mike, and you'll have a million men on your collarbone in about two seconds. Why, he made a visit over to the old country awhile back, and the kings took to their holes like rabbits.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Well, Big Mike's a friend of mine. I ain't more than deuce-high in the district as far as influence goes, but Mike's as good a friend to a little man, or a poor man as he is to a big one. I met him to-day on the Bowery, and what do you think he does? Comes up and shakes hands. 'Andy,' says he, 'I've been keeping cases on you. You've been putting in some good licks over on your side of the street, and I'm proud of you. What'll you take to drink?" He takes a cigar, and I take a highball. I told him I was going to get married in two weeks. 'Andy,' says he, 'send me an invitation, so I'll keep in mind of it, and I'll come to the wedding.' That's what Big Mike says to me; and he always does what he says.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"You don't understand it, Maggie, but I'd have one of my hands cut off to have Big Mike Sullivan at our wedding. It would be the proudest day of my life. When he goes to a man's wedding, there's a guy being married that's made for life. Now, that's why I'm maybe looking sore to-night."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Why don't you invite him, then, if he's so much to the mustard?" said Maggie, lightly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"There's a reason why I can't," said Andy, sadly. "There's a reason why he mustn't be there. Don't ask me what it is, for I can't tell you."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Oh, I don't care," said Maggie. "It's something about politics, of course. But it's no reason why you can't smile at me."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Maggie," said Andy, presently, "do you think as much of me as you did of your—as you did of the Count Mazzini?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He waited a long time, but Maggie did not reply. And then, suddenly she leaned against his shoulder and began to cry—to cry and shake with sobs, holding his arm tightly, and wetting the crêpe de Chine with tears.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"There, there, there!" soothed Andy, putting aside his own trouble. "And what is it, now?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Andy," sobbed Maggie. "I've lied to you, and you'll never marry me, or love me any more. But I feel that I've got to tell. Andy, there never was so much as the little finger of a count. I never had a beau in my life. But all the other girls had; and they talked about 'em; and that seemed to make the fellows like 'em more. And, Andy, I look swell in black—you know I do. So I went out to a photograph store and bought that picture, and had a little one made for my locket, and made up all that story about the Count, and about his being killed, so I could wear black. And nobody can love a liar, and you'll shake me, Andy, and I'll die for shame. Oh, there never was anybody I liked but you—and that's all."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]But instead of being pushed away, she found Andy's arm folding her closer. She looked up and saw his face cleared and smiling.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Could you—could you forgive me, Andy?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Sure," said Andy. "It's all right about that. Back to the cemetery for the Count. You've straightened everything out, Maggie. I was in hopes you would before the wedding-day. Bully girl!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Andy," said Maggie, with a somewhat shy smile, after she had been thoroughly assured of forgiveness, "did you believe all that story about the Count?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Well, not to any large extent," said Andy, reaching for his cigar case, "because it's Big Mike Sullivan's picture you've got in that locket of yours."[/SIZE]
 

daryanian

عضو جدید
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تفاوت بین آسان و مشکل



Easy is to dream every night
Difficult is to fight for a dream

خوابیدن در هر شب آسان است
ولی مبارزه با آن مشکل است


Easy is to show victory
Difficult is to assume defeat with dignity

نشان دادن یپروزی آسان است
قبول کردن شکست مشکل است


Easy is to admire a full moon
Difficult to see the other side

حظ کردن از یک ماه کامل آسان است
ولی دیدن طرف دیگر آن مشکل است


Easy is to stumble with a stone
Difficult is to get up

زمین خوردن با یک سنگ آسان است
ولی بلند شدن مشکل است


Easy is to enjoy life every day
Difficult to give its real value

لذت بردن از زندگی آسان است
ولی ارزش واقعی دادن به آن مشکل است


Easy is to promise something to someone
Difficult is to fulfill that promise

قول دادن بعضی چیز ها به بعضی افراد آسان است
ولی وفای به عهد مشکل است


Easy is to say we love
Difficult is to show it every day

گفتن اینکه ما عاشقیم آسان است
ولی نشان دادن مداوم آن مشکل است


Easy is to criticize others
Difficult is to improve oneself

انتقاد از دیگران آسان است
ولی خودسازی مشکل است


Easy is to make mistakes
Difficult is to learn from them

ایراد گیری از دیگران آسان است
عبرت گرفتن از آنها مشکل است


Easy is to weep for a lost love
Difficult is to take care of it so not to lose it

گریه کردن برای یک عشق دیرینه آسان است
ولی تلاش برای از دست نرفتن آن مشکل است


Easy is to think about improving
Difficult is to stop thinking it and put it into action

فکر کردن برای پیشرفت آسان است
متوقف کردن فکر و رویا و عمل به آن مشکل است


Easy is to think bad of others
Difficult is to give them the benefit of the doubt

فکر بد کردن در مورد دیگران آسان است
رها ساختن آنها از شک و دودلی مشکل است


Easy is to receive
Difficult is to give

دریافت کردن آسان است
اهدا کردن مشکل است


Easy to read this
Difficult to follow

خوندن این متن آسان است
ولی پیگیری آن مشکل است


Easy is keep the friendship with words
Difficult is to keep it with meanings

حفظ دوستی با کلمات آسان است
حفظ آن با مفهوم کلمات مشکل است
 

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THE REMARKABLE ROCKET by: Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

THE REMARKABLE ROCKET by: Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

[SIZE=-1]The King’s son was going to be married, so there were general rejoicings. He had waited a whole year for his bride, and at last she had arrived. She was a Russian Princess, and had driven all the way from Finland in a sledge drawn by six reindeer. The sledge was shaped like a great golden swan, and between the swan’s wings lay the little Princess herself. Her long ermine-cloak reached right down to her feet, on her head was a tiny cap of silver tissue, and she was as pale as the Snow Palace in which she had always lived. So pale was she that as she drove through the streets all the people wondered. “She is like a white rose!” they cried, and they threw down flowers on her from the balconies.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]At the gate of the Castle the Prince was waiting to receive her. He had dreamy violet eyes, and his hair was like fine gold. When he saw her he sank upon one knee, and kissed her hand.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Your picture was beautiful,” he murmured, “but you are more beautiful than your picture”; and the little Princess blushed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“She was like a white rose before,” said a young Page to his neighbour, “but she is like a red rose now”; and the whole Court was delighted.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]For the next three days everybody went about saying, “White rose, Red rose, Red rose, White rose”; and the King gave orders that the Page’s salary was to be doubled. As he received no salary at all this was not of much use to him, but it was considered a great honour, and was duly published in the Court Gazette.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]When the three days were over the marriage was celebrated. It was a magnificent ceremony, and the bride and bridegroom walked hand in hand under a canopy of purple velvet embroidered with little pearls. Then there was a State Banquet, which lasted for five hours. The Prince and Princess sat at the top of the Great Hall and drank out of a cup of clear crystal. Only true lovers could drink out of this cup, for if false lips touched it, it grew grey and dull and cloudy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“It’s quite clear that they love each other,” said the little Page, “as clear as crystal!” and the King doubled his salary a second time. “What an honour!” cried all the courtiers.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]After the banquet there was to be a Ball. The bride and bridegroom were to dance the Rose-dance together, and the King had promised to play the flute. He played very badly, but no one had ever dared to tell him so, because he was the King. Indeed, he knew only two airs, and was never quite certain which one he was playing; but it made no matter, for, whatever he did, everybody cried out, “Charming! charming!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The last item on the programme was a grand display of fireworks, to be let off exactly at midnight. The little Princess had never seen a firework in her life, so the King had given orders that the Royal Pyrotechnist should be in attendance on the day of her marriage.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“What are fireworks like?” she had asked the Prince, one morning, as she was walking on the terrace.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“They are like the Aurora Borealis,” said the King, who always answered questions that were addressed to other people, “only much more natural. I prefer them to stars myself, as you always know when they are going to appear, and they are as delightful as my own flute-playing. You must certainly see them.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So at the end of the King’s garden a great stand had been set up, and as soon as the Royal Pyrotechnist had put everything in its proper place, the fireworks began to talk to each other.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“The world is certainly very beautiful,” cried a little Squib. “Just look at those yellow tulips. Why! if they were real crackers they could not be lovelier. I am very glad I have travelled. Travel improves the mind wonderfully, and does away with all one’s prejudices.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“The King’s garden is not the world, you foolish squib,” said a big Roman Candle; “the world is an enormous place, and it would take you three days to see it thoroughly.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Any place you love is the world to you,” exclaimed a pensive Catherine Wheel, who had been attached to an old deal box in early life, and prided herself on her broken heart; “but love is not fashionable any more, the poets have killed it. They wrote so much about it that nobody believed them, and I am not surprised. True love suffers, and is silent. I remember myself once -- But it is no matter now. Romance is a thing of the past.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Nonsense!” said the Roman Candle, “Romance never dies. It is like the moon, and lives for ever. The bride and bridegroom, for instance, love each other very dearly. I heard all about them this morning from a brown-paper cartridge, who happened to be staying in the same drawer as myself, and knew the latest Court news.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]But the Catherine Wheel shook her head. “Romance is dead, Romance is dead, Romance is dead,” she murmured. She was one of those people who think that, if you say the same thing over and over a great many times, it becomes true in the end.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Suddenly, a sharp, dry cough was heard, and they all looked round.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]It came from a tall, supercilious-looking Rocket, who was tied to the end of a long stick. He always coughed before he made any observation, so as to attract attention.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Ahem! ahem!” he said, and everybody listened except the poor Catherine Wheel, who was still shaking her head, and murmuring, “Romance is dead.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Order! order!” cried out a Cracker. He was something of a politician, and had always taken a prominent part in the local elections, so he knew the proper Parliamentary expressions to use.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Quite dead,” whispered the Catherine Wheel, and she went off to sleep.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]As soon as there was perfect silence, the Rocket coughed a third time and began. He spoke with a very slow, distinct voice, as if he was dictating his memoirs, and always looked over the shoulder of the person to whom he was talking. In fact, he had a most distinguished manner.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“How fortunate it is for the King’s son,” he remarked, “that he is to be married on the very day on which I am to be let off. Really, if it had been arranged beforehand, it could not have turned out better for him; but, Princes are always lucky.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Dear me!” said the little Squib, “I thought it was quite the other way, and that we were to be let off in the Prince’s honour.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“It may be so with you,” he answered; “indeed, I have no doubt that it is, but with me it is different. I am a very remarkable Rocket, and come of remarkable parents. My mother was the most celebrated Catherine Wheel of her day, and was renowned for her graceful dancing. When she made her great public appearance she spun round nineteen times before she went out, and each time that she did so she threw into the air seven pink stars. She was three feet and a half in diameter, and made of the very best gunpowder. My father was a Rocket like myself, and of French extraction. He flew so high that the people were afraid that he would never come down again. He did, though, for he was of a kindly disposition, and he made a most brilliant descent in a shower of golden rain. The newspapers wrote about his performance in very flattering terms. Indeed, the Court Gazette called him a triumph of Pylotechnic art.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Pyrotechnic, Pyrotechnic, you mean,” said a Bengal Light; “I know it is Pyrotechnic, for I saw it written on my own canister.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Well, I said Pylotechnic,” answered the Rocket, in a severe tone of voice, and the Bengal Light felt so crushed that he began at once to bully the little squibs, in order to show that he was still a person of some importance.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I was saying,” continued the Rocket, “I was saying -- What was I saying?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“You were talking about yourself,” replied the Roman Candle.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Of course; I knew I was discussing some interesting subject when I was so rudely interrupted. I hate rudeness and bad manners of every kind, for I am extremely sensitive. No one in the whole world is so sensitive as I am, I am quite sure of that.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“What is a sensitive person?” said the Cracker to the Roman Candle.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“A person who, because he has corns himself, always treads on other people’s toes,” answered the Roman Candle in a low whisper; and the Cracker nearly exploded with laughter.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Pray, what are you laughing at?” inquired the Rocket; “I am not laughing.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I am laughing because I am happy,” replied the Cracker.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“That is a very selfish reason,” said the Rocket angrily. “What right have you to be happy? You should be thinking about others. In fact, you should be thinking about me. I am always thinking about myself, and I expect everybody else to do the same. That is what is called sympathy. It is a beautiful virtue, and I possess it in a high degree. Suppose, for instance, anything happened to me to-night, what a misfortune that would be for every one! The Prince and Princess would never be happy again, their whole married life would be spoiled; and as for the King, I know he would not get over it. Really, when I begin to reflect on the importance of my position, I am almost moved to tears.”[/SIZE]
 

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مدیر بازنشسته
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THE REMARKABLE ROCKET by: Oscar Wilde

THE REMARKABLE ROCKET by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]“If you want to give pleasure to others,” cried the Roman Candle, “you had better keep yourself dry.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Certainly,” exclaimed the Bengal Light, who was now in better spirits; “that is only common sense.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Common sense, indeed!” said the Rocket indignantly; “you forget that I am very uncommon, and very remarkable. Why, anybody can have common sense, provided that they have no imagination. But I have imagination, for I never think of things as they really are; I always think of them as being quite different. As for keeping myself dry, there is evidently no one here who can at all appreciate an emotional nature. Fortunately for myself, I don’t care. The only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated. But none of you have any hearts. Here you are laughing and making merry just as if the Prince and Princess had not just been married.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Well, really,” exclaimed a small Fire-balloon, “why not? It is a most joyful occasion, and when I soar up into the air I intend to tell the stars all about it. You will see them twinkle when I talk to them about the pretty bride.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Ah! what a trivial view of life!” said the Rocket; “but it is only what I expected. There is nothing in you; you are hollow and empty. Why, perhaps the Prince and Princess may go to live in a country where there is a deep river, and perhaps they may have one only son, a little fair-haired boy with violet eyes like the Prince himself; and perhaps some day he may go out to walk with his nurse; and perhaps the nurse may go to sleep under a great elder-tree; and perhaps the little boy may fall into the deep river and be drowned. What a terrible misfortune! Poor people, to lose their only son! It is really too dreadful! I shall never get over it.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“But they have not lost their only son,” said the Roman Candle; “no misfortune has happened to them at all.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I never said that they had,” replied the Rocket; “I said that they might. If they had lost their only son there would be no use in saying anything more about the matter. I hate people who cry over spilt milk. But when I think that they might lose their only son, I certainly am very much affected.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“You certainly are!” cried the Bengal Light. “In fact, you are the most affected person I ever met.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“You are the rudest person I ever met,” said the Rocket, “and you cannot understand my friendship for the Prince.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Why, you don’t even know him,” growled the Roman Candle.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I never said I knew him,” answered the Rocket. “I dare say that if I knew him I should not be his friend at all. It is a very dangerous thing to know one’s friends.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“You had really better keep yourself dry,” said the Fire-balloon. “That is the important thing.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Very important for you, I have no doubt,” answered the Rocket, “but I shall weep if I choose”; and he actually burst into real tears, which flowed down his stick like rain-drops, and nearly drowned two little beetles, who were just thinking of setting up house together, and were looking for a nice dry spot to live in.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“He must have a truly romantic nature,” said the Catherine Wheel, “for he weeps when there is nothing at all to weep about”; and she heaved a deep sigh, and thought about the deal box.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Roman Candle and the Bengal Light were quite indignant, and kept saying, “Humbug! humbug!” at the top of their voices. They were extremely practical, and whenever they objected to anything they called it humbug.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the moon rose like a wonderful silver shield; and the stars began to shine, and a sound of music came from the palace.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Prince and Princess were leading the dance. They danced so beautifully that the tall white lilies peeped in at the window and watched them, and the great red poppies nodded their heads and beat time.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then ten o’clock struck, and then eleven, and then twelve, and at the last stroke of midnight every one came out on the terrace, and the King sent for the Royal Pyrotechnist.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Let the fireworks begin,” said the King; and the Royal Pyrotechnist made a low bow, and marched down to the end of the garden. He had six attendants with him, each of whom carried a lighted torch at the end of a long pole.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was certainly a magnificent display.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Whizz! Whizz! went the Catherine Wheel, as she spun round and round. Boom! Boom! went the Roman Candle. Then the Squibs danced all over the place, and the Bengal Lights made everything look scarlet. “Good-bye,” cried the Fire-balloon, as he soared away, dropping tiny blue sparks. Bang! Bang! answered the Crackers, who were enjoying themselves immensely. Every one was a great success except the Remarkable Rocket. He was so damp with crying that he could not go off at all. The best thing in him was the gunpowder, and that was so wet with tears that it was of no use. All his poor relations, to whom he would never speak, except with a sneer, shot up into the sky like wonderful golden flowers with blossoms of fire. Huzza! Huzza! cried the Court; and the little Princess laughed with pleasure.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I suppose they are reserving me for some grand occasion,” said the Rocket; “no doubt that is what it means,” and he looked more supercilious than ever.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The next day the workmen came to put everything tidy. “This is evidently a deputation,” said the Rocket; “I will receive them with becoming dignity” so he put his nose in the air, and began to frown severely as if he were thinking about some very important subject. But they took no notice of him at all till they were just going away. Then one of them caught sight of him. “Hallo!” he cried, “what a bad rocket!” and he threw him over the wall into the ditch.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“BAD Rocket? BAD Rocket?” he said, as he whirled through the air; “impossible! GRAND Rocket, that is what the man said. BAD and GRAND sound very much the same, indeed they often are the same”; and he fell into the mud.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“It is not comfortable here,” he remarked, “but no doubt it is some fashionable watering-place, and they have sent me away to recruit my health. My nerves are certainly very much shattered, and I require rest.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then a little Frog, with bright jewelled eyes, and a green mottled coat, swam up to him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“A new arrival, I see!” said the Frog. “Well, after all there is nothing like mud. Give me rainy weather and a ditch, and I am quite happy. Do you think it will be a wet afternoon? I am sure I hope so, but the sky is quite blue and cloudless. What a pity!”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Ahem! ahem!” said the Rocket, and he began to cough.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“What a delightful voice you have!” cried the Frog. “Really it is quite like a croak, and croaking is of course the most musical sound in the world. You will hear our glee-club this evening. We sit in the old duck pond close by the farmer’s house, and as soon as the moon rises we begin. It is so entrancing that everybody lies awake to listen to us. In fact, it was only yesterday that I heard the farmer’s wife say to her mother that she could not get a wink of sleep at night on account of us. It is most gratifying to find oneself so popular.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Ahem! ahem!” said the Rocket angrily. He was very much annoyed that he could not get a word in.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“A delightful voice, certainly,” continued the Frog; “I hope you will come over to the duck-pond. I am off to look for my daughters. I have six beautiful daughters, and I am so afraid the Pike may meet them. He is a perfect monster, and would have no hesitation in breakfasting off them. Well, good-bye: I have enjoyed our conversation very much, I assure you.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Conversation, indeed!” said the Rocket. “You have talked the whole time yourself. That is not conversation.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Somebody must listen,” answered the Frog, “and I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time, and prevents arguments.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“But I like arguments,” said the Rocket.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I hope not,” said the Frog complacently. “Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everybody in good society holds exactly the same opinions. Good-bye a second time; I see my daughters in the distance and the little Frog swam away.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“You are a very irritating person,” said the Rocket, “and very ill-bred. I hate people who talk about themselves, as you do, when one wants to talk about oneself, as I do. It is what I call selfishness, and selfishness is a most detestable thing, especially to any one of my temperament, for I am well known for my sympathetic nature. In fact, you should take example by me; you could not possibly have a better model. Now that you have the chance you had better avail yourself of it, for I am going back to Court almost immediately. I am a great favourite at Court; in fact, the Prince and Princess were married yesterday in my honour. Of course you know nothing of these matters, for you are a provincial.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“There is no good talking to him,” said a Dragon-fly, who was sitting on the top of a large brown bulrush; “no good at all, for he has gone away.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Well, that is his loss, not mine,” answered the Rocket. “I am not going to stop talking to him merely because he pays no attention. I like hearing myself talk. It is one of my greatest pleasures. I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Then you should certainly lecture on Philosophy,” said the Dragon-fly; and he spread a pair of lovely gauze wings and soared away into the sky.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“How very silly of him not to stay here!” said the Rocket. “I am sure that he has not often got such a chance of improving his mind. However, I don’t care a bit. Genius like mine is sure to be appreciated some day”; and he sank down a little deeper into the mud.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After some time a large White Duck swam up to him. She had yellow legs, and webbed feet, and was considered a great beauty on account of her waddle.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Quack, quack, quack,” she said. “What a curious shape you are! May I ask were you born like that, or is it the result of an accident?”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“It is quite evident that you have always lived in the country,” answered the Rocket, “otherwise you would know who I am. However, I excuse your ignorance. It would be unfair to expect other people to be as remarkable as oneself. You will no doubt be surprised to hear that I can fly up into the sky, and come down in a shower of golden rain.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE REMARKABLE ROCKET by: Oscar Wilde

