Waltey

Prevod

Once upon a time, a flea, a grasshopper, and a jumping goose wanted to see which of them could jump highest, so they invited the whole world, and anyone else who cared to come, to see the spectacle. And there were three fine jumpers when they all met in the drawing room.

"Well, I shall give my daughter to whoever jumps highest!" said the king. "It would be a poor business to have these persons jumping for nothing!" The flea came forward first. He had such polished manners and bowed in every direction, for he had young ladies' blood in him and was accustomed to mixing only with human beings, and that makes such a difference.

Next came the grasshopper. He was certainly much heavier, but he carried himself very well and wore a green uniform, which he had been born in. Besides, the fellow said that he came of a very ancient family in the land of Egypt, and that here at home he was highly esteemed. He had been taken straight from the field and put in a house of cards three storeys high, all made of court cards with their coloured sides facing inward. There were both doors and windows, cut out of the queen of hearts' waist. "I sing so beautifully," he said, "that sixteen native crickets, who have been chirping since childhood and yet have never been given a house of cards, have grown even thinner than they were from sheer vexation at hearing me!"

Both the flea and the grasshopper thus gave a good account of who they were and why they thought themselves fit to marry a princess. The jumping goose said nothing, but people said that he thought all the more; and when the court dog had merely sniffed at him, he vouched for the jumping goose's good family. The old councillor, who had been awarded three decorations for holding his tongue, declared that he knew the jumping goose was gifted with second sight. You could tell from his back whether the winter would be mild or severe, and you cannot tell even that from the back of the man who writes the almanac.

"Well, I say nothing!" said the old king. "But I go on thinking my own thoughts all the same!" Now it was time for the jumping. The flea jumped so high that no one could see him, and then they declared that he had not jumped at all, which was really shabby of them!

The grasshopper jumped only half as high, but he jumped straight into the king's face, and the king said it was disgusting. The jumping goose stood still for a long time, thinking things over, until at last they thought he could not jump at all.

"I do hope he hasn't been taken ill!" said the court dog, and he sniffed at him again. Whoosh! The goose made a little sideways jump, right into the lap of the princess, who was sitting on a low golden stool.

Then the king said, "The highest jump is to jump up to my daughter, for that is the whole point of it. But it takes brains to think of such a thing, and the jumping goose has shown that he has brains. He has a good head on his shoulders!"

And so he won the princess. "Still, I jumped highest!" said the flea. "But never mind! Let her have that goose-bone fellow with his stick and his pitch! I jumped highest all the same, but in this world you must have some bulk about you if people are to see you!"

And so the flea went off to serve in a foreign army, where they say he was killed. The grasshopper sat down in the ditch and pondered how things really worked in this world, and he too said, "You must have bulk! You must have bulk!" Then he sang his own mournful song, and it is from that song that we have taken this story, which might perfectly well be a lie, even though it has been printed.

Izvirnik

Eventyr af Hans Christian Andersen

Loppen, græshoppen og springgåsen ville engang se hvem af dem der kunne springe højest og så inviterede de hele verden og hvem der ellers ville komme at se den stads, og det var tre ordentlige springfyre, da de kom sammen i stuen.

"Ja, jeg giver min datter til den, som springer højest!" sagde kongen, "for det er så fattigt at de personer skal springe om ingenting!"

Loppen kom først frem, den havde sådanne nette manerer og hilste til alle sider, for den havde frøkenblod i sig og var vant til kun at omgås med mennesker, og det gør nu så meget.

Nu kom græshoppen, den var rigtignok betydelig sværere, men den havde dog ganske god skik på sig og var i grøn uniform, og den var medfødt; desuden sagde personen, at den havde en meget gammel familie i det land Ægypten, og at den her hjemme var højt vurderet, den var taget lige fra marken og sat i et korthus der havde tre etager, alle sammen af herreblade, der vendte den kulørte side indad; der var både dør og vinduer og det skåret ud i livet på hjerter dame. "Jeg synger således," sagde den, "at seksten indfødte fårekyllinger der har pebet fra små af og dog ikke fået korthus, har ved at høre mig ærgret sig endnu tyndere end de var!"

Begge to, både loppen og græshoppen gjorde således godt rede for hvem de var og at de troede de nok kunne ægte en prinsesse.

Springgåsen sagde ikke noget, men man sagde om den, at den tænkte desto mere og da hofhunden bare snøftede til den, indestod han for at springgåsen var af god familie; den gamle rådmand, der havde fået tre ordener for at tie stille, forsikrede at han vidste at springgåsen var begavet med spådomskraft, man kunne se på ryggen af den om man fik en mild eller en streng vinter og det kan man ikke engang se på ryggen af ham der skriver almanakken.

"Ja, jeg siger nu ikke noget!" sagde den gamle konge, "men jeg går nu sådan altid og tænker mit!"

Nu var det springet om at gøre. Loppen sprang så højt at ingen kunne se det og så påstod de at den slet ikke havde sprunget og det var nu lumpent!

Græshoppen sprang kun halvt så højt, men den sprang kongen lige i ansigtet og så sagde han at det var ækelt.

Springgåsen stod længe stille og betænkte sig, man troede til sidst at den slet ikke kunne springe.

"Bare den ikke har fået ondt!" sagde hofhunden og så snøftede han igen til den: rutsch! sprang den et lille skævt spring hen i skødet på prinsessen der sad lavt på en guldskammel.

Da sagde kongen: "Det højeste spring er at springe op til min datter, for det er det fine af det, men sligt hører der hoved til at falde på og springgåsen har víst at den har hoved. Den har ben i panden!"

Og så fik den prinsessen.

"Jeg sprang dog højest!" sagde loppen. "Men det kan være det samme! lad hende kun have den gåserad med pind og med beg! jeg sprang dog højest, men der skal i denne verden krop til for at de kan se én!"

Og så gik loppen i fremmed krigstjeneste, hvor man siger at den blev slået ihjel.

Græshoppen satte sig ude i grøften og tænkte over hvorledes det egentlig gik til i verden og den sagde også: "Krop skal der til! Krop skal der til!" og så sang den sin egen bedrøvelige vise og det er af den vi har taget historien, som dog gerne kunne være løgn om den endogså var trykt.

Nadaljuj z branjem

Kralj Drozgobrad Grimmove pravljice · 8 min branja 3 skupnih tagov Medvedka Pentameron · 15 min branja 3 skupnih tagov Kaznovana prevzetnost Pentameron · 31 min branja 3 skupnih tagov Butasti Janez Andersenove pravljice · 7 min branja 3 skupnih tagov

Nalagam bralnik