安徒生童话：The Goloshes of Fortune 幸运的套鞋
it was in copenhagen, in one of the houses on east street, not far from king's newmarket, that someone was giving a large party. for one must give a party once in a while, if one expects to be invited in return. half of the guests were already at the card tables, and the rest were waiting to see what would come of their hostess's query:
"what can we think up now?"
up to this point, their conversation had gotten along as best it might. among other things, they had spoken of the middle ages. some held that it was a time far better than our own. indeed councilor of justice knap defended this opinion with such spirit that his hostess sided with him at once, and both of them loudly took exception to oersted's article in the almanac, which contrasted old times and new, and which favored our own period. the councilor of justice, however, held that the time of king hans, about 1500 a.d., was the noblest and happiest age.
while the conversation ran pro and con, interrupted only for a moment by the arrival of a newspaper, in which there was nothing worth reading, let us adjourn to the cloak room, where all the wraps, canes, umbrellas, and galoshes were collected together. here sat two maids, a young one and an old one. you might have thought they had come in attendance upon some spinster or widow, and were waiting to see their mistress home. however, a closer inspection would reveal that these were no ordinary serving women. their hands were too well kept for that, their bearing and movements too graceful, and their clothes had a certain daring cut.
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