光的战役马克吐温短篇故事集

2020年12月19日发(作者：洪崎)
Short stories by Mark Twain
The Californian's Tale 1

When I was young, I went looking for gold in California. I never found
enough to make me rich.
But I did discover a beautiful part of the country. It was called

The Stanislau was like Heaven on Earth. It had bright green hills and deep
forests where soft winds touched the trees.
Other men, also looking for gold, had reached the Stanislau hills of
California many years before I did.
They had built a town in the valley with sidewalks and stores, banks and
schools.
They had also built pretty little houses for their families.
At first, they found a lot of gold in the Stanislau hills. But their good luck did n
ot last.
After a few years, the gold disappeared. By the time I reached the Stanislau, all
the people were gone, too.
Grass now grew in the streets. And the little houses were covered by wild
rose bushes.
Only the sound of insects filled the air as I walked through the empty town
that summer day so long ago.
Then, I realized I was not alone after all.
A man was smiling at me as he stood in front of one of the little houses.
This house was not covered by wild rose bushes. A nice little garden in
front of the house was full of blue and yellow flowers.
White curtains hung from the windows and floated in the soft summer wind.
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Short stories by Mark Twain

Still smiling, the man opened the door of his house and motioned to me. I
went inside and could not believe my eyes.
I had been living for weeks in rough mining camps with other gold miners.
We slept on the hard ground, ate canned beans from cold metal plates and
spent our days in the difficult search for gold.
Here in this little house, my spirit seemed to come to life again.
I saw a bright rug on the shining wooden floor. Pictures hung all around the
room.
And on little tables there were seashells, books and china vases full of flowers.
A woman had made this house into a home.
The pleasure I felt in my heart must have shown on my face. The man read my
thoughts.
Everything in this room has felt the touch
of her hand.
One of the pictures on the wall was not hanging straight.
He noticed it and went to fix it. He stepped back several times to make sure
the picture was really straight.
Then he gave it a gentle touch with his hand.
It is like the finishing pat a
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Short stories by Mark Twain
mother gives her child's hair after she has brushed it.
I have seen her fix all these things so often that I can do it just the way she
does. I don't know why I do it. I just do it.
As he talked, I realized there was something in this room that he wanted me to
discover.

The Californian's Tale 2
I looked around.
When my eyes reached a corner of the room near the fireplace, he broke into a
happy laugh and rubbed his hands together.
!cried out.
picture.
I went to a little black shelf that held a small picture of the most beautiful
woman I had ever seen.
There was a sweetness and softness in the woman's expression that I had
never seen before.
The man took the picture from my hands and stared at it.


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Short stories by Mark Twain
When you see her…oh, just wait until you meet her!

sighed, putting the picture back on the little black
shelf.

been gone two weeks today.


evening.
I felt a sharp sense of regret. by then,
said.

likes to have people come and stay with us.
firmly.
He picked up her picture and held it before my eyes.
Now you tell her to her face that you could have stayed to me
et her and you would not.
Something made me change my mind as I looked at the picture for a second ti
me. I decided to stay.
The man told me his name was Henry.
That night, Henry and I talked about many different things, but mainly about
her.
The next day passed quietly.
Thursday evening we had a visitor. He was a big, grey-
haired miner named Tom.



He took a yellowed letter out of his shirt pocket and read it to us.
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Short stories by Mark Twain

It was full of loving messages to him and to other people — their close
friends and neighbors.
When the man finished reading it, he looked at his friend.

her. I'm going to tell her this time!

haired miner said. any little sorrow makes me cry. I
really was hoping she would be here tonight.
The next day, Friday, another miner came to visit.
He asked to hear the letter. The message in it made him cry, too.



The Californian's Tale 3

Saturday finally came. I found I was looking at my watch very often.
Henry noticed this.
he asked me.
I smiled and said that I was sure she was just fine. But he did not seem
satisfied.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
I was glad to see his two friends, Tom and Joe, coming down the road as the
sun began to set.
The old miners were carrying guitars. They also brought flowers and a bottle
of whiskey.

They put the flowers in vases and began to play some fast and lively songs on
their guitars.
Henry's friends kept giving him glasses of whiskey, which they made him
drink.
When I reached for one of the two glasses left on the table, Tom stopped my ar
m.