THE REMARKABLE ROCKET by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]“I don’t think much of that,” said the Duck, “as I cannot see what use it is to any one. Now, if you could plough the fields like the ox, or draw a cart like the horse, or look after the sheep like the collie-dog, that would be something.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“My good creature,” cried the Rocket in a very haughty tone of voice, “I see that you belong to the lower orders. A person of my position is never useful. We have certain accomplishments, and that is more than sufficient. I have no sympathy myself with industry of any kind, least of all with such industries as you seem to recommend. Indeed, I have always been of opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Well, well,” said the Duck, who was of a very peaceable disposition, and never quarrelled with any one, “everybody has different tastes. I hope, at any rate, that you are going to take up your residence here.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Oh! dear no,” cried the Rocket. “I am merely a visitor, a distinguished visitor. The fact is that I find this place rather tedious. There is neither society here, nor solitude. In fact, it is essentially suburban. I shall probably go back to Court, for I know that I am destined to make a sensation in the world.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I had thoughts of entering public life once myself,” remarked the Duck; “there are so many things that need reforming. Indeed, I took the chair at a meeting some time ago, and we passed resolutions condemning everything that we did not like. However, they did not seem to have much effect. Now I go in for domesticity, and look after my family.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I am made for public life,” said the Rocket, “and so are all my relations, even the humblest of them. Whenever we appear we excite great attention. I have not actually appeared myself, but when I do so it will be a magnificent sight. As for domesticity, it ages one rapidly, and distracts one’s mind from higher things.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Ah! the higher things of life, how fine they are!” said the Duck; “and that reminds me how hungry I feel”: and she swam away down the stream, saying, “Quack, quack, quack.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Come back! come back!” screamed the Rocket, “I have a great deal to say to you”; but the Duck paid no attention to him. “I am glad that she has gone,” he said to himself, “she has a decidedly middle-class mind”; and he sank a little deeper still into the mud, and began to think about the loneliness of genius, when suddenly two little boys in white smocks came running down the bank, with a kettle and some faggots.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“This must be the deputation,” said the Rocket, and he tried to look very dignified.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Hallo!” cried one of the boys, “look at this old stick! I wonder how it came here”; and he picked the rocket out of the ditch.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“OLD Stick!” said the Rocket, “impossible! GOLD Stick, that is what he said. Gold Stick is very complimentary. In fact, he mistakes me for one of the Court dignitaries!”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Let us put it into the fire!” said the other boy, “it will help to boil the kettle.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So they piled the faggots together, and put the Rocket on top, and lit the fire.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“This is magnificent,” cried the Rocket, “they are going to let me off in broad day-light, so that every one can see me.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“We will go to sleep now,” they said, “and when we wake up the kettle will be boiled”; and they lay down on the grass, and shut their eyes.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Rocket was very damp, so he took a long time to burn. At last, however, the fire caught him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Now I am going off!” he cried, and he made himself very stiff and straight. “I know I shall go much higher than the stars, much higher than the moon, much higher than the sun. In fact, I shall go so high that--”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Fizz! Fizz! Fizz! and he went straight up into the air.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Delightful!” he cried, “I shall go on like this for ever. What a success I am!”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But nobody saw him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then he began to feel a curious tingling sensation all over him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Now I am going to explode,” he cried. “I shall set the whole world on fire, and make such a noise that nobody will talk about anything else for a whole year.” And he certainly did explode. Bang! Bang! Bang! went the gunpowder. There was no doubt about it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But nobody heard him, not even the two little boys, for they were sound asleep.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then all that was left of him was the stick, and this fell down on the back of a Goose who was taking a walk by the side of the ditch.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Good heavens!” cried the Goose. “It is going to rain sticks”; and she rushed into the water.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I knew I should create a great sensation,” gasped the Rocket, and he went out.[/SIZE]
 

s_talone

کاربر فعال تالار زبان انگلیسی ,
کاربر ممتاز
A little girl asked her father
"How did the human race appear?"

دختر کوچولویی از پدرش سوال کرد"چطور نژاد انسانها بوجود آمد؟"

The Father answered "God made Adam and Eve; they had children; and so all mankind was made"

پدر جواب داد"خدا آدم و حوا را خلق کرد, آنها بچه آوردند سپس همه نوع بشر بوجود آمدند"

Two days later the girl asked her mother the same question.

دو روز بعد دختره همون سوال را از مادرش پرسید .

The mother answered
"Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved."

مادر جواب داد "سالها پیش میمونها وجود داشتنداز اونها هم نژاد انسانها بوجود اومد."

The confused girl went back to her father and said " Daddy, how is it possible that you told me human race was created God and Mommy said they developed from monkeys?"

دختر گیج شده به طرف پدرش برگشت و پرسید"پدر چطور این ممکنه که شما به من گفتین نژاد انسانها را خدا خلق کرده است و مامان گفت آنها تکامل یافته از میمونها هستند؟"

The father answered "Well, Dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your mother told you about her."

پدر جواب داد " خوب عزیزم خیلی ساده است .من در مورد فامیلهای خودم گفته ام و مادرت در مورد فامیلهای خودش!!"
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE KISS by: Kate Chopin (1851-1904)

THE KISS by: Kate Chopin (1851-1904)

[SIZE=-1]It was still quite light out of doors, but inside with the curtains drawn and the smouldering fire sending out a dim, uncertain glow, the room was full of deep shadows. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Brantain sat in one of these shadows; it had overtaken him and he did not mind. The obscurity lent him courage to keep his eyes fastened as ardently as he liked upon the girl who sat in the firelight. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]She was very handsome, with a certain fine, rich coloring that belongs to the healthy brune type. She was quite composed, as she idly stroked the satiny coat of the cat that lay curled in her lap, and she occasionally sent a slow glance into the shadow where her companion sat. They were talking low, of indifferent things which plainly were not the things that occupied their thoughts. She knew that he loved her—a frank, blustering fellow without guile enough to conceal his feelings, and no desire to do so. For two weeks past he had sought her society eagerly and persistently. She was confidently waiting for him to declare himself and she meant to accept him. The rather insignificant and unattractive Brantain was enormously rich; and she liked and required the entourage which wealth could give her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]During one of the pauses between their talk of the last tea and the next reception the door opened and a young man entered whom Brantain knew quite well. The girl turned her face toward him. A stride or two brought him to her side, and bending over her chair—before she could suspect his intention, for she did not realize that he had not seen her visitor—he pressed an ardent, lingering kiss upon her lips. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Brantain slowly arose; so did the girl arise, but quickly, and the newcomer stood between them, a little amusement and some defiance struggling with the confusion in his face. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"I believe," stammered Brantain, "I see that I have stayed too long. I—I had no idea—that is, I must wish you good-by." He was clutching his hat with both hands, and probably did not perceive that she was extending her hand to him, her presence of mind had not completely deserted her; but she could not have trusted herself to speak. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Hang me if I saw him sitting there, Nattie! I know it's deuced awkward for you. But I hope you'll forgive me this once—this very first break. Why, what's the matter?" [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Don't touch me; don't come near me," she returned angrily. "What do you mean by entering the house without ringing?" [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"I came in with your brother, as I often do," he answered coldly, in self-justification. "We came in the side way. He went upstairs and I came in here hoping to find you. The explanation is simple enough and ought to satisfy you that the misadventure was unavoidable. But do say that you forgive me, Nathalie," he entreated, softening. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Forgive you! You don't know what you are talking about. Let me pass. It depends upon—a good deal whether I ever forgive you." [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]At that next reception which she and Brantain had been talking about she approached the young man with a delicious frankness of manner when she saw him there. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Will you let me speak to you a moment or two, Mr. Brantain?" she asked with an engaging but perturbed smile. He seemed extremely unhappy; but when she took his arm and walked away with him, seeking a retired corner, a ray of hope mingled with the almost comical misery of his expression. She was apparently very outspoken. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Perhaps I should not have sought this interview, Mr. Brantain; but—but, oh, I have been very uncomfortable, almost miserable since that little encounter the other afternoon. When I thought how you might have misinterpreted it, and believed things"—hope was plainly gaining the ascendancy over misery in Brantain's round, guileless face—"Of course, I know it is nothing to you, but for my own sake I do want you to understand that Mr. Harvy is an intimate friend of long standing. Why, we have always been like cousins—like brother and sister, I may say. He is my brother's most intimate associate and often fancies that he is entitled to the same privileges as the family. Oh, I know it is absurd, uncalled for, to tell you this; undignified even," she was almost weeping, "but it makes so much difference to me what you think of—of me." Her voice had grown very low and agitated. The misery had all disappeared from Brantain's face. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Then you do really care what I think, Miss Nathalie? May I call you Miss Nathalie?" They turned into a long, dim corridor that was lined on either side with tall, graceful plants. They walked slowly to the very end of it. When they turned to retrace their steps Brantain's face was radiant and hers was triumphant. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Harvy was among the guests at the wedding; and he sought her out in a rare moment when she stood alone. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Your husband," he said, smiling, "has sent me over to kiss you." [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]A quick blush suffused her face and round polished throat. "I suppose it's natural for a man to feel and act generously on an occasion of this kind. He tells me he doesn't want his marriage to interrupt wholly that pleasant intimacy which has existed between you and me. I don't know what you've been telling him," with an insolent smile, "but he has sent me here to kiss you." [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]She felt like a chess player who, by the clever handling of his pieces, sees the game taking the course intended. Her eyes were bright and tender with a smile as they glanced up into his; and her lips looked hungry for the kiss which they invited. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"But, you know," he went on quietly, "I didn't tell him so, it would have seemed ungrateful, but I can tell you. I've stopped kissing women; it's dangerous." [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Well, she had Brantain and his million left. A person can't have everything in this world; and it was a little unreasonable of her to expect it.[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

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کاربر ممتاز
THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

[SIZE=-1]A long, long time ago - so long ago that if one tries to think ever so far back, it is farther than that again - King Mago reigned in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the Country Under the Sunset.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He was an old king, and his white beard had grown so long that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]it almost touched the ground; and all his reign had been passed in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]trying to make his people happy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He had one son, of whom he was very fond. This son, Prince Zaphir, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was well worthy of all his father's fondness, for he was as good as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]can be.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He was still only a boy, and he had never seen his beautiful [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sweet-faced mother, who had died when he was only a baby. It often [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]made him very sad that he had no mother, when he thought other [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]boys had tender mothers, at whose knees they learned to pray, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]who came and kissed them in their beds at night. He felt that it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was strange that many of the poor people in his father's dominions [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had mothers, whilst he, the prince, had none. When he thought thus [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]it made him very humble; for he knew that neither power, nor riches, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]nor youth, nor beauty will save any one from the doom of all [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]mortals, and that the only beautiful thing in the world whose [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]beauty lasts for ever is a pure, fair soul. He always remembered, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]however, that if he had no mother he had a father who loved him [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]very dearly, and so was comforted and content.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He used to muse much on many things; and often even in the bright [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rest-time, when all the people slept, he would go out into the wood, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]close to the palace, and think and think on all that was beautiful [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and true, whilst his faithful dog Gomus would crouch at his feet and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sometimes wag his tail, as much as to say - [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] "Here I am, prince; I am not asleep either."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Prince Zaphir was so good and so kind that he never hurt any [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]living thing. If he saw a worm crawling over the road before him he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]would step over it carefully lest it should be injured. If he saw [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a fly fallen in the water he would lift it tenderly out and send it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]forth again, free of wing, into the glorious bright air: so kind [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was he that all the animals that had once seen him knew him again, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and when he went to his favourite seat in the wood there would arise [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a glad hum from all the living things. Those bright insects, whose [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]colours change hour by hour, would put on their brightest colours, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and bask about in the gleams of sunlight that came slanting down [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]between the benches of the trees. The noisy insects put on their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]mufflers so that they would not disturb him; and the little birds [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]resting on the trees would open their round bright eyes, and come [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]out and blink and wink in the light, and pipe little joyous songs [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of welcome with all their sweetest notes.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So is it ever with tender, loving people; the living things that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]have voices as sweet as man's or woman's, and who have languages [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of their own, although we cannot understand them, all talk to them [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]in joyous notes and bid them welcome in their own pretty ways.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]King Mago was proud of his brave, good, handsome boy, and liked [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him to dress beautifully; and all the people loved to see his bright [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]face and his gay clothing. The King made the great merchants search [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]far and near till they got the largest and finest feather that had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]ever been seen. This feather he had put in the front of a beautiful [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]cap, the colour of a ruby, and fastened with a brooch made of a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]great diamond. He gave this cap to Zaphir on his birthday.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]As Prince Zaphir walked through the streets, the people saw the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]great white plume nodding from far away. All were glad when they [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]saw it, and ran to their windows and doors and stood bowing and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]smiling and waving their hands as their beautiful prince went by. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Zaphir always bowed and smiled in return; and he loved his people [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and gloried in the love that they had for him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]In the Court of King Mago was a companion for Zaphir whom he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]loved very much. This was the Princess Bluebell. She was the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]daughter of another king who had been wrongfully deprived of his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dominion by a cruel and treacherous enemy, and who had come to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]King Mago to ask for help and had died in his Court after living [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]there for many, many years. But King Mago had taken his little [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]orphan daughter and had her brought up as his own child.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]A great vengeance had come upon the wicked usurper. The Giants [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had come upon his dominions and had slain him and all his family, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and had killed all the people in the land, and had even destroyed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]all the animals, except those wild ones that were like the Giants [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]themselves. Then the houses began to tumble down from age and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]decay, and the beautiful gardens to become wild and neglected; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and so when after many long years the Giants grew tired and went [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]back to their home in the wilderness, the country that Princess [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Bluebell owned was such a vast desolation that no one going into [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]it would know that people had ever dwelt there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Princess Bluebell was very young and very, very beautiful. She, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]like Prince Zaphir, had never known a mother's love, for her mother, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]too, had died whilst she was young. She loved King Mago very much, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]but she loved Prince Zaphir more than all the rest of the world. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]They had always been companions, and there was not a thought of his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]heart that she did not know almost before it came there. Prince [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Zaphir loved her too, more dearly than words can tell, and for her [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sake he would have done anything, no matter how full of danger. He [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hoped when he was a man and she a woman that she would marry him, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and that they would help King Mago to rule his kingdom justly [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and wisely, and that there would be no pain or want in the whole [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]country, if they could help it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]King Mago had two little thrones made, and when he sat in state [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]on his great throne the two children sat one on each side of him, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and learned how to be King and Queen.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Princess Bluebell had a robe of ermine like a Queen's, and a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]little sceptre and a little crown, and Prince Zaphir had a sword as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bright as a flash of lightning, and it hung in a golden scabbard.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Behind the King's throne the courtiers used to gather; and there [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]were many of these who were great and good, and there were others [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]who were only vain and self-seeking.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]There was Phlosbos, the Prime Minister, an old, old man with a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]long beard like white silk, and he carried a white wand with a gold [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]ring on it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]There was Janisar, the Captain of the Guard, with fierce [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]moustachios and a suit of heavy armour.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then there was Tufto, an old courtier, a silly old man who did [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]nothing but hang about the great nobles and pay them deference, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and every one, high and low, despised him much. He was fat, and had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]no hair on all his face or head, not even eyebrows, and he looked - [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]oh! so funny, with his big bald head quite white and smooth.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]There was Sartorius, a foolish young courtier, who thought that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dress was the most important thing in the world; and who accordingly [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dressed in the finest clothes he could possibly get. But people [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]only smiled at him and sometimes laughed, for there is no honour [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]due to fine clothes, but only to what is in the man himself who [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wears them. Sartorius always tried to push himself into the front [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]place everywhere, in order to show off his fine clothes; and he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]thought that because the other courtiers did not try to push him [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]aside in the same way, they acknowledged his right to be first. It [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was not so, however; they only despised him and would not do what [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he did.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]There was also Skarkrou, who was just the opposite to Sartorius, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and who thought - or pretended to think - that untidiness was a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]good thing; and was as proud or prouder of his rags than Sartorius [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was of his fine clothes. He too was despised, for he was vain, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his vanity made him ridiculous.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then there was Gabbleander, who did nothing but talk from morning [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]till night; and who would have talked from night till morning if he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]could have got any one to listen to him. He too was laughed at, for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people cannot always talk sense if they talk much. The foolish things [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]are remembered, but the wise ones are forgotten; and so these talkers [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of too many things come to be considered foolish.[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

