《安徒生童话英文版》第282章

　　they said, one after another, as they cameup. "We can't sing, certainly; but we have a sounding-board, orsomething of the kind, within us; we can feel that, though we don'ttalk about it."

　　"But I can talk," said the Portuguese duck; "and I'll do somethingfor the little fellow; it's my duty;" and she stepped into thewater-trough, and beat her wings upon the water so strongly that thebird was nearly drowned by a shower-bath; but the duck meant itkindly. "That is a good deed," she said; "I hope the others willtake example by it."

　　"Tweet, tweet!" said the little bird, for one of his wings beingbroken, he found it difficult to shake himself; but he quiteunderstood that the bath was meant kindly, and he said, "You arevery kind-hearted, madam;" but he did not wish for a second bath.

　　"I have never thought about my heart," replied the Portugueseduck, "but I know that I love all my fellow-creatures, except the cat,and nobody can expect me to love her, for she ate up two of myducklings. But pray make yourself at home; it is easy to make one'sself comfortable. I am myself from a foreign country, as you may seeby my feathery dress. My drake is a native of these parts; he's not ofmy race; but I am not proud on that account. If any one here canunderstand you, I may say positively I am that person."

　　"She's quite full of 'Portulak,'" said a little common duck, whowas witty. All the common ducks considered the word "Portulak" agood joke, for it sounded like Portugal. They nudged each other, andsaid, "Quack! that was witty!"

　　Then the other ducks began to notice the little bird. "ThePortuguese had certainly a great flow of language," they said to thelittle bird. "For our part we don't care to fill our beaks with suchlong words, but we sympathize with you quite as much. If we don't doanything else, we can walk about with you everywhere, and we thinkthat is the best thing we can do."

　　"You have a lovely voice," said one of the eldest ducks; "itmust be great satisfaction to you to be able to give so muchpleasure as you do. I am certainly no judge of your singing so Ikeep my beak shut, which is better than talking nonsense, as othersdo."

　　"Don't plague him so, interposed the Portuguese duck; "he requiresrest and nursing. My little singing-bird do you wish me to prepareanother bath for you?"

　　"Oh, no! no! pray let me dry," implored the little bird.

　　"The water-cure is the only remedy for me, when I am not well,"said the Portuguese. "Amusement, too, is very beneficial. The fowlsfrom the neighborhood will soon be here to pay you a visit. Thereare two Cochin Chinese amongst them; they wear feathers on their legs,and are well educated. They have been brought from a great distance,and consequently I treat them with greater respect than I do theothers."

　　Then the fowls arrived, and the cock was polite enough to-day tokeep from being rude. "You are a real songster," he said, "you do asmuch with your little voice as it is possible to do; but thererequires more noise and shrillness in any one who wishes it to beknown who he is."

　　The two Chinese were quite enchanted with the appearance of thesinging-bird. His feathers had been much ruffled by his bath, sothat he seemed to them quite like a tiny Chinese fowl. "He'scharming," they said to each other, and began a conversation withhim in whispers, using the most aristocratic Chinese dialect: "Weare of the same race as yourself," they said. "The ducks, even thePortuguese, are all aquatic birds, as you must have noticed. You donot know us yet,- very few know us, or give themselves the troubleto make our acquaintance, not even any of the fowls, though we areborn to occupy a higher grade in society than most of them. But thatdoes not disturb us, we quietly go on in our own way among the rest,whose ideas are certainly not ours; for we look at the bright sideof things, and only speak what is good, although that is sometimesvery difficult to find where none exists. Except ourselves and thecock there is not one in the yard who can be called talented orpolite. It cannot even be said of the ducks, and we warn you, littlebird, not to trust that one yonder, with the short tail feathers,for she is cunning; that curiously marked one, with the crookedstripes on her wings, is a mischief-maker, and never lets any one havethe last word, though she is always in the wrong. That fat duck yonderspeaks evil of every one, and that is against our principles. If wehave nothing good to tell, we close our beaks. The Portuguese is theonly one who has had any education, and with whom we can associate,but she is passionate, and talks too much about 'Portugal.'"

　　"I wonder what those two Chinese are whispering about,"whispered one duck to another; "they are always doing it, and itannoys me. We never speak to them."

　　Now the drake came up, and he thought the little singing-birdwas a sparrow. "Well, I don't understand the difference," he said; "itappears to me all the same. He's only a plaything, and if peoplewill have playthings, why let them, I say."

　　"Don't take any notice of what he says," whispered the Portuguese;"he's very well in matters of business, and with him business isplaced before everything. But now I shall lie down and have a littlerest. It is a duty we owe to ourselves that we may be nice and fatwhen we come to be embalmed with sage and onions and apples." So shelaid herself down in the sun and winked with one eye; she had a verycomfortable place, and felt so comfortable that she fell asleep. Thelittle singing-bird busied himself for some time with his broken wing,and at last he lay down, too, quite close to his protectress. Thesun shone warm and bright, and he found out that it was a very goodplace. But the fowls of the neighborhood were all awake, and, totell the truth, they had paid a visit to the duckyard, simply andsolely to find food for themselves. The Chinese were the first toleave, and the other fowls soon followed them.

　　The witty little duck said of the Portuguese, that the old ladywas getting quite a "doting ducky," All the other ducks laughed atthis. "Doting ducky," they whispered. "Oh, that's too 'witty!