Текст и перевод песни We pretend - Мы притворяемся [ Demis Roussos ]

Текст и перевод песни We pretend - Мы притворяемся. В исполнении Demis Roussos [ видео внизу ] We pretend Мы притворяемся We pretend that the end hasn't found us And we cling to the things left behind us Line by line, every rhyme has been written And time left us here unaware In our eyes gentle sighs went unspoken Yesterday will remain unforgotten Love went by and we tried once too often To save all the dreams that we share And here we stand, the silent strangers Afraid to ask which way to go Our empty hands at last surrender The reason why we'll never know We pretend that the end of our rainbow Cannot die if it lies like a shadow Willows bend when the wind blows to conquer The leaves that have withered away We can't run to the sun like we used to Nothing lasts from the past that we once knew You and I can't deny that it's over And yet we must face it somehow Yet here we stand, the silent strangers Afraid to ask which way to go Our empty hands at last surrender The reason why we'll never know We pretend that the end hasn't found us And we cling to the things left behind us Line by line, every rhyme has been written And time left us here unaware In our eyes gentle sighs went unspoken Yesterday will remain unforgotten Love went by and we tried once too often To save all the dreams that we share Мы притворяемся, что конец не наступит, И мы не забудем то, что оставлено позади, Каждый стих записан строка за строкой И мы в счастливом неведении. В наших глазах осталось много невысказанного, Вчерашний день не будет забыт, Любовь прошла мимо, хотя мы пытались Спасти все то, что было между нами. И вот мы здесь, скромные странники, И нам страшно смотреть в будущее. И, в конце концов, руки опускаются, Неизвестно, почему. Мы притворяемся, что будто наша радуга Никогда не исчезнет, будет с нами, словно тень. Ивы гнутся, не смея спорить с ветром, И листья улетают прочь Мы не побежим за солнцем, как раньше, Ничего не осталось от счастливого прошлого, Нельзя отрицать, что все закончилось, Остается лишь принять это как должное. И вот мы здесь, скромные странники, И нам страшно смотреть в будущее. И, в конце концов, руки опускаются, Неизвестно, почему.  Мы притворяемся, что конец не наступит, И мы не забудем то, что оставлено позади, Каждый стих записан строка за строкой И мы в счастливом неведении. В наших глазах осталось много невысказанного, Вчерашний день не будет забыт, Любовь прошла мимо, хотя мы пытались Спасти все то, что было между нами.

