JLPT N2 · Graded reading
すずの兵隊さん
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そうさけんだのは、小さな男の子で、うれしさのあまり、手をたたいていました。その子は、誕生日のお祝いに、すずの兵隊さんたちをもらったのです。
男の子は、さっそく、兵隊さんたちを、テーブルの上にならべました。見ると、どの兵隊さんも、とてもよく似ていて、まるでそっくりです。ところが、中にひとりだけ、すこし変ったのがいました。
かわいそうに、その兵隊さんは、足が一本しかありません。それというのも、この兵隊さんは、いちばんおしまいに作られたものですから、そのときには、もうすずが足りなくなっていたというわけです。でも、その兵隊さんは、一本足でも、ほかの二本足の兵隊さんたちに負けないくらい、しっかりと立っていました。
Show the English translation
The one who shouted was a little boy, and he was so happy that he clapped his hands. It was because he had received the tin soldiers as a birthday present.
The boy at once lined the soldiers up on the table. Looking at them, every one of the soldiers was very much alike, exactly like each other. However, among them there was just one who was a little different.
Poor thing, that soldier had only one leg. The reason was that this soldier had been made last of all, and by that time the tin had run out. But even on one leg, that soldier stood as firmly as the other two-legged soldiers, not losing to them at all.
Machine translation.
From アンデルセンハンス・クリスチャン, すずの兵隊さん via Aozora Bunko. Public domain; transcribed and proofread by Aozora Bunko volunteers.