小意达的花【小伊达的花（下）】

　　Then it seemed as if something fell down from the table. Ida looked that way. It was the Shrovetide birch rod which was jumping down! It seemed almost as if it belonged to the flowers. At any rate it was very neat; and a little wax doll, with just such a broad hat on its head as the councillor wore, sat upon it. The birch rod hopped about among the flowers on its three red legs, and stamped quite loud, for it was dancing the mazurka; and the other flowers could not manage that dance, because they were too light, and unable to stamp like that.
　　 The wax doll on the birch rod all at once became quite great and long, turned itself over the paper flowers, and said, "How can one put such things in a child"s head? Those are stupid fancies!" and then the wax doll was exactly like the councillor with the broad hat, and looked just as yellow and cross as he. But the paper flowers hit him on his thin legs, and then he shrank up again, and became quite a little wax doll. That was very amusing to see; and little Ida could not restrain her laughter. The birch rod went on dancing, and the councillor was obliged to dance too; it was no use whether he might make himself great and long, or remained the little yellow wax doll with the big black hat. Then the other flowers put in a good word for him, especially those who had lain in the doll"s bed, and then the birch rod gave over. At the same moment there was a loud knocking at the drawer, inside where Ida"s doll, Sophy, lay with many other toys. The chimney-sweep ran to the edge of the table, lay flat down on his stomach, and began to pull the drawer out a little. Then Sophy raised herself, and looked round quite astonished.
　　"There must be a ball here," said she; "why did nobody tell me?"
　　"Will you dance with me?" asked the chimney sweep.
　　"You are a nice sort of fellow to dance!" she replied, and turned her back upon him.
　　Then she seated herself upon the drawer, and thought that one of the flowers would
　　 come and ask her; but not one of them came. Then she coughed, "Hem! Hem! Hem!" but for all that not one came. The chimney sweep now danced all alone, and that was not at all so bad.
　　As none of the flowers seemed to notice Sophy, she let herself fall down from the drawer straight upon the floor, so that there was a great noise. The flowers now all came running up, to ask if she had not hurt herself; and they were all very polite to her, especially the flowers that had lain in her bed. But she had not hurt herself at all; and Ida"s flowers all thanked her for the nice bed, and were kind to her, took her into the middle of the floor, where the moon shone in, and danced with her; and all the other flowers formed a circle round her. Now Sophy was glad, and said they might keep her bed; she did not at all mind lying in the drawer.
　　But the flowers said, "We thank you heartily, but we cannot live so long. Tomorrow we shall be quite dead. But tell little Ida she is to bury us out in the garden, where the canary lies; then we shall wake up again in summer, and be far more beautiful."
　　"No, you must not die," said Sophy; and she kissed the flowers.
　　At that moment the door opened, and a great number of splendid flowers came dancing in. Ida could not imagine whence they had come; these must certainly all be flowers from the king"s castle yonder. First of all came two glorious roses, and they had little gold crowns on; they were a king and a queen, Then came the prettiest stocks and carnations; and they bowed in all directions. They had music with them. Great poppies and peonies blew upon pea-pods till they were quite red in the face. The blue hyacinths and the little white snowdrops rang just as if they had bells on them. That was wonderful music! Then came many other flowers, and danced all together; the blue violets and the pink primroses, daisies and the lilies of the valley. And all the flowers kissed one another.It was beautiful to look at!
　　At last the flowers wished one another good night; then little Ida, too, crept to bed, where she dreamed of all she had seen.
　　 When she rose next morning, she went quickly to the little table, to see if the flowers were still there. She drew aside the curtains of the little bed; there were they all, but they were quite faded, far more than yesterday. Sophy was lying in the drawer where Ida had laid her; she looked very sleepy.
　　"Do you remember what you were to say to me?" asked little Ida.
　　But Sophy looked quite stupid, and did not say a single word.
　　"You are not good at all!" said Ida. "And yet they all danced with you."
　　Then she took a little paper box, on which were painted beautiful birds, and opened it, and laid the dead flowers in it.
　　"That shall be your pretty coffin," said she, "and when my Norwegian cousins come to visit me by and by, they shall help me to bury you outside in the garden, so that you may grow again in summer, and become more beautiful than ever."
　　The Norwegian cousins were two smart boys. Their names were Jonas and Adolphe; their father had given them two new crossbows, and they had brought these with them to show to Ida. She told them about the poor flowers which had died, and then they got leave to bury them. The two boys went first, with their crossbows on their shoulders, and little Ida followed with the dead flowers in the pretty box. Out in the garden a little grave was dug. Ida first kissed the flowers, and then laid them in the earth in the box, and Adolphe and Jonas shot with their crossbows over the grave, for they had neither guns nor cannons.
