[영어듣기] 행복한 왕자님 (2)

[시아아빠]

Chapter 3
 The next morning the Swallow flew to the river and had a bath. He was spotted by a professor of ornithology, who was standing on the bridge. "How remarkable," muttered the professor."A swallow in winter! I have never seen such a thing."
 He hurried home and wrote a long letter about the Swallow to the editor of the newspaper. Everyone read the letter and quoted it, because it was full of words they did not understand. They were very impressed.

 "Tonight I am off for Egypt," the Swallow said to himself. He was happy to think about his journey. He visited all the great monuments and spent a long time perched on top of the church steeple.
 Wherever he went, the other birds watched him and said to each other how fine he looked. The Swallow enjoyed himelf very much.

 As the moon rose, he flew back to the Happy Prince. "Do you have a message for me to take to Egypt," he said merrily. "I'm about to leave."
 "Swallow, Swallow," said the Prince.
 "will you not stay one night longer?"

 "But my friends are waiting for me," answered the Swallow. "Tomorrow they will fly to the Second Cataract. The hippopotamus lies among the bulrushes and the god Memnon sits on a great granite throne. He watches the stars l night long and when the morning star shines he makes a cry of joy and then is silent.
 Each noon the lions come to the river to drink. Their eyes glimmer like beryl stones and their voices are louder than the cataract itself."

 "Swallow," said the Prince. "I look far away and see a young man in a garret. He leans over a desk littered with papers and in a glass by his side there are some dried violets. His hair is brown and tousled, his lips are red as berries, and his eyes are large and dreamy.

 He is trying to finish a play for the Director of Theater, but he is too cold to write. There is no fire in the grate, and he is faint with hunger.

 "I will stay one night more," he said. "Shall I take him another ruby?"
 "I have no more rubies," sighed the Prince. "My eyes are all that I have left. They are made of rare sapphires, brought from India long, long ago. Take one to him. He will sell it and buy food and firewood and finish his beautiful play."

 "Oh, Prince," said the Swallow. "I could never do that." He began to weep.
 "Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "you must do as I ask you."
 So the Swallow plucked out one of the Prince's eyes and flew off to the cold garret.

 It was easy enough for him to get in, because there was a great ole in the roof. Through this he darted and came into the room. The young man had his bead buried in his hands and he did not hear the flutter of the bid' wings. When he looked up, he found the beautiful sapphire beside the wilted violets.

 "At last!" he cried. "The recognition that I need. This must be from some great admirer. Now I can complete my play. He looked quite happy.

 The next day, the Swallow flew to the river. He sat on the mast of a huge ship and watched the sailors unload it. "Heave a-hoy," the shouted, as each chest came up. "I'm going to Egypt," the Swallow told them, but they were too busy and paid no attention to him. When the moon came up he flew back to the Happy Prince to say good-bye. "I am leaving now," he said, "but I had to say good-bye before I left."

 "Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you not stay with me one more night?"

 "It is winter," said the Swallow. "The snow will come soon, and with it the cold. In Egypt the sun is warm on th palm trees and the crocodile sleep on the mud. My friends are making their nests in the Temple of Baalbec and the doves are watching them and cooing to each other. I must leave you, dear Prince, but I will never forget you. Next spring I will bring you two beautiful jewels to replace those you have given away. The ruby will be redder than the rose and the sapphire as blue as the great sea. I promise you," he said.

 The Prince had a sorrowful expression‎! on his face. "In the street below," he said "there stands a little girl selling matches. Her matches have fallen in the gutter and are all spoiled. If she does not bring home some money, her father will beat her. She has neither shoes nor stockings and her head is bare. Pluck out my other eye and give it to her, so her father will not beat her." The Swallow could not believe what he had heard. "I will stay another night, but I cannot take your eye, for then you will be blind."

 "Swallow, Swallow," said the Prince, "you must do as I ask.
 The Swallow took out the Prince's other eye and flew to the little girl. He slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand. "What a pretty piece of glass!" said the little girl. She smiled and ran home.

