Notes
Holland オランダ;
kind-hearted 親切な、心の優しい;
light-hearted 気楽な、快活な、陽気な;
stream 流れ,(特に)小川;
trickle ちょろちょろ流れる;
bank 川岸;
leak 漏れ;
dike (氾濫・逆流などを防ぐための)堤防;

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Once there was a good boy who had a kind-hearted mother. One afternoon she said: “Here, Peter, are some cakes I want you to take to the poor old blind man who is very ill, and who lives a mile and a half away from town. If you go quickly and do not stop to play, you will be home before it is dark.” Peter took the cakes to the poor old blind man, who said, “You are a kind-hearted boy; thank your mother for me.” Light-hearted because he had made the blind man happy, Peter was walking home when suddenly he noticed a little stream of water trickling through the great bank on the side of the road. This was in Holland, where much of the land is below the level of the sea, and where dikes are built by the people to keep back the sea. Every boy in Holland knows the danger of even a small leak in the dike. Peter understood at once that this tiny stream would soon make a large hole and the whole city would be flooded. In a moment he saw what he must do. (Excerpt from the book “Worlds Story Retold”. To be continued)
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(Image from https://www.brainkart.com/article/The-Little-Hero-of-Holland_39537/)

piglet 子豚、小豚
shut up (…に)しまい込む;
shepherd　 牧羊者;
distressing　 悲惨な、痛ましい;
wool　 羊毛；
lay hold on …をつかむ, を握る;
Aesop’s Fable イソップ物語

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A young Pig was shut up in a fold-yard with a Goat and a Sheep. On one occasion when the shepherd laid hold of him, he grunted and squeaked and resisted violently. The Sheep and the Goat complained of his distressing cries, saying, “He often handles us, and we do not cry out.” To this the Pig replied, “Your handling and mine are very different things. He catches you only for your wool, or your milk, but he lays hold on me for my very life.” (A story form　Aesop’s Fables)
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