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+Project Gutenberg's Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
+       First Series
+
+Author: Hans Christian Andersen
+
+Editor: J.H. Stickney
+
+Illustrator: Edna F. Hart
+
+Release Date: May 28, 2010 [EBook #32571]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sharon Joiner and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
+
+First Series
+
+_Edited by_ J. H. Stickney
+
+Illustrated by Edna F. Hart
+
+          Ginn and Company
+          Boston--New York--Chicago--London
+
+
+
+
+          COPYRIGHT, 1886, 1914, BY J. H. STICKNEY
+
+          ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+          914.10
+
+          The Athenæum Press
+
+          GINN AND COMPANY · PROPRIETORS
+          · BOSTON · U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The Hans Andersen Fairy Tales will be read in schools and homes as long
+as there are children who love to read. As a story-teller for children
+the author has no rival in power to enlist the imagination and carry it
+along natural, healthful lines. The power of his tales to charm and
+elevate runs like a living thread through whatever he writes. In the two
+books in which they are here presented they have met the tests and held
+an undiminishing popularity among the best children's books. They are
+recognized as standards, and as juvenile writings come to be more
+carefully standardized, their place in permanent literature will grow
+wider and more secure. A few children's authors will be ranked among the
+Immortals, and Hans Andersen is one of them.
+
+Denmark and Finland supplied the natural background for the quaint
+fancies and growing genius of their gifted son, who was story-teller,
+playwright, and poet in one. Love of nature, love of country,
+fellow-feeling with life in everything, and a wonderful gift for
+investing everything with life wrought together to produce in him a
+character whose spell is in all his writings. "The Story of My Life" is
+perhaps the most thrilling of all of them. Recognized in courts of kings
+and castles of nobles, he recited his little stories with the same
+simplicity by which he had made them familiar in cottages of the
+peasantry, and endeared himself alike to all who listened. These
+attributes, while they do not account for his genius, help us to unravel
+the charm of it. The simplest of the stories meet Ruskin's requirement
+for a child's story--they are sweet and sad.
+
+From most writers who have contributed largely to children's literature
+only a few selected gems are likely to gain permanence. With Andersen
+the case is different. While there are such gems, the greater value lies
+in taking these stories as a type of literature and living in it a
+while, through the power of cumulative reading. It is not too much to
+say that there is a temper and spirit in Andersen which is all his
+own--a simple philosophy which continuous reading is sure to impart. For
+this reason these are good books for a child to own; an occasional
+re-reading will inspire in him a healthy, normal taste in reading. Many
+of the stories are of value to read to very young children. They guide
+an exuberant imagination along natural channels.
+
+The text of the present edition is a reprint of an earlier one which was
+based upon a sentence-by-sentence comparison of the four or five
+translations current in Europe and America. It has been widely commended
+as enjoyable reading, while faithful to the letter and spirit of the
+Danish original. A slight abridgment has been made in two of the longer
+stories. The order of the selections adapts the reading to the growing
+child--the First Series should be sufficiently easy for children of
+about eight or nine years old.
+
+                                                       J. H. STICKNEY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                       PAGE
+          THE FIR TREE                    1
+          LITTLE TUK                     20
+          THE UGLY DUCKLING              30
+          LITTLE IDA'S FLOWERS           52
+          THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER      67
+          LITTLE THUMBELINA              77
+          SUNSHINE STORIES              101
+          THE DARNING-NEEDLE            109
+          THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL         117
+          THE LOVING PAIR               124
+          THE LEAPING MATCH             129
+          THE HAPPY FAMILY              134
+          THE GREENIES                  141
+          OLE-LUK-OIE, THE DREAM GOD    145
+          THE MONEY BOX                 169
+          ELDER-TREE MOTHER             174
+          THE SNOW QUEEN                192
+          THE ROSES AND THE SPARROWS    253
+          THE OLD HOUSE                 273
+          THE CONCEITED APPLE BRANCH    290
+          NOTES                         299
+
+[Illustration: They danced merrily ... around the tree.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES
+
+
+
+
+THE FIR TREE
+
+
+FAR away in the forest, where the warm sun and the fresh air made a
+sweet resting place, grew a pretty little fir tree. The situation was
+all that could be desired; and yet the tree was not happy, it wished so
+much to be like its tall companions, the pines and firs which grew
+around it.
+
+The sun shone, and the soft air fluttered its leaves, and the little
+peasant children passed by, prattling merrily; but the fir tree did not
+heed them.
+
+Sometimes the children would bring a large basket of raspberries or
+strawberries, wreathed on straws, and seat themselves near the fir
+tree, and say, "Is it not a pretty little tree?" which made it feel even
+more unhappy than before.
+
+And yet all this while the tree grew a notch or joint taller every year,
+for by the number of joints in the stem of a fir tree we can discover
+its age.
+
+Still, as it grew, it complained: "Oh! how I wish I were as tall as the
+other trees; then I would spread out my branches on every side, and my
+crown would overlook the wide world around. I should have the birds
+building their nests on my boughs, and when the wind blew, I should bow
+with stately dignity, like my tall companions."
+
+So discontented was the tree, that it took no pleasure in the warm
+sunshine, the birds, or the rosy clouds that floated over it morning and
+evening.
+
+Sometimes in winter, when the snow lay white and glittering on the
+ground, there was a little hare that would come springing along, and
+jump right over the little tree's head; then how mortified it would
+feel.
+
+Two winters passed; and when the third arrived, the tree had grown so
+tall that the hare was obliged to run round it. Yet it remained
+unsatisfied and would exclaim: "Oh! to grow, to grow; if I could but
+keep on growing tall and old! There is nothing else worth caring for in
+the world."
+
+In the autumn the woodcutters came, as usual, and cut down several of
+the tallest trees; and the young fir, which was now grown to a good,
+full height, shuddered as the noble trees fell to the earth with a
+crash.
+
+After the branches were lopped off, the trunks looked so slender and
+bare that they could scarcely be recognized. Then they were placed, one
+upon another, upon wagons and drawn by horses out of the forest. Where
+could they be going? What would become of them? The young fir tree
+wished very much to know.
+
+So in the spring, when the swallows and the storks came, it asked: "Do
+you know where those trees were taken? Did you meet them?"
+
+The swallows knew nothing; but the stork, after a little reflection,
+nodded his head and said: "Yes, I think I do. As I flew from Egypt, I
+met several new ships, and they had fine masts that smelt like fir.
+These must have been the trees; and I assure you they were stately; they
+sailed right gloriously!"
+
+"Oh, how I wish I were tall enough to go on the sea," said the fir tree.
+"Tell me what is this sea, and what does it look like?"
+
+"It would take too much time to explain--a great deal too much," said
+the stork, flying quickly away.
+
+"Rejoice in thy youth," said the sunbeam; "rejoice in thy fresh growth
+and in the young life that is in thee."
+
+And the wind kissed the tree, and the dew watered it with tears, but the
+fir tree regarded them not.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Christmas time drew near, and many young trees were cut down, some that
+were even smaller and younger than the fir tree, who enjoyed neither
+rest nor peace for longing to leave its forest home. These young trees,
+which were chosen for their beauty, kept their branches, and they, also,
+were laid on wagons and drawn by horses far away out of the forest.
+
+"Where are they going?" asked the fir tree. "They are not taller than I
+am; indeed, one is not so tall. And why do they keep all their branches?
+Where are they going?"
+
+"We know, we know," sang the sparrows; "we have looked in at the windows
+of the houses in the town, and we know what is done with them. Oh! you
+cannot think what honor and glory they receive. They are dressed up in
+the most splendid manner. We have seen them standing in the middle of a
+warm room, and adorned with all sorts of beautiful things--honey cakes,
+gilded apples, playthings, and many hundreds of wax tapers."
+
+"And then," asked the fir tree, trembling in all its branches, "and then
+what happens?"
+
+"We did not see any more," said the sparrows; "but this was enough for
+us."
+
+"I wonder whether anything so brilliant will ever happen to me," thought
+the fir tree. "It would be better even than crossing the sea. I long for
+it almost with pain. Oh, when will Christmas be here? I am now as tall
+and well grown as those which were taken away last year. O that I were
+now laid on the wagon, or standing in the warm room with all that
+brightness and splendor around me! Something better and more beautiful
+is to come after, or the trees would not be so decked out. Yes, what
+follows will be grander and more splendid. What can it be? I am weary
+with longing. I scarcely know what it is that I feel."
+
+"Rejoice in our love," said the air and the sunlight. "Enjoy thine own
+bright life in the fresh air."
+
+But the tree would not rejoice, though it grew taller every day, and
+winter and summer its dark-green foliage might be seen in the forest,
+while passers-by would say, "What a beautiful tree!"
+
+A short time before the next Christmas the discontented fir tree was the
+first to fall. As the ax cut sharply through the stem and divided the
+pith, the tree fell with a groan to the earth, conscious of pain and
+faintness and forgetting all its dreams of happiness in sorrow at
+leaving its home in the forest. It knew that it should never again see
+its dear old companions the trees, nor the little bushes and
+many-colored flowers that had grown by its side; perhaps not even the
+birds. Nor was the journey at all pleasant.
+
+The tree first recovered itself while being unpacked in the courtyard of
+a house, with several other trees; and it heard a man say: "We only want
+one, and this is the prettiest. This is beautiful!"
+
+Then came two servants in grand livery and carried the fir tree into a
+large and beautiful apartment. Pictures hung on the walls, and near the
+tall tile stove stood great china vases with lions on the lids. There
+were rocking-chairs, silken sofas, and large tables covered with
+pictures; and there were books, and playthings that had cost a hundred
+times a hundred dollars--at least so said the children.
+
+Then the fir tree was placed in a large tub full of sand--but green
+baize hung all round it so that no one could know it was a tub--and it
+stood on a very handsome carpet. Oh, how the fir tree trembled! What was
+going to happen to him now? Some young ladies came, and the servants
+helped them to adorn the tree.
+
+On one branch they hung little bags cut out of colored paper, and each
+bag was filled with sweetmeats. From other branches hung gilded apples
+and walnuts, as if they had grown there; and above and all around were
+hundreds of red, blue, and white tapers, which were fastened upon the
+branches. Dolls, exactly like real men and women, were placed under the
+green leaves,--the tree had never seen such things before,--and at the
+very top was fastened a glittering star made of gold tinsel. Oh, it was
+very beautiful. "This evening," they all exclaimed, "how bright it will
+be!"
+
+"O that the evening were come," thought the tree, "and the tapers
+lighted! Then I shall know what else is going to happen. Will the trees
+of the forest come to see me? Will the sparrows peep in at the windows,
+I wonder, as they fly? Shall I grow faster here than in the forest, and
+shall I keep on all these ornaments during summer and winter?" But
+guessing was of very little use. His back ached with trying, and this
+pain is as bad for a slender fir tree as headache is for us.
+
+At last the tapers were lighted, and then what a glistening blaze of
+splendor the tree presented! It trembled so with joy in all its branches
+that one of the candles fell among the green leaves and burned some of
+them. "Help! help!" exclaimed the young ladies; but no harm was done,
+for they quickly extinguished the fire.
+
+After this the tree tried not to tremble at all, though the fire
+frightened him, he was so anxious not to hurt any of the beautiful
+ornaments, even while their brilliancy dazzled him.
+
+And now the folding doors were thrown open, and a troop of children
+rushed in as if they intended to upset the tree, and were followed more
+slowly by their elders. For a moment the little ones stood silent with
+astonishment, and then they shouted for joy till the room rang; and they
+danced merrily round the tree while one present after another was taken
+from it.
+
+"What are they doing? What will happen next?" thought the tree. At last
+the candles burned down to the branches and were put out. Then the
+children received permission to plunder the tree.
+
+Oh, how they rushed upon it! There was such a riot that the branches
+cracked, and had it not been fastened with the glistening star to the
+ceiling, it must have been thrown down.
+
+Then the children danced about with their pretty toys, and no one
+noticed the tree except the children's maid, who came and peeped among
+the branches to see if an apple or a fig had been forgotten.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"A story, a story," cried the children, pulling a little fat man towards
+the tree.
+
+"Now we shall be in the green shade," said the man as he seated himself
+under it, "and the tree will have the pleasure of hearing, also; but I
+shall only relate one story. What shall it be? Ivede-Avede or Humpty
+Dumpty, who fell downstairs, but soon got up again, and at last married
+a princess?"
+
+"Ivede-Avede," cried some; "Humpty Dumpty," cried others; and there was
+a famous uproar. But the fir tree remained quite still and thought to
+himself: "Shall I have anything to do with all this? Ought I to make a
+noise, too?" but he had already amused them as much as they wished and
+they paid no attention to him.
+
+Then the old man told them the story of Humpty Dumpty--how he fell
+downstairs, and was raised up again, and married a princess. And the
+children clapped their hands and cried, "Tell another, tell another,"
+for they wanted to hear the story of Ivede-Avede; but this time they had
+only "Humpty Dumpty." After this the fir tree became quite silent and
+thoughtful. Never had the birds in the forest told such tales as that of
+Humpty Dumpty, who fell downstairs, and yet married a princess.
+
+"Ah, yes! so it happens in the world," thought the fir tree. He believed
+it all, because it was related by such a pleasant man.
+
+"Ah, well!" he thought, "who knows? Perhaps I may fall down, too, and
+marry a princess;" and he looked forward joyfully to the next evening,
+expecting to be again decked out with lights and playthings, gold and
+fruit. "To-morrow I will not tremble," thought he; "I will enjoy all my
+splendor, and I shall hear the story of Humpty Dumpty again, and perhaps
+of Ivede-Avede." And the tree remained quiet and thoughtful all night.
+
+In the morning the servants and the housemaid came in. "Now," thought
+the fir tree, "all my splendor is going to begin again." But they
+dragged him out of the room and upstairs to the garret and threw him on
+the floor in a dark corner where no daylight shone, and there they left
+him. "What does this mean?" thought the tree. "What am I to do here? I
+can hear nothing in a place like this;" and he leaned against the wall
+and thought and thought.
+
+And he had time enough to think, for days and nights passed and no one
+came near him; and when at last somebody did come, it was only to push
+away some large boxes in a corner. So the tree was completely hidden
+from sight, as if it had never existed.
+
+[Illustration: Threw him on the floor ..... and there they left him.]
+
+"It is winter now," thought the tree; "the ground is hard and covered
+with snow, so that people cannot plant me. I shall be sheltered here, I
+dare say, until spring comes. How thoughtful and kind everybody is to
+me! Still, I wish this place were not so dark and so dreadfully
+lonely, with not even a little hare to look at. How pleasant it was
+out in the forest while the snow lay on the ground, when the hare would
+run by, yes, and jump over me, too, although I did not like it then. Oh!
+it is terribly lonely here."
+
+"Squeak, squeak," said a little mouse, creeping cautiously towards the
+tree; then came another, and they both sniffed at the fir tree and crept
+in and out between the branches.
+
+"Oh, it is very cold," said the little mouse. "If it were not we should
+be very comfortable here, shouldn't we, old fir tree?"
+
+"I am not old," said the fir tree. "There are many who are older than I
+am."
+
+"Where do you come from?" asked the mice, who were full of curiosity;
+"and what do you know? Have you seen the most beautiful places in the
+world, and can you tell us all about them? And have you been in the
+storeroom, where cheeses lie on the shelf and hams hang from the
+ceiling? One can run about on tallow candles there; one can go in thin
+and come out fat."
+
+"I know nothing of that," said the fir tree, "but I know the wood, where
+the sun shines and the birds sing." And then the tree told the little
+mice all about its youth. They had never heard such an account in their
+lives; and after they had listened to it attentively, they said: "What a
+number of things you have seen! You must have been very happy."
+
+"Happy!" exclaimed the fir tree; and then, as he reflected on what he
+had been telling them, he said, "Ah, yes! after all, those were happy
+days." But when he went on and related all about Christmas Eve, and how
+he had been dressed up with cakes and lights, the mice said, "How happy
+you must have been, you old fir tree."
+
+"I am not old at all," replied the tree; "I only came from the forest
+this winter. I am now checked in my growth."
+
+"What splendid stories you can tell," said the little mice. And the next
+night four other mice came with them to hear what the tree had to tell.
+The more he talked the more he remembered, and then he thought to
+himself: "Yes, those were happy days; but they may come again. Humpty
+Dumpty fell downstairs, and yet he married the princess. Perhaps I may
+marry a princess, too." And the fir tree thought of the pretty little
+birch tree that grew in the forest; a real princess, a beautiful
+princess, she was to him.
+
+"Who is Humpty Dumpty?" asked the little mice. And then the tree related
+the whole story; he could remember every single word. And the little
+mice were so delighted with it that they were ready to jump to the top
+of the tree. The next night a great many more mice made their
+appearance, and on Sunday two rats came with them; but the rats said it
+was not a pretty story at all, and the little mice were very sorry, for
+it made them also think less of it.
+
+"Do you know only that one story?" asked the rats.
+
+"Only that one," replied the fir tree. "I heard it on the happiest
+evening in my life; but I did not know I was so happy at the time."
+
+"We think it is a very miserable story," said the rats. "Don't you know
+any story about bacon or tallow in the storeroom?"
+
+"No," replied the tree.
+
+"Many thanks to you, then," replied the rats, and they went their ways.
+
+The little mice also kept away after this, and the tree sighed and said:
+"It was very pleasant when the merry little mice sat round me and
+listened while I talked. Now that is all past, too. However, I shall
+consider myself happy when some one comes to take me out of this place."
+
+But would this ever happen? Yes; one morning people came to clear up the
+garret; the boxes were packed away, and the tree was pulled out of the
+corner and thrown roughly on the floor; then the servants dragged it out
+upon the staircase, where the daylight shone.
+
+"Now life is beginning again," said the tree, rejoicing in the sunshine
+and fresh air. Then it was carried downstairs and taken into the
+courtyard so quickly that it forgot to think of itself and could only
+look about, there was so much to be seen.
+
+The court was close to a garden, where everything looked blooming. Fresh
+and fragrant roses hung over the little palings. The linden trees were
+in blossom, while swallows flew here and there, crying, "Twit, twit,
+twit, my mate is coming"; but it was not the fir tree they meant.
+
+"Now I shall live," cried the tree joyfully, spreading out its branches;
+but alas! they were all withered and yellow, and it lay in a corner
+among weeds and nettles. The star of gold paper still stuck in the top
+of the tree and glittered in the sunshine.
+
+Two of the merry children who had danced round the tree at Christmas and
+had been so happy were playing in the same courtyard. The youngest saw
+the gilded star and ran and pulled it off the tree. "Look what is
+sticking to the ugly old fir tree," said the child, treading on the
+branches till they crackled under his boots.
+
+And the tree saw all the fresh, bright flowers in the garden and then
+looked at itself and wished it had remained in the dark corner of the
+garret. It thought of its fresh youth in the forest, of the merry
+Christmas evening, and of the little mice who had listened to the story
+of Humpty Dumpty.
+
+"Past! past!" said the poor tree. "Oh, had I but enjoyed myself while I
+could have done so! but now it is too late."
+
+Then a lad came and chopped the tree into small pieces, till a large
+bundle lay in a heap on the ground. The pieces were placed in a fire,
+and they quickly blazed up brightly, while the tree sighed so deeply
+that each sigh was like a little pistol shot. Then the children who were
+at play came and seated themselves in front of the fire, and looked at
+it and cried, "Pop, pop." But at each "pop," which was a deep sigh, the
+tree was thinking of a summer day in the forest or of some winter night
+there when the stars shone brightly, and of Christmas evening, and of
+Humpty Dumpty,--the only story it had ever heard or knew how to
+relate,--till at last it was consumed.
+
+The boys still played in the garden, and the youngest wore on his breast
+the golden star with which the tree had been adorned during the happiest
+evening of its existence. Now all was past; the tree's life was past and
+the story also past--for all stories must come to an end at some time or
+other.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE TUK
+
+
+LITTLE TUK! An odd name, to be sure! However, it was not the little
+boy's real name. His real name was Carl; but when he was so young that
+he could not speak plainly, he used to call himself Tuk. It would be
+hard to say why, for it is not at all like "Carl"; but the name does as
+well as any, if one only knows it.
+
+Little Tuk was left at home to take care of his sister Gustava, who was
+much younger than himself; and he had also to learn his lesson. Here
+were two things to be done at the same time, and they did not at all
+suit each other. The poor boy sat with his sister in his lap, singing to
+her all the songs he knew, yet giving, now and then, a glance into his
+geography, which lay open beside him. By to-morrow morning he must know
+the names of all the towns in Seeland by heart, and be able to tell
+about them all that could be told.
+
+His mother came at last, and took little Gustava in her arms. Tuk ran
+quickly to the window and read and read till he had almost read his eyes
+out--for it was growing dark, and his mother could not afford to buy
+candles.
+
+"There goes the old washerwoman down the lane," said the mother, as she
+looked out of the window. "She can hardly drag herself along, poor
+thing; and now she has to carry that heavy pail from the pump. Be a good
+boy, little Tuk, and run across to help the poor creature, will you
+not?" And little Tuk ran quickly and helped to bear the weight of the
+pail. But when he came back into the room, it was quite dark. Nothing
+was said about a candle, and it was of no use to wish for one; he must
+go to his little trundle-bed, which was made of an old settle.
+
+There he lay, still thinking of the geography lesson, of Seeland, and of
+all that the master had said. He could not read the book again, as he
+should by rights have done, for want of a light. So he put the
+geography-book under his pillow. Somebody had once told him that would
+help him wonderfully to remember his lesson, but he had never yet found
+that one could depend upon it.
+
+There he lay and thought and thought, till all at once he felt as though
+some one were gently sealing his mouth and eyes with a kiss. He slept
+and yet did not sleep, for he seemed to see the old washerwoman's mild,
+kind eyes fixed upon him, and to hear her say: "It would be a shame,
+indeed, for you not to know your lesson to-morrow, little Tuk. You
+helped me; now I will help you, and our Lord will help us both."
+
+All at once the leaves of the book began to rustle under little Tuk's
+head, and he heard something crawling about under his pillow.
+
+"Cluck, cluck, cluck!" cried a hen, as she crept towards him. (She came
+from the town of Kjöge.) "I'm a Kjöge hen," she said. And then she told
+him how many inhabitants the little town contained, and about the battle
+that had once been fought there, and how it was now hardly worth
+mentioning, there were so many greater things.
+
+[Illustration: All in a moment he was on horseback, and on he went,
+gallop, gallop!]
+
+Scratch, scratch! kribbley crabbley! and now a great wooden bird jumped
+down upon the bed. It was the popinjay from the shooting ground at
+Præstö. He had reckoned the number of inhabitants in Præstö, and found
+that there were as many as he had nails in his body. He was a proud
+bird. "Thorwaldsen lived in one corner of Præstö, close by me. Am I not
+a pretty bird, a merry popinjay?"
+
+And now little Tuk no longer lay in bed. All in a moment he was on
+horseback, and on he went, gallop, gallop! A splendid knight, with a
+bright helmet and waving plume,--a knight of the olden time,--held him
+on his own horse; and on they rode together, through the wood of the
+ancient city of Vordingborg, and it was once again a great and busy
+town. The high towers of the king's castle rose against the sky, and
+bright lights were seen gleaming through the windows. Within were music
+and merrymaking. King Waldemar was leading out the noble ladies of his
+court to dance with him.
+
+Suddenly the morning dawned, the lamps grew pale, the sun rose, the
+outlines of the buildings faded away, and at last one high tower alone
+remained to mark the spot where the royal castle had stood. The vast
+city had shrunk into a poor, mean-looking little town. The schoolboys,
+coming out of school with their geography-books under their arms, said,
+"Two thousand inhabitants"; but that was a mere boast, for the town had
+not nearly so many.
+
+And little Tuk lay in his bed. He knew not whether he had been dreaming
+or not, but again there was some one close by his side.
+
+"Little Tuk! little Tuk!" cried a voice; it was the voice of a young
+sailor boy. "I am come to bring you greeting from Korsör. Korsör is a
+new town, a living town, with steamers and mail coaches. Once people
+used to call it a low, ugly place, but they do so no longer.
+
+"'I dwell by the seaside,' says Korsör; 'I have broad highroads and
+pleasure gardens; and I have given birth to a poet, a witty one, too,
+which is more than all poets are. I once thought of sending a ship all
+round the world; but I did not do it, though I might as well have done
+so. I dwell so pleasantly, close by the port; and I am fragrant with
+perfume, for the loveliest roses bloom round about me, close to my
+gates.'"
+
+And little Tuk could smell the roses and see them and their fresh green
+leaves. But in a moment they had vanished; the green leaves spread and
+thickened--a perfect grove had grown up above the bright waters of the
+bay, and above the grove rose the two high-pointed towers of a glorious
+old church. From the side of the grass-grown hill gushed a fountain in
+rainbow-hued streams, with a merry, musical voice, and close beside it
+sat a king, wearing a gold crown upon his long dark hair. This was King
+Hroar of the springs; and hard by was the town of Roskilde (Hroar's
+Fountain). And up the hill, on a broad highway, went all the kings and
+queens of Denmark, wearing golden crowns; hand in hand they passed on
+into the church, and the deep music of the organ mingled with the clear
+rippling of the fountain. For nearly all the kings and queens of Denmark
+lie buried in this beautiful church. And little Tuk saw and heard it
+all.
+
+"Don't forget the towns," said King Hroar.
+
+Then all vanished; though where it went he knew not. It seemed like
+turning the leaves of a book.
+
+And now there stood before him an old peasant woman from Sorö, the quiet
+little town where grass grows in the very market place. Her green linen
+apron was thrown over her head and back, and the apron was very wet, as
+if it had been raining heavily.
+
+"And so it has," she said. And she told a great many pretty things from
+Holberg's comedies, and recited ballads about Waldemar and Absalon; for
+Holberg had founded an academy in her native town.
+
+All at once she cowered down and rocked her head as if she were a frog
+about to spring. "Koax!" cried she; "it is wet, it is always wet, and it
+is as still as the grave in Sorö." She had changed into a frog. "Koax!"
+and again she was an old woman. "One must dress according to the
+weather," she said.
+
+"It is wet! it is wet! My native town is like a bottle; one goes in at
+the cork, and by the cork one must come out. In old times we had the
+finest of fish; now we have fresh, rosy-cheeked boys at the bottom of
+the bottle. There they learn wisdom--Greek, Greek, and Hebrew! Koax!"
+
+It sounded exactly as if frogs were croaking, or as if some one were
+walking over the great swamp with heavy boots. So tiresome was her tone,
+all on the same note, that little Tuk fell fast asleep; and a very good
+thing it was for him.
+
+But even in sleep there came a dream, or whatever else it may be called.
+His little sister Gustava, with her blue eyes and flaxen ringlets, was
+grown into a tall, beautiful girl, who, though she had no wings, could
+fly; and away they now flew over Seeland--over its green woods and blue
+waters.
+
+"Hark! Do you hear the cock crow, little Tuk? 'Cock-a-doodle-do!' The
+fowls are flying hither from Kjöge, and you shall have a farmyard, a
+great, great poultry yard of your own! You shall never suffer hunger or
+want. The golden goose, the bird of good omen, shall be yours; you shall
+become a rich and happy man. Your house shall rise up like King
+Waldemar's towers and be richly decked with statues like those of
+Thorwaldsen at Præstö.
+
+"Understand me well; your good name shall be borne round the world, like
+the ship that was to sail from Korsör, and at Roskilde you shall speak
+and give counsel wisely and well, little Tuk, like King Hroar; and when
+at last you shall lie in your peaceful grave you shall sleep as
+quietly--"
+
+"As if I lay sleeping in Sorö," said Tuk, and he woke. It was a bright
+morning, and he could not remember his dream, but it was not necessary
+that he should. One has no need to know what one will live to see.
+
+And now he sprang quickly out of bed and sought his book, that had lain
+under his pillow. He read his lesson and found that he knew the towns
+perfectly well.
+
+And the old washerwoman put her head in at the door and said, with a
+friendly nod: "Thank you, my good child, for yesterday's help. May the
+Lord fulfill your brightest and most beautiful dreams! I know he will."
+
+Little Tuk had forgotten what he had dreamed, but it did not matter.
+There was One above who knew it all.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE UGLY DUCKLING
+
+
+IT was so beautiful in the country. It was the summer time. The wheat
+fields were golden, the oats were green, and the hay stood in great
+stacks in the green meadows. The stork paraded about among them on his
+long red legs, chattering away in Egyptian, the language he had learned
+from his lady mother.
+
+All around the meadows and cornfields grew thick woods, and in the midst
+of the forest was a deep lake. Yes, it was beautiful, it was delightful
+in the country.
+
+In a sunny spot stood a pleasant old farmhouse circled all about with
+deep canals; and from the walls down to the water's edge grew great
+burdocks, so high that under the tallest of them a little child might
+stand upright. The spot was as wild as if it had been in the very
+center of the thick wood.
+
+In this snug retreat sat a duck upon her nest, watching for her young
+brood to hatch; but the pleasure she had felt at first was almost gone;
+she had begun to think it a wearisome task, for the little ones were so
+long coming out of their shells, and she seldom had visitors. The other
+ducks liked much better to swim about in the canals than to climb the
+slippery banks and sit under the burdock leaves to have a gossip with
+her. It was a long time to stay so much by herself.
+
+At length, however, one shell cracked, and soon another, and from each
+came a living creature that lifted its head and cried "Peep, peep."
+
+"Quack, quack!" said the mother; and then they all tried to say it, too,
+as well as they could, while they looked all about them on every side at
+the tall green leaves. Their mother allowed them to look about as much
+as they liked, because green is good for the eyes.
+
+"What a great world it is, to be sure," said the little ones, when they
+found how much more room they had than when they were in the eggshell.
+
+"Is this all the world, do you imagine?" said the mother. "Wait till you
+have seen the garden. Far beyond that it stretches down to the pastor's
+field, though I have never ventured to such a distance. Are you all
+out?" she continued, rising to look. "No, not all; the largest egg lies
+there yet, I declare. I wonder how long this business is to last. I'm
+really beginning to be tired of it;" but for all that she sat down
+again.
+
+"Well, and how are you to-day?" quacked an old duck who came to pay her
+a visit.
+
+"There's one egg that takes a deal of hatching. The shell is hard and
+will not break," said the fond mother, who sat still upon her nest. "But
+just look at the others. Have I not a pretty family? Are they not the
+prettiest little ducklings you ever saw? They are the image of their
+father--the good for naught! He never comes to see me."
+
+"Let me see the egg that will not break," said the old duck. "I've no
+doubt it's a Guinea fowl's egg. The same thing happened to me once, and
+a deal of trouble it gave me, for the young ones are afraid of the
+water. I quacked and clucked, but all to no purpose. Let me take a look
+at it. Yes, I am right; it's a Guinea fowl, upon my word; so take my
+advice and leave it where it is. Come to the water and teach the other
+children to swim."