Смотреть далее | 28.05.2014 | Отправить ссылку друзьям

100 Funny and Interesting Facts - 100 забавных и интересных фактов

100 Funny and Interesting Facts - 100 забавных и интересных фактов It is impossible to lick your elbow. Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow. A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out. A shrimp's heart is in it's head. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze,your heart stops for a mili-second. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call. Rats and horses can't vomit. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force when you sneeze, you might pop an eyeball out. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married. A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why. 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts. In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders. Most lipstick contains fish scales. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. A crocodile can't move its tongue and cannot chew. Its digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail. Money notes are not made from paper, they are made mostly from a special blend of cotton and linen. In 1932, when a shortage of cash occurred in Tenino, Washington, USA, notes were made out of wood for a brief period. The Grammy Awards were introduced to counter the threat of rock music. In the late 1950s, a group of record executives were alarmed by the explosive success of rock ‘n roll, considering it a threat to "quality" music. Tea is said to have been discovered in 2737 BC by a Chinese emperor when some tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water. The tea bag was introduced in 1908 by Thomas Sullivan of New York. Over the last 150 years the average height of people in industrialised nations has increased 10 cm (about 4 inches). In the 19th century, American men were the tallest in the world, averaging 1,71m (5'6"). Today, the average height for American men is 1,75m (5'7"), compared to 1,77 (5'8") for Swedes, and 1,78 (5'8.5") for the Dutch. The tallest nation in the world is the Watusis of Burundi. In 1955 the richest woman in the world was Mrs Hetty Green Wilks, who left an estate of $95 million in a will that was found in a tin box with four pieces of soap. Queen Elizabeth of Britain and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands count under the 10 wealthiest women in the world. Joseph Niepce developed the world's first photographic image in 1827. Thomas Edison and W K L Dickson introduced the film camera in 1894. But the first projection of an image on a screen was made by a German priest. In 1646, Athanasius Kircher used a candle or oil lamp to project hand-painted images onto a white screen. In 1935 a writer named Dudley Nichols refused to accept the Oscar for his movie The Informer because the Writers Guild was on strike against the movie studios. In 1970 George C. Scott refused the Best Actor Oscar for Patton. In 1972 Marlon Brando refused the Oscar for his role in The Godfather. The system of democracy was introduced 2 500 years ago in Athens, Greece. The oldest existing governing body operates in Althing in Iceland. It was established in 930 AD. A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water. If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you'll feel thirsty. If it's reduced by 10%, you'll die. According to a study by the Economic Research Service, 27% of all food production in Western nations ends up in garbage cans. Yet, 1,2 billion people are underfed - the same number of people who are overweight. Camels are called "ships of the desert" because of the way they move, not because of their transport capabilities. A Dromedary camel has one hump and a Bactrian camel two humps. The humps are used as fat storage. Thus, an undernourished camel will not have a hump. In the Durango desert, in Mexico, there's a creepy spot called the "Zone of Silence." You can't pick up clear TV or radio signals. And locals say fireballs sometimes appear in the sky. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox, Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T. Bill Gates' first business was Traff-O-Data, a company that created machines which recorded the number of cars passing a given point on a road. Uranus' orbital axis is tilted at 90 degrees. The final resting-place for Dr. Eugene Shoemaker - the Moon. The famed U.S. Geological Survey astronomer, trained the Apollo astronauts about craters, but never made it into space. Mr. Shoemaker had wanted to be an astronaut but was rejected because of a medical problem. His ashes were placed on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft before it was launched on January 6, 1998. NASA crashed the probe into a crater on the moon in an attempt to learn if there is water on the moon. Outside the USA, Ireland is the largest software producing country in the world. The first fossilized specimen of Australopithecus afarenisis was named Lucy after the paleontologists' favorite song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," by the Beatles. Figlet, an ASCII font converter program, stands for Frank, Ian and Glenn's LETters. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. Every year about 98% of atoms in your body are replaced. Hot water is heavier than cold. Plutonium - first weighed on August 20th, 1942, by University of Chicago scientists Glenn Seaborg and his colleagues - was the first man-made element. If you went out into space, you would explode before you suffocated because there's no air pressure. The radioactive substance, Americanium - 241 is used in many smoke detectors. The original IBM-PCs, that had hard drives, referred to the hard drives as Winchester drives. This is due to the fact that the original Winchester drive had a model number of 3030. This is, of course, a Winchester firearm. Sound travels 15 times faster through steel than through the air. On average, half of all false teeth have some form of radioactivity. Only one satellite has been ever been destroyed by a meteor: the European Space Agency's Olympus in 1993. Starch is used as a binder in the production of paper. It is the use of a starch coating that controls ink penetration when printing. Cheaper papers do not use as much starch, and this is why your elbows get black when you are leaning over your morning paper. Sterling silver is not pure silver. Because pure silver is too soft to be used in most tableware it is mixed with copper in the proportion of 92.5 percent silver to 7.5 percent copper. A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber. A ball of solid steel will bounce higher than one made entirely of glass. A chip of silicon a quarter-inch square has the capacity of the original 1949 ENIAC computer, which occupied a city block. An ordinary TNT bomb involves atomic reaction, and could be called an atomic bomb. What we call an A-bomb involves nuclear reactions and should be called a nuclear bomb. At a glance, the Celsius scale makes more sense than the Fahrenheit scale for temperature measuring. But its creator, Anders Celsius, was an oddball scientist. When he first developed his scale, he made freezing 100 degrees and boiling 0 degrees, or upside down. No one dared point this out to him, so fellow scientists waited until Celsius died to change the scale. At a jet plane's speed of 1,000 km (620mi) per hour, the length of the plane becomes one atom shorter than its original length. The first full moon to occur on the winter solstice, Dec. 22, commonly called the first day of winter, happened in 1999. Since a full moon on the winter solstice occurred in conjunction with a lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to Earth), the moon appeared about 14% larger than it does at apogee (the point in it's elliptical orbit that is farthest from the Earth). Since the Earth is also several million miles closer to the sun at that time of the year than in the summer, sunlight striking the moon was about 7% stronger making it brighter. Also, this was the closest perigee of the Moon of the year since the moon's orbit is constantly deforming. In places where the weather was clear and there was a snow cover, even car headlights were superfluous. According to security equipment specialists, security systems that utilize motion detectors won't function properly if walls and floors are too hot. When an infrared beam is used in a motion detector, it will pick up a person's body temperature of 98.6 degrees compared to the cooler walls and floor. If the room is too hot, the motion detector won't register a change in the radiated heat of that person's body when it enters the room and breaks the infrared beam. Your home's safety might be compromised if you turn your air conditioning off or set the thermostat too high while on summer vacation. Western Electric successfully brought sound to motion pictures and introduced systems of mobile communications which culminated in the cellular telephone. On December 23, 1947, Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., held a secret demonstration of the transistor which marked the foundation of modern electronics. The wick of a trick candle has small amounts of magnesium in them. When you light the candle, you are also lighting the magnesium. When someone tries to blow out the flame, the magnesium inside the wick continues to burn and, in just a split second (or two or three), relights the wick. Ostriches are often not taken seriously. They can run faster than horses, and the males can roar like lions. Seals used for their fur get extremely sick when taken aboard ships. Sloths take two weeks to digest their food. Guinea pigs and rabbits can't sweat. The pet food company Ralston Purina recently introduced, from its subsidiary Purina Philippines, power chicken feed designed to help roosters build muscles for cockfighting, which is popular in many areas of the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cockfighting market is huge: The Philippines has five million roosters used for exactly that. Sharks and rays are the only animals known to man that don't get cancer. Scientists believe this has something to do with the fact that they don't have bones, but cartilage. The porpoise is second to man as the most intelligent animal on the planet. Young beavers stay with their parents for the first two years of their lives before going out on their own. Skunks can accurately spray their smelly fluid as far as ten feet. Deer can't eat hay. Gopher snakes in Arizona are not poisonous, but when frightened they may hiss and shake their tails like rattlesnakes. On average, dogs have better eyesight than humans, although not as colorful. The duckbill platypus can store as many as six hundred worms in the pouches of its cheeks. The lifespan of a squirrel is about nine years. North American oysters do not make pearls of any value. Human birth control pills work on gorillas. Many sharks lay eggs, but hammerheads give birth to live babies that look like very small duplicates of their parents. Young hammerheads are usually born headfirst, with the tip of their hammer-shaped head folded backward to make them more streamlined for birth. Gorillas sleep as much as fourteen hours per day. A biological reserve has been made for golden toads because they are so rare. There are more than fifty different kinds of kangaroos. Jellyfish like salt water. A rainy season often reduces the jellyfish population by putting more fresh water into normally salty waters where they live. The female lion does ninety percent of the hunting. The odds of seeing three albino deer at once are one in seventy-nine billion, yet one man in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, took a picture of three albino deer in the woods. A group of twelve or more cows is called a flink. Cats often rub up against people and furniture to lay their scent and mark their territory. They do it this way, as opposed to the way dogs do it, because they have scent glands in their faces. Cats sleep up to eighteen hours a day, but never quite as deep as humans. Instead, they fall asleep quickly and wake up intermittently to check to see if their environment is still safe. Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is an herb with nepetalactone in it. Many think that when cats inhale nepetalactone, it affects hormones that arouse sexual feelings, or at least alter their brain functioning to make them feel "high." Catnip was originally made, using nepetalactone as a natural bug repellant, but roaming cats would rip up the plants before they could be put to their intended task. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans ages the equivalent of five human years for every day they live, so they usually die after about fourteen days. When stressed, though, the worm goes into a comatose state that can last for two or more months. The human equivalent would be to sleep for about two hundred years. You can tell the sex of a horse by its teeth. Most males have 40, females have 36. Money isn't made out of paper; it's made out of cotton. The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottle represents the varieties of pickle the company once had. Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks - otherwise it will digest itself. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

