格林童话故事：十二个懒仆人

格林童话产生于十九世纪初，是由德国著名语言学家，雅可布·格林和威廉·格林兄弟收集、整理、加工完成的德国民间文学。它是世界童话的经典之作，自问世以来，在世界各地影响十分广泛。格林兄弟以其丰富的想象、优美的语言给孩子们讲述了一个个神奇而又浪漫的童话故事。下面小编为大家带来经典格林童话故事：十二个懒仆人，欢迎大家阅读，希望对大家学习英语有所帮助!

Twelve servants who had done nothing all the day would not exert themselves

at night either, but laid themselves on the grass and boasted of their idleness.

The first said, "What is your laziness to me, I have to concern myself about

mine own? The care of my body is my principal work, I eat not a little and

drink still more. When I have had four meals, I fast a short time until I feel

hunger again, and that suits me best. To rise betimes is not for me; when it

is getting near mid-day, I already seek out a resting-place for myself. If the

master call, I do exactly as if I had not heard him, and if he call for the second

time, I wait awhile before I get up, and go to him very slowly. In this way life

is endurable."

The second said, "I have a horse to look after, but I leave the bit in his mouth,

and if I do not want to do it, I give him no food, and I say he has had it already.

I, however, lay myself in the oat-chest and sleep for four hours. After this I

stretch out one foot and move it a couple of times over the horse's body, and

then he is combed and cleaned. Who is going to make a great business of that?

Nevertheless service is too toilsome for me."

The third said, "Why plague oneself with work? Nothing comes of it! I laid

myself in the sun, and fell asleep. It began to rain a little, but why should I

get up? I let it rain on in God's name. At last came a splashing shower, so

heavy indeed, that it pulled the hair out of my head and washed it away, and

I got a hole in the skull; I put a plaster on it, and then it was all right. I have

already had several injuries of that kind."

The fourth said, "If I am to undertake a piece of work, I first loiter about for an

hour that I may save up my strength. After that I begin quite slowly, and ask if

no one is there who could help me. Then I let him do the chief of the work, and

in reality only look on; but that also is still too much for me."

The fifth said, "What does that matter? Just think, I am to take away the manure

from the horse's stable, and load the cart with it. I let it go on slowly, and if I have

taken anything on the fork, I only half-raise it up, and then I rest just a quarter of

an hour until I quite throw it in. It is enough and to spare if I take out a cartful in

the day. I have no fancy for killing myself with work."

The sixth said, "Shame on ye; I am afraid of no work, but I lie down for three

weeks, and never once take my clothes off. What is the use of buckling your

shoes on? For aught I care they may fall off my feet, it is no matter. If I am

going up some steps, I drag one foot slowly after the other on to the first step,

and then I count the rest of them that I may know where I must rest.

The seventh said, "That will not do with me; my master looks after my work,

only he is not at home the whole day. But I neglect nothing, I run as fast as

it is possible to do when one crawls. If I am to get on, four sturdy men must

push me with all their might. I came where six men were lying sleeping on a

bed beside each other. I lay down by them and slept too. There was no wakening

me again, and when they wanted to have me home, they had to carry me." The

eighth said, "I see plainly that I am the only active fellow; if a stone lie before me,

I do not give myself the trouble to raise my legs and step over it. I lay myself

down on the ground, and if I am wet and covered with mud and dirt, I stay lying

until the sun has dried me again. At the very most, I only turn myself so that it

can shine on me." The ninth said, "That is the right way! To-day the bread was

before me, but I was too idle to take it, and nearly died of hunger! Moreover a

jug stood by it, but it was so big and heavy that I did not like to lift it up, and

preferred bearing thirst. Just to turn myself round was too much for me, I remained

lying like a log the whole day." The tenth said, "Laziness has brought misfortune

on me, a broken leg and swollen calf. Three of us were lying in the road, and I had

my legs stretched out. Some one came with a cart, and the wheels went over me.

I might indeed have drawn my legs back, but I did not hear the cart coming, for

the midges were humming about my ears, and creeping in at my nose and out again

at my mouth; who can take the trouble to drive the vermin away?"

The eleventh said, "I gave up my place yesterday. I had no fancy for carrying the

heavy books to my master any longer or fetching them away again. There was no

end of it all day long. But to tell the truth, he gave me my dismissal, and would

not keep me any longer, for his clothes, which I had left lying in the dust, were all

moth-eaten, and I am very glad of it."

The twelfth said, "To-day I had to drive the cart into the country, and made myself

a bed of straw on it, and had a good sleep. The reins slipped out of my hand, and

when I awoke, the horse had nearly torn itself loose, the harness was gone, the strap

which fastened the horse to the shafts was gone, and so were the collar, the bridle

and bit. Some one had come by, who had carried all off. Besides this, the cart had

got into a quagmire and stuck fast. I left it standing, and stretched myself on the

straw again. At last the master came himself, and pushed the cart out, and if he had

not come I should not be lying here but there, and sleeping in full tranquillity."

结束语：

格林童话带有浓厚的地域特色、民族特色，富于趣味性和娱乐性，对培养儿童养成真、善、美的良好品质有积极意义。这些内容丰富又饱含趣味性的童话故事扩展了儿童的思维世界，在轻松愉说的阅读中总结经验教训，唤起儿童对生活的热爱与期待，激发儿童善恶观的形成。以上的格林童话故事希望大家能够喜欢。