There were once five and twenty tin soldiers; they were all brothers, for they had all been born of one old tin spoon. They shouldered their muskets, and looked straight before them; their uniform was red and blue, and very splendid. The first thing they had heard in the world, when the lid was taken off their box, had been the words "Tin soldiers!" These words were uttered by a little boy, clapping his hands; the soldiers had been given to him, for it was his birthday; and now he put them upon the table. Each soldier was exactly like the rest only one of them was a little different, he had but one leg, for he had been cast last of all, and there had not been enough tin to finish him; but he stood as firmly upon his one leg as the others on their two; and it was just this soldier who became remarkable.

On the table on which they had been placed stood many other playthings, but the toy that attracted most attention was a neat castle of cardboard. Through the little windows one could see straight into the hall. Before the castle some little trees were placed round a little looking-glass, which was to represent a clear lake. Waxen swans swam on this lake, and were mirrored in it. This was all very pretty; but the prettiest of all was a little lady, who stood at the open door of the castle; she was also cut out in paper, but she had a the clearest gauze, and a little narrow blue ribbon over her shoulders, that looked like a scarf; and in the middle of this ribbon was a shining tinsel rose as big as her whole face. The little lady stretched out both her arms, for she was a dancer; and then she lifted one leg so high that the tin soldier could not see it at all, and thought that, like himself, she had but one leg.

"That would be the wife for me," thought he; "but she is very grand. She lives in a castle, and I have only a box, and there are five and twenty of us in that. It is no place for her. But I must try to make acquaintance with her."

And then he lay down at full length behind a snuff-box which was on the table; there he could easily watch the little dainty lady, who continued to stand on one leg without losing her balance.

When the evening came, all the other tin soldiers were put into their box, and the people in the house went to bed. Now the toys began to play at "visiting", and at "war", and "giving balls". The tin soldiers rattled in their box, for they wanted to join, but could not lift the lid. The nutcracker threw somersaults, and the pencil amused itself on the table; there was so much noise that the canary woke up, and began to speak too, and even in verse. The only two who did not stir from their places were the tin soldier and the dancing lady; she stood straight up on the point of one of her toes, and stretched out both her arms; and he was just as enduring on his one leg; and he never turned his eyes away from her.

Now the clock struck twelve--and, bounce! --the lid flew off the snuff-box; but there was not snuff in it, but a little black goblin: you see it was a trick.

"Tin soldier!" said the goblin, "will you keep your eyes to yourself?"

But the tin soldier pretended not to hear him.

"Just you wait till tomorrow!" said the goblin.

But when the morning came, and the children got up, the tin soldier was placed in the window; and whether it was the goblin or the draught that did it, all at once the window flew open, and the soldier fell head over heels out of the third story. That was a terrible passage! He put his leg straight up, and stuck with his helmet downwards and his bayonet between the paving-stones.

The servant-maid and the little boy came down directly to look for him, but though they almost trod upon him they could not see him. If the soldier had cried out "Here I am!" they would have found him; but he did not think it fitting to call out loudly, because he was in uniform.

Now it began to rain; the drops soon fell thicker, and at last it came down in a complete stream. When the rain was past, two street boys came by.

"Just look!" said one of them, "there lies a tin soldier. He shall go out sailing."

And they made a boat out of a newspaper, and put the tin soldier in the middle of it; and so he sailed down the gutter, and the two boys ran beside him and clapped their hands. Goodness preserve us! How the waves rose in that gutter, and how fast the stream ran!But then it had been a heavy rain. The paper boat rocked up and down, and sometimes turned round so rapidly that the tin soldier trembled; but he remained firm, and never changed countenance, but looked straight before him, and shouldered his musket.

All at once the boat went into a long drain, and it became as dark as if he had been in his box.

"Where am I going now?" he thought. "Yes, yes, that's the goblin' s fault. Ah! If the little lady only sat here with me in the boat, it might be twice as dark for what I should care."

Suddenly there came a great water-rat, which lived under the drain."Have you a passport?" said the rat. "Give me your passport."

But the tin soldier kept silence, and held his musket tighter than ever.

The boat went on, but the rat came after it. Ugh! How he gnashed his teeth, and called out to the bits of straw and wood.

"Hold him! Hold him! He hasn't paid toll--he hasn't shown his passport!"

But the stream became stronger and stronger. The tin soldier could see the bright daylight where the arch ended; but he heard a roaring noise, which might well frighten a bolder man. Only think--just where the tunnel ended, the drain ran into a great canal; and for him that would have been as dangerous as for us to be carried down a great waterfall.

Now he was already so near it that he could not stop. The boat was carried out, the poor tin soldier stiffening himself as much as he could, and no one could say that he moved an eyelid. The boat whirled round three or four times, and was full of water to the very edge--it must sink. The tin soldier stood up to his neck in water, and the boat sank deeper and deeper, and the paper was loosened more and more; and now the water closed over the soldier's head. Then he thought of the pretty little dancer, and how he should never see her again; and it sounded in the soldier's ears:

Farewll, farewell, thou warrior brave,

For this day thou must die!