Смотреть далее | 27.05.2014 | Отправить ссылку друзьям

Interesting facts about cats - Интересные факты о котах

Cats Do you like dogs and cats as I do? We can divide all people in the world into two groups — those who keep dogs and those who prefer cats. And the former don’t approve of the latter. Historians believe that cats have come to live with people later than dogs. These slim, graceful animals decorate our houses but our relations with them are peculiar. Cats don’t obey- they are always independent. As Mr. R. Kipling put is, cats walk by themselves and don’t let anyone interfere with their habits. And still we can’t do without these great comforts. After a heated conversation finds your cat sleeping somewhere in one of its hiding places and strokes him for awhile. Your stress soon will be relieved, and if you bend down to listen to the cat’s purring you may hear him saying “Calm down, calm down, calm down…” [ перевод на русский ] Коты Любите ли вы собак и котов, как люблю их я? Мы можем разделить всех людей на две группы — тех, кто держит собак и тех, кто предпочитает кошек. И первые неодобрительно относятся ко вторым. Историки полагают, что коты стали жить с людьми позднее собак. Эти изящные грациозные животные служат украшением наших домов, но отношения с ними у нас особые. Коты не повинуются- они всегда независимы. Как выразился Р. Киплинг, кошки гуляют сами по себе, и не позволяют никому менять свои привычки. И все же мы не можем обходиться без этих замечательных утешителей. После неприятного разговора найдите своего кота, спящего где-нибудь в одном из своих укромных местечек, и погладьте его какое-то время. Ваш стресс скоро будет снят, а если вы нагнетесь, чтобы послушать, как мурлычет ваш кот, то можете услышать, как он говорит: “Успокойся, успокойся, успокойся…” Facts about cats * * * Whether your kitty meows or roars, it is a descendant of the Felis silvestris species, which is divided into the African wildcat, European wildcat and Steppe wildcat. * * * Domestic cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine. A domestic cat hears frequencies up to about 65 kHz, humans up to 20 kHz. Its sense of smell is about 14 times stronger than that of humans. * * * In the rear of a cat’s eye is a light-reflecting layer called the tapetum lucidum, which causes cats’ eyes to glow at night. This reflecting layer absorbs light 6 times more effectively than human eyes do, allowing a cat to see better than humans at night. * * * There are more than 3000 types of domestic cats, but only 8% are pedigree. And, unlike other cats, they are found all over the world… in abundance. In theUS, there are more cats than dogs, and people annually spend more on cat food than on baby food. * * * Domestic cats — or any other cats — do not have nine lives. They also do not always land on their feet. It is said that a cat that falls out of a 20-story building has a better chance of surviving than when falling out of a 7-story building because it takes a cat at least 7 stories to co-ordinate itself to land on its feet. * * * Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. The only other animals to do this are the giraffe, camel and the manned wolf. The dog and the kittens The dog lives in the yard. A box stands in the yard. The dog has two little puppies in this box. The cat lives in the same yard. A basket stands near the box. The cat has three little kittens in this basket. One day the cat goes out of the yard and does not come back. “Where is our mother?” ask the little kittens. And they cry and cry. The dog comes up to their basket. “Don’t cry,” says the dog. “I want to help you.” And the dog takes one of the little kittens and puts it into the box. The little kitten looks at the puppies. The puppies look at the little kitten. The dog goes to the basket again, and again takes one of the little kittens and puts it into the box. Now two puppies and two kittens are in the box. The dog goes to the basket again and takes the last little kitten. It puts the kitten into the box, too. “Now you are my children,” says the dog, “I am your mother, and these puppies are your brothers. Play with them.” And the kittens do not cry. Now they have a mother and two brothers. Dick Whittington and his cat.

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Текст и перевод песни Sultans of swing - Султаны ритма [ Dire Straits ]

Текст и перевод песни Sultans of swing - Султаны ритма В исполнении Dire Straits [ видео внизу ] Sultans of swing Султаны ритма You get a shiver in the dark It's raining in the park but meantime South of the river you stop And you hold everything A band is blowing Dixie double four time You feel all right when you hear that music ring You step inside but You don't see too many faces Coming in out of the rain To hear the jazz go down Too much competition Too many other places But not too many horns can Make that sound Way on downsouth Way on downsouth London town You check out Guitar George He knows all the chords Mind he's strictly rhythm He doesn't want to make it cry or sing And an old guitar is all He can afford When he gets up under the lights To play his thing And Harry doesn't mind If he doesn't make the scene He's got a daytime job He's doing alright He can play honky tonk Just like anything Saving it up for Friday night With the Sultans with the Sultans of Swing And a crowd of young boys They're fooling around in the corner Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies And their platform soles They don't give a damn about Any trumpet playing band It ain't what they call rock and roll And the Sultans played Creole And then the man He steps right up to the microphone And says at last just As the time bell rings 'Thank you goodnight now It's time to go home' And he makes it fast with one more thing 'We are the Sultans Sultans of Swing' В темноте ты дрожишь от холода, Над парком идет дождь, но тем временем К югу от реки ты останавливаешься И волнует тебя только одно – Оркестр играет Дикси на две четвертых, На душе теплеет, когда ты слышишь эту музыку. Ты входишь внутрь, но видишь, Что очень не многие Приходят из под дождя Послушать стихающий джаз, Слишком большая конкуренция, Слишком много других мест, Но не многие духовые могут Создать такой звук По пути в южную часть, По пути в южную часть Лондона. Зацени Джорджа Гитару, Он знает все аккорды, А он лишь ритм-гитарист, Он не хочет заставлять ее рыдать и петь. И старая гитара – это все, Что он может себе позволить, Когда он встает под огнями, Чтобы сыграть эту вещь. А Гарри не переживает, Если он не попал на сцену, У него есть дневная работа И она его устраивает. Он может играть в дешевом кабаке1, Также как и везде, Сберегая силы для пятницы вечера С Султанами, с Султанами ритма. И толпа юнцов дурачится в углу, Пьяные и одетые в лучшие коричневые Широкие штаны и ботинки на платформе. Им наплевать на любую группу, Играющую на духовых, Это ведь совсем не то, Что они называют рок-энд-роллом, А Султаны играют креольскую музыку. А потом мужчина… Он подходит прямо к микрофону И просто говорит под конец, Что время закругляться. «Спасибо и всем спокойной ночи, Время идти домой» И он быстро добавляет еще одну вещь: «Мы Султаны, Султаны ритма» Dixie (Дикси) – так в США называют Южные штаты. «Дикси» – это песня, также известна как «Я хотел бы быть в Дикси», «Земля Дикси» (англ. Dixie, «I Wish I Was in Dixie», «Dixie’s Land») — американская народная песня, один из неофициальных гимнов южных штатов США. Во время Гражданской войны была очень популярна среди конфедератов. Песня была исполнена в первый раз в 1859 году в Нью-Йорке. Создателем её считается Дэн Эммет, уроженец Огайо. 1) honky tonk — кабак, притон; хонки-тонк (непритязательная фортепьянная музыка, преим. в барах и т.п.); бордель; дешёвое заведение с сомнительной репутацией (игорный дом, танцзал и т.п.)

