n his home: “on the wall were two pictures illustrating his poem. one showed a dying child, a serious angel, and the mother who has fallen asleep while keeping a painful vigil. the other was an oil - painting. In it, the angel soared off with the child while the mother remained draped over the cradle.” Andersen said that the plot of the story came to him out of the blue, one day while he was taking a walk.

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一位母親和她的小孩坐在那裡。她是如此沮喪，如此害怕孩子會死去！孩子是那麼蒼白，小眼睛已經閉上了，它時不時地輕輕呼吸，偶爾深呼吸一下，彷彿在嘆息；而母親更加悲傷地看著這個小生命。

A mother sat there with her little child. She was so downcast, so afraid that it should die! It was so pale, the small eyes had closed themselves, and it drew its breath so softly, now and then, with a deep respiration, as if it sighed; and the mother looked still more sorrowfully on the little creature.

這時聽到敲門聲，走進來一個窮苦的老人，他裹著一塊像馬披一樣的大布，因為這樣暖和些，而且他也需要，因為這是寒冷的冬天！戶外一切都被冰雪覆蓋著，風吹在臉上像刀割一樣。

then a knocking was heard at the door, and in came a poor old man wrapped up as in a large horse - cloth, for it warms one, and he needed it, as it was the cold winter season! Everything out - of - doors was covered with ice and snow, and the wind blew so that it cut the face.

因為老人凍得發抖，小孩又睡了一會兒，母親就去倒了一些麥芽酒在鍋裡，放在爐子上，這樣他喝的時候就會暖和些；老人坐著搖搖籃，母親在他旁邊的椅子上坐下，看著她那病懨懨的小孩，小孩呼吸很沉重，還舉起了小手。

As the old man trembled with cold, and the little child slept a moment, the mother went and poured some ale into a pot and set it on the stove, that it might be warm for him; the old