[SIZE=-1]But no one must think that all the Court of the good King Mago [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]were like these people. No! there were many, many good, and great, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and noble, and brave men; but such is life in every country, even [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the Country Under the Sunset, that there are fools as well as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wise men, and cowards as well as brave men, and mean men as well [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]as good men.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Children who wish to become good and great men or good and noble [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]women, should try to know well all the people whom they meet. Thus [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they will find that there is no one who has not much of good; and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]when they see some great folly, or some meanness, or some cowardice, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]or some fault or weakness in another person, they should examine [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]themselves carefully. Then they will see that, perhaps, they too [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]have some of the same fault in themselves - although perhaps it does [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]not come out in the same way - and then they must try to conquer [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that fault. So they will become more and more good as they grow up; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and others will examine them, and when these find they have not [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the faults, they will love and honour them.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Well, one day King Mago sat on his throne in his robes and his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]crown, and holding his sceptre in his hand.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At his right hand sat Princess Bluebell, with her robe and crown [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and sceptre, and with her little dog Smg beside her.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]This dog was a great favourite. At first it was called Sumog, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]because Zaphir's dog was Gomus, and this was the name spelled [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]backwards. But then it was called Smg because this was a name that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]could not he shouted out, but could only be spoken in a whisper. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Bluebell had no need for more than this, for Smg was never far [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]away, but always stayed close to his mistress and watched her.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At the King's left sat Prince Zaphir, on his little throne, with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his bright sword and his mighty feather.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Mago was making laws for the good of his people. Round him were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gathered all the courtiers, and many people stood in the hall and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]many more in the street without.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Suddenly there was a loud sound heard - the cracking of a whip [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the blowing of a horn - and it came nearer and nearer, and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people in the street began to murmur. Loud cries arose, the King [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]stopped to listen, and the people turned their heads to see who [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was coming. The crowd opened, and a messenger booted and spurred [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and covered with dust, rushed into the hall and knelt on one knee [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]before the King, and held out a paper which King Mago took and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]read eagerly. The people waited in silence to hear the news.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The King was deeply moved, but he knew his people were anxious, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]so he spoke to them, standing up as he did so: -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"My people, a grievous peril has come upon our Land. We learn [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]from this despatch from the province of Sub-Tegmine, that a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]terrible Giant has come out of the marshes beyond No-Man's-Land, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and is devastating the country. But be not in fear, my people, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]for to-night many soldiers shall go forth with their arms, and by [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sunset to-morrow the Giant will have fallen, we trust."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The people bowed their heads with murmured thanks, and all went [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]quietly away to their homes.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]That night a body of picked soldiers went out with brave hearts [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to fight the Giant, and the people cheered them on their way.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]All next day and next night the people as well as the King were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]very anxious; and the second morning they expected news that the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Giant was overthrown.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But no news came till nightfall; and then one weary man, covered [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with dust and blood, and wounded unto death, crawled into the town.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The people made way for him, and he came before the throne and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bent low and said -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Alas! King, I have to tell you that your soldiers have been [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]slain - all save myself. The Giant triumphs and advances towards [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the city."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Having said so, the pain of his wounds grew so great that he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]cried out several times and fell down; and when they lifted him [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]up he was dead.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At the sad news which he told a low wail arose from the people. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]The widows of the slain soldiers cried loudly a little cry, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]came and threw themselves before the King's throne, and raised [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]their hands on high and said -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] "Oh, King! Oh, King!" and they could say no more with weeping.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the King's heart was very, very sore, and he tried to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]comfort them, but his best comfort was in his tears - for the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]tears of friends help to make trouble light; and he spoke to the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people and said -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Alas! our soldiers were too few. To-night we will send an army, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and perchance the Giant will fall."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]That night a gallant army, with many great engines of war and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with flags flying and bands playing, went forth against the Giant.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At the head of the army rode Janisar, the captain, with his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]armour of steel inlaid with gold shining in the glow of the sunset. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]The scarlet and white trappings of his great black charger looked [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]splendid. At his side, for some distance on his way, rode Prince [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Zaphir on his white palfrey.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The people all gathered to wish the army success on their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]departure; and a lot of foolish people who believed in luck threw [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]old shoes after them. One of these shoes struck Sartorius, who was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]as usual pushing into the front to show himself off, and blackened [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his eye, and the black of the shoe came off on his new dress and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]spoiled it. Another shoe - a heavy one with an iron heel - struck [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Tufto, who was talking to Janisar - on the top of his bald head, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and cut it, and then all the people laughed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Just fancy how a man is despised when people laugh when he is [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hurt. Old Tufto danced about and got quite angry, and then the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people laughed all the more; for nothing is funnier than when a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]person is so angry that he loses all self-control.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]All the people cheered as the army went off. Even the poor widows [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of the slain soldiers cheered; and the men going away looked at them [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and resolved that they would conquer or die, like brave soldiers [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]doing their duty.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Princess Bluebell went with King Mago to the top of the tower of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the palace, and together they watched the soldiers as they marched [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]away. The king went in soon, but Bluebell stayed on, looking at the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]helmets glittering and flashing in the sunset till the sun sank [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]down over the horizon.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Just then Prince Zaphir, who had returned, joined her. Then [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]in the twilight on the top of the tower, with many thousand [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]eager, anxious hearts beating in the city below them, and with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the beautiful sky overhead, the two children knelt down and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]prayed for the success of the army on the morrow.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] There was no sleep in the city that night.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Next day the people were filled with anxiety; and as the day [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wore on and there was no news they grew more anxious still.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Towards the evening they heard the sound of a great tumult far [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]away. They knew that a battle was on; and so they waited and waited [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]for news.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]They did not go to bed that night at all; but all through the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]city watch-fires were lighted and everyone stayed awake waiting [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]for the news.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] But no news came.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

[SIZE=-1]Then the fear became so great that the faces of men and women [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]grew as white as snow, and their hearts as cold. For a long, long [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]time they were silent, for no man dared to speak.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] At last one of the widows of the slain soldiers rose up and said -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"I shall arise and go down to the battle-field, and see how [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fares it there; and shall bring back the news to quiet your poor [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]beating hearts."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] Then many men rose and said -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"No! it must not be. We shall go. It were shame to our City if [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a woman went where men could not. We shall go."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] But she answered them with a sad smile -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Alas! I have no fear of death since my brave husband was killed. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]I do not wish to live. You must defend the city, I shall go."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Straightway she walked out of the city in the chill grey dawn [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]towards the battle-field. As she moved away and faded in the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]distance, she seemed to the anxious people like a phantom of Hope [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]passing away from them.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The sun rose and grew bright in the heavens till the rest time [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]came; but men heeded it not, watching and waiting ever.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Presently they saw afar off the figure of a woman running. They [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]ran to meet her and found it was the widow. She came amongst them [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and cried -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Woe! woe! Alas! for our army is scattered; our mighty ones are [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fallen in the pride of their strength. The Giant triumphs, and I [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fear me all is lost."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]There came a great wail from the people; and a hush fell on them, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]so great was their fear.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the King assembled all his Court and people, and took counsel [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]what was best to be done. Many seemed to think that a new army should [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]go forth of all those who were willing to die, if need be, for the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]good of the Country; but there was much perplexity.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Whilst they were discussing, Prince Zaphir sat silent on his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]little throne; and his eyes more than once filled with tears at the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]thought of the sufferings of his beloved people. Now he arose and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]stood before the throne.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] There was silence till he should speak.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As the Prince stood, cap in hand, before the King, there was in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his face a look of such high resolve that those who saw it could [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]not help having a new hope. The Prince spoke -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Oh, King, Father, before you decide further, hear me. It is [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]right that if there be danger in the Land, the first to meet it is [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the Prince whom the people trust. If there is pain to be felt, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]who should feel it before him? If death is to come to any, surely [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]it should first strike over his corpse. King, Father, pause but [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]one day. Let me go to-morrow against the Giant. This widow hath [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]told you that now he sleeps after his combat. Tomorrow I shall meet [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him in fight. If I fall, then will be time to risk the lives of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]your people; and if it should be that he falls, then all is well."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]King Mago knew that the Prince had spoken well; and although it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]grieved him to see his beloved son running into such danger, he did [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]not try to stop him, but said:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Oh, son, worthy to be a king, thou hast well spoken! Be it even [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]as thou wilt."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the people left the Hall, and King Mago and Bluebell kissed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Zaphir. Bluebell said to him:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] "Zaphir, you have done right," and she looked at him proudly.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Presently the prince went to bed, that he might sleep, and so [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]be strong for the morrow.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]All that night the smiths and armourers and the craftsmen of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]jewels worked hard and fast. Till daylight the furnaces glowed and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the anvils rang; and all hands cunning at artifice plied hard.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In the morning they brought into the Hall, and laid before the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]throne as a present for Prince Zaphir, a suit of armour such as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]never before had been seen.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was wrought of steel and gold, and was all in scales. Each [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]scale was like a different leaf; and it was all burnished and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bright as the sun. Between the leaves were jewels, and many more [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]jewels were fastened on them like drops of dew. Thus the armour [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]shone in the light till it dazzled the eyes of whosoever saw [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]it - for the cunning armourers meant that when the Prince fought, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his enemy might be half blinded with the glare and so miss his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]blows.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The helmet was like to a flower, and the Prince's crest was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wrought upon it, and the feather and the big diamond in his cap [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]were fastened in front.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When the Prince was equipped, he looked so noble and brave that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the people cried out with shouts that he must conquer; and they had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]new and great hopes.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then his father, the King, blessed him, and Princess Bluebell [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]kissed him and cried a few tears and gave him a lovely rose, which [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he fastened on his helmet.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Amid shouting of the people, Prince Zaphir went out to fight [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the Giant.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]His dog, Gomus, wanted to go, but he could not be taken. So [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Gomus was shut up and howled, for he knew that his dear master was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]in danger and wanted to be with him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When Prince Zaphir was gone, Princess Bluebell went to the top [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of the tower and looked after him till he got so far away that she [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]could no longer see the flashing of his beautiful armour in the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sunlight. At first, when she was saying good bye to Zaphir - and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]she knew that it might be good bye for ever - she did not shed a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]tear, lest she should pain her beloved Prince, for she knew that he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was going into battle, and would need all his bravery and all his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]firmness. So the last look Zaphir saw on his Bluebell's face was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a loving, hopeful, trustful smile. Thus he went into the battle [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]strengthened by the thought that her heart went with him, and that, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]although her body was far away, her spirit was close to him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When he was gone, really gone, far away out of sight, and she [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]stood on the top of the tower alone, Bluebell shed many tears; and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the great fear of her heart that Zaphir might be killed made her [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sad unto death. She thought that it might be that he would be killed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]by the wicked Giant who had already slain two armies, and that then [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]she would never see him again - never see the love in his dear, true [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]eyes - never hear the tones of his tender, sweet voice - never feel [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the beating of his great, generous heart again.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And so she wept, oh! so bitterly. But as she wept the thought [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]came to her that life does not lie in the power of men, or even of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]giants; and so she dried her tears, and knelt down and prayed with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]an humble heart, and rose up comforted, as people always do when [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they pray earnestly.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then she went down to the great hall; but King Mago was not [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]there. She looked for him to comfort him, for she knew that his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]heart must be bleeding for his son in danger.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]She found him in his chamber, and he, too, was praying. She knelt [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]beside him, and they put their arms round each other - the old King [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the orphan child - and they prayed together; and so they both [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]got comfort.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Together they waited, and waited patiently, for the return of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]their beloved one. All the city waited too; and neither by day nor [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]night was there sleep in the Country Under the Sunset, for all [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]were waiting for the return of the Prince.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When Zaphir left the city, he went on and on in the direction of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the Giant, till the sun grew bright in the heavens, so bright that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his golden armour glowed like fire; and then he walked under the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]shelter of the trees, and he did not pause even in the rest-time, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]but went ever onward.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] Towards evening he heard and saw strange things.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Far off the ground seemed to shake, and a dull rumbling arose [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of rocks being levelled, and forests being broken down. These were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the sounds of the Giant's footsteps, as he came onwards to the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]city. But Prince Zaphir, although the sounds were very terrible, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had no fear, and went bravely onward. Then he began to meet many [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]living things, which swept by him at full speed - for they were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the swiftest of their kind, and so had run from the Giant faster [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]than the rest.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

[SIZE=-1]On they came, in hundreds and thousands, their numbers getting [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]more and more as the time wore on, and as the Prince and the Giant [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]drew nearer.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]There were all the beasts of the field, and all the fowls of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]air, and all the insects that fly and crawl. Lions and tigers, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]horses and sheep, and mice and cats and rats, and cocks and hens, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and foxes and geese and turkeys, all were mixed together, big and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]little, and all were so frightened at the Giant that they forgot to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]be afraid of one another. Thus there ran together, cats and mice, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wolves and lambs, foxes and geese; and the weak ones did not fear, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]nor did the strong ones wish to harm.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As they came on, however, all the living things seemed to know [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that Prince Zaphir was braver than they were, and made room for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him to pass. The weakest things, and those most afraid, did not go [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]further in their flight, but tried to get as near the Prince as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]possible; and many followed him back towards the Giant rather than [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]not be near him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Further on, in a little while, he met all the old animals that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]could not come so fast as the rest, and all the poor wounded [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]living things, and all those that were slow of pace. These, too, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]did not try to go further, for they knew that they were safer near [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a brave man than in helpless flight.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then Prince Zaphir saw something, still far off, that looked [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]like a mighty mountain.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was moving towards him, and his heart beat high, partly with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the thought of his coming battle, and partly with hope.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Giant came closer and closer. His footsteps crushed the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rocks, and with his mighty club he swept the forests from his path.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The living things behind Prince Zaphir quailed with fear, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hid their faces in the dust. Some animals, like some foolish people, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]think that if they do not see anything that they do not want to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]see, that therefore it ceases to exist.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] It is very silly of them.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then, as the Giant drew near, Prince Zaphir felt that the hour [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of battle had come.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When he was face to face with a foe more mighty than aught he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had ever seen, Zaphir felt as he never felt before. It was not [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that he was afraid of the Giant, for he felt so brave that, for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the good of his people, he could gladly have died then the most [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]painful death. It was that he realized how small a thing he was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]in the great world.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He saw more clearly than he had ever seen that he was only a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]speck - a mere atom - in the great living world; and in one moment [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he knew that if the victory came to him it was not because his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]arm was strong or his heart brave, but that because it was willed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]by the One that rules the universe.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then, in his humility, Prince Zaphir prayed for strength. He [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]doffed his splendid armour, which shone like a sun on earth, he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]took off the splendid helmet, and he laid by the flashing sword; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and they lay in a lifeless heap beside him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was a fair sight, that young boy kneeling by the discarded [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]armour. The glittering heap lay all beautiful, glowing in the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bright sunset with millions of coloured flashes, till it looked [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]like even unto a living thing. Yet it was sad, and poor, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]pitiful beside the boy. There he knelt paying humbly, with his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]deep earnest eyes lit by the truth and trust that lay in his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]clean heart and pure soul.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The glittering armour looked like the work of man's hands - [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]as it was, and the work of the hands of good true men; but the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]beautiful boy kneeling in trust and faith was the work of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hands of God.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As he prayed, Prince Zaphir saw all his life in the past, from [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the day he could first remember till even then as he was, face [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to face with the Giant. There was not an unworthy thought that he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had ever had, not a cross word he had ever spoken, not an angry [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]look that had ever given another pain, that did not come back to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his mind. It grieved him much that there were so many; for they [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]crowded on so thick and fast that he was amazed at their very [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]number.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It is ever thus that the things which we do wrong - although [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they may seem little at the time, and though from the hardness [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of our hearts we pass them lightly by - come back to us with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bitterness, when danger makes us think how little we have done [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to deserve help, and how much to deserve punishment.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Prince Zaphir's heart was purified by repentance for all wrongs [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]done in the past, and by high resolves to be good in the future; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and when his humble prayer was finished, he rose up, and he felt in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his arms a strength that he wot not of. He knew that it was not [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his own strength, but that he was the humble instrument of saving [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his beloved people; and in his heart he was very thankful.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Giant saw presently the glitter of the golden armour, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]knew that another enemy had come anigh him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He gave a great roar of rage and anger, that sounded like the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]echo of a thunder-clap. On the distant hills it echoed, and it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rolled through the far-off valleys, and sunk into mutterings and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]low growlings, as of wild beasts, in the caves and the mountain [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fastnesses.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]With such sound the Giant ever began his fighting, that so he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]might terrify his enemies; but the brave heart of the Prince shook [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]not with fear. He became braver than ever as he heard the sound; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]for he knew that there was the more need for courage, lest his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people, and even the King his father, and Bluebell, should fall [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]into the power of the Giant.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Whilst amongst the rocks and forests the footsteps of the Giant [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]crashed, and whilst there uprose around his feet the dust of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]desolation which he made, Prince Zaphir gathered from the brook [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]some round pebbles.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] He fitted one in the sling which he carried.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As he lifted his arm to whirl the sling round his head, the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Giant saw him, and laughed, and pointed in scorn at him with his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]great hands, which were more savage than tiger's claws. The laugh [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]which the Giant thundered forth was so terrible - so harsh and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]grim and dreadful, that the living things that had raised their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]timid eyes to watch the fray buried their heads in the dust again, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and quaked with fear.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But even as he laughed his enemy to scorn, the Giant's doom was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]spoken.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Round Prince Zaphir's head swung the sling, and the whistling [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]pebble flew. It struck the Giant fair in the temple; and even with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the scornful laughter on his lips, and with his outstretched hand [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]pointing in derision, he fell prone.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As he fell he gave a single cry, but a cry so loud that it rolled [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]away over the hills and valleys like a peal of thunder. At the sound [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the living things cowered again, and sagged with fear.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Afar off the people in the City heard the mighty sound; but they [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]knew not what it meant.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As the Giant's great body fell prone, the earth trembled with the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]shock for many a mile around; and as his great club dropped from his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hand, it laid many tall trees of the forest low.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then Prince Zaphir fell on his knees and prayed with fervent [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]thankfulness for his victory.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Quickly he arose, and, as he knew of the bitter anxiety of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]King and people, he never stopped to gather up his armour, but fled [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fast to the City to bring the joyful tidings.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The night had now fallen and the way was dark; but Prince Zaphir [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had trust, and he went onward into the darkness with a brave and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hopeful heart.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Soon the living things that were noble came around him in their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gratitude; and all they that could followed him closely. Many noble [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]animals there were, - lions and tigers and bears, as well as tamer [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]beasts; and their great fiery eyes seemed like lamps, and helped [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him on his way.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]However, as they drew near to the City the wild animals began [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to stop, for though they trusted Zaphir they feared other men. They [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]growled a low growl of regret and stopped; and Prince Zaphir went [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]on alone.[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

