安徒生童话英文(3)

　　"You must not scold him，" said Mother Snail. "He creeps so carefully; he will afford us much pleasure——and we have nothing but him to live for! But have you not thought of it? Where shall we get a wife for him? Do you not think that there are some of our species at a GREat distance in the interior of the burdock forest?"

　　"Black snails， I dare say， there are enough of，" said the old one. "Black snails without a house——but they are so common， and so conceited. But we might give the ants a commission to look out for us; they run to and fro as if they had something to do， and they certainly know of a wife for our little snail!"

　　"I know one， sure enough——the most charming one!" said one of the ants. "But I am afraid we shall hardly succeed， for she is a queen!"

　　"That is nothing!" said the old folks. "Has she a house?"

　　"She has a palace!" said the ant. "The finest ant's palace， with seven hundred passages!"

　　"I thank you!" said Mother Snail. "Our son shall not go into an ant-hill; if you know nothing better than that， we shall give the commission to the white gnats. They fly far and wide， in rain and sunshine; they know the whole forest here， both within and without."

　　"We have a wife for him，" said the gnats. "At a hundred human paces from here there sits a little snail in her house， on a gooseberry bush; she is quite lonely， and old enough to be married. It is only a hundred human paces!"

　　"Well， then， let her come to him!" said the old ones. "He has a whole forest of burdocks， she has only a bush!"

　　And so they went and fetched little Miss Snail. It was a whole week before she arrived; but therein was just the very best of it， for one could thus see that she was of the same species.