Смотреть далее | 25.05.2014 | Отправить ссылку друзьям

Сказка The Bell-Deep - Колокольный омут [ Hans Christian Andersen ]

Сказка The Bell-Deep Ding-dong! ding-dong!” It sounds up from the “bell-deep” in the Odense-Au. Every child in the old town of Odense, on the island of Funen, knows the Au, which washes the gardens round about the town, and flows on under the wooden bridges from the dam to the water-mill. In the Au grow the yellow water-lilies and brown feathery reeds; the dark velvety flag grows there, high and thick; old and decayed willows, slanting and tottering, hang far out over the stream beside the monk’s meadow and by the bleaching ground; but opposite there are gardens upon gardens, each different from the rest, some with pretty flowers and bowers like little dolls’ pleasure grounds, often displaying cabbage and other kitchen plants; and here and there the gardens cannot be seen at all, for the great elder trees that spread themselves out by the bank, and hang far out over the streaming waters, which are deeper here and there than an oar can fathom. Opposite the old nunnery is the deepest place, which is called the “bell-deep,” and there dwells the old water spirit, the “Au-mann.” This spirit sleeps through the day while the sun shines down upon the water; but in starry and moonlit nights he shows himself. He is very old. Grandmother says that she has heard her own grandmother tell of him; he is said to lead a solitary life, and to have nobody with whom he can converse save the great old church Bell. Once the Bell hung in the church tower; but now there is no trace left of the tower or of the church, which was called St. Alban’s. “Ding-dong! ding-dong!” sounded the Bell, when the tower still stood there; and one evening, while the sun was setting, and the Bell was swinging away bravely, it broke loose and came flying down through the air, the brilliant metal shining in the ruddy beam. “Ding-dong! ding-dong! Now I’ll retire to rest!” sang the Bell, and flew down into the Odense-Au, where it is deepest; and that is why the place is called the “bell-deep.” But the Bell got neither rest nor sleep. Down in the Au-mann’s haunt it sounds and rings, so that the tones sometimes pierce upward through the waters; and many people maintain that its strains forebode the death of some one; but that is not true, for the Bell is only talking with the Au-mann, who is now no longer alone. And what is the Bell telling? It is old, very old, as we have already observed; it was there long before grandmother’s grandmother was born; and yet it is but a child in comparison with the Au-mann, who is quite an old quiet personage, an oddity, with his hose of eel-skin, and his scaly Jacket with the yellow lilies for buttons, and a wreath of reed in his hair and seaweed in his beard; but he looks very pretty for all that. What the Bell tells? To repeat it all would require years and days; for year by year it is telling the old stories, sometimes short ones, sometimes long ones, according to its whim; it tells of old times, of the dark hard times, thus: “In the church of St. Alban, the monk had mounted up into the tower. He was young and handsome, but thoughtful exceedingly. He looked through the loophole out upon the Odense-Au, when the bed of the water was yet broad, and the monks’ meadow was still a lake. He looked out over it, and over the rampart, and over the nuns’ hill opposite, where the convent lay, and the light gleamed forth from the nun’s cell. He had known the nun right well, and he thought of her, and his heart beat quicker as he thought. Ding-dong! ding-dong!” Yes, this was the story the Bell told. “Into the tower came also the dapper man-servant of the bishop; and when I, the Bell, who am made of metal, rang hard and loud, and swung to and fro, I might have beaten out his brains. He sat down close under me, and played with two little sticks as if they had been a stringed instrument; and he sang to it. ‘Now I may sing it out aloud, though at other times I may not whisper it. I may sing of everything that is kept concealed behind lock and bars. Yonder it is cold and wet. The rats are eating her up alive! Nobody knows of it! Nobody hears of it! Not even now, for the bell is ringing and singing its loud Ding-dong, ding-dong!’ “There was a King in those days. They called him Canute. He bowed himself before bishop and monk; but when he offended the free peasants with heavy taxes and hard words, they seized their weapons and put him to flight like a wild beast. He sought shelter in the church, and shut gate and door behind him. The violent band surrounded the church; I heard tell of it. The crows, ravens and magpies started up in terror at the yelling and shouting that sounded around. They flew into the tower and out again, they looked down upon the throng below, and they also looked into the windows of the church, and screamed out aloud what they saw there. King Canute knelt before the altar in prayer; his brothers Eric and Benedict stood by him as a guard with drawn swords; but the King’s servant, the treacherous Blake, betrayed his master. The throng in front of the church knew where they could hit the King, and one of them flung a stone through a pane of glass, and the King lay there dead! The cries and screams of the savage horde and of the birds sounded through the air, and I joined in it also; for I sang ‘Ding-dong! ding-dong!’ “The church bell hangs high, and looks far around, and sees the birds around it, and understands their language. The wind roars in upon it through windows and loopholes; and the wind knows everything, for he gets it from the air, which encircles all things, and the church bell understands his tongue, and rings it out into the world, ‘Ding-dong! ding-dong!’ “But it was too much for me to hear and to know; I was not able any longer to ring it out. I became so tired, so heavy, that the beam broke, and I flew out into the gleaming Au, where the water is deepest, and where the Au-mann lives, solitary and alone; and year by year I tell him what I have heard and what I know. Ding-dong! ding-dong” Thus it sounds complainingly out of the bell-deep in the Odense-Au. That is what grandmother told us. But the schoolmaster says that there was not any bell that rung down there, for that it could not do so; and that no Au-mann dwelt yonder, for there was no Au-mann at all! And when all the other church bells are sounding sweetly, he says that it is not really the bells that are sounding, but that it is the air itself which sends forth the notes; and grandmother said to us that the Bell itself said it was the air who told it to him, consequently they are agreed on that point, and this much is sure. “Be cautious, cautious, and take good heed to thyself,” they both say. The air knows everything. It is around us, it is in us, it talks of our thoughts and of our deeds, and it speaks longer of them than does the Bell down in the depths of the Odense-Au where the Au-mann dwells. It rings it out in the vault of heaven, far, far out, forever and ever, till the heaven bells sound “Ding-dong! ding-dong!”