THE ROSE PRINCE by: Bram Stoker

[SIZE=-1]All night long the city had been awake. In the court King Mago [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and Princess Bluebell waited and watched together hand in hand. The [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people in the streets sat around their watch-fires, and they only [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dared to talk in whispers.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] So the long night wore away.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At last the eastern sky began to pale; and then a streak of red [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fire shot up over the horizon; and the sun rose in his glory; and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]it was day. The people, when they saw the light and heard the fresh [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]singing of the birds, had hope; and they looked anxiously for the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]coming of the Prince.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Neither King Mago nor Princess Bluebell dared to go aloft to the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]tower, but waited patiently in the hall; and their faces were pale [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]as death.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The watchmen of the city and those who joined them looked down [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the long roadway, expecting ever and anon to see Prince Zaphir's [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]golden armour shining in the bright morning light, and his great [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]white plume, that they knew so well, nodding in the breeze. They [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]knew that they could see it afar off, and so they only glanced now [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and again into the distance.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Suddenly there was a shout from all the people - and then a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sudden stillness.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] They rose to their feet, and with one accord waited for the news.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]For oh, joy! there among them - shorn of his bright armour and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his nodding plume, but hale - stood their beloved Prince.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] VICTORY was in his look.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He smiled on them, raising his hands as if blessing; and pointed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to the King's palace, as though to say:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] "Our king! his is the right to hear the earliest tidings."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] He passed into the hall, all the people following him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]When King Mago and Princess Bluebell heard the shout and felt [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the stillness that followed, their hearts began to beat, and they [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]waited in great dread.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Princess Bluebell shuddered and cried a little, and drew closer [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to the King, and leaned her face on his breast.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]As she leaned with her face hidden, she felt the King start. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]She looked up quickly, and there - oh, joy of joys! - was her [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]own beloved Zaphir entering the hall, with all the people [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]following him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The King stepped down from his throne and took him in his arms, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and kissed him; and Bluebell, too, put her arms round him, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]kissed him on the mouth.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] Prince Zaphir spoke and said:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Oh King my Father, and oh People! - God has been good to us, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and His arm has given us the victory. Lo, the Giant has fallen in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the pride of his strength!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then such a shout went up from the people that the roof rang [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]again; and the noise went out over the City on the wings of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wind. The glad multitude shouted again and again, till the sound [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rolled in waves over the whole Dominion, and Under the Sunset [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that hour there was naught but joy. The King called Zaphir his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Brave Son; and Princess Bluebell kissed him again, and called [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him her Hero.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]At that very time, far away in the forest, the Giant lay fallen [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]in the pride of his strength - the foulest thing in all the land - [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and over his dead body ran the foxes and the stoats. The snakes [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]crawled around his body; and thither, too, crept all the meaner [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]living things that had fled from him when he lived.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] From afar off gathered the vultures for their prey.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Close to the slain Giant, shining in the light, lay the golden [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]armour. The great white plume rose from the helmet and even now [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]nodded in the breeze.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]When the people came out to see the dead Giant, they found that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rank weeds had grown up already where his blood had fallen, but [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that round the armour that the Prince had doffed had grown a ring [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of lovely flowers. Fairest of all was a rose tree in bloom, for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the rose that Princess Bluebell had given him had taken root, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had blossomed afresh and made a crown of living roses round the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]helmet and lay against the stem of the plume.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then the people took reverently home the golden armour; but [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Prince Zaphir said that not such armour, but a true heart was the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]best protection, and that he would not dare to put it on again.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So they hung it up in the Cathedral amongst the grand old flags [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the helmets of the old knights, as a memorial of the victory [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]over the Giant.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Prince Zaphir took from the helmet the feather that the King his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]father had given him of old and he wore it again in his cap. The [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rose that had blossomed was planted in the centre of the palace [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]garden; and it grew so great that many people could sit under it, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and be sheltered from the sun by its wealth of flowers.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]When Prince Zaphir's birthday came, the people had made in secret [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a great preparation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]When he rose in the morning to go to the Cathedral, the whole [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people had assembled and lined the way on every side. Each person, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]old and young, held one rose. Those who had many roses brought [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]them for those who had none; and each person had only one that all [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]might be equal in the sight of the Prince whom they loved. They [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had taken off all the thorns from the stems that the Prince's feet [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]might not be hurt. As he passed they threw their roses in the way, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]till all the long street was a mass of flowers.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]As the Prince went by, they stooped and gathered up the roses [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that his feet had touched; and they treasured them very dearly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]At each birthday of the Prince they did the same for all their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]lives long. When Zaphir and Bluebell were married, they strewed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]their path with roses in the same way, for the people loved them [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]much.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Long and happily lived THE ROSE PRINCE - for so they called [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him - and his beautiful wife Princess Bluebell.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]When in the fulness of time King Mago died - as all men must - [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they ruled as King and Queen. They ruled well and unselfishly, ever [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]denying themselves and striving to make others good and happy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] They were blessed with peace[/SIZE]
 

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THE CHILD'S STORY by: Charles Dickens

THE CHILD'S STORY by: Charles Dickens

[SIZE=-1]Once upon a time, a good many years ago, there was a traveller, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he set out upon a journey. It was a magic journey, and was to seem [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]very long when he began it, and very short when he got half way [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]through.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He travelled along a rather dark path for some little time, without [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]meeting anything, until at last he came to a beautiful child. So he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]said to the child, "What do you do here?" And the child said, "I am [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]always at play. Come and play with me!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So, he played with that child, the whole day long, and they were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]very merry. The sky was so blue, the sun was so bright, the water [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was so sparkling, the leaves were so green, the flowers were so [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]lovely, and they heard such singing-birds and saw so many butterflies, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that everything was beautiful. This was in fine weather. When it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rained, they loved to watch the falling drops, and to smell the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fresh scents. When it blew, it was delightful to listen to the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wind, and fancy what it said, as it came rushing from its home--[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]where was that, they wondered!--whistling and howling, driving the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]clouds before it, bending the trees, rumbling in the chimneys, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]shaking the house, and making the sea roar in fury. But, when it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]snowed, that was best of all; for, they liked nothing so well as to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]look up at the white flakes falling fast and thick, like down from [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the breasts of millions of white birds; and to see how smooth and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]deep the drift was; and to listen to the hush upon the paths and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]roads.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]They had plenty of the finest toys in the world, and the most [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]astonishing picture-books: all about scimitars and slippers and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]turbans, and dwarfs and giants and genii and fairies, and blue-[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]beards and bean-stalks and riches and caverns and forests and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Valentines and Orsons: and all new and all true.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]But, one day, of a sudden, the traveller lost the child. He called [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to him over and over again, but got no answer. So, he went upon his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]road, and went on for a little while without meeting anything, until [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]at last he came to a handsome boy. So, he said to the boy, "What do [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]you do here?" And the boy said, "I am always learning. Come and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]learn with me."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So he learned with that boy about Jupiter and Juno, and the Greeks [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the Romans, and I don't know what, and learned more than I could [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]tell--or he either, for he soon forgot a great deal of it. But, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they were not always learning; they had the merriest games that ever [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]were played. They rowed upon the river in summer, and skated on the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]ice in winter; they were active afoot, and active on horseback; at [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]cricket, and all games at ball; at prisoner's base, hare and hounds, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]follow my leader, and more sports than I can think of; nobody could [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]beat them. They had holidays too, and Twelfth cakes, and parties [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]where they danced till midnight, and real Theatres where they saw [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]palaces of real gold and silver rise out of the real earth, and saw [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]all the wonders of the world at once. As to friends, they had such [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dear friends and so many of them, that I want the time to reckon [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]them up. They were all young, like the handsome boy, and were never [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to be strange to one another all their lives through.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Still, one day, in the midst of all these pleasures, the traveller [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]lost the boy as he had lost the child, and, after calling to him in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]vain, went on upon his journey. So he went on for a little while [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]without seeing anything, until at last he came to a young man. So, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he said to the young man, "What do you do here?" And the young man [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]said, "I am always in love. Come and love with me."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So, he went away with that young man, and presently they came to one [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of the prettiest girls that ever was seen--just like Fanny in the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]corner there--and she had eyes like Fanny, and hair like Fanny, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dimples like Fanny's, and she laughed and coloured just as Fanny [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]does while I am talking about her. So, the young man fell in love [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]directly--just as Somebody I won't mention, the first time he came [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]here, did with Fanny. Well! he was teased sometimes--just as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Somebody used to be by Fanny; and they quarrelled sometimes--just as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Somebody and Fanny used to quarrel; and they made it up, and sat in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the dark, and wrote letters every day, and never were happy asunder, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and were always looking out for one another and pretending not to, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and were engaged at Christmas-time, and sat close to one another by [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the fire, and were going to be married very soon--all exactly like [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Somebody I won't mention, and Fanny![/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]But, the traveller lost them one day, as he had lost the rest of his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]friends, and, after calling to them to come back, which they never [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]did, went on upon his journey. So, he went on for a little while [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]without seeing anything, until at last he came to a middle-aged [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gentleman. So, he said to the gentleman, "What are you doing here?" [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]And his answer was, "I am always busy. Come and be busy with me!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So, he began to be very busy with that gentleman, and they went on [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]through the wood together. The whole journey was through a wood, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]only it had been open and green at first, like a wood in spring; and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]now began to be thick and dark, like a wood in summer; some of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]little trees that had come out earliest, were even turning brown. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]The gentleman was not alone, but had a lady of about the same age [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with him, who was his Wife; and they had children, who were with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]them too. So, they all went on together through the wood, cutting [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]down the trees, and making a path through the branches and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fallen leaves, and carrying burdens, and working hard.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Sometimes, they came to a long green avenue that opened into deeper [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]woods. Then they would hear a very little, distant voice crying, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]"Father, father, I am another child! Stop for me!" And presently [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they would see a very little figure, growing larger as it came [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]along, running to join them. When it came up, they all crowded [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]round it, and kissed and welcomed it; and then they all went on [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]together.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Sometimes, they came to several avenues at once, and then they all [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]stood still, and one of the children said, "Father, I am going to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sea," and another said, "Father, I am going to India," and another, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]"Father, I am going to seek my fortune where I can," and another, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]"Father, I am going to Heaven!" So, with many tears at parting, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they went, solitary, down those avenues, each child upon its way; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the child who went to Heaven, rose into the golden air and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]vanished.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Whenever these partings happened, the traveller looked at the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gentleman, and saw him glance up at the sky above the trees, where [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the day was beginning to decline, and the sunset to come on. He [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]saw, too, that his hair was turning grey. But, they never could [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rest long, for they had their journey to perform, and it was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]necessary for them to be always busy.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1].[/SIZE]
 

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THE CHILD'S STORY by: Charles Dickens

THE CHILD'S STORY by: Charles Dickens

[SIZE=-1]At last, there had been so many partings that there were no children [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]left, and only the traveller, the gentleman, and the lady, went upon [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]their way in company. And now the wood was yellow; and now brown; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the leaves, even of the forest trees, began to fall.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So, they came to an avenue that was darker than the rest, and were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]pressing forward on their journey without looking down it when the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]lady stopped.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"My husband," said the lady. "I am called."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]They listened, and they heard a voice a long way down the avenue, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]say, "Mother, mother!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]It was the voice of the first child who had said, "I am going to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Heaven!" and the father said, "I pray not yet. The sunset is very [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]near. I pray not yet!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]But, the voice cried, "Mother, mother!" without minding him, though [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his hair was now quite white, and tears were on his face.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then, the mother, who was already drawn into the shade of the dark [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]avenue and moving away with her arms still round his neck, kissed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him, and said, "My dearest, I am summoned, and I go!" And she was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gone. And the traveller and he were left alone together.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]And they went on and on together, until they came to very near the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]end of the wood: so near, that they could see the sunset shining [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]red before them through the trees.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Yet, once more, while he broke his way among the branches, the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]traveller lost his friend. He called and called, but there was no [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]reply, and when he passed out of the wood, and saw the peaceful sun [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]going down upon a wide purple prospect, he came to an old man [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sitting on a fallen tree. So, he said to the old man, "What do you [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]do here?" And the old man said with a calm smile, "I am always [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]remembering. Come and remember with me!"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So the traveller sat down by the side of that old man, face to face [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with the serene sunset; and all his friends came softly back and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]stood around him. The beautiful child, the handsome boy, the young [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]man in love, the father, mother, and children: every one of them [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was there, and he had lost nothing. So, he loved them all, and was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]kind and forbearing with them all, and was always pleased to watch [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]them all, and they all honoured and loved him. And I think the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]traveller must be yourself, dear Grandfather, because this is what you [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]do to us, and what we do to you[/SIZE]
 

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LOVE IN A COTTAGE by: Francis A. Durivage (1814-1881)

LOVE IN A COTTAGE by: Francis A. Durivage (1814-1881)

[SIZE=-1]"Tell me, Charley, who is that fascinating creature in blue that waltzes so divinely?" asked young Frank Belmont of his friend Charles Hastings, as they stood "playing wallflower" for the moment, at a military ball.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Julia Heathcote," answered Charles, with a half sigh, "an old flame of mine. I proposed, but she refused me."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"On what ground?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Simply because I had a comfortable income. Her head is full of romantic notions, and she dreams of nothing but love in a cottage. She contends that poverty is essential to happiness—and money its bane."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Have you given up all hopes of her?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Entirely; in fact, I'm engaged."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Then you have no objections to my addressing this dear, romantic angel?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"None whatever. But I see my fiancée—excuse me—I must walk through the next quadrille with her."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Frank Belmont was a stranger in Boston—a New Yorker—immensely rich and fashionable, but his reputation had not preceded him, and Charley Hastings was the only man who knew him in New England. He procured an introduction to the beauty from one of the managers, and soon danced and talked himself into her good graces. In fact, it was a clear case of love at first sight on both sides.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The enamoured pair were sitting apart, enjoying a most delightful tête-à-tête. Suddenly Belmont heaved a deep sigh.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Why do you sigh, Mr. Belmont?" asked the fair Julia, somewhat pleased with this proof of sensibility. "Is not this a gay scene?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Alas! yes," replied Belmont, gloomily; "but fate does not permit me to mingle habitually in scenes like this. They only make my ordinary life doubly gloomy—and even here I deem to see the shadow of a fiend waving me away. What right have I to be here?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"What fiend do you allude to?" asked Miss Heathcote, with increasing interest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"A fiend hardly presentable in good society," replied Belmont, bitterly. "One could tolerate a Mephistophiles—a dignified fiend, with his pockets full of money—but my tormentor, if personified, would appear with seedy boots and a shocking bad hat."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"How absurd!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"It is too true," sighed Belmont, "and the name of this fiend is Poverty!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Are you poor?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Yes, madam. I am poor, and when I would fain render myself agreeable in the eyes of beauty—in the eyes of one I could love, this fiend whispers me, 'Beware! you have nothing to offer her but love in a cottage.'"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Mr. Belmont," said Julia, with sparkling eyes, and a voice of unusual animation, "although there are sordid souls in this world, who only judge of the merits of an individual by his pecuniary possessions, I am not one of that number. I respect poverty; there is something highly poetical about it, and I imagine that happiness is oftener found in the humble cottage than beneath the palace roof."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Belmont appeared enchanted with this encouraging avowal. The next day, after cautioning his friend Charley to say nothing of his actual circumstances, he called on the widow Heathcote and her fair daughter in the character of the "poor gentleman." The widow had very different notions from her romantic offspring, and when Belmont candidly confessed his poverty on soliciting permission to address Julia, he was very politely requested to change the subject, and never mention it again.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The result of all this manœuvring was an elopement; the belle of the ball jumping out of a chamber window on a shed, and coming down a flight of steps to reach her lover, for the sake of being romantic, when she might just as well have walked out of the front door.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The happy couple passed a day in New York city, and then Frank took his beloved to his "cottage."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]An Irish hack conveyed them to a miserable shanty in the environs of New York, where they alighted, and Frank, escorting the bride into the apartment which served for parlor, kitchen, and drawing room, and was neither papered nor carpeted, introduced her to his mother, much in the way Claude Melnotte presents Pauline. The old woman, who was peeling potatoes, hastily wiped her hands and face with a greasy apron, and saluted her "darter," as she called her, on both cheeks.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Can it be possible," thought Julia, "that this vulgar creature is my Belmont's mother?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Frank!" screamed the old woman, "you'd better go right up stairs and take off them clothes—for the boy's been sent arter 'em more'n fifty times. Frank borried them clothes, ma'am," she added to Julia, by way of explanation, "to look smart when he went down east."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The bridegroom retired on this hint, and soon reappeared in a pair of faded nankeen pantaloons, reaching to about the calf of the leg, a very shabby black coat, out at the elbows, a ragged black vest, and, instead of his varnished leather boots, a pair of immense cowhide brogans.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Now," said he, sitting quietly down by the cooking stove, "I begin to feel at home. Ah! this is delightful, isn't it, dearest?" and he warbled,—[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Though never so humble, there's no place like home."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Julia's heart swelled so that she could not utter a word.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Dearest," said Frank, "I think you told me you had no objection to smoking?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"None in the least," said the bride; "I rather like the flavor of a cigar."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"O, a cigar!" replied Belmont; "that would never do for a poor man."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]And O, horror! he produced an old clay pipe, and filling it from a little newspaper parcel of tobacco, began to smoke with a keen relish.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Dinner! dinner!" he exclaimed at length; "ah! thank you, mother; I'm as hungry as a bear. Codfish and potatoes, Julia—not very tempting fare—but what of that? our aliment is love!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Yes, and by way of treat," added the old woman, "I've been and gone and bought a whole pint of Albany ale, and three cream cakes, from the candy shop next block."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Poor Julia pleaded indisposition, and could not eat a mouthful. Before Belmont, however, the codfish and potatoes, and the ale, and cream cakes disappeared with a very unromantic and unlover-like velocity. At the close of the meal, a thundering double knock was heard at the door.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Come in!" cried Belmont.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]A low-browed man, in a green waistcoat, entered.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]".[/SIZE]
 

