45　PICCOLA
碧可拉

I

Piccola was a little girl who lived far across the sea. Her father was dead and her mother had to work very hard to buy food.

But little Piccola was as happy as the day is long. In summer she ran about in the fields and looked for flowers and berries. In winter when snow was on the ground, she had to stay indoors.

She had no brothers nor sisters to play with her, and no toys nor picture books such as you have. But she had never known what it was to have playthings, and she did not miss them.

You could never guess what she had for a doll. It was a stick of wood! She made a dress for it and talked to it and petted it.

“If only you were alive, my baby,” she said, “how nice it would be! Still, it is good to have you to talk to these long winter days. Winter would be a bad time if it were not for Christmas. How I wish it were Christmas now! I wonder what I shall find in my shoe!”

II

Where Piccola lived the children do not hang up their stockings. Instead, they put out their shoes for Santa Claus to fill.

And very queer shoes they are. They are not leather shoes like yours. They are made of wood and are hard and heavy.

How would you like to wear wooden shoes? Piccola liked it very well, for she had never seen any other kind.

As Christmas drew near, she often said to her mother: “I do wonder what I shall find in my shoe!”

Her mother looked sad when Piccola said this.

“You must not expect anything this year, my dear,” she said. “It is a hard winter. You and I must be glad to get bread to eat in times like these.”

But Piccola was quite sure that Santa Claus would not forget her.

At last Christmas came. Piccola put her wooden shoe by the bedside and went to sleep.

“Poor child!” said her mother. “How sad she will be when she wakes up and finds nothing in her shoe.”

III

The next morning Piccola was up before it was light.

“Oh, Mother, Mother,” she cried. “Just see what Santa Claus has brought me! It is a dear little bird.”

And there was a little swallow! Piccola took it in her hand. It fluttered about, but could not fly. Piccola’s mother looked at it and found that one of its wings was hurt.

“We will keep it with us and protect it through the cold weather” she said. “It would die out in the snow.”

“I shall never be lonely now when you are away at work all day,” said Piccola.

“When I wished for a little dog, you said that he would eat too much. But we shall not miss the crumbs my Christmas bird will eat.”

Piccola kept the swallow till spring came, and then she set it free. But it often came to her window for crumbs.

No Christmas gift ever brought more happiness than the little swallow in Piccola’s shoe.

一

碧可拉是个小姑娘，她的家在大海的另一边。她爸爸已经去世，妈妈为了生存不得不每天都努力地工作。

幸好碧可拉每天都很快乐，夏天的时候她会在田野里跑来跑去摘花和野果，到了冬天下雪时，她就待在家里玩，

她没有兄弟姐妹，也没有玩具或者童话书什么的。但她压根就不知道什么是玩具，所以并不觉得难过。

你大概想不到，她的洋娃娃竟然是一块木头！她为它做衣服，跟它说话，还会亲吻它。

“宝贝，要是你能活过来那该多好！”她说，“冬天这么长，可以跟你说说话那就太好了。如果没有圣诞节，冬天可真难熬。我真希望现在就是圣诞节！我真想知道会在鞋子里发现什么礼物！”

二

在碧可拉生活的地方，孩子们不挂袜子，而是把鞋摆出来，等着圣诞老人给他们送礼物来。

他们的鞋也很奇怪，不是我们穿的这种皮鞋，而是硬邦邦、沉甸甸的木鞋。

你会喜欢穿木头鞋子吗？反正碧可拉很喜欢，因为她从没见过别的鞋子。

圣诞节快来了，她常常对妈妈说：“我真想知道会在鞋子里发现什么！”

妈妈每次听到她这么说，都会露出难过的表情。

“今年没有礼物，亲爱的，”她说，“冬天找工作太困难了，我们每天能像这样吃上面包就很不错了。”

但碧可拉坚信圣诞老人不会忘记她的。

圣诞节终于来了，碧可拉把小木鞋摆在床边，然后就上床睡觉了。

“可怜的孩子！”妈妈说，“等她醒来发现鞋里什么都没有，该多伤心哪。”

三

第二天早上天还没亮，碧可拉就醒了。

“妈妈！妈妈！”她大声嚷着，“快来看圣诞老人给我送来了什么！”

鞋里有只小燕子！碧可拉把它轻轻捧起来，它扑棱了两下，但没有飞走。碧可拉的妈妈查看了一下，发现它的一只翅膀受了伤。

“我们可以把它留下，保护它不受寒风的侵袭，”她说，“待在雪里的话它很快就会死。”

“你白天上班的时候我再也不会觉得孤单了。”碧可拉说。

“从前我想养只小狗，可你说他吃得太多了。但我想给圣诞小鸟吃的面包屑应该够的。”

碧可拉和小鸟一起生活到了春天，然后就让它飞走了，不过它常常回来看她。

小燕子是碧可拉在鞋子里找到的最让她感到快乐的圣诞礼物。