+
+"I think I will sit a little while longer," said the mother. "I have sat
+so long, a day or two more won't matter."
+
+"Very well, please yourself," said the old duck, rising; and she went
+away.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At last the great egg broke, and the latest bird cried "Peep, peep," as
+he crept forth from the shell. How big and ugly he was! The mother duck
+stared at him and did not know what to think. "Really," she said, "this
+is an enormous duckling, and it is not at all like any of the others. I
+wonder if he will turn out to be a Guinea fowl. Well, we shall see when
+we get to the water--for into the water he must go, even if I have to
+push him in myself."
+
+On the next day the weather was delightful. The sun shone brightly on
+the green burdock leaves, and the mother duck took her whole family
+down to the water and jumped in with a splash. "Quack, quack!" cried
+she, and one after another the little ducklings jumped in. The water
+closed over their heads, but they came up again in an instant and swam
+about quite prettily, with their legs paddling under them as easily as
+possible; their legs went of their own accord; and the ugly gray-coat
+was also in the water, swimming with them.
+
+"Oh," said the mother, "that is not a Guinea fowl. See how well he uses
+his legs, and how erect he holds himself! He is my own child, and he is
+not so very ugly after all, if you look at him properly. Quack, quack!
+come with me now. I will take you into grand society and introduce you
+to the farmyard, but you must keep close to me or you may be trodden
+upon; and, above all, beware of the cat."
+
+When they reached the farmyard, there was a wretched riot going on; two
+families were fighting for an eel's head, which, after all, was carried
+off by the cat. "See, children, that is the way of the world," said the
+mother duck, whetting her beak, for she would have liked the eel's head
+herself. "Come, now, use your legs, and let me see how well you can
+behave. You must bow your heads prettily to that old duck yonder; she is
+the highest born of them all and has Spanish blood; therefore she is
+well off. Don't you see she has a red rag tied to her leg, which is
+something very grand and a great honor for a duck; it shows that every
+one is anxious not to lose her, and that she is to be noticed by both
+man and beast. Come, now, don't turn in your toes; a well-bred duckling
+spreads his feet wide apart, just like his father and mother, in this
+way; now bend your necks and say 'Quack!'"
+
+The ducklings did as they were bade, but the other ducks stared, and
+said, "Look, here comes another brood--as if there were not enough of us
+already! And bless me, what a queer-looking object one of them is; we
+don't want him here"; and then one flew out and bit him in the neck.
+
+"Let him alone," said the mother; "he is not doing any harm."
+
+"Yes, but he is so big and ugly. He's a perfect fright," said the
+spiteful duck, "and therefore he must be turned out. A little biting
+will do him good."
+
+"The others are very pretty children," said the old duck with the rag on
+her leg, "all but that one. I wish his mother could smooth him up a bit;
+he is really ill-favored."
+
+"That is impossible, your grace," replied the mother. "He is not pretty,
+but he has a very good disposition and swims as well as the others or
+even better. I think he will grow up pretty, and perhaps be smaller. He
+has remained too long in the egg, and therefore his figure is not
+properly formed;" and then she stroked his neck and smoothed the
+feathers, saying: "It is a drake, and therefore not of so much
+consequence. I think he will grow up strong and able to take care of
+himself."
+
+"The other ducklings are graceful enough," said the old duck. "Now make
+yourself at home, and if you find an eel's head you can bring it to me."
+
+And so they made themselves comfortable; but the poor duckling who had
+crept out of his shell last of all and looked so ugly was bitten and
+pushed and made fun of, not only by the ducks but by all the poultry.
+
+[Illustration: Bless me, what a queer-looking object one of them is...]
+
+"He is too big," they all said; and the turkey cock, who had been born
+into the world with spurs and fancied himself really an emperor, puffed
+himself out like a vessel in full sail and flew at the duckling. He
+became quite red in the head with passion, so that the poor little thing
+did not know where to go, and was quite miserable because he was so ugly
+as to be laughed at by the whole farmyard.
+
+So it went on from day to day; it got worse and worse. The poor duckling
+was driven about by every one; even his brothers and sisters were unkind
+to him and would say, "Ah, you ugly creature, I wish the cat would get
+you" and his mother had been heard to say she wished he had never been
+born. The ducks pecked him, the chickens beat him, and the girl who fed
+the poultry pushed him with her feet. So at last he ran away,
+frightening the little birds in the hedge as he flew over the palings.
+"They are afraid because I am so ugly," he said. So he flew still
+farther, until he came out on a large moor inhabited by wild ducks. Here
+he remained the whole night, feeling very sorrowful.
+
+In the morning, when the wild ducks rose in the air, they stared at
+their new comrade. "What sort of a duck are you?" they all said, coming
+round him.
+
+He bowed to them and was as polite as he could be, but he did not reply
+to their question. "You are exceedingly ugly," said the wild ducks; "but
+that will not matter if you do not want to marry one of our family."
+
+Poor thing! he had no thoughts of marriage; all he wanted was permission
+to lie among the rushes and drink some of the water on the moor. After
+he had been on the moor two days, there came two wild geese, or rather
+goslings, for they had not been out of the egg long, which accounts for
+their impertinence. "Listen, friend," said one of them to the duckling;
+"you are so ugly that we like you very well. Will you go with us and
+become a bird of passage? Not far from here is another moor, in which
+there are some wild geese, all of them unmarried. It is a chance for you
+to get a wife. You may make your fortune, ugly as you are."
+
+"Bang, bang," sounded in the air, and the two wild geese fell dead
+among the rushes, and the water was tinged with blood. "Bang, bang,"
+echoed far and wide in the distance, and whole flocks of wild geese rose
+up from the rushes.
+
+The sound continued from every direction, for the sportsmen surrounded
+the moor, and some were even seated on branches of trees, overlooking
+the rushes. The blue smoke from the guns rose like clouds over the dark
+trees, and as it floated away across the water, a number of sporting
+dogs bounded in among the rushes, which bent beneath them wherever they
+went. How they terrified the poor duckling! He turned away his head to
+hide it under his wing, and at the same moment a large, terrible dog
+passed quite near him. His jaws were open, his tongue hung from his
+mouth, and his eyes glared fearfully. He thrust his nose close to the
+duckling, showing his sharp teeth, and then "splash, splash," he went
+into the water, without touching him.
+
+"Oh," sighed the duckling, "how thankful I am for being so ugly; even a
+dog will not bite me."
+
+And so he lay quite still, while the shot rattled through the rushes,
+and gun after gun was fired over him. It was late in the day before all
+became quiet, but even then the poor young thing did not dare to move.
+He waited quietly for several hours and then, after looking carefully
+around him, hastened away from the moor as fast as he could. He ran over
+field and meadow till a storm arose, and he could hardly struggle
+against it.
+
+Towards evening he reached a poor little cottage that seemed ready to
+fall, and only seemed to remain standing because it could not decide on
+which side to fall first. The storm continued so violent that the
+duckling could go no farther. He sat down by the cottage, and then he
+noticed that the door was not quite closed, in consequence of one of the
+hinges having given way. There was, therefore, a narrow opening near the
+bottom large enough for him to slip through, which he did very quietly,
+and got a shelter for the night. Here, in this cottage, lived a woman, a
+cat, and a hen. The cat, whom his mistress called "My little son," was a
+great favorite; he could raise his back, and purr, and could even throw
+out sparks from his fur if it were stroked the wrong way. The hen had
+very short legs, so she was called "Chickie Short-legs." She laid good
+eggs, and her mistress loved her as if she had been her own child. In
+the morning the strange visitor was discovered; the cat began to purr
+and the hen to cluck.
+
+"What is that noise about?" said the old woman, looking around the room.
+But her sight was not very good; therefore when she saw the duckling she
+thought it must be a fat duck that had strayed from home. "Oh, what a
+prize!" she exclaimed. "I hope it is not a drake, for then I shall have
+some ducks' eggs. I must wait and see."
+
+So the duckling was allowed to remain on trial for three weeks; but
+there were no eggs.
+
+Now the cat was the master of the house, and the hen was the mistress;
+and they always said, "We and the world," for they believed themselves
+to be half the world, and by far the better half, too. The duckling
+thought that others might hold a different opinion on the subject, but
+the hen would not listen to such doubts.
+
+"Can you lay eggs?" she asked. "No." "Then have the goodness to cease
+talking." "Can you raise your back, or purr, or throw out sparks?" said
+the cat. "No." "Then you have no right to express an opinion when
+sensible people are speaking." So the duckling sat in a corner, feeling
+very low-spirited; but when the sunshine and the fresh air came into the
+room through the open door, he began to feel such a great longing for a
+swim that he could not help speaking of it.
+
+"What an absurd idea!" said the hen. "You have nothing else to do;
+therefore you have foolish fancies. If you could purr or lay eggs, they
+would pass away."
+
+"But it is so delightful to swim about on the water," said the duckling,
+"and so refreshing to feel it close over your head while you dive down
+to the bottom."
+
+"Delightful, indeed! it must be a queer sort of pleasure," said the hen.
+"Why, you must be crazy! Ask the cat--he is the cleverest animal I know;
+ask him how he would like to swim about on the water, or to dive under
+it, for I will not speak of my own opinion. Ask our mistress, the old
+woman; there is no one in the world more clever than she is. Do you
+think she would relish swimming and letting the water close over her
+head?"
+
+"I see you don't understand me," said the duckling.
+
+"We don't understand you? Who can understand you, I wonder? Do you
+consider yourself more clever than the cat or the old woman?--I will say
+nothing of myself. Don't imagine such nonsense, child, and thank your
+good fortune that you have been so well received here. Are you not in a
+warm room and in society from which you may learn something? But you are
+a chatterer, and your company is not very agreeable. Believe me, I speak
+only for your good. I may tell you unpleasant truths, but that is a
+proof of my friendship. I advise you, therefore, to lay eggs and learn
+to purr as quickly as possible."
+
+"I believe I must go out into the world again," said the duckling.
+
+"Yes, do," said the hen. So the duckling left the cottage and soon found
+water on which it could swim and dive, but he was avoided by all other
+animals because of his ugly appearance.
+
+Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to orange and gold;
+then, as winter approached, the wind caught them as they fell and
+whirled them into the cold air. The clouds, heavy with hail and
+snowflakes, hung low in the sky, and the raven stood among the reeds,
+crying, "Croak, croak." It made one shiver with cold to look at him. All
+this was very sad for the poor little duckling.
+
+One evening, just as the sun was setting amid radiant clouds, there came
+a large flock of beautiful birds out of the bushes. The duckling had
+never seen any like them before. They were swans; and they curved their
+graceful necks, while their soft plumage shone with dazzling whiteness.
+They uttered a singular cry as they spread their glorious wings and flew
+away from those cold regions to warmer countries across the sea. They
+mounted higher and higher in the air, and the ugly little duckling had a
+strange sensation as he watched them. He whirled himself in the water
+like a wheel, stretched out his neck towards them, and uttered a cry so
+strange that it frightened even himself. Could he ever forget those
+beautiful, happy birds! And when at last they were out of his sight, he
+dived under the water and rose again almost beside himself with
+excitement. He knew not the names of these birds nor where they had
+flown, but he felt towards them as he had never felt towards any other
+bird in the world.
+
+He was not envious of these beautiful creatures; it never occurred to
+him to wish to be as lovely as they. Poor ugly creature, how gladly he
+would have lived even with the ducks, had they only treated him kindly
+and given him encouragement.
+
+The winter grew colder and colder; he was obliged to swim about on the
+water to keep it from freezing, but every night the space on which he
+swam became smaller and smaller. At length it froze so hard that the ice
+in the water crackled as he moved, and the duckling had to paddle with
+his legs as well as he could, to keep the space from closing up. He
+became exhausted at last and lay still and helpless, frozen fast in the
+ice.
+
+Early in the morning a peasant who was passing by saw what had happened.
+He broke the ice in pieces with his wooden shoe and carried the duckling
+home to his wife. The warmth revived the poor little creature; but when
+the children wanted to play with him, the duckling thought they would do
+him some harm, so he started up in terror, fluttered into the milk pan,
+and splashed the milk about the room. Then the woman clapped her hands,
+which frightened him still more. He flew first into the butter cask,
+then into the meal tub and out again. What a condition he was in! The
+woman screamed and struck at him with the tongs; the children laughed
+and screamed and tumbled over each other in their efforts to catch him,
+but luckily he escaped. The door stood open; the poor creature could
+just manage to slip out among the bushes and lie down quite exhausted in
+the newly fallen snow.
+
+It would be very sad were I to relate all the misery and privations
+which the poor little duckling endured during the hard winter; but when
+it had passed he found himself lying one morning in a moor, amongst the
+rushes. He felt the warm sun shining and heard the lark singing and saw
+that all around was beautiful spring.
+
+Then the young bird felt that his wings were strong, as he flapped them
+against his sides and rose high into the air. They bore him onwards
+until, before he well knew how it had happened, he found himself in a
+large garden. The apple trees were in full blossom, and the fragrant
+elders bent their long green branches down to the stream, which wound
+round a smooth lawn. Everything looked beautiful in the freshness of
+early spring. From a thicket close by came three beautiful white swans,
+rustling their feathers and swimming lightly over the smooth water. The
+duckling saw these lovely birds and felt more strangely unhappy than
+ever.
+
+"I will fly to these royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will kill me
+because, ugly as I am, I dare to approach them. But it does not matter;
+better be killed by them than pecked by the ducks, beaten by the hens,
+pushed about by the maiden who feeds the poultry, or starved with hunger
+in the winter."
+
+Then he flew to the water and swam towards the beautiful swans. The
+moment they espied the stranger they rushed to meet him with
+outstretched wings.
+
+"Kill me," said the poor bird and he bent his head down to the surface
+of the water and awaited death.
+
+But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image--no longer
+a dark-gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and
+beautiful swan.
+
+To be born in a duck's nest in a farmyard is of no consequence to a bird
+if it is hatched from a swan's egg. He now felt glad at having suffered
+sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all
+the pleasure and happiness around him; for the great swans swam round
+the newcomer and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.
+
+Into the garden presently came some little children and threw bread and
+cake into the water.
+
+[Illustration: The new one is the most beautiful of all...]
+
+"See," cried the youngest, "there is a new one;" and the rest were
+delighted, and ran to their father and mother, dancing and clapping
+their hands and shouting joyously, "There is another swan come; a new
+one has arrived."
+
+Then they threw more bread and cake into the water and said, "The new
+one is the most beautiful of all, he is so young and pretty." And the
+old swans bowed their heads before him.
+
+Then he felt quite ashamed and hid his head under his wing, for he did
+not know what to do, he was so happy--yet he was not at all proud. He
+had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them
+say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. Even the elder tree bent
+down its boughs into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and
+bright. Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried
+joyfully, from the depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such
+happiness as this while I was the despised ugly duckling."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE IDA'S FLOWERS
+
+
+"MY POOR flowers are quite faded!" said little Ida. "Only yesterday
+evening they were so pretty, and now all the leaves are drooping. Why do
+they do that?" she asked of the student, who sat on the sofa. He was a
+great favorite with her, because he used to tell her the prettiest of
+stories and cut out the most amusing things in paper--hearts with little
+ladies dancing in them, and high castles with doors which one could open
+and shut. He was a merry student. "Why do the flowers look so wretched
+to-day?" asked she again, showing him a bouquet of faded flowers.
+
+"Do you not know?" replied the student. "The flowers went to a ball last
+night, and are tired. That's why they hang their heads."
+
+"What an idea," exclaimed little Ida. "Flowers cannot dance!"
+
+"Of course they can dance! When it is dark, and we are all gone to bed,
+they jump about as merrily as possible. They have a ball almost every
+night."
+
+"And can their children go to the ball?" asked Ida.
+
+"Oh, yes," said the student; "daisies and lilies of the valley, that are
+quite little."
+
+"And when is it that the prettiest flowers dance?"
+
+"Have you not been to the large garden outside the town gate, in front
+of the castle where the king lives in summer--the garden that is so full
+of lovely flowers? You surely remember the swans which come swimming up
+when you give them crumbs of bread? Believe me, they have capital balls
+there."
+
+"I was out there only yesterday with my mother," said Ida, "but there
+were no leaves on the trees, and I did not see a single flower. What has
+become of them? There were so many in the summer."
+
+"They are inside the palace now," replied the student. "As soon as the
+king and all his court go back to the town, the flowers hasten out of
+the garden and into the palace, where they have famous times. Oh, if you
+could but see them! The two most beautiful roses seat themselves on the
+throne and act king and queen. All the tall red cockscombs stand before
+them on either side and bow; they are the chamberlains. Then all the
+pretty flowers come, and there is a great ball. The blue violets
+represent the naval cadets; they dance with hyacinths and crocuses, who
+take the part of young ladies. The tulips and the tall tiger lilies are
+old ladies,--dowagers,--who see to it that the dancing is well done and
+that all things go on properly."
+
+"But," asked little Ida, "is there no one there to harm the flowers for
+daring to dance in the king's castle?"
+
+"No one knows anything about it," replied the student. "Once during the
+night, perhaps, the old steward of the castle does, to be sure, come in
+with his great bunch of keys to see that all is right; but the moment
+the flowers hear the clanking of the keys they stand stock-still or
+hide themselves behind the long silk window curtains. Then the old
+steward will say, 'Do I not smell flowers here?' but he can't see them."
+
+"That is very funny," exclaimed little Ida, clapping her hands with
+glee; "but should not I be able to see the flowers?"
+
+"To be sure you can see them," replied the student. "You have only to
+remember to peep in at the windows the next time you go to the palace. I
+did so this very day, and saw a long yellow lily lying on the sofa. She
+was a court lady."
+
+"Do the flowers in the Botanical Garden go to the ball? Can they go all
+that long distance?"
+
+"Certainly," said the student; "for the flowers can fly if they please.
+Have you not seen the beautiful red and yellow butterflies that look so
+much like flowers? They are in fact nothing else. They have flown off
+their stalks high into the air and flapped their little petals just as
+if they were wings, and thus they came to fly about. As a reward for
+always behaving well they have leave to fly about in the daytime, too,
+instead of sitting quietly on their stalks at home, till at last the
+flower petals have become real wings. That you have seen yourself.
+
+"It may be, though, that the flowers in the Botanical Garden have never
+been in the king's castle. They may not have heard what frolics take
+place there every night. But I'll tell you; if, the next time you go to
+the garden, you whisper to one of the flowers that a great ball is to be
+given yonder in the castle, the news will spread from flower to flower
+and they will all fly away. Then should the professor come to his garden
+there won't be a flower there, and he will not be able to imagine what
+has become of them."
+
+"But how can one flower tell it to another? for I am sure the flowers
+cannot speak."
+
+"No; you are right there," returned the student. "They cannot speak, but
+they can make signs. Have you ever noticed that when the wind blows a
+little the flowers nod to each other and move all their green leaves?
+They can make each other understand in this way just as well as we do by
+talking."
+
+"And does the professor understand their pantomime?" asked Ida.
+
+"Oh, certainly; at least part of it. He came into his garden one morning
+and saw that a great stinging nettle was making signs with its leaves to
+a beautiful red carnation. It was saying, 'You are so beautiful, and I
+love you with all my heart!' But the professor doesn't like that sort of
+thing, and he rapped the nettle on her leaves, which are her fingers;
+but she stung him, and since then he has never dared to touch a nettle."
+
+"Ha! ha!" laughed little Ida, "that is very funny."
+
+"How can one put such stuff into a child's head?" said a tiresome
+councilor, who had come to pay a visit. He did not like the student and
+always used to scold when he saw him cutting out the droll pasteboard
+figures, such as a man hanging on a gibbet and holding a heart in his
+hand to show that he was a stealer of hearts, or an old witch riding on
+a broomstick and carrying her husband on the end of her nose. The
+councilor could not bear such jokes, and he would always say, as now:
+"How can any one put such notions into a child's head? They are only
+foolish fancies."
+
+But to little Ida all that the student had told her was very
+entertaining, and she kept thinking it over. She was sure now that her
+pretty yesterday's flowers hung their heads because they were tired, and
+that they were tired because they had been to the ball. So she took them
+to the table where stood her toys. Her doll lay sleeping, but Ida said
+to her, "You must get up, and be content to sleep to-night in the table
+drawer, for the poor flowers are ill and must have your bed to sleep in;
+then perhaps they will be well again by to-morrow."
+
+And she at once took the doll out, though the doll looked vexed at
+giving up her cradle to the flowers.
+
+Ida laid the flowers in the doll's bed and drew the coverlet quite over
+them, telling them to lie still while she made some tea for them to
+drink, in order that they might be well next day. And she drew the
+curtains about the bed, that the sun might not shine into their eyes.
+
+All the evening she thought of nothing but what the student had told
+her; and when she went to bed herself, she ran to the window where her
+mother's tulips and hyacinths stood. She whispered to them, "I know very
+well that you are going to a ball to-night." The flowers pretended not
+to understand and did not stir so much as a leaf, but that did not
+prevent Ida from knowing what she knew.
+
+When she was in bed she lay for a long time thinking how delightful it
+must be to see the flower dance in the king's castle, and said to
+herself, "I wonder if my flowers have really been there." Then she fell
+asleep.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the night she woke. She had been dreaming of the student and the
+flowers and the councilor, who told her they were making game of her.
+All was still in the room, the night lamp was burning on the table, and
+her father and mother were both asleep.
+
+"I wonder if my flowers are still lying in Sophie's bed," she thought to
+herself. "How I should like to know!" She raised herself a little and
+looked towards the door, which stood half open; within lay the flowers
+and all her playthings. She listened, and it seemed to her that she
+heard some one playing upon the piano, but quite softly, and more
+sweetly than she had ever heard before.
+
+"Now all the flowers are certainly dancing," thought she. "Oh, how I
+should like to see them!" but she dared not get up for fear of waking
+her father and mother. "If they would only come in here!" But the
+flowers did not come, and the music went on so prettily that she could
+restrain herself no longer, and she crept out of her little bed, stole
+softly to the door, and peeped into the room. Oh, what a pretty sight it
+was!
+
+[Illustration: On the floor all the flowers danced gracefully....]
+
+There was no night lamp in the room, still it was quite bright; the moon
+shone through the window down upon the floor, and it was almost like
+daylight. The hyacinths and tulips stood there in two rows. Not one was
+left on the window, where stood the empty flower pots. On the floor all
+the flowers danced gracefully, making all the turns, and holding each
+other by their long green leaves as they twirled around. At the piano
+sat a large yellow lily, which little Ida remembered to have seen in the
+summer, for she recollected that the student had said, "How like she
+is to Miss Laura," and how every one had laughed at the remark. But now
+she really thought that the lily was very like the young lady. It had
+exactly her manner of playing--bending its long yellow face, now to one
+side and now to the other, and nodding its head to mark the time of the
+beautiful music.
+
+A tall blue crocus now stepped forward, sprang upon the table on which
+lay Ida's playthings, went straight to the doll's cradle, and drew back
+the curtains. There lay the sick flowers; but they rose at once, greeted
+the other flowers, and made a sign that they would like to join in the
+dance. They did not look at all ill now.
+
+Suddenly a heavy noise was heard, as of something falling from the
+table. Ida glanced that way and saw that it was the rod she had found on
+her bed on Shrove Tuesday, and that it seemed to wish to belong to the
+flowers. It was a pretty rod, for a wax figure that looked exactly like
+the councilor sat upon the head of it.
+
+The rod began to dance, and the wax figure that was riding on it became
+long and great, like the councilor himself, and began to exclaim, "How
+can one put such stuff into a child's head?" It was very funny to see,
+and little Ida could not help laughing, for the rod kept on dancing, and
+the councilor had to dance too,--there was no help for it,--whether he
+remained tall and big or became a little wax figure again. But the other
+flowers said a good word for him, especially those that had lain in the
+doll's bed, so that at last the rod left it in peace.
+
+At the same time there was a loud knocking inside the drawer where
+Sophie, Ida's doll, lay with many other toys. She put out her head and
+asked in great astonishment: "Is there a ball here? Why has no one told
+me of it?" She sat down upon the table, expecting some of the flowers to
+ask her to dance with them; but as they did not, she let herself fall
+upon the floor so as to make a great noise; and then the flowers all
+came crowding about to ask if she were hurt, and they were very
+polite--especially those that had lain in her bed.
+
+She was not at all hurt, and the flowers thanked her for the use of her
+pretty bed and took her into the middle of the room, where the moon
+shone, and danced with her, while the other flowers formed a circle
+around them. So now Sophie was pleased and said they might keep her bed,
+for she did not mind sleeping in the drawer the least in the world.
+
+But the flowers replied: "We thank you most heartily for your kindness,
+but we shall not live long enough to need it; we shall be quite dead by
+to-morrow. But tell little Ida she is to bury us out in the garden near
+the canary bird's grave; and then we shall wake again next summer and be
+even more beautiful than we have been this year."
+
+"Oh, no, you must not die," said Sophie, kissing them as she spoke; and
+then a great company of flowers came dancing in. Ida could not imagine
+where they could have come from, unless from the king's garden. Two
+beautiful roses led the way, wearing golden crowns; then followed
+wallflowers and pinks, who bowed to all present. They brought a band of
+music with them. Wild hyacinths and little white snowdrops jingled merry
+bells. It was a most remarkable orchestra. Following these were an
+immense number of flowers, all dancing--violets, daisies, lilies of the
+valley, and others which it was a delight to see.
+
+At last all the happy flowers wished one another good night. Little Ida,
+too, crept back to bed, to dream of all that she had seen.
+
+When she rose next morning she went at once to her little table to see
+if her flowers were there. She drew aside the curtains of her little
+bed; yes, there lay the flowers, but they were much more faded to-day
+than yesterday. Sophie too was in the drawer, but she looked very
+sleepy.
+
+"Do you remember what you were to say to me?" asked Ida of her.
+
+But Sophie looked quite stupid and had not a word to say.
+
+"You are not kind at all," said Ida; "and yet all the flowers let you
+dance with them."
+
+Then she chose from her playthings a little pasteboard box with birds
+painted on it, and in it she laid the dead flowers.
+
+"That shall be your pretty casket," said she; "and when my cousins come
+to visit me, by and by, they shall help me to bury you in the garden,
+in order that next summer you may grow again and be still more
+beautiful."
+
+The two cousins were two merry boys, Gustave and Adolphe. Their father
+had given them each a new crossbow, which they brought with them to show
+to Ida. She told them of the poor flowers that were dead and were to be
+buried in the garden. So the two boys walked in front, with their bows
+slung across their shoulders, and little Ida followed, carrying the dead
+flowers in their pretty coffin. A little grave was dug for them in the
+garden. Ida first kissed the flowers and then laid them in the earth,
+and Adolphe and Gustave shot with their crossbows over the grave, for
+they had neither guns nor cannons.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER
+
+
+THERE were once five and twenty tin soldiers. They were brothers, for
+they had all been made out of the same old tin spoon. They all
+shouldered their bayonets, held themselves upright, and looked straight
+before them. Their uniforms were very smart-looking--red and blue--and
+very splendid. The first thing they heard in the world, when the lid was
+taken off the box in which they lay, was the words "Tin soldiers!" These
+words were spoken by a little boy, who clapped his hands for joy. The
+soldiers had been given him because it was his birthday, and now he was
+putting them out upon the table.
+
+Each was exactly like the rest to a hair, except one who had but one
+leg. He had been cast last of all, and there had not been quite enough
+tin to finish him; but he stood as firmly upon his one leg as the
+others upon their two, and it was he whose fortunes became so
+remarkable.
+
+On the table where the tin soldiers had been set up were several other
+toys, but the one that attracted most attention was a pretty little
+paper castle. Through its tiny windows one could see straight into the
+hall. In front of the castle stood little trees, clustering round a
+small mirror which was meant to represent a transparent lake. Swans of
+wax swam upon its surface, and it reflected back their images.
+
+All this was very pretty, but prettiest of all was a little lady who
+stood at the castle's open door. She too was cut out of paper, but she
+wore a frock of the clearest gauze and a narrow blue ribbon over her
+shoulders, like a scarf, and in the middle of the ribbon was placed a
+shining tinsel rose. The little lady stretched out both her arms, for
+she was a dancer, and then she lifted one leg so high that the Soldier
+quite lost sight of it. He thought that, like himself, she had but one
+leg.
+
+"That would be just the wife for me," thought he, "if she were not too
+grand. But she lives in a castle, while I have only a box, and there are
+five and twenty of us in that. It would be no place for a lady. Still, I
+must try to make her acquaintance." A snuffbox happened to be upon the
+table and he lay down at full length behind it, and here he could easily
+watch the dainty little lady, who still remained standing on one leg
+without losing her balance.
+
+When the evening came all the other tin soldiers were put away in their
+box, and the people in the house went to bed. Now the playthings began
+to play in their turn. They visited, fought battles, and gave balls. The
+tin soldiers rattled in the box, for they wished to join the rest, but
+they could not lift the lid. The nutcrackers turned somersaults, and the
+pencil jumped about in a most amusing way. There was such a din that the
+canary woke and began to speak--and in verse, too. The only ones who did
+not move from their places were the Tin Soldier and the Lady Dancer. She
+stood on tiptoe with outstretched arms, and he was just as persevering
+on his one leg; he never once turned away his eyes from her.
+
+Twelve o'clock struck--crash! up sprang the lid of the snuffbox. There
+was no snuff in it, but a little black goblin. You see it was not a real
+snuffbox, but a jack-in-the-box.
+
+"Tin Soldier," said the Goblin, "keep thine eyes to thyself. Gaze not at
+what does not concern thee!"
+
+But the Tin Soldier pretended not to hear.
+
+"Only wait, then, till to-morrow," remarked the Goblin.
+
+Next morning, when the children got up, the Tin Soldier was placed on
+the window sill, and, whether it was the Goblin or the wind that did it,
+all at once the window flew open and the Tin Soldier fell head foremost
+from the third story to the street below. It was a tremendous fall! Over
+and over he turned in the air, till at last he rested, his cap and
+bayonet sticking fast between the paving stones, while his one leg stood
+upright in the air.
+
+[Illustration: Away he sailed ... down the gutter...]
+
+The maidservant and the little boy came down at once to look for him,
+but, though they nearly trod upon him, they could not manage to find
+him. If the Soldier had but once called "Here am I!" they might easily
+enough have heard him, but he did not think it becoming to cry out for
+help, being in uniform.
+
+It now began to rain; faster and faster fell the drops, until there was
+a heavy shower; and when it was over, two street boys came by.
+
+"Look you," said one, "there lies a tin soldier. He must come out and
+sail in a boat."
+
+So they made a boat out of an old newspaper and put the Tin Soldier in
+the middle of it, and away he sailed down the gutter, while the boys ran
+along by his side, clapping their hands.
