《踩面包的姑娘》，1859 年
the Girl who trod on the Loaf, 1859
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《踩面包的姑娘》无疑是安徒生故事中最不适合儿童阅读的一篇，其中展现的惩罚令人不寒而栗，这种惩罚超出了 19 世纪英美和欧洲儿童文学中过度惩戒的范畴。
\"the Girl who trod on the Loaf\" is without doubt the least child - friendly of Andersen’s narratives, with a chilling display of punishment beyond the disciplinary excesses found in nineteenth - century Anglo - American and European children’s literature.
即使是 1845 年法兰克福医生海因里希?霍夫曼（heinrich hoffmann）所着的臭名昭着的《蓬头彼得》（Struwwelpeter），书中有孩子划火柴后被火焰吞噬或者吸吮拇指后失去拇指这样的画面，相比之下也显得温和了。
Even the notorious Struwwelpeter of 1845 by the Frankfurt physician heinrich hoffmann, with its images of children going up in flames after lighting matches or losing their thumbs after sucking them, looks tame by parison.
安徒生的标题指的是民歌《踩面包的姑娘》，这首歌激发了他重新讲述这个姑娘的故事。凯瑟琳?戴维斯（Kathryn davis）在以这首民歌命名的小说中讲述了这个情节的起源：
Andersen’s title refers to the folksong \"the Girl who trod on the Loaf,\" which inspired his retelling of the girl’s story. Kathryn davis, in her novel named after the folksong, gives an account of the plot’s origins:
原本是一首民歌，《踩面包的姑娘》（pigen, der tr?dte p? br?det），它记述了波美拉尼亚西博（Sibbo）镇一个爱慕虚荣的年轻女子的悲惨命运，她因为爱一双鞋胜过一个面包而受到惩罚，在被泥坑吞没之前要 “像巨石一样被冻住”。
originally a folksong, \"pigen, der tr?dte p? br?det,\" it chronicles the horrible fate of a vain young woman from the town of Sibbo, in pomerania, whose punishment for loving a pair of shoes more than a loaf of bread is to be \"frozen like a boulder\" before she’s swallowed up in a mud puddle.
18 世纪末，这首歌以单面大活页的形式出版，尽管它有着生硬的说教和拖沓的韵律（“哦，人类的灵魂要记住，\/ 摒弃骄傲的诱惑，\/ 把其他罪恶都抛在身后，\/ 它们是她的毁灭之源……”），但它因激发了汉斯?克里斯蒂安?安徒生（hans christian Andersen）的同名故事而被人们记住。
toward the end of the eighteenth century the song was published as a broadside and despite its heavy - handed morality and plodding rhymes (\"o human soul keep this in mind, \/ Abandon pride’s temptations, \/ And leave all other sins behind, \/ they were her ruination...\") it’s remembered for having inspired hans christian Andersen’s story of the same name.
“英格” 这个名字是安徒生创造的，他可能是受到了斯拉格尔斯（Slagelse）那个令人厌恶的校长的妻子英格?迈斯林（Inger meisling）的启发。
the name “Inger” was Andersen’s invention, and he may have been inspired by Inger meisling, the wife of the detested schoolmaster in Slagelse.
安徒生坦然承认在创作故事时有报复心理：“很多时候，当人们做出恼人的举动而我又无法回击时，我就会写一个故事，把他们写进故事里。”
Andersen freely admitted the role of revenge in his construction of narratives: “many times when people have behaved in an irritating way and I have been unable to hit back, I have written a story and put them into it”.
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从前有个姑娘，为了不弄脏鞋子而踩在面包上，她因此遭遇的不幸是众所周知的。
there was once a girl who trod on a loaf to avoid soiling her shoes, and the misfortunes that happened to her in consequence are well known.
她叫英格；她是个穷苦的孩子，但是很骄傲、任性，而且性情恶劣、残忍。在她还很小的时候，她就喜欢捉苍蝇，扯掉它们的翅膀，让它们只能爬行。再大一点的时候，她会捉金龟子和甲虫，然后用大头针把它们穿起来。
her name was Inge; she was a poor child, but proud and presuming, and with a bad and cruel disposition. when quite a little child she would delight in catching flies, and tearing off their wings, so as to make creeping things of them. when older, she would take cockchafers and beetles, and stick pins through them.
