小学英语阅读100篇：Ingel who Trod on the Loaf

 

　　23 Ingel who Trod on the Loaf
　　Once, there was a little baby girl. Her name was Ingel. Ingel's family was very poor, so her parents adopted her out to a rich family.
　　Fortunately, the mistress loved and treated Ingel like her own daughter. Ingel grew up not only beautifully but also she had too much vanity.
　　One year later after Ingel came to the house, the mistress called Ingel and spoke to her in a soft voice. "Ingel, go and visit your own mother and father in your old house." "Yes, ma'am." Ingel prepared herself for the visit and left her house.
　　She put on her best clothes and best shoes. She who had prettied beyond recognition wanted to boast herself. When Ingel reached the entrance to the village, a woman who bore firewood was taking a rest sitting on a rock by a roadside. She was Ingel's mother. 'I can't believe that woman with such a shabby outfit is my mother.' Ingel passed by the woman turning her head to another side and pretended as if she did not see her.
　　A mud puddle came in sight after walking further. "Oh! How can I pass this? My shoes and dress will get dirty. Oh, I have a good idea." Ingel threw a big white loaf of bread in the middle of the puddle. It was a gift from the mistress to give her parents. She thought that she could pass the puddle by stepping on the bread, keeping her shoes clean.
　　When she stepped one foot on the bread and lifted the other foot, the bread sank in the puddle. "Oh, help me!" Ingel was swamped by the puddle.
　　After sinking for a long time, she arrived at the bottom of the deep swamp. There was an old evil lady in the swamp. When the old evil lady saw Ingel, she giggled creepily and said, "Welcome. A human like you is my favorite, ha, ha, ha."
　　The old evil lady forced Ingel to help her in her work. The old evil lady worked for the destruction of mankind. She was making shoes, which if one wore them, one soon wanted to steal something. Hats, which when one put it on, one wanted to be cruel to other people, and vests which made one lie once one wore them.
　　Ingel was hungry, but the old evil lady did not give food to Ingel at all. On the bottom of her shoe, some of the bread was still stuck on it. Ingel stretched out her hands and tried to grab the bread on the bottom of her shoe. But her body was hard as rock, and she could not reach there.
　　It was painful, so she shed tears. "I was such a fool!" She thought she got punished because she pretended that she did not know her own mother and tried to step on the bread. She regretted her silly behavior for the first time.
　　When her warm tears began to fall down to the bread under her shoe, the bread came off from it like magic. Ingel took the hard bread off and she lived barely by eating the bread little by little everyday. Ingel was determined to stop the old evil lady's work at any cost.
　　At that time, a ray of light appeared from somewhere and shone through the dark swamp. "Oh!" When the light shone on Ingel's head, she turned into a bird and flew up to the sky in the twinkling of an eye. Even the old evil lady could not stop her.
　　Ingel who became a bird now, flew in the sky happily and sang merry songs. Ingel flew around the house of her mother and father. She did not go anywhere but just stayed there.