H. C. Andersen best fairy tales / Лучшие сказки Г.Х. Андерсена. Уровень 1

In the morning they discovered the strange visitor. The cat began to purr and the hen began to cluck.

“What is that noise about?” said the old woman. She was looking around the room, but her sight was not very good. Therefore when she saw the duckling she thought it was a fat duck.

“Oh, what a surprise!” she exclaimed. “I hope it is not a drake, for then I shall have some ducks’ eggs. I must wait and see”.

So she allowed the duckling to remain for three weeks. But there were no eggs.

The cat was the master of the house, and the hen was the mistress.

They always said, “We and the world”. They believed themselves to be half the world, and the better half, too. The duckling had a different opinion on the subject, but the hen did not to listen to such doubts.

“Can you lay eggs?” the hen asked.

“No”.

“Then cease talking!”

“Can you raise your back, or purr, or throw out sparks?” asked the cat.

“No”.

“Then you have no right to express an opinion when sensible people are speaking”.

So the duckling sat in a corner. He was very sad.

When the sunshine and the fresh air came into the room through the open door, he wanted to swim and spoke of it.

“What an absurd idea!” said the hen. “You have nothing else to do; therefore you have foolish ideas. Purr or lay eggs – and they will pass away”.

“But it is so delightful to swim,” said the duckling, “and so refreshing to feel the water when you dive down to the bottom”.

“Delightful, indeed! It is a queer sort of pleasure,” said the hen. “You must be crazy! Ask the cat – he is the cleverest animal. Ask him how he likes to swim, or to dive under the water. Of course, I will not speak of my own opinion. Ask our mistress, the old woman; there is no one in the world more clever than she is. Do you think she likes to swim and feel the water over her head?”

“I see you don’t understand me”, said the duckling.

“We don’t understand you? Who can understand you, I wonder? Do you consider yourself more clever than the cat or the old woman? I will say nothing of myself.

Don’t imagine such nonsense, child. Thank your good fortune that we receive you here so well. Are you not in a warm room and in society from which you may learn something? But you are a chatterer, and your company is not very agreeable. Believe me, I speak only for your good. I may tell you unpleasant truths.