然后她把一片绿叶或者一小片纸推向它们的脚，当这些可怜的小生物抓住它并紧紧抓住，在挣扎着摆脱大头针时翻来覆去，她就会说：“金龟子在看书呢；看它把书页翻得多欢。”
then she pushed a green leaf, or a little scrap of paper towards their feet, and when the poor creatures would seize it and hold it fast, and turn over and over in their struggles to get free from the pin, she would say, “the cockchafer is reading; see how he turns over the leaf.”
随着年龄增长，她不但没有变好，反而变得更坏了，不幸的是，她长得很漂亮，这就使得本应受到严厉斥责的时候却被原谅了。
She grew worse instead of better with years, and, unfortunately, she was pretty, which caused her to be excused, when she should have been sharply reproved.
“你任性的意志需要严厉的手段来克服，” 她母亲常对她说。“你小时候常常踩我的围裙，可我担心有一天你会踩碎我的心。” 唉！这种担心变成了现实。
“Your headstrong will requires severity to conquer it,” her mother often said to her. “As a little child you used to trample on my apron, but one day I fear you will trample on my heart.” And, alas! this fear was realized.
英格被带到了一些富人家里，这些富人住得很远，他们把她当作自己的孩子一样对待，给她穿得非常漂亮，于是她变得更加骄傲和傲慢了。
Inge was taken to the house of some rich people, who lived at a distance, and who treated her as their own child, and dressed her so fine that her pride and arrogance increased.
她在那儿待了大约一年的时候，她的女恩人对她说：“英格，你应该回去看看你的父母了。”
when she had been there about a year, her patroness said to her, “You ought to go, for once, and see your parents, Inge.”
于是英格出发去看望她的父母；但她只是想在家乡炫耀自己，好让人们看看她有多漂亮。
So Inge started to go and visit her parents; but she only wanted to show herself in her native place, that the people might see how fine she was.
她到了村子的入口处，看到年轻的男女雇工们站在一起聊天，她自己的母亲也在他们中间。
She reached the entrance of the village, and saw the young laboring men and maidens standing together chatting, and her own mother amongst them.
英格的母亲正坐在一块石头上休息，面前放着一捆她从树林里捡来的柴枝。
Inge’s mother was sitting on a stone to rest, with a fagot of sticks lying before her, which she had picked up in the wood.
于是英格转身回去了；她穿着那么漂亮的衣服，却为自己衣衫褴褛、在森林里拾柴的母亲感到羞耻。
then Inge turned back; she who was so finely dressed she felt ashamed of her mother, a poorly clad woman, who picked up wood in the forest.
她转身回去不是出于对母亲贫穷的怜悯，而是出于骄傲。
She did not turn back out of pity for her mother’s poverty, but from pride.
又过了半年，她的女主人说：“英格，你应该再回家去看望你的父母了，我会给你一个大的小麦面包带给他们，我相信他们见到你会很高兴的。”
Another half - year went by, and her mistress said, “you ought to go home again, and visit your parents, Inge, and I will give you a large wheaten loaf to take to them, they will be glad to see you, I am sure.”
于是英格穿上她最好的衣服和新鞋子，把裙子提起来，然后出发了，她小心翼翼地走着，好让脚保持干净整洁，这样做本身并没有错。
So Inge put on her best clothes, and her new shoes, drew her dress up around her, and set out, stepping very carefully, that she might be clean and neat about the feet, and there was nothing wrong in doing so.
但是当她来到小径穿过沼泽地的地方时，她发现有一些小水坑和大片的泥泞，于是她把面包扔进泥里，踩在上面，这样她就可以不弄湿脚而通过了。
but when she came to the place where the footpath led across the moor, she found small pools of water, and a great deal of mud, so she threw the loaf into the mud, and trod upon it, that she might pass without wetting her feet.
但是当她一只脚站在面包上，另一只脚抬起准备向前迈步时，面包开始在她脚下下沉，越来越低，直到她完全消失，泥水坑的水面上只留下几个气泡，表明她沉下去的地方。这就是这个故事。
but as she stood with one foot on the loaf and the other lifted up to step forward, the loaf began to sink under her, lower and lower, till she disappeared altogether, and only a few bubbles on the surface of the muddy pool remained to show where she had sunk. And this is the story.
但是英格去了哪里呢？她沉入地下，来到了沼泽女妖那里，沼泽女妖总是在那里酿酒。
but where did Inge go? She sank into the ground, and went to the marsh woman, who is always brewing there.