Смотреть далее | 25.05.2014 | Отправить ссылку друзьям

Текст и перевод песни Do you really want to hurt me - Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? [ Culture Club ]

Текст и перевод песни Do you really want to hurt me - Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? В исполнении Culture Club [ видео внизу ] Do you really want to hurt me Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? Give me time To realize my crime Let me love and steal I have danced inside your eyes How can I be real Do you really want to hurt me Do you really want to make me cry Precious kisses words that burn me Lovers never ask you why In my heart the fires burning Choose my color find a star Precious people always tell me That's a step a step too far Do you really want to hurt me Do you really want to make me cry Do you really want to hurt me Do you really want to make me cry Words are few i have spoken I could waste a thousand years Wrapped in sorrow Words are token Come inside and catch my tears You've been talking but believe me If its true you do not know This boy loves without a reason I'm prepared to let you go If its love you want from me Then take it away Everything is not what you see It's over again Do you really want to hurt me Do you really want to make me cry Do you really want to hurt me Do you really want to make me cry Дай мне время реализовать Мое преступление. Дай мне любовь и укради. Я танцевал в твоих глазах Как я могу быть настоящим? Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? Ты хочешь заставить меня плакать? Дорогие поцелуи, слова, которые жгут меня. Любовники никогда не спросят тебя: "Почему?" В моем сердце горит огонь. Выбери мой цвет, найди звезду. Дорогие мне люди всегда говорили мне, Что это шаг, и слишком серьезный шаг. Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? Ты хочешь заставить меня плакать? Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? Ты хочешь заставить меня плакать? Я сказал мало слов. Я мог бы провести тысячу лет, Облачившись в печаль. Слова сказаны, Войди и утри мои слезы. Тебе рассказывали, Но поверь мне, Правда ли это — ты не знаешь. Этот мальчик любит безо всякой причины. Я готов позволить тебе уйти. Если ты хочешь любви от меня, Тогда возьми ее. Все не так, как тебе видится. Все снова окончено. Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? Ты хочешь заставить меня плакать? Ты хочешь причинить мне боль? Ты хочешь заставить меня плакать?

Смотреть далее | 24.05.2014 | Отправить ссылку друзьям

Сказка The Beetle Who Went on His Travels - Жук, который пошел в путешествие [ Hans Christian Andersen ]

