[Italian] Moravia

Walruses in the Arctic invite lions, the king of beasts, to their homes. Just off the guests, walrus said to his wife, Terry Kajinna:

"Why does the lion have a crown and I don't? I am in this North Pole, just like a lion on the regression line, playing an important role. But he wears a crown and I don't. "

The wife replied:

"He is the king of the forest that we unanimously recommend. And you are always laughed at by everyone. You should know that it's time to wake up. "

Walrus listened to his wife, panting and asked:

"Laugh at me? Is there such a thing? "

"Who's kidding you! You are so big, slow and stupid, and people have made up a jingle for you. Everyone knows that. What' walrus is the slowest and the stupidest in the world', and you still want to be the king of the forest! Besides, there are no forests in the Arctic! You should be a little self-aware! "

Walrus roared loudly:

"If I want to wear a crown, I must wear it!"

The wife said:

"Whatever you say. I made a promise. Even if you had a crown, I would never wear it for you every day. Wear it yourself. My family is poor, but I am an innocent family. In our family, no one has ever said that a crown is not a crown. My father is an experienced old fisherman. As soon as he sang a sad and affectionate song, groups of fish swam to the surface. My mother is a modest teacher. She taught crabs how to walk upright. I tell you again, I don't want any crown. "

However, the walrus seems to have eaten the weight-he made up his mind to wear the crown.

Walruses shuttle between seals, penguins, minks, whales, dolphins, petrels and seagulls, and have endless discussions with them. He made wishes everywhere: "when I become king, I will give you rich gifts, important positions and prominent titles." Some animals object to walrus insisting on being king. Because so far, there is no king in the Arctic, and everyone is doing well. Walruses do their best to lobby their skeptical partners:

"It is very necessary to have a king. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer fish, and it is easy to have disputes over who has more or less. When I am your king, I can be fair and reasonable! "

After walrus' lobbying, most people finally reluctantly agreed to make him king. However, what puzzles walruses most is: what kind of crown to make. First of all, we should find a skillful craftsman to make the most beautiful crown, which is enough to make the lion envy. However, Ren Walrus thought hard and couldn't find a satisfactory craftsman in the Arctic. So he began to explore, from one iceberg to another, and finally came to Siberia. There are dense forests here, which is the hometown of beavers. Beavers are ingenious carpenters and have a long-standing reputation.

The walrus thought, "Since the beaver can do carpentry, he will certainly process gold. Let him make me a golden crown." But he was wrong. Walrus personally came to the operation room and couldn't wait to express his wishes. Beaver felt embarrassed and scratched his head and didn't know what to do. He said helplessly:

"It's best to make you a beautiful wooden crown. You can use pine, birch, oak and citron, or you can use the tallest and rarest Chinese fir. Making a wooden crown is my masterpiece, but I can't make a golden crown. "

Walrus replied:

"I don't want a wooden crown. Only puppets wear wooden crowns. I need a gold crown, and a crown made of shiny materials like gold will do. "

The beaver touched his head and looked embarrassed. He wanted to tell walrus that there was nothing he could do to become a golden crown. Suddenly, an idea flashed into the beaver's mind: "In the long winter in Siberia, rivers are covered with thick ice, fir trees are covered with snow, and stalactite-like thick and long ice hangs on various cliffs. In winter, the ice sparkles in the sun. Yeah, yeah, why not make him an ice cap? Tell him this is a diamond crown. That fool knows nothing. He can't tell ice from diamonds. Moreover, the Arctic is a permafrost region, and ice and snow do not melt all year round. " Thought of here, the beaver secretly happy, pretend as if nothing has occurredly said to walrus:

"Do you know what kind of crown I will give you? This is a diamond. It is more precious and dazzling than the golden crown. "

Walrus asked:

"Where can I buy diamonds?"

Beaver replied:

"That you don't have to tube, I can find this kind of diamond in the cave. You can safely go back to the North Pole and see you in fifteen days. " Everyone knows that diamonds are the hardest substance. After a long period of thinking and artistic processing, it becomes a diamond, which can be used as a diamond crown.

Walrus believed it and returned to the North Pole.

Beaver immediately went all out to work. He ingeniously cut a large piece of ice from the rock and carved it into a cone with a tool. After careful processing, he carved the cone into a small truncated body with palm high, two fingers thick and bare, and dug a hole in the middle to make it gradually expand. Finally, it was made into a crown as big as a walrus head. At this time, the crown has not been carved, just an extremely ordinary crown.

