1、the Daisyby Hans Christian Andersen（1838） NOW listen！ In the country， close by the highroad， stood a farmhouse； perhaps you havepassed by and seen it yourself. There was a littleflower garden with painted wooden palings in front ofit； close by was a ditch， on its
2、 fresh GREen bankgrew a little daisy； the sun shone as warmly andbrightly upon it as on the magnificent gardenflowers， and therefore it thrived well. One morning ithad quite opened， and its little snow-white petals stood round the yellow centre， like the raysof th
3、e sun. It did not mind that nobody saw it in the grass， and that it was a poor despisedflower； on the contrary， it was quite happy， and turned towards the sun， looking upwardand listening to the song of the lark high up in the air. the little daisy was as happy a
4、s if the day had been a GREat holiday， but it was onlyMonday. All the children were at school， and while they were sitting on the forms and learningtheir lessons， it sat on its thin green stalk and learnt from the sun and from its surroundingshow kind God is， and
5、it rejoiced that the song of the little lark expressed so sweetly anddistinctly its own feelings. With a sort of reverence the daisy looked up to the bird that couldfly and sing， but it did not feel envious.“I can see and hear，” it thought；“the sun shinesupon me，
6、and the forest kisses me. How rich I am！” In the garden close by GREw many large and magnificent flowers， and， strange to say，the less fragrance they had the haughtier and prouder they were. The peonies puffedthemselves up in order to be larger than the roses， bu
7、t size is not everything！ The tulips hadthe finest colours， and they knew it well， too， for they were standing bolt upright likecandles， that one might see them the better. In their pride they did not see the little daisy，which looked over to them and thought，“How
8、 rich and beautiful they are！ I am sure thepretty bird will fly down and call upon them. Thank God， that I stand so near and can at leastsee all the spl
