A walnut shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue violet leaves, with a rose leaf for a counterpane. 
“Little Thumbelina”
Hans Christian Andersen
Tag: aquarelle
Elephant Gun
If I was young, I’d flee this town
I’d bury my dreams underground
As did I, we drink to die, we drink tonight
Far from home, elephant gun
Let’s take them down one by one
We’ll lay it down, it’s not been found, it’s not around
Let the seasons begin – it rolls right on
Let the seasons begin – take the big king down
Let the seasons begin – it rolls right on
Let the seasons begin – take the big king down
And it rips through the silence of our camp at night
And it rips through the night
And it rips through the silence of our camp at night
And it rips through the silence, all that is left is all
that i hide
Beirut
XV. Rudy
“I kissed you, when you were young, kissed you on your mouth! Now I kiss your feet, you are entirely mine!”
He vanished in the clear blue water.
Everything was still; the church bells stopped ringing; the last tones died away with the splendour of the red clouds.
“You are mine!” sounded in the deep. “You are mine!” sounded from on high, from the infinite.
How happy to fly from love to love, from earth to heaven!
A string broke, a cry of grief was heard, the icy kiss of death conquered; the prelude ended; so that the drama of life might commence, discord melted into harmony.
The Ice-Maiden
Hans Christian Andersen
The Old Street Lamp
The old man would read aloud about Africa, with its great forests and the wild elephants, while his wife would listen attentively, stealing a glance now and then at the clay elephants which served as flowerpots. “I can almost imagine I am seeing it all,” she said.
Ah! how the lamp wished for a wax taper to be lighted in it, for then the old woman would have seen the smallest detail as clearly as it did itself; the lofty trees, with their thickly[243] entwined branches, the naked negroes on horseback, and whole herds of elephants treading down bamboo thickets with their broad, heavy feet.
Hans Christian Andersen
OLE-LUK-OIE
Il est bien habillé, son habit est de soie, mais il est impossible d’en dire la couleur, il semble vert, rouge ou bleu selon qu’il se tourne, il tient un parapluie sous chaque bras, l’un décoré d’images et celui-là il l’ouvre au-dessus des enfants sages qui rêvent alors toute la nuit des histoires ravissantes, et sur l’autre parapluie il n’y a rien. Il l’ouvre au-dessus des enfants méchants, alors ils dorment si lourdement que le matin en s’éveillant ils n’ont rien rêvé du tout.
Les galoches du bonheur
Dans une maison à Copenhague, non loin de Kongens Nytorv, s’était réunie chez un chambellan de Sa Majesté une société fort nombreuse et distinguée ; les hôtes avaient engagé tout ce beau monde pour être en retour aussi invités quelquefois (…)
Ce qu’on fit ensuite ne mérite pas non plus d’être raconté ; passons donc dans le vestibule, où se trouvaient les manteaux, les cannes, les galoches des invités. Là se tenaient deux filles, l’une vieille, l’autre jeune ; au premier abord, on aurait supposé que c’étaient des femmes de chambre, venues pour accompagner leurs maîtresses au retour. Mais en les considérant d’un peu plus près, on s’apercevait vite que ce n’étaient pas des domestiques, ni même des personnes ordinaires (…)
Hans Christian Andersen
Ariadne
You like apples, don’t you?” said Joyce. ” I read you did, or perhaps I heard it on the telly.
You’re the one who writes murder stories, aren’t you?”
“Yes”, said Mrs Oliver.
“We ought to hove made you do something connected with murders. Have a murder at the party tonight and make people solve it.”
Hallowe’en Party, Agatha Christie
Un Gian Burrasca
.
Dopo la tempesta viene la calma! Tre giorni fa il cielo era cupo, ora invece è sereno.
La pace è conclusa, l’assedio è levato. Stamani, dal buco della serratura, mi è stato promesso di non darmi più bastonate, e io ho promesso solennemente di ritornare a scuola, di studiare e di esser buono.
Così l’onore è stato salvo … e anche la mobilia e lo specchio grande, perché ho levato la barricata e sono uscito di camera.
Viva la libertà!
.Vamba
Devant le chateau de glace
The walls of the palace were formed of drifted snow, and the windows and doors of cutting winds. There were more than a hundred rooms in it, all as if they had been formed of snow blown together. The largest of them extended for several miles. They were all lighted up by the vivid light of the aurora, and were so large and empty, so icy cold and glittering!