 The Swallow returned to the Prince. "You are blind now," the Swallow said. "So I will stay with you always."
 "Oh, no, little Swallow," said the poor Prince. "You must go away to Egypt, where your friends and the sun await you."
 "I will stay with you always," said the Swallow, and slept at the feet of the Prince.
 

Chapter 4
 The next day the Swallow sat on the Prince's shoulder and told him stories about all the far-away places he had been. He told him of the red ibises, that stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile and catch goldfish in their slender beaks.

 He told the Prince about th Sphinx, that is as old as the world itself, and lives in the desert, and knows everything there is to know, and about the merchants who walk beside their camels with amber beads in their hands.
 He told him about the King of the Mountain of the Moon, who worships a great crystal, of the green snake that sleeps in a tree and has twenty priests to feed it with sweet cakes, and about pygmies who sail over a huge lake on large flat leaves.

 "Oh, Swallow," said the Prince, "you tell me such surprising things, but the most surprising things, but the most surprising thing of all is the suffering of men and women. Misery is a great mystery. Fly over the city, little Swallow, and tell me what you see."

 The Swallow flew over the city, and became the Prince's eyes. He saw the rich people making merry in their grand houses while beggars froze at their gates.

 He flew down dark lanes and looked into pale faces of starving children. He peered under an archway and saw two little boys lying in one another's arms to keep warm. "How hungry we are!" one of them said. Then the night watchman found them. "You cannot stay here! Get out! Get out!" He drove them out into the cold rain.
 The Swallow returned to the Prince and told him all that he had seen. "I am covered with fine gold," the Prince said. "You must take it, leaf by leaf, and give it to the poor."

 The Swallow pulled it off, leaf after leaf, and took it to the poor people of the city. Slowly, the Prince began to look dull and gray. He became very shabby.

 The children in the streets began to look rosy and full. "We have bread now," they cried, "we are well."
 The snow came and then the frost. The icy streets glistened, icicles hung from the eaves of the houses, grand people went about in furs, and young boys wore red caps and skated on the ice.

 The poor Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince, he loved him too well. He lived on crumbs he gathered from the baker's door when the baker was not looking.

 At last the Swallow knew he was going to die. He had only enough strength to fly up to the Prince's shoulder.
 "Good-bye, dear Prince," he said weakly. "will you let me kiss your hand?"

 "I am glad you are going to Egypt at last," said the Prince. "You have stayed here too long. Kiss me on the lips, for I love you."

 "I cannot go to Egypt," the Swallow said. "I am going to the House of Death. Death is the brother of Sleep, is he not?" He kissed the Prince on the lips and fell down dead at his feet.

 At that moment there was a loud crack from inside the statue, as if something had broken in two.
 Early the next day the Mayor and Councillors were walking through the city. As they passed the column on which the Prince stood, they noticed something. "Oh! how terrible the Happy Prince looks!" he said. "He is dull and shabby." "How shabby, indeed!" echoed the Councillors, who always agreed with what the Mayor said. They took a closer look.
 "The ruby has fallen from his sword, and the sapphires are gone from his eyes," said the Mayor. "He is golden no more. Why, he looks like a beggar!"

 "No better than a beggar," chimed the Councillors.
 "And there is actually a dead bird at his feet," said the Mayor in disgust. "We must make a decree that no birds must die here," the Mayor said. The Town Clerk made a note of this.
 So the statue of the Happy Prince was pulled down. "Since he is no longer beautiful, he is no longer necessary," wrote the Professor of Art fromm the University.

 They melted the statue down and held a meeting to decide what should happen to the metal. "We must have another statue," said the Mayor, "I think the statue should be of me."
 The Councillors each thought the statue should be of themselves. As far as anyone knows, the debate is still in session.

 "This is very strange," said the foreman at the metal foundry. "This broken leaden heart wil not melt in the furnace. Throw it away." It was thrown on a heap of refuse where the dead Swallow lay.
 "Bring me the two most precious things in the city," God commanded one of his Angels. The Angel returned with the leaden heart and the dead bird.

 "You have chosen rightly," said God "for in my garden of Paradise, this little Swallow shall sing forever and in my City of Gold, the Happy Prince shall worship me."