沼泽女妖和小精灵少女们有亲属关系，小精灵少女们很出名，因为有歌颂她们的歌曲，也有描绘她们的画作。
the marsh woman is related to the elf maidens, who are well - known, for songs are sung and pictures painted about them.
但是关于沼泽女妖，人们只知道在夏天当草地上起雾的时候，那是因为她正在草地下面酿酒。
but of the marsh woman nothing is known, except that when a mist arises from the meadows, in summer time, it is because she is brewing beneath them.
英格沉到了沼泽女妖的酿酒坊里的一个地方，没有人能在那里长时间忍受。
to the marsh woman’s brewery Inge sank down to a place which no one can endure for long.
和沼泽女妖的酿酒坊相比，一堆泥巴就算是宫殿了；英格掉下去的时候，四肢发抖，很快就变得像大理石一样冰冷僵硬。
A heap of mud is a palace pared with the marsh woman’s brewery; and as Inge fell she shuddered in every limb, and soon became cold and stiff as marble.
她的脚还紧紧地粘在面包上，面包把她往下拉，就像金黄的麦穗把麦秆压弯一样。
her foot was still fastened to the loaf, which bowed her down as a golden ear of corn bends the stem.
很快一个邪恶的幽灵就附在了英格身上，把她带到了一个更糟糕的地方，在那里她看到成群不幸的人在痛苦地等待着仁慈之门向他们敞开，每个人心中都有一种痛苦而永恒的不安感。
An evil spirit soon took possession of Inge, and carried her to a still worse place, in which she saw crowds of unhappy people, waiting in a state of agony for the gates of mercy to be opened to them, and in every heart was a miserable and eternal feeling of unrest.
要描述这些人所遭受的各种折磨太费时间了，但是英格的惩罚是像一尊雕像一样站在那里，她的脚被固定在面包上。
It would take too much time to describe the various tortures these people suffered, but Inge’s punishment consisted in standing there as a statue, with her foot fastened to the loaf.
她可以转动眼睛，看到周围所有的痛苦，但她不能转头；当她看到人们看着她时，她以为他们在欣赏她漂亮的脸蛋和漂亮的衣服，因为她仍然虚荣又骄傲。但是她已经忘记了在沼泽女妖的酿酒坊里时她的衣服变得多么脏，上面沾满了泥巴；一条蛇还缠在了她的头发里，垂在她的背上，而从她衣服的每一个褶皱里都探出一只大蟾蜍，像哮喘的贵宾犬一样呱呱叫着。
She could move her eyes about, and see all the misery around her, but she could not turn her head; and when she saw the people looking at her she thought they were admiring her pretty face and fine clothes, for she was still vain and proud. but she had forgotten how soiled her clothes had bee while in the marsh woman’s brewery, and that they were covered with mud; a snake had also fastened itself in her hair, and hung down her back, while from each fold in her dress a great toad peeped out and croaked like an asthmatic poodle.
最糟糕的是折磨着她的可怕饥饿感，而她又不能弯腰掰下她所站着的面包的一块。不；她的背太僵硬了，她的整个身体就像一根石柱。
worse than all was the terrible hunger that tormented her, and she could not stoop to break off a piece of the loaf on which she stood. No; her back was too stiff, and her whole body like a pillar of stone.
然后无翅的苍蝇爬到了她的脸和眼睛上；她不停地眨眼，但它们飞不走，因为它们的翅膀被拔掉了；这加上她所感受到的饥饿，是可怕的折磨。
And then came creeping over her face and eyes flies without wings; she winked and blinked, but they could not fly away, for their wings had been pulled off; this, added to the hunger she felt, was horrible torture.
“如果这种情况持续太久，” 她说，“我将无法忍受。” 但这种情况确实持续着，她不得不忍受，而自己却无能为力。
“If this lasts much longer,” she said, “I shall not be able to bear it.” but it did last, and she had to bear it, without being able to help herself.
一滴眼泪，接着是许多滚烫的眼泪，落在她的头上，滚过她的脸和脖子，滴到她脚下的面包上。
A tear, followed by many scalding tears, fell upon her head, and rolled over her face and neck, down to the loaf on which she stood.
谁会为英格哭泣呢？她在世上还有一位母亲，母亲为孩子流下的悲伤的眼泪总会抵达孩子的心田，但这些眼泪常常增加痛苦而不是减轻痛苦。
who could be weeping for Inge? She had a mother in the world still, and the tears of sorrow which a mother sheds for her child will always find their way to the child’s heart, but they often increase the torment instead of being a relief.
