Hans Brinker; Or, The Silver Skates

Оглавление

Dodge Mary Mapes. Hans Brinker; Or, The Silver Skates

I. HANS AND GRETEL

II. HOLLAND

III. THE SILVER SKATES

IV. HANS AND GRETEL FIND A FRIEND

V. SHADOWS IN THE HOME

VI. SUNBEAMS

VII. HANS HAS HIS WAY

VIII. INTRODUCING JACOB POOT AND HIS COUSIN

IX. THE FESTIVAL OF SAINT NICHOLAS

X. WHAT THE BOYS SAW AND DID IN AMSTERDAM

XI. BIG MANIAS AND LITTLE ODDITIES

XII. ON THE WAY TO HAARLEM

XIII. A CATASTROPHE

XIV. HANS

XV. HOMES

XVI. HAARLEM. – THE BOYS HEAR VOICES

XVII. THE MAN WITH FOUR HEADS

XVIII. FRIENDS IN NEED

XIX. ON THE CANAL

XX. JACOB POOT CHANGES THE PLAN

XXI. MYNHEER KLEEF AND HIS BILL OF FARE

XXII. THE RED LION BECOMES DANGEROUS

XXIII. BEFORE THE COURT

XXIV. THE BELEAGUERED CITIES

XXV. LEYDEN

XXVI. THE PALACE AND THE WOOD

XXVII. THE MERCHANT PRINCE, AND THE SISTER-PRINCESS

XXVIII. THROUGH THE HAGUE

XXIX. A DAY OF REST

XXX. HOMEWARD BOUND

XXXI. BOYS AND GIRLS

XXXII. THE CRISIS

XXXIII. GRETEL AND HILDA

XXXIV. THE AWAKENING

XXXV. BONES AND TONGUES

XXXVI. A NEW ALARM

XXXVII. THE FATHER'S RETURN

XXXVIII. THE THOUSAND GUILDERS

XXXIX. GLIMPSES

XL. LOOKING FOR WORK

XLI. THE FAIRY GODMOTHER

XLII. THE MYSTERIOUS WATCH

XLIII. A DISCOVERY

XLIV. THE RACE

XLV. JOY IN THE COTTAGE

XLVI. MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF THOMAS HIGGS

XLVII. BROAD SUNSHINE

CONCLUSION

Отрывок из книги

Holland is one of the queerest countries under the sun. It should be called Odd-land or Contrary-land, for in nearly everything it is different from other parts of the world. In the first place, a large portion of the country is lower than the level of the sea. Great dykes or bulwarks have been erected at a heavy cost of money and labor, to keep the ocean where it belongs. On certain parts of the coast it sometimes leans with all its weight against the land, and it is as much as the poor country can do to stand the pressure. Sometimes the dykes give way, or spring a leak, and the most disastrous results ensue. They are high and wide, and the tops of some of them are covered with buildings and trees. They have even fine public roads upon them, from which horses may look down upon wayside cottages. Often the keels of floating ships are higher than the roofs of the dwellings. The stork clattering to her young on the house-peak may feel that her nest is lifted far out of danger, but the croaking frog in neighboring bulrushes is nearer the stars than she. Water-bugs dart backward and forward above the heads of the chimney swallows; and willow trees seem drooping with shame, because they cannot reach as high as the reeds near by.

Ditches, canals, ponds, rivers and lakes are everywhere to be seen. High, but not dry, they shine in the sunlight, catching nearly all the bustle and the business, quite scorning the tame fields stretching damply beside them. One is tempted to ask, "Which is Holland – the shores or the water?" The very verdure that should be confined to the land has made a mistake and settled upon the fish-ponds. In fact the entire country is a kind of saturated sponge or, as the English poet, Butler, called it,

.....

"Because," replied Hans, bowing like a clown, but looking with the eye of a prince at the queenly girl, "we have not earned it."

Hilda was quick-witted. She had noticed a pretty wooden chain upon Gretel's neck.

.....