爱华网A LITTLE HERO
A group of Italian soldiers led by a captain wereadvancing slowly toward the position of the enemy. They wereexpecting to see in the distance some signs of the enemy. Theyarrived at a farmhouse, in front of which sat a small boy. The boywas cutting a branch of a tree with his knife to make acane.
When the boy saw the soldiers, he stopped workingon the branch, stood up, and took off his cap. He was a handsomeboy with large, bright eyes and fairhair.
"What areyou doing here?" asked the captain.“Why didn'tyou leave with yourfamily?"
"I don't have any family," said the boy. "I'm anorphan. I used to work for the family that lived here. They'vegone, but I stayed in order to see thefighting."
"Have you seen any Austrians pass byhere?"
"Not within the last threedays."
The captain got off his horse, and went into thehouse. His head soon appeared out of one of the second storeywindows, from where he could see nothing but trees. In front of thehouse was a tall tree, its top well above the tops of the othertrees. The captain came out and asked theboy:
"Do you have good eyesight, youngman?"
"Me? "askedthe boy.”I can see a sparrow two hundred pacesaway."
"Do you think you could climb that tree and tellme whether you see anything of the Austrians in thedistance?"
"Sure," said the boy eagerly, jumping up, kickingoff his shoes, and throwing aside hiscap.
"How much do you want for that?" asked thecaptain.
"I don't want anything," said the boy, alreadystarting to climb. "I would do anything for oursoldiers."
In a few minutes the boy was at the top of thetree.
"Look straight ahead," cried the captain, "andtell me what you see."
"Two men on horseback - nothingelse."
"How faraway?"
"About a mile and a half. They're standingstill."
"What else do you see?" asked the captain after amoment of silence.
The boy looked to the right. after a while hesaid:
"Near the cemetery, between the trees, there'ssomething shining, perhapsbayonets."
"Do you see anysoldiers?"
"No, if there are any, they must be hidden amongthe trees."
Just then there was the sharp whistle of a bulletwhich passed near the boy.
"Get down!" said thecaptain.
Another bullet whistledby.
"They're shooting at me," said the boy. "but don'tworry. Let me tell you what's to the left. Well, there's a churchand I think I see..."
A third bullet passed, and at almost the samemoment the boy was seen to fall suddenly from the tree. He struckthe ground heavily. Blood was trickling from his mouth. The captainran to him and tore open the boy's shirt. A bullet had passedthrough his chest on the left. The boy opened his eyes for amoment, looked at the captain, and thendied.
"Poor boy!" said the captain over and over. Helooked at the boy for a minute. He ordered a soldier to bring anational flag and covered the boy's body with it, leaving only hisface exposed. The captain collected the boy's cap, shoes, knife,and the branch he had been cutting, and placed them near the boy'sbody.
"We'll send someone to pick him up," said thecaptain. "He died like a soldier and we must bury him like asoldier."
Thecaptain and his group moved on, but the story of the little boyspread quickly. Later that afternoon other groups of soldiers movedup to the front. When they passed the place where the dead boy lay,each soldier saluted. Some of them placed flowers on the boy'sbody. Soon it was covered with flowers. On the boy's pale facethere was a half-smile that seemed to suggest that he was happy tohave given his life to hiscountry.