And now the paper parted, and the tin soldier fell out; but at that moment he was snapped up by a great fish.

Oh, how dark it was in that fish's body!It was darker yet than in the drain tunnel; and then it was very narrow too. But the tin soldier remained unmoved, and lay at full length shouldering his musket.

The fish swam to and fro; he made the most wonderful movements, and then became quite still. At last something flashed through him like lightning. The day-light shone quite clear, and a voice said aloud,"The tin soldier!" The fish had been caught, carried to market, bought, and taken into the kitchen, where the cook cut him open with a large knife. She seized the soldier round the body with both her hands, and carried him into the room, where all were anxious to see the remarkable man who had travelled about in the inside of a fish; but the tin soldier was not at all proud. They placed him on the table, and there--no! What curious things may happen in the world! The tin soldier was in the very room in which he had been before! he saw the same children, and the same toys stood on the table; and there was the pretty castle with the graceful little dancer. She was still balancing herself on one leg, and held the other extended in the air. She was hardy too. That moved the tin soldier; he was very nearly weeping tin tears, but that would not have been proper. He looked at her and she at him, but they said nothing to each other.

Then one of the little boys took the tin soldier and flung him into the stove. He gave no reason for doing this. It must have been the fault of the goblin in the snuff-box.

The tin soldier stood there quite illuminated, and felt a heat that was terrible; but whether this heat proceeded from the real fire or from love he did not know. The colours had quite gone off from him; but whether that had happened on the journey, or had been caused by grief, no one could say. He looked at the little lady, she looked at him, and he felt that he was melting; but he still stood firm, shouldering his musket. Then suddenly the door flew open, and the draught of air caught the dancer, and she flew like a sylph just into the stove to the tin soldier, and flashed up in a flame, and she was gone. Then the tin soldier melted down into a lump, and when the servant-maid took the ashes out next day, she found him in the shape of a little tin heart. But of the dancer, nothing remained but the tinsel rose, and that was burned as black as a coal.

曾经有25个锡兵，他们都是兄弟，因为他们都是用一个旧锡汤匙造出来的。他们扛着枪，眼睛注视着前方。他们的制服红蓝条相间，非常漂亮。当他们所在的盒子打开时，他们在世上听到的第一个词，就是“锡兵”。这话是一个小男孩拍着手说的。锡兵被送给了小男孩，因为那天是他的生日。现在他把锡兵都放到了桌子上。每个锡兵几乎都长得一模一样，只有一个有些不同，他只有一条腿。因为他是最后一个造出来的，已经没有足够的锡给他再做一条腿了。不过他用一条腿站得也很笔挺的，像其他有两条腿的锡兵一样。因此，这个士兵十分引人注目。

在放他们的桌子上，还有许多玩具，但最吸引人的是一个纸盒做的美丽的宫殿。透过它的小窗户，人们一眼就可以看到里面的大厅。在宫殿的前面有几棵小树，围着一个小镜子，它代表一个明净的湖。蜡做的天鹅在湖里游泳，镜子里还显示出它们的倒影来。这些看上去都很美，但最美丽的还是一位小姐。她站在宫殿敞开的大门边。她也是纸做的，不过她穿着一条亮丽的裙子，肩头披着绿色的细窄丝带，看起来像一个披肩。在丝带的中间，有一朵闪亮的金属做的玫瑰花，和她的整个脸蛋一般大小。这位小姐探出双手，因为她是个舞蹈演员。她把一条腿抬得特别高，弄那个独腿士兵都看不到了。他还以为小姐和他一样，只有一条腿呢。

“她该做我的妻子，”他想，“但她太高贵了。她住在城堡里，而我只有一个小盒子，里面却装着我们25个兄弟，哪里有她呆的地方呀。但我得先和她接触接触。”

于是他就直挺挺地躺在一个桌上的鼻烟壶后面，这样他就可以方便地看到美貌的小姐了，她还是用一条腿支着，但没有失去平衡。

夜幕降临，所有其他锡兵都被装进了盒子，屋子里的人也都上床睡觉了。这时，玩具们开始玩起了“串门”、“打仗”和“开舞会”等各种游戏。锡兵们在盒子里躁动起来，也要参加游戏，但他们却无法掀开盒盖子。核桃钳耍起了跟斗，铅笔直在桌上自己玩。它们的吵闹声很大，把金丝鸟给吵醒了，它也开始说话，而且说的是诗词。没有挪动的只有那个锡兵和舞蹈演员，她还笔直地用一条腿站着，伸出了她的双臂。锡兵也是用一条腿支撑着，但他的眼睛始终不离开那个姑娘。

这时时钟敲响了十二点。只听得“嘭”的一声响，鼻烟壶的盖子掀飞了。不过里面没有鼻烟，而是一个小黑妖精——你知道，鼻烟壶只是一个伪装。

“锡兵！”小妖精说，“你眼睛盯着自己看好不好？”