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LOVE IN A COTTAGE by: Francis A. Durivage

LOVE IN A COTTAGE by: Francis A. Durivage

[SIZE=-1]Now, Misther Belmont," he exclaimed, in a strong Hibernian accent, "are ye ready to go to work? By the powers! if I don't see ye sailed to-morrow on the shopboard, I'll discharge ye without a character—and ye shall starve on the top of that."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"To-morrow morning, Mr. Maloney," replied Belmont, meekly, "I'll be at my post."
[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]"And it'll be mighty healthy for you to do that same," replied the man as he retired.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Belmont, speak—tell me," gasped Julia, "who is that man—that loafer?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"He is my employer," answered Belmont, smiling.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"And his profession?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"He is a tailor."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"And you?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Am a journeyman tailor, at your service—a laborious and thankless calling it ever was to me—but now, dearest, as I drive the hissing goose across the smoking seam, I shall think of my own angel and my dear cottage, and be happy."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]That night Julia retired weeping to her room in the attic.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"That 'ere counterpin, darter," said the old woman, "I worked with these here old hands. Ain't it putty? I hope you'll sleep well here. There's a broken pane of glass, but I've put one of Frank's old hats in it, and I don't think you'll feel the draught. There used to be a good many rats here, but I don't think they'll trouble you now, for Frank's been a pizinin' of 'em."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Left alone, Julia threw herself into a chair, and burst into a flood of tears. Even Belmont had ceased to be attractive in her eyes—the stern privations that surrounded her banished all thoughts of love. The realities of life had cured her in one day of all her Quixotic notions.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Well, Julia, how do you like poverty and love in a cottage?" asked Belmont, entering in his bridal dress.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Not so well, sir, as you seem to like that borrowed suit," answered the bride, reddening with vexation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Very well; you shall suffer it no longer. My carriage awaits your orders at the door."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Your carriage, indeed!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Yes, dearest, it waits but for you, to bear us to Belmont Hall, my lovely villa on the Hudson."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"And your mother?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"I have no mother, alas! The old woman down stairs is an old servant of the family."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Then you've been deceiving me, Frank—how wicked!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"It was all done with a good motive. You were not born to endure a life of privation, but to shine the ornament of an elegant and refined circle. I hope you will not love me the less when you learn that I am worth nearly half a million—that's the melancholy fact, and I can't help it."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"O Frank!" cried the beautiful girl, and hid her face in his bosom.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]She presided with grace at the elegant festivities of Belmont Hall, and seemed to support her husband's wealth and luxurious style of living with the greatest fortitude and resignation, never complaining of her comforts, nor murmuring a wish for living in a cottage[/SIZE]
 

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THE HAPPY PRINCE by: Oscar Wilde

THE HAPPY PRINCE by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He was very much admired indeed. “He is as beautiful as a weathercock,” remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?” asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“How do you know?” said the Mathematical Master, “you have never seen one.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Shall I love you?” said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“It is a ridiculous attachment,” twittered the other Swallows; “she has no money, and far too many relations”; and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love. “She has no conversation,” he said, “and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind.” And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys. “I admit that she is domestic,” he continued, “but I love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should love travelling also.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Will you come away with me?” he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to her home.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“You have been trifling with me,” he cried. “I am off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!” and he flew away.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city. “Where shall I put up?” he said; “I hope the town has made preparations.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then he saw the statue on the tall column.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I will put up there,” he cried; “it is a fine position, with plenty of fresh air.” So he alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I have a golden bedroom,” he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of water fell on him. “What a curious thing!” he cried; “there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful. The Reed used to like the rain, but that was merely her selfishness.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then another drop fell.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?” he said; “I must look for a good chimney-pot,” and he determined to fly away.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he looked up, and saw -- Ah! what did he see?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Who are you?” he said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I am the Happy Prince.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Why are you weeping then?” asked the Swallow; “you have quite drenched me.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered the statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall. Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so beautiful. My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot chose but weep.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“What! is he not solid gold?” said the Swallow to himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Far away,” continued the statue in a low musical voice, “far away in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and worn, and she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the needle, for she is a seamstress. She is embroidering passion-flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen’s maids-of-honour to wear at the next Court-ball. In a bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and is asking for oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt? My feet are fastened to this pedestal and I cannot move.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I am waited for in Egypt,” said the Swallow. “My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus-flowers. Soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great King. The King is there himself in his painted coffin. He is wrapped in yellow linen, and embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade, and his hands are like withered leaves.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay with me for one night, and be my messenger? The boy is so thirsty, and the mother so sad.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I don’t think I like boys,” answered the Swallow. “Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, the miller’s sons, who were always throwing stones at me. They never hit me, of course; we swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I come of a family famous for its agility; but still, it was a mark of disrespect.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry. “It is very cold here,” he said; “but I will stay with you for one night, and be your messenger.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Thank you, little Swallow,” said the Prince.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince’s sword, and flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angels were sculptured. He passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing. A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover. “How wonderful the stars are,” he said to her, “and how wonderful is the power of love!”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State-ball,” she answered; “I have ordered passion-flowers to be embroidered on it; but the seamstresses are so lazy.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts of the ships. He passed over the Ghetto, and saw the old Jews bargaining with each other, and weighing out money in copper scales. At last he came to the poor house and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman’s thimble. Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy’s forehead with his wings. “How cool I feel,” said the boy, “I must be getting better”; and he sank into a delicious slumber.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done. “It is curious,” he remarked, “but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“That is because you have done a good action,” said the Prince. And the little Swallow began to think, and then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath. “What a remarkable phenomenon,” said the Professor of Ornithology as he was passing over the bridge. “A swallow in winter!” And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper. Every one quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“To-night I go to Egypt,” said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all the public monuments, and sat a long time on top of the church steeple. Wherever he went the Sparrows chirruped, and said to each other, “What a distinguished stranger!” so he enjoyed himself very much.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince. “Have you any commissions for Egypt?” he cried; “I am just starting.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay with me one night longer?”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I am waited for in Egypt,” answered the Swallow. “To-morrow my friends will fly up to the Second Cataract. The river-horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God Memnon. All night long he watches the stars, and when the morning star shines he utters one cry of joy, and then he is silent. At noon the yellow lions come down to the water’s edge to drink. They have eyes like green beryls, and their roar is louder than the roar of the cataract.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“....[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE HAPPY PRINCE by: Oscar Wilde

THE HAPPY PRINCE by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “far away across the city I see a young man in a garret. He is leaning over a desk covered with papers, and in a tumbler by his side there is a bunch of withered violets. His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red as a pomegranate, and he has large and dreamy eyes. He is trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold to write any more. There is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made him faint.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I will wait with you one night longer,” said the Swallow, who really had a good heart. “Shall I take him another ruby?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Alas! I have no ruby now,” said the Prince; “my eyes are all that I have left. They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years ago. Pluck out one of them and take it to him. He will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and firewood, and finish his play.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Dear Prince,” said the Swallow, “I cannot do that”; and he began to weep.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “do as I command you.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So the Swallow plucked out the Prince’s eye, and flew away to the student’s garret. It was easy enough to get in, as there was a hole in the roof. Through this he darted, and came into the room. The young man had his head buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the bird’s wings, and when he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the withered violets.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I am beginning to be appreciated,” he cried; “this is from some great admirer. Now I can finish my play,” and he looked quite happy.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling big chests out of the hold with ropes. “Heave a-hoy!” they shouted as each chest came up. “I am going to Egypt”! cried the Swallow, but nobody minded, and when the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I am come to bid you good-bye,” he cried.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay with me one night longer?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“It is winter,” answered the Swallow, “and the chill snow will soon be here. In Egypt the sun is warm on the green palm-trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud and look lazily about them. My companions are building a nest in the Temple of Baalbec, and the pink and white doves are watching them, and cooing to each other. Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“In the square below,” said the Happy Prince, “there stands a little match-girl. She has let her matches fall in the gutter, and they are all spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does not bring home some money, and she is crying. She has no shoes or stockings, and her little head is bare. Pluck out my other eye, and give it to her, and her father will not beat her.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I will stay with you one night longer,” said the Swallow, “but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “do as I command you.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, and darted down with it. He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand. “What a lovely bit of glass,” cried the little girl; and she ran home, laughing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then the Swallow came back to the Prince. “You are blind now,” he said, “so I will stay with you always.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“No, little Swallow,” said the poor Prince, “you must go away to Egypt.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I will stay with you always,” said the Swallow, and he slept at the Prince’s feet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]All the next day he sat on the Prince’s shoulder, and told him stories of what he had seen in strange lands. He told him of the red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile, and catch gold-fish in their beaks; of the Sphinx, who is as old as the world itself, and lives in the desert, and knows everything; of the merchants, who walk slowly by the side of their camels, and carry amber beads in their hands; of the King of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as ebony, and worships a large crystal; of the great green snake that sleeps in a palm-tree, and has twenty priests to feed it with honey-cakes; and of the pygmies who sail over a big lake on large flat leaves, and are always at war with the butterflies.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]"Dear little Swallow,” said the Prince, “you tell me of marvellous things, but more marvellous than anything is the suffering of men and of women. There is no Mystery so great as Misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and tell me what you see there.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little boys were lying in one another’s arms to try and keep themselves warm. “How hungry we are!” they said. “You must not lie here,” shouted the Watchman, and they wandered out into the rain.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I am covered with fine gold,” said the Prince, “you must take it off, leaf by leaf, and give it to my poor; the living always think that gold can make them happy.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children’s faces grew rosier, and they laughed and played games in the street. “We have bread now!” they cried.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost. The streets looked as if they were made of silver, they were so bright and glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung down from the eaves of the houses, everybody went about in furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the ice.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince, he loved him too well. He picked up crumbs outside the baker’s door when the baker was not looking and tried to keep himself warm by flapping his wings.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just strength to fly up to the Prince’s shoulder once more. “Good-bye, dear Prince!” he murmured, “will you let me kiss your hand?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “you have stayed too long here; but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“It is not to Egypt that I am going,” said the Swallow. “I am going to the House of Death. Death is the brother of Sleep, is he not?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in company with the Town Councillors. As they passed the column he looked up at the statue: “Dear me! how shabby the Happy Prince looks!” he said.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“How shabby indeed!” cried the Town Councillors, who always agreed with the Mayor; and they went up to look at it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are gone, and he is golden no longer,” said the Mayor in fact, “he is litttle beter than a beggar!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Little better than a beggar,” said the Town Councillors.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“And here is actually a dead bird at his feet!” continued the Mayor. “We must really issue a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die here.” And the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestion.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. “As he is no longer beautiful he is no longer useful,” said the Art Professor at the University.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor held a meeting of the Corporation to decide what was to be done with the metal. “We must have another statue, of course,” he said, “and it shall be a statue of myself.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Of myself,” said each of the Town Councillors, and they quarrelled. When I last heard of them they were quarrelling still.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“What a strange thing!” said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. “This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away.” So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead Swallow was also lying.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE by: Oscar Wilde

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]“She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses,” cried the young Student; “but in all my garden there is no red rose.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“No red rose in all my garden!” he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. “Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Here at last is a true lover,” said the Nightingale. “Night after night have I sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars, and now I see him. His hair is dark as the hyacinth-blossom, and his lips are red as the rose of his desire; but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal upon his brow.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“The Prince gives a ball to-morrow night,” murmured the young Student, “and my love will be of the company. If I bring her a red rose she will dance with me till dawn. If I bring her a red rose, I shall hold her in my arms, and she will lean her head upon my shoulder, and her hand will be clasped in mine. But there is no red rose in my garden, so I shall sit lonely, and she will pass me by. She will have no heed of me, and my heart will break.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Here indeed is the true lover,” said the Nightingale. “What I sing of, he suffers -- what is joy to me, to him is pain. Surely Love is a wonderful thing. It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of the merchants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“The musicians will sit in their gallery,” said the young Student, “and play upon their stringed instruments, and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and the violin. She will dance so lightly that her feet will not touch the floor, and the courtiers in their gay dresses will throng round her. But with me she will not dance, for I have no red rose to give her”; and he flung himself down on the grass, and buried his face in his hands, and wept.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Why is he weeping?” asked a little Green Lizard, as he ran past him with his tail in the air.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Why, indeed?” said a Butterfly, who was fluttering about after a sunbeam.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Why, indeed?” whispered a Daisy to his neighbour, in a soft, low voice.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“He is weeping for a red rose,” said the Nightingale.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“For a red rose?” they cried; “how very ridiculous!” and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic, laughed outright.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Nightingale understood the secret of the Student’s sorrow, and she sat silent in the oak-tree, and thought about the mystery of Love.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Suddenly she spread her brown wings for flight, and soared into the air. She passed through the grove like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed across the garden.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In the centre of the grass-plot was standing a beautiful Rose-tree, and when she saw it she flew over to it, and lit upon a spray.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will sing you my sweetest song.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Tree shook its head.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“My roses are white,” it answered; “as white as the foam of the sea, and whiter than the snow upon the mountain. But go to my brother who grows round the old sun-dial, and perhaps he will give you what you want.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing round the old sun-dial.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will sing you my sweetest song.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Tree shook its head.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“My roses are yellow,” it answered; “as yellow as the hair of the mermaiden who sits upon an amber throne, and yellower than the daffodil that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes with his scythe. But go to my brother who grows beneath the Student’s window, and perhaps he will give you what you want.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing beneath the Student’s window.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will sing you my sweetest song.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Tree shook its head.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“My roses are red,” it answered, “as red as the feet of the dove, and redder than the great fans of coral that wave and wave in the ocean-cavern. But the winter has chilled my veins, and the frost has nipped my buds, and the storm has broken my branches, and I shall have no roses at all this year.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“One red rose is all I want,” cried the Nightingale, “only one red rose! Is there no way by which I can get it?”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“There is a way,” answered the Tree; “but it is so terrible that I dare not tell it to you.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Tell it to me,” said the Nightingale, “I am not afraid.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“If you want a red rose,” said the Tree, “you must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with your own heart’s-blood. You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life-blood must flow into my veins, and become mine.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Death is a great price to pay for a red rose,” cried the Nightingale, “and Life is very dear to all. It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to watch the Sun in his chariot of gold, and the Moon in her chariot of pearl. Sweet is the scent of the hawthorn, and sweet are the bluebells that hide in the valley, and the heather that blows on the hill. Yet Love is better than Life, and what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man?”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So she spread her brown wings for flight, and soared into the air. She swept over the garden like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed through the grove.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The young Student was still lying on the grass, where she had left him, and the tears were not yet dry in his beautiful eyes.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“Be happy,” cried the Nightingale, “be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart’s-blood. All that I ask of you in return is that you will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty. Flame-coloured are his wings, and coloured like flame is his body. His lips are sweet as honey, and his breath is like frankincense.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Student looked up from the grass, and listened, but he could not understand what the Nightingale was saying to him, for he only knew the things that are written down in books.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Oak-tree understood, and felt sad, for he was very fond of the little Nightingale who had built her nest in his branches.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Sing me one last song,” he whispered; “I shall feel very lonely when you are gone.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So the Nightingale sang to the Oak-tree, and her voice was like water bubbling from a silver jar.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When she had finished her song the Student got up, and pulled a note-book and a lead-pencil out of his pocket.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“She has form,” he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove—“that cannot be denied to her; but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style, without any sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for others. She thinks merely of music, and everybody knows that the arts are selfish. Still, it must be admitted that she has some beautiful notes in her voice. What a pity it is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical good.” And he went into his room, and lay down on his little pallet-bed, and began to think of his love; and, after a time, he fell asleep.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And when the Moon shone in the heavens the Nightingale flew to the Rose-tree, and set her breast against the thorn. All night long she sang with her breast against the thorn, and the cold crystal Moon leaned down and listened. All night long she sang, and the thorn went deeper and deeper into her breast, and her life-blood ebbed away from her.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]She sang first of the birth of love in the heart of a boy and a girl. And on the top-most spray of the Rose-tree there blossomed a marvellous rose, petal following petal, as song followed song. Pale was it, at first, as the mist that hangs over the river—pale as the feet of the morning, and silver as the wings of the dawn. As the shadow of a rose in a mirror of silver, as the shadow of a rose in a water-pool, so was the rose that blossomed on the topmost spray of the Tree.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1].[/SIZE]
 

*زهره*

مدیر بازنشسته
کاربر ممتاز
THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE by: Oscar Wilde

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. “Press closer, little Nightingale,” cried the Tree, “or the Day will come before the rose is finished.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and louder and louder grew her song, for she sang of the birth of passion in the soul of a man and a maid.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And a delicate flush of pink came into the leaves of the rose, like the flush in the face of the bridegroom when he kisses the lips of the bride. But the thorn had not yet reached her heart, so the rose’s heart remained white, for only a Nightingale’s heart’s-blood can crimson the heart of a rose.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. “Press closer, little Nightingale,” cried the Tree, “or the Day will come before the rose is finished.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And the marvellous rose became crimson, like the rose of the eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Nightingale’s voice grew fainter, and her little wings began to beat, and a film came over her eyes. Fainter and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking her in her throat.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air. Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Look, look!” cried the Tree, “the rose is finished now”; but the Nightingale made no answer, for she was lying dead in the long grass, with the thorn in her heart.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And at noon the Student opened his window and looked out.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Why, what a wonderful piece of luck!” he cried; “here is a red rose! I have never seen any rose like it in all my life. It is so beautiful that I am sure it has a long Latin name”; and he leaned down and plucked it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then he put on his hat, and ran up to the Professor’s house with the rose in his hand.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The daughter of the Professor was sitting in the doorway winding blue silk on a reel, and her little dog was lying at her feet.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“You said that you would dance with me if I brought you a red rose,” cried the Student. “Here is the reddest rose in all the world. You will wear it to-night next your heart, and as we dance together it will tell you how I love you.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the girl frowned.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I am afraid it will not go with my dress,” she answered; “and, besides, the Chamberlain’s nephew has sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Well, upon my word, you are very ungrateful,” said the Student angrily; and he threw the rose into the street, where it fell into the gutter, and a cart-wheel went over it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Ungrateful!” said the girl. “I tell you what, you are very rude; and, after all, who are you? Only a Student. Why, I don’t believe you have even got silver buckles to your shoes as the Chamberlain’s nephew has”; and she got up from her chair and went into the house.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“What I a silly thing Love is,” said the Student as he walked away. “It is not half as useful as Logic, for it does not prove anything, and it is always telling one of things that are not going to happen, and making one believe things that are not true. In fact, it is quite unpractical, and, as in this age to be practical is everything, I shall go back to Philosophy and study Metaphysics.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book, and began to read[/SIZE]
 