He gave the remaining glass of whiskey to Henry just as the clock began to
strike midnight.
Henry emptied the glass. His face grew whiter and whiter.
lie down.
Henry was asleep almost before the words were out of his mouth.
In a moment, his two friends had picked him up and carried him into the
bedroom. They closed the door and came back.
They seemed to be getting ready to leave.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
So I said,
stranger to her.
They looked at each other.
said.



On her way back, on a Saturday evening in June, when she was almost here,
the Indians captured her. No one has ever seen her again.
Henry lost his mind. He thinks she is still alive.
When June comes, he thinks she has gone on her trip to see her parents. Then
he begins to wait for her to come back.
He gets out that old letter. And we come around to visit so he can read it to us.
is supposed to come home, we come here to be wit
h him.

We put a sleeping drug in his drink so he will sleep through the night. Then he
is all right for another year.
Joe picked up his hat and his guitar.

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Short stories by Mark Twain

He opened the door of the pretty little house.
And the two old men disappeared into the darkness of the Stanislau.



Luck 1

I was at a dinner in London given in honor of one of the most celebrated
English military men of his time.
I do not want to tell you his real name and titles.
I will just call him Lieutenant General Lord Arthur Scoresby.
I cannot describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man.
There he sat, the man himself, in person, all covered with medals.
I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatnes
s. His fame had no effect on him.
The hundreds of eyes watching him, the worship of so many people, did not
seem to make any difference to him.
Next to me sat a clergyman, who was an old friend of mine.
He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life he was a
teacher in the military school at Woolwich.
There was a strange look in his eye as he leaned toward me and whispered —
Privately — he is a complete fool.
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Short stories by Mark Twain

He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner.
This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at my friend.
I could not have been more surprised if he had said the same thing about
Napoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon.
But I was sure of two things about the clergyman. He always spoke the truth.
And, his judgment of men was good.
Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.
Some days later I got a chance to talk with the clergyman, and he told me
more. These are his exact words:
About forty years ago, I was an instructor in the military academy at
Woolwich, when young Scoresby was given his first examination.
I felt extremely sorry for him. Everybody answered the questions well,
intelligently, while he — why, dear me — he did not know anything.
He was a nice, pleasant young man.
It was painful to see him stand there and give answers that were miracles of
stupidity.
I knew of course that when examined again he would fail and be thrown
out.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
So, I said to myself, it would be a simple, harmless act to help him as much as I
could.
I took him aside and found he knew a little about Julius Caesar's history.
But, he did not know anything else. So, I went to work and tested him and
worked him like a slave.

I made him work, over and over again, on a few questions about Caesar,
which I knew he would be asked.
If you will believe me, he came through very well on the day of the
examination.
He got high praise too, while others who knew a thousand times more than he
were sharply criticized.
By some strange, lucky accident, he was asked no questions but those I made
him study.
Such an accident does not happen more than once in a hundred years.




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Short stories by Mark Twain
Luck 2
Well, all through his studies, I stood by him, with the feeling a mother has for
a disabled child.
And he always saved himself by some miracle.
I thought that what in the end would destroy him would be the mathematics ex
amination.
I decided to make his end as painless as possible. So, I pushed facts into his
stupid head for hours.
Finally, I let him go to the examination to experience what I was sure would be
his dismissal from school.
Well, sir, try to imagine the result.
I was shocked out of my mind. He took first prize! And he got the highest
praise.
I felt guilty day and night — what I was doing was not right.
But I only wanted to make his dismissal a little less painful for him.
I never dreamed it would lead to such strange, laughable results.

I thought that sooner or later one thing was sure to happen: The first real
test once he was through school would ruin him.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
Then, the Crimean War broke out. I felt that sad for him that there had to be a
war.
Peace would have given this donkey a chance to escape from ever being found
out as being so stupid.
Nervously, I waited for the worst to happen. It did. He was appointed an office
r. A captain, of all things!
Who could have dreamed that they would place such a responsibility on such
weak shoulders as his.
I said to myself that I was responsible to the country for this.
I must go with him and protect the nation against him as far as I could.
So, I joined up with him. And away we went to the field.
And there — oh dear, it was terrible. Mistakes, fearful mistakes — why, he
never did anything that was right — nothing but mistakes.
But, you see, nobody knew the secret of how stupid he really was.
Everybody misunderstood his actions. They saw his stupid mistakes as works
of great intelligence. They did, honestly!
His smallest mistakes made a man in his right mind cry, and shout and
scream too — to himself, of course.
And what kept me in a continual fear was the fact that every mistake he made
increased his glory and fame.
I kept saying to myself that when at last they find out about him, it will be
like the sun falling out of the sky.
He continued to climb up, over the dead bodies of his superiors.
Then, in the hottest moment of one battle down went our colonel.
My heart jumped into my mouth, for Scoresby was the next in line to take
his place. Now, we were in for it.
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Short stories by Mark Twain

