母亲的故事.doc

母亲的故事 THE STORY OF A MOTHER A mother sat there with her little child. She was so downcast, so afraid thatit should die! It was so pale, the small eyes had closed themselves, and itdrew its breath so softly, now and then, with a deep respiration, as if itsighed; and the mother looked still more sorrowfully on the little creature. Then a knocking was heard at the door, and in came a poor old man wrapped upas in a large horse-cloth, for it warms one, and he needed it, as it was thecold winter season! Everything out-of-doors was covered with ice and snow, andthe wind blew so that it cut the face. As the old man trembled with cold, and the little child slept a moment, themother went and poured some ale into a pot and set it on the stove, that itmight be warm for him; the old man sat and rocked the cradle, and the mothersat down on a chair close by him, and looked at her little sick child thatdrew its breath so deep, and raised its little hand. Do you not think that I shall save him? said she. Our Lord will not takehim from me! And the old man--it was Death himself--he nodded so strangely, it could justas well signify yes as no. And the mother looked down in her lap, and thetears ran down over her cheeks; her head became so heavy--she had not closedher eyes for three days and nights; and now she slept, but only for a minute,when she started up and trembled with cold. What is that? said she, and looked on all sides; but the old man was gone,and her little child was gone--he had taken it with him; and the old clock inthe corner burred, and burred, the great leaden weight ran down to the floor,bump! and then the clock also stood still. But the poor mother ran out of the house and cried aloud for her child. Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black clothes;and she said, Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him hasten away withthy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and he never brings back whathe takes! Oh, only tel