Сказка The Beetle Who Went on His Travels There was once an Emperor who had a horse shod with gold. He had a golden shoe on each foot, and why was this? He was a beautiful creature, with slender legs, bright, intelligent eyes, and a mane that hung down over his neck like a veil. He had carried his master through fire and smoke in the battle-field, with the bullets whistling round him; he had kicked and bitten, and taken part in the fight, when the enemy advanced; and, with his master on his back, he had dashed over the fallen foe, and saved the golden crown and the Emperor’s life, which was of more value than the brightest gold. This is the reason of the Emperor’s horse wearing golden shoes. A beetle came creeping forth from the stable, where the farrier had been shoeing the horse. “Great ones, first, of course,” said he, “and then the little ones; but size is not always a proof of greatness.” He stretched out his thin leg as he spoke. “And pray what do you want?” asked the farrier. “Golden shoes,” replied the beetle. “Why, you must be out of your senses,” cried the farrier. “Golden shoes for you, indeed!” “Yes, certainly; golden shoes,” replied the beetle. “Am I not just as good as that great creature yonder, who is waited upon and brushed, and has food and drink placed before him? And don’t I belong to the royal stables?” “But why does the horse have golden shoes?” asked the farrier; “of course you understand the reason?” “Understand! Well, I understand that it is a personal slight to me,” cried the beetle. “It is done to annoy me, so I intend to go out into the world and seek my fortune.” “Go along with you,” said the farrier. “You’re a rude fellow,” cried the beetle, as he walked out of the stable; and then he flew for a short distance, till he found himself in a beautiful flower-garden, all fragrant with roses and lavender. The lady-birds, with red and black shells on their backs, and delicate wings, were flying about, and one of them said, “Is it not sweet and lovely here? Oh, how beautiful everything is.” “I am accustomed to better things,” said the beetle. “Do you call this beautiful? Why, there is not even a dung-heap.” Then he went on, and under the shadow of a large haystack he found a caterpillar crawling along. “How beautiful this world is!” said the caterpillar. “The sun is so warm, I quite enjoy it. And soon I shall go to sleep, and die as they call it, but I shall wake up with beautiful wings to fly with, like a butterfly.” “How conceited you are!” exclaimed the beetle. “Fly about as a butterfly, indeed! what of that. I have come out of the Emperor’s stable, and no one there, not even the Emperor’s horse, who, in fact, wears my cast-off golden shoes, has any idea of flying, excepting myself. To have wings and fly! why, I can do that already;” and so saying, he spread his wings and flew away. “I don’t want to be disgusted,” he said to himself, “and yet I can’t help it.” Soon after, he fell down upon an extensive lawn, and for a time pretended to sleep, but at last fell asleep in earnest. Suddenly a heavy shower of rain came falling from the clouds. The beetle woke up with the noise and would have been glad to creep into the earth for shelter, but he could not. He was tumbled over and over with the rain, sometimes swimming on his stomach and sometimes on his back; and as for flying, that was out of the question. He began to doubt whether he should escape with his life, so he remained, quietly lying where he was. After a while the weather cleared up a little, and the beetle was able to rub the water from his eyes, and look about him. He saw something gleaming, and he managed to make his way up to it. It was linen which had been laid to bleach on the grass. He crept into a fold of the damp linen, which certainly was not so comfortable a place to lie in as the warm stable, but there was nothing better, so he remained lying there for a whole day and night, and the rain kept on all the time. Towards morning he crept out of his hiding-place, feeling in a very bad temper with the climate. Two frogs were sitting on the linen, and their bright eyes actually glistened with pleasure. “Wonderful weather this,” cried one of them, “and so refreshing. This linen holds the water together so beautifully, that my hind legs quiver as if I were going to swim.” “I should like to know,” said another, “If the swallow who flies so far in her many journeys to foreign lands, ever met with a better climate than this. What delicious moisture! It is as pleasant as lying in a wet ditch. I am sure any one who does not enjoy this has no love for his fatherland.” “Have you ever been in the Emperor’s stable?” asked the beetle. “There the moisture is warm and refreshing; that’s the climate for me, but I could not take it with me on my travels. Is there not even a dunghill here in this garden, where a person of rank, like myself, could take up his abode and feel at home?” But the frogs either did not or would not understand him. “I never ask a question twice,” said the beetle, after he had asked this one three times, and received no answer. Then he went on a little farther and stumbled against a piece of broken crockery-ware, which certainly ought not to have been lying there. But as it was there, it formed a good shelter against wind and weather to several families of earwigs who dwelt in it. Their requirements were not many, they were very sociable, and full of affection for their children, so much so that each mother considered her own child the most beautiful and clever of them all. “Our dear son has engaged himself,” said one mother, “dear innocent boy; his greatest ambition is that he may one day creep into a clergyman’s ear. That is a very artless and loveable wish; and being engaged will keep him steady. What happiness for a mother!” “Our son,” said another, “had scarcely crept out of the egg, when he was off on his travels. He is all life and spirits, I expect he will wear out his horns with running. How charming this is for a mother, is it not Mr. Beetle?” for she knew the stranger by his horny coat. “You are both quite right,” said he; so they begged him to walk in, that is to come as far as he could under the broken piece of earthenware. “Now you shall also see my little earwigs,” said a third and a fourth mother, “they are lovely little things, and highly amusing. They are never ill-behaved, except when they are uncomfortable in their inside, which unfortunately often happens at their age.” Thus each mother spoke of her baby, and their babies talked after their own fashion, and made use of the little nippers they have in their tails to nip the beard of the beetle. “They are always busy about something, the little rogues,” said the mother, beaming with maternal pride; but the beetle felt it a bore, and he therefore inquired the way to the nearest dung-heap. “That is quite out in the great world, on the other side of the ditch,” answered an earwig, “I hope none of my children will ever go so far, it would be the death of me.” “But I shall try to get so far,” said the beetle, and he walked off without taking any formal leave, which is considered a polite thing to do. When he arrived at the ditch, he met several friends, all them beetles; “We live here,” they said, “and we are very comfortable. May we ask you to step down into this rich mud, you must be fatigued after your journey.” “Certainly,” said the beetle, “I shall be most happy; I have been exposed to the rain, and have had to lie upon linen, and cleanliness is a thing that greatly exhausts me; I have also pains in one of my wings from standing in the draught under a piece of broken crockery. It is really quite refreshing to be with one’s own kindred again.” “Perhaps you came from a dung-heap,” observed the oldest of them. “No, indeed, I came from a much grander place,” replied the beetle; “I came from the emperor’s stable, where I was born, with golden shoes on my feet. I am travelling on a secret embassy, but you must not ask me any questions, for I cannot betray my secret.” Then the beetle stepped down into the rich mud, where sat three young-lady beetles, who tittered, because they did not know what to say. “None of them are engaged yet,” said their mother, and the beetle maidens tittered again, this time quite in confusion. “I have never seen greater beauties, even in the royal stables,” exclaimed the beetle, who was now resting himself. “Don’t spoil my girls,” said the mother; “and don’t talk to them, pray, unless you have serious intentions.” But of course the beetle’s intentions were serious, and after a while our friend was engaged. The mother gave them her blessing, and all the other beetles cried “hurrah.” Immediately after the betrothal came the marriage, for there was no reason to delay. The following day passed very pleasantly, and the next was tolerably comfortable; but on the third it became necessary for him to think of getting food for his wife, and, perhaps, for children. “I have allowed myself to be taken in,” said our beetle to himself, “and now there’s nothing to be done but to take them in, in return.” No sooner said than done. Away he went, and stayed away all day and all night, and his wife remained behind a forsaken widow. “Oh,” said the other beetles, “this fellow that we have received into our family is nothing but a complete vagabond. He has gone away and left his wife a burden upon our hands.” “Well, she can be unmarried again, and remain here with my other daughters,” said the mother. “Fie on the villain that forsook her!” In the mean time the beetle, who had sailed across the ditch on a cabbage leaf, had been journeying on the other side. In the morning two persons came up to the ditch. When they saw him they took him up and turned him over and over, looking very learned all the time, especially one, who was a boy. “Allah sees the black beetle in the black stone, and the black rock. Is not that written in the Koran?” he asked. Then he translated the beetle’s name into Latin, and said a great deal upon the creature’s nature and history. The second person, who was older and a scholar, proposed to carry the beetle home, as they wanted just such good specimens as this. Our beetle considered this speech a great insult, so he flew suddenly out of the speaker’s hand. His wings were dry now, so they carried him to a great distance, till at last he reached a hothouse, where a sash of the glass roof was partly open, so he quietly slipped in and buried himself in the warm earth. “It is very comfortable here,” he said to himself, and soon after fell asleep. Then he dreamed that the emperor’s horse was dying, and had left him his golden shoes, and also promised that he should have two more. All this was very delightful, and when the beetle woke up he crept forth and looked around him. What a splendid place the hothouse was! At the back, large palm-trees were growing; and the sunlight made the leaves—look quite glossy; and beneath them what a profusion of luxuriant green, and of flowers red like flame, yellow as amber, or white as new-fallen snow! “What a wonderful quantity of plants,” cried the beetle; “how good they will taste when they are decayed! This is a capital store-room. There must certainly be some relations of mine living here; I will just see if I can find any one with whom I can associate. I’m proud, certainly; but I’m also proud of being so. Then he prowled about in the earth, and thought what a pleasant dream that was about the dying horse, and the golden shoes he had inherited. Suddenly a hand seized the beetle, and squeezed him, and turned him round and round. The gardener’s little son and his playfellow had come into the hothouse, and, seeing the beetle, wanted to have some fun with him. First, he was wrapped, in a vine-leaf, and put into a warm trousers’ pocket. He twisted and turned about with all his might, but he got a good squeeze from the boy’s hand, as a hint for him to keep quiet. Then the boy went quickly towards a lake that lay at the end of the garden. Here the beetle was put into an old broken wooden shoe, in which a little stick had been fastened upright for a mast, and to this mast the beetle was bound with a piece of worsted. Now he was a sailor, and had to sail away. The lake was not very large, but to the beetle it seemed an ocean, and he was so astonished at its size that he fell over on his back, and kicked out his legs. Then the little ship sailed away; sometimes the current of the water seized it, but whenever it went too far from the shore one of the boys turned up his trousers, and went in after it, and brought it back to land. But at last, just as it went merrily out again, the two boys were called, and so angrily, that they hastened to obey, and ran away as fast as they could from the pond, so that the little ship was left to its fate. It was carried away farther and farther from the shore, till it reached the open sea. This was a terrible prospect for the beetle, for he could not escape in consequence of being bound to the mast. Then a fly came and paid him a visit. “What beautiful weather,” said the fly; “I shall rest here and sun myself. You must have a pleasant time of it.” “You speak without knowing the facts,” replied the beetle; “don’t you see that I am a prisoner?” “Ah, but I’m not a prisoner,” remarked the fly, and away he flew. “Well, now I know the world,” said the beetle to himself; “it’s an abominable world; I’m the only respectable person in it. First, they refuse me my golden shoes; then I have to lie on damp linen, and to stand in a draught; and to crown all, they fasten a wife upon me. Then, when I have made a step forward in the world, and found out a comfortable position, just as I could wish it to be, one of these human boys comes and ties me up, and leaves me to the mercy of the wild waves, while the emperor’s favorite horse goes prancing about proudly on his golden shoes. This vexes me more than anything. But it is useless to look for sympathy in this world. My career has been very interesting, but what’s the use of that if nobody knows anything about it? The world does not deserve to be made acquainted with my adventures, for it ought to have given me golden shoes when the emperor’s horse was shod, and I stretched out my feet to be shod, too. If I had received golden shoes I should have been an ornament to the stable; now I am lost to the stable and to the world. It is all over with me.” But all was not yet over. A boat, in which were a few young girls, came rowing up. “Look, yonder is an old wooden shoe sailing along,” said one of the younger girls. “And there’s a poor little creature bound fast in it,” said another. The boat now came close to our beetle’s ship, and the young girls fished it out of the water. One of them drew a small pair of scissors from her pocket, and cut the worsted without hurting the beetle, and when she stepped on shore she placed him on the grass. “There,” she said, “creep away, or fly, if thou canst. It is a splendid thing to have thy liberty.” Away flew the beetle, straight through the open window of a large building; there he sank down, tired and exhausted, exactly on the mane of the emperor’s favorite horse, who was standing in his stable; and the beetle found himself at home again. For some time he clung to the mane, that he might recover himself. “Well,” he said, “here I am, seated on the emperor’s favorite horse,—sitting upon him as if I were the emperor himself. But what was it the farrier asked me? Ah, I remember now,—that’s a good thought,—he asked me why the golden shoes were given to the horse. The answer is quite clear to me, now. They were given to the horse on my account.” And this reflection put the beetle into a good temper. The sun’s rays also came streaming into the stable, and shone upon him, and made the place lively and bright. “Travelling expands the mind very much,” said the beetle. “The world is not so bad after all, if you know how to take things as they come.