The battle grew hotter. The English and their allies were steadily retreating all
over the field.
Our regiment occupied a position that was extremely important.
One mistake now would bring total disaster.


Luck 3

And what did Scoresby do this time — he just mistook his left hand for his
right hand… that was all.
An order came for him to fall back and support our right. Instead, he moved fo
rward and went over the hill to the left.
We were over the hill before this insane movement could be discovered and
stopped. And what did we find?
A large and unsuspected Russian army waiting!
And what happened — were we all killed? That is exactly what would have
happened in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred.
But no — those surprised Russians thought that no one regiment by itself
would come around there at such a time.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
It must be the whole British army, they thought.
They turned tail, away they went over the hill and down into the field in
wild disorder, and we after them.
In no time, there was the greatest turn around you ever saw.
The allies turned defeat into a sweeping and shining victory.
The allied commander looked on, his head spinning with wonder, surprise
and joy.
He sent right off for Scoresby, and put his arms around him and hugged
him on the field in front of all the armies.

Scoresby became famous that day as a great military leader — honored
throughout the world.
That honor will never disappear while history books last.
He is just as nice and pleasant as ever, but he still does not know enough to co
me in out of the rain.
He is the stupidest man in the universe.
Until now, nobody knew it but Scoresby and myself.
He has been followed, day by day, year by year, by a strange luck.
He has been a shining soldier in all our wars for years. He has filled his whole
military life with mistakes.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
Every one of them brought him another honorary title. Look at his chest, flood
ed with British and foreign medals.

Well, sir, every one of them is the record of some great stupidity or other.
They are proof that the best thing that can happen to a man is to be born lucky
.
I say again, as I did at the dinner, Scoresby's a complete fool.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaver
as County 1

A friend of mine in the East asked me to visit old Simon Wheeler, to ask about
my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley.
I did as my friend asked me to do and this story is the result.
I found Simon Wheeler sleeping by the stove in the ruined mining camp of
Angel's.
I saw that he was fat and had no hair, and had a gentle and simple look upon
his peaceful face.
He woke up, and gave me good-day.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
I told him a friend had asked me to find out about a friend named Leonidas W.
Smiley, who he heard was at one time living in Angel's Camp.
I added that if Mister Wheeler could tell me anything about this Leonidas W. S
miley, I would feel a great responsibility to him.
Simon Wheeler forced me into a corner with his chair and began telling me
this long story.
He never smiled, he never frowned, and he never changed his voice.
But all through the endless story there was a feeling of great seriousness and
honesty.
This showed me plainly that he thought the heroes of the story were men of
great intelligence.

I let him go on in his own way, and never stopped him once. This is the story S
imon Wheeler told:
Leonidas W. …h'm… Le… well, there was a man here once by the name of
Jim Smiley, in the winter of eighteen forty-
nine — or may be it was the spring of eighteen-fifty.
Anyway, he was the strangest man. He was always making money on
anything that turned up if he could get anybody to try to make money on
the other side.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
And if he could not do that, he would change sides.
And he was lucky, uncommon lucky. He most always was a winner.
If there was a dog- fight, he would try to win money on it. If there was a cat-
fight, he would take the risk. If there was a chicken-
fight, he would try to win money on it.
Why, if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would want you to decide
which one would fly first so he could win money.

Lots of the boys here have seen that Smiley and can tell you about him.
Why, it did not matter to him. He would try to make money on anything. He
was the most unusual man.
Parson Walker's wife was very sick once, for a long time, and it seemed as if the
y were not going to save her.
But one morning he came in, and Smiley asked him how was his wife, and he
said she was better, thank God.
And Smiley, before he thought, said, get
well.

