The 12 Dancing Princesses
The 12 Dancing Princesses
The 12 Dancing Princesses ONCE upon a time there lived, in a village in the mountains, a little cow-herd, without either father or mother. His real name was Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer, because when he drove his cows over the fields, he went along with his head in the air, gaping at the sky. As he had a white skin, blue eyes, and hair that curled all over his head, the village girls used to cry after him, ’Well, Star Gazer, what are you doing?’ and Michael would answer, ’Oh, nothing,’ and go on his way without even turning to look at them. The fact was he thought them very ugly, with their sun-burnt necks, their great red hands, their coarse petticoats and their wooden shoes. He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small, who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces, and were called princesses. At night, he and his friends sat around the fire, looked into the flames, and imagined their future lives. His friends had very ordinary fancies, but he he dreamed that one day he would marry a princess. One morning about the middle of August, just at mid-day when the sun was hottest, Michael ate his dinner of a piece of dry bread, and went to sleep under an oak tree And while he slept, he dreamt of a beautiful lady, dressed in a robe of cloth of gold, who said to him: “Go to the castle of Beloeil, and there you shall marry a princess.” That evening the little cow-boy, who had been thinking a great deal about the advice of the lady in the golden dress, told his dream to the farm people. But, as was natural, they only laughed at the Star Gazer. The next day at the same hour he went to sleep again under the same tree. The lady appeared to him a second time, and said: “Go to the castle of Beloeil, and you shall marry a princess.” In the evening Michael told his friends that he had dreamed the same dream again, but they only laughed at him more than before. “Never mind,” he thought to himself; “if the lady appears to me a third time, I will do as she tells me.” The following day, to the great astonishment of all the village, about two o’clock in the afternoon a voice was heard singing: “Rale, rale, How the cattle go!” It was the little cow-boy driving his herd back to the cow-shed. The farmer began to scold him furiously saying it was far too soon to bring the cows home, but he answered quietly, “I am going away,” made his clothes into a bundle, said good-bye to all his friends, and boldly set out to seek his princess. There was great excitement through all the village, and on the top of the hill the people stood holding their sides with laughing, as they watched the Star
با سلام لطفا با دادن نظرات و پیشنهادات خود اینجانب را در ارائه بهتر مطالب یاری کنید