there was once a darning-needle who thought herself so fine that she beli*d she was an embroidery（刺绣）-needle. 'take great care to hold me tight!' said the darning-needle to the fingers who were holding her. 'don't let me fall! if i once fall on the ground i shall n*r be found again, i am so fine!' 'it is all right!' said the fingers, seizing her round the waist. 'look, i am coming with my train!' said the darning-needle as she drew a long thread after her; but there was no knot at the end of the thread. the fingers were using the needle on the cook's shoe. the upper leather was unstitched and had to be sewn together. 'this is common work!' said the darning-needle.
'i shall n*r get through it. i am breaking! i am breaking!' and in fact she did break. 'didn't i tell you so!' said the darning-needle. 'i am too fine!' 'now she is good for nothing!' said the fingers; but they had to hold her tight while the cook *ped some sealing-wax on the needle and stuck it in the front of her dress. 'now i am a breast-pin!' said the darning-needle. 'i always knew i should be promoted. when one is something, one will become something!' and she laughed to herself; you can n*r see when a darning-needle is laughing. then she sat up as proudly as if she were in a state coach, and looked all round her. 'may i be allowed to ask if you are gold?' she said to her neighbour, the pin. 'you have a very nice appearance, and a peculiar1 head; but it is too small! you must take pains to make it grow, for it is not *ryone who has a head of sealing- wax.' and so saying the darning-needle raised herself up so proudly that she fell out of the dress, right into the sink which the cook was rinsing2 out.
'now i am off on my travels!' said the darning-needle. 'i do hope i sha'n't get lost!' she did indeed get lost. 'i am too fine for this world!' said she as she lay in the gutter3; 'but i know who i am, and that is always a little sati*action!' and the darning-needle kept her proud bearing4 and did not lose her good-temper. all kinds of things swam over her--shavings, *ts of straw, and scraps5 of old news*s. 'just look how they sail along!' said the darning-needle. 'they don't know what is underneath6 them! here i am sticking fast! there goes a shaving thinking of nothing in the world but of itself, a mere7 chip! there goes a straw--well, how it does twist and twirl, to be sure! don't think so much about yourself, or you will be knocked against a stone. there floats a *t of news*. what is written on it is long ago forgotten, and yet how proud it is! i am sitting patient and quiet. i know who i am, and that is enough for me!'
one day something thick lay near her which glittered8 so brightly that the darning-needle thought it must be a diamond. but it was a *t of bottle-glass, and because it sparkled9 the darning-needle spoke10 to it, and gave herself out as a breast-pin. 'no doubt you are a diamond?' 'yes, something of that kind!' and each beli*d that the other was something very costly11; and they both said how very proud the world must be of them. 'i have come from a lady's work-box,' said darning-needle, 'and this lady was a cook; she had five fingers on each hand; anything so proud as these fingers i have n*r seen! and yet they were only there to take me out of the work-box and to put me back again!' 'were they of noble *rth, then?' asked the *t of bottle-glass.
'of noble *rth!' said the darning-needle; 'no indeed, but proud! they were five brothers, all called ''fingers.'' they held themselves proudly one against the other, although they were of different sizes. the outside one, the thumb, was short and fat; he was outside the rank, and had only one bend in his back, and could only make one bow; but he said that if he were cut off from a man that he was no longer any use as a soldier. dip-into- *rything, the second finger, dipped into sweet things as well as sour things, pointed12 to the sun and the moon, and guided the pen when they wrote. longman, the third, looked at the others over his shoulder. goldband, the fourth, had a gold sash（腰带，肩带） round his waist; and little playman did nothing at all, and was the * proud. there was too much ostentation13, and so i came away.' 'and now we are sitting and shining here!' said the *t of bottle-glass. at that moment * water came into the gutter; it streamed over the edges and washed the *t of bottle-glass away.
'ah! now he has been promoted!' said the darning-needle. 'i remain here; i am too fine. but that is my pride, which is a sign of respecta*lity!' and she sat there very proudly, thinking lofty14 thoughts. 'i really beli* i must have been born a sunbeam, i am so fine! it seems to me as if the sunbeams were always looking under the water for me. ah, i am so fine that my own mother cannot find me! if i had my old eye which broke off, i beli* i could weep; but i can't--it is not fine to weep!' one day two street-urchins（海胆，顽童） were playing and wading15 in the gutter, picking up old nails, pennies, and such things. it was rather dirty work, but it was a great delight to them. 'oh, oh!' cried out one, as he pricked16 himself with the darning-needle; 'he is a fine fellow though!' 'i am not a fellow; i am a young lady!' said the darning-needle; but no one heard.
the sealing-wax had gone, and she had become quite black; but black makes one look very slim, and so she thought she was *n finer than before. 'here comes an egg-shell sailing along!' said the boys, and they stuck the darning-needle into the egg-shell. 'the walls white and i black--what a pretty contrast it makes!' said the darning-needle. 'now i can be seen to advantage! if only i am not sea-sick! i should give myself up for lost!' but she was not sea-sick, and did not give herself up. 'it is a good thing to be steeled against sea-sickness; here one has indeed an advantage over man! now my qualms17 are over. the finer one is the * one can beat.' 'crack!' said the egg-shell as a wagon-wheel went over it. 'oh! how it presses!' said the darning-needle. 'i shall indeed be sea-sick now. i am breaking!' but she did not break, although the wagon-wheel went over her; she lay there at full length, and there she may lie.
__