+
+Goodness! how the waves rocked that paper boat, and how fast the stream
+ran! The Tin Soldier became quite giddy, the boat veered round so
+quickly; still he moved not a muscle, but looked straight before him and
+held his bayonet tightly.
+
+All at once the boat passed into a drain, and it became as dark as his
+own old home in the box. "Where am I going now?" thought he. "Yes, to be
+sure, it is all that Goblin's doing. Ah! if the little lady were but
+sailing with me in the boat, I would not care if it were twice as
+dark."
+
+Just then a great water rat, that lived under the drain, darted suddenly
+out.
+
+"Have you a passport?" asked the rat. "Where is your passport?"
+
+But the Tin Soldier kept silence and only held his bayonet with a firmer
+grasp.
+
+The boat sailed on, but the rat followed. Whew! how he gnashed his teeth
+and cried to the sticks and straws: "Stop him! stop him! He hasn't paid
+toll! He hasn't shown his passport!"
+
+But the stream grew stronger and stronger. Already the Tin Soldier could
+see daylight at the point where the tunnel ended; but at the same time
+he heard a rushing, roaring noise, at which a bolder man might have
+trembled. Think! just where the tunnel ended, the drain widened into a
+great sheet that fell into the mouth of a sewer. It was as perilous a
+situation for the Soldier as sailing down a mighty waterfall would be
+for us.
+
+He was now so near it that he could not stop. The boat dashed on, and
+the Tin Soldier held himself so well that no one might say of him that
+he so much as winked an eye. Three or four times the boat whirled round
+and round; it was full of water to the brim and must certainly sink.
+
+The Tin Soldier stood up to his neck in water; deeper and deeper sank
+the boat, softer and softer grew the paper; and now the water closed
+over the Soldier's head. He thought of the pretty little dancer whom he
+should never see again, and in his ears rang the words of the song:
+
+          Wild adventure, mortal danger,
+          Be thy portion, valiant stranger.
+
+The paper boat parted in the middle, and the Soldier was about to sink,
+when he was swallowed by a great fish.
+
+Oh, how dark it was! darker even than in the drain, and so narrow; but
+the Tin Soldier retained his courage; there he lay at full length,
+shouldering his bayonet as before.
+
+To and fro swam the fish, turning and twisting and making the strangest
+movements, till at last he became perfectly still.
+
+Something like a flash of daylight passed through him, and a voice said,
+"Tin Soldier!" The fish had been caught, taken to market, sold and
+bought, and taken to the kitchen, where the cook had cut him with a
+large knife. She seized the Tin Soldier between her finger and thumb and
+took him to the room where the family sat, and where all were eager to
+see the celebrated man who had traveled in the maw of a fish; but the
+Tin Soldier remained unmoved. He was not at all proud.
+
+They set him upon the table there. But how could so curious a thing
+happen? The Soldier was in the very same room in which he had been
+before. He saw the same children, the same toys stood upon the table,
+and among them the pretty dancing maiden, who still stood upon one leg.
+She too was steadfast. That touched the Tin Soldier's heart. He could
+have wept tin tears, but that would not have been proper. He looked at
+her and she looked at him, but neither spoke a word.
+
+And now one of the little boys took the Tin Soldier and threw him into
+the stove. He gave no reason for doing so, but no doubt the Goblin in
+the snuffbox had something to do with it.
+
+The Tin Soldier stood now in a blaze of red light. The heat he felt was
+terrible, but whether it proceeded from the fire or from the love in his
+heart, he did not know. He saw that the colors were quite gone from his
+uniform, but whether that had happened on the journey or had been caused
+by grief, no one could say. He looked at the little lady, she looked at
+him, and he felt himself melting; still he stood firm as ever, with his
+bayonet on his shoulder. Then suddenly the door flew open; the wind
+caught the Dancer, and she flew straight into the stove to the Tin
+Soldier, flashed up in a flame, and was gone! The Tin Soldier melted
+into a lump; and in the ashes the maid found him next day, in the shape
+of a little tin heart, while of the Dancer nothing remained save the
+tinsel rose, and that was burned as black as a coal.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE THUMBELINA
+
+
+THERE was once a woman who wished very much to have a little child. She
+went to a fairy and said: "I should so very much like to have a little
+child. Can you tell me where I can find one?"
+
+"Oh, that can be easily managed," said the fairy. "Here is a barleycorn;
+it is not exactly of the same sort as those which grow in the farmers'
+fields, and which the chickens eat. Put it into a flowerpot and see what
+will happen."
+
+"Thank you," said the woman; and she gave the fairy twelve shillings,
+which was the price of the barleycorn. Then she went home and planted
+it, and there grew up a large, handsome flower, somewhat like a tulip in
+appearance, but with its leaves tightly closed, as if it were still a
+bud.
+
+"It is a beautiful flower," said the woman, and she kissed the red and
+golden-colored petals; and as she did so the flower opened, and she
+could see that it was a real tulip. But within the flower, upon the
+green velvet stamens, sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden.
+She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, and they gave her the name of
+Little Thumb, or Thumbelina, because she was so small.
+
+A walnut shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was
+formed of blue violet leaves, with a rose leaf for a counterpane. Here
+she slept at night, but during the day she amused herself on a table,
+where the peasant wife had placed a plate full of water.
+
+Round this plate were wreaths of flowers with their stems in the water,
+and upon it floated a large tulip leaf, which served the little one for
+a boat. Here she sat and rowed herself from side to side, with two oars
+made of white horsehair. It was a very pretty sight. Thumbelina could
+also sing so softly and sweetly that nothing like her singing had ever
+before been heard.
+
+One night, while she lay in her pretty bed, a large, ugly, wet toad
+crept through a broken pane of glass in the window and leaped right upon
+the table where she lay sleeping under her rose-leaf quilt.
+
+"What a pretty little wife this would make for my son," said the toad,
+and she took up the walnut shell in which Thumbelina lay asleep, and
+jumped through the window with it, into the garden.
+
+In the swampy margin of a broad stream in the garden lived the toad with
+her son. He was uglier even than his mother; and when he saw the pretty
+little maiden in her elegant bed, he could only cry "Croak, croak,
+croak."
+
+"Don't speak so loud, or she will wake," said the toad, "and then she
+might run away, for she is as light as swan's-down. We will place her on
+one of the water-lily leaves out in the stream; it will be like an
+island to her, she is so light and small, and then she cannot escape;
+and while she is there we will make haste and prepare the stateroom
+under the marsh, in which you are to live when you are married."
+
+Far out in the stream grew a number of water lilies with broad green
+leaves which seemed to float on the top of the water. The largest of
+these leaves appeared farther off than the rest, and the old toad swam
+out to it with the walnut shell, in which Thumbelina still lay asleep.
+
+The tiny creature woke very early in the morning and began to cry
+bitterly when she found where she was, for she could see nothing but
+water on every side of the large green leaf, and no way of reaching the
+land.
+
+Meanwhile the old toad was very busy under the marsh, decking her room
+with rushes and yellow wildflowers, to make it look pretty for her new
+daughter-in-law. Then she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf on
+which she had placed poor Thumbelina. She wanted to bring the pretty
+bed, that she might put it in the bridal chamber to be ready for her.
+The old toad bowed low to her in the water and said, "Here is my son; he
+will be your husband, and you will live happily together in the marsh by
+the stream."
+
+"Croak, croak, croak," was all her son could say for himself. So the
+toad took up the elegant little bed and swam away with it, leaving
+Thumbelina all alone on the green leaf, where she sat and wept. She
+could not bear to think of living with the old toad and having her ugly
+son for a husband. The little fishes who swam about in the water beneath
+had seen the toad and heard what she said, so now they lifted their
+heads above the water to look at the little maiden.
+
+As soon as they caught sight of her they saw she was very pretty, and it
+vexed them to think that she must go and live with the ugly toads.
+
+"No, it must never be!" So they gathered together in the water, round
+the green stalk which held the leaf on which the little maiden stood,
+and gnawed it away at the root with their teeth. Then the leaf floated
+down the stream, carrying Thumbelina far away out of reach of land.
+
+Thumbelina sailed past many towns, and the little birds in the bushes
+saw her and sang, "What a lovely little creature." So the leaf swam away
+with her farther and farther, till it brought her to other lands. A
+graceful little white butterfly constantly fluttered round her and at
+last alighted on the leaf. The little maiden pleased him, and she was
+glad of it, for now the toad could not possibly reach her, and the
+country through which she sailed was beautiful, and the sun shone upon
+the water till it glittered like liquid gold. She took off her girdle
+and tied one end of it round the butterfly, fastening the other end of
+the ribbon to the leaf, which now glided on much faster than before,
+taking Thumbelina with it as she stood.
+
+Presently a large cockchafer flew by. The moment he caught sight of her
+he seized her round her delicate waist with his claws and flew with her
+into a tree. The green leaf floated away on the brook, and the butterfly
+flew with it, for he was fastened to it and could not get away.
+
+Oh, how frightened Thumbelina felt when the cockchafer flew with her to
+the tree! But especially was she sorry for the beautiful white butterfly
+which she had fastened to the leaf, for if he could not free himself he
+would die of hunger. But the cockchafer did not trouble himself at all
+about the matter. He seated himself by her side, on a large green leaf,
+gave her some honey from the flowers to eat, and told her she was very
+pretty, though not in the least like a cockchafer.
+
+[Illustration: Glided on much faster than before....]
+
+After a time all the cockchafers who lived in the tree came to pay
+Thumbelina a visit. They stared at her, and then the young lady
+cockchafers turned up their feelers and said, "She has only two legs!
+how ugly that looks." "She has no feelers," said another. "Her waist is
+quite slim. Pooh! she is like a human being."
+
+"Oh, she is ugly," said all the lady cockchafers. The cockchafer who had
+run away with her believed all the others when they said she was ugly.
+He would have nothing more to say to her, and told her she might go
+where she liked. Then he flew down with her from the tree and placed her
+on a daisy, and she wept at the thought that she was so ugly that even
+the cockchafers would have nothing to say to her. And all the while she
+was really the loveliest creature that one could imagine, and as tender
+and delicate as a beautiful rose leaf.
+
+During the whole summer poor little Thumbelina lived quite alone in the
+wide forest. She wove herself a bed with blades of grass and hung it up
+under a broad leaf, to protect herself from the rain. She sucked the
+honey from the flowers for food and drank the dew from their leaves
+every morning.
+
+So passed away the summer and the autumn, and then came the winter--the
+long, cold winter. All the birds who had sung to her so sweetly had
+flown away, and the trees and the flowers had withered. The large
+shamrock under the shelter of which she had lived was now rolled
+together and shriveled up; nothing remained but a yellow, withered
+stalk. She felt dreadfully cold, for her clothes were torn, and she was
+herself so frail and delicate that she was nearly frozen to death. It
+began to snow, too; and the snowflakes, as they fell upon her, were like
+a whole shovelful falling upon one of us, for we are tall, but she was
+only an inch high. She wrapped herself in a dry leaf, but it cracked in
+the middle and could not keep her warm, and she shivered with cold.
+
+Near the wood in which she had been living was a large cornfield, but
+the corn had been cut a long time; nothing remained but the bare, dry
+stubble, standing up out of the frozen ground. It was to her like
+struggling through a large wood.
+
+Oh! how she shivered with the cold. She came at last to the door of a
+field mouse, who had a little den under the corn stubble. There dwelt
+the field mouse in warmth and comfort, with a whole roomful of corn, a
+kitchen, and a beautiful dining room. Poor Thumbelina stood before the
+door, just like a little beggar girl, and asked for a small piece of
+barleycorn, for she had been without a morsel to eat for two days.
+
+"You poor little creature," said the field mouse, for she was really a
+good old mouse, "come into my warm room and dine with me."
+
+She was pleased with Thumbelina, so she said, "You are quite welcome to
+stay with me all the winter, if you like; but you must keep my rooms
+clean and neat, and tell me stories, for I shall like to hear them very
+much." And Thumbelina did all that the field mouse asked her, and found
+herself very comfortable.
+
+"We shall have a visitor soon," said the field mouse one day; "my
+neighbor pays me a visit once a week. He is better off than I am; he has
+large rooms, and wears a beautiful black velvet coat. If you could only
+have him for a husband, you would be well provided for indeed. But he
+is blind, so you must tell him some of your prettiest stories."
+
+Thumbelina did not feel at all interested about this neighbor, for he
+was a mole. However, he came and paid his visit, dressed in his black
+velvet coat.
+
+"He is very rich and learned, and his house is twenty times larger than
+mine," said the field mouse.
+
+He was rich and learned, no doubt, but he always spoke slightingly of
+the sun and the pretty flowers, because he had never seen them.
+Thumbelina was obliged to sing to him, "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away
+home," and many other pretty songs. And the mole fell in love with her
+because she had so sweet a voice; but he said nothing yet, for he was
+very prudent and cautious. A short time before, the mole had dug a long
+passage under the earth, which led from the dwelling of the field mouse
+to his own, and here she had permission to walk with Thumbelina whenever
+she liked. But he warned them not to be alarmed at the sight of a dead
+bird which lay in the passage. It was a perfect bird, with a beak and
+feathers, and could not have been dead long. It was lying just where the
+mole had made his passage. The mole took in his mouth a piece of
+phosphorescent wood, which glittered like fire in the dark. Then he went
+before them to light them through the long, dark passage. When they came
+to the spot where the dead bird lay, the mole pushed his broad nose
+through the ceiling, so that the earth gave way and the daylight shone
+into the passage.
+
+In the middle of the floor lay a swallow, his beautiful wings pulled
+close to his sides, his feet and head drawn up under his feathers--the
+poor bird had evidently died of the cold. It made little Thumbelina very
+sad to see it, she did so love the little birds; all the summer they had
+sung and twittered for her so beautifully. But the mole pushed it aside
+with his crooked legs and said: "He will sing no more now. How miserable
+it must be to be born a little bird! I am thankful that none of my
+children will ever be birds, for they can do nothing but cry 'Tweet,
+tweet,' and must always die of hunger in the winter."
+
+"Yes, you may well say that, as a clever man!" exclaimed the field
+mouse. "What is the use of his twittering if, when winter comes, he must
+either starve or be frozen to death? Still, birds are very high bred."
+
+Thumbelina said nothing, but when the two others had turned their backs
+upon the bird, she stooped down and stroked aside the soft feathers
+which covered his head, and kissed the closed eyelids. "Perhaps this was
+the one who sang to me so sweetly in the summer," she said; "and how
+much pleasure it gave me, you dear, pretty bird."
+
+The mole now stopped up the hole through which the daylight shone, and
+then accompanied the ladies home. But during the night Thumbelina could
+not sleep; so she got out of bed and wove a large, beautiful carpet of
+hay. She carried it to the dead bird and spread it over him, with some
+down from the flowers which she had found in the field mouse's room. It
+was as soft as wool, and she spread some of it on each side of the bird,
+so that he might lie warmly in the cold earth.
+
+"Farewell, pretty little bird," said she, "farewell. Thank you for your
+delightful singing during the summer, when all the trees were green and
+the warm sun shone upon us." Then she laid her head on the bird's
+breast, but she was alarmed, for it seemed as if something inside the
+bird went "thump, thump." It was the bird's heart; he was not really
+dead, only benumbed with the cold, and the warmth had restored him to
+life. In autumn all the swallows fly away into warm countries; but if
+one happens to linger, the cold seizes it, and it becomes chilled and
+falls down as if dead. It remains where it fell, and the cold snow
+covers it.
+
+Thumbelina trembled very much; she was quite frightened, for the bird
+was large, a great deal larger than herself (she was only an inch high).
+But she took courage, laid the wool more thickly over the poor swallow,
+and then took a leaf which she had used for her own counterpane and laid
+it over his head.
+
+The next night she again stole out to see him. He was alive, but very
+weak; he could only open his eyes for a moment to look at Thumbelina,
+who stood by, holding a piece of decayed wood in her hand, for she had
+no other lantern. "Thank you, pretty little maiden," said the sick
+swallow; "I have been so nicely warmed that I shall soon regain my
+strength and be able to fly about again in the warm sunshine."
+
+"Oh," said she, "it is cold out of doors now; it snows and freezes. Stay
+in your warm bed; I will take care of you."
+
+She brought the swallow some water in a flower leaf, and after he had
+drunk, he told her that he had wounded one of his wings in a thornbush
+and could not fly as fast as the others, who were soon far away on their
+journey to warm countries. At last he had fallen to the earth, and could
+remember nothing more, nor how he came to be where she had found him.
+
+All winter the swallow remained underground, and Thumbelina nursed him
+with care and love. She did not tell either the mole or the field mouse
+anything about it, for they did not like swallows. Very soon the
+springtime came, and the sun warmed the earth. Then the swallow bade
+farewell to Thumbelina, and she opened the hole in the ceiling which
+the mole had made. The sun shone in upon them so beautifully that the
+swallow asked her if she would go with him. She could sit on his back,
+he said, and he would fly away with her into the green woods. But she
+knew it would grieve the field mouse if she left her in that manner, so
+she said, "No, I cannot."
+
+"Farewell, then, farewell, you good, pretty little maiden," said the
+swallow, and he flew out into the sunshine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thumbelina looked after him, and the tears rose in her eyes. She was
+very fond of the poor swallow.
+
+"Tweet, tweet," sang the bird, as he flew out into the green woods, and
+Thumbelina felt very sad. She was not allowed to go out into the warm
+sunshine. The corn which had been sowed in the field over the house of
+the field mouse had grown up high into the air and formed a thick wood
+to Thumbelina, who was only an inch in height.
+
+[Illustration: Nothing must be wanting when you are the wife of the mole
+...]
+
+"You are going to be married, little one," said the field mouse. "My
+neighbor has asked for you. What good fortune for a poor child like
+you! Now we will prepare your wedding clothes. They must be woolen and
+linen. Nothing must be wanting when you are the wife of the mole."
+
+Thumbelina had to turn the spindle, and the field mouse hired four
+spiders, who were to weave day and night. Every evening the mole visited
+her and was continually speaking of the time when the summer would be
+over. Then he would keep his wedding day with Thumbelina; but now the
+heat of the sun was so great that it burned the earth and made it hard,
+like stone. As soon as the summer was over the wedding should take
+place. But Thumbelina was not at all pleased, for she did not like the
+tiresome mole.
+
+Every morning when the sun rose and every evening when it went down she
+would creep out at the door, and as the wind blew aside the ears of corn
+so that she could see the blue sky, she thought how beautiful and bright
+it seemed out there and wished so much to see her dear friend, the
+swallow, again. But he never returned, for by this time he had flown far
+away into the lovely green forest.
+
+When autumn arrived Thumbelina had her outfit quite ready, and the field
+mouse said to her, "In four weeks the wedding must take place."
+
+Then she wept and said she would not marry the disagreeable mole.
+
+"Nonsense," replied the field mouse. "Now don't be obstinate, or I shall
+bite you with my white teeth. He is a very handsome mole; the queen
+herself does not wear more beautiful velvets and furs. His kitchens and
+cellars are quite full. You ought to be very thankful for such good
+fortune."
+
+So the wedding day was fixed, on which the mole was to take her away to
+live with him, deep under the earth, and never again to see the warm
+sun, because _he_ did not like it. The poor child was very unhappy at
+the thought of saying farewell to the beautiful sun, and as the field
+mouse had given her permission to stand at the door, she went to look at
+it once more.
+
+"Farewell, bright sun," she cried, stretching out her arm towards it;
+and then she walked a short distance from the house, for the corn had
+been cut, and only the dry stubble remained in the fields. "Farewell,
+farewell," she repeated, twining her arm around a little red flower that
+grew just by her side. "Greet the little swallow from me, if you should
+see him again."
+
+"Tweet, tweet," sounded over her head suddenly. She looked up, and there
+was the swallow himself flying close by. As soon as he spied Thumbelina
+he was delighted. She told him how unwilling she was to marry the ugly
+mole, and to live always beneath the earth, nevermore to see the bright
+sun. And as she told him, she wept.
+
+"Cold winter is coming," said the swallow, "and I am going to fly away
+into warmer countries. Will you go with me? You can sit on my back and
+fasten yourself on with your sash. Then we can fly away from the ugly
+mole and his gloomy rooms--far away, over the mountains, into warmer
+countries, where the sun shines more brightly than here; where it is
+always summer, and the flowers bloom in greater beauty. Fly now with me,
+dear little one; you saved my life when I lay frozen in that dark,
+dreary passage."
+
+"Yes, I will go with you," said Thumbelina; and she seated herself on
+the bird's back, with her feet on his outstretched wings, and tied her
+girdle to one of his strongest feathers.
+
+The swallow rose in the air and flew over forest and over sea--high
+above the highest mountains, covered with eternal snow. Thumbelina would
+have been frozen in the cold air, but she crept under the bird's warm
+feathers, keeping her little head uncovered, so that she might admire
+the beautiful lands over which they passed. At length they reached the
+warm countries, where the sun shines brightly and the sky seems so much
+higher above the earth. Here on the hedges and by the wayside grew
+purple, green, and white grapes, lemons and oranges hung from trees in
+the fields, and the air was fragrant with myrtles and orange blossoms.
+Beautiful children ran along the country lanes, playing with large gay
+butterflies; and as the swallow flew farther and farther, every place
+appeared still more lovely.
+
+At last they came to a blue lake, and by the side of it, shaded by trees
+of the deepest green, stood a palace of dazzling white marble, built in
+the olden times. Vines clustered round its lofty pillars, and at the
+top were many swallows' nests, and one of these was the home of the
+swallow who carried Thumbelina.
+
+"This is my house," said the swallow; "but it would not do for you to
+live there--you would not be comfortable. You must choose for yourself
+one of those lovely flowers, and I will put you down upon it, and then
+you shall have everything that you can wish to make you happy."
+
+"That will be delightful," she said, and clapped her little hands for
+joy.
+
+A large marble pillar lay on the ground, which, in falling, had been
+broken into three pieces. Between these pieces grew the most beautiful
+large white flowers, so the swallow flew down with Thumbelina and placed
+her on one of the broad leaves. But how surprised she was to see in the
+middle of the flower a tiny little man, as white and transparent as if
+he had been made of crystal! He had a gold crown on his head, and
+delicate wings at his shoulders, and was not much larger than was she
+herself. He was the angel of the flower, for a tiny man and a tiny woman
+dwell in every flower, and this was the king of them all.
+
+"Oh, how beautiful he is!" whispered Thumbelina to the swallow.
+
+The little prince was at first quite frightened at the bird, who was
+like a giant compared to such a delicate little creature as himself; but
+when he saw Thumbelina he was delighted and thought her the prettiest
+little maiden he had ever seen. He took the gold crown from his head and
+placed it on hers, and asked her name and if she would be his wife and
+queen over all the flowers.
+
+This certainly was a very different sort of husband from the son of the
+toad, or the mole with his black velvet and fur, so she said Yes to the
+handsome prince. Then all the flowers opened, and out of each came a
+little lady or a tiny lord, all so pretty it was quite a pleasure to
+look at them. Each of them brought Thumbelina a present; but the best
+gift was a pair of beautiful wings, which had belonged to a large white
+fly, and they fastened them to Thumbelina's shoulders, so that she might
+fly from flower to flower.
+
+Then there was much rejoicing, and the little swallow, who sat above
+them in his nest, was asked to sing a wedding song, which he did as
+well as he could; but in his heart he felt sad, for he was very fond of
+Thumbelina and would have liked never to part from her again.
+
+"You must not be called Thumbelina any more," said the spirit of the
+flowers to her. "It is an ugly name, and you are so very lovely. We will
+call you Maia."
+
+"Farewell, farewell," said the swallow, with a heavy heart, as he left
+the warm countries, to fly back into Denmark. There he had a nest over
+the window of a house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The
+swallow sang "Tweet, tweet," and from his song came the whole story.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SUNSHINE STORIES
+
+
+"I AM going to tell a story," said the Wind.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Rain, "but now it is my turn. Have you not
+been howling round the corner this long time, as hard as ever you
+could?"
+
+"Is this the gratitude you owe me?" said the Wind; "I, who in honor of
+you turn inside out--yes, even break--all the umbrellas, when the people
+won't have anything to do with you."
+
+"I will speak myself," said the Sunshine. "Silence!" and the Sunshine
+said it with such glory and majesty that the weary Wind fell prostrate,
+and the Rain, beating against him, shook him, as she said:
+
+"We won't stand it! She is always breaking through--is Madame Sunshine.
+Let us not listen to her; what she has to say is not worth hearing."
+And still the Sunshine began to talk, and this is what she said:
+
+"A beautiful swan flew over the rolling, tossing waves of the ocean.
+Every one of its feathers shone like gold; and one feather drifted down
+to the great merchant vessel that, with sails all set, was sailing away.
+
+"The feather fell upon the light curly hair of a young man, whose
+business it was to care for the goods in the ship--the supercargo he was
+called. The feather of the bird of fortune touched his forehead, became
+a pen in his hand, and brought him such luck that he soon became a
+wealthy merchant, rich enough to have bought for himself spurs of
+gold--rich enough to change a golden plate into a nobleman's shield, on
+which," said the Sunshine, "I shone."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The swan flew farther, away and away, over the sunny green meadow,
+where the little shepherd boy, only seven years old, had lain down in
+the shade of the old tree, the only one there was in sight.
+
+"In its flight the swan kissed one of the leaves of the tree, and
+falling into the boy's hand, it was changed to three leaves--to ten--to
+a whole book; yes, and in the book he read about all the wonders of
+nature, about his native language, about faith and knowledge. At night
+he laid the book under his pillow, that he might not forget what he had
+been reading.
+
+"The wonderful book led him also to the schoolroom, and thence
+everywhere, in search of knowledge. I have read his name among the names
+of learned men," said the Sunshine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The swan flew into the quiet, lonely forest, and rested awhile on the
+deep, dark lake where the lilies grow, where the wild apples are to be
+found on the shore, where the cuckoo and the wild pigeon have their
+homes.
+
+"In the wood was a poor woman gathering firewood--branches and dry
+sticks that had fallen. She bore them on her back in a bundle, and in
+her arms she held her little child. She too saw the golden swan, the
+bird of fortune, as it rose from among the reeds on the shore. What was
+it that glittered so? A golden egg that was still quite warm. She laid
+it in her bosom, and the warmth remained. Surely there was life in the
+egg! She heard the gentle pecking inside the shell, but she thought it
+was her own heart that was beating.
+
+"At home in her poor cottage she took out the egg. 'Tick! tick!' it
+said, as if it had been a gold watch, but it was not; it was an egg--a
+real, living egg.
+
+"The egg cracked and opened, and a dear little baby swan, all feathered
+as with the purest gold, pushed out its tiny head. Around its neck were
+four rings, and as this woman had four boys--three at home, and this
+little one that was with her in the lonely wood--she understood at once
+that there was one for each boy. Just as she had taken them the little
+gold bird took flight.
+
+"She kissed each ring, then made each of the children kiss one of the
+rings, laid it next the child's heart awhile, then put it on his finger.
+I saw it all," said the Sunshine, "and I saw what happened afterward.
+
+[Illustration: The egg cracked and opened....]
+
+"One of the boys, while playing by a ditch, took a lump of clay in his
+hand, then turned and twisted it till it took shape and was like
+Jason, who went in search of the Golden Fleece and found it.
+
+"The second boy ran out upon the meadow, where stood the
+flowers--flowers of all imaginable colors. He gathered a handful and
+squeezed them so tightly that the juice flew into his eyes, and some of
+it wet the ring upon his hand. It cribbled and crawled in his brain and
+in his hands, and after many a day and many a year, people in the great
+city talked of the famous painter that he was.
+
+"The third child held the ring in his teeth, and so tightly that it gave
+forth sound--the echo of a song in the depth of his heart. Then thoughts
+and feelings rose in beautiful sounds,--rose like singing
+swans,--plunged, too, like swans, into the deep, deep sea. He became a
+great musical composer, a master, of whom every country has the right to
+say, 'He was mine, for he was the world's.'
+
+"And the fourth little one--yes, he was the 'ugly duck' of the family.
+They said he had the pip and must eat pepper and butter like a sick
+chicken, and that was what was given him; but of me he got a warm, sunny
+kiss," said the Sunshine. "He had ten kisses for one. He was a poet and
+was first kissed, then buffeted all his life through.
+
+"But he held what no one could take from him--the ring of fortune from
+Dame Fortune's golden swan. His thoughts took wing and flew up and away
+like singing butterflies--emblems of an immortal life."
+
+"That was a dreadfully long story," said the Wind.
+
+"And so stupid and tiresome," said the Rain. "Blow upon me, please, that
+I may revive a little."
+
+And while the Wind blew, the Sunshine said: "The swan of fortune flew
+over the lovely bay where the fishermen had set their nets. The very
+poorest one among them was wishing to marry--and marry he did.
+
+"To him the swan brought a piece of amber. Amber draws things toward
+itself, and this piece drew hearts to the house where the fisherman
+lived with his bride. Amber is the most wonderful of incense, and there
+came a soft perfume, as from a holy place, a sweet breath from
+beautiful nature, that God has made. And the fisherman and his wife were
+happy and grateful in their peaceful home, content even in their
+poverty. And so their life became a real Sunshine Story."
+
+"I think we had better stop now," said the Wind. "I am dreadfully bored.
+The Sunshine has talked long enough."
+
+"I think so, too," said the Rain.
+
+And what do we others who have heard the story say?
+
+We say, "Now the story's done."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE DARNING-NEEDLE
+
+
+THERE was once a Darning-needle who thought herself so fine that she
+came at last to believe that she was fit for embroidery.
+
+"Mind now that you hold me fast," she said to the Fingers that took her
+up. "Pray don't lose me. If I should fall on the ground I should
+certainly be lost, I am so fine."
+
+"That's more than you can tell," said the Fingers, as they grasped her
+tightly by the waist.
+
+"I come with a train, you see," said the Darning-needle, as she drew her
+long thread after her; but there was no knot in the thread.
+
+The Fingers pressed the point of the Needle upon an old pair of
+slippers, in which the upper leather had burst and must be sewed
+together. The slippers belonged to the cook.
+
+"This is very coarse work!" said the Darning-needle. "I shall never get
+through alive. There, I'm breaking! I'm breaking!" and break she did.
+"Did I not say so?" said the Darning-needle. "I'm too delicate for such
+work as that."
+
+"Now it's quite useless for sewing," said the Fingers; but they still
+held her all the same, for the cook presently dropped some melted
+sealing wax upon the needle and then pinned her neckerchief in front
+with it.
+
+"See, now I'm a breastpin," said the Darning-needle. "I well knew that I
+should come to honor; when one is something, one always comes to
+something. Merit is sure to rise." And at this she laughed, only
+inwardly, of course, for one can never see when a Darning-needle laughs.
