100个儿童英语小故事: The Virgin Mary's child 圣母玛利亚的孩子

 

078 The Virgin¹ Mary's child

A long time ago there lived a poor woodcutter and his wife. This couple had a daughter. However, they were so poor that they couldn't even feed their daughter.

Then one day, while the woodcutter was chopping wood in the forest a beautiful Virgin Mary appeared. "Since you are living a hard life, why don't you give me your daughter. I will take good care of her for you." "Yes, I understand." The Virgin Mary carried the child and went up into the heaven.

The child was able to eat delicious food, wear nice clothes, become friends with the angels and lived happily. When the child turned 14years olds, the Virgin Mary left for a long journey.

"While I am gone take care of these 13 keys to heaven. Out of the 13 keys you may open 12 of them, however, you must never open the last key. If you open that door, unhappiness will come upon you." "Yes, I will keep in mind."

As soon as the Virgin Mary left, the little girl started opening door by door. The little girl who had opened all the twelve doors wanted to open the last door as well. Just then her fingers turned into glimmering² gold.

A little while later, Virgin Mary returned. When Virgin Mary saw the little girl's finger, she knew that the little girl had not kept her promise. "Did you open the 13th door?" "No, I never opened it." Virgin Mary wanted to give the little girl another chance and asked her two more times. However, the little girl kept lying.

The angry virgin Mary sent the little girl back to earth. When she woke up from her sleep she knew that she was sent to earth and started to cry. However, she was not able to make a sound.

The little girl lived in a oak tree in the forest. Then one day, a prince who was out hunting discovered the little girl. "Who are you?" The little girl could not answer.

Even though the little girl could not utter a word, because she was so beautiful the prince fell in love. And he married the little girl.

A year later the queen bore a son. That night the Virgin Mary went to the queen. "Confess that you opened the 13th door. If you don't, I will take your son away." "No, I never opened it." So, the Virgin Mary took the child and ran away with it.

Afterward³, the queen had another son and a daughter, but Virgin Mary took all of them to heaven. From the people, there was a rumor⁴ that the queen was a wicked witch. The queen wanted to tell them, but she could not speak.

Eventually, the queen was sentence to death. The queen was set upon the fire post. It was just then, that the queen's heart began to melt. The queen thought, "if only I had confessed that I had opened the door! All of a sudden, she was able to speak.

"Yes, virgin Mary, I did open that door." Just then, rain came pouring down from the sky and turned out the fire. And then the virgin Mary carried down the three children and spoke⁵ tenderly. "Whoever, confesses and repents⁶ their sins will be forgiven." Afterwards, the queen lived happily for a very long time.

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 glimmering   

n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I got some glimmering of what he was driving at. 他这么说是什么意思，我有点明白了。 来自辞典例句
• Now that darkness was falling, only their silhouettes were outlined against the faintly glimmering sky. 这时节两山只剩余一抹深黑，赖天空微明为画出一个轮廓。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

3 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

4 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 repents   

对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• God welcomes the sinner who repents. 上帝欢迎悔过的罪人。
• He repents him of the evil. 他对罪恶感到后悔。