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A MOONLIGHT FABLE by: H. G. Wells

A MOONLIGHT FABLE by: H. G. Wells

[SIZE=-1]There was once a little man whose mother made him a beautiful suit [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of clothes. It was green and gold and woven so that I cannot [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]describe how delicate and fine it was, and there was a tie of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]orange fluffiness that tied up under his chin. And the buttons [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]in their newness shone like stars. He was proud and pleased by his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]suit beyond measure, and stood before the long looking-glass when [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]first he put it on, so astonished and delighted with it that he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]could hardly turn himself away.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He wanted to wear it everywhere and show it to all sorts of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people. He thought over all the places he had ever visited and all [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the scenes he had ever heard described, and tried to imagine what [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the feel of it would be if he were to go now to those scenes and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]places wearing his shining suit, and he wanted to go out forthwith [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]into the long grass and the hot sunshine of the meadow wearing it. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Just to wear it! But his mother told him, "No." She told him he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]must take great care of his suit, for never would he have another [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]nearly so fine; he must save it and save it and only wear it on [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rare and great occasions. It was his wedding suit, she said. And [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]she took his buttons and twisted them up with tissue paper for fear [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]their bright newness should be tarnished, and she tacked little [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]guards over the cuffs and elbows and wherever the suit was most [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]likely to come to harm. He hated and resisted these things, but [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]what could he do? And at last her warnings and persuasions had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]effect and he consented to take off his beautiful suit and fold it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]into its proper creases and put it away. It was almost as though [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he gave it up again. But he was always thinking of wearing it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and of the supreme occasion when some day it might be worn without [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the guards, without the tissue paper on the buttons, utterly and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]delightfully, never caring, beautiful beyond measure.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]One night when he was dreaming of it, after his habit, he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dreamed he took the tissue paper from one of the buttons and found [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]its brightness a little faded, and that distressed him mightily in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his dream. He polished the poor faded button and polished it, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]if anything it grew duller. He woke up and lay awake thinking of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the brightness a little dulled and wondering how he would feel if [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]perhaps when the great occasion (whatever it might be) should [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]arrive, one button should chance to be ever so little short of its [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]first glittering freshness, and for days and days that thought [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]remained with him, distressingly. And when next his mother let him [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wear his suit, he was tempted and nearly gave way to the temptation [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]just to fumble off one little bit of tissue paper and see if indeed [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the buttons were keeping as bright as ever.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He went trimly along on his way to church full of this wild [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]desire. For you must know his mother did, with repeated and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]careful warnings, let him wear his suit at times, on Sundays, for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]example, to and fro from church, when there was no threatening of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rain, no dust nor anything to injure it, with its buttons covered [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and its protections tacked upon it and a sunshade in his hand to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]shadow it if there seemed too strong a sunlight for its colours. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]And always, after such occasions, he brushed it over and folded it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]exquisitely as she had taught him, and put it away again.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1].[/SIZE]
 

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A MOONLIGHT FABLE by: H. G. Wells

A MOONLIGHT FABLE by: H. G. Wells

[SIZE=-1]Now all these restrictions his mother set to the wearing of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his suit he obeyed, always he obeyed them, until one strange night [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he woke up and saw the moonlight shining outside his window. It [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]seemed to him the moonlight was not common moonlight, nor the night [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a common night, and for a while he lay quite drowsily with this odd [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]persuasion in his mind. Thought joined on to thought like things [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that whisper warmly in the shadows. Then he sat up in his little [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bed suddenly, very alert, with his heart beating very fast and a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]quiver in his body from top to toe. He had made up his mind. He [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]knew now that he was going to wear his suit as it should be worn. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]He had no doubt in the matter. He was afraid, terribly afraid, but [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]glad, glad.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He got out of his bed and stood a moment by the window looking [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]at the moonshine-flooded garden and trembling at the thing he meant [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to do. The air was full of a minute clamor of crickets and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]murmurings, of the infinitesimal shouting of little living things. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]He went very gently across the creaking boards, for fear that he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]might wake the sleeping house, to the big dark clothes-press [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wherein his beautiful suit lay folded, and he took it out garment [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]by garment and softly and very eagerly tore off its tissue-paper [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]covering and its tacked protections, until there it was, perfect [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and delightful as he had seen it when first his mother had given it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to him--a long time it seemed ago. Not a button had tarnished, not [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a thread had faded on this dear suit of his; he was glad enough for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]weeping as in a noiseless hurry he put it on. And then back he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]went, soft and quick, to the window and looked out upon the garden [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and stood there for a minute, shining in the moonlight, with his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]buttons twinkling like stars, before he got out on the sill and, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]making as little of a rustling as he could, clambered down to the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]garden path below. He stood before his mother's house, and it was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]white and nearly as plain as by day, with every window-blind but [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his own shut like an eye that sleeps. The trees cast still shadows [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]like intricate black lace upon the wall.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The garden in the moonlight was very different from the garden [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]by day; moonshine was tangled in the hedges and stretched in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]phantom cobwebs from spray to spray. Every flower was gleaming [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]white or crimson black, and the air was aquiver with the thridding [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of small crickets and nightingales singing unseen in the depths of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the trees.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]There was no darkness in the world, but only warm, mysterious [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]shadows; and all the leaves and spikes were edged and lined with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]iridescent jewels of dew. The night was warmer than any night had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]ever been, the heavens by some miracle at once vaster and nearer, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and spite of the great ivory-tinted moon that ruled the world, the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sky was full of stars.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The little man did not shout nor sing for all his infinite [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gladness. He stood for a time like one awe-stricken, and then, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with a queer small cry and holding out his arms, he ran out as if [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he would embrace at once the whole warm round immensity of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]world. He did not follow the neat set paths that cut the garden [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]squarely, but thrust across the beds and through the wet, tall, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]scented herbs, through the night stock and the nicotine and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]clusters of phantom white mallow flowers and through the thickets [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of southern-wood and lavender, and knee-deep across a wide space of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]mignonette. He came to the great hedge and he thrust his way [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]through it, and though the thorns of the brambles scored him deeply [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and tore threads from his wonderful suit, and though burs and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]goosegrass and havers caught and clung to him, he did not care. He [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]did not care, for he knew it was all part of the wearing for which [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he had longed. "I am glad I put on my suit," he said; "I am glad [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]I wore my suit."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Beyond the hedge he came to the duck-pond, or at least to what [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was the duck-pond by day. But by night it was a great bowl of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]silver moonshine all noisy with singing frogs, of wonderful silver [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]moonshine twisted and clotted with strange patternings, and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]little man ran down into its waters between the thin black rushes, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]knee-deep and waist-deep and to his shoulders, smiting the water to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]black and shining wavelets with either hand, swaying and shivering [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wavelets, amid which the stars were netted in the tangled [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]reflections of the brooding trees upon the bank. He waded until he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]swam, and so he crossed the pond and came out upon the other side, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]trailing, as it seemed to him, not duckweed, but very silver in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]long, clinging, dripping masses. And up he went through the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]transfigured tangles of the willow-herb and the uncut seeding grass [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of the farther bank. And so he came glad and breathless into the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]highroad. "I am glad," he said, "beyond measure, that I had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]clothes that fitted this occasion."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The highroad ran straight as an arrow flies, straight into the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]deep blue pit of sky beneath the moon, a white and shining road [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]between the singing nightingales, and along it he went, running now [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and leaping, and now walking and rejoicing, in the clothes his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]mother had made for him with tireless, loving hands. The road was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]deep in dust, but that for him was only soft whiteness, and as he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]went a great dim moth came fluttering round his wet and shimmering [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and hastening figure. At first he did not heed the moth, and then [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he waved his hands at it and made a sort of dance with it as it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]circled round his head. "Soft moth!" he cried, "dear moth! And [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wonderful night, wonderful night of the world! Do you think my [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]clothes are beautiful, dear moth? As beautiful as your scales and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]all this silver vesture of the earth and sky?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]And the moth circled closer and closer until at last its [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]velvet wings just brushed his lips . . . . .[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]And next morning they found him dead with his neck broken in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the bottom of the stone pit, with his beautiful clothes a little [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bloody and foul and stained with the duckweed from the pond. But [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his face was a face of such happiness that, had you seen it, you [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]would have understood indeed how that he had died happy, never [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]knowing the cool and streaming silver for the duckweed in the pond[/SIZE]
 

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THE SELFISH GIANT by: Oscar Wilde

THE SELFISH GIANT by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant’s garden.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. “How happy we are here!” they cried to each other.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he determined to return to his own castle. When he arrived he saw the children playing in the garden.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“What are you doing here?” he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“My own garden is my own garden,” said the Giant; “any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.” So he built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=-1]TRESPASSERS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]WILL BE[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]PROSECUTED[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]He was a very selfish Giant.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The poor children had now nowhere to play. They tried to play on the road, but the road was very dusty and full of hard stones, and they did not like it. They used to wander round the high wall when their lessons were over, and talk about the beautiful garden inside. “How happy we were there,” they said to each other.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was still winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a beautiful flower put its head out from the grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost. “Spring has forgotten this garden,” they cried, “so we will live here all the year round.” The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the North Wind to stay with them, and he came. He was wrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the garden, and blew the chimney-pots down. “This is a delightful spot,” he said, “we must ask the Hail on a visit.” So the Hail came. Every day for three hours he rattled on the roof of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and then he ran round and round the garden as fast as he could go. He was dressed in grey, and his breath was like ice.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,” said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; “I hope there will be a change in the weather.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant’s garden she gave none. “He is too selfish,” she said. So it was always Winter there, and the North Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the trees.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the King’s musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, and the North Wind ceased roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him through the open casement. “I believe the Spring has come at last,” said the Giant; and he jumped out of bed and looked out.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]What did he see?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently above the children’s heads. The birds were flying about and twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass and laughing. It was a lovely scene, only in one corner it was still winter. It was the farthest corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy. He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree, and he was wandering all round it, crying bitterly. The poor tree was still quite covered with frost and snow, and the North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. “Climb up! little boy,” said the Tree, and it bent its branches down as low as it could; but the boy was too tiny.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And the Giant’s heart melted as he looked out. “How selfish I have been!” he said; “now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children’s playground for ever and ever.” He was really very sorry for what he had done.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Giant coming. And the Giant stole up behind him and took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it, and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant’s neck, and kissed him. And the other children, when they saw that the Giant was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with them came the Spring. “It is your garden now, little children,” said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when the people were going to market at twelve o’clock they found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]All day long they played, and in the evening they came to the Giant to bid him good-bye.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“But where is your little companion?” he said: “the boy I put into the tree.” The Giant loved him the best because he had kissed him.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“We don’t know,” answered the children; “he has gone away.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“You must tell him to be sure and come here to-morrow,” said the Giant. But the children said that they did not know where he lived, and had never seen him before; and the Giant felt very sad.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Every afternoon, when school was over, the children came and played with the Giant. But the little boy whom the Giant loved was never seen again. The Giant was very kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often spoke of him. “How I would like to see him!” he used to say.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble. He could not play about any more, so he sat in a huge armchair, and watched the children at their games, and admired his garden. “I have many beautiful flowers,” he said; “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep, and that the flowers were resting.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and looked. It certainly was a marvellous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across the grass, and came near to the child. And when he came quite close his face grew red with anger, and he said, “Who hath dared to wound thee?” For on the palms of the child’s hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on the little feet.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Who hath dared to wound thee?” cried the Giant; “tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay him.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Nay!” answered the child; “but these are the wounds of Love.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Who art thou?” said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, “You let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.[/SIZE]

 

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God too , Does exist

God too , Does exist

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work , they began to have a good conversation.
They talk about so many things and various subjects .
When they eventually touched on the subject of god,
The barber said:
“ I don’t believe that the god exist. “
“Why do you say that?”
Asked the customer .
“well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that god doesn’t exist.
Tell me, if god exists, would there be so many sick people ?
Would there be abandoned children?
If god exists there, would be neither suffering nor pain?
I can’t imagine a loving a god who would allow all of these things. “
The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
Just, after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long , stringy ,dirty hair and on untrimmed beard.
He looked dirty and unkempt.
The customer turn back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber :
“you know what?
Barber do not exists.”
“how can you say that?”
Asked the surprised barber.
I am here . and I just worked on you!
“no !
The customer said.
“because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards,
Like that man outside”.
“Ah ,but the barbershop do exist!
What happens , is , people don’t come to me “.
“ Exactly !” affirmed the customer.
“that’s the point”
God too , Does exist!What happens , is , people don’t go to him and don’t look for him.
That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world “


 

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THE CURSE OF THE FIRES AND OF THE SHADOWS by: W.B. Yeats

THE CURSE OF THE FIRES AND OF THE SHADOWS by: W.B. Yeats

[SIZE=-1]One summer night, when there was peace, a score of Puritan troopers [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]under the pious Sir Frederick Hamilton, broke through the door of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Abbey of the White Friars which stood over the Gara Lough at Sligo. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]As the door fell with a crash they saw a little knot of friars, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gathered about the altar, their white habits glimmering in the steady [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]light of the holy candles. All the monks were kneeling except the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]abbot, who stood upon the altar steps with a great brazen crucifix in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his hand. 'Shoot them!' cried Sir Frederick Hamilton, but none [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]stirred, for all were new converts, and feared the crucifix and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]holy candles. The white lights from the altar threw the shadows of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the troopers up on to roof and wall. As the troopers moved about, the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]shadows began a fantastic dance among the corbels and the memorial [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]tablets. For a little while all was silent, and then five troopers [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]who were the body-guard of Sir Frederick Hamilton lifted their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]muskets, and shot down five of the friars. The noise and the smoke [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]drove away the mystery of the pale altar lights, and the other [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]troopers took courage and began to strike. In a moment the friars lay [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]about the altar steps, their white habits stained with blood. 'Set [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fire to the house!' cried Sir Frederick Hamilton, and at his word one [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]went out, and came in again carrying a heap of dry straw, and piled [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]it against the western wall, and, having done this, fell back, for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the fear of the crucifix and of the holy candles was still in his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]heart. Seeing this, the five troopers who were Sir Frederick [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Hamilton's body-guard darted forward, and taking each a holy candle [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]set the straw in a blaze. The red tongues of fire rushed up and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]flickered from corbel to corbel and from tablet to tablet, and crept [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]along the floor, setting in a blaze the seats and benches. The dance [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of the shadows passed away, and the dance of the fires began. The [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]troopers fell back towards the door in the southern wall, and watched [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]those yellow dancers springing hither and thither.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]For a time the altar stood safe and apart in the midst of its white [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]light; the eyes of the troopers turned upon it. The abbot whom they [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had thought dead had risen to his feet and now stood before it with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the crucifix lifted in both hands high above his head. Suddenly he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]cried with a loud voice, 'Woe unto all who smite those who dwell [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]within the Light of the Lord, for they shall wander among the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]ungovernable shadows, and follow the ungovernable fires!' And having [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]so cried he fell on his face dead, and the brazen crucifix rolled [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]down the steps of the altar. The smoke had now grown very thick, so [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that it drove the troopers out into the open air. Before them were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]burning houses. Behind them shone the painted windows of the Abbey [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]filled with saints and martyrs, awakened, as from a sacred trance, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]into an angry and animated life. The eyes of the troopers were [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dazzled, and for a while could see nothing but the flaming faces of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]saints and martyrs. Presently, however, they saw a man covered with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]dust who came running towards them. 'Two messengers,' he cried, 'have [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]been sent by the defeated Irish to raise against you the whole [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]country about Manor Hamilton, and if you do not stop them you will be [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]overpowered in the woods before you reach home again! They ride [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]north-east between Ben Bulben and Cashel-na-Gael.'[/SIZE]
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THE CURSE OF THE FIRES AND OF THE SHADOWS by: W.B. Yeats