Смотреть далее | 24.05.2014 | Отправить ссылку друзьям

Текст и перевод песни Gimme Hope Jo'Anna - Дай мне надежду, Йоханне [ Eddy Grant ]

Текст и перевод песни Gimme Hope Jo'Anna - Дай мне надежду, Йоханне. В исполнении Eddy Grant [ видео внизу ] Gimme Hope Jo'Anna Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Well Jo'anna she runs a country She runs in Durban and the Transvaal She makes a few of her people happy, oh She don't care about the rest at all She's got a system they call apartheid It keeps a brother in a subjection But maybe pressure will make Jo'anna see How everybody could a live as one Gimme hope, Jo'anna Hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna 'Fore the morning come Gimme hope, Jo'anna Hope, Jo'anna Hope before the morning come I hear she makes all the golden money To buy new weapons, any shape of guns While every mother in black Soweto fears The killing of another son Sneakin' across all the neighbours' borders Now and again having little fun She doesn't care if the fun and games she play Is dang'rous to ev'ryone Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna 'Fore the morning come Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Hope before the morning come She got supporters in high up places Who turn their heads to the city sun Jo'anna give them the fancy money Oh to tempt anyone who'd come She even knows how to swing opinion In every magazine and the journals For every bad move that this Jo'anna makes They got a good explanation Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna 'Fore the morning come Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Hope before the morning come Even the preacher who works for Jesus The Archbishop who's a peaceful man Together say that the freedom fighters Will overcome the very strong I wanna know if you're blind Jo'anna If you wanna hear the sound of drum Can't you see that the tide is turning Oh don't make me wait till the morning come Do give hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna 'Fore the morning come Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Hope before the morning come Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna 'Fore the morning come Gimme hope, Jo'anna Gimme hope, Jo'anna Hope before the morning come Йоханне бежит страны Она пробегает в Дурбане и в Трансваале Она делает своих людей счастливыми, Она не волнуется за остальных Ее систему они называют апартеида Он держит брата в подчинении Но, возможно, под давлением Йоханне увидит Как каждый может жить свободно Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Клянусь прийти утром Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Надежду, Йоханне Надежда приходит до утра Я слышал, она делает золотые деньги Чтобы купить новое оружие, любое оружие Хотя каждая мать в черном страхе Из-за убийства другого сына Крадись со всех соседних границ То и дело с немного развлечься Она не волнуется, она веселится и играет в игры Являясь опасной для каждого Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Клянусь прийти утром Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Надежда приходит до утра Она получила поддержку свысока Кто повернет голову в город солнца Йоханне дает им воображаемые денги Ах, чтобы соблазнить любого, кто приехал Она даже знает, как поменять мнение В каждом журнале и журналах Для каждого плохой ход, что это делает Йоханне Они получат объяснение Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Клянусь прийти утром Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Надежда приходит до утра Даже проповедник, который работает на Иисуса Архиепископ, кто мирный человек Вместе сказать, борцы за свободу Будут преодолевать еще сильнее Я хочу знать, если ты слепа Йоханне Если ты хочешь услышать звук барабана Разве ты не видишь, что поворачивается О, не заставляй меня ждатьнаступдения утра Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Клянусь прийти утром Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Надежда приходит до утра Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Клянусь прийти утром Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Дай мне надежду, Йоханне Надежда приходит до утра

