Andersen's Fairy Tale Fleas and Professors

Once upon a time there was a balloon pilot; He has bad luck. His balloon exploded, and he fell to the ground and broke into a paste. Two minutes ago, he lowered his son with a parachute. The child is so lucky. He wasn't hurt. He showed considerable ability to be a balloon pilot, but he didn't have a balloon and he couldn't get one.

He had to live, so he played a magic trick: he could make his stomach speak-this is called ventriloquism. He is young and beautiful. When he has a moustache and wears neat clothes, people may think that he is an earl's young master. Ladies and gentlemen all think he is beautiful. A young woman was fascinated by his appearance and magic, and she even went to foreign countries and foreign cities with him. He calls himself a professor in those places-he can't have a lower title than a professor.

His only thought is to get a light balloon and fly to the sky with his dear wife. But so far, he has no way.

"There will always be a way!" He said.

"I hope so," she said.

"We are still young, and I am still a professor. Bread crumbs are bread! "

She helped him faithfully. She sat at the door, selling tickets for his performance. This kind of work is very cold in winter. She also helped him in a project. He put his wife in the desk drawer-a big drawer. She climbed into the back drawer where people couldn't see her. This gives people an illusion.

But one night, when he opened the drawer, she was gone. She is neither in the front drawer nor in the back drawer. I can't find her in the whole house, nor can I hear her voice. She has her own set of spells. She never came back. She is tired of her job. He was also bored, and he was no longer in the mood to laugh or tell jokes, so no one came to see him. His income is getting less and less, and his clothes are getting worse. In the end, he had only one big flea left-this was his inheritance from his wife, so he liked it very much. He trained it, taught it magic, taught it to salute and shoot with a gun-it was just a small gun.

The professor is proud of fleas; It is proud of itself. It learned something with someone's blood in it. It has been to many big cities, met princes and princesses, and won their high praise. It appears in newspapers and posters. It knows that this is a famous role and can support a professor, yes, even the whole family.

It is very proud and famous, but when it travels with the professor, it always sits in the fourth class on the train-this is of course as fast as walking. There is a tacit understanding between them: never separate, never get married; The flea wants to be a bachelor, a professor or a widower. There is no difference between these two things.

"After a person has achieved great success in a place," said the professor, "it is not appropriate to go there again!" He is a person who can distinguish characters, which is also an art.

Finally, he traveled all over the country; Only Savage Country has never been there-so he decided to go to Savage Country now. People do eat Christians in these countries. The professor knows this, but he is not a real Christian, nor is a flea a real person. So he thinks they can go to these places and make a fortune.

They go by steamboat and sailboat. The fleas performed all the tricks, so they didn't spend a penny on the whole trip to the savage country.

The ruler here is a little princess. She is only six years old, but she rules this country. She got this power from her parents. Because she is willful, but she is beautiful and naughty.

The flea immediately raised his gun to salute and fired. Fascinated by fleas, she said, "I don't want anyone but it!" " "She fell madly in love with it. Before falling in love with it, she was crazy.

"Lovely and well-behaved children!" Her father said, "I just hope we can turn it into a person first!" " "

"Old man, this is my business!" She said. As a little princess, such words are not good, especially for her father, but she is crazy.

She put the flea in her little hand. "Now you are a person, want to rule with me; But you have to listen to me, or I will kill you and eat your professor. "

The professor got a big house. The wall is made of sweet sugar cane-you can lick it at any time, but he doesn't like sweet things. He sleeps in a hammock. It's kind of like lying in the light balloon he's been looking forward to. This light balloon has been haunting his mind.

The flea is with the princess, either sitting on her little hand or sitting on her soft neck. She pulled a hair from her head. The professor must use it to tie fleas' legs. In this way, she can tie it on her coral earrings.

This is a happy time for the princess. Fleas should be equally happy, she thought. But the professor is quite upset. He is a traveler. He likes traveling from one city to another. He likes to see people describe him in the newspaper as a man with perseverance. How smart he is, he can teach a flea all human movements. He dozed off in a hammock day and night, eating delicious meals: fresh bird eggs, like eyes and giraffe steak, because cannibals can't live on human flesh alone-human flesh is just a good dish.

"Children's shoulder meat, with the hottest soy sauce," said the mother, "is the best." The professor felt a little bored. He wants to leave this barbaric country, but he must take fleas with him, because it is his treasure and lifeline. How can he achieve his goal? It is not easy.

He concentrated all his wisdom to find a way, so he said, "There is a way!" " "

"The princess's father, please let me do something! I want to train people all over the country to salute with guns. This is called culture in some big countries in the world. "

"What can you teach me?" The princess's father said.

"My greatest art is shooting," said the professor. "It shook the whole earth, so that all the best birds were burnt when they fell! Just bang! "

"Take your cannon!" The princess's father said.

But there is no national cannon here, only the kind brought by fleas, but this kind of cannon is too small.

"Let me be a cannon!" The professor said, "You just need to provide me with the materials. I need silk, needle and thread, thick rope and thin rope for making light balloons, and the spirit water of balloons-this can make balloons swell, lighten and rise upwards. The balloon will explode in the belly of the cannon. "

He got everything he wanted.

People from all over the country came to see this cannon. The professor blows up the light balloon and prepares to rise, which is called the light balloon.

The flea sat on the princess's hand and watched. The balloon is now full of gas. It expands uncontrollably; Too violent.

"I must put it in the air to cool it down," said the professor, and got into the basket hanging under it.

"But I can't control it alone. I need an experienced assistant to help me. There is nobody here but fleas! "

"I don't agree!" The princess said, but she gave the flea to the professor. It is in the hands of the professor.

"Please let go of the rope and thread!" He said. "Now the light balloon is going to heaven!"

Everyone thought he was saying, "Fire!"

The balloon flew higher and higher, rose into the clouds and left this barbaric country.

The little princess, her father, mother and everyone stood and waited. They are still waiting. If you don't believe me, you can go to a savage country. Every child there is still talking about fleas and professors. They believed that the two men would come back when the cannon cooled down. But they did not come back. They are sitting at home with us now. In their own country, they sit first class on the train-not fourth class. They are lucky to have a huge balloon. No one asked them how and where they got the balloon. Fleas and professors are now rich and influential people.

( 1873)

This essay was first published in the April issue of Scribe Nair Monthly (1873) in the United States, and was published in the Danish Public Yearbook in the same year. This short story is similar to another fairy tale by Andersen, Flying Box, but in that story, a person who wants to get happiness by luck is disappointed, and here is a princess, who has got happiness in her hand, but finally lost it. At first, deception and luck played a role in both stories, but in the end they all went away. However, in this story, deception finally produced benefits, and the beneficiaries were "professors" and "fleas". They are lucky to have a huge balloon. "Fleas and professors are now rich and influential people." Because they are "rich people with status", people think they are gentlemen and forget their deception.