THE CURSE OF THE FIRES AND OF THE SHADOWS by: W.B. Yeats

[SIZE=-1]Sir Frederick Hamilton called to him the five troopers who had first [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]fired upon the monks and said, 'Mount quickly, and ride through the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]woods towards the mountain, and get before these men, and kill them.'[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In a moment the troopers were gone, and before many moments they had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]splashed across the river at what is now called Buckley's Ford, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]plunged into the woods. They followed a beaten track that wound along [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the northern bank of the river. The boughs of the birch and quicken [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]trees mingled above, and hid the cloudy moonlight, leaving the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]pathway in almost complete darkness. They rode at a rapid trot, now [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]chatting together, now watching some stray weasel or rabbit scuttling [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]away in the darkness. Gradually, as the gloom and silence of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]woods oppressed them, they drew closer together, and began to talk [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rapidly; they were old comrades and knew each other's lives. One was [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]married, and told how glad his wife would be to see him return safe [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]from this harebrained expedition against the White Friars, and to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hear how fortune had made amends for rashness. The oldest of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]five, whose wife was dead, spoke of a flagon of wine which awaited [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]him upon an upper shelf; while a third, who was the youngest, had a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sweetheart watching for his return, and he rode a little way before [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the others, not talking at all. Suddenly the young man stopped, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they saw that his horse was trembling. 'I saw something,' he said, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]'and yet I do not know but it may have been one of the shadows. It [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]looked like a great worm with a silver crown upon his head.' One of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the five put his hand up to his forehead as if about to cross [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]himself, but remembering that he had changed his religion he put it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]down, and said: 'I am certain it was but a shadow, for there are a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]great many about us, and of very strange kinds.' Then they rode on in [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]silence. It had been raining in the earlier part of the day, and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]drops fell from the branches, wetting their hair and their shoulders. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]In a little they began to talk again. They had been in many battles [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]against many a rebel together, and now told each other over again the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]story of their wounds, and so awakened in their hearts the strongest [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of all fellowships, the fellowship of the sword, and half forgot the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]terrible solitude of the woods.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Suddenly the first two horses neighed, and then stood still, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]would go no further. Before them was a glint of water, and they knew [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]by the rushing sound that it was a river. They dismounted, and after [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]much tugging and coaxing brought the horses to the river-side. In the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]midst of the water stood a tall old woman with grey hair flowing over [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a grey dress. She stood up to her knees in the water, and stooped [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]from time to time as though washing. Presently they could see that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]she was washing something that half floated. The moon cast a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]flickering light upon it, and they saw that it was the dead body of a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]man, and, while they were looking at it, an eddy of the river turned [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the face towards them, and each of the five troopers recognised at [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the same moment his own face. While they stood dumb and motionless [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with horror, the woman began to speak, saying slowly and loudly: 'Did [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]you see my son? He has a crown of silver on his head, and there are [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rubies in the crown.' Then the oldest of the troopers, he who had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]been most often wounded, drew his sword and cried: 'I have fought for [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the truth of my God, and need not fear the shadows of Satan,' and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with that rushed into the water. In a moment he returned. The woman [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had vanished, and though he had thrust his sword into air and water [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he had found nothing.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The five troopers remounted, and set their horses at the ford, but [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]all to no purpose. They tried again and again, and went plunging [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hither and thither, the horses foaming and rearing. 'Let us,' said [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the old trooper, 'ride back a little into the wood, and strike the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]river higher up.' They rode in under the boughs, the ground-ivy [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]crackling under the hoofs, and the branches striking against their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]steel caps. After about twenty minutes' riding they came out again [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]upon the river, and after another ten minutes found a place where it [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was possible to cross without sinking below the stirrups. The wood [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]upon the other side was very thin, and broke the moonlight into long [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]streams. The wind had arisen, and had begun to drive the clouds [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rapidly across the face of the moon, so that thin streams of light [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]seemed to be dancing a grotesque dance among the scattered bushes and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]small fir-trees. The tops of the trees began also to moan, and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sound of it was like the voice of the dead in the wind; and the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]troopers remembered the belief that tells how the dead in purgatory [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]are spitted upon the points of the trees and upon the points of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rocks. They turned a little to the south, in the hope that they might [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]strike the beaten path again, but they could find no trace of it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Meanwhile, the moaning grew louder and louder, and the dance of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]white moon-fires more and more rapid. Gradually they began to be [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]aware of a sound of distant music. It was the sound of a bagpipe, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they rode towards it with great joy. It came from the bottom of a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]deep, cup-like hollow. In the midst of the hollow was an old man with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a red cap and withered face. He sat beside a fire of sticks, and had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a burning torch thrust into the earth at his feet, and played an old [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bagpipe furiously. His red hair dripped over his face like the iron [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rust upon a rock. 'Did you see my wife?' he cried, looking up a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]moment; 'she was washing! she was washing!' 'I am afraid of him,' [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]said the young trooper, 'I fear he is one of the Sidhe.' 'No,' said [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the old trooper, 'he is a man, for I can see the sun-freckles upon [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his face. We will compel him to be our guide'; and at that he drew [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]his sword, and the others did the same. They stood in a ring round [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the piper, and pointed their swords at him, and the old trooper then [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]told him that they must kill two rebels, who had taken the road [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]between Ben Bulben and the great mountain spur that is called Cashel-[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]na-Gael, and that he must get up before one of them and be their [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]guide, for they had lost their way. The piper turned, and pointed to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a neighbouring tree, and they saw an old white horse ready bitted, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]bridled, and saddled. He slung the pipe across his back, and, taking [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the torch in his hand, got upon the horse, and started off before [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]them, as hard as he could go.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The wood grew thinner and thinner, and the ground began to slope up [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]toward the mountain. The moon had already set, and the little white [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]flames of the stars had come out everywhere. The ground sloped more [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and more until at last they rode far above the woods upon the wide [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]top of the mountain. The woods lay spread out mile after mile below, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and away to the south shot up the red glare of the burning town. But [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]before and above them were the little white flames. The guide drew [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]rein suddenly, and pointing upwards with the hand that did not hold [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the torch, shrieked out, 'Look; look at the holy candles!' and then [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]plunged forward at a gallop, waving the torch hither and thither. 'Do [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]you hear the hoofs of the messengers?' cried the guide. 'Quick, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]quick! or they will be gone out of your hands!' and he laughed as [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]with delight of the chase. The troopers thought they could hear far [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]off, and as if below them, rattle of hoofs; but now the ground began [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]to slope more and more, and the speed grew more headlong moment by [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]moment. They tried to pull up, but in vain, for the horses seemed to [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]have gone mad. The guide had thrown the reins on to the neck of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]old white horse, and was waving his arms and singing a wild Gaelic [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]song. Suddenly they saw the thin gleam of a river, at an immense [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]distance below, and knew that they were upon the brink of the abyss [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that is now called Lug-na-Gael, or in English the Stranger's Leap. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]The six horses sprang forward, and five screams went up into the air, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]a moment later five men and horses fell with a dull crash upon the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]green slopes at the foot of the rocks.[/SIZE]
 

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THE BLACK PRINCE by: Hilda T. Skae

THE BLACK PRINCE by: Hilda T. Skae

[SIZE=-1]Edward III., King of England, was a very warlike prince. When the King of France died he was succeeded by his nephew Philip, but Edward declared that he, being a grandson of the late king, had a better right than a nephew; and he set off with a gallant army and many knights and nobles to enforce his claim. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The war proved a much longer one than Edward had expected. Six years after the English king's first march into France the two nations were still fighting. By this time King Edward's eldest son was fifteen years of age, and he implored his father to let him accompany him to the French war. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]This young prince was a fine spirited youth, and skilful at all manly exercises. In appearance he was very fair, with light hair and laughing blue eyes. Perhaps he was a little vain of his appearance, because in order to show off the fairness of his complexion he always wore dark-coloured armour, a habit which led to his being known in after life as Edward the Black Prince. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Seeing his boy's courage and warlike spirit, the king consented to his accompanying him upon his next expedition into France. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In the month of July, 1346, the king and the prince set sail with an army of thirty thousand men, ten thousand of whom were archers. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]For seven weeks the English marched through the fair and smiling country of France, meeting with very little opposition, and plundering and burning wherever they went. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At last, by the little village of Crecy on the banks of the river Somme, the English came in view of the French army. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was not difficult to tell that the army of the King of France numbered at least eight times as many men as were on the side of the English; but King Edward decided that it would never do to betray fear. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'We will go in,' he said calmly to his men, 'and beat, or be beaten.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was too late to fight that day; and the English lay down within sight of the enemy. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Early in the morning the English king set his army in order of battle. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]King Edward himself was to command one division; two of his earls another; and the eager young prince, assisted by the Earls of Warwick and Oxford, was given the charge of a third. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When the troops were all drawn up in fighting array, the king mounted his horse and rode from rank to rank, cheering and encouraging the men and their leaders. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'He spoke so sweetly,' says an old writer, 'and with so good a countenance and merry cheer, that all such as were discomfited took courage in seeing and hearing him.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]By the time King Edward had gone round the whole army it was about nine o'clock, and the sun was shining warm and bright upon what was soon to be the field of battle. The king sent orders that his men were to 'eat at their ease and drink a cup'; and the whole army sat down upon the grass and breakfasted. Then they returned to their ranks again and lay down, each man in his place, with his bow and helmet beside him, waiting until the enemy should be ready to begin the fight. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In the meanwhile the French army was approaching. By the time the king had brought his men within reach of the English lines, the bright morning had clouded over. The day had become dark and threatening, and soon the thunder began to growl, and the lightning to flash overhead. The frightened birds flew screaming for shelter, and the clouds broke and fell in a heavy shower upon the French king's army. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]One of his captains advised King Philip not to fight until the morrow. The king gave the order to halt; but the men in the rear, not understanding the message, pressed forward and forced the others to advance, thus throwing the army into confusion. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Finding that it was too late to put off the battle, King Philip ordered to the front a great body of Genoese cross-bowmen, whom he had hired to fight against the English. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]By this time the rain was over and the sun had come out; but it shone full in the faces of the cross-bowmen, and prevented them from seeing the enemy. Their bows, too, had become wetted with the rain, and the strings were slackened. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When they heard the king's order the Genoese moved forward; 'then,' says the historian, 'they made a great cry to abash the English; but they stood still and stirred not for all that. A second and a third time the Genoese uttered a fell cry—very loud and clear, and a little stept forward; but the English removed not one foot.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At last the Genoese sent a shower of arrows into the ranks of the calm, silent English. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The English received the shower quietly; then their reply was prompt. A quick movement went along the line of archers; the ten thousand men advanced one pace, and 'their arrows flew so wholly together and so thick that it seemed as if it snowed.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Genoese required time to wind up their cross-bows before they could re-load; and in the meantime the English longbowmen shot so continuously that the ranks of the Genoese broke in terror and fled. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Still the archers sent their deadly hail upon the French army, while a number of Welsh and Cornish soldiers, armed with long knives, crept in under the horses and stabbed them, so that both horse and rider fell heavily to the ground. The confusion was rendered still more dreadful by means of a weapon which King Edward used for the first time in battle; small 'bombards,' or cannon, as they were afterwards called, 'which with fire threw little iron balls to frighten the horses.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]While the battle raged with great fury on both sides, King Edward was sending out his orders from a windmill from which he could overlook the progress of the fight. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Presently a messenger came from the Earl of Warwick, beseeching the king to send aid to his son, the Black Prince.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Is my son killed?' asked the king. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'No, Sire, please God,' replied the messenger. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Is he wounded?' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'No, Sire.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Is he thrown to the ground?' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'No, Sire, not so; but he is very hard pressed.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Then,' said the king, 'go back to those that sent you, and tell them that he shall have no help from me. Let the boy win his spurs; for I wish, if God so order it, that the day may be his.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The messenger carried back these words to the prince, who fought harder than ever, and drove off his assailants. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]For hours the battle raged, both sides fighting with great fury and determination. On the French side was the old blind King of Bohemia, who remained somewhat apart, mounted upon his warhorse, listening to the din and noise of the battle in which his son was engaged. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After some time he heard a French knight approaching, and asked him how the fight was going. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'The Genoese have been routed,' was the reply; 'and your son is wounded.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the king called to him two of his vassals and said to them, 'Lords, you are my vassals, my friends, and my companions; I pray you of your goodness to lead me so far into the fight that I may at least strike one blow with my sword.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the two knights drew up, one on each side of their aged king; and all three fastened their bridle-reins together and rode into the fray. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'The king,' says the old story-teller, 'struck one blow with his sword; yea, and more than four; and fought right valiantly'; until he and his knights disappeared under the heaving, struggling mass of men, never to rise again.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In the meantime the King of France was fighting as hard as any man on the field. Twice he was wounded, and once he had his horse shot under him; but after having had his wounds bound up, he mounted again and rode back into the fight. Many times he led his men in furious charges against the English; but nothing could overcome the coolness and determination of the English forces. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At last the French were vanquished, and had to retire from the field. Their sacred banner, the Oriflamme, or Flame of Gold, was nearly captured, but a brave French knight broke his way through the crowd which was struggling around it, cut the banner from its staff with his sword, and winding it round his body, rode away with it in safety. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The French king, refusing to leave the field, was dragged away, almost by force, by some of his followers. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After riding for some miles, they came to a castle and knocked at the gate. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Who is there?' shouted the gate-keeper. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'It is the Fortune of France,' was the reply. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then the lord of the castle came down himself and opened the gates, and let in his weary, broken-hearted king. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Night was closing in, and the English were lighting their watch-fires upon the battlefield, when King Edward rode forward to meet the son who had fought so bravely. Taking the lad in his arms, he kissed him, and he told him that he had acted nobly, and worthy of the day and of his high birth. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Next morning the king and the prince went to look at the slain, and found among them the old King of Bohemia, lying dead between his two knights. Beside the king lay his shield and helmet, bearing his device, three ostrich feathers, with the motto 'ich dien.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]King Edward gave orders that the old hero should be borne from the field and buried with royal honours; and then he and the prince moved away in a very thoughtful mood. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Truly,' said Prince Edward, 'I think that was well said; "ich dien," meaning that a king's duty is to serve his country.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'As thou hast served it well this day, my son,' replied his father, 'wilt thou take this device for thine own?' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So the prince took for his crest the three ostrich feathers with the motto, in remembrance of his gallant enemy, and the device is borne by the Princes of Wales to this day. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1].[/SIZE]
 

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THE BLACK PRINCE by: Hilda T. Skae

THE BLACK PRINCE by: Hilda T. Skae

[SIZE=-1]Ten years later, the Black Prince had become a man, and the war was not yet at an end. King Philip was dead, and had been succeeded by his son John, a brave and chivalrous king. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Edward being engaged in fighting with the Scots, the Black Prince took command of the army in France. Near the town of Poitiers he believed that the French king lay somewhere in readiness to give battle; but the English could not find out where he was. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The prince gave orders that the French peasants were to be made to tell him where their king lay encamped; but these poor people were so loyal that neither money nor threats could make them give any information. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Prince Edward was in great perplexity, for his army was now reduced to about ten thousand men; and if the King of France had a larger force, the prince felt that it might be more prudent for him to retire. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]One day, quite unexpectedly, the English came in view of the French army, encamped near the town of Poitiers. The whole country, far and near, seemed to be occupied by the force which was to oppose the Prince's little body of ten thousand men. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'There was all the flower of France,' says the historian, 'for there was none durst abide at home without he were shamed for ever.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'God help us,' said the Black Prince; 'we must make the best of it.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He posted his army very strongly upon a hill, while the French king marshalled his forces upon the plain below. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]That night the two armies lay, strongly guarded, within sight of each other. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In the morning the battle was about to begin when a cardinal came riding in haste to the French king, and implored him to give him leave to try to save the small body of English from rushing upon certain destruction. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Sire,' he said, 'you have here all the flower of your realm against a handful of people, for so the English are as compared to your company. I pray you that you will allow me to ride to the prince and show him what danger you have him in.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The king gave permission, and the cardinal came riding over to the Black Prince, who received him courteously. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Save my honour,' he said, when the cardinal offered to try to arrange terms for him, 'and the honour of my army, and I will make any reasonable terms.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]He offered to give up all the towns and castles he had taken, and to make a truce with the French king for seven years; and the cardinal rode back to his own side with this message. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After an interval of suspense he came riding to the English camp again. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'The King of France consents to make peace,' said the cardinal, 'on condition that you will yield yourself up a prisoner, with a hundred of your knights.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The prince's face darkened. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Here would be shameful news to send to his father and the people of England! [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As the King of France refused to make peace upon any other conditions, Prince Edward broke off the treaty and turned to his army, saying quietly, 'God defend the right; we shall fight to-morrow.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]All that day the English worked hard to make their position more secure. The sides of the hill were covered with woods and vineyards, and the principal approach was by means of a lane with hedges on either side, behind which a number of archers posted themselves. All the weaker places were strengthened by means of palisades. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]On the following morning, when all was in order of battle, the prince addressed his men. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'Sirs,' he said, 'although we be but a small company compared with our enemies, we must not lose courage. If it is to be our good fortune to win the day, we shall be the most honoured people in all the world; and if we die in our right quarrel, I have the king my father and my brothers, and you have good friends and kinsmen, and they will avenge our deaths. I beg that each of you will do your duty to-day, and if God be pleased and St. George, this day you will see me a true knight.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After this the battle began. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The French cavalry charged up the lane, hoping to break the lines of archers, but the men who were posted behind the hedges received them with such a volley of arrows that the horses refused to advance, and some of them fell, blocking up the way. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Then a body of English knights, galloping down the hill, threw the foremost of the French lines into confusion. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Lord James Audley, who during the first part of the battle had been by the side of the prince, now said to him, 'Sir, I have always truly served my lord your father and yourself also, and I shall do so as long as I live. I once made a vow that in the first battle that your father or any of his children should be in, I should be the first setter-on and the best combatant, or else die; therefore I beg of you that you will allow me to leave you in order that I may accomplish my vow.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The prince took him by the hand and said, 'Sir James, God give you this day the grace to be the first knight of all'; and Lord James rode away into the battle and fought until he had to be carried, sorely wounded, from the field. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In the meantime the battle raged with great fury upon all sides, and many French and English knights were engaged in deadly combat. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]An English knight, Sir John Chandos, who had never left the prince, said to his master, 'Ride forward, noble prince, and the day is yours; let us get to the French king, for truly he is so valiant a gentleman that I think he will not fly, but may be taken prisoner; and, sir, I heard you say that this day I should see you a good knight.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'John,' said the prince, 'let us go forth; you shall not see me turn back this day, but I will ever be with the foremost'; then the prince and his friend rode into the thickest of the fight. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Where the battle raged most fiercely the French king, with his young son Philip by his side, was laying about him with his battle-axe. When the nobles around him were slain or had fled, the brave lad refused to leave his father, who made his last stand with the blood streaming down from a wound in the face. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At last the king was forced to yield, and he gave his glove to a banished French knight, Sir Denis de Marbeke, in token of surrender. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]When the French were fleeing from the field, the Black Prince had become so exhausted with fighting that Sir John Chandos persuaded him to retire to his tent and take some rest. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Presently the news came to the royal tent that the king had been taken prisoner, and was on his way to the English camp. The prince immediately sent two of his lords to meet him, and had him brought to his own tent, where he received his brave enemy with the greatest respect.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After the king had rested and refreshed himself, the prince invited him and the other captive nobles to a supper in his tent, and Prince Edward himself waited upon King John, saying that he was not worthy to sit at table with so great a prince and so valiant a man. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Soon after this the English returned to their own country, bringing with them the French king and many other prisoners. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The victorious army was received with the greatest joy; and on the day when the Black Prince entered London, the people crowded by thousands into the streets to see him pass as he rode on a little pony by the side of his prisoner, King John of France, whom he had mounted upon his own magnificent cream-coloured charger. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]King John was kept, an honourable prisoner, until a peace was made with France. Then he was allowed to return to his own country upon condition that the French should pay, within six years, a sum of money for his ransom. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Until the ransom should be paid, the French king's three sons agreed to remain as hostages in the town of Calais, which belonged to the English. They were allowed to ride into French territory as often as they pleased, provided that they gave their word of honour not to remain away longer than four days at a time. King Edward and his son, knowing how honourable their father was, trusted in the honour of these young princes. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]One day, however, one of the princes yielded to temptation, rode away, and never came back to Calais at all. Upon hearing the news the French king was so shocked that he returned to England and yielded himself up a prisoner once more. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]'If honour is to be found nowhere else,' he said, 'it should find a refuge in the breast of kings.' [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]King Edward gave him a palace to live in, and he and his people did all they could to show the imprisoned king how much they loved and admired him for his noble conduct. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But King John never returned to his own country. Three months after his arrival in England he died, his end hastened by sorrow at the base and thoughtless conduct of his son[/SIZE]
 

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ELEONORA by: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