Beaver painstakingly carved, the crown finally became a rare treasure, engraved with exquisite patterns. The crown is dazzling in the sun, just like a colorful gem, wonderful and amazing.

Naturally, it is not difficult to imagine the joy of walrus wearing a crown. As soon as he returned to the North Pole, he formed a band for the coronation ceremony.

The date of the coronation ceremony has finally arrived. All the inhabitants of the North Pole gathered in the square. Walrus wearing a crown also came to the square, he boarded the snowdrift, impassioned speech:

"My subjects ..."

His voice did not fall, and there was a commotion in the square. Everyone is puzzled and can't help but ask: "When and by what means did the walrus turn the inhabitants of the Arctic into his subjects?"

Walrus goes on to say:

"Dear subjects, you urgently need to produce a king. Without a king, there would be no subjects; If there were no subjects, there would be no king. A king can't live without his subjects, and so can his subjects. Therefore, the king is absolutely necessary. Well, I am your king, five meters long and weighing three tons. "

Suddenly, a voice shouted:

"White bear? Where is the white bear? Where did you put the white bear? "

Walrus said again:

"How can the white bear compare with me? No matter his height or weight, he is no match for me. In this case, I must be king for your happiness. But is there a king without a crown? No, never, just like there has never been a rooster without a comb. Look, this is my crown. You see, the crown is diamond, which is ten million times more beautiful and precious than the rogue crown of the lion. Therefore, I am your king, and you are dirt, garbage and tools. "

On this day, the sun was hidden in the dark clouds, and the walrus had just finished a long and boring speech when the sun was exposed. In the faint sunshine, the crown is like being pulled by a wisp of silver silk thread. In a blink of an eye, these chaotic Arctic residents became hesitant, and in a short time, applause thundered and laughter spread everywhere. Walrus saw this spectacular scene, from time to time triumphant, like a king.

Walrus is not satisfied with this and wants to show off his crown to the lion. He pondered the question over and over again, and one day, he said to his wife, Terry Kajinna:

"We should return a visit to the lion. I want you to go with me. "

The wife said:

"To tell you the truth, the contrast between your crown and the lion will definitely make him angry."

"Is this really the case?"

The wife said:

"Do you want me to accompany you? I can tell you frankly, don't move my mind, I won't say anything. I was born a housewife and died a housewife's ghost. I am a housewife's material, and now I don't feel like a queen at all. You can go if you want. I won't go anyway. "

Walrus was very unhappy after hearing his wife's words. Because of vanity, walrus turned a deaf ear to his wife's advice and finally got an invitation through frequent correspondence with lions. Walrus left his wife, boarded the plane sent by the lion, and set out to visit the lion on the scorching tropic of cancer.

Lions will never forget the scene where they were warmly received by walruses in the Arctic. He is going to return a gift and give him a warm and grand welcome. Welcome items include reviewing two honor guards: the military honor guard and the palace honor guard, as well as the subjects honor guard. The welcoming ceremony was arranged in the morning and held in the open air.

The plane carrying walrus landed on the airport runway surrounded by palm trees, and the band played Arctic songs. A team of baboons, macaques, gorillas and chimpanzees greeted the walrus with guns, and the lion and walrus slowly reviewed the honor guard side by side.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the brazier-like sun hung in the sky on the regression line, and people sweated like rain. The subjects behind the honor guard praised the two crowns, whispering, winking and commenting. Some like gold crowns, others like diamond crowns. Generally speaking, the walrus crown is more distinctive, precious and beautiful than the lion crown.

The two monarchs boarded the convertible and came to the palace. At nine o'clock, the sun was blazing, and everyone was suffocating. Walrus found his crown dripping down trembling, all the way to his forehead, nape of his neck, and into his nose and neck ... Finally, the crown became a circle, just like a collar around a dog's neck. Walrus cursed beaver's prank and regretted it, blaming himself for vanity, but it was too late to regret it. At this time, the lion and its dignitaries have discovered the melting of the crown of the Arctic king, and exchanged sarcastic and mocking eyes with each other. Walrus was really helpless. Finally, he summoned up his courage and muttered to the lion sitting next to him in the car:

"A very regrettable and disturbing thing happened. My crown is too wide and it's slipping. I wonder if your majesty can find an ordinary crown for me to wear temporarily. "

You know, the lion is also a sly guy. From the beginning, he realized that walrus wanted to insult him in person, and he was just waiting for a chance to get revenge. The lion solemnly repeated:

"yes! Yes! Why not? There are plenty of crowns worn every day! "

The lion whispered a few words to his teacher and ceremonial officer, and then got up and excused himself.