+There she sat now, quite at her ease, and as proud as if she sat in a
+state carriage and gazed upon all about her.
+
+"May I take the liberty to ask if you are made of gold?" she asked of
+the pin, her neighbor. "You have a splendid appearance and quite a
+remarkable head, though it is so little. You should do what you can to
+grow--of course it is not every one that can have sealing wax dropped
+upon her."
+
+And the Darning-needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell out of
+the neckerchief into the sink, which the cook was at that moment
+rinsing.
+
+"Now I'm going to travel," said the Darning-needle, "if only I don't get
+lost."
+
+But that was just what happened to her.
+
+"I'm too delicate for this world," she said, as she found herself in the
+gutter. "But I know who I am, and there is always some little pleasure
+in that!" It was thus that the Darning-needle kept up her proud bearing
+and lost none of her good humor. And now all sorts of things swam over
+her--chips and straws and scraps of old newspapers.
+
+"Only see how they sail along," said the Darning-needle to herself.
+"They little know what is under them, though it is I, and I sit firmly
+here. See! there goes a chip! It thinks of nothing in the world but
+itself--of nothing in the world but a chip! There floats a straw; see
+how it turns and twirls about. Do think of something besides yourself or
+you may easily run against a stone. There swims a bit of a newspaper.
+What's written upon it is forgotten long ago, yet how it spreads itself
+out and gives itself airs! I sit patiently and quietly here! I know what
+I am, and I shall remain the same--always."
+
+One day there lay something beside her that glittered splendidly. She
+thought it must be a diamond, but it was really only a bit of broken
+glass from a bottle. As it shone so brightly the Darning-needle spoke to
+it, introducing herself as a breastpin.
+
+"You are a diamond, I suppose," she said.
+
+"Why, yes, something of the sort."
+
+So each believed the other to be some rare and costly trinket; and they
+began to converse together upon the world, saying how very conceited it
+was.
+
+"Yes," said the Darning-needle, "I have lived in a young lady's box; and
+the young lady happened to be a cook. She had five fingers upon each of
+her hands, and anything more conceited and arrogant than those five
+fingers, I never saw. And yet they were only there that they might take
+me out of the box or put me back again."
+
+"Were they of high descent?" asked the Bit of Bottle. "Did they shine?"
+
+"No, indeed," replied the Darning-needle; "but they were none the less
+haughty. There were five brothers of them--all of the Finger family. And
+they held themselves so proudly side by side, though they were of quite
+different heights. The outermost, Thumbling he was called, was short and
+thick set; he generally stood out of the rank, a little in front of the
+others; he had only one joint in his back, and could only bow once; but
+he used to say that if he were cut off from a man, that man would be cut
+off from military service. Foreman, the second, put himself forward on
+all occasions, meddled with sweet and sour, pointed to sun and moon, and
+when the fingers wrote, it was he who pressed the pen. Middleman, the
+third of the brothers, could look over the others' heads, and gave
+himself airs for that. Ringman, the fourth, went about with a gold belt
+about his waist; and little Playman, whom they called Peter Spielman,
+did nothing at all and was proud of that, I suppose. There was nothing
+to be heard but boasting, and that is why I took myself away."
+
+"And now we sit here together and shine," said the Bit of Bottle.
+
+At that very moment some water came rushing along the gutter, so that it
+overflowed and carried the glass diamond along with it.
+
+"So he is off," said the Darning-needle, "and I still remain. I am left
+here because I am too slender and genteel. But that's my pride, and
+pride is honorable." And proudly she sat, thinking many thoughts.
+
+"I could almost believe I had been born of a sunbeam, I'm so fine. It
+seems as if the sunbeams were always trying to seek me under the water.
+Alas, I'm so delicate that even my own mother cannot find me. If I had
+my old eye still, which broke off, I think I should cry--but no, I would
+not; it's not genteel to weep."
+
+One day a couple of street boys were paddling about in the gutter,
+hunting for old nails, pennies, and such like. It was dirty work, but
+they seemed to find great pleasure in it.
+
+"Hullo!" cried one of them, as he pricked himself with the
+Darning-needle; "here's a fellow for you!"
+
+"I'm not a fellow! I'm a young lady!" said the Darning-needle, but no
+one heard it.
+
+The sealing wax had worn off, and she had become quite black; "but black
+makes one look slender, and is always becoming." She thought herself
+finer even than before.
+
+"There goes an eggshell sailing along," said the boys; and they stuck
+the Darning-needle into the shell.
+
+"A lady in black, and within white walls!" said the Darning-needle;
+"that is very striking. Now every one can see me. I hope I shall not be
+seasick, for then I shall break."
+
+But the fear was needless; she was not seasick, neither did she break.
+
+"Nothing is so good to prevent seasickness as to have a steel stomach
+and to bear in mind that one is something a little more than an ordinary
+person. My seasickness is all over now. The more genteel and honorable
+one is, the more one can endure."
+
+Crash went the eggshell, as a wagon rolled over both of them. It was a
+wonder that she did not break.
+
+"Mercy, what a crushing weight!" said the Darning-needle. "I'm growing
+seasick, after all. I'm going to break!"
+
+But she was not sick, and she did not break, though the wagon wheels
+rolled over her. She lay at full length in the road, and there let her
+lie.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL
+
+
+IT was dreadfully cold; it was snowing fast, and was almost dark, as
+evening came on--the last evening of the year. In the cold and the
+darkness, there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded and
+with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but
+they were much too large for her feet--slippers that her mother had used
+till then, and the poor little girl lost them in running across the
+street when two carriages were passing terribly fast. When she looked
+for them, one was not to be found, and a boy seized the other and ran
+away with it, saying he would use it for a cradle some day, when he had
+children of his own.
+
+So on the little girl went with her bare feet, that were red and blue
+with cold. In an old apron that she wore were bundles of matches, and
+she carried a bundle also in her hand. No one had bought so much as a
+bunch all the long day, and no one had given her even a penny.
+
+Poor little girl! Shivering with cold and hunger she crept along, a
+perfect picture of misery.
+
+The snowflakes fell on her long flaxen hair, which hung in pretty curls
+about her throat; but she thought not of her beauty nor of the cold.
+Lights gleamed in every window, and there came to her the savory smell
+of roast goose, for it was New Year's Eve. And it was this of which she
+thought.
+
+In a corner formed by two houses, one of which projected beyond the
+other, she sat cowering down. She had drawn under her her little feet,
+but still she grew colder and colder; yet she dared not go home, for she
+had sold no matches and could not bring a penny of money. Her father
+would certainly beat her; and, besides, it was cold enough at home, for
+they had only the house-roof above them, and though the largest holes
+had been stopped with straw and rags, there were left many through which
+the cold wind could whistle.
+
+[Illustration: Where the light fell upon the wall it became
+transparent.]
+
+And now her little hands were nearly frozen with cold. Alas! a single
+match might do her good if she might only draw it from the bundle, rub
+it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. So at last she drew one
+out. Whisht! How it blazed and burned! It gave out a warm, bright flame
+like a little candle, as she held her hands over it. A wonderful little
+light it was. It really seemed to the little girl as if she sat before a
+great iron stove with polished brass feet and brass shovel and tongs. So
+blessedly it burned that the little maiden stretched out her feet to
+warm them also. How comfortable she was! But lo! the flame went out, the
+stove vanished, and nothing remained but the little burned match in her
+hand.
+
+She rubbed another match against the wall. It burned brightly, and where
+the light fell upon the wall it became transparent like a veil, so that
+she could see through it into the room. A snow-white cloth was spread
+upon the table, on which was a beautiful china dinner-service, while a
+roast goose, stuffed with apples and prunes, steamed famously and sent
+forth a most savory smell. And what was more delightful still, and
+wonderful, the goose jumped from the dish, with knife and fork still in
+its breast, and waddled along the floor straight to the little girl.
+
+But the match went out then, and nothing was left to her but the thick,
+damp wall.
+
+She lighted another match. And now she was under a most beautiful
+Christmas tree, larger and far more prettily trimmed than the one she
+had seen through the glass doors at the rich merchant's. Hundreds of wax
+tapers were burning on the green branches, and gay figures, such as she
+had seen in shop windows, looked down upon her. The child stretched out
+her hands to them; then the match went out.
+
+Still the lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher. She saw
+them now as stars in heaven, and one of them fell, forming a long trail
+of fire.
+
+"Now some one is dying," murmured the child softly; for her grandmother,
+the only person who had loved her, and who was now dead, had told her
+that whenever a star falls a soul mounts up to God.
+
+She struck yet another match against the wall, and again it was light;
+and in the brightness there appeared before her the dear old
+grandmother, bright and radiant, yet sweet and mild, and happy as she
+had never looked on earth.
+
+"Oh, grandmother," cried the child, "take me with you. I know you will
+go away when the match burns out. You, too, will vanish, like the warm
+stove, the splendid New Year's feast, the beautiful Christmas tree." And
+lest her grandmother should disappear, she rubbed the whole bundle of
+matches against the wall.
+
+And the matches burned with such a brilliant light that it became
+brighter than noonday. Her grandmother had never looked so grand and
+beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and both flew together,
+joyously and gloriously, mounting higher and higher, far above the
+earth; and for them there was neither hunger, nor cold, nor care--they
+were with God.
+
+But in the corner, at the dawn of day, sat the poor girl, leaning
+against the wall, with red cheeks and smiling mouth--frozen to death on
+the last evening of the old year. Stiff and cold she sat, with the
+matches, one bundle of which was burned.
+
+"She wanted to warm herself, poor little thing," people said. No one
+imagined what sweet visions she had had, or how gloriously she had gone
+with her grandmother to enter upon the joys of a new year.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LOVING PAIR
+
+
+A WHIPPING Top and a Ball lay close together in a drawer among other
+playthings. One day the Top said to the Ball, "Since we are living so
+much together, why should we not be lovers?"
+
+But the Ball, being made of morocco leather, thought herself a very
+high-bred lady, and would hear nothing of such a proposal. On the next
+day the little boy to whom the playthings belonged came to the drawer;
+he painted the Top red and yellow, and drove a bright brass nail right
+through the head of it; it looked very smart indeed as it spun around
+after that.
+
+"Look at me," said he to the Ball. "What do you say to me now; why
+should we not make a match of it, and become man and wife? We suit each
+other so well!--you can jump and I can dance. There would not be a
+happier pair in the whole world!"
+
+"Do you think so?" said the Ball. "Perhaps you do not know that my
+father and mother were morocco slippers, and that I have a Spanish cork
+in my body!"
+
+"Yes, but then I am made of mahogany," said the Top; "the Mayor himself
+turned me. He has a turning lathe of his own, and he took great pleasure
+in making me."
+
+"Can I trust you in this?" asked the Ball.
+
+"May I never be whipped again, if what I tell you is not true," returned
+the Top.
+
+"You plead your cause well," said the Ball; "but I am not free to listen
+to your proposal. I am as good as engaged to a swallow. As often as I
+fly up into the air, he puts his head out of his nest, and says, 'Will
+you?' In my heart I have said Yes to him, and that is almost the same as
+an engagement; but I'll promise never to forget you."
+
+"A deal of good that will do me," said the Top, and they left off
+speaking to each other.
+
+Next day the Ball was taken out. The Top saw it fly like a bird into the
+air--so high that it passed quite out of sight. It came back again; but
+each time that it touched the earth, it sprang higher than before. This
+must have been either from its longing to mount higher, like the
+swallow, or because it had the Spanish cork in its body. On the ninth
+time the little Ball did not return. The boy sought and sought, but all
+in vain, for it was gone.
+
+"I know very well where she is," sighed the Top. "She is in the
+swallow's nest, celebrating her wedding."
+
+The more the Top thought of this the more lovely the Ball became to him;
+that she could not be his bride seemed to make his love for her the
+greater. She had preferred another rather than himself, but he could not
+forget her. He twirled round and round, spinning and humming, but always
+thinking of the Ball, who grew more and more beautiful the more he
+thought of her. And thus several years passed,--it came to be an old
+love,--and now the Top was no longer young!
+
+One day he was gilded all over; never in his life had he been half so
+handsome. He was now a golden top, and bravely he spun, humming all the
+time. But once he sprang too high--and was gone!
+
+They looked everywhere for him,--even in the cellar,--but he was nowhere
+to be found. Where was he?
+
+He had jumped into the dustbin, and lay among cabbage stalks, sweepings,
+dust, and all sorts of rubbish that had fallen from the gutter in the
+roof.
+
+"Alas! my gay gilding will soon be spoiled here. What sort of trumpery
+can I have got among?" And then he peeped at a long cabbage stalk which
+lay much too near him, and at something strange and round, which
+appeared like an apple, but was not. It was an old Ball that must have
+lain for years in the gutter, and been soaked through and through with
+water.
+
+"Thank goodness! at last I see an equal; one of my own sort, with whom I
+can talk," said the Ball, looking earnestly at the gilded Top. "I am
+myself made of real morocco, sewed together by a young lady's hands, and
+within my body is a Spanish cork; though no one would think it now. I
+was very near marrying the swallow, when by a sad chance I fell into the
+gutter on the roof. I have lain there five years, and I am now wet
+through and through. You may think what a wearisome situation it has
+been for a young lady like me."
+
+The Top made no reply. The more he thought of his old love, and the more
+he heard, the more sure he became that this was indeed she.
+
+Then came the housemaid to empty the dustbin. "Hullo!" she cried; "why,
+here's the gilt Top." And so the Top was brought again to the playroom,
+to be used and honored as before, while nothing was again heard of the
+Ball.
+
+And the Top never spoke again of his old love--the feeling must have
+passed away. And it is not strange, when the object of it has lain five
+years in a gutter, and been drenched through and through, and when one
+meets her again in a dustbin.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LEAPING MATCH
+
+
+THE Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Frog once wanted to see which of them
+could jump the highest. They made a festival, and invited the whole
+world and every one else besides who liked to come and see the grand
+sight. Three famous jumpers they were, as all should say, when they met
+together in the room.
+
+"I will give my daughter to him who shall jump highest," said the King;
+"it would be too bad for you to have the jumping, and for us to offer no
+prize."
+
+The Flea was the first to come forward. He had most exquisite manners,
+and bowed to the company on every side; for he was of noble blood, and,
+besides, was accustomed to the society of man, and that, of course, had
+been an advantage to him.
+
+Next came the Grasshopper. He was not quite so elegantly formed as the
+Flea, but he knew perfectly well how to conduct himself, and he wore the
+green uniform which belonged to him by right of birth. He said,
+moreover, that he came of a very ancient Egyptian family, and that in
+the house where he then lived he was much thought of.
+
+The fact was that he had been just brought out of the fields and put in
+a card-house three stories high, and built on purpose for him, with the
+colored sides inwards, and doors and windows cut out of the Queen of
+Hearts. "And I sing so well," said he, "that sixteen parlor-bred
+crickets, who have chirped from infancy and yet got no one to build them
+card-houses to live in, have fretted themselves thinner even than
+before, from sheer vexation on hearing me."
+
+It was thus that the Flea and the Grasshopper made the most of
+themselves, each thinking himself quite an equal match for the princess.
+
+[Illustration: He made a sideways jump into the lap of the princess.]
+
+The Leapfrog said not a word; but people said that perhaps he thought
+the more; and the housedog who snuffed at him with his nose allowed that
+he was of good family. The old councilor, who had had three orders
+given him in vain for keeping quiet, asserted that the Leapfrog was a
+prophet, for that one could see on his back whether the coming winter
+was to be severe or mild, which is more than one can see on the back of
+the man who writes the almanac.
+
+"I say nothing for the present," exclaimed the King; "yet I have my own
+opinion, for I observe everything."
+
+And now the match began. The Flea jumped so high that no one could see
+what had become of him; and so they insisted that he had not jumped at
+all--which was disgraceful after all the fuss he had made.
+
+The Grasshopper jumped only half as high; but he leaped into the King's
+face, who was disgusted by his rudeness.
+
+The Leapfrog stood for a long time, as if lost in thought; people began
+to think he would not jump at all.
+
+"I'm afraid he is ill!" said the dog and he went to snuff at him again;
+when lo! he suddenly made a sideways jump into the lap of the princess,
+who sat close by on a little golden stool.
+
+"There is nothing higher than my daughter," said the King; "therefore to
+bound into her lap is the highest jump that can be made. Only one of
+good understanding would ever have thought of that. Thus the Frog has
+shown that he has sense. He has brains in his head, that he has."
+
+And so he won the princess.
+
+"I jumped the highest, for all that," said the Flea; "but it's all the
+same to me. The princess may have the stiff-legged, slimy creature, if
+she likes. In this world merit seldom meets its reward. Dullness and
+heaviness win the day. I am too light and airy for a stupid world."
+
+And so the Flea went into foreign service.
+
+The Grasshopper sat without on a green bank and reflected on the world
+and its ways; and he too said, "Yes, dullness and heaviness win the day;
+a fine exterior is what people care for nowadays." And then he began to
+sing in his own peculiar way--and it is from his song that we have taken
+this little piece of history, which may very possibly be all untrue,
+although it does stand printed here in black and white.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE HAPPY FAMILY
+
+
+THE largest green leaf in this country is certainly the burdock. Put one
+in front of your waist, and it is just like an apron; or lay it upon
+your head, and it is almost as good as an umbrella, it is so broad.
+
+Burdock never grows singly; where you find one plant of the kind you may
+be sure that others grow in its immediate neighborhood. How magnificent
+they look!
+
+And all this magnificence is food for snails--the great white snails,
+which grand people in olden times used to have dished up as fricassees,
+and of which, when they had eaten, they would say, "H'm, how nice!" for
+they really fancied them delicious. These snails lived on burdock
+leaves, and that was why burdock was planted.
+
+Now there was an old estate where snails were no longer considered a
+delicacy. The snails had therefore died out, but the burdock still
+flourished. In all the alleys and in all the beds it had grown and
+grown, so that it could no longer be checked; the place had become a
+perfect forest of burdock.
+
+Here and there stood an apple or plum tree to serve as a kind of token
+that there had been once a garden, but everything, from one end of the
+garden to the other, was burdock, and beneath the shade of the burdock
+lived the last two of the ancient snails.
+
+They did not know themselves how old they were, but they well remembered
+the time when there were a great many of them, that they had descended
+from a family that came from foreign lands, and that this forest in
+which they lived had been planted for them and theirs. They had never
+been beyond the limits of the garden, but they knew that there was
+something outside their forest, called the castle, and that there one
+was boiled, and became black, and was then laid upon a silver
+dish--though what happened afterward they had never heard, nor could
+they exactly fancy how it felt to be cooked and laid on a silver dish.
+It was, no doubt, a fine thing, and exceedingly genteel.
+
+Neither the cockchafer, nor the toad, nor the earthworm, all of whom
+they questioned on the matter, could give them the least information,
+for none of them had ever been cooked and served upon silver dishes.
+
+The old white snails were the grandest race in the world; of this they
+were well aware. The forest had grown for their sake, and the castle or
+manor house too had been built expressly that in it they might be cooked
+and served.
+
+Leading now a very quiet and happy life and having no children, they had
+adopted a little common snail, and had brought it up as their own child.
+But the little thing would not grow, for he was only a common snail,
+though his foster mother pretended to see a great improvement in him.
+She begged the father, since he could not perceive it, to feel the
+little snail's shell, and to her great joy and his own, he found that
+his wife was right.
+
+One day it rained very hard. "Listen!" said the Father Snail; "hear what
+a drumming there is on the burdock leaves--rum-dum-dum, rum-dum-dum!"
+
+"There are drops, too," said the Mother Snail; "they come trickling down
+the stalks. We shall presently find it very wet here. I'm glad we have
+such good houses, and that the youngster has his also. There has really
+been more done for us than for any other creatures. Every one must see
+that we are superior beings. We have houses from our very birth, and the
+burdock forest is planted on our account. I should like to know just how
+far it reaches, and what there is beyond."
+
+"There is nothing better than what we have here," said the Father Snail.
+"I wish for nothing beyond."
+
+"And yet," said the mother, "I should like to be taken to the castle,
+and boiled, and laid on a silver dish; that has been the destiny of all
+our ancestors, and we may be sure it is something quite out of the
+common way."
+
+"The castle has perhaps fallen to ruin," said the Father Snail, "or it
+may be overgrown with burdock, so that its inmates are unable to come
+out. There is no hurry about the matter. You are always in such a
+desperate hurry, and the youngster there begins to take after you. He's
+been creeping up that stem yonder these three days. It makes me quite
+dizzy to look at him."
+
+"But don't scold him," said the mother. "He creeps carefully. We old
+people have nothing else to live for, and he will be the joy of our old
+age. Have you thought how we can manage to find a wife for him? Do you
+not think that farther into the forest there may be others of our own
+species?"
+
+"I dare say there may be black snails," said the old father, "black
+snails, without a house at all; and they are vulgar, though they think
+so much of themselves. But we can employ the black ants, who run about
+so much--hurrying to and fro as if they had all the business of the
+world on their hands. They will certainly be able to find a wife for our
+young gentleman."
+
+"I know the fairest of the fair," said one of the ants; "but I'm afraid
+it would not do, for she's a queen."
+
+"She's none the worse for that," said both the old snails. "Has she a
+house?"
+
+"She has a palace," answered the ants; "the most splendid ant castle,
+with seven hundred galleries."
+
+"Thank you!" said the Mother Snail. "Our boy shall not go to live in an
+ant hill. If you know of nothing better, we will employ the white gnats,
+who fly both in rain and sunshine and know all the ins and outs of the
+whole burdock forest."
+
+"We have found a wife for him," said the gnats. "A hundred paces from
+here there sits, on a gooseberry bush, a little snail with a house. She
+is all alone and is old enough to marry. It is only a hundred human
+steps from here."
+
+"Then let her come to him," said the old couple. "He has a whole forest
+of burdock, while she has only a bush."
+
+So they went and brought the little maiden snail. It took eight days to
+perform the journey, but that only showed her high breeding, and that
+she was of good family.
+
+And then the wedding took place. Six glow-worms gave all the light they
+could, but in all other respects it was a very quiet affair. The old
+people could not bear the fatigue of frolic or festivity. The Mother
+Snail made a very touching little speech. The father was too much
+overcome to trust himself to say anything.
+
+They gave the young couple the entire burdock forest, saying what they
+had always said, namely, that it was the finest inheritance in the
+world, and that if they led an upright and honorable life, and if their
+family should increase, without doubt both themselves and their children
+would one day be taken to the manor castle and be boiled black and
+served as a fricassee in a silver dish.
+
+And after this the old couple crept into their houses and never came out
+again, but fell asleep. The young pair now ruled in the forest and had a
+numerous family. But when, as time went on, none of them were ever
+cooked or served on a silver dish, they concluded that the castle had
+fallen to ruin and that the world of human beings had died out; and as
+no one contradicted them, they must have been right.
+
+And the rain continued to fall upon the burdock leaves solely to
+entertain them with its drumming, and the sun shone to light the forest
+for their especial benefit, and very happy they were--they and the whole
+snail family--inexpressibly happy!
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE GREENIES
+
+
+A ROSE TREE stood in the window. But a little while ago it had been
+green and fresh, and now it looked sickly--it was in poor health, no
+doubt. A whole regiment was quartered on it and was eating it up; yet,
+notwithstanding this seeming greediness, the regiment was a very decent
+and respectable one. It wore bright-green uniforms. I spoke to one of
+the "Greenies." He was but three days old, and yet he was already a
+grandfather. What do you think he said? It is all true--he spoke of
+himself and of the rest of the regiment. Listen!
+
+"We are the most wonderful creatures in the world. At a very early age
+we are engaged, and immediately we have the wedding. When the cold
+weather comes we lay our eggs, but the little ones lie sunny and warm.
+The wisest of the creatures, the ant,--we have the greatest respect for
+him!--understands us well. He appreciates us, you may be sure. He does
+not eat us up at once; he takes our eggs, lays them in the family ant
+hill on the ground floor--lays them, labeled and numbered, side by side,
+layer on layer, so that each day a new one may creep out of the egg.
+Then he puts us in a stable, pinches our hind legs, and milks us till we
+die. He has given us the prettiest of names--'little milch cow.'
+
+"All creatures who, like the ant, are gifted with common sense call us
+by this pretty name. It is only human beings who do not. They give us
+another name, one that we feel to be a great affront--great enough to
+embitter our whole life. Could you not write a protest against it for
+us? Could you not rouse these human beings to a sense of the wrong they
+do us? They look at us so stupidly or, at times, with such envious eyes,
+just because we eat a rose leaf, while they themselves eat every created
+thing--whatever grows and is green. And oh, they give us the most
+humiliating of names! I will not even mention it. Ugh! I feel it to my
+very stomach. I cannot even pronounce it--at least not when I have my
+uniform on, and that I always wear.
+
+"I was born on a rose leaf. I and all the regiment live on the rose
+tree. We live off it, in fact. But then it lives again in us, who belong
+to the higher order of created beings.
+
+"The human beings do not like us. They pursue and murder us with
+soapsuds. Oh, it is a horrid drink! I seem to smell it even now. You
+cannot think how dreadful it is to be washed when one was not made to be
+washed. Men! you who look at us with your severe, soapsud eyes, think a
+moment what our place in nature is: we are born upon the roses, we die
+in roses--our whole life is a rose poem. Do not, I beg you, give us a
+name which you yourselves think so despicable--the name I cannot bear to
+pronounce. If you wish to speak of us, call us 'the ants' milch
+cows--the rose-tree regiment--the little green things.'"
+
+"And I, the man, stood looking at the tree and at the little Greenies
+(whose name I shall not mention, for I should not like to wound the
+feelings of the citizens of the rose tree), a large family with eggs and
+young ones; and I looked at the soapsuds I was going to wash them in,
+for I too had come with soap and water and murderous intentions. But now
+I will use it for soap bubbles. Look, how beautiful! Perhaps there lies
+in each a fairy tale, and the bubble grows large and radiant and looks
+as if there were a pearl lying inside it.
+
+The bubble swayed and swung. It flew to the door and then burst, but the
+door opened wide, and there stood Dame Fairytale herself! And now she
+will tell you better than I can about (I will not say the name) the
+little green things of the rosebush.
+
+"Plant lice!" said Dame Fairytale. One must call things by their right
+names. And if one may not do so always, one must at least have the
+privilege of doing so in a fairy tale.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+OLE-LUK-OIE THE DREAM GOD
+
+
+THERE is nobody in the whole world who knows so many stories as
+Ole-Luk-Oie, or who can relate them so nicely.
+
+In the evening while the children are seated at the tea table or in
+their little chairs, very softly he comes up the stairs, for he walks in
+his socks. He opens the doors without the slightest noise and throws a
+small quantity of very fine dust in the little ones' eyes (just enough
+to prevent them from keeping them open), and so they do not see him.
+Then he creeps behind them and blows softly upon their necks till their
+heads begin to droop.
+
+But Ole-Luk-Oie does not wish to hurt them. He is very fond of children
+and only wants them to be quiet that he may tell them pretty stories,
+and he knows they never are quiet until they are in bed and asleep.
+Ole-Luk-Oie seats himself upon the bed as soon as they are asleep. He is
+nicely dressed; his coat is made of silken stuff, it is impossible to
+say of what color, for it changes from green to red and from red to blue
+as he turns from side to side. Under each arm he carries an umbrella.
+One of them, with pictures on the inside, he spreads over good children,
+and then they dream the most charming stories. But the other umbrella
+has no pictures, and this he holds over the naughty children, so that
+they sleep heavily and wake in the morning without having dreamed at
+all.
+
+Now we shall hear how Ole-Luk-Oie came every night during a whole week
+to a little boy named Hjalmar, and what it was that he told him. There
+were seven stories, as there are seven days in the week.
+
+
+MONDAY
+
+"Now pay attention," said Ole-Luk-Oie in the evening, when Hjalmar was
+in bed, "and I will decorate the room."
+
+Immediately all the flowers in the flowerpots became large trees with
+long branches reaching to the ceiling and stretching along the walls, so
+that the whole room was like a greenhouse. All the branches were loaded
+with flowers, each flower as beautiful and as fragrant as a rose, and
+had any one tasted them he would have found them sweeter even than jam.
+The fruit glittered like gold, and there were cakes so full of plums
+that they were nearly bursting. It was incomparably beautiful.
+
+At the same time sounded dismal moans from the table drawer in which lay
+Hjalmar's schoolbooks.
+
+"What can that be now?" said Ole-Luk-Oie, going to the table and pulling
+out the drawer.
+
+It was a slate, in such distress because of a wrong figure in a sum that
+it had almost broken itself to pieces. The pencil pulled and tugged at
+its string as if it were a little dog that wanted to help but could not.
+
+And then came a moan from Hjalmar's copy book. Oh, it was quite terrible
+to hear! On each leaf stood a row of capital letters, every one having
+a small letter by its side. This formed a copy. Under these were other
+letters, which Hjalmar had written; they fancied they looked like the
+copy, but they were mistaken, for they were leaning on one side as if
+they intended to fall over the pencil lines.
+
+"See, this is the way you should hold yourselves," said the copy. "Look
+here, you should slope thus, with a graceful curve."
+
+"Oh, we are very willing to do so," said Hjalmar's letters, "but we
+cannot, we are so wretchedly made."
+
+"You must be scratched out, then," said Ole-Luk-Oie.
+
+"Oh, no!" they cried, and then they stood up so gracefully that it was
+quite a pleasure to look at them.
+
+"Now we must give up our stories, and exercise these letters," said
+Ole-Luk-Oie. "One, two--one, two--" So he drilled them till they stood
+up gracefully and looked as beautiful as a copy could look. But after
+Ole-Luk-Oie was gone, and Hjalmar looked at them in the morning, they
+were as wretched and awkward as ever.
+
+
+TUESDAY
+
+As soon as Hjalmar was in bed Ole-Luk-Oie touched with his little magic
+wand all the furniture in the room, which immediately began to chatter.
+And each article talked only of itself.
+
+Over the chest of drawers hung a large picture in a gilt frame,
+representing a landscape, with fine old trees, flowers in the grass, and
+a broad stream which flowed through the wood past several castles far
+out into the wild ocean.
+
+Ole-Luk-Oie touched the picture with his magic wand, and immediately the
+birds began to sing, the branches of the trees rustled, and the clouds
+moved across the sky, casting their shadows on the landscape beneath
+them.
+
+Then Ole-Luk-Oie lifted little Hjalmar up to the frame and placed his
+feet in the picture, on the high grass, and there he stood with the sun
+shining down upon him through the branches of the trees. He ran to the
+water and seated himself in a little boat which lay there, and which was
+painted red and white.
+
+The sails glittered like silver, and six swans, each with a golden
+circlet round its neck and a bright, blue star on its forehead, drew the
+boat past the green wood, where the trees talked of robbers and witches,
+and the flowers of beautiful little elves and fairies whose histories
+the butterflies had related to them.
