《安徒生童话英文版》第290章

　　What might that be? A sparkling lizard moved about in the skull,gliding in and out through the sightless holes. The lizard nowrepresented all the life left in that head, in which once greatthoughts, bright dreams, the love of art and of the glorious, hadarisen, whence hot tears had rolled down, where hope and immortalityhad had their being. The lizard sprang away and disappeared, and theskull itself crumbled to pieces and became dust among dust.

　　Centuries passed away. The bright Star gleamed unaltered,radiant and large, as it had gleamed for thousands of years, and theair glowed red with tints fresh as roses, crimson like blood.

　　There, where once had stood the narrow lane containing the ruinsof the temple, a nunnery was now built. A grave was being dug in theconvent garden for a young nun who had died, and was to be laid in theearth this morning. The spade struck against a hard substance; itwas a stone, that shone dazzling white. A block of marble soonappeared, a rounded shoulder was laid bare; and now the spade wasplied with a more careful hand, and presently a female head wasseen, and butterflies' wings. Out of the grave in which the youngnun was to be laid they lifted, in the rosy morning, a wonderfulstatue of a Psyche carved in white marble.

　　"How beautiful, how perfect it is!" cried the spectators. "A relicof the best period of art."

　　And who could the sculptor have been? No one knew; no oneremembered him, except the bright star that had gleamed forthousands of years. The star had seen the course of that life onearth, and knew of the man's trials, of his weakness- in fact, that hehad been but human. The man's life had passed away, his dust hadbeen scattered abroad as dust is destined to be; but the result of hisnoblest striving, the glorious work that gave token of the divineelement within him- the Psyche that never dies, that lives beyondposterity- the brightness even of this earthly Psyche remained hereafter him, and was seen and acknowledged and appreciated.

　　The bright Morning Star in the roseate air threw its glancingray downward upon the Psyche, and upon the radiant countenances of theadmiring spectators, who here beheld the image of the soul portrayedin marble.

　　What is earthly will pass away and be forgotten, and the Star inthe vast firmament knows it. What is heavenly will shine brightlythrough posterity; and when the ages of posterity are past, thePsyche- the soul- will still live on!

　　THE END.

　　1872

　　FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

　　THE PUPPET-SHOW MAN

　　by Hans Christian Andersen

　　ON board a steamer I once met an elderly man, with such a merryface that, if it was really an index of his mind, he must have beenthe happiest fellow in creation; and indeed he considered himselfso, for I heard it from his own mouth. He was a Dane, the owner of atravelling theatre. He had all his company with him in a large box,for he was the proprietor of a puppet-show. His inborn cheerfulness,he said, had been tested by a member of the Polytechnic Institution,and the experiment had made him completely happy. I did not at firstunderstand all this, but afterwards he explained the whole story tome; and here it is:-

　　"I was giving a representation," he said, "in the hall of theposting-house in the little town of Slagelse; there was a splendidaudience, entirely juvenile excepting two respectable matrons. Allat once, a person in black, of student-like appearance, entered theroom, and sat down; he laughed aloud at the telling points, andapplauded quite at the proper time. This was a very unusualspectator for me, and I felt anxious to know who he was. I heardthat he was a member of the Polytechnic Institution in Copenhagen, whohad been sent out to lecture to the people in the provinces.Punctually at eight o'clock my performance closed, for children mustgo early to bed, and a manager must also consult the convenience ofthe public.

　　"At nine o'clock the lecturer commenced his lecture and hisexperiments, and then I formed a part of his audience. It waswonderful both to hear and to see. The greater part of it was beyondmy comprehension, but it led me to think that if we men can acquire somuch, we must surely be intended to last longer than the little spanwhich extends only to the time when we are hidden away under theearth. His experiments were quite miracles on a small scale, and yetthe explanations flowed as naturally as water from his lips. At thetime of Moses and the prophets, such a man would have been placedamong the sages of the land; in the middle ages they would haveburnt him at the stake.

　　"All night long I could not sleep; and the next evening when Igave another performance and the lecturer was present, I was in one ofmy best moods.

　　"I once heard of an actor, who, when he had to act the part of alover, always thought of one particular lady in the audience; heonly played for her, and forgot all the rest of the house, and now thePolytechnic lecturer was my she, my only auditor, for whom alone Iplayed.

　　"When the performance was over, and the puppets removed behind thecurtain, the Polytechnic lecturer invited me into his room to take aglass of wine. He talked of my comedies, and I of his science, and Ibelieve we were both equally pleased. But I had the best of it, forthere was much in what he did that he could not always explain tome. For instance, why a piece of iron which is rubbed on a cylinder,should become magnetic. How does this happen?