Смотреть далее | 23.05.2014 | Отправить ссылку друзьям

Сказка Sunshine Stories - Солнечные истории [ Hans Christian Andersen ]

Сказка Sunshine Stories Now I am going to tell a story,” said the Wind. “Excuse me,” said the Rain, “but now it is my turn—, you have been howling round the corner as hard as ever you could, this long time past.” “Is that your gratitude toward me?” said the Wind. “I who, in honor of you, turn inside out—yes, even break—all the umbrellas, when people won’t have anything to do with you.” “I am going to speak!” said the Sunshine. “Silence!” And the Sunshine said it with such glory and majesty, that the long, weary Wind fell prostrate, and the Rain beat against him, and shook him, and said,—“We won’t stand it! She always breaks through, that Madam Sunshine; we won’t listen to her. What she says is not worth hearing.” But the Sunshine said,—“A beautiful swan flew over the rolling, tumbling waves of the ocean. Every one of its feathers shone like gold: one feather drifted down on the great merchant vessel that, with all sail set, was sailing away. The feather dropped on the curly light hair of a young man, whose business it was to have a care for the goods—,supercargo they called him. The bird of Fortune’s feather touched his forehead, became a pen in his hand, and brought him such luck, that very soon he became a wealthy merchant,—rich enough to have bought for himself spurs of gold; rich enough to change a golden dish into a nobleman’s shield; and I shone on it,” said the Sunshine. “The swan flew further, away over the bright green meadow, where the little shepherd-boy, only seven years old, had lain down in the shadow of the old and only tree there was. The swan, in its flight, kissed one of the leaves of the tree. The leaf fell into the boy’s hand, and it was changed to three leaves, to ten,—yes, to a whole book,—and in it he read about all the wonders of nature, about his native language, about faith and knowledge. At night he laid the book under his head, that he might not forget what he had been reading. The wonderful book led him to the school-bench, and thence in search of knowledge. I have read his name among the names of learned men,” said the Sunshine. “The swan flew into the quiet, lonely forest, rested awhile on the dark, deep lake, where the water-lilies grow; where the wild apples are to be found on the shore ; where the cuckoo and wild pigeon have their homes. “A poor woman was in the wood, gathering firewood branches that had fallen down, and dry sticks; she carried them in a bundle on her back, and in her arms she held her little child. She saw the golden swan, the bird of Fortune, rise from among the reeds on the shore. What was that that glittered? A golden egg, quite warm yet. She laid it in her bosom, and the warmth remained in it. Surely there was life in the egg! She heard a gentle picking inside of the shell, but mistook the sound, and thought it was her own heart that she heard beating. “At home, in the poor cottage, she took out the egg; ‘tick, tick,’ it said, as if it had been a valuable gold watch; but that it was not, only an egg—a real, living egg. The egg cracked and opened, and a dear little baby-swan, all feathered as with purest gold, put out its little head; round its neck it had four rings, and as the poor woman had four boys,—three at home, and the little one that she had had with her in the lonely wood,—she understood at once that here was a ring for each boy and just as she thought of that, the little gold-bt here was a ring for each boy and just as she thought of that, the little gold-biird took flight She kissed each ring, made each of the children kiss one of the rings, laid it next to the child’s heart, then put it on his finger. I saw it all,” said the Sunshine, “and I saw what followed. “One of the boys was playing in a ditch, and took a lump of clay in his hand, turned and twisted and pressed it between his fingers, till it took shape, and was like Jason, who went in search of and found the golden fleece. “The second boy ran out on the meadow, where the flowers stood,—flowers of all imaginable colors; he gathered a handful, and squeezed them so tight that all the juice spurted into his eyes, and some of it wetted the ring. It cribbled and crawled in his thoughts, and in his hands, and after many a day, and many a year, people in the great city talked of the great painter. “The third child held the ring so tight in his teeth, that it gave forth sound, an echo of the song in the depth of his heart. Thoughts and feelings rose in beautiful sounds; rose like singing swans; plunged, like swans, into the deep, deep sea. He became a great master, a great composer, of whom every country has the right to say, ‘He was mine!’ “And the fourth little one was—yes, he was—the ‘ugly duck’ of the family; they said he had the pip, and must have pepper and butter, like the little sick chickens, and that he got; but of me he got a warm, sunny kiss,” said the Sunshine. “He got ten kisses for one; he was a poet, and was buffeted and kissed, alternately, all his life. But he held what no one could take from him,—the Ring of Fortune, from Dame Fortune’s golden swan. His thoughts took wings, and flew up and away, like singing butterflies,—the emblem of immortality!” “That was a dreadfully long story,” said the Wind. “And O, how stupid and tiresome !” said the Rain. “Blow on me, please, that I may revive a little.” And the Wind blew, and the Sunshine said,—“The swan of Fortune flew over the beautiful bay, where the fishermen had set their nets; the poorest of them wanted to get married, and marry he did. To him the swan brought a piece of amber; amber draws things toward it, and it drew hearts to the house. Amber is the most wonderful incense, and there came a soft perfume, as from a church; there came a sweet breath from out of beautiful nature, that God has made. They were so happy and grateful for their peaceful home, and content even in their poverty. Their life became a real Sunshine story!” “I think we had better stop now,” said the Wind, “the Sunshine has talked long enough, and I am dreadfully bored.” “And I also,” said the Rain. And what do we others, who have heard the story, say? We say, “Now my story’s done.”

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