+
+Brilliant fish with scales like silver and gold swam after the boat,
+sometimes making a spring and splashing the water round them; while
+birds, red and blue, small and great, flew after him in two long lines.
+The gnats danced round them, and the cockchafers cried "Buzz, buzz."
+They all wanted to follow Hjalmar, and all had some story to tell him.
+It was a most delightful sail.
+
+[Illustration: On the balconies stood princesses.]
+
+Sometimes the forests were thick and dark, sometimes like a beautiful
+garden gay with sunshine and flowers; he passed great palaces of glass
+and of marble, and on the balconies stood princesses, whose faces were
+those of little girls whom Hjalmar knew well and had often played with.
+One of the little girls held out her hand, in which was a heart made of
+sugar, more beautiful than any confectioner ever sold. As Hjalmar sailed
+by he caught hold of one side of the sugar heart and held it fast, and
+the princess held fast too, so that it broke in two pieces. Hjalmar had
+one piece and the princess the other, but Hjalmar's was the larger.
+
+At each castle stood little princes acting as sentinels. They presented
+arms and had golden swords and made it rain plums and tin soldiers, so
+that they must have been real princes.
+
+Hjalmar continued to sail, sometimes through woods, sometimes as it were
+through large halls, and then by large cities. At last he came to the
+town where his nurse lived, who had carried him in her arms when he was
+a very little boy and had always been kind to him. She nodded and
+beckoned to him and then sang the little verses she had herself composed
+and sent to him:
+
+          How many, many hours I think on thee,
+            My own dear Hjalmar, still my pride and joy!
+          How have I hung delighted over thee,
+            Kissing thy rosy cheeks, my darling boy!
+
+          Thy first low accents it was mine to hear,
+            To-day my farewell words to thee shall fly.
+          Oh, may the Lord thy shield be ever near
+            And fit thee for a mansion in the sky!
+
+And all the birds sang the same tune, the flowers danced on their stems,
+and the old trees nodded as if Ole-Luk-Oie had been telling them
+stories, as well.
+
+
+WEDNESDAY
+
+How the rain did pour down! Hjalmar could hear it in his sleep, and when
+Ole-Luk-Oie opened the window the water flowed quite up to the window
+sill. It had the appearance of a large lake outside, and a beautiful
+ship lay close to the house.
+
+"Wilt thou sail with me to-night, little Hjalmar?" said Ole-Luk-Oie.
+"Then we shall see foreign countries, and thou shalt return here in the
+morning."
+
+All in a moment there stood Hjalmar, in his best clothes, on the deck of
+the noble ship, and immediately the weather became fine.
+
+They sailed through the streets, round by the church, while on every
+side rolled the wide, great sea.
+
+They sailed till the land disappeared, and then they saw a flock of
+storks who had left their own country and were traveling to warmer
+climates. The storks flew one behind another and had already been a
+long, long time on the wing.
+
+One of them seemed so tired that his wings could scarcely carry him. He
+was soon left very far behind. At length he sank lower and lower, with
+outstretched wings, flapping them in vain, till his feet touched the
+rigging of the ship, and he slid from the sails to the deck and stood
+before them. Then a sailor boy caught him and put him in the henhouse
+with the fowls, the ducks, and the turkeys, while the poor stork stood
+quite bewildered among them.
+
+"Just look at that fellow," said the chickens.
+
+Then the turkey cock puffed himself out as large as he could and
+inquired who he was, and the ducks waddled backwards, crying, "Quack,
+quack!"
+
+The stork told them all about warm Africa--of the pyramids and of the
+ostrich, which, like a wild horse, runs across the desert. But the ducks
+did not understand what he said, and quacked amongst themselves, "We are
+all of the same opinion; namely, that he is stupid."
+
+"Yes, to be sure, he is stupid," said the turkey cock, and gobbled.
+
+Then the stork remained quite silent and thought of his home in Africa.
+
+"Those are handsome thin legs of yours," said the turkey cock. "What do
+they cost a yard?"
+
+"Quack, quack, quack," grinned the ducks; but the stork pretended not to
+hear.
+
+"You may as well laugh," said the turkey, "for that remark was rather
+witty, but perhaps it was above you. Ah, ah, is he not clever? He will
+be a great amusement to us while he remains here." And then he gobbled,
+and the ducks quacked: "Gobble, gobble"; "Quack, quack!"
+
+What a terrible uproar they made while they were having such fun among
+themselves!
+
+Then Hjalmar went to the henhouse and, opening the door, called to the
+stork. He hopped out on the deck. He had rested himself now, and he
+looked happy and seemed as if he nodded to Hjalmar as if to thank him.
+Then he spread his wings and flew away to warmer countries, while the
+hens clucked, the ducks quacked, and the turkey cock's head turned quite
+scarlet.
+
+"To-morrow you shall be made into soup," said Hjalmar to the fowls; and
+then he awoke and found himself lying in his little bed.
+
+It was a wonderful journey which Ole-Luk-Oie had made him take this
+night.
+
+
+THURSDAY
+
+"What do you think I have here?" said the Dream Man. "Do not be
+frightened, and you shall see a little mouse." And then he held out his
+hand, in which lay a lovely little creature. "It has come to invite you
+to a wedding. Two little mice are going to be married to-night. They
+live under the floor of your mother's storeroom, and that must be a fine
+dwelling place."
+
+"But how can I get through the little mouse-hole in the floor?" asked
+the little boy.
+
+"Leave me to manage that," said the Dream Man. "I will soon make you
+small enough." And then he touched the boy with his magic wand, upon
+which he became smaller and smaller until at last he was no longer than
+a little finger. "Now you can borrow the dress of your tin soldier. I
+think it will just fit you. It looks well to wear a uniform when you go
+into company."
+
+"Yes, certainly," said the boy, and in a moment he was dressed as neatly
+as the neatest of all tin soldiers.
+
+"Will you be so good as to seat yourself in your mamma's thimble," said
+the little mouse, "that I may have the pleasure of drawing you to the
+wedding?"
+
+"Will you really take so much trouble, young lady?" said he. And so in
+this way he rode to the mouse's wedding.
+
+First they went under the floor, and then through a long passage which
+was scarcely high enough to allow the thimble to drive under, and the
+whole passage was lit up with the light of rotten wood.
+
+"Does it not smell delicious?" asked the mouse, as she drew him along.
+"The wall and the floor have been smeared with bacon rind; nothing could
+be nicer."
+
+Very soon they arrived at the bridal hall. On the right stood all the
+little lady mice, whispering and giggling as if they were making game
+of each other. To the left were the gentlemen mice, stroking their
+whiskers with their forepaws. And in the center of the hall could be
+seen the bridal pair, standing side by side in a hollow cheese rind and
+kissing each other while all eyes were upon them.
+
+More and more friends kept coming, till the mice were in danger of
+treading each other to death; for the bridal pair now stood in the
+doorway, and none could pass in or out.
+
+The room had been rubbed over with bacon rind like the passage, which
+was all the refreshment offered to the guests. But for dessert a pea was
+passed around, on which a mouse had bitten the first letters of the
+names of the betrothed pair. This was something quite uncommon. All the
+mice said it was a very beautiful wedding, and that they had been very
+agreeably entertained.
+
+After this Hjalmar returned home. He had certainly been in grand
+society, but he had been obliged to creep under a room and to make
+himself small enough to wear the uniform of a tin soldier.
+
+
+FRIDAY
+
+"It is incredible how many old people there are who would be glad to
+have me at night," said Ole-Luk-Oie, "especially those who have done
+something wrong.
+
+"'Good old Ole,' say they to me, 'we cannot close our eyes, and we lie
+awake the whole night and see all our evil deeds sitting on our beds
+like little imps and sprinkling us with scalding water. Will you come
+and drive them away, that we may have a good night's rest?' and then
+they sigh so deeply and say: 'We would gladly pay you for it. Good
+night, Ole-Luk, the money lies in the window.' But I never do anything
+for gold."
+
+"What shall we do to-night?" asked Hjalmar.
+
+"I do not know whether you would care to go to another wedding," replied
+Ole-Luk-Oie, "although it is quite a different affair from the one we
+saw last night. Your sister's large doll, that is dressed like a man and
+is called Herman, intends to marry the doll Bertha. It is also the
+dolls' birthday, and they will receive many presents."
+
+"Yes, I know that already," said Hjalmar; "my sister always allows her
+dolls to keep their birthdays or to have a wedding when they require new
+clothes. That has happened already a hundred times, I am quite sure."
+
+"Yes, so it may; but to-night is the hundred-and-first wedding, and when
+that has taken place it must be the last; therefore this is to be
+extremely beautiful. Only look."
+
+Hjalmar looked at the table, and there stood the little cardboard dolls'
+house, with lights in all the windows, and drawn up before it were the
+tin soldiers, presenting arms.
+
+The bridal pair were seated on the floor, leaning against the leg of the
+table, looking very thoughtful and with good reason. Then Ole-Luk-Oie,
+dressed up in grandmother's black gown, married them.
+
+As soon as the ceremony was concluded all the furniture in the room
+joined in singing a beautiful song which had been composed by the lead
+pencil, and which went to the melody of a military tattoo:
+
+          "Waft, gentle breeze, our kind farewell
+           To the tiny house where the bride folks dwell.
+           With their skin of kid leather fitting so well,
+           They are straight and upright as a tailor's ell.
+           Hurrah! hurrah! for beau and belle.
+           Let echo repeat our kind farewell."
+
+And now came the presents; but the bridal pair had nothing to eat, for
+love was to be their food.
+
+"Shall we go to a country house, or travel?" asked the bridegroom.
+
+They consulted the swallow, who had traveled so far, and the old hen in
+the yard, who had brought up five broods of chickens.
+
+And the swallow talked to them of warm countries where the grapes hang
+in large clusters on the vines and the air is soft and mild, and about
+the mountains glowing with colors more beautiful than we can think of.
+
+"But they have no red cabbage such as we have," said the hen. "I was
+once in the country with my chickens for a whole summer. There was a
+large sand pit in which we could walk about and scratch as we liked.
+Then we got into a garden in which grew red cabbage. Oh, how nice it
+was! I cannot think of anything more delicious."
+
+"But one cabbage stalk is exactly like another," said the swallow; "and
+here we often have bad weather."
+
+"Yes, but we are accustomed to it," said the hen.
+
+"But it is so cold here, and freezes sometimes."
+
+"Cold weather is good for cabbages," said the hen; "besides, we do have
+it warm here sometimes. Four years ago we had a summer that lasted more
+than five weeks, and it was so hot one could scarcely breathe. And then
+in this country we have no poisonous animals, and we are free from
+robbers. He must be a blockhead, who does not consider our country the
+finest of all lands. He ought not to be allowed to live here." And then
+the hen wept very much and said: "I have also traveled. I once went
+twelve miles in a coop, and it was not pleasant traveling at all."
+
+"The hen is a sensible woman," said the doll Bertha. "I don't care for
+traveling over mountains, just to go up and come down again. No, let us
+go to the sand pit in front of the gate and then take a walk in the
+cabbage garden."
+
+And so they settled it.
+
+[Illustration: Look at these ... Chinese people ...]
+
+
+SATURDAY
+
+"Am I to hear any more stories?" asked little Hjalmar, as soon as
+Ole-Luk-Oie had sent him to sleep.
+
+"We shall have no time this evening," said he, spreading out his
+prettiest umbrella over the child. "Look at these Chinese people." And
+then the whole umbrella appeared like a large china bowl, with blue
+trees and pointed bridges upon which stood little Chinamen nodding their
+heads.
+
+"We must make all the world beautiful for to-morrow morning," said
+Ole-Luk-Oie, "for it will be a holiday; it is Sunday. I must now go to
+the church steeple and see if the little sprites who live there have
+polished the bells so that they may sound sweetly; then I must go into
+the fields and see if the wind has blown the dust from the grass and the
+leaves; and the most difficult task of all which I have to do is to take
+down all the stars and brighten them up. I have to number them first
+before I put them in my apron, and also to number the places from which
+I take them, so that they may go back into the right holes, or else
+they would not remain and we should have a number of falling stars, for
+they would all tumble down one after another."
+
+"Hark ye, Mr. Luk-Oie!" said an old portrait which hung on the wall of
+Hjalmar's bedroom. "Do you know me? I am Hjalmar's great-grandfather. I
+thank you for telling the boy stories, but you must not confuse his
+ideas. The stars cannot be taken down from the sky and polished; they
+are spheres like our earth, which is a good thing for them."
+
+"Thank you, old great-grandfather," said Ole-Luk-Oie. "I thank you. You
+may be the head of the family, as no doubt you are, and very old, but I
+am older still. I am an ancient heathen. The old Romans and Greeks named
+me the Dream God. I have visited the noblest houses,--yes, and I
+continue to do so,--still I know how to conduct myself both to high and
+low, and now you may tell the stories yourself"; and so Ole-Luk-Oie
+walked off, taking his umbrellas with him.
+
+"Well, well, one is never to give an opinion, I suppose," grumbled the
+portrait. And it woke Hjalmar.
+
+
+SUNDAY
+
+"Good evening," said Ole-Luk-Oie.
+
+Hjalmar nodded, and then sprang out of bed and turned his
+great-grandfather's portrait to the wall so that it might not interrupt
+them as it had done yesterday. "Now," said he, "you must tell me some
+stories about five green peas that lived in one pod, or of the chickseed
+that courted the chickweed, or of the Darning-needle who acted so
+proudly because she fancied herself an embroidery needle."
+
+"You may have too much of a good thing," said Ole-Luk-Oie. "You know
+that I like best to show you something, so I will show you my brother.
+He is also called Ole-Luk-Oie, but he never visits any one but once, and
+when he does come he takes him away on his horse and tells him stories
+as they ride along.
+
+"He knows only two stories. One of these is so wonderfully beautiful
+that no one in the world can imagine anything at all like it, but the
+other it would be impossible to describe."
+
+Then Ole-Luk-Oie lifted Hjalmar up to the window. "There, now you can
+see my brother, the other Ole-Luk-Oie; he is also called Death. You see
+he is not so bad as they represent him in picture books. There he is a
+skeleton, but here his coat is embroidered with silver, and he wears the
+splendid uniform of a hussar, and a mantle of black velvet flies behind
+him over the horse. Look, how he gallops along."
+
+Hjalmar saw that as this Ole-Luk-Oie rode on he lifted up old and young
+and carried them away on his horse. Some he seated in front of him and
+some behind, but always inquired first, "How stands the record book?"
+
+"Good," they all answered.
+
+"Yes, but let me see for myself," he replied, and they were obliged to
+give him the books. Then all those who had "Very good" or "Exceedingly
+good" came in front of the horse and heard the beautiful story, while
+those who had "Middling" or "Fairly good" in their books were obliged to
+sit behind. They cried and wanted to jump down from the horse, but they
+could not get free, for they seemed fastened to the seat.
+
+"Why, Death is a most splendid Luk-Oie," said Hjalmar. "I am not in the
+least afraid of him."
+
+"You need have no fear of him," said Ole-Luk-Oie; "but take care and
+keep a good conduct book."
+
+"Now I call that very instructive," murmured the great-grandfather's
+portrait. "It is useful sometimes to express an opinion." So he was
+quite satisfied.
+
+These are some of the doings and sayings of Ole-Luk-Oie. I hope he may
+visit you himself this evening and relate some more.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE MONEY BOX
+
+
+IN a nursery where a number of toys lay scattered about, a money box
+stood on the top of a very high wardrobe. It was made of clay in the
+shape of a pig and had been bought of the potter. In the back of the pig
+was a slit, and this slit had been enlarged with a knife so that
+dollars, or even crown pieces, might slip through--and indeed there were
+two in the box, besides a number of pence. The money-pig was stuffed so
+full that it could no longer rattle, which is the highest state of
+perfectness to which a money-pig can attain.
+
+There he stood upon the cupboard, high and lofty, looking down upon
+everything else in the room. He knew very well that he had enough inside
+himself to buy up all the other toys, and this gave him a very good
+opinion of his own value.
+
+The rest thought of this fact also, although they did not express it,
+there were so many other things to talk about. A large doll, still
+handsome (though rather old, for her neck had been mended) lay inside
+one of the drawers, which was partly open. She called out to the others,
+"Let us have a game at being men and women; that is something worth
+playing at."
+
+Upon this there was a great uproar; even the engravings which hung in
+frames on the wall turned round in their excitement and showed that they
+had a wrong side to them, although they had not the least intention of
+exposing themselves in this way or of objecting to the game.
+
+It was late at night, but as the moon shone through the windows, they
+had light at a cheap rate. And as the game was now to begin, all were
+invited to take part in it, even the children's wagon, which certainly
+belonged among the coarser playthings. "Each has its own value," said
+the wagon; "we cannot all be noblemen; there must be some to do the
+work."
+
+The money-pig was the only one who received a written invitation. He
+stood so high that they were afraid he would not accept a verbal
+message. But in his reply he said if he had to take a part he must enjoy
+the sport from his own home; they were to arrange for him to do so. And
+so they did.
+
+The little toy theater was therefore put up in such a way that the
+money-pig could look directly into it. Some wanted to begin with a
+comedy and afterwards to have a tea party and a discussion for mental
+improvement, but they began with the latter first.
+
+The rocking-horse spoke of training and races; the wagon, of railways
+and steam power--for these subjects belonged to each of their
+professions, and it was right they should talk of them. The clock talked
+politics--"Tick, tick." He professed to know what was the time of the
+day, but there was a whisper that he did not go correctly. The bamboo
+cane stood by, looking stiff and proud (he was vain of his brass ferrule
+and silver top), and on the sofa lay two worked cushions, pretty but
+stupid.
+
+When the play at the little theater began, the rest sat and looked on;
+they were requested to applaud and stamp, or crack, whenever they felt
+gratified with what they saw. The riding whip said he never cracked for
+old people, only for the young--those who were not yet married. "I crack
+for everybody," said the nutcracker.
+
+"Yes, and a fine noise you make," thought the audience as the play went
+on.
+
+It was not worth much, but it was very well played, and all the actors
+turned their painted sides to the audience, for they were made to be
+seen only on one side. The acting was wonderful, excepting that
+sometimes the actors came out beyond the lamps, because the wires were a
+little too long.
+
+The doll whose neck had been mended was so excited that the place in her
+neck burst, and the money-pig declared he must do something for one of
+the players as they had all pleased him so much. So he made up his mind
+to mention one of them in his will as the one to be buried with him in
+the family vault, whenever that event should happen.
+
+They enjoyed the comedy so much that they gave up all thoughts of the
+tea party and only carried out their idea of intellectual amusement,
+which they called playing at men and women. And there was nothing wrong
+about it, for it was only play. All the while each one thought most of
+himself or of what the money-pig could be thinking. The money-pig's
+thoughts were on (as he supposed) a very far-distant time--of making his
+will, and of his burial, and of when it might all come to pass.
+
+Certainly sooner than he expected; for all at once down he came from the
+top of the press, fell on the floor, and was broken to pieces. Then all
+the pennies hopped and danced about in the most amusing manner. The
+little ones twirled round like tops, and the large ones rolled away as
+far as they could, especially the one great silver crown piece, who had
+often wanted to go out into the world. And he had his wish as well as
+all the rest of the money. The pieces of the money-pig were thrown into
+the dustbin, and the next day there stood a new money-pig on the
+cupboard, but it had not a farthing inside it yet, and therefore, like
+the old one, could not rattle.
+
+This was the beginning with him, and with us it shall be the end of our
+story.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+ELDER-TREE MOTHER
+
+
+THERE was once a little boy who had taken cold by going out and getting
+his feet wet. No one could think how he had managed to do so, for the
+weather was quite dry. His mother undressed him and put him to bed, and
+then she brought in the teapot to make him a good cup of elder tea,
+which is so warming.
+
+At the same time the friendly old man who lived all alone at the top of
+the house came in at the door. He had neither wife nor child, but he was
+very fond of children and knew so many fairy tales and stories that it
+was a pleasure to hear him talk. "Now, if you drink your tea," said the
+mother, "very likely you will have a story in the meantime."
+
+[Illustration: "But how did the little fellow get his feet wet?" asked
+he....]
+
+"Yes, if I could think of a new one to tell," said the old man. "But how
+did the little fellow get his feet wet?" asked he.
+
+"Ah," said the mother, "that is what we cannot make out."
+
+"Will you tell me a story?" asked the boy.
+
+"Yes, if you can tell me exactly how deep the gutter is in the little
+street through which you go to school."
+
+"Just halfway up to my knee," said the boy, promptly; "that is, if I
+stand in the deepest part."
+
+"It is easy to see how we got our feet wet," said the old man. "Well,
+now I suppose I ought to tell a story, but really I don't know any
+more."
+
+"You can make up one, I know," said the boy. "Mother says that you can
+turn everything you look at into a story, and everything, even, that you
+touch."
+
+"Ah, but those tales and stories are worth nothing. The real ones come
+of themselves; they knock at my forehead and say, 'Here we are!'"
+
+"Won't there be a knock soon?" asked the boy. And his mother laughed as
+she put elder flowers in the teapot and poured boiling water over them.
+"Oh, do tell me a story."
+
+"Yes, if a story comes of itself, but tales and stories are very grand;
+they only come when it pleases them. Stop," he cried all at once, "here
+we have it; look! there is a story in the teapot now."
+
+The little boy looked at the teapot and saw the lid raise itself
+gradually and long branches stretch out, even from the spout, in all
+directions till they became larger and larger, and there appeared a
+great elder tree covered with flowers white and fresh. It spread itself
+even to the bed and pushed the curtains aside, and oh, how fragrant the
+blossoms were!
+
+In the midst of the tree sat a pleasant-looking old woman in a very
+strange dress. The dress was green, like the leaves of the elder tree,
+and was decorated with large white elder blossoms. It was not easy to
+tell whether the border was made of some kind of stuff or of real
+flowers.
+
+"What is that woman's name?" asked the boy.
+
+"The Romans and Greeks called her a dryad," said the old man, "but we do
+not understand that name; we have a better one for her in the quarter
+of the town where the sailors live. They call her Elder-flower Mother,
+and you must pay attention to her now, and listen while you look at the
+beautiful tree.
+
+"Just such a large, blooming tree as this stands outside in the corner
+of a poor little yard, and under this tree, one bright sunny afternoon,
+sat two old people, a sailor and his wife. They had great-grandchildren,
+and would soon celebrate the golden wedding, which is the fiftieth
+anniversary of the wedding day in many countries, and the Elder Mother
+sat in the tree and looked as pleased as she does now.
+
+"'I know when the golden wedding is to be,' said she, but they did not
+hear her; they were talking of olden times. 'Do you remember,' said the
+old sailor, 'when we were quite little and used to run about and play in
+the very same yard where we are now sitting, and how we planted little
+twigs in one corner and made a garden?'
+
+"'Yes,' said the old woman, 'I remember it quite well; and how we
+watered the twigs, and one of them was a sprig of elder that took root
+and put forth green shoots, until in time it became the great tree under
+which we old people are now seated.'
+
+"'To be sure,' he replied, 'and in that corner yonder stands the water
+butt in which I used to swim my boat that I had cut out all myself; and
+it sailed well too. But since then I have learned a very different kind
+of sailing.'
+
+"'Yes, but before that we went to school,' said she, 'and then we were
+prepared for confirmation. How we both cried on that day! But in the
+afternoon we went hand in hand up to the round tower and saw the view
+over Copenhagen and across the water; then we went to Fredericksburg,
+where the king and queen were sailing in their beautiful boat on the
+canals.'
+
+"'But I had to sail on a very different voyage elsewhere and be away
+from home for years on long voyages,' said the old sailor.
+
+"'Ah yes, and I used to cry about you,' said she, 'for I thought you
+must be lying drowned at the bottom of the sea, with the waves sweeping
+over you. And many a time have I got up in the night to see if the
+weathercock had turned; it turned often enough, but you came not. How
+well I remember one day the rain was pouring down from the skies, and
+the man came to the house where I was in service to take away the dust.
+I went down to him with the dust box and stood for a moment at the
+door,--what shocking weather it was!--and while I stood there the
+postman came up and brought me a letter from you.
+
+"'How that letter had traveled about! I tore it open and read it. I
+laughed and wept at the same time, I was so happy. It said that you were
+in warm countries where the coffee berries grew, and what a beautiful
+country it was, and described many other wonderful things. And so I
+stood reading by the dustbin, with the rain pouring down, when all at
+once somebody came and clasped me round the waist.'
+
+"'Yes, and you gave him such a box on the ears that they tingled,' said
+the old man.
+
+"'I did not know that it was you,' she replied; 'but you had arrived as
+quickly as your letter, and you looked so handsome, and, indeed, so you
+are still. You had a large yellow silk handkerchief in your pocket and
+a shiny hat on your head. You looked quite fine. And all the time what
+weather it was, and how dismal the street looked!'
+
+"'And then do you remember,' said he, 'when we were married, and our
+first boy came, and then Marie, and Niels, and Peter, and Hans
+Christian?'
+
+"'Indeed I do,' she replied; 'and they are all grown up respectable men
+and women, whom every one likes.'
+
+"'And now their children have little ones,' said the old sailor. 'There
+are great-grandchildren for us, strong and healthy too. Was it not about
+this time of year that we were married?'
+
+"'Yes, and to-day is the golden-wedding day,' said Elder-tree Mother,
+popping her head out just between the two old people; and they thought
+it was a neighbor nodding to them. Then they looked at each other and
+clasped their hands together. Presently came their children and
+grand*-children, who knew very well that it was the golden-wedding day.
+They had already wished them joy on that very morning, but the old
+people had forgotten it, although they remembered so well all that had
+happened many years before. And the elder tree smelled sweet, and the
+setting sun shone upon the faces of the old people till they looked
+quite ruddy. And the youngest of their grandchildren danced round them
+joyfully, and said they were going to have a feast in the evening, and
+there were to be hot potatoes. Then the Elder Mother nodded in the tree
+and cried 'Hurrah!' with all the rest."
+
+"But that is not a story," said the little boy who had been listening.
+
+"Not till you understand it," said the old man. "But let us ask the
+Elder Mother to explain it."
+
+"It was not exactly a story," said the Elder Mother, "but the story is
+coming now, and it is a true one. For out of truth the most wonderful
+stories grow, just as my beautiful elder bush has sprung out of the
+teapot." And then she took the little boy out of bed and laid him on her
+bosom, and the blooming branches of elder closed over them so that they
+sat, as it were, in a leafy bower, and the bower flew with them through
+the air in the most delightful manner.
+
+Then the Elder Mother all at once changed to a beautiful young maiden,
+but her dress was still of the same green stuff, ornamented with a
+border of white elder blossoms such as the Elder Mother had worn. In her
+bosom she wore a real elder flower, and a wreath of the same was
+entwined in her golden ringlets. Her large blue eyes were very beautiful
+to look at. She was of the same age as the boy, and they kissed each
+other and felt very happy.
+
+They left the arbor together, hand in hand, and found themselves in a
+beautiful flower garden which belonged to their home. On the green lawn
+their father's stick was tied up. There was life in this stick for the
+little ones, for no sooner did they place themselves upon it than the
+white knob changed into a pretty neighing head with a black, flowing
+mane, and four long, slender legs sprung forth. The creature was strong
+and spirited, and galloped with them round the grassplot.
+
+"Hurrah! now we will ride many miles away," said the boy; "we'll ride to
+the nobleman's estate, where we went last year."
+
+Then they rode round the grassplot again, and the little maiden, who, we
+know, was Elder-tree Mother, kept crying out: "Now we are in the
+country. Do you see the farmhouse, with a great baking oven standing out
+from the wall by the road-side like a gigantic egg? There is an elder
+spreading its branches over it, and a cock is marching about and
+scratching for the chickens. See how he struts!
+
+"Now we are near the church. There it stands on the hill, shaded by the
+great oak trees, one of which is half dead. See, here we are at the
+blacksmith's forge. How the fire burns! And the half-clad men are
+striking the hot iron with the hammer, so that the sparks fly about. Now
+then, away to the nobleman's beautiful estate!" And the boy saw all that
+the little girl spoke of as she sat behind him on the stick, for it
+passed before him although they were only galloping round the grassplot.
+Then they played together in a side walk and raked up the earth to make
+a little garden. Then she took elder flowers out of her hair and planted
+them, and they grew just like those which he had heard the old people
+talking about, and which they had planted in their young days. They
+walked about hand in hand too, just as the old people had done when they
+were children, but they did not go up the round tower nor to
+Fredericksburg garden. No; but the little girl seized the boy round the
+waist, and they rode all over the whole country (sometimes it was
+spring, then summer; then autumn and winter followed), while thousands
+of images were presented to the boy's eyes and heart, and the little
+girl constantly sang to him, "You must never forget all this." And
+through their whole flight the elder tree sent forth the sweetest
+fragrance.
+
+They passed roses and fresh beech trees, but the perfume of the elder
+tree was stronger than all, for its flowers hung round the little
+maiden's heart, against which the boy so often leaned his head during
+their flight.
+
+"It is beautiful here in the spring," said the maiden, as they stood in
+a grove of beech trees covered with fresh green leaves, while at their
+feet the sweet-scented thyme and blushing anemone lay spread amid the
+green grass in delicate bloom. "O that it were always spring in the
+fragrant beech groves!"
+
+"Here it is delightful in summer," said the maiden, as they passed old
+knights' castles telling of days gone by and saw the high walls and
+pointed gables mirrored in the rivers beneath, where swans were sailing
+about and peeping into the cool green avenues. In the fields the corn
+waved to and fro like the sea. Red and yellow flowers grew amongst the
+ruins, and the hedges were covered with wild hops and blooming
+convolvulus. In the evening the moon rose round and full, and the
+haystacks in the meadows filled the air with their sweet scent. These
+were scenes never to be forgotten.
+
+"It is lovely here also in autumn," said the little maiden, and then the
+scene changed again. The sky appeared higher and more beautifully blue,
+while the forest glowed with colors of red, green, and gold. The hounds
+were off to the chase, and large flocks of wild birds flew screaming
+over the Huns' graves, where the blackberry bushes twined round the old
+ruins. The dark blue sea was dotted with white sails, and in the barns
+sat old women, maidens, and children picking hops into a large tub. The
+young ones sang songs, and the old ones told fairy tales of wizards and
+witches. There could be nothing more pleasant than all this.
+
+"Again," said the maiden, "it is beautiful here in winter." Then in a
+moment all the trees were covered with hoarfrost, so that they looked
+like white coral. The snow crackled beneath the feet as if every one had
+on new boots, and one shooting star after another fell from the sky. In
+warm rooms there could be seen the Christmas trees, decked out with
+presents and lighted up amid festivities and joy. In the country
+farmhouses could be heard the sound of a violin, and there were games
+for apples, so that even the poorest child could say, "It is beautiful
+in winter."
