Albertina was a child who neverstopped for even a moment. She ran aroundeverywhere and if she wanted to dosomething， she would do it there and then.

“Get out of my way. Here I come！ ”she would shout as she ran through the

magic kingdom1 at top speed2.

“Someday something will happen tothat girl，”said the lake fairies3.

“Or she’ll hurt someone，” said thesorceresses4 of the forest.

The lake fairies were right： On one ofher crazy runs she fell over and broke herleg. The fall was so hard that， unluckily，she could no longer run quickly.

Albertina was so unhappy that herparents， who were top wizards5， decided togive her a fast small horse made of sweetsto ride around the kingdom once again.

“Great！ Now as well as being fast， Ican eat all the sweets I want. Giddy up6，Rainbow. Let’s ran across the lake！ ”

Impulsive7 and impatient8 as ever，Albertina would bite off little sweets fromher horse Rainbow as she rode. At first itwas hardly noticed but， over time， thebeautiful horse began to realize that shewas being bitten everywhere.

“That horse is going too fast，”saidthe druids9.

“It’s too skinny10， and one day it will break，”said the nymphs11.

The nymphs were right： While runningat full speed， Albertina bit off thehorse’s left ear. The horse lost itsbalance12 and the few sweets left on itflew into the air.

Albertina ended up even worse offthan after her last fall. Her parents feltsorry for her and gave her a big chocolatedragon as a gift.

But once again Albertina couldn’tcontrol13 herself. Her urge14 to run andeat sweets saw her end up being badlyinjured15. The dragon turned into chocolatechips for breakfast.

The girl started crying again.

“She is very sad，”said her mother.“We’ll have to give her something.”

“All right， but this time it will have to be something different.”

“Yes， something that she can’t hurtherself badly doing and will help her eathealthier.”

So Albertina was given a snail made of spinach16， her most hated food.

She cried， stamped17 her feet， saidno and stamped her feet again. But it hadno use. Her means of transport18， herpet， her best friend， was to be a spinachsnail from then on.

She had to prepare her tripscarefully， cook her meals and think abouteverything before setting off.

At first she was impatient at havingto spend so much time on such things，but soon she found that she also enjoyedpreparing the best moments and thishelped her live them to the full. Shelearned to appreciate19 the slow pace20of her snail. It no longer seemed like asilly animal to her， and she no longerwanted to do things without thinkingabout them： Everything was much nicerwith a little bit of calm.

Now， when she crosses the magickingdom on the back of her snail， she hastime to hear what the fairies， sorceresses，druids and nymphs are saying.

“This girl will go far. Slowly， but far.”

This time， for sure， they are all right.

艾伯蒂娜是一個(gè)一刻也不能停下來的孩子。她到處跑，如果她想做什么，她會(huì)當(dāng)場就做。

“讓開，我來了！”當(dāng)她以最快的速度穿過魔法王國時(shí)，她會(huì)這樣大叫。

“總有一天那個(gè)女孩會(huì)出事的?！焙行【`們說。

“不然她就會(huì)傷到別人?！鄙种械呐讉冋f。

湖中小精靈們是對的：在一次瘋狂的奔跑中，她摔倒了，然后摔斷了腿。這一跤摔得很重，很不幸，她再也跑不快了。

艾伯蒂娜非常不高興，她的父母是頂級(jí)巫師，他們決定送她一匹由糖果制成的跑得很快的小馬，讓她再次在王國里四處騎行。

“太好了！現(xiàn)在，除了速度快，我還可以盡情吃糖。振作起來，彩虹。

我們跑過這個(gè)湖吧！”

像往常一樣沖動(dòng)和不耐煩，艾伯蒂娜會(huì)在騎馬時(shí)從她的小馬彩虹身上咬下小塊糖果。起初，這幾乎沒有人注意到，但隨著時(shí)間的推移，美麗的小馬開始意識(shí)到自己身上到處都被咬傷了。

“那匹馬跑得太快了?！钡卖斠羵冋f。

“它太瘦了，總有一天會(huì)斷的。”仙女們說。

仙女們是對的：在全速奔跑時(shí)，艾伯蒂娜咬掉了小馬的左耳。

小馬失去了平衡，身上僅剩的幾塊糖飛到了空中。

艾伯蒂娜最后摔得甚至比上次更嚴(yán)重。她的父母心疼她，送了她一條巧克力巨龍作為禮物。

但是艾伯蒂娜又一次無法控制自己了。她想狂奔和吃糖的沖動(dòng)導(dǎo)致她嚴(yán)重受傷。那條龍變成了早餐吃的巧克力片。

女孩又開始哭了。

“她很傷心?！彼龐寢屨f，“我們得給她送點(diǎn)什么?！?/p>

“好吧，但這一次必須有所不同?！?/p>

“對，一些不會(huì)讓她嚴(yán)重傷害自己，并且會(huì)幫助她健康飲食的東西?！?/p>

于是艾伯蒂娜得到了一只菠菜做的蝸牛，那是她最討厭的食物。

她大哭，跺著腳說不要，然后又跺腳。但是沒有用。她的交通工具、寵物、最好的朋友，從此時(shí)起就是一只菠菜蝸牛。

她必須仔細(xì)準(zhǔn)備她的旅行，烹飪餐點(diǎn)，并在出發(fā)前考慮好一切。

起初，她對不得不在這些事情上花費(fèi)這么多時(shí)間感到不耐煩，但很快她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己也喜歡為最美好的時(shí)刻做準(zhǔn)備，這有助于她充分享受這些時(shí)刻。她學(xué)會(huì)了欣賞蝸牛緩慢的步伐。對她來說，它不再像是一只愚蠢的動(dòng)物，她也不再不經(jīng)過思考就行動(dòng)：只要多一點(diǎn)冷靜，一切都會(huì)變得更好。

現(xiàn)在，當(dāng)她騎在蝸牛背上穿過魔法王國時(shí)，她有時(shí)間聽小精靈、女巫、德魯伊和仙女們在說什么。

“這個(gè)女孩會(huì)走得很遠(yuǎn)。很慢，但是遠(yuǎn)?！?/p>

這一次，他們肯定是對的。

（英語原文選自：freestoriesforkids.com）