"'Good morning,' said Hans, leaning on his spade, and smiling from ear to ear.

  "'And how have you been all the winter?' said the Miller.

  "'Well, really,' cried Hans, 'it is very good of you to ask, very good indeed. I am afraid I had rather a hard time of it, but now the spring has come, and I am quite happy, and all my flowers are doing well.'

  "'We often talked of you during the winter, Hans,' said the Miller, 'and wondered how you were getting on.'

  "'That was kind of you,' said Hans; 'I was half afraid you had forgotten me.'

  "'Hans, I am surprised at you,' said the Miller; 'friendship never forgets. That is the wonderful thing about it, but I am afraid you don't understand the poetry of life. How lovely your primroses are looking, by-the-bye"!

  "'They are certainly very lovely,' said Hans, 'and it is a most lucky thing for me that I have so many. I am going to bring them into the market and sell them to the Burgomaster's daughter, and buy back my wheelbarrow with the money.'

  "'Buy back your wheelbarrow? You don't mean to say you have sold it? What a very stupid thing to do'!

 

【词汇简析】

 spade n. 铁楸

primrose n. 报春花

wheelbarrow n. 独轮小推车