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0出自｜安徒生童话
Once there were twenty-five tin soldiers, all brothers, all cast from the same old tin spoon
They carried muskets on their shoulders and stared straight ahead
The last soldier had only one leg, because they ran out of tin
But he stood just as steady on his one leg as the others did on two
On the table stood a beautiful paper castle
At the castle gate stood a paper lady, wearing a cloth skirt with a blue ribbon over her shoulder and a sparkling ornament at her chest
She stretched out both arms and lifted one leg so high that the tin soldier could barely see it, so he thought she had only one leg, just like him
"She'd make a fine wife for me," he thought
When night fell, the toys came alive, they paid each other visits, started pretend wars, and held dances
Only two never moved, the tin soldier and the little dancer
She stood on the tips of her toes, arms outstretched
The tin soldier stood steady on his one leg, his eyes fixed on her
Suddenly the clock struck twelve, and the lid of the snuff box flew open
Out hopped a little black goblin
"Tin soldier," said the goblin "Keep your eyes to yourself"
The tin soldier pretended not to hear
"All right, just you wait until tomorrow," said the goblin
The next morning, the children moved the tin soldier to the windowsill
The window blew open, and the soldier fell headfirst from the third floor to the ground
His bayonet lodged in the crack between the paving stones
The nursemaid and the child came down to look for him
They almost stepped on him but never saw him
The tin soldier felt it wouldn't be proper to shout while in uniform, so he stayed silent
It began to pour
When the rain stopped, two street boys came by
"Look," said one "A tin soldier Let's send him sailing"
They folded a boat from newspaper and placed the tin soldier inside
The paper boat drifted down the gutter
The soldier stood rock-steady, his face unchanged, musket on his shoulder, eyes straight ahead
Suddenly the boat swept into a pitch-black drain
"I wonder where this will take me," he thought
"Ah, if only that young lady were here with me, I wouldn't care if it were twice as dark"
A huge rat appeared
"Your passport Show me your passport"
The tin soldier said nothing
He only gripped his musket tighter
The boat burst out of the drain into a wide canal
Water poured over the sides
The boat began to sink
The soldier stood upright, the water up to his neck
He thought of the beautiful dancer
Then a voice rang in his ears
"Onward, onward, soldier of tin, death alone awaits you"
The tin soldier sank to the bottom
Just then, a great fish swallowed him whole
Oh, the darkness inside
Worse than the drain, and so narrow
But the tin soldier was steadfast, he held tight to his musket, even as he lay still
Then a flash of light pierced the darkness
Someone shouted, "The tin soldier"
The fish had been caught, sold at the market, and brought into a kitchen
The maid sliced the fish open with a big knife and carried the soldier into the sitting room
The tin soldier found himself back in the very same room
He saw the same children, the same beautiful castle, and the lovely dancer
She was still standing on one leg
Her courage stirred something inside him, he almost wept tin tears, but he couldn't
He looked at her, and she looked at him, and neither said a word
A child grabbed the tin soldier and flung him into the fire
That goblin's work, no doubt
The tin soldier stood there, glowing red
He felt his body slowly melting, but he still held his gun and stood firm
The door blew open, and a gust of wind swept the dancer up
She flew into the fire, landed beside the tin soldier, burst into flame, and vanished
The tin soldier melted into a lump of tin
The next morning, the maid emptied the ashes
She found a small tin heart
All that was left of the dancer was her sparkling ornament, but it had burned as black as charcoal
