Latest / Hans Christian Andersen Fairytales & Short Stories Vol. 1 / 027 - The Buckwheat

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027 - The Buckwheat · Hans Christian Andersen Fairytales & Short Stories Vol. 1

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty seven of Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales in
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  Speaker 1: Short Stories, Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Ginger Cuckolo. Hans Christian Undersen Fairy Tales and Short Stories,
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  Speaker 1: Volume one, eighteen thirty five to eighteen forty two by
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  Speaker 1: Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paul. The buckwheat
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  Speaker 1: very often after a violent thunder storm, a field of
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  Speaker 1: buckwheat appears blackened and singed, as if a flame of
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  Speaker 1: fire had passed over it. The country people say that
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  Speaker 1: this appearance is caused by lightning. But I will tell
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  Speaker 1: you what the sparrow says, and the sparrow heard it
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  Speaker 1: from an old willow tree which grew near a field
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  Speaker 1: of buckwheat, and is there still. It is a large,
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  Speaker 1: venerable tree, though a little crippled by age. The trunk
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  Speaker 1: has been split, and out of the crevice grass and
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  Speaker 1: brambles grow. The tree bends forward slightly, and the branches
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  Speaker 1: hang quite down to the ground, just like green hair.
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  Speaker 1: Corn grows in the surrounding fields, not only rye and barley,
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  Speaker 1: but oats, pretty oats that, when righte look like a
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  Speaker 1: number of little golden canary birds sitting on a bough.
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  Speaker 1: The corn has a smiling look, and the heaviest and
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  Speaker 1: richest ears bend their heads low, as if in pious humility.
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  Speaker 1: Once there was also a field of buckwheat, and this
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  Speaker 1: field was exactly opposite to old willow tree. The buckwheat
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  Speaker 1: did not bend like the other grain, but erected its
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  Speaker 1: head proudly and stiffly on the stem. I am as
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  Speaker 1: valuable as any other corn, said he, And I am
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  Speaker 1: much handsomer. My flowers are as beautiful as the bloom
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  Speaker 1: of the apple blossom. And it is a pleasure to
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  Speaker 1: look at us. Do you know of anything prettier than
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  Speaker 1: we are? You old willow tree? And the willow tree
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  Speaker 1: nodded his head as if he would say, indeed, I do.
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  Speaker 1: But the buckwheat spread itself out with pride, and said,
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  Speaker 1: stupid tree, he is so old that grass grows out
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  Speaker 1: of his body. There arose a very terrible storm. All
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  Speaker 1: the field flowers folded their leaves together or bowed their
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  Speaker 1: little heads while the storm passed over them, but the
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  Speaker 1: buckwheat stood erect in its pride. Bend your heads as
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  Speaker 1: we do, said the flowers. I have no occasion to
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  Speaker 1: do so, replied the buckwheat. Bend your head as we do,
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  Speaker 1: cried the ears of corn. The angel of the storm
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  Speaker 1: is coming. His wings spread from the sky above to
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  Speaker 1: the earth beneath. He will strike you down before you
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  Speaker 1: can cry for mercy. But I will not bend my head,
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  Speaker 1: said the buckwheat. Close your flowers and bend your leaves,
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  Speaker 1: said the old willow tree. Do not look at the
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  Speaker 1: lightning when the cloud bursts. Even men cannot do that.
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  Speaker 1: In a flash of lightning, heaven opens and we can
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  Speaker 1: look in. But the sight will strike even human beings blind.
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  Speaker 1: What then must happen to us, who only grow out
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  Speaker 1: of the earth, and are so inferior to them? If
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  Speaker 1: we ventured to do so and ferier? Indeed, said the buckwheat.
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  Speaker 1: Now I intend to have a peep into heaven. Proudly
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  Speaker 1: and boldly, he looked up while the lightning flashed across
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  Speaker 1: the sky, as if the whole world were in flames.
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  Speaker 1: When the dreadful storm had passed, the flowers in the
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  Speaker 1: corn raised their drooping heads in the pure still air,
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  Speaker 1: refreshed by the rain. But the buckwheat lay like a
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  Speaker 1: weed in the field, burnt to blackness by the lightning.
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  Speaker 1: The branches of the old willow tree rustled in the wind,
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  Speaker 1: and large water drops fell from his green leaves, as
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  Speaker 1: if the old willow were weeping. Then the sparrows asked
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  Speaker 1: why he was weeping when all around him seemed so cheerful. See,
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  Speaker 1: they said, how the sun shines and the clouds float
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  Speaker 1: in the blue sky. Do you not smell the sweep
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  Speaker 1: perfume from flour and bush? Wherefore do you weep, old
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  Speaker 1: willow tree? Then the willow told them of the haughty
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  Speaker 1: pride of the buckwheat, and of the punishment which followed
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  Speaker 1: in consequence. This is a story told to me by
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  Speaker 1: desparrows one evening, when I begged them to relate some
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  Speaker 1: tale to me. End of the Buckwheat recording by Ginger
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  Speaker 1: Cuckoloa