英格能听到她已经离开的那个世界里人们所说的关于她的一切，每个人似乎对她都很残忍。
And Inge could hear all that was said about her in the world she had left, and every one seemed cruel to her.
她踩面包这件犯下的罪孽在人间传开了，因为当她穿过沼泽地并消失的时候，山上的牧童看到了她。
the sin she had mitted in treading on the loaf was known on earth, for she had been seen by the cowherd from the hill, when she was crossing the marsh and had disappeared.
当她母亲哭泣着呼喊：“啊，英格！你给你母亲带来了多大的悲痛啊” 时，她会说：“哦，我真不该出生！我母亲的眼泪现在也没用了。”
when her mother wept and exclaimed, “Ah, Inge! what grief thou hast caused thy mother” she would say, “oh that I had never been born! my mother’s tears are useless now.”
然后她听到收养她的那些善良的人们所说的话，他们说：“英格是个有罪的女孩，她不珍视上帝的恩赐，反而把它们踩在脚下。”
And then the words of the kind people who had adopted her came to her ears, when they said, “Inge was a sinful girl, who did not value the gifts of God, but trampled them under her feet.”
“啊，” 英格想，“他们本应该惩罚我，把我所有的坏脾气都改掉的。”
“Ah,” thought Inge, “they should have punished me, and driven all my naughty tempers out of me.”
有一首关于 “那个为了不让鞋子弄脏而踩面包的姑娘” 的歌被创作出来了，这首歌到处被传唱。
A song was made about “the girl who trod on a loaf to keep her shoes from being soiled,” and this song was sung everywhere.
她的罪恶故事也被讲给小孩子们听，他们称她为 “邪恶的英格”，还说她非常淘气，应该受到惩罚。
the story of her sin was also told to the little children, and they called her “wicked Inge,” and said she was so naughty that she ought to be punished.
英格听到了这一切，她的心变得冷酷，充满了怨恨。
Inge heard all this, and her heart became hardened and full of bitterness.
但是有一天，当饥饿和悲痛在她空虚的身躯里啃噬的时候，她听到一个天真无邪的小孩子在听关于虚荣、傲慢的英格的故事时突然哭了起来，并大声说：“但是她永远不会再上来了吗？”
but one day, while hunger and grief were gnawing in her hollow frame, she heard a little, innocent child, while listening to the tale of the vain, haughty Inge, burst into tears and exclaim, “but will she never e up again?”
她听到回答说：“不，她永远不会再上来了。”
And she heard the reply, “No, she will never e up again.”
“但是如果她表示后悔，请求原谅，并且保证再也不这样做了呢？” 小孩子问道。
“but if she were to say she was sorry, and ask pardon, and promise never to do so again?” asked the little one.
“是的，那样的话她也许可以上来；但是她不会请求原谅的。” 这就是回答。
“Yes, then she might e; but she will not beg pardon,” was the answer.
“哦，我希望她会请求原谅！” 孩子说，他为此非常难过。“我会很高兴的。如果她能再到这里来，我愿意放弃我的洋娃娃和我所有的玩具。可怜的英格！这对她来说太可怕了。”
“oh, I wish she would!” said the child, who was quite unhappy about it. “I should be so glad. I would give up my doll and all my playthings, if she could only e here again. poor Inge! it is so dreadful for her.”
这些充满同情的话深深触动了英格的内心深处，似乎对她有好处。这是第一次有人说 “可怜的英格！” 而没有提及她的过错。
these pitying words penetrated to Inge’s inmost heart, and seemed to do her good. It was the first time any one had said, “poor Inge!” without saying something about her faults.
一个天真无邪的小孩子在哭泣，在为她祈求怜悯。
A little innocent child was weeping, and praying for mercy for her.
这让她感觉很奇怪，她自己也很想哭，但却发现自己哭不出来，这让她更加痛苦。
It made her feel quite strange, and she would gladly have wept herself, and it added to her torment to find she could not do so.
当她在这个一成不变的地方遭受痛苦的时候，地球上的岁月流逝，她听到自己的名字被提及的频率也降低了。
And while she thus suffered in a place where nothing changed, years passed away on earth, and she heard her name less frequently mentioned.