　　
　　这时，好像有个什么东西从桌上掉了下来。伊达朝那边望去。原来是根桦木条蹦了下来。好像它也是花儿似的。确实，它也很整洁，一个小蜡人骑在它身上。那小蜡人头戴一顶宽边的大帽子，跟枢密顾问戴的帽子一样。桦木条的三条红腿在花儿中间跳来跳去，大声地跺着脚，因为它跳的是玛祖卡舞。其他花儿都不会那样跳，因为它们太轻了，没有办法使劲地踏地板。
　　桦木条上的小蜡人突然变得又大又高，一下子扑向那些纸花，说：“是谁把这些东西灌输给孩子的？这些都是愚蠢的胡思乱想!”这时小蜡人就跟那个戴宽帽子的枢密顾问一模一样，像他那么脸色蜡黄，脾气暴躁。纸花儿撞上了他的瘦腿，于是他又缩小，成了个很小的小蜡人。这看起来很有趣，小伊达忍住不大笑起来。桦木条继续跳舞，枢密顾问也被迫跟着跳。不管他把自己变得又大又高，或者仍旧是个戴着宽帽子的小蜡人，他都得跳。然后其他的花儿，特别是那些躺在小木偶床上的花儿，对桦木条说了几句好话，它才停了下来。就在这时，抽屉上传来很响的敲打声。里面是玩具娃娃苏菲，她正和其他玩具一起躺在那儿呢。扫烟囱人跑到桌边，卧倒身子，把抽屉拉开了一点。于是苏菲站了起来，吃惊地望着四周。
　　“这儿肯定是在举办舞会吧。”她说，“为什么没人告诉我一声?”
　　“你愿意和我一起跳舞吗?”扫烟囱的说。
　　“你倒是个很合适的舞伴!”她答道。然后她扭过身子，背对着他。
　　她自己坐在了抽屉上，以为会有一朵花儿来请她跳舞。但一朵花儿也没有来。然后她咳嗽起来，“咳!咳!咳!”但还没有谁过来。扫烟囱的现在就一个人跳，而且他感觉还不错。
　　因为没有花儿理睬苏菲，她就自己从抽屉上落到地面，弄出了很大的声响。花儿一下子都涌了过来，问她摔伤了没有。它们对她都彬彬有礼，特别是那些原先躺在她床上的花儿。但她根本没伤着自己。伊达的花都为她那舒适的床来感谢她，对她都特别好，把她拉到地板中央，月光正照着那儿。它们和她一起跳舞，其他的花儿也都在她四周围成了一个圈。这下苏菲可高兴啦，说它们可以继续住在她的床上，还说自己根本不在意躺在抽屉里。
　　但花儿们说：“我们由衷地感谢您，但我们活不了那么长时间，明天我们就会死去的。但请告诉小伊达，请她把我们埋在花园里，那个埋金丝雀的地方。明年夏天我们就会苏醒过来，而且会更漂亮。”
　　“不，你们不要死。”苏菲说。她吻着那些花儿。
　　这时门开了，一大群鲜艳的花儿都跳着舞走了进来。伊达想不到它们是从哪儿来的，它们应该是国王城堡里的花吧。一开始进来的是两朵灿烂的玫瑰，头上戴着小金王冠，它们是国王和王后。接着进来的是最漂亮的紫罗兰和石竹，它们向四面鞠躬。它们还带来了乐队，大朵的罂粟花和牡丹花嘴里吹着豆荚，脸儿都涨得通红。蓝色的风信子和小白雪花儿响了起来，就好像身上挂着铃铛似的。那真是美妙的音乐!然后又来了许多花儿，都一起跳舞。有蓝色的香紫罗兰和红色的报春花，还有山谷里来的野雏菊和野百合。所有的花儿都互相亲吻。那个场面真是太美了!
　　最后，花儿们互道晚安，小伊达也爬回自己的床上。她做了个梦，梦见了刚才看到的一切。
　　第二天早晨她起床后，马上走到小桌子边，看看那些花儿是不是还在那儿。她把小床的帘子拉到一边。那些花儿都在那儿，但比昨天枯萎多了。苏菲躺在抽屉里，那是昨天伊达把它放在那儿的。它看来还是睡眼惺松的。
　　“你记得昨晚你想对我说的话吗?”小伊达问。
　　但苏菲看起来呆头呆脑的，一个字也不说。
　　“你可真不怎么样！”伊达说，“但它们还是都和你跳舞了。”
　　然后她拿过一个小纸盒，上面画着一些漂亮的鸟儿。她打开盒子，把死了的花儿放在里面。
　　“这就是你们的小棺材了。”她说，“当我的挪威表哥们来的时候，他们会帮我把你们埋在外面的花园里，这样你们在夏天就会再长出来，比以前任何时候都更美。”
　　两个挪威表哥是两个聪明的小男孩。他们的名字叫琼纳斯和阿多菲。他们的爸爸送给他们两张新弓，他们把弓带来给小伊达看。小伊达告诉他们，可怜的花都死了。他们就起身去埋花儿。两个男孩走在前面，小伊达手提装着死花的小盒子跟在后面。他们在外面的花园里挖了个小坟。伊达先亲了亲那些花儿，然后把她们装在小盒子里埋进泥土。阿多菲和琼纳斯在坟上射箭致敬，因为他们没有枪和炮呀。