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Short stories by Mark Twain
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaver
as County 2

And Smiley had a little small dog.
To look at the dog, you would think he was not worth anything but to sit
around and look mean and look for a chance to steal something.
But as soon as there was money, he was a different dog. Another dog might
attack and throw him around two or three times.
Then all of a sudden Smiley's dog would grab that other dog by his back leg an
d hang on till the men said it was over.
Smiley always came out the winner on that dog, at least until he found a
dog once that did not have any back legs.
The dog's legs had been cut off in a machine. Well, the fighting continued
long enough, and the money was gone.
Then when Smiley's dog come to make a grab at the other dog's back legs, he
saw in a minute how there was a problem.
The other dog was going to win and Smiley's dog looked surprised and did
not try to win the fight anymore.
He gave Smiley a look that said he was sorry for fighting a dog that did not
have any back legs for him to hold, which he needed to win a fight.
Then Smiley's dog walked away, laid down and died.
He was a good dog, and would have made a name for himself if he had lived,
for he had intelligence.
It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his and the
way it turned out.
Well, this Smiley had rats, and chickens, and cats and all of them kind of
things.
You could not get anything for him to risk money on but he would match you.
He caught a frog one day, and took him home, and said he was going to
educate the frog.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
And so he never done nothing for three months but sit in his back yard and
teach that frog to jump. And you bet you he did teach him, too.
He would give him a little hit from behind.
And the next minute you would see that frog dancing in the air and then come
down all on his feet and all right, just like a cat.
Smiley got him so the frog was catching flies, and he would catch one of those
insects every time.
Smiley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do almost anything.
And I believe him. Why, I have seen him set Dan'l Webster down here on this
floor — Dan'l Webster was the name of the frog — and sing out,
ies!
And quicker than you could shut your eyes that frog would jump straight up
and catch a fly off the table.

Then he would fall down on the floor again like a ball of dirt and start
rubbing the side of his head with his back foot as if he had no idea he had
been doing any more than any frog might do.
You'd never seen a frog so honest and simple as he was, for all he was so
skilled.
And when it came to jumping, he could get over more ground in one jump
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Short stories by Mark Twain
than any animal of his kind that you ever saw.
Smiley was very proud of his frog, and people who had traveled and been
everywhere all said he was better than any frog they had ever seen.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaver
as County 3

Well, one day a stranger came in and said to Smiley,
have got in the box?
And Smiley said,
And the man took it, and looked at it carefully, and turned it round this way
and that, and said,
is he good for?
out jump any frog in Calaveras c
ounty.
The man took the box again, and took another long look, and gave it back to
Smiley, and said,
is any better than any other
frog.

don't.
Anyways, I will risk forty dollars and bet you that he can jump farther than
any frog in Calaveras County.
And the man studied a minute.

would risk my money on it.
And then Smiley said,
go and get you a frog.
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Short stories by Mark Twain

And so the man took the box, and put up his forty dollars and sat down to
wait.
He sat there a long time thinking and thinking. Then he got the frog out of the
box.
He filled its mouth full of bullets used to kill small birds. Then he put the frog
on the floor.
Now Smiley had caught another frog and gave it to the man and said,
him next to Dan'l and I will give the word.
Then Smiley said — two — three — go!
touched the frogs.
The new frog jumped. Dan'l just lifted up his body but could not move at all.
He was planted like a building. Smiley was very surprised and angry too. But
he did not know what the problem was.
The other man took the money and started away.
And when he was going out the door, he looked back and said,
e anything about that frog that is any better than any other frog.
Smiley stood looking down at Dan'l a long time, and at last said,
in the nation happened to that frog. I wonder if there is
something wrong with him.
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Short stories by Mark Twain
And he picked up Dan'l and turned him upside down and out came a
whole lot of bullets.

And Smiley was the angriest man. He set the frog down and took out after
that man but he never caught him.
Now Simon Wheeler heard his name called and got up to see what was wanted
.
He told me to wait but I did not think that more stories about Jim Smiley
would give me any more information about Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I
started to walk away.
At the door I met Mister Wheeler returning, and he started talking again.
tail…
However, lacking both time and interest, I did not wait to hear about the cow.
I just left.

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