《母親的故事》，1848 年

the Story of a mother, 1848

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安徒生這個關於母親與孩子的感人故事於 1847 年在倫敦首次以 “聖誕書籍” 的形式用英語出版。

Andersen’s moving story about mother and child was first published in English as a “christmas book” in London in 1847.

這是安徒生想要向他的英國讀者致敬之作，他給這本書（其中還包含其他四個故事）取名為《致我英國朋友們的聖誕問候》。

It was intended by Andersen as a tribute to his british audience, and he entitled the volume (which included four other tales) A christmas Greeting to my English Friends.

這本書是獻給查爾斯?狄更斯的，安徒生在 1847 年夏天與他相識（據說狄更斯曾這樣說起這個英語難懂出了名的丹麥人：“我一定要見見安徒生”），這本作品集受到了熱烈歡迎。

dedicated to charles dickens, whom Andersen had met in the summer of 1847 (“I musch see Andersen,” dickens is reported to have said about the dane whose English was notoriously difficult to understand), the collection was warmly received.

安徒生的英國粉絲們，其中包括出版商、記者、銀行家、牧師，還有公爵和公爵夫人，紛紛湧向他在萊斯特廣場的住所。安徒生覺得自己已經到達了他所認為的 “成功的巔峰”，但他也痛苦地抱怨英國人欣賞他的方式是他的丹麥同胞永遠無法做到的。

Andersen’s british fans, a group that included publishers, journalists, bankers, ministers, along with dukes and duchesses, swarmed his lodgings at Leicester Square. Andersen had reached what he believed to be the “pinnacle of success,” but he plained bitterly about how the british appreciated him in ways that his fellow danes never could.

1847 年 12 月 6 日，安徒生在給狄更斯的信中談到了獻給他的這些故事：

Andersen wrote to dickens on december 6, 1847, about the stories dedicated to him:

我又回到了我安靜的丹麥房間，但我的思緒仍然和你們一起在英國。當我忙於一個篇幅更長的作品時，五個故事從我腦海中湧現出來，就像樹林