但是有一天，她听到一声叹息传进耳朵，还有这样的话：“英格！英格！你给我带来了多大的悲痛啊！我早就说过会这样的。” 这是她垂死母亲的最后一声叹息。
but one day a sigh reached her ear, and the words, “Inge! Inge! what a grief thou hast been to me! I said it would be so.” It was the last sigh of her dying mother.
在这之后，英格听到她善良的女主人说：“啊，可怜的英格！我还能再见到你吗？也许我能，因为我们不知道将来会发生什么。” 但是英格很清楚她的女主人永远不会来到那个可怕的地方。
After this, Inge heard her kind mistress say, “Ah, poor Inge! shall I ever see thee again? perhaps I may, for we know not what may happen in the future.” but Inge knew right well that her mistress would never e to that dreadful place.
时间过去了 —— 一段漫长而痛苦的时间 —— 然后英格又一次听到她的名字被念起，并且看到有两颗似乎很明亮的星星在她头顶上方闪耀。那是在人间即将闭上的两只温柔的眼睛。
time - passed — a long bitter time — then Inge heard her name pronounced once more, and saw what seemed two bright stars shining above her. they were two gentle eyes closing on earth.
自从那个小女孩为 “可怜的英格” 哀伤哭泣以来，已经过去了很多年。那个孩子现在已经是一位老妇人了，上帝即将把她带走。
many years had passed since the little girl had lamented and wept about “poor Inge.” that child was now an old woman, whom God was taking to himself.
在生命的最后时刻，一生的经历常常会浮现在我们眼前；在这个时刻，这位老妇人想起了当她还是个孩子的时候，她是如何为英格的故事而流泪的，现在她为英格祈祷。
In the last hour of existence the events of a whole life often appear before us; and this hour the old woman remembered how, when a child, she had shed tears over the story of Inge, and she prayed for her now.
当这位老妇人的眼睛在人间闭上时，灵魂之眼却睁开看到了永恒的隐秘之事，然后，在她最后的思绪中英格如此清晰地浮现的她，看到了这个可怜的女孩已经沉沦得多么深。
As the eyes of the old woman closed to earth, the eyes of the soul opened upon the hidden things of eternity, and then she, in whose last thoughts Inge had been so vividly present, saw how deeply the poor girl had sunk.
看到这一幕，她突然哭了起来，在天堂里，就像她在人间还是个小孩子的时候一样，她为可怜的英格哭泣并祈祷。
She burst into tears at the sight, and in heaven, as she had done when a little child on earth, she wept and prayed for poor Inge.
她的眼泪和她的祈祷在围绕着那个饱受折磨的被囚禁灵魂的黑暗虚空中回响，通过一位天使（这里指老妇人如同天使）的眼泪，意想不到的怜悯降临到这个灵魂身上。
her tears and her prayers echoed through the dark void that surrounded the tormented captive soul, and the unexpected mercy was obtained for it through an angel’s tears.
当英格在思绪中仿佛重新经历她在世上所犯的每一桩罪孽时，她颤抖起来，她从未能够流出的眼泪涌进了眼眶。
As in thought Inge seemed to act over again every sin she had mitted on earth, she trembled, and tears she had never yet been able to weep rushed to her eyes.
似乎仁慈之门永远不可能为她打开；但是当她怀着深深的忏悔承认这一点时，一道耀眼的光线突然射进她所在的深处。
It seemed impossible that the gates of mercy could ever be opened to her; but while she acknowledged this in deep penitence, a beam of radiant light shot suddenly into the depths upon her.
比那融化孩子们堆起的雪人的阳光更有力量，比雪花在孩子温暖的嘴唇上融化成一滴水还要迅速，英格那石头般的身形发生了变化，她像一只小鸟，以闪电般的速度向上飞向人间。
more powerful than the sunbeam that dissolves the man of snow which the children have raised, more quickly than the snowflake melts and bees a drop of water on the warm lips of a child, was the stony form of Inge changed, and as a little bird she soared, with the speed of lightning, upward to the world of mortals.
这是一只对周围一切事物都感到胆怯和羞怯的鸟，它似乎因羞于见到任何生物而退缩，急忙寻找地方把自己隐藏在一堵古老残墙的黑暗角落里；它在那里畏缩地坐着，不能发出一点声音，因为它没有声音。
A bird that felt timid and shy to all things around it, that seemed to shrink with shame from meeting any living creature, and hurriedly sought to conceal itself in a dark corner of an old ruined wall; there it sat cowering and unable to utter a sound, for it was voiceless.