+
+And beautiful indeed were all the scenes which the maiden showed to the
+little boy, and always around them floated the fragrance of the elder
+blossom, and ever above them waved the red flag with the white cross,
+under which the old seaman had sailed. The boy--who had become a youth,
+and who had gone as a sailor out into the wide world and sailed to warm
+countries where the coffee grew, and to whom the little girl had given
+an elder blossom from her bosom for a keepsake, when she took leave of
+him--placed the flower in his hymn book; and when he opened it in
+foreign lands he always turned to the spot where this flower of
+remembrance lay, and the more he looked at it the fresher it appeared.
+He could, as it were, breathe the homelike fragrance of the woods, and
+see the little girl looking at him from between the petals of the flower
+with her clear blue eyes, and hear her whispering, "It is beautiful here
+at home in spring and summer, in autumn and in winter," while hundreds
+of these home scenes passed through his memory.
+
+Many years had passed, and he was now an old man, seated with his old
+wife under an elder tree in full blossom. They were holding each other's
+hands, just as the great-grandfather and grandmother had done, and
+spoke, as they did, of olden times and of the golden wedding. The little
+maiden with the blue eyes and with the elder blossoms in her hair sat in
+the tree and nodded to them and said, "To-day is the golden wedding."
+
+[Illustration: As she placed them on the heads of the old people, each
+flower became a golden crown.]
+
+And then she took two flowers out of her wreath and kissed them, and
+they shone first like silver and then like gold, and as she placed them
+on the heads of the old people, each flower became a golden crown. And
+there they sat like a king and queen under the sweet-scented tree,
+which still looked like an elder bush. Then he related to his old wife
+the story of the Elder-tree Mother, just as he had heard it told when he
+was a little boy, and they both fancied it very much like their own
+story, especially in parts which they liked the best.
+
+"Well, and so it is," said the little maiden in the tree. "Some call me
+Elder Mother, others a dryad, but my real name is Memory. It is I who
+sit in the tree as it grows and grows, and I can think of the past and
+relate many things. Let me see if you have still preserved the flower."
+
+Then the old man opened his hymn book, and there lay the elder flower,
+as fresh as if it had only just been placed there, and Memory nodded.
+And the two old people with the golden crowns on their heads sat in the
+red glow of the evening sunlight and closed their eyes, and--and--the
+story was ended.
+
+The little boy lay in his bed and did not quite know whether he had been
+dreaming or listening to a story. The teapot stood on the table, but no
+elder bush grew out of it, and the old man who had really told the tale
+was on the threshold and just going out at the door.
+
+"How beautiful it was," said the little boy. "Mother, I have been to
+warm countries."
+
+"I can quite believe it," said his mother. "When any one drinks two full
+cups of elder-flower tea, he may well get into warm countries"; and then
+she covered him up, that he should not take cold. "You have slept well
+while I have been disputing with the old man as to whether it was a real
+story or a fairy legend."
+
+"And where is the Elder-tree Mother?" asked the boy.
+
+"She is in the teapot," said the mother, "and there she may stay."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE SNOW QUEEN
+
+
+STORY THE FIRST
+
+WHICH DESCRIBES A LOOKING-GLASS AND ITS BROKEN FRAGMENTS
+
+YOU must attend to the beginning of this story, for when we get to the
+end we shall know more than we now do about a very wicked hobgoblin; he
+was one of the most mischievous of all sprites, for he was a real demon.
+
+One day when he was in a merry mood he made a looking-glass which had
+the power of making everything good or beautiful that was reflected in
+it shrink almost to nothing, while everything that was worthless and bad
+was magnified so as to look ten times worse than it really was.
+
+The most lovely landscapes appeared like boiled spinach, and all the
+people became hideous and looked as if they stood on their heads and had
+no bodies. Their countenances were so distorted that no one could
+recognize them, and even one freckle on the face appeared to spread over
+the whole of the nose and mouth. The demon said this was very amusing.
+When a good or holy thought passed through the mind of any one a wrinkle
+was seen in the mirror, and then how the demon laughed at his cunning
+invention.
+
+All who went to the demon's school--for he kept a school--talked
+everywhere of the wonders they had seen, and declared that people could
+now, for the first time, see what the world and its inhabitants were
+really like. They carried the glass about everywhere, till at last there
+was not a land nor a people who had not been looked at through this
+distorted mirror.
+
+They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the
+higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could
+scarcely hold it. At last it slipped from their hands, fell to the
+earth, and was broken into millions of pieces.
+
+But now the looking-glass caused more unhappiness than ever, for some of
+the fragments were not so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about
+the world into every country. And when one of these tiny atoms flew into
+a person's eye it stuck there, unknown to himself, and from that moment
+he viewed everything the wrong way, and could see only the worst side of
+what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same
+power which had belonged to the whole mirror.
+
+Some few persons even got a splinter of the looking-glass in their
+hearts, and this was terrible, for their hearts became cold and hard
+like a lump of ice. A few of the pieces were so large that they could be
+used as windowpanes; it would have been a sad thing indeed to look at
+our friends through them. Other pieces were made into spectacles, and
+this was dreadful, for those who wore them could see nothing either
+rightly or justly. At all this the wicked demon laughed till his sides
+shook, to see the mischief he had done. There are still a number of
+these little fragments of glass floating about in the air, and now you
+shall hear what happened with one of them.
+
+
+SECOND STORY
+
+A LITTLE BOY AND A LITTLE GIRL
+
+In a large town full of houses and people there is not room for
+everybody to have even a little garden. Most people are obliged to
+content themselves with a few flowers in flowerpots.
+
+In one of these large towns lived two poor children who had a garden
+somewhat larger and better than a few flowerpots. They were not brother
+and sister, but they loved each other almost as much as if they had
+been. Their parents lived opposite each other in two garrets where the
+roofs of neighboring houses nearly joined each other, and the water pipe
+ran between them. In each roof was a little window, so that any one
+could step across the gutter from one window to the other.
+
+The parents of each of these children had a large wooden box in which
+they cultivated kitchen vegetables for their own use, and in each box
+was a little rosebush which grew luxuriantly.
+
+After a while the parents decided to place these two boxes across the
+water pipe, so that they reached from one window to the other and
+looked like two banks of flowers. Sweet peas drooped over the boxes, and
+the rosebushes shot forth long branches, which were trained about the
+windows and clustered together almost like a triumphal arch of leaves
+and flowers.
+
+The boxes were very high, and the children knew they must not climb upon
+them without permission; but they often had leave to step out and sit
+upon their little stools under the rosebushes or play quietly together.
+
+In winter all this pleasure came to an end, for the windows were
+sometimes quite frozen over. But they would warm copper pennies on the
+stove and hold the warm pennies against the frozen pane; then there
+would soon be a little round hole through which they could peep, and the
+soft, bright eyes of the little boy and girl would sparkle through the
+hole at each window as they looked at each other. Their names were Kay
+and Gerda. In summer they could be together with one jump from the
+window, but in winter they had to go up and down the long staircase and
+out through the snow before they could meet.
+
+"See! there are the white bees swarming," said Kay's old grandmother one
+day when it was snowing.
+
+"Have they a queen bee?" asked the little boy, for he knew that the real
+bees always had a queen.
+
+"To be sure they have," said the grandmother. "She is flying there where
+the swarm is thickest. She is the largest of them all and never remains
+on the earth, but flies up to the dark clouds. Often at midnight she
+flies through the streets of the town and breathes with her frosty
+breath upon the windows; then the ice freezes on the panes into
+wonderful forms that look like flowers and castles."
+
+"Yes, I have seen them," said both the children; and they knew it must
+be true.
+
+"Can the Snow Queen come in here?" asked the little girl.
+
+"Only let her come," said the boy. "I'll put her on the warm stove, and
+then she'll melt."
+
+The grandmother smoothed his hair and told him more stories.
+
+That same evening when little Kay was at home, half undressed, he
+climbed upon a chair by the window and peeped out through the little
+round hole. A few flakes of snow were falling, and one of them, rather
+larger than the rest, alighted on the edge of one of the flower boxes.
+Strange to say, this snowflake grew larger and larger till at last it
+took the form of a woman dressed in garments of white gauze, which
+looked like millions of starry snowflakes linked together. She was fair
+and beautiful, but made of ice--glittering, dazzling ice. Still, she was
+alive, and her eyes sparkled like bright stars, though there was neither
+peace nor rest in them. She nodded toward the window and waved her hand.
+The little boy was frightened and sprang from the chair, and at the same
+moment it seemed as if a large bird flew by the window.
+
+On the following day there was a clear frost, and very soon came the
+spring. The sun shone; the young green leaves burst forth; the swallows
+built their nests; windows were opened, and the children sat once more
+in the garden on the roof, high above all the other rooms.
+
+[Illustration: The children sat once more in the garden on the roof....]
+
+How beautifully the roses blossomed this summer! The little girl had
+learned a hymn in which roses were spoken of. She thought of their own
+roses, and she sang the hymn to the little boy, and he sang, too:
+
+          "Roses bloom and fade away;
+           The Christ-child shall abide alway.
+           Blessed are we his face to see
+           And ever little children be."
+
+Then the little ones held each other by the hand, and kissed the roses,
+and looked at the bright sunshine, and spoke to it as if the
+Christ-child were really there. Those were glorious summer days. How
+beautiful and fresh it was out among the rosebushes, which seemed as if
+they would never leave off blooming.
+
+One day Kay and Gerda sat looking at a book of pictures of animals and
+birds. Just then, as the clock in the church tower struck twelve, Kay
+said, "Oh, something has struck my heart!" and soon after, "There is
+certainly something in my eye."
+
+The little girl put her arm round his neck and looked into his eye, but
+she could see nothing.
+
+"I believe it is gone," he said. But it was not gone; it was one of
+those bits of the looking-glass,--that magic mirror of which we have
+spoken,--the ugly glass which made everything great and good appear
+small and ugly, while all that was wicked and bad became more visible,
+and every little fault could be plainly seen. Poor little Kay had also
+received a small splinter in his heart, which very quickly turned to a
+lump of ice. He felt no more pain, but the glass was there still. "Why
+do you cry?" said he at last. "It makes you look ugly. There is nothing
+the matter with me now. Oh, fie!" he cried suddenly; "that rose is
+worm-eaten, and this one is quite crooked. After all, they are ugly
+roses, just like the box in which they stand." And then he kicked the
+boxes with his foot and pulled off the two roses.
+
+"Why, Kay, what are you doing?" cried the little girl; and then when he
+saw how grieved she was he tore off another rose and jumped through his
+own window, away from sweet little Gerda.
+
+When afterward she brought out the picture book he said, "It is only fit
+for babies in long clothes," and when grandmother told stories he would
+interrupt her with "but"; or sometimes when he could manage it he would
+get behind her chair, put on a pair of spectacles, and imitate her very
+cleverly to make the people laugh. By and by he began to mimic the
+speech and gait of persons in the street. All that was peculiar or
+disagreeable in a person he would imitate directly, and people said,
+"That boy will be very clever; he has a remarkable genius." But it was
+the piece of glass in his eye and the coldness in his heart that made
+him act like this. He would even tease little Gerda, who loved him with
+all her heart.
+
+His games too were quite different; they were not so childlike. One
+winter's day, when it snowed, he brought out a burning glass, then,
+holding out the skirt of his blue coat, let the snowflakes fall upon it.
+
+"Look in this glass, Gerda," said he, and she saw how every flake of
+snow was magnified and looked like a beautiful flower or a glittering
+star.
+
+"Is it not clever," said Kay, "and much more interesting than looking at
+real flowers? There is not a single fault in it. The snowflakes are
+quite perfect till they begin to melt."
+
+Soon after, Kay made his appearance in large, thick gloves and with his
+sledge at his back. He called upstairs to Gerda, "I've got leave to go
+into the great square, where the other boys play and ride." And away he
+went.
+
+In the great square the boldest among the boys would often tie their
+sledges to the wagons of the country people and so get a ride. This was
+capital. But while they were all amusing themselves, and Kay with them,
+a great sledge came by; it was painted white, and in it sat some one
+wrapped in a rough white fur and wearing a white cap. The sledge drove
+twice round the square, and Kay fastened his own little sledge to it, so
+that when it went away he went with it. It went faster and faster right
+through the next street, and the person who drove turned round and
+nodded pleasantly to Kay as if they were well acquainted with each
+other; but whenever Kay wished to loosen his little sledge the driver
+turned and nodded as if to signify that he was to stay, so Kay sat
+still, and they drove out through the town gate.
+
+Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little boy could not see
+a hand's breadth before him, but still they drove on. He suddenly
+loosened the cord so that the large sledge might go on without him, but
+it was of no use; his little carriage held fast, and away they went like
+the wind. Then he called out loudly, but nobody heard him, while the
+snow beat upon him, and the sledge flew onward. Every now and then it
+gave a jump, as if they were going over hedges and ditches. The boy was
+frightened and tried to say a prayer, but he could remember nothing but
+the multiplication table.
+
+The snowflakes became larger and larger, till they appeared like great
+white birds. All at once they sprang on one side, the great sledge
+stopped, and the person who had driven it rose up. The fur and the cap,
+which were made entirely of snow, fell off, and he saw a lady, tall and
+white; it was the Snow Queen.
+
+"We have driven well," said she; "but why do you tremble so? Here, creep
+into my warm fur." Then she seated him beside her in the sledge, and as
+she wrapped the fur about him, he felt as if he were sinking into a
+snowdrift.
+
+"Are you still cold?" she asked, as she kissed him on the forehead. The
+kiss was colder than ice; it went quite through to his heart, which was
+almost a lump of ice already. He felt as if he were going to die, but
+only for a moment--he soon seemed quite well and did not notice the cold
+all around him.
+
+"My sledge! Don't forget my sledge," was his first thought, and then he
+looked and saw that it was bound fast to one of the white birds which
+flew behind him. The Snow Queen kissed little Kay again, and by this
+time he had forgotten little Gerda, his grandmother, and all at home.
+
+"Now you must have no more kisses," she said, "or I should kiss you to
+death."
+
+Kay looked at her. She was so beautiful, he could not imagine a more
+lovely face; she did not now seem to be made of ice as when he had seen
+her through his window and she had nodded to him.
+
+In his eyes she was perfect, and he did not feel at all afraid. He told
+her he could do mental arithmetic as far as fractions, and that he knew
+the number of square miles and the number of inhabitants in the country.
+She smiled, and it occurred to him that she thought he did not yet know
+so very much.
+
+He looked around the vast expanse as she flew higher and higher with him
+upon a black cloud, while the storm blew and howled as if it were
+singing songs of olden time. They flew over woods and lakes, over sea
+and land; below them roared the wild wind; wolves howled, and the snow
+crackled; over them flew the black, screaming crows, and above all shone
+the moon, clear and bright--and so Kay passed through the long, long
+winter's night, and by day he slept at the feet of the Snow Queen.
+
+
+THIRD STORY
+
+THE ENCHANTED FLOWER GARDEN
+
+But how fared little Gerda in Kay's absence?
+
+What had become of him no one knew, nor could any one give the slightest
+information, excepting the boys, who said that he had tied his sledge to
+another very large one, which had driven through the street and out at
+the town gate. No one knew where it went. Many tears were shed for him,
+and little Gerda wept bitterly for a long time. She said she knew he
+must be dead, that he was drowned in the river which flowed close by
+the school. The long winter days were very dreary. But at last spring
+came with warm sunshine.
+
+"Kay is dead and gone," said little Gerda.
+
+"I don't believe it," said the sunshine.
+
+"He is dead and gone," she said to the sparrows.
+
+"We don't believe it," they replied, and at last little Gerda began to
+doubt it herself.
+
+"I will put on my new red shoes," she said one morning, "those that Kay
+has never seen, and then I will go down to the river and ask for him."
+
+It was quite early when she kissed her old grandmother, who was still
+asleep; then she put on her red shoes and went, quite alone, out of the
+town gate, toward the river.
+
+"Is it true that you have taken my little playmate away from me?" she
+said to the river. "I will give you my red shoes if you will give him
+back to me."
+
+And it seemed as if the waves nodded to her in a strange manner. Then
+she took off her red shoes, which she liked better than anything else,
+and threw them both into the river, but they fell near the bank, and
+the little waves carried them back to land just as if the river would
+not take from her what she loved best, because it could not give her
+back little Kay.
+
+But she thought the shoes had not been thrown out far enough. Then she
+crept into a boat that lay among the reeds, and threw the shoes again
+from the farther end of the boat into the water; but it was not
+fastened, and her movement sent it gliding away from the land. When she
+saw this she hastened to reach the end of the boat, but before she could
+do so it was more than a yard from the bank and drifting away faster
+than ever.
+
+Little Gerda was very much frightened. She began to cry, but no one
+heard her except the sparrows, and they could not carry her to land, but
+they flew along by the shore and sang as if to comfort her: "Here we
+are! Here we are!"
+
+The boat floated with the stream, and little Gerda sat quite still with
+only her stockings on her feet; the red shoes floated after her, but she
+could not reach them because the boat kept so much in advance.
+
+[Illustration: There came a very old woman out of the house]
+
+The banks on either side of the river were very pretty. There were
+beautiful flowers, old trees, sloping fields in which cows and sheep
+were grazing, but not a human being to be seen.
+
+"Perhaps the river will carry me to little Kay," thought Gerda, and then
+she became more cheerful, and raised her head and looked at the
+beautiful green banks; and so the boat sailed on for hours. At length
+she came to a large cherry orchard, in which stood a small house with
+strange red and blue windows. It had also a thatched roof, and outside
+were two wooden soldiers that presented arms to her as she sailed past.
+Gerda called out to them, for she thought they were alive; but of course
+they did not answer, and as the boat drifted nearer to the shore she saw
+what they really were.
+
+Then Gerda called still louder, and there came a very old woman out of
+the house, leaning on a crutch. She wore a large hat to shade her from
+the sun, and on it were painted all sorts of pretty flowers.
+
+"You poor little child," said the old woman, "how did you manage to come
+this long, long distance into the wide world on such a rapid, rolling
+stream?" And then the old woman walked into the water, seized the boat
+with her crutch, drew it to land, and lifted little Gerda out. And Gerda
+was glad to feel herself again on dry ground, although she was rather
+afraid of the strange old woman.
+
+"Come and tell me who you are," said she, "and how you came here."
+
+Then Gerda told her everything, while the old woman shook her head and
+said, "Hem-hem"; and when Gerda had finished she asked the old woman if
+she had not seen little Kay. She told her he had not passed that way,
+but he very likely would come. She told Gerda not to be sorrowful, but
+to taste the cherries and look at the flowers; they were better than any
+picture book, for each of them could tell a story. Then she took Gerda
+by the hand, and led her into the little house, and closed the door. The
+windows were very high, and as the panes were red, blue, and yellow, the
+daylight shone through them in all sorts of singular colors. On the
+table stood some beautiful cherries, and Gerda had permission to eat as
+many as she would. While she was eating them the old woman combed out
+her long flaxen ringlets with a golden comb, and the glossy curls hung
+down on each side of the little round, pleasant face, which looked fresh
+and blooming as a rose.
+
+"I have long been wishing for a dear little maiden like you," said the
+old woman, "and now you must stay with me and see how happily we shall
+live together." And while she went on combing little Gerda's hair the
+child thought less and less about her adopted brother Kay, for the old
+woman was an enchantress, although she was not a wicked witch; she
+conjured only a little for her own amusement, and, now, because she
+wanted to keep Gerda. Therefore she went into the garden and stretched
+out her crutch toward all the rose trees, beautiful though they were,
+and they immediately sank into the dark earth, so that no one could tell
+where they had once stood. The old woman was afraid that if little Gerda
+saw roses, she would think of those at home and then remember little Kay
+and run away.
+
+Then she took Gerda into the flower garden. How fragrant and beautiful
+it was! Every flower that could be thought of, for every season of the
+year, was here in full bloom; no picture book could have more beautiful
+colors. Gerda jumped for joy, and played till the sun went down behind
+the tall cherry trees; then she slept in an elegant bed, with red silk
+pillows embroidered with colored violets, and she dreamed as pleasantly
+as a queen on her wedding day.
+
+The next day, and for many days after, Gerda played with the flowers in
+the warm sunshine. She knew every flower, and yet, although there were
+so many of them, it seemed as if one were missing, but what it was she
+could not tell. One day, however, as she sat looking at the old woman's
+hat with the painted flowers on it, she saw that the prettiest of them
+all was a rose. The old woman had forgotten to take it from her hat when
+she made all the roses sink into the earth. But it is difficult to keep
+the thoughts together in everything, and one little mistake upsets all
+our arrangements.
+
+"What! are there no roses here?" cried Gerda, and she ran out into the
+garden and examined all the beds, and searched and searched. There was
+not one to be found. Then she sat down and wept, and her tears fell just
+on the place where one of the rose trees had sunk down. The warm tears
+moistened the earth, and the rose tree sprouted up at once, as blooming
+as when it had sunk; and Gerda embraced it, and kissed the roses, and
+thought of the beautiful roses at home, and, with them, of little Kay.
+
+"Oh, how I have been detained!" said the little maiden. "I wanted to
+seek for little Kay. Do you know where he is?" she asked the roses; "do
+you think he is dead?"
+
+And the roses answered: "No, he is not dead. We have been in the ground,
+where all the dead lie, but Kay is not there."
+
+"Thank you," said little Gerda, and then she went to the other flowers
+and looked into their little cups and asked, "Do you know where little
+Kay is?" But each flower as it stood in the sunshine dreamed only of its
+own little fairy tale or history. Not one knew anything of Kay. Gerda
+heard many stories from the flowers, as she asked them one after another
+about him.
+
+And then she ran to the other end of the garden. The door was fastened,
+but she pressed against the rusty latch, and it gave way. The door
+sprang open, and little Gerda ran out with bare feet into the wide
+world. She looked back three times, but no one seemed to be following
+her. At last she could run no longer, so she sat down to rest on a great
+stone, and when she looked around she saw that the summer was over and
+autumn very far advanced. She had known nothing of this in the beautiful
+garden where the sun shone and the flowers grew all the year round.
+
+"Oh, how I have wasted my time!" said little Gerda. "It is autumn; I
+must not rest any longer," and she rose to go on. But her little feet
+were wounded and sore, and everything around her looked cold and bleak.
+The long willow leaves were quite yellow, the dewdrops fell like water,
+leaf after leaf dropped from the trees; the sloe thorn alone still bore
+fruit, but the sloes were sour and set the teeth on edge. Oh, how dark
+and weary the whole world appeared!
+
+
+FOURTH STORY
+
+THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS
+
+Gerda was obliged to rest again, and just opposite the place where she
+sat she saw a great crow come hopping toward her across the snow. He
+stood looking at her for some time, and then he wagged his head and
+said, "Caw, caw, good day, good day." He pronounced the words as plainly
+as he could, because he meant to be kind to the little girl, and then he
+asked her where she was going all alone in the wide world.
+
+The word "alone" Gerda understood very well and felt how much it
+expressed. So she told the crow the whole story of her life and
+adventures and asked him if he had seen little Kay.
+
+The crow nodded his head very gravely and said, "Perhaps I have--it may
+be."
+
+"No! Do you really think you have?" cried little Gerda, and she kissed
+the crow and hugged him almost to death, with joy.
+
+"Gently, gently," said the crow. "I believe I know. I think it may be
+little Kay; but he has certainly forgotten you by this time, for the
+princess."
+
+"Does he live with a princess?" asked Gerda.
+
+"Yes, listen," replied the crow; "but it is so difficult to speak your
+language. If you understand the crows' language, then I can explain it
+better. Do you?"
+
+"No, I have never learned it," said Gerda, "but my grandmother
+understands it, and used to speak it to me. I wish I had learned it."
+
+"It does not matter," answered the crow. "I will explain as well as I
+can, although it will be very badly done"; and he told her what he had
+heard.
+
+"In this kingdom where we now are," said he, "there lives a princess who
+is so wonderfully clever that she has read all the newspapers in the
+world--and forgotten them too, although she is so clever.
+
+"A short time ago, as she was sitting on her throne, which people say is
+not such an agreeable seat as is often supposed, she began to sing a
+song which commences with these words:
+
+          Why should I not be married?
+
+'Why not, indeed?' said she, and so she determined to marry if she could
+find a husband who knew what to say when he was spoken to, and not one
+who could only look grand, for that was so tiresome. She assembled all
+her court ladies at the beat of the drum, and when they heard of her
+intentions they were very much pleased.
+
+"'We are so glad to hear of it,' said they. 'We were talking about it
+ourselves the other day.'
+
+"You may believe that every word I tell you is true," said the crow,
+"for I have a tame sweetheart who hops freely about the palace, and she
+told me all this."
+
+Of course his sweetheart was a crow, for "birds of a feather flock
+together," and one crow always chooses another crow.
+
+"Newspapers were published immediately with a border of hearts and the
+initials of the princess among them. They gave notice that every young
+man who was handsome was free to visit the castle and speak with the
+princess, and those who could reply loud enough to be heard when spoken
+to were to make themselves quite at home at the palace, and the one who
+spoke best would be chosen as a husband for the princess.
+
+"Yes, yes, you may believe me. It is all as true as I sit here," said
+the crow.
+
+"The people came in crowds. There was a great deal of crushing and
+running about, but no one succeeded either on the first or the second
+day. They could all speak very well while they were outside in the
+streets, but when they entered the palace gates and saw the guards in
+silver uniforms and the footmen in their golden livery on the staircase
+and the great halls lighted up, they became quite confused. And when
+they stood before the throne on which the princess sat they could do
+nothing but repeat the last words she had said, and she had no
+particular wish to hear her own words over again. It was just as if they
+had all taken something to make them sleepy while they were in the
+palace, for they did not recover themselves nor speak till they got back
+again into the street. There was a long procession of them, reaching
+from the town gate to the palace.
+
+"I went myself to see them," said the crow. "They were hungry and
+thirsty, for at the palace they did not even get a glass of water. Some
+of the wisest had taken a few slices of bread and butter with them, but
+they did not share it with their neighbors; they thought if the others
+went in to the princess looking hungry, there would be a better chance
+for themselves."
+
+"But Kay! tell me about little Kay!" said Gerda. "Was he among the
+crowd?"
+
+"Stop a bit; we are just coming to him. It was on the third day that
+there came marching cheerfully along to the palace a little personage
+without horses or carriage, his eyes sparkling like yours. He had
+beautiful long hair, but his clothes were very poor."
+
+"That was Kay," said Gerda, joyfully. "Oh, then I have found him!" and
+she clapped her hands.
+
+"He had a little knapsack on his back," added the crow.
+
+"No, it must have been his sledge," said Gerda, "for he went away with
+it."
+
+"It may have been so," said the crow; "I did not look at it very
+closely. But I know from my tame sweetheart that he passed through the
+palace gates, saw the guards in their silver uniform and the servants in
+their liveries of gold on the stairs, but was not in the least
+embarrassed.
+
+"'It must be very tiresome to stand on the stairs,' he said. 'I prefer
+to go in.'
+
+"The rooms were blazing with light; councilors and ambassadors walked
+about with bare feet, carrying golden vessels; it was enough to make any
+one feel serious. His boots creaked loudly as he walked, and yet he was
+not at all uneasy."
+
+"It must be Kay," said Gerda; "I know he had new boots on. I heard them
+creak in grandmother's room."
+
+"They really did creak," said the crow, "yet he went boldly up to the
+princess herself, who was sitting on a pearl as large as a spinning
+wheel. And all the ladies of the court were present with their maids and
+all the cavaliers with their servants, and each of the maids had another
+maid to wait upon her, and the cavaliers' servants had their own
+servants as well as each a page. They all stood in circles round the
+princess, and the nearer they stood to the door the prouder they looked.
+The servants' pages, who always wore slippers, could hardly be looked
+at, they held themselves up so proudly by the door."
+
+"It must be quite awful," said little Gerda; "but did Kay win the
+princess?"
+
+"If I had not been a crow," said he, "I would have married her myself,
+although I am engaged. He spoke as well as I do when I speak the crows'
+language. I heard this from my tame sweetheart. He was quite free and
+agreeable and said he had not come to woo the princess, but to hear her
+wisdom. And he was as pleased with her as she was with him."
+
+"Oh, certainly that was Kay," said Gerda; "he was so clever; he could
+work mental arithmetic and fractions. Oh, will you take me to the
+palace?"
+
+"It is very easy to ask that," replied the crow, "but how are we to
+manage it? However, I will speak about it to my tame sweetheart and ask
+her advice, for, I must tell you, it will be very difficult to gain
+permission for a little girl like you to enter the palace."
+
+"Oh, yes, but I shall gain permission easily," said Gerda, "for when Kay
+hears that I am here he will come out and fetch me in immediately."
+
+"Wait for me here by the palings," said the crow, wagging his head as he
+flew away.
+
+It was late in the evening before the crow returned. "Caw, caw!" he
+said; "she sends you greeting, and here is a little roll which she took
+from the kitchen for you. There is plenty of bread there, and she thinks
+you must be hungry. It is not possible for you to enter the palace by
+the front entrance. The guards in silver uniform and the servants in
+gold livery would not allow it. But do not cry; we will manage to get
+you in. My sweetheart knows a little back staircase that leads to the
+sleeping apartments, and she knows where to find the key."
+
+Then they went into the garden, through the great avenue, where the
+leaves were falling one after another, and they could see the lights in
+the palace being put out in the same manner. And the crow led little
+Gerda to a back door which stood ajar. Oh! how her heart beat with
+anxiety and longing; it was as if she were going to do something wrong,
+and yet she only wanted to know where little Kay was.
+
+"It must be he," she thought, "with those clear eyes and that long
+hair."
+
+She could fancy she saw him smiling at her as he used to at home when
+they sat among the roses. He would certainly be glad to see her, and to
+hear what a long distance she had come for his sake, and to know how
+sorry they had all been at home because he did not come back. Oh, what
+joy and yet what fear she felt!
+
+They were now on the stairs, and in a small closet at the top a lamp was
+burning. In the middle of the floor stood the tame crow, turning her
+head from side to side and gazing at Gerda, who curtsied as her
+grandmother had taught her to do.
+
+"My betrothed has spoken so very highly of you, my little lady," said
+the tame crow. "Your story is very touching. If you will take the lamp,
+I will walk before you. We will go straight along this way; then we
+shall meet no one."
+
+"I feel as if somebody were behind us," said Gerda, as something rushed
+by her like a shadow on the wall; and then it seemed to her that horses
+with flying manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on
+horseback, glided by her like shadows.
+
+"They are only dreams," said the crow; "they are coming to carry the
+thoughts of the great people out hunting. All the better, for if their
+thoughts are out hunting, we shall be able to look at them in their beds
+more safely. I hope that when you rise to honor and favor you will show
+a grateful heart."