After a while, the lion came back with an ordinary crown. In fact, this is not a crown, but a fish. This flat and long fish looks like a belt, so everyone calls it hairtail. This kind of fish is processed, put its tail in its mouth and sold in the market. It looks like a perfect circle.

The lion said to the walrus:

"This belt is the most common crown in the family." Then the lion immediately put hairtail on walrus's head. Then, the lion took the walrus to the square and introduced it to the subjects gathered in the square.

Walrus choked on the fishy hairtail.

He thought to himself:

"The lion personally put the headband on my head, which is already a grand courtesy. How can I refuse? " He thought hard and couldn't find a way to kill two birds with one stone, so he had to let nature take its course.

The subjects in the square couldn't help laughing when they saw the Arctic king wearing a hairtail crown. In addition, hairtail is the most common and cheapest fish in the Tropic of Cancer. What is the purpose of wearing it on the head of the Arctic King? Everyone was puzzled and chatted for a while.

Walrus waved and said:

"Citizens, I am the king of the Arctic ..." He said, straightening the hairtail crown on his head. The square is full of joy and laughter. Princes and nobles, civil and military officials, all laughed heartily. The lion was just being polite and didn't laugh out loud.

This is the true story of the melting of walrus ice sculpture crown.

Remember: every crown needs a headgear, but not all heads need a crown. (translated by Wang Yong)

Moravia, the author of The Crown of Ice Sculpture, is an outstanding Italian writer. His works are grotesque, satirical and pungent, which are fairy tales, but they all have realistic implications. His fairy tales are stories with rich plots and details. In order to convey the profound thoughts he got from his life and travel, he mobilized some specific knowledge he got from the cold zone and the tropical zone, and skillfully combined the beaver and the lion into the same story. Walrus' conspicuous stupidity provides opportunities for beavers and lions to play tricks on walruses, just as the king's stupidity creates conditions for scammers to boldly play tricks in the emperor's new clothes.

At the beginning of the fairy tale, the external and internal characteristics of the protagonist walrus are simply pointed out in the words of his walrus wife: big, dull and stupid. Such a character is determined to be the king of the forest, isn't it asking for it? But walruses want to wear a crown on their heads. They are crazy. In order to find a skilled craftsman to make a crown, walrus "started an expedition, from one iceberg to another, and finally came to Siberia". Siberian beaver is a skillful craftsman, but he can't make a crown for walrus with gold, so he can only coax walrus with diamond-shaped ice cubes.

Stupid walrus wears the ice sculpture crown made by beaver for him, from the hometown of seals and white bears to the hometown of baboons and chimpanzees, from cold zone to tropical hot zone. Driven by vanity, he showed off to the lion, but ended up in bring disgrace to oneself. At nine o'clock in the morning, the hot sun smothered everyone. "Walrus found its crown dripping down, all the way to the forehead, the back of the neck, and all the way to the nose and neck ... Finally, the crown became a circle, like a collar around a dog's neck". In desperation, the flustered walrus had to borrow an "ordinary crown" from the lion and put it on temporarily. The cunning lion took the opportunity to buckle a "crown" made of smelly hairtail on the walrus's head. As a result, "walrus choked to death by foul-smelling hairtail", and laughter came from all directions in the square, because "hairtail is the most common and worthless fish in the Tropic of Cancer". At the end of the fairy tale, the author put forward his idea: "Every crown needs a crown, but not all heads need a crown." This idea is like a bright searchlight, reflecting the whole story and giving readers endless aftertaste and enlightenment.

Moravia's writing style is characterized by sharpness. Compared with similar fairy tales we have seen, this fairy tale is more straightforward in narrative and language, and the author's distinct attitude and position are beyond words. For example, beaver's pranks, the cunning and cunning of lions, and the vanity and stupidity of walruses are all exposed in fairy tale writing, and readers can strongly feel what defects exist in the human nature criticized by writers. This sharp and straightforward expression is quite different from the satirical style shown in Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes.

(Wei Wei)