然而这只小鸟多么快就发现了周围一切事物的美。
Yet how quickly the little bird discovered the beauty of everything around it.
那甜美、清新的空气；月亮柔和的光辉，当它的光照耀大地的时候；从灌木丛和树木散发出来的芬芳，当它穿着鲜亮崭新的羽毛坐在那里时，这一切都让它感到快乐。
the sweet, fresh air; the soft radiance of the moon, as its light spread over the earth; the fragrance which exhaled from bush and tree, made it feel happy as it sat there clothed in its fresh, bright plumage.
万物似乎都在诉说着仁慈与爱。这只鸟想要像春天的布谷鸟和夜莺那样表达在它心中涌动的想法，但是它做不到。
All creation seemed to speak of beneficence and love. the bird wanted to give utterance to thoughts that stirred in his breast, as the cuckoo and the nightingale in the spring, but it could not.
然而在天堂里，即使是一条虫子的赞美之歌也能被听到；这只鸟胸中颤抖的音符在天堂里是能被听到的，就像大卫的诗篇在形成文字和歌曲之前一样。
Yet in heaven can be heard the song of praise, even from a worm; and the notes trembling in the breast of the bird were as audible to heaven even as the psalms of david before they had fashioned themselves into words and song.
圣诞节快到了，一个住在旧墙附近的农民竖起一根杆子，在杆子顶部绑了一些谷穗，好让天上的鸟儿们能享用盛宴，在这欢乐、幸福的时刻欢庆。
christmas - time drew near, and a peasant who dwelt close by the old wall stuck up a pole with some ears of corn fastened to the top, that the birds of heaven might have feast, and rejoice in the happy, blessed time.
圣诞节早晨太阳升起，阳光照在谷穗上，很快就有许多叽叽喳喳的鸟儿围在谷穗周围。
And on christmas morning the sun arose and shone upon the ears of corn, which were quickly surrounded by a number of twittering birds.
然后，从墙洞里，当这只鸟从它的藏身之处出来在世上做它的第一件善事时，它满溢的思绪化作歌声喷涌而出 —— 在天堂里，大家都知道这只鸟是谁。
then, from a hole in the wall, gushed forth in song the swelling thoughts of the bird as he issued from his hiding place to perform his first good deed on earth, — and in heaven it was well known who that bird was.
冬天非常寒冷；池塘都被冰覆盖着，田野里的野兽和空中的鸟儿都几乎没有食物。
the winter was very hard; the ponds were covered with ice, and there was very little food for either the beasts of the field or the birds of the air.
我们的小鸟飞到大路上，在雪橇的车辙里这儿那儿地找到一粒谷物，在歇脚的地方找到一些面包屑。
our little bird flew away into the public roads, and found here and there, in the ruts of the sledges, a grain of corn, and at the halting places some crumbs.
这些食物它只吃了一点，但是它把其他鸟儿和饥饿的麻雀都叫到身边来，这样它们也能有食物。它飞进城镇，四处张望，无论在哪里看到有善良的人在窗台上为鸟儿撒下面包屑，它自己只吃一小点，把其余的都给了其他鸟儿。
of these he ate only a few, but he called around him the other birds and the hungry sparrows, that they too might have food. he flew into the towns, and looked about, and wherever a kind hand had strewed bread on the window - sill for the birds, he only ate a single crumb himself, and gave all the rest to the rest of the other birds.
在整个冬季，这只鸟就这样收集了许多面包屑并分给其他鸟儿，直到这些面包屑的重量等于英格为了不让鞋子弄脏而踩的那个面包的重量；当最后一粒面包屑被找到并分出去后，这只鸟灰色的翅膀变成了白色，并且展开翅膀准备飞翔。
In the course of the winter the bird had in this way collected many crumbs and given them to other birds, till they equalled the weight of the loaf on which Inge had trod to keep her shoes clean; and when the last bread - crumb had been found and given, the gray wings of the bird became white, and spread themselves out for flight.
“看，那边有一只海鸥！” 当孩子们看到这只白色的鸟俯冲入海，又再次飞到晴朗的阳光中，洁白而闪亮时，他们喊道。
“See, yonder is a sea - gull!” cried the children, when they saw the white bird, as it dived into the sea, and rose again into the clear sunlight, white and glittering.
但是没有人能说出它后来飞到哪里去了，尽管有些人宣称它径直飞向了太阳。
but no one could tell whither it went then although some declared it flew straight to the sun.