+
+"You may be quite sure of that," said the crow from the forest.
+
+They now came into the first hall, the walls of which were hung with
+rose-colored satin embroidered with artificial flowers. Here the dreams
+again flitted by them, but so quickly that Gerda could not distinguish
+the royal persons. Each hall appeared more splendid than the last. It
+was enough to bewilder one. At length they reached a bedroom. The
+ceiling was like a great palm tree, with glass leaves of the most costly
+crystal, and over the center of the floor two beds, each resembling a
+lily, hung from a stem of gold. One, in which the princess lay, was
+white; the other was red. And in this Gerda had to seek for little Kay.
+
+She pushed one of the red leaves aside and saw a little brown neck. Oh,
+that must be Kay! She called his name loudly and held the lamp over him.
+The dreams rushed back into the room on horseback. He woke and turned
+his head round--it was not little Kay! The prince was only like him;
+still he was young and pretty. Out of her white-lily bed peeped the
+princess, and asked what was the matter. Little Gerda wept and told her
+story, and all that the crows had done to help her.
+
+"You poor child," said the prince and princess; then they praised the
+crows, and said they were not angry with them for what they had done,
+but that it must not happen again, and that this time they should be
+rewarded.
+
+"Would you like to have your freedom?" asked the princess, "or would you
+prefer to be raised to the position of court crows, with all that is
+left in the kitchen for yourselves?"
+
+Then both the crows bowed and begged to have a fixed appointment; for
+they thought of their old age, and it would be so comfortable, they
+said, to feel that they had made provision for it.
+
+[Illustration: The prince and princess themselves helped her into the
+coach.]
+
+And then the prince got out of his bed and gave it up to Gerda--he could
+not do more--and she lay down. She folded her little hands and thought,
+"How good everybody is to me, both men and animals"; then she closed
+her eyes and fell into a sweet sleep. All the dreams came flying back
+again to her, looking like angels now, and one of them drew a little
+sledge, on which sat Kay, who nodded to her. But all this was only a
+dream. It vanished as soon as she awoke.
+
+The following day she was dressed from head to foot in silk and velvet
+and invited to stay at the palace for a few days and enjoy herself; but
+she only begged for a pair of boots and a little carriage and a horse to
+draw it, so that she might go out into the wide world to seek for Kay.
+
+And she obtained not only boots but a muff, and was neatly dressed; and
+when she was ready to go, there at the door she found a coach made of
+pure gold with the coat of arms of the prince and princess shining upon
+it like a star, and the coachman, footman, and outriders all wearing
+golden crowns upon their heads. The prince and princess themselves
+helped her into the coach and wished her success.
+
+The forest crow, who was now married, accompanied her for the first
+three miles; he sat by Gerda's side, as he could not bear riding
+backwards. The tame crow stood in the doorway flapping her wings. She
+could not go with them, because she had been suffering from headache
+ever since the new appointment, no doubt from overeating. The coach was
+well stored with sweet cakes, and under the seat were fruit and
+gingerbread nuts.
+
+"Farewell, farewell," cried the prince and princess, and little Gerda
+wept, and the crow wept; and then, after a few miles, the crow also said
+farewell, and this parting was even more sad. However he flew to a tree
+and stood flapping his black wings as long as he could see the coach,
+which glittered like a sunbeam.
+
+
+FIFTH STORY
+
+THE LITTLE ROBBER GIRL
+
+The coach drove on through a thick forest, where it lighted up the way
+like a torch and dazzled the eyes of some robbers, who could not bear to
+let it pass them unmolested.
+
+"It is gold! it is gold!" cried they, rushing forward and seizing the
+horses. Then they struck dead the little jockeys, the coachman, and the
+footman, and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage.
+
+"She is plump and pretty. She has been fed with the kernels of nuts,"
+said the old robber woman, who had a long beard, and eyebrows that hung
+over her eyes. "She is as good as a fatted lamb; how nice she will
+taste!" and as she said this she drew forth a shining knife, that
+glittered horribly. "Oh!" screamed the old woman at the same moment, for
+her own daughter, who held her back, had bitten her in the ear. "You
+naughty girl," said the mother, and now she had not time to kill Gerda.
+
+"She shall play with me," said the little robber girl. "She shall give
+me her muff and her pretty dress, and sleep with me in my bed." And then
+she bit her mother again, and all the robbers laughed.
+
+"I will have a ride in the coach," said the little robber girl, and she
+would have her own way, for she was self-willed and obstinate.
+
+She and Gerda seated themselves in the coach and drove away over stumps
+and stones, into the depths of the forest. The little robber girl was
+about the same size as Gerda, but stronger; she had broader shoulders
+and a darker skin; her eyes were quite black, and she had a mournful
+look. She clasped little Gerda round the waist and said:
+
+"They shall not kill you as long as you don't make me vexed with you. I
+suppose you are a princess."
+
+"No," said Gerda; and then she told her all her history and how fond she
+was of little Kay.
+
+The robber girl looked earnestly at her, nodded her head slightly, and
+said, "They shan't kill you even if I do get angry with you, for I will
+do it myself." And then she wiped Gerda's eyes and put her own hands
+into the beautiful muff, which was so soft and warm.
+
+The coach stopped in the courtyard of a robber's castle, the walls of
+which were full of cracks from top to bottom. Ravens and crows flew in
+and out of the holes and crevices, while great bulldogs, each of which
+looked as if it could swallow a man, were jumping about; but they were
+not allowed to bark.
+
+In the large old smoky hall a bright fire was burning on the stone
+floor. There was no chimney, so the smoke went up to the ceiling and
+found a way out for itself. Soup was boiling in a large cauldron, and
+hares and rabbits were roasting on the spit.
+
+"You shall sleep with me and all my little animals to-night," said the
+robber girl after they had had something to eat and drink. So she took
+Gerda to a corner of the hall where some straw and carpets were laid
+down. Above them, on laths and perches, were more than a hundred pigeons
+that all seemed to be asleep, although they moved slightly when the two
+little girls came near them. "These all belong to me," said the robber
+girl, and she seized the nearest to her, held it by the feet, and shook
+it till it flapped its wings. "Kiss it," cried she, flapping it in
+Gerda's face.
+
+"There sit the wood pigeons," continued she, pointing to a number of
+laths and a cage which had been fixed into the walls, near one of the
+openings. "Both rascals would fly away directly, if they were not
+closely locked up. And here is my old sweetheart 'Ba,'" and she dragged
+out a reindeer by the horn; he wore a bright copper ring round his neck
+and was tethered to the spot. "We are obliged to hold him tight too,
+else he would run away from us also. I tickle his neck every evening
+with my sharp knife, which frightens him very much." And the robber girl
+drew a long knife from a chink in the wall and let it slide gently over
+the reindeer's neck. The poor animal began to kick, and the little
+robber girl laughed and pulled down Gerda into bed with her.
+
+"Will you have that knife with you while you are asleep?" asked Gerda,
+looking at it in great fright.
+
+"I always sleep with the knife by me," said the robber girl. "No one
+knows what may happen. But now tell me again all about little Kay, and
+why you went out into the world."
+
+Then Gerda repeated her story over again, while the wood pigeons in the
+cage over her cooed, and the other pigeons slept. The little robber girl
+put one arm across Gerda's neck, and held the knife in the other, and
+was soon fast asleep and snoring. But Gerda could not close her eyes at
+all; she knew not whether she was to live or to die. The robbers sat
+round the fire, singing and drinking. It was a terrible sight for a
+little girl to witness.
+
+Then the wood pigeons said: "Coo, coo, we have seen little Kay. A white
+fowl carried his sledge, and he sat in the carriage of the Snow Queen,
+which drove through the wood while we were lying in our nest. She blew
+upon us, and all the young ones died, excepting us two. Coo, coo."
+
+"What are you saying up there?" cried Gerda. "Where was the Snow Queen
+going? Do you know anything about it?"
+
+"She was most likely traveling to Lapland, where there is always snow
+and ice. Ask the reindeer that is fastened up there with a rope."
+
+"Yes, there is always snow and ice," said the reindeer, "and it is a
+glorious place; you can leap and run about freely on the sparkling icy
+plains. The Snow Queen has her summer tent there, but her strong castle
+is at the North Pole, on an island called Spitzbergen."
+
+"O Kay, little Kay!" sighed Gerda.
+
+"Lie still," said the robber girl, "or you shall feel my knife."
+
+In the morning Gerda told her all that the wood pigeons had said, and
+the little robber girl looked quite serious, and nodded her head and
+said: "That is all talk, that is all talk. Do you know where Lapland
+is?" she asked the reindeer.
+
+"Who should know better than I do?" said the animal, while his eyes
+sparkled. "I was born and brought up there and used to run about the
+snow-covered plains."
+
+"Now listen," said the robber girl; "all our men are gone away; only
+mother is here, and here she will stay; but at noon she always drinks
+out of a great bottle, and afterwards sleeps for a little while; and
+then I'll do something for you." She jumped out of bed, clasped her
+mother round the neck, and pulled her by the beard, crying, "My own
+little nanny goat, good morning!" And her mother pinched her nose till
+it was quite red; yet she did it all for love.
+
+When the mother had gone to sleep the little robber maiden went to the
+reindeer and said: "I should like very much to tickle your neck a few
+times more with my knife, for it makes you look so funny, but never
+mind--I will untie your cord and set you free, so that you may run away
+to Lapland; but you must make good use of your legs and carry this
+little maiden to the castle of the Snow Queen, where her playfellow is.
+You have heard what she told me, for she spoke loud enough, and you were
+listening."
+
+The reindeer jumped for joy, and the little robber girl lifted Gerda on
+his back and had the forethought to tie her on and even to give her her
+own little cushion to sit upon.
+
+"Here are your fur boots for you," said she, "for it will be very cold;
+but I must keep the muff, it is so pretty. However, you shall not be
+frozen for the want of it; here are my mother's large warm mittens; they
+will reach up to your elbows. Let me put them on. There, now your hands
+look just like my mother's."
+
+But Gerda wept for joy.
+
+"I don't like to see you fret," said the little robber girl. "You ought
+to look quite happy now. And here are two loaves and a ham, so that you
+need not starve."
+
+These were fastened upon the reindeer, and then the little robber maiden
+opened the door, coaxed in all the great dogs, cut the string with
+which the reindeer was fastened, with her sharp knife, and said, "Now
+run, but mind you take good care of the little girl." And Gerda
+stretched out her hand, with the great mitten on it, toward the little
+robber girl and said "Farewell," and away flew the reindeer over stumps
+and stones, through the great forest, over marshes and plains, as
+quickly as he could. The wolves howled and the ravens screamed, while up
+in the sky quivered red lights like flames of fire. "There are my old
+northern lights," said the reindeer; "see how they flash!" And he ran on
+day and night still faster and faster, but the loaves and the ham were
+all eaten by the time they reached Lapland.
+
+
+SIXTH STORY
+
+THE LAPLAND WOMAN AND THE FINLAND WOMAN
+
+They stopped at a little hut; it was very mean looking. The roof sloped
+nearly down to the ground, and the door was so low that the family had
+to creep in on their hands and knees when they went in and out. There
+was no one at home but an old Lapland woman who was dressing fish by the
+light of a train-oil lamp.
+
+The reindeer told her all about Gerda's story after having first told
+his own, which seemed to him the most important. But Gerda was so
+pinched with the cold that she could not speak.
+
+"Oh, you poor things," said the Lapland woman, "you have a long way to
+go yet. You must travel more than a hundred miles farther, to Finland.
+The Snow Queen lives there now, and she burns Bengal lights every
+evening. I will write a few words on a dried stockfish, for I have no
+paper, and you can take it from me to the Finland woman who lives there.
+She can give you better information than I can."
+
+So when Gerda was warmed and had taken something to eat and drink, the
+woman wrote a few words on the dried fish and told Gerda to take great
+care of it. Then she tied her again on the back of the reindeer, and he
+sprang high into the air and set off at full speed. Flash, flash, went
+the beautiful blue northern lights the whole night long.
+
+And at length they reached Finland and knocked at the chimney of the
+Finland woman's hut, for it had no door above the ground. They crept in,
+but it was so terribly hot inside that the woman wore scarcely any
+clothes. She was small and very dirty looking. She loosened little
+Gerda's dress and took off the fur boots and the mittens, or Gerda would
+have been unable to bear the heat; and then she placed a piece of ice on
+the reindeer's head and read what was written on the dried fish. After
+she had read it three times she knew it by heart, so she popped the fish
+into the soup saucepan, as she knew it was good to eat, and she never
+wasted anything.
+
+The reindeer told his own story first and then little Gerda's, and the
+Finlander twinkled with her clever eyes, but said nothing.
+
+"You are so clever," said the reindeer; "I know you can tie all the
+winds of the world with a piece of twine. If a sailor unties one knot,
+he has a fair wind; when he unties the second, it blows hard; but if the
+third and fourth are loosened, then comes a storm which will root up
+whole forests. Cannot you give this little maiden something which will
+make her as strong as twelve men, to overcome the Snow Queen?"
+
+"The power of twelve men!" said the Finland woman. "That would be of
+very little use." But she went to a shelf and took down and unrolled a
+large skin on which were inscribed wonderful characters, and she read
+till the perspiration ran down from her forehead.
+
+But the reindeer begged so hard for little Gerda, and Gerda looked at
+the Finland woman with such tender, tearful eyes, that her own eyes
+began to twinkle again. She drew the reindeer into a corner and
+whispered to him while she laid a fresh piece of ice on his head:
+"Little Kay is really with the Snow Queen, but he finds everything there
+so much to his taste and his liking that he believes it is the finest
+place in the world; and this is because he has a piece of broken glass
+in his heart and a little splinter of glass in his eye. These must be
+taken out, or he will never be a human being again, and the Snow Queen
+will retain her power over him."
+
+"But can you not give little Gerda something to help her to conquer this
+power?"
+
+"I can give her no greater power than she has already," said the woman;
+"don't you see how strong that is? how men and animals are obliged to
+serve her, and how well she has gotten through the world, barefooted as
+she is? She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has,
+which consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot
+herself obtain access to the Snow Queen and remove the glass fragments
+from little Kay, we can do nothing to help her. Two miles from here the
+Snow Queen's garden begins. You can carry the little girl so far, and
+set her down by the large bush which stands in the snow, covered with
+red berries. Do not stay gossiping, but come back here as quickly as you
+can." Then the Finland woman lifted little Gerda upon the reindeer, and
+he ran away with her as quickly as he could.
+
+"Oh, I have forgotten my boots and my mittens," cried little Gerda, as
+soon as she felt the cutting cold; but the reindeer dared not stop, so
+he ran on till he reached the bush with the red berries. Here he set
+Gerda down, and he kissed her, and the great bright tears trickled over
+the animal's cheeks; then he left her and ran back as fast as he could.
+
+There stood poor Gerda, without shoes, without gloves, in the midst of
+cold, dreary, ice-bound Finland. She ran forward as quickly as she
+could, when a whole regiment of snowflakes came round her. They did not,
+however, fall from the sky, which was quite clear and glittered with the
+northern lights. The snowflakes ran along the ground, and the nearer
+they came to her the larger they appeared. Gerda remembered how large
+and beautiful they looked through the burning glass. But these were
+really larger and much more terrible, for they were alive and were the
+guards of the Snow Queen and had the strangest shapes. Some were like
+great porcupines, others like twisted serpents with their heads
+stretching out, and some few were like little fat bears with their hair
+bristled; but all were dazzlingly white, and all were living snowflakes.
+
+Little Gerda repeated the Lord's Prayer, and the cold was so great that
+she could see her own breath come out of her mouth like steam, as she
+uttered the words. The steam appeared to increase as she continued her
+prayer, till it took the shape of little angels, who grew larger the
+moment they touched the earth. They all wore helmets on their heads and
+carried spears and shields. Their number continued to increase more and
+more, and by the time Gerda had finished her prayers a whole legion
+stood round her. They thrust their spears into the terrible snowflakes
+so that they shivered into a hundred pieces, and little Gerda could go
+forward with courage and safety. The angels stroked her hands and feet,
+so that she felt the cold less as she hastened on to the Snow Queen's
+castle.
+
+But now we must see what Kay is doing. In truth he thought not of little
+Gerda, and least of all that she could be standing at the front of the
+palace.
+
+
+SEVENTH STORY
+
+OF THE PALACE OF THE SNOW QUEEN AND WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT LAST
+
+The walls of the palace were formed of drifted snow, and the windows and
+doors of cutting winds. There were more than a hundred rooms in it, all
+as if they had been formed of snow blown together. The largest of them
+extended for several miles. They were all lighted up by the vivid light
+of the aurora, and were so large and empty, so icy cold and glittering!
+
+There were no amusements here; not even a little bear's ball, when the
+storm might have been the music, and the bears could have danced on
+their hind legs and shown their good manners. There were no pleasant
+games of snapdragon, or touch, nor even a gossip over the tea table for
+the young-lady foxes. Empty, vast, and cold were the halls of the Snow
+Queen.
+
+The flickering flames of the northern lights could be plainly seen,
+whether they rose high or low in the heavens, from every part of the
+castle. In the midst of this empty, endless hall of snow was a frozen
+lake, broken on its surface into a thousand forms; each piece resembled
+another, because each was in itself perfect as a work of art, and in the
+center of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home. She called
+the lake "The Mirror of Reason," and said that it was the best, and
+indeed the only one, in the world.
+
+[Illustration: In the center of the lake sat the Snow Queen]
+
+Little Kay was quite blue with cold,--indeed, almost black,--but he did
+not feel it; for the Snow Queen had kissed away the icy shiverings, and
+his heart was already a lump of ice. He dragged some sharp, flat pieces
+of ice to and fro and placed them together in all kinds of positions, as
+if he wished to make something out of them--just as we try to form
+various figures with little tablets of wood, which we call a "Chinese
+puzzle." Kay's figures were very artistic; it was the icy game of reason
+at which he played, and in his eyes the figures were very remarkable and
+of the highest importance; this opinion was owing to the splinter of
+glass still sticking in his eye. He composed many complete figures,
+forming different words, but there was one word he never could manage to
+form, although he wished it very much. It was the word "Eternity."
+
+The Snow Queen had said to him, "When you can find out this, you shall
+be your own master, and I will give you the whole world and a new pair
+of skates." But he could not accomplish it.
+
+"Now I must hasten away to warmer countries," said the Snow Queen. "I
+will go and look into the black craters of the tops of the burning
+mountains, Etna and Vesuvius, as they are called. I shall make them look
+white, which will be good for them and for the lemons and the grapes."
+And away flew the Snow Queen, leaving little Kay quite alone in the
+great hall which was so many miles in length. He sat and looked at his
+pieces of ice and was thinking so deeply and sat so still that any one
+might have supposed he was frozen.
+
+Just at this moment it happened that little Gerda came through the great
+door of the castle. Cutting winds were raging around her, but she
+offered up a prayer, and the winds sank down as if they were going to
+sleep. On she went till she came to the large, empty hall and caught
+sight of Kay. She knew him directly; she flew to him and threw her arms
+around his neck and held him fast while she exclaimed, "Kay, dear little
+Kay, I have found you at last!"
+
+But he sat quite still, stiff and cold.
+
+Then little Gerda wept hot tears, which fell on his breast, and
+penetrated into his heart, and thawed the lump of ice, and washed away
+the little piece of glass which had stuck there. Then he looked at her,
+and she sang:
+
+          "Roses bloom and fade away,
+           But we the Christ-child see alway."
+
+Then Kay burst into tears. He wept so that the splinter of glass swam
+out of his eye. Then he recognized Gerda and said joyfully, "Gerda, dear
+little Gerda, where have you been all this time, and where have I been?"
+And he looked all around him and said, "How cold it is, and how large
+and empty it all looks," and he clung to Gerda, and she laughed and wept
+for joy.
+
+It was so pleasing to see them that even the pieces of ice danced, and
+when they were tired and went to lie down they formed themselves into
+the letters of the word which the Snow Queen had said he must find out
+before he could be his own master and have the whole world and a pair of
+new skates.
+
+Gerda kissed his cheeks, and they became blooming; and she kissed his
+eyes till they shone like her own; she kissed his hands and feet, and he
+became quite healthy and cheerful. The Snow Queen might come home now
+when she pleased, for there stood his certainty of freedom, in the word
+she wanted, written in shining letters of ice.
+
+Then they took each other by the hand and went forth from the great
+palace of ice. They spoke of the grandmother and of the roses on the
+roof, and as they went on the winds were at rest, and the sun burst
+forth. When they arrived at the bush with red berries, there stood the
+reindeer waiting for them, and he had brought another young reindeer
+with him, whose udders were full, and the children drank her warm milk
+and kissed her on the mouth.
+
+They carried Kay and Gerda first to the Finland woman, where they warmed
+themselves thoroughly in the hot room and had directions about their
+journey home. Next they went to the Lapland woman, who had made some new
+clothes for them and put their sleighs in order. Both the reindeer ran
+by their side and followed them as far as the boundaries of the country,
+where the first green leaves were budding. And here they took leave of
+the two reindeer and the Lapland woman, and all said farewell.
+
+Then birds began to twitter, and the forest too was full of green young
+leaves, and out of it came a beautiful horse, which Gerda remembered,
+for it was one which had drawn the golden coach. A young girl was riding
+upon it, with a shining red cap on her head and pistols in her belt. It
+was the little robber maiden, who had got tired of staying at home; she
+was going first to the north, and if that did not suit her, she meant to
+try some other part of the world. She knew Gerda directly, and Gerda
+remembered her; it was a joyful meeting.
+
+"You are a fine fellow to go gadding about in this way," said she to
+little Kay. "I should like to know whether you deserve that any one
+should go to the end of the world to find you."
+
+But Gerda patted her cheeks and asked after the prince and princess.
+
+"They are gone to foreign countries," said the robber girl.
+
+"And the crow?" asked Gerda.
+
+"Oh, the crow is dead," she replied. "His tame sweetheart is now a widow
+and wears a bit of black worsted round her leg. She mourns very
+pitifully, but it is all stuff. But now tell me how you managed to get
+him back."
+
+Then Gerda and Kay told her all about it.
+
+"Snip, snap, snurre! it's all right at last," said the robber girl.
+
+She took both their hands and promised that if ever she should pass
+through the town, she would call and pay them a visit. And then she rode
+away into the wide world.
+
+But Gerda and Kay went hand in hand toward home, and as they advanced,
+spring appeared more lovely with its green verdure and its beautiful
+flowers. Very soon they recognized the large town where they lived, and
+the tall steeples of the churches in which the sweet bells were ringing
+a merry peal, as they entered it and found their way to their
+grandmother's door.
+
+They went upstairs into the little room, where all looked just as it
+used to do. The old clock was going "Tick, tick," and the hands pointed
+to the time of day, but as they passed through the door into the room
+they perceived that they were both grown up and become a man and woman.
+The roses out on the roof were in full bloom and peeped in at the
+window, and there stood the little chairs on which they had sat when
+children, and Kay and Gerda seated themselves each on their own chair
+and held each other by the hand, while the cold, empty grandeur of the
+Snow Queen's palace vanished from their memories like a painful dream.
+
+The grandmother sat in God's bright sunshine, and she read aloud from
+the Bible, "Except ye become as little children, ye shall in no wise
+enter into the kingdom of God." And Kay and Gerda looked into each
+other's eyes and all at once understood the words of the old song:
+
+          Roses bloom and fade away,
+          But we the Christ-child see alway.
+
+And they both sat there, grown up, yet children at heart, and it was
+summer--warm, beautiful summer.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE ROSES AND THE SPARROWS
+
+
+IT really appeared as if something very important were going on by the
+duck pond, but this was not the case.
+
+A few minutes before, all the ducks had been resting on the water or
+standing on their heads--for that they can do--and then they all swam in
+a bustle to the shore. The traces of their feet could be seen on the wet
+earth, and far and wide could be heard their quacking. The water, so
+lately clear and bright as a mirror, was in quite a commotion.
+
+But a moment before, every tree and bush near the old farmhouse--and
+even the house itself with the holes in the roof and the swallows' nests
+and, above all, the beautiful rosebush covered with roses--had been
+clearly reflected in the water. The rosebush on the wall hung over the
+water, which resembled a picture only that everything appeared upside
+down, but when the water was set in motion all vanished, and the picture
+disappeared.
+
+Two feathers, dropped by the fluttering ducks, floated to and fro on the
+water. All at once they took a start as if the wind were coming, but it
+did not come, so they were obliged to lie still, as the water became
+again quiet and at rest. The roses could once more behold their own
+reflections. They were very beautiful, but they knew it not, for no one
+had told them. The sun shone between the delicate leaves, and the sweet
+fragrance spread itself, carrying happiness everywhere.
+
+"How beautiful is our existence!" said one of the roses. "I feel as if I
+should like to kiss the sun, it is so bright and warm. I should like to
+kiss the roses too, our images in the water, and the pretty birds there
+in their nests. There are some birds too in the nest above us; they
+stretch out their heads and cry 'Tweet, tweet,' very faintly. They have
+no feathers yet, such as their father and mother have. Both above us and
+below us we have good neighbors. How beautiful is our life!"
+
+The young birds above and the young ones below were the same; they were
+sparrows, and their nest was reflected in the water. Their parents were
+sparrows also, and they had taken possession of an empty swallow's nest
+of the year before, occupying it now as if it were their own.
+
+"Are those ducks' children that are swimming about? asked the young
+sparrows, as they spied the feathers on the water.
+
+"If you must ask questions, pray ask sensible ones," said the mother.
+"Can you not see that these are feathers, the living stuff for clothes,
+which I wear and which you will wear soon, only ours are much finer? I
+should like, however, to have them up here in the nest, they would make
+it so warm. I am rather curious to know why the ducks were so alarmed
+just now. It could not be from fear of us, certainly, though I did say
+'tweet' rather loudly. The thick-headed roses really ought to know, but
+they are very ignorant; they only look at one another and smell. I am
+heartily tired of such neighbors."
+
+"Listen to the sweet little birds above us," said the roses; "they are
+trying to sing. They cannot manage it yet, but it will be done in time.
+What a pleasure it will be, and how nice to have such lively neighbors!"
+
+Suddenly two horses came prancing along to drink at the water. A peasant
+boy rode on one of them; he had a broad-brimmed black hat on, but had
+taken off the most of his clothes, that he might ride into the deepest
+part of the pond; he whistled like a bird, and while passing the
+rosebush he plucked a rose and placed it in his hat and then rode on
+thinking himself very fine. The other roses looked at their sister and
+asked each other where she could be going, but they did not know.
+
+"I should like for once to go out into the world," said one, "although
+it is very lovely here in our home of green leaves. The sun shines
+warmly by day, and in the night we can see that heaven is more beautiful
+still, as it sparkles through the holes in the sky."
+
+She meant the stars, for she knew no better.
+
+"We make the house very lively," said the mother sparrow, "and people
+say that a swallow's nest brings luck, therefore they are pleased to
+see us; but as to our neighbors, a rosebush on the wall produces damp.
+It will most likely be removed, and perhaps corn will grow here instead
+of it. Roses are good for nothing but to be looked at and smelt, or
+perhaps one may chance to be stuck in a hat. I have heard from my mother
+that they fall off every year. The farmer's wife preserves them by
+laying them in salt, and then they receive a French name which I neither
+can nor will pronounce; then they are sprinkled on the fire to produce a
+pleasant smell. Such you see is their life. They are only formed to
+please the eye and the nose. Now you know all about them."
+
+As the evening approached, the gnats played about in the warm air
+beneath the rosy clouds, and the nightingale came and sang to the roses
+that _the beautiful_ was like sunshine to the world, and that _the
+beautiful_ lives forever. The roses thought that the nightingale was
+singing of herself, which any one indeed could easily suppose; they
+never imagined that her song could refer to them. But it was a joy to
+them, and they wondered to themselves whether all the little sparrows in
+the nest would become nightingales.
+
+"We understood that bird's song very well," said the young sparrows,
+"but one word was not clear. What is _the beautiful_?"
+
+"Oh, nothing of any consequence," replied the mother sparrow. "It is
+something relating to appearances over yonder at the nobleman's house.
+The pigeons have a house of their own, and every day they have corn and
+peas spread for them. I have dined there with them sometimes, and so
+shall you by and by, for I believe the old maxim--'Tell me what company
+you keep, and I will tell you what you are.' Well, over at the noble
+house there are two birds with green throats and crests on their heads.
+They can spread out their tails like large wheels, and they reflect so
+many beautiful colors that it dazzles the eyes to look at them. These
+birds are called peacocks, and they belong to _the beautiful_; but if
+only a few of their feathers were plucked off, they would not appear
+better than we do. I would myself have plucked some out had they not
+been so large."
+
+"I will pluck them," squeaked the youngest sparrow, who had as yet no
+feathers of his own.
+
+In the cottage dwelt two young married people, who loved each other very
+much and were industrious and active so that everything looked neat and
+pretty around them. Early on Sunday mornings the young wife came out,
+gathered a handful of the most beautiful roses, and put them in a glass
+of water, which she placed on a side table.
+
+"I see now that it is Sunday," said the husband, as he kissed his little
+wife. Then they sat down and read in their hymn books, holding each
+other's hands, while the sun shone down upon the young couple and upon
+the fresh roses in the glass.
+
+"This sight is really too wearisome," said the mother sparrow, who from
+her nest could look into the room; and she flew away.
+
+The same thing occurred the next Sunday; and indeed every Sunday fresh
+roses were gathered and placed in a glass, but the rose tree continued
+to bloom in all its beauty. After a while the young sparrows were
+fledged and wanted to fly, but the mother would not allow it, and so
+they were obliged to remain in the nest for the present, while she flew
+away alone. It so happened that some boys had fastened a snare made of
+horsehair to the branch of a tree, and before she was aware, her leg
+became entangled in the horsehair so tightly as almost to cut it
+through. What pain and terror she felt! The boys ran up quickly and
+seized her, not in a very gentle manner.
+
+"It is only a sparrow," they said. However they did not let her fly, but
+took her home with them, and every time she cried they tapped her on the
+beak.
+
+In the farmyard they met an old man who knew how to make soap for
+shaving and washing, in cakes or in balls. When he saw the sparrow which
+the boys had brought home and which they said they did not know what to
+do with, he said, "Shall we make it beautiful?"
+
+A cold shudder passed over the sparrow when she heard this. The old man
+then took a shell containing a quantity of glittering gold leaf from a
+box full of beautiful colors and told the youngsters to fetch the white
+of an egg, with which he besmeared the sparrow all over and then laid
+the gold leaf upon it, so that the mother sparrow was now gilded from
+head to tail. She thought not of her appearance, but trembled in every
+limb. Then the soap maker tore a little piece out of the red lining of
+his jacket, cut notches in it, so that it looked like a cock'scomb, and
+stuck it on the bird's head.