ELEONORA by: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

[SIZE=-1]I AM come of a race noted for vigor of fancy and ardor of passion. Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence— whether much that is glorious— whether all that is profound— does not spring from disease of thought— from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in awakening, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches, they learn something of the wisdom which is of good, and more of the mere knowledge which is of evil. They penetrate, however, rudderless or compassless into the vast ocean of the "light ineffable," [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]We will say, then, that I am mad. I grant, at least, that there are two distinct conditions of my mental existence— the condition of a lucid reason, not to be disputed, and belonging to the memory of events forming the first epoch of my life— and a condition of shadow and doubt, appertaining to the present, and to the recollection of what constitutes the second great era of my being. Therefore, what I shall tell of the earlier period, believe; and to what I may relate of the later time, give only such credit as may seem due, or doubt it altogether, or, if doubt it ye cannot, then play unto its riddle the Oedipus.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]She whom I loved in youth, and of whom I now pen calmly and distinctly these remembrances, was the sole daughter of the only sister of my mother long departed. Eleonora was the name of my cousin. We had always dwelled together, beneath a tropical sun, in the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. No unguided footstep ever came upon that vale; for it lay away up among a range of giant hills that hung beetling around about it, shutting out the sunlight from its sweetest recesses. No path was trodden in its vicinity; and, to reach our happy home, there was need of putting back, with force, the foliage of many thousands of forest trees, and of crushing to death the glories of many millions of fragrant flowers. Thus it was that we lived all alone, knowing nothing of the world without the valley— I, and my cousin, and her mother.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]From the dim regions beyond the mountains at the upper end of our encircled domain, there crept out a narrow and deep river, brighter than all save the eyes of Eleonora; and, winding stealthily about in mazy courses, it passed away, at length, through a shadowy gorge, among hills still dimmer than those whence it had issued. We called it the "River of Silence"; for there seemed to be a hushing influence in its flow. No murmur arose from its bed, and so gently it wandered along, that the pearly pebbles upon which we loved to gaze, far down within its bosom, stirred not at all, but lay in a motionless content, each in its own old station, shining on gloriously forever.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The margin of the river, and of the many dazzling rivulets that glided through devious ways into its channel, as well as the spaces that extended from the margins away down into the depths of the streams until they reached the bed of pebbles at the bottom,— these spots, not less than the whole surface of the valley, from the river to the mountains that girdled it in, were carpeted all by a soft green grass, thick, short, perfectly even, and vanilla-perfumed, but so besprinkled throughout with the yellow buttercup, the white daisy, the purple violet, and the ruby-red asphodel, that its exceeding beauty spoke to our hearts in loud tones, of the love and of the glory of God.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]And, here and there, in groves about this grass, like wildernesses of dreams, sprang up fantastic trees, whose tall slender stems stood not upright, but slanted gracefully toward the light that peered at noon-day into the centre of the valley. Their mark was speckled with the vivid alternate splendor of ebony and silver, and was smoother than all save the cheeks of Eleonora; so that, but for the brilliant green of the huge leaves that spread from their summits in long, tremulous lines, dallying with the Zephyrs, one might have fancied them giant serpents of Syria doing homage to their sovereign the Sun.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Hand in hand about this valley, for fifteen years, roamed I with Eleonora before Love entered within our hearts. It was one evening at the close of the third lustrum of her life, and of the fourth of my own, that we sat, locked in each other's embrace, beneath the serpent-like trees, and looked down within the water of the River of Silence at our images therein. We spoke no words during the rest of that sweet day, and our words even upon the morrow were tremulous and few. We had drawn the God Eros from that wave, and now we felt that he had enkindled within us the fiery souls of our forefathers. The passions which had for centuries distinguished our race, came thronging with the fancies for which they had been equally noted, and together breathed a delirious bliss over the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. A change fell upon all things. Strange, brilliant flowers, star-shaped, burn out upon the trees where no flowers had been known before. The tints of the green carpet deepened; and when, one by one, the white daisies shrank away, there sprang up in place of them, ten by ten of the ruby-red asphodel. And life arose in our paths; for the tall flamingo, hitherto unseen, with all gay glowing birds, flaunted his scarlet plumage before us. The golden and silver fish haunted the river, out of the bosom of which issued, little by little, a murmur that swelled, at length, into a lulling melody more divine than that of the harp of Aeolus-sweeter than all save the voice of Eleonora. And now, too, a voluminous cloud, which we had long watched in the regions of Hesper, floated out thence, all gorgeous in crimson and gold, and settling in peace above us, sank, day by day, lower and lower, until its edges rested upon the tops of the mountains, turning all their dimness into magnificence, and shutting us up, as if forever, within a magic prison-house of grandeur and of glory.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The loveliness of Eleonora was that of the Seraphim; but she was a maiden artless and innocent as the brief life she had led among the flowers. No guile disguised the fervor of love which animated her heart, and she examined with me its inmost recesses as we walked together in the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass, and discoursed of the mighty changes which had lately taken place therein.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]At length, having spoken one day, in tears, of the last sad change which must befall Humanity, she thenceforward dwelt only upon this one sorrowful theme, interweaving it into all our converse, as, in the songs of the bard of Schiraz, the same images are found occurring, again and again, in every impressive variation of phrase.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]She had seen that the finger of Death was upon her bosom— that, like the ephemeron, she had been made perfect in loveliness only to die; but the terrors of the grave to her lay solely in a consideration which she revealed to me, one evening at twilight, by the banks of the River of Silence. She grieved to think that, having entombed her in the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass, I would quit forever its happy recesses, transferring the love which now was so passionately her own to some maiden of the outer and everyday world. And, then and there, I threw myself hurriedly at the feet of Eleonora, and offered up a vow, to herself and to Heaven, that I would never bind myself in marriage to any daughter of Earth— that I would in no manner prove recreant to her dear memory, or to the memory of the devout affection with which she had blessed me. And I called the Mighty Ruler of the Universe to witness the pious solemnity of my vow. And the curse which I invoked of Him and of her, a saint in Helusion should I prove traitorous to that promise, involved a penalty the exceeding great horror of which will not permit me to make record of it here. And the bright eyes of Eleonora grew brighter at my words; and she sighed as if a deadly burthen had been taken from her breast; and she trembled and very bitterly wept; but she made acceptance of the vow, (for what was she but a child?) and it made easy to her the bed of her death. And she said to me, not many days afterward, tranquilly dying, that, because of what I had done for the comfort of her spirit she would watch over me in that spirit when departed, and, if so it were permitted her return to me visibly in the watches of the night; but, if this thing were, indeed, beyond the power of the souls in Paradise, that she would, at least, give me frequent indications of her presence, sighing upon me in the evening winds, or filling the air which I breathed with perfume from the censers of the angels. And, with these words upon her lips, she yielded up her innocent life, putting an end to the first epoch of my own.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Thus far I have faithfully said. But as I pass the barrier in Times path, formed by the death of my beloved, and proceed with the second era of my existence, I feel that a shadow gathers over my brain, and I mistrust the perfect sanity of the record. But let me on.— Years dragged themselves along heavily, and still I dwelled within the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass; but a second change had come upon all things. The star-shaped flowers shrank into the stems of the trees, and appeared no more. The tints of the green carpet faded; and, one by one, the ruby-red asphodels withered away; and there sprang up, in place of them, ten by ten, dark, eye-like violets, that writhed uneasily and were ever encumbered with dew. And Life departed from our paths; for the tall flamingo flaunted no longer his scarlet plumage before us, but flew sadly from the vale into the hills, with all the gay glowing birds that had arrived in his company. And the golden and silver fish swam down through the gorge at the lower end of our domain and bedecked the sweet river never again. And the lulling melody that had been softer than the wind-harp of Aeolus, and more divine than all save the voice of Eleonora, it died little by little away, in murmurs growing lower and lower, until the stream returned, at length, utterly, into the solemnity of its original silence. And then, lastly, the voluminous cloud uprose, and, abandoning the tops of the mountains to the dimness of old, fell back into the regions of Hesper, and took away all its manifold golden and gorgeous glories from the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Yet the promises of Eleonora were not forgotten; for I heard the sounds of the swinging of the censers of the angels; and streams of a holy perfume floated ever and ever about the valley; and at lone hours, when my heart beat heavily, the winds that bathed my brow came unto me laden with soft sighs; and indistinct murmurs filled often the night air, and once— oh, but once only! I was awakened from a slumber, like the slumber of death, by the pressing of spiritual lips upon my own.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the void within my heart refused, even thus, to be filled. I longed for the love which had before filled it to overflowing. At length the valley pained me through its memories of Eleonora, and I left it for ever for the vanities and the turbulent triumphs of the world.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]I found myself within a strange city, where all things might have served to blot from recollection the sweet dreams I had dreamed so long in the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. The pomps and pageantries of a stately court, and the mad clangor of arms, and the radiant loveliness of women, bewildered and intoxicated my brain. But as yet my soul had proved true to its vows, and the indications of the presence of Eleonora were still given me in the silent hours of the night. Suddenly these manifestations they ceased, and the world grew dark before mine eyes, and I stood aghast at the burning thoughts which possessed, at the terrible temptations which beset me; for there came from some far, far distant and unknown land, into the gay court of the king I served, a maiden to whose beauty my whole recreant heart yielded at once— at whose footstool I bowed down without a struggle, in the most ardent, in the most abject worship of love. What, indeed, was my passion for the young girl of the valley in comparison with the fervor, and the delirium, and the spirit-lifting ecstasy of adoration with which I poured out my whole soul in tears at the feet of the ethereal Ermengarde?— Oh, bright was the seraph Ermengarde! and in that knowledge I had room for none other.— Oh, divine was the angel Ermengarde! and as I looked down into the depths of her memorial eyes, I thought only of them— and of her.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]I wedded;— nor dreaded the curse I had invoked; and its bitterness was not visited upon me. And once— but once again in the silence of the night; there came through my lattice the soft sighs which had forsaken me; and they modelled themselves into familiar and sweet voice, saying:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Sleep in peace!— for the Spirit of Love reigneth and ruleth, and, in taking to thy passionate heart her who is Ermengarde, thou art absolved, for reasons which shall be made known to thee in Heaven, of thy vows unto Eleonora."[/SIZE]
 

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THE DEVOTED FRIEND by: Oscar Wilde

THE DEVOTED FRIEND by: Oscar Wilde

[SIZE=-1]One morning the old Water-rat put his head out of his hole. He had bright beady eyes and stiff grey whiskers and his tail was like a long bit of black india-rubber. The little ducks were swimming about in the pond, looking just like a lot of yellow canaries, and their mother, who was pure white with real red legs, was trying to teach them how to stand on their heads in the water.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]“You will never be in the best society unless you can stand on your heads,” she kept saying to them; and every now and then she showed them how it was done. But the little ducks paid no attention to her. They were so young that they did not know what an advantage it is to be in society at all.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“What disobedient children!” cried the old Water-rat; “they really deserve to be drowned.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Nothing of the kind,” answered the Duck, “every one must make a beginning, and parents cannot be too patient.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Ah! I know nothing about the feelings of parents,” said the Water-rat; “I am not a family man. In fact, I have never been married, and I never intend to be. Love is all very well in its way, but friendship is much higher. Indeed, I know of nothing in the world that is either nobler or rarer than a devoted friendship.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“And what, pray, is your idea of the duties of a devoted friend?” asked a Green Linnet, who was sitting in a willow-tree hard by, and had overheard the conversation.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Yes, that is just what I want to know,” said the Duck; and she swam away to the end of the pond, and stood upon her head, in order to give her children a good example.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“What a silly question!” cried the Water-rat. “I should expect my devoted friend to be devoted to me, of course.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“And what would you do in return?” said the little bird, swinging upon a silver spray, and flapping his tiny wings.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“I don’t understand you,” answered the Water-rat.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Let me tell you a story on the subject,” said the Linnet.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Is the story about me?” asked the Water-rat. “If so, I will listen to it, for I am extremely fond of fiction.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“It is applicable to you,” answered the Linnet; and he flew down, and alighting upon the bank, he told the story of The Devoted Friend.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Once upon a time,” said the Linnet, “there was an honest little fellow named Hans.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Was he very distinguished?” asked the Water-rat.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“No,” answered the Linnet, “I don’t think he was distinguished at all, except for his kind heart, and his funny round good-humoured face. He lived in a tiny cottage all by himself, and every day he worked in his garden. In all the country-side there was no garden so lovely as his. Sweet-william grew there, and Gilly-flowers, and Shepherds’-purses, and Fair-maids of France. There were damask Roses, and yellow Roses, lilac Crocuses, and gold, purple Violets and white. Columbine and Ladysmock, Marjoram and Wild Basil, the Cowslip and the Flower-de-luce, the Daffodil and the Clove-Pink bloomed or blossomed in their proper order as the months went by, one flower taking another flower’s place, so that there were always beautiful things to look at, and pleasant odours to smell.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Little Hans had a great many friends, but the most devoted friend of all was big Hugh the Miller. Indeed, so devoted was the rich Miller to little Hans, that be would never go by his garden without leaning over the wall and plucking a large nosegay, or a handful of sweet herbs, or filling his pockets with plums and cherries if it was the fruit season.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Real friends should have everything in common,’ the Miller used to say, and little Hans nodded and smiled, and felt very proud of having a friend with such noble ideas.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Sometimes, indeed, the neighbours thought it strange that the rich Miller never gave little Hans anything in return, though he had a hundred sacks of flour stored away in his mill, and six milch cows, and a large flock of woolly sheep; but Hans never troubled his head about these things, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to listen to all the wonderful things the Miller used to say about the unselfishness of true friendship.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“So little Hans worked away in his garden. During the spring, the summer, and the autumn he was very happy, but when the winter came, and he had no fruit or flowers to bring to the market, he suffered a good deal from cold and hunger, and often had to go to bed without any supper but a few dried pears or some hard nuts. In the winter, also, he was extremely lonely, as the Miller never came to see him then.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘There is no good in my going to see little Hans as long as the snow lasts,’ the Miller used to say to his wife, ‘for when people are in trouble they should be left alone, and not be bothered by visitors. That at least is my idea about friendship, and I am sure I am right. So I shall wait till the spring comes, and then I shall pay him a visit, and he will be able to give me a large basket of primroses and that will make him so happy.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘You are certainly very thoughtful about others,’ answered the Wife, as she sat in her comfortable armchair by the big pinewood fire; ‘very thoughtful indeed. It is quite a treat to hear you talk about friendship. I am sure the clergyman himself could not say such beautiful things as you do, though he does live in a three-storied house, and wear a gold ring on his little finger.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘But could we not ask little Hans up here?’ said the Miller’s youngest son. ‘If poor Hans is in trouble I will give him half my porridge, and show him my white rabbits.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘What a silly boy you are’! cried the Miller; ‘I really don’t know what is the use of sending you to school. You seem not to learn anything. Why, if little Hans came up here, and saw our warm fire, and our good supper, and our great cask of red wine, he might get envious, and envy is a most terrible thing, and would spoil anybody’s nature. I certainly will not allow Hans’ nature to be spoiled. I am his best friend, and I will always watch over him, and see that he is not led into any temptations. Besides, if Hans came here, he might ask me to let him have some flour on credit, and that I could not do. Flour is one thing, and friendship is another, and they should not be confused. Why, the words are spelt differently, and mean quite different things. Everybody can see that.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘How well you talk’! said the Miller’s Wife, pouring herself out a large glass of warm ale; ‘really I feel quite drowsy. It is just like being in church.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Lots of people act well,’ answered the Miller; ‘but very few people talk well, which shows that talking is much the more difficult thing of the two, and much the finer thing also’; and he looked sternly across the table at his little son, who felt so ashamed of himself that he hung his head down, and grew quite scarlet, and began to cry into his tea. However, he was so young that you must excuse him.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Is that the end of the story?” asked the Water-rat.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Certainly not,” answered the Linnet, “that is the beginning.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Then you are quite behind the age,” said the Water-rat. “Every good story-teller nowadays starts with the end, and then goes on to the beginning, and concludes with the middle. That is the new method. I heard all about it the other day from a critic who was walking round the pond with a young man. He spoke of the matter at great length, and I am sure he must have been right, for he had blue spectacles and a bald head, and whenever the young man made any remark, he always answered ‘Pooh!’ But pray go on with your story. I like the Miller immensely. I have all kinds of beautiful sentiments myself, so there is a great sympathy between us.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“Well,” said the Linnet, hopping now on one leg and now on the other, “as soon as the winter was over, and the primroses began to open their pale yellow stars, the Miller said to his wife that he would go down and see little Hans.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Why, what a good heart you have’! cried his Wife; ‘you are always thinking of others. And mind you take the big basket with you for the flowers.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“So the Miller tied the sails of the windmill together with a strong iron chain, and went down the hill with the basket on his arm.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Good morning, little Hans,’ said the Miller.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Good morning,’ said Hans, leaning on his spade, and smiling from ear to ear.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘And how have you been all the winter?’ said the Miller.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Well, really,’ cried Hans, ‘it is very good of you to ask, very good indeed. I am afraid I had rather a hard time of it, but now the spring has come, and I am quite happy, and all my flowers are doing well.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘We often talked of you during the winter, Hans,’ said the Miller, ‘and wondered how you were getting on.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘That was kind of you,’ said Hans; ‘I was half afraid you had forgotten me.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Hans, I am surprised at you,’ said the Miller; ‘friendship never forgets. That is the wonderful thing about it, but I am afraid you don’t understand the poetry of life. How lovely your primroses are looking, by-the-bye”![/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘They are certainly very lovely,’ said Hans, ‘and it is a most lucky thing for me that I have so many. I am going to bring them into the market and sell them to the Burgomaster’s daughter, and buy back my wheelbarrow with the money.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Buy back your wheelbarrow? You don’t mean to say you have sold it? What a very stupid thing to do’![/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Well, the fact is,’ said Hans, ‘that I was obliged to. You see the winter was a very bad time for me, and I really had no money at all to buy bread with. So I first sold the silver buttons off my Sunday coat, and then I sold my silver chain, and then I sold my big pipe, and at last I sold my wheelbarrow. But I am going to buy them all back again now.’[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]“‘Hans,’ said the Miller, ‘I will give you my wheelbarrow. It is not in very good repair; indeed, one side is gone, and there is something wrong with the wheel-spokes; but in spite of that I will give it to you. I know it is very generous of me, and a great many people would think me extremely foolish for parting with it, but I am not like the rest of the world. I think that generosity is the essence of friendship, and, besides, I have got a new wheelbarrow for myself. Yes, you may set your mind at ease, I will give you my wheelbarrow.’.[/SIZE]
 
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