这篇作品最初发表在1859年哥本哈根出版的《新的童话和故事集》第一卷第三部。它的主题很清楚：那天晚上聚集在房间里自诩出身好、家境好、前途好的孩子们“所想的和所讲的事情，不过都是孩子的闲话罢了”。因为事实证明真正创造出了伟大前途的是“在那半掩着的门外站着一个穷苦的孩子……这小家伙是那么微贱，他甚至还没有资格走进这个房间里来”。安徒生在写这篇作品的时候无疑也联想起了他自己和他的朋友，世界知名的雕刻大师多瓦尔生——他是一个乡下木匠的孩子。
Childrens Prattle孩子话
AT a rich merchants house there was a childrens party，and the children of rich and great people were there. The merchant was a learned man，for his father had sent him to college，and he had passed his examination. His father had been at first only a cattle dealer，but always honest and industriousindustrious adj.勤勉的，刻苦的，so that he had made money，and his son，the merchant，had managed to increase his store. Clever as he was，he had also a heart，but there was less said of his heart than of his money. All descriptions of people visited at the merchants house，well born，as well as intellectualintellectual adj.智力的，有智力的，显示智力的n.知识分子，and some who possessed neither of these recommendations.
一个大商人举行了一个儿童招待会。有钱人家的孩子和有名人的孩子都到了。这个商人很了不起，是个有学问的人：他曾经进过大学，因为他的和善的父亲要他进。这位父亲本来是一个牛贩子，不过很老实和勤俭。这可以使他积钱，因此他的钱也就越积越多了。他很聪明，而且也有良心，不过人们谈到他的钱的时候多，谈到他的良心的时候少。在这个商人的家里，常有名人出出进进——所谓有贵族血统的人、有知识的人和两者都有的、或两者完全没有的人。
Now it was a childrens party，and there was childrens prattle，which always is spoken freely from the heart. Among them was a beautiful little girl，who was terribly proud，but this had been taught her by the servants，and not by her parents，who were far too sensible people.
现在儿童招待会或儿童谈话会正在举行，孩子们心里想到什么就讲什么。他们之中有一位很美丽的小姑娘，她可是骄傲得不可一世。不过这种骄傲是因为佣人老吻她而造成的，不是她的父母，因为他们在这一点上还是非常理智的。
Her father was groom of the Chambers，which is a high office at court，and she knew it. “I am a child of the court.” she said，now she might just as well have been a child of the cellar，for no one can help his birth，and then she told the other children that she was wellborn，and said that no one who was not wellborn could rise in the world. It was no use to read and be industrious，for if a person was not wellborn，he could never achieveachieve vt.完成，达到 anything.
她的爸爸是一个“祗侯”，而这是一个很了不起的职位——她知道这一点。“我是一个祗侯的女儿呀！”她说。她也很可能是一个住在地下室的人的女儿，因为谁也没有办法安排自己的出身。她告诉别的孩子们，说她的“出生很好”，她还说，如果一个人的出身不好，那么他就不会有什么前途。因此他读书或者努力都没有什么用处，所以一个人的出身不好，自然什么成就也不会有。 “And those whose names end with ‘sen’，” said she，“can never be anything at all. We must put our arms akimboakimbo adj.两手叉腰的adv.两手叉腰，and make the elbow quite pointed，so as to keep these ‘sen’ people at a great distance.” And then she stuck out her pretty little arms，and made the elbows quite pointed，to show how it was to be done，and her little arms were very pretty，for she was a sweetlooking child.
“凡是那些名字的结尾是‘生’字的人，”她说，“他们在这世界上决弄不出一个什么名堂来的！一个人应该把手叉在腰上，跟他们这些‘生’字辈的人保持远远的距离！”于是她就把她美丽的小手臂叉起来，把她的胳膊肘儿弯着，来以身作则。她的小手臂真是非常漂亮，她也天真可爱。
But the little daughter of the merchant became very angry at this speech，for her fathers name was Petersen，and she knew that the name ended in “sen”，and therefore she said as proudly as she could，“But my papa can buy a hundred dollars worth of bonbonsbonbon n.<法语>小糖果，and give them away to children. Can your papa do that？”