+
+"Now you shall see gold-jacket fly," said the old man, and he released
+the sparrow, which flew away in deadly terror with the sunlight shining
+upon her. How she did glitter! All the sparrows, and even a crow, who is
+a knowing old boy, were startled at the sight, yet they all followed it
+to discover what foreign bird it could be. Driven by anguish and terror,
+she flew homeward almost ready to sink to the earth for want of
+strength. The flock of birds that were following increased and some even
+tried to peck her.
+
+"Look at him! look at him!" they all cried. "Look at him! look at him!"
+cried the young ones as their mother approached the nest, for they did
+not know her. "That must be a young peacock, for he glitters in all
+colors. It quite hurts one's eyes to look at him, as mother told us;
+'tweet,' this is _the beautiful_." And then they pecked the bird with
+their little beaks so that she was quite unable to get into the nest and
+was too much exhausted even to say "tweet," much less "I am your
+mother." So the other birds fell upon the sparrow and pulled out feather
+after feather till she sank bleeding into the rosebush.
+
+"You poor creature," said the roses, "be at rest. We will hide you; lean
+your little head against us."
+
+The sparrow spread out her wings once more, then drew them in close
+about her and lay dead among the roses, her fresh and lovely neighbors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Tweet," sounded from the nest; "where can our mother be staying? It is
+quite unaccountable. Can this be a trick of hers to show us that we are
+now to take care of ourselves? She has left us the house as an
+inheritance, but as it cannot belong to us all when we have families,
+who is to have it?"
+
+"It won't do for you all to stay with me when I increase my household
+with a wife and children," remarked the youngest.
+
+"I shall have more wives and children than you," said the second.
+
+"But I am the eldest," cried a third.
+
+Then they all became angry, beat each other with their wings, pecked
+with their beaks, till one after another bounced out of the nest. There
+they lay in a rage, holding their heads on one side and twinkling the
+eye that looked upward. This was their way of looking sulky.
+
+They could all fly a little, and by practice they soon learned to do so
+much better. At length they agreed upon a sign by which they might be
+able to recognize each other in case they should meet in the world after
+they had separated. This sign was to be the cry of "tweet, tweet," and a
+scratching on the ground three times with the left foot.
+
+The youngster who was left behind in the nest spread himself out as
+broad as ever he could; he was the householder now. But his glory did
+not last long, for during that night red flames of fire burst through
+the windows of the cottage, seized the thatched roof, and blazed up
+frightfully. The whole house was burned, and the sparrow perished with
+it, while the young couple fortunately escaped with their lives.
+
+When the sun rose again, and all nature looked refreshed as after a
+quiet sleep, nothing remained of the cottage but a few blackened,
+charred beams leaning against the chimney, that now was the only master
+of the place. Thick smoke still rose from the ruins, but outside on the
+wall the rosebush remained unhurt, blooming and fresh as ever, while
+each flower and each spray was mirrored in the clear water beneath.
+
+"How beautifully the roses are blooming on the walls of that ruined
+cottage," said a passer-by. "A more lovely picture could scarcely be
+imagined. I must have it."
+
+And the speaker took out of his pocket a little book full of white
+leaves of paper (for he was an artist), and with a pencil he made a
+sketch of the smoking ruins, the blackened rafters, and the chimney that
+overhung them and which seemed more and more to totter; and quite in the
+foreground stood the large, blooming rosebush, which added beauty to the
+picture; indeed, it was for the sake of the roses that the sketch had
+been made. Later in the day two of the sparrows who had been born there
+came by.
+
+"Where is the house?" they asked. "Where is the nest? Tweet, tweet; all
+is burned down, and our strong brother with it. That is all he got by
+keeping the nest. The roses have escaped famously; they look as well as
+ever, with their rosy cheeks; they do not trouble themselves about their
+neighbors' misfortunes. I won't speak to them. And really, in my
+opinion, the place looks very ugly"; so they flew away.
+
+On a fine, bright, sunny day in autumn, so bright that any one might
+have supposed it was still the middle of summer, a number of pigeons
+were hopping about in the nicely kept courtyard of the nobleman's house,
+in front of the great steps. Some were black, others white, and some of
+various colors, and their plumage glittered in the sunshine. An old
+mother pigeon said to her young ones, "Place yourselves in groups! place
+yourselves in groups! it has a much better appearance."
+
+"What are those little gray creatures which are running about behind
+us?" asked an old pigeon with red and green round her eyes. "Little gray
+ones, little gray ones," she cried.
+
+"They are sparrows--good little creatures enough. We have always had the
+character of being very good-natured, so we allow them to pick up some
+corn with us; they do not interrupt our conversation, and they draw back
+their left foot so prettily."
+
+Sure enough, so they did, three times each, and with the left foot too,
+and said "tweet," by which we recognize them as the sparrows that were
+brought up in the nest on the house that was burned down.
+
+"The food here is very good," said the sparrows; while the pigeons
+strutted round each other, puffed out their throats, and formed their
+own opinions on what they observed.
+
+"Do you see the pouter pigeon?" asked one pigeon of another. "Do you see
+how he swallows the peas? He takes too much and always chooses the best
+of everything. Coo-oo, coo-oo. How the ugly, spiteful creature erects
+his crest." And all their eyes sparkled with malice. "Place yourselves
+in groups, place yourselves in groups. Little gray coats, little gray
+coats. Coo-oo, coo-oo."
+
+So they went on, and it will be the same a thousand years hence.
+
+The sparrows feasted bravely and listened attentively; they even stood
+in ranks like the pigeons, but it did not suit them. So having satisfied
+their hunger, they left the pigeons passing their own opinions upon them
+to each other and slipped through the garden railings. The door of a
+room in the house, leading into the garden, stood open, and one of them,
+feeling brave after his good dinner, hopped upon the threshold crying,
+"Tweet, I can venture so far."
+
+"Tweet," said another, "I can venture that, and a great deal more," and
+into the room he hopped.
+
+The first followed, and, seeing no one there, the third became
+courageous and flew right across the room, saying: "Venture everything,
+or do not venture at all. This is a wonderful place--a man's nest, I
+suppose; and look! what can this be?"
+
+Just in front of the sparrows stood the ruins of the burned cottage;
+roses were blooming over it, and their reflection appeared in the water
+beneath, and the black, charred beams rested against the tottering
+chimney. How could it be? How came the cottage and the roses in a room
+in the nobleman's house? And then the sparrows tried to fly over the
+roses and the chimney, but they only struck themselves against a flat
+wall. It was a picture--a large, beautiful picture which the artist had
+painted from the little sketch he had made.
+
+"Tweet," said the sparrows, "it is really nothing, after all; it only
+looks like reality. Tweet, I suppose that is _the beautiful_. Can you
+understand it? I cannot."
+
+Then some persons entered the room and the sparrows flew away. Days and
+years passed. The pigeons had often "coo-oo-d"--we must not say
+quarreled, though perhaps they did, the naughty things! The sparrows had
+suffered from cold in the winter and lived gloriously in summer. They
+were all betrothed, or married, or whatever you like to call it. They
+had little ones, and each considered its own brood the wisest and the
+prettiest.
+
+One flew in this direction and another in that, and when they met they
+recognized each other by saying "tweet" and three times drawing back
+the left foot. The eldest remained single; she had no nest nor young
+ones. Her great wish was to see a large town, so she flew to Copenhagen.
+
+Close by the castle, and by the canal, in which swam many ships laden
+with apples and pottery, there was to be seen a great house. The windows
+were broader below than at the top, and when the sparrows peeped through
+they saw a room that looked to them like a tulip with beautiful colors
+of every shade. Within the tulip were white figures of human beings,
+made of marble--some few of plaster, but this is the same thing to a
+sparrow. Upon the roof stood a metal chariot and horses, and the goddess
+of victory, also of metal, was seated in the chariot driving the horses.
+
+It was Thorwaldsen's museum. "How it shines and glitters," said the
+maiden sparrow. "This must be _the beautiful_,--tweet,--only this is
+larger than a peacock." She remembered what her mother had told them in
+her childhood, that the peacock was one of the greatest examples of _the
+beautiful_. She flew down into the courtyard, where everything also was
+very grand. The walls were painted to represent palm branches, and in
+the midst of the court stood a large, blooming rose tree, spreading its
+young, sweet, rose-covered branches over a grave. Thither the maiden
+sparrow flew, for she saw many others of her own kind.
+
+"Tweet," said she, drawing back her foot three times. She had, during
+the years that had passed, often made the usual greeting to the sparrows
+she met, but without receiving any acknowledgment; for friends who are
+once separated do not meet every day. This manner of greeting was become
+a habit to her, and to-day two old sparrows and a young one returned the
+greeting.
+
+"Tweet," they replied and drew back the left foot three times. They were
+two old sparrows out of the nest, and a young one belonging to the
+family. "Ah, good day; how do you do? To think of our meeting here! This
+is a very grand place, but there is not much to eat; this is _the
+beautiful_. Tweet!"
+
+A great many people now came out of the side rooms, in which the marble
+statues stood, and approached the grave where rested the remains of the
+great master who carved them. As they stood round Thorwaldsen's grave,
+each face had a reflected glory, and some few gathered up the fallen
+rose leaves to preserve them. They had all come from afar; one from
+mighty England, others from Germany and France. One very handsome lady
+plucked a rose and concealed it in her bosom. Then the sparrows thought
+that the roses ruled in this place, and that the whole house had been
+built for them--which seemed really too much honor; but as all the
+people showed their love for the roses, the sparrows thought they would
+not remain behindhand in paying their respects.
+
+"Tweet," they said, and swept the ground with their tails, and glanced
+with one eye at the roses. They had not looked at them very long,
+however, before they felt convinced that they were old acquaintances,
+and so they actually were. The artist who had sketched the rosebush and
+the ruins of the cottage had since then received permission to
+transplant the bush and had given it to the architect, for more
+beautiful roses had never been seen. The architect had planted it on the
+grave of Thorwaldsen, where it continued to bloom, the image of _the
+beautiful_, scattering its fragrant, rosy leaves to be gathered and
+carried away into distant lands in memory of the spot on which they
+fell.
+
+"Have you obtained a situation in town?" then asked the sparrows of the
+roses.
+
+The roses nodded. They recognized their little brown neighbors and were
+rejoiced to see them again.
+
+"It is very delightful," said the roses, "to live here and to blossom,
+to meet old friends, and to see cheerful faces every day. It is as if
+each day were a holiday."
+
+"Tweet," said the sparrows to each other. "Yes, these really are our old
+neighbors. We remember their origin near the pond. Tweet! how they have
+risen, to be sure. Some people seem to get on while they are asleep. Ah!
+there's a withered leaf. I can see it quite plainly."
+
+And they pecked at the leaf till it fell, but the rosebush continued
+fresher and greener than ever. The roses bloomed in the sunshine on
+Thorwaldsen's grave and thus became linked with his immortal name.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE OLD HOUSE
+
+
+A VERY old house once stood in a street with several others that were
+quite new and clean. One could read the date of its erection, which had
+been carved on one of the beams and surrounded by scrolls formed of
+tulips and hop tendrils; by this date it could be seen that the old
+house was nearly three hundred years old. Entire verses too were written
+over the windows in old-fashioned letters, and grotesque faces,
+curiously carved, grinned at you from under the cornices. One story
+projected a long way over the other, and under the roof ran a leaden
+gutter with a dragon's head at the end. The rain was intended to pour
+out at the dragon's mouth, but it ran out of his body instead, for there
+was a hole in the gutter.
+
+All the other houses in the street were new and well built, with large
+windowpanes and smooth walls. Any one might see they had nothing to do
+with the old house. Perhaps they thought: "How long will that heap of
+rubbish remain here, to be a disgrace to the whole street? The parapet
+projects so far forward that no one can see out of our windows what is
+going on in that direction. The stairs are as broad as the staircase of
+a castle and as steep as if they led to a church tower. The iron railing
+looks like the gate of a cemetery, and there are brass knobs upon it. It
+is really too ridiculous."
+
+Opposite to the old house were more nice new houses, which had just the
+same opinion as their neighbors.
+
+At the window of one of them sat a little boy with fresh, rosy cheeks
+and clear, sparkling eyes, who was very fond of the old house in
+sunshine or in moonlight. He would sit and look at the wall, from which
+the plaster had in some places fallen off, and fancy all sorts of scenes
+which had been in former times--how the street must have looked when the
+houses had all gable roofs, open staircases, and gutters with dragons
+at the spout. He could even see soldiers walking about with halberds.
+Certainly it was a very good house to look at for amusement.
+
+An old man lived in it who wore knee breeches, a coat with large brass
+buttons, and a wig which any one could see was a real one. Every morning
+there came an old man to clean the rooms and to wait upon him, otherwise
+the old man in the knee breeches would have been quite alone in the
+house. Sometimes he came to one of the windows and looked out; then the
+little boy nodded to him, and the old man nodded back again, till they
+became acquainted, and were friends, although they had never spoken to
+each other; but that was of no consequence.
+
+The little boy one day heard his parents say, "The old man is very well
+off, but he must be terribly lonely." So the next Sunday morning the
+little boy wrapped something in a paper, and took it to the door of the
+old house, and said to the attendant who waited upon the old man: "Will
+you please to give this from me to the gentleman who lives here? I have
+two tin soldiers, and this is one of them, and he shall have it,
+because I know he is terribly lonely."
+
+The old attendant nodded and looked very much pleased, and then he
+carried the tin soldier into the house.
+
+Afterwards he was sent over to ask the little boy if he would not like
+to pay a visit himself. His parents gave him permission, and so it was
+that he gained admission to the old house.
+
+The brass knobs on the railings shone more brightly than ever, as if
+they had been polished on account of his visit; and on the doors were
+carved trumpeters standing in tulips, and it seemed as if they were
+blowing with all their might, their cheeks were so puffed out:
+"Tanta-ra-ra, the little boy is coming. Tanta-ra-ra, the little boy is
+coming."
+
+Then the door opened. All round the hall hung old portraits of knights
+in armor and ladies in silk gowns; and the armor rattled, and the silk
+dresses rustled. Then came a staircase which went up a long way, and
+then came down a little way and led to a balcony which was in a very
+ruinous state. There were large holes and long cracks, out of which
+grew grass and leaves; indeed the whole balcony, the courtyard, and the
+walls were so overgrown with green that they looked like a garden.
+
+In the balcony stood flowerpots on which were heads having asses' ears,
+but the flowers in them grew just as they pleased. In one pot, pinks
+were growing all over the sides,--at least the green leaves
+were,--shooting forth stalk and stem and saying as plainly as they could
+speak, "The air has fanned me, the sun has kissed me, and I am promised
+a little flower for next Sunday--really for next Sunday!"
+
+Then they entered a room in which the walls were covered with leather,
+and the leather had golden flowers stamped upon it.
+
+          "Gilding wears out with time and bad weather,
+           But leather endures; there's nothing like leather,"
+
+said the walls. Chairs handsomely carved, with elbows on each side and
+with very high backs, stood in the room; and as they creaked they seemed
+to say: "Sit down. Oh dear! how I am creaking; I shall certainly have
+the gout like the old cupboard. Gout in my back, ugh!"
+
+And then the little boy entered the room where the old man sat.
+
+"Thank you for the tin soldier, my little friend," said the old man,
+"and thank you also for coming to see me."
+
+"Thanks, thanks"--or "Creak, creak"--said all the furniture.
+
+There was so much furniture that the pieces stood in each other's way to
+get a sight of the little boy. On the wall near the center of the room
+hung the picture of a beautiful lady, young and gay, dressed in the
+fashion of the olden times, with powdered hair and a full, stiff skirt.
+She said neither "thanks" nor "creak," but she looked down upon the
+little boy with her mild eyes, and he said to the old man,
+
+"Where did you get that picture?"
+
+"From the shop opposite," he replied. "Many portraits hang there. No one
+seems to know any of them or to trouble himself about them. The persons
+they represent have been dead and buried long since. But I knew this
+lady many years ago, and she has been dead nearly half a century."
+
+[Illustration: "Thank you for the tin soldier, my little friend," said
+the old man....]
+
+Under a glass beneath the picture hung a nosegay of withered flowers,
+which were, no doubt, half a century old too, at least they appeared so.
+
+And the pendulum of the old clock went to and fro, and the hands turned
+round, and as time passed on everything in the room grew older, but no
+one seemed to notice it.
+
+"They say at home," said the little boy, "that you are very lonely."
+
+"Oh," replied the old man, "I have pleasant thoughts of all that is past
+recalled by memory, and now you too are come to visit me, and that is
+very pleasant."
+
+Then he took from the bookcase a book full of pictures representing long
+processions of wonderful coaches such as are never seen at the present
+time, soldiers like the knave of clubs, and citizens with waving
+banners. The tailors had a flag with a pair of scissors supported by two
+lions, and on the shoemakers' flag there were not boots but an eagle
+with two heads, for the shoemakers must have everything arranged so that
+they can say, "This is a pair." What a picture book it was! And then the
+old man went into another room to fetch apples and nuts. It was very
+pleasant, certainly, to be in that old house.
+
+"I cannot endure it," said the tin soldier, who stood on a shelf; "it is
+so lonely and dull here. I have been accustomed to live in a family, and
+I cannot get used to this life. I cannot bear it. The whole day is long
+enough, but the evening is longer. It is not here as it was in your
+house opposite, when your father and mother talked so cheerfully
+together, while you and all the dear children made such a delightful
+noise. Do you think he gets any kisses? Do you think he ever has
+friendly looks or a Christmas tree? He will have nothing now but the
+grave. Oh! I cannot bear it."
+
+"You must not look on the sorrowful side so much," said the little boy.
+"I think everything in this house is beautiful, and all the old,
+pleasant thoughts come back here to pay visits."
+
+"Ah, but I never see any, and I don't know them," said the tin soldier;
+"and I cannot bear it."
+
+"You must bear it," said the little boy. Then the old man came back with
+a pleasant face, and brought with him beautiful preserved fruits as
+well as apples and nuts, and the little boy thought no more of the tin
+soldier.
+
+How happy and delighted the little boy was! And after he returned home,
+and while days and weeks passed, a great deal of nodding took place from
+one house to the other, and then the little boy went to pay another
+visit. The carved trumpeters blew: "Tanta-ra-ra, there is the little
+boy. Tanta-ra-ra." The swords and armor on the old knights' pictures
+rattled, the silk dresses rustled, the leather repeated its rhyme, and
+the old chairs that had the gout in their backs cried "Creak"; it was
+all exactly like the first time, for in that house one day and one hour
+were just like another.
+
+"I cannot bear it any longer," said the tin soldier; "I have wept tears
+of tin, it is so melancholy here. Let me go to the wars and lose an arm
+or a leg; that would be some change. I cannot bear it. Now I know what
+it is to have visits from one's old recollections and all they bring
+with them. I have had visits from mine, and you may believe me it is not
+altogether pleasant. I was very nearly jumping from the shelf. I saw you
+all in your house opposite, as if you were really present.
+
+"It was Sunday morning, and you children stood round the table, singing
+the hymn that you sing every morning. You were standing quietly with
+your hands folded, and your father and mother were looking just as
+serious, when the door opened, and your little sister Maria, who is not
+two years old, was brought into the room. You know she always dances
+when she hears music and singing of any sort, so she began to dance
+immediately, although she ought not to have done so; but she could not
+get into the right time because the tune was so slow, so she stood first
+on one foot and then on the other and bent her head very low, but it
+would not suit the music. You all stood looking grave, although it was
+very difficult to do so, but I laughed so to myself that I fell down
+from the table and got a bruise, which is still there. I know it was not
+right to laugh. So all this, and everything else that I have seen, keeps
+running in my head, and these must be the old recollections that bring
+so many thoughts with them. Tell me whether you still sing on Sundays,
+and tell me about your little sister Maria, and how my old comrade is,
+the other tin soldier. Ah, really he must be very happy. I cannot endure
+this life."
+
+"You are given away," said the little boy; "you must stay. Don't you see
+that?" Then the old man came in with a box containing many curious
+things to show him. Rouge-pots, scent-boxes, and old cards so large and
+so richly gilded that none are ever seen like them in these days. And
+there were smaller boxes to look at, and the piano was opened, and
+inside the lid were painted landscapes. But when the old man played, the
+piano sounded quite out of tune. Then he looked at the picture he had
+bought at the broker's, and his eyes sparkled brightly as he nodded at
+it and said, "Ah, she could sing that tune."
+
+"I will go to the wars! I will go to the wars!" cried the tin soldier as
+loud as he could, and threw himself down on the floor. Where could he
+have fallen? The old man searched, and the little boy searched, but he
+was gone and could not be found. "I shall find him again," said the old
+man. But he did not find him; the tin soldier had fallen through a crack
+between the boards and lay there now as in an open grave.
+
+The day went by, and the little boy returned home; the week passed, and
+many more weeks. It was winter, and the windows were quite frozen, so
+that the little boy was obliged to breathe on the panes and rub a hole
+to peep through at the old house. Snowdrifts were lying in all the
+scrolls and on the inscriptions, and the steps were covered with snow as
+if no one were at home. And indeed nobody was at home, for the old man
+was dead.
+
+In the evening the old man was to be taken to the country to be buried
+there in his own grave; so they carried him away. No one followed him,
+for all his friends were dead, and the little boy kissed his hand to his
+old friend as he saw him borne away.
+
+A few days after, there was an auction at the old house, and from his
+window the little boy saw the people carrying away the pictures of old
+knights and ladies, the flowerpots with the long ears, the old chairs,
+and the cupboards. Some were taken one way, some another. _Her_
+portrait, which had been bought at the picture dealer's, went back again
+to his shop, and there it remained, for no one seemed to know her or to
+care for the old picture.
+
+In the spring they began to pull the house itself down; people called it
+complete rubbish. From the street could be seen the room in which the
+walls were covered with leather, ragged and torn, and the green in the
+balcony hung straggling over the beams; they pulled it down quickly, for
+it looked ready to fall, and at last it was cleared away altogether.
+"What a good riddance," said the neighbors' houses.
+
+Afterward a fine new house was built, farther back from the road. It had
+lofty windows and smooth walls, but in front, on the spot where the old
+house really stood, a little garden was planted, and wild vines grew up
+over the neighboring walls. In front of the garden were large iron
+railings and a great gate which looked very stately. People used to stop
+and peep through the railings. The sparrows assembled in dozens upon the
+wild vines and chattered all together as loud as they could, but not
+about the old house. None of them could remember it, for many years had
+passed by; so many, indeed, that the little boy was now a man, and a
+really good man too, and his parents were very proud of him. He had just
+married and had come with his young wife to reside in the new house with
+the garden in front of it, and now he stood there by her side while she
+planted a field flower that she thought very pretty. She was planting it
+herself with her little hands and pressing down the earth with her
+fingers. "Oh, dear, what was that?" she exclaimed as something pricked
+her. Out of the soft earth something was sticking up.
+
+It was--only think!--it was really the tin soldier, the very same which
+had been lost up in the old man's room and had been hidden among old
+wood and rubbish for a long time till it sank into the earth, where it
+must have been for many years. And the young wife wiped the soldier,
+first with a green leaf and then with her fine pocket handkerchief, that
+smelt of a beautiful perfume. And the tin soldier felt as if he were
+recovering from a fainting fit.
+
+"Let me see him," said the young man, and then he smiled and shook his
+head and said, "It can scarcely be the same, but it reminds me of
+something that happened to one of my tin soldiers when I was a little
+boy." And then he told his wife about the old house and the old man and
+of the tin soldier which he had sent across because he thought the old
+man was lonely. And he related the story so clearly that tears came into
+the eyes of the young wife for the old house and the old man.
+
+"It is very likely that this is really the same soldier," said she, "and
+I will take care of him and always remember what you have told me; but
+some day you must show me the old man's grave."
+
+"I don't know where it is," he replied; "no one knows. All his friends
+are dead. No one took care of him or tended his grave, and I was only a
+little boy."
+
+"Oh, how dreadfully lonely he must have been," said she.
+
+"Yes, terribly lonely," cried the tin soldier; "still it is delightful
+not to be forgotten."
+
+"Delightful indeed!" cried a voice quite near to them. No one but the
+tin soldier saw that it came from a rag of the leather which hung in
+tatters. It had lost all its gilding and looked like wet earth, but it
+had an opinion, and it spoke it thus:
+
+          "Gilding wears out with time and bad weather,
+           But leather endures; there's nothing like leather."
+
+But the tin soldier did not believe any such thing.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CONCEITED APPLE BRANCH
+
+
+IT WAS the month of May. The wind still blew cold, but from bush and
+tree, field and flower, came the welcome sound, "Spring is come."
+
+Wild flowers in profusion covered the hedges. Under the little apple
+tree Spring seemed busy, and he told his tale from one of the branches,
+which hung fresh and blooming and covered with delicate pink blossoms
+that were just ready to open.
+
+The branch well knew how beautiful it was; this knowledge exists as much
+in the leaf as in the blood. I was therefore not surprised when a
+nobleman's carriage, in which sat the young countess, stopped in the
+road just by. The apple branch, she said, was a most lovely object, an
+emblem of spring in its most charming aspect. The branch was broken off
+for her, and she held it in her delicate hand and sheltered it with her
+silk parasol.
+
+Then they drove to the castle, in which were lofty halls and splendid
+drawing-rooms. Pure white curtains fluttered before the open windows,
+and beautiful flowers stood in transparent vases. In one of them, which
+looked as if it had been cut out of newly fallen snow, the apple branch
+was placed among some fresh light twigs of beech. It was a charming
+sight. And the branch became proud, which was very much like human
+nature.
+
+People of every description entered the room, and according to their
+position in society so dared they to express their admiration. Some few
+said nothing, others expressed too much, and the apple branch very soon
+got to understand that there was as much difference in the characters of
+human beings as in those of plants and flowers. Some are all for pomp
+and parade, others have a great deal to do to maintain their own
+importance, while the rest might be spared without much loss to
+society. So thought the apple branch as he stood before the open
+window, from which he could see out over gardens and fields, where there
+were flowers and plants enough for him to think and reflect upon--some
+rich and beautiful, some poor and humble indeed.
+
+"Poor despised herbs," said the apple branch; "there is really a
+difference between them and such as I am. How unhappy they must be if
+they can feel as those in my position do! There is a difference indeed,
+and so there ought to be, or we should all be equals."
+
+And the apple branch looked with a sort of pity upon them, especially on
+a certain little flower that is found in fields and in ditches. No one
+bound these flowers together in a nosegay, they were too common,--they
+were even known to grow between the paving stones, shooting up
+everywhere like bad weeds,--and they bore the very ugly name of "dog
+flowers," or "dandelions."
+
+"Poor despised plants," said the apple bough, "it is not your fault that
+you are so ugly and that you have such an ugly name, but it is with
+plants as with men--there must be a difference."
+
+"A difference!" cried the sunbeam as he kissed the blooming apple branch
+and then kissed the yellow dandelion out in the fields. All were
+brothers, and the sunbeam kissed them--the poor flowers as well as the
+rich.
+
+The apple bough had never thought of the boundless love of God which
+extends over all the works of creation, over everything which lives and
+moves and has its being in Him. He had never thought of the good and
+beautiful which are so often hidden, but can never remain forgotten by
+Him, not only among the lower creation, but also among men. The sunbeam,
+the ray of light, knew better.
+
+"You do not see very far nor very clearly," he said to the apple branch.
+"Which is the despised plant you so specially pity?"
+
+"The dandelion," he replied. "No one ever places it in a nosegay; it is
+trodden under foot, there are so many of them; and when they run to seed
+they have flowers like wool, which fly away in little pieces over the
+roads and cling to the dresses of the people; they are only weeds--but
+of course there must be weeds. Oh, I am really very thankful that I was
+not made like one of these flowers."
+
+There came presently across the fields a whole group of children, the
+youngest of whom was so small that he had to be carried by the others;
+and when he was seated on the grass, among the yellow flowers, he
+laughed aloud with joy, kicked out his little legs, rolled about,
+plucked the yellow flowers and kissed them in childlike innocence.
+
+The elder children broke off the flowers with long stems, bent the
+stalks one round the other to form links, and made first a chain for the
+neck, then one to go across the shoulders and hang down to the waist,
+and at last a wreath to wear about the head; so that they looked quite
+splendid in their garlands of green stems and golden flowers. But the
+eldest among them gathered carefully the faded flowers, on the stem of
+which were grouped together the seeds, in the form of a white, feathery
+coronal.
+
+These loose, airy wool-flowers are very beautiful, and look like fine,
+snowy feathers or down. The children held them to their mouths and tried
+to blow away the whole coronal with one puff of the breath. They had
+been told by their grandmothers that whoever did so would be sure to
+have new clothes before the end of the year. The despised flower was by
+this raised to the position of a prophet, or foreteller of events.
+
+"Do you see," said the sunbeam, "do you see the beauty of these flowers?
+Do you see their powers of giving pleasure?"
+
+"Yes, to children," said the apple bough.
+
+By and by an old woman came into the field and, with a blunt knife
+without a handle, began to dig round the roots of some of the dandelion
+plants and pull them up. With some she intended to make tea for herself,
+but the rest she was going to sell to the chemist and obtain money.
+
+"But beauty is of higher value than all this," said the apple-tree
+branch; "only the chosen ones can be admitted into the realms of the
+beautiful. There is a difference between plants, just as there is a
+difference between men."
+
+Then the sunbeam spoke of the boundless love of God as seen in creation
+and over all that lives, and of the equal distribution of His gifts,
+both in time and in eternity.
+
+"That is your opinion," said the apple bough.
+
+Then some people came into the room and among them the young
+countess--the lady who had placed the apple bough in the transparent
+vase, so pleasantly beneath the rays of sunlight. She carried in her
+hand something that seemed like a flower. The object was hidden by two
+or three great leaves which covered it like a shield so that no draft or
+gust of wind could injure it, and it was carried more carefully than the
+apple branch had ever been.
+
+Very cautiously the large leaves were removed, and there appeared the
+feathery seed crown of the despised yellow dandelion. This was what the
+lady had so carefully plucked and carried home so safely covered, so
+that not one of the delicate feathery arrows of which its mistlike shape
+was so lightly formed should flutter away. She now drew it forth quite
+uninjured and wondered at its beautiful form, its airy lightness and
+singular construction so soon to be blown away by the wind.
+
+"See," she exclaimed, "how wonderfully God has made this little flower.
+I will paint it in a picture with the apple branch. Every one admires
+the beauty of the apple bough, but this humble flower has been endowed
+by Heaven with another kind of loveliness, and although they differ in
+appearance both are children of the realms of beauty."
+
+Then the sunbeam kissed both the lowly flower and the blooming apple
+branch, upon whose leaves appeared a rosy blush.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+LITTLE TUK
+
+        PAGE 21. _Seeland_: one of the islands of