但锡兵假装没听见。

“看明天我怎么收拾你！”小妖精说。

第二天一早，孩子们起了床，这个锡兵被放到了窗台上。不知道是妖精还是风儿作的怪，窗户一下被吹开了，锡兵头冲下，从三楼跌落下去。这真是个可怕的旅程！他腿脚朝天，头盔朝下，刺刀插进小路上的石子中间。

女仆和那个小男孩马上跑过来找他。他们差点踩着它，但竟然没有发现它。如果锡兵大喊一声“我在这儿！”，他们就会找到他了。但他觉得自己这么大喊大叫不合适，因为他还穿着军装呢。

这时天下起雨来。雨很快就下大了，最后变成了瓢泼大雨。大雨过后，两个小流浪儿从这里路过。

“瞧！”一个孩子说，“那儿躺着一个锡兵。应该让他出去航行。”

他们用纸叠了一个纸船，把锡兵放在船中间。于是他就顺着水沟流走了，两个孩子在他的身边，兴奋地拍着手。天哪！水沟里的波浪真大呀，水流得多么湍急！这是因为刚下过一场暴雨。纸船上下颠簸，有时旋转得那么快，把锡兵震得直颤。但他仍然很坚定，面不改色，目光注视着前方，肩上扛着一支枪。

小船很快漂进一个下水道，里面黑暗得像他以前住的盒子里一样。

“我这是到哪儿啦？”他想，“没错，没错，这肯定是小妖精捣的鬼。唉！要是那个小姐和我一起坐在这条船上就好了。如果是那样，再黑暗两倍我也不在乎。”

突然，下水道里冒出了一个大水鼠，它就住在那儿。“你有通行证吗？”老鼠说，“请出示通行证。”

但锡兵还是一言不发，只是把枪握得更紧了。

船继续朝前漂，老鼠在后面紧追不舍。哇！他龇牙咧嘴，还冲着浮在水上的草木片大喊大叫。

“抓住他！抓住他！他没交买路钱——他没有出示通行证。”

但水越流越激，锡兵已经看到拱形下水道尽头处的光亮了。这时他听到一种巨吼声，胆子再大的人都会被吓一跳。你想想吧——在下水道终点处，水流全都跌落进一个大运河里。对于他来说，就跟我们从一个大瀑布上掉下去差不多。

现在他已经临近终点，还是停不下来。小船冲了出去，可怜的锡兵尽可能地站直，谁也没有看到他眨一下眼。小船飞旋了三四圈，舱里已经灌满了水——它肯定要沉没了。锡兵在水里还挺着脖子，但船越沉越深，纸壳逐渐散了架。水终于没了锡兵的头。这时他又想到了那个美丽的舞蹈演员，可自己永远也不能再见她了。他的耳边响起一种声音：

再见，再见，你这无畏的勇士，

今天你只有一死！

这时纸完全散开了，锡兵掉了下去。这时，他被一条大鱼吞了进去。

啊，鱼肚子里可真黑呀！比下水道里要黑多了，而且还很狭窄。但锡兵还是一动不动，平躺在那里，肩上照样扛着枪。

那条鱼游来游去。它的游姿很优美，不过一会儿它就停住不动了。最后，一道耀眼的光射了进来，像闪电一般。外面阳光明媚，一个声音大叫：“锡兵！”原来那条鱼被抓住了，被拿进了厨房，厨娘用一把大刀剖开了它的肚子。她用双手抓住锡兵，带进房间，所有人都急于看到在鱼肚里旅行的到底是个什么了不起的人物。但锡兵一点也不骄傲。他们把他放在桌子上，啊！不会吧！世上的事情真是无奇不有，锡兵回到了他的老地方。他看到了那些孩子，还有桌上的玩具们。美丽的宫殿和漂亮的小舞蹈演员也在那儿。她还是用一条腿保持平衡，另一条腿高高地抬起。她也十分坚定。这让锡兵很感动，他差点哭出锡泪来，不过那是不可能的。他俩你望着我，我望着你，但都一言不发。

这时，一个小孩拿起锡兵，把他甩到炉子里去了。他这么做也没有什么原因，肯定又是那个鼻烟壶里的小妖精作的怪。

锡兵在炉子里全身通红，它感到了一种可怕的灼热。但这种热是来自炉火，还是来自心中的爱火，他也不知道。他身上的色彩消失了，但这是在旅途上造成的，还是因为悲痛而引起的，谁也说不明白。他注视着那位小姐，小姐也注视着她。他觉得自己就要熔化了，但他仍然坚定地站着，扛着自己的枪。这时，门突然开了，一阵风吹起舞蹈演员，她像仙女一样飞进炉子，来到锡兵身边。她在火焰中一闪，就无影无踪了。锡兵这时也熔化成了一堆灰。当女仆第二天将炉灰取走的时候，她发现锡兵已经变成了一颗锡心。但舞蹈演员不见了，只剩下了一朵金属玫瑰，被烧得像炭一样黑。