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1、TheGirlWhoTrodontheLoaf踩着面包走的女孩You have quite likely heard of the girl who trod on a loaf so as not to soil her pretty shoes, and what misfortunes this brought upon her. The story has been written and printed, too.She was a poor child, but proud and arrogant, and people said she had a bad dispositio
2、n. When but a very little child, she found pleasure in catching flies, to pull off their wings and make creeping insects of them. And she used to stick May bugs and beetles on a pin, then put a green leaf or piece of paper close to their feet, so that the poor animals clung to it, and turned and twi
3、sted as they tried to get off the pin.The May bug is reading now, little Inger would say. See how it turns the leaves!As she grew older she became even worse instead of better; but she was very pretty, and that was probably her misfortune. Because otherwise she would have been disciplined more than
4、she was.Youll bring misfortune down upon you, said her own mother to her. As a little child you often used to trample on my aprons; and when youre older I fear youll trample on my heart.And she really did.Then she was sent into the country to be in the service of people of distinction. They treated
5、her as kindly as if she had been their own child and dressed her so well that she looked extremely beautiful and became even more arrogant.When she had been in their service for about a year, her mistress said to her, You ought to go back and visit your parents, little Inger.So she went, but only be
6、cause she wanted to show them how fine she had become. But when she reached the village, and saw the young men and girls gossiping around the pond, and her mother sat resting herself on a stone near by, with a bundle of firewood she had gathered in the forest, Inger turned away; she was ashamed that
7、 one dressed as smartly as she should have for a mother such a poor, ragged woman who gathered sticks for burning. It was without reluctance that she turned away; she was only annoyed.Another half year went by.You must go home someday and visit your old parents, little Inger, said her mistress. Here
8、s a large loaf of white bread to take them. Theyll be happy to see you again.So Inger put on her best dress and her fine new shoes and lifted her skirt high and walked very carefully, so that her shoes would stay clean and neat, and for that no one could blame her. But when she came to where the pat
9、h crossed over marshy ground, and there was a stretch of water and mud before her, she threw the bread into the mud, so that she could use it as a steppingstone and get across with dry shoes. But just as she placed one foot on the bread and lifted the other up, the loaf sank in deeper and deeper, ca
10、rrying her down until she disappeared entirely, and nothing could be seen but a black, bubbling pool! Thats the story.But what became of her? She went down to the Marsh Woman, who brews down there. The Marsh Woman is an aunt of the elf maidens, who are very well known. There have been poems written
11、about them and pictures painted of them, but nobody knows much about the Marsh Woman, except that when the meadows begin to reek in the summer the old woman is at her brewing down below. Little Inger sank into this brewery, and no one could stand it very long there. A cesspool is a wonderful palace
12、compared with the Marsh Womans brewery. Every vessel is reeking with horrible smells that would turn a human being faint, and they are packed closely together; but even if there were enough space between them to creep through, it would be impossible because of the slimy toads and the fat snakes that
13、 are creeping and slithering along. Into this place little Inger sank, and all the horrible, creeping mess was so icy cold that she shivered in every limb. She became more and more stiff, and the bread stuck fast to her, drawing her as an amber bead draws a slender thread.The Marsh Woman was at home
14、, for the brewery was being visited that day by the devil and his great-grandmother, the latter a very poisonous old creature who was never idle. She never goes out without taking some needlework with her, and she had brought some this time. She was sewing bits of leather to put in peoples shoes, so
15、 that they should have no rest. She embroidered lies, and worked up into mischief and slander thoughtless words that would otherwise have fallen harmlessly to the ground. Yes, she could sew, embroider, and weave, that old great-grandmother!She saw Inger, then put on her spectacles and looked again a
16、t her. That girl has talent, she said. Let me have her as a souvenir of my visit here; she will make a suitable statue in my great-grandchildrens antechamber. And she was given to her!Thus little Inger went to hell! People dont always go directly down there; they can go by a roundabout way, when they have the necessary talent.It was an endless antechamber. It made one dizzy to look forward and dizzy to look backward, and there