There were no amusements here; not even a little bear’s ball, when the storm might have been the music, and the bears could have danced on their hind legs and shown their good manners. There were no pleasant games of snapdragon, or touch, nor even a gossip over the tea table for the young-lady foxes. Empty, vast, and cold were the halls of the Snow Queen.
Hans Christian Andersen
The Rendez-vous
Veronica was waiting for him.
She spoke from the window of the pretentious half-timbered building.
“Come inside, John. (…)”.
The Hollow
Agatha Chistie
Cards on the Table
There they were well down to it, their faces serious, the bids coming quickly.
“One heart.”
“Pass.”
“Three clubs.”
“Three spades.”
“Four diamonds.”
“Double.”
“Four hearts.”
(…)
And the raised voice was his official voice, so different that all the heads at the
bridge table turned to him, and Anne Meredith’s hand remained poised over an
ace of spades in dummy.
“I’m sorry to tell you all,” he said, “that our host, Mr. Shaitana, is dead.”
Agatha Christie
Nel bosco
“Il fatto è che se tu mi tradissi”, gli dice la ragazza, “sento che ne morirei.” Si porta la mano al cuore, come per dirgli che soffre spesso di quel timore. Loys la rassicura con ardenti carezze.
Lei coglie delle margherite e le sfoglia, per assicurarsi dell’amore di Loys.
Giselle
Dal testo di Théophile Gautier
Faster!
‘I wonder if all the things move along with us?’ thought poor puzzled Alice. And the Queen seemed to guess her thoughts, for she cried, ‘Faster! Don’t try to talk!’
Not that Alice had any idea of doing that. She felt as if she would never be able to talk again, she was getting so much out of breath: and still the Queen cried ‘Faster! Faster!’ and dragged her along. ‘Are we nearly there?’ Alice managed to pant out at last.
‘Nearly there!’ the Queen repeated. ‘Why, we passed it ten minutes ago! Faster!’ And they ran on for a time in silence, with the wind whistling in Alice’s ears, and almost blowing her hair off her head, she fancied.
Through the looking-glass
Lewis Carroll
Poirot receives a letter
“It was a hot, airless morning towards the end of June.
Poirot had a particular routine when opening his morning correspondence.
He picked up each letter, scrutinized it carefully and neatly slit the envelope
open with his papercutter“.
Dumb witness, Agatha Christie
Sherlock Holmes
Now, however, we were beginning to come among continuous streets, where laborers and dockmen were already astir, and slatternly women were taking down shutters and brushing door-steps. At the square-topped corner public houses business was just beginning, and rough-looking men were emerging, rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Alice’s tree
‘I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think–‘ (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word) ‘–but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia?‘ (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke–fancy curtseying as you’re falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) ‘And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking! No, it’ll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.’
Nils Holgersson
Never had he seen the skies so blue as they were to-day. Birds of passage came on the wing. They came from foreign lands, having travelled over the Baltic Sea, by way of Smygahuk, and were now on their way North. They were of many different kinds; but he was only familiar with the wild geese, who came flying in two long lines, which met at an angle.
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
Selma Lagerlöf
A morning ride
“It was a lovely morning, and, as I bicycled along, keeping a fatherly eye on Arthur’s activities, I realized for the first time in my life the full meaning of that exquisite phrase of Coleridge:
“Clothing the palpable and familiar With golden exhalations of the dawn,”
for in the pellucid air everything seemed weirdly beautiful, even Arthur Jukes’ heather-mixture knickerbockers, of which hitherto I had never approved.”
The Clicking Of Cuthbert
P. G. Wodehouse
1922
Humpty Dumpty
‘I said you looked like an egg, Sir,’ Alice gently explained. ‘And some eggs are very pretty, you know’ she added, hoping to turn her remark into a sort of a compliment.
‘Some people,’ said Humpty Dumpty, looking away from her as usual, ‘have no more sense than a baby!’
Alice didn’t know what to say to this: it wasn’t at all like conversation, she thought, as he never said anything to her; in fact, his last remark was evidently addressed to a tree—so she stood and softly repeated to herself:—
‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall:
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty in his place again.’
Le pianocktail
Prendras-tu un apéritif ? demanda Colin. Mon pianocktail est achevé, tu pourrais l’essayer.
– Il marche ? demanda Chick.
– Parfaitement. J’ai eu du mal à le mettre au point, mais le résultat dépasse mes espérances. J’ai obtenu, à partir de la “Black and Tan Fantasy”, un mélange vraiment ahurissant.
L’écume des jours
clementineTe 
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