Some language stuff
胆子 dǎn zi – In English, when we want to describe someone who’s brave, we may say they have “lots of courage”. In Chinese, they use “big courage” (胆子大) and “small courage” (胆子小) instead. In Mr. Coward’s name, this has been shortened to 胆小.
放 fàng – The most common usage of this word is “to put”, but in this case, its alternate meaning is being used: “to let go”, or “to set free”, as in birds or captives.
配 pèi – One definition for this word is “match”, as in “Does this shirt match this blouse?” But here, it’s being used as “deserve”, as in “You don’t deserve me!”
…呀…呀 [pinyin]ya[/pinyin] – So, this one’s interesting. The sound 呀 can be used when you’re listing out similar things. You use it after every item in the list. Take the English sentence: “They feasted on pies, and cakes, and cookies, and candy… it was a real banquet!” In Chinese, you’d add 呀 like this: “They feasted on pies 呀, and cakes 呀, and cookies 呀 and candy 呀…”. You can do it with actions, too: “We were at the beach for hours, we played 呀, and swam 呀, and lay in the sun 呀.” This adds an unspoken sense of happy abundance to your sentence.
咚 dōng – An onomatopoeia describing the sound of a thump
原来 yuán lái – Often means “originally”, as in “I originally intended to come Monday”, but in this case means “Turns out”, as in “Turns out I had something else to do that day.”
以为 yǐ wéi – I just covered this one in a recent beginner post, so if you’re a frequent reader, you’ll get to use what you learned here. If not, go check it out.
Want something easier?
Du Chinese has a big catalog of easy HSK 1 and HSK 2 texts for ultra-beginners. There are quite a few free practice lessons, but CRP readers get 10% off on paid accounts using the discount code CRP10.
胆小先生
有一位先生,住在一座漂亮的房子里。因为他的胆子很小,大家都叫他胆小先生。
一天,一只大老鼠闯进了他的房子。胆小先生马上去捉,结果在地下室捉住了它。
“你放了我!”大老鼠挣扎着说,”我要是一跺脚,整个房子就塌了。”
胆小先生害怕了,连忙放开了他,还允许他住在地下室里。
地下室里吃的东西真多,大老鼠吃呀,喝呀,真开心。后来,大老鼠生了一窝小老鼠,小老鼠又长成大老鼠……很快,地下室住满了老鼠。
“不行,不行!”大老鼠冲着胆小先生嚷嚷:”这么多老鼠住这么一个小小的地下室,而你一个人住那么多房间,太不合理了,得换房子。”
“换房子?”胆小先生住在地下室,老鼠们住进各个房间,他们在宽大的客厅里唱呀,跳呀,在喷香的厨房里喝呀,吃呀,每天都像过节一样。
“你应该搬出去!”大老鼠又冲着胆小先生嚷嚷,”你干嘛住在地下室?这么好的地下室,你配住吗?”
“什么?”胆小先生气愤得跺了一下右脚,”咚“老鼠们害怕了,他们个个抱头乱窜,以为地震了。
“哦,原来我是很有力量的!”胆小先生抓起旧扫帚,这儿一扑,那儿一打,这儿一戳,那儿一捣,老鼠被打得”吱吱”叫,全逃走了。
6 replies on “Children’s Stories: 《胆小先生》Mr. Coward”
I absolutely love these, thank you!
Second to last paragraph – I think 胆小先生stamped his right foot, not his left.
Right you are – updated. And you’re welcome.
You should start a newsletter so people can get updates.
Man after my own heart. I’ve been considering that. Just a question of time to set it all up, really.
I’ve been reading these at work (I’m on reception!).
It’s such an amazing resource. It’s so nice to be able to keep my Chinese learning going even here, whilst getting some entertainment too!
Thanks for your hard work!
Thank you so much for your contributions. I have been self learning Mandarin for some years now so I am looking for simple children happy stories like these to further improve. We are in CMCO ( controlled movements ) so I have time on hand to read and improve…basically exactly what I want. Thank you so much. Children stories make me happy and so much vocabulary to learn,too.