賴世雄童話故事中級2快樂王子

2024年2月17日發(作者：3月12日植樹節)

常春藤 賴世雄英語

兒童童話故事中級

The Happy Prince

Winter is almost here. A bird is flying

to a warm place far away.

"Whew! I'm tired," says the bird. "I

need to rest for the night."

The bird looks for a place to sleep.

Down below him, there is a city.

"Where should I sleep?" thinks the

bird.

The bird es a statue of a smiling

prince is standing on a tall

column.

"I will sleep on that staue's foot ,"

thinks the bird. "It will be safe and

clean there."

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The bird feels happy to find such a

nice place to sleep. It looks at the smiling

prince.

"What a pretty statue," it thinks. "The eyes on his face are both jewels.

The buttons on his coat are jewels, too. And look at tho clothes! They

are made of gold!"

The bird clos its eyes. Just then, a

drop of water falls on its head. Then, a

cond later, another drop falls on its tail.

"Oh, no. It's raining," thinks the bird. "I

will find a dry place to sleep."

But it is not raining. The drops of water

come from the prince's eyes. He is

crying."Who are you?" asks the bird.

"I am the Happy Prince," says the

statue.

"Then why are you crying?" asks the

bird. "You are making me wet!"

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The prince tells the bird why he's crying.

"Before I was a happy prince. My family

was rich, and I lived in a big palace. Every

day I played with my friends. The palace

had a big wall. I never saw the world on the

other side of the wall."

"You were so lucky," says the bird. "I

would like to be rich and happy, too."

The prince finishes his story.

"When I died, they put me up here. I can

e many bad things. People are not happy.

They are poor. Their lives are very hard."

The prince tells the bird what he can e.

"I can e a hou on a small street.

One of the windows is open. A poor woman

is making a nice dress for a rich woman. Her

little boy is very sick. He is crying, but there

is no money to buy medicine."

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The prince asks the bird to help him.

"I am a statue, so I can't walk. Plea

take a jewel from my shirt and fly to the

hou. With the jewel the woman can buy

medicine for the boy."

The bird wants to help the prince, but it

can't.

"My friends are waiting for me in a warm

place. I must not stay here long," it says.

The prince looks very sad, so the little

bird agrees to help him.

"It is very cold here, but I will help you

tonight," says the bird.

The bird takes a jewel from the prince's

coat. It flies over the city to the hou. Inside,

the woman is asleep. She has worked all day

to finish the dress. It puts the jewel on the

table.

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The bird returns to the prince.

"Strange," it says. "It is so cold, but I feel

warm inside."

"That is becau you have done a good

thing," says the prince.

The next morning, the bird flies to the

river. It wants to take a bath. After that it will

fly south.

"Tonight I will leave," thinks the bird.

"But before I go, I want to say good-bye to

the prince."

The bird flies back to the prince. The

prince is sad again.

"Little bird. Can you stay with me one

more day?" asks the prince. "I e a poor

man. He is sitting all alone in his hou. He

is writing a play. There is no fire, so he is

very cold. Give him one of my jewel eyes.

Then he can buy some wood."

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The bird doesn't want to take the

prince's eye. It begins to cry.

"How can I take your eye?" says the bird.

"You won't e well without it."

"Plea do it," says the prince. "I still

have one more eye."

"All right. I will help you one more time,"

says the bird.

The bird takes the jewel to the man's

hou. It flies into a hole in the roof. Quickly,

it puts the jewel on the man's desk. The man

is working and doesn't e the bird.

The bird is ready to fly away again. It

goes back to the prince to say

prince asks the bird to stay a little longer.

"I need your help again, little bird," says

the prince. "A poor girl is lling matches in

the square below us. She has no socks or

shoes, so her feet are cold. Plea take my

other eye to her."

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The bird feels very bad.

"You won't e anything without your

other eye," says the bird.

"That is not so important," says the

prince. "Plea do it."

Sadly, the bird takes the jewel to the girl.

It puts it into her hand. She is very happy to

e it.

The bird once again returns to the

prince.

"You can't e anything now, so I will

stay with you forever," says the bird.

"You can't do that. It is too cold for you

to live here," says the prince.

"I really can't go," says the bird.

Page 8 of 11

So the bird helps the prince. It flies over

the city and looks for poor people. Many

people are cold and hungry. It gives them

each a leaf of gold from the prince's clothes.

This makes the poor men and women happy.

The poor children laugh and play in the

street. Now they will have coats to wear.

Now they will have bread to eat.

Soon, all of the prince's clothes are gone.

He is just a gray, metal statue. The weather

is getting colder. Snow begins to fall. All the

people in the city have a coat to wear, even

the poor people.

The bird is very cold. It has no coat. It

knows that it will die soon. It flies up to the

prince to say good-bye for the last time.

"Good-bye, dear prince," says the bird.

"I'm happy you don't need a coat it is very

cold."

"You really should fly away now, little

bird," says the prince." If you don't, you will get sick."

Page 9 of 11

The bird kiss the prince on his hand

and falls down dead. A loud sound comes

from inside the statue. The prince's heart is

broken.

The next morning, the mayor of the city

is walking near the statue. He looks up at it.

"Oh, my!" says the mayor. "Our prince

doesn't look so beautiful anymore. He looks

like a beggar."

So the statue of the prince is pulled

down.

"Beautiful statues are not uful

statues," says the mayor.

Page 10 of 11

The statue is melted down. What will

the people do with the metal?

"I think a new statue should be made of

mylf," says the mayor.

There is one problem. The broken heart

of the statue will not melt. Someone throws

it into the garbage can. Inside the garbage

can, the heart and the dead bird lie

together.

In Heaven, God is talking to his angels.

"Bring me the heart and the bird," says

God. "In Heaven the bird will sing its songs

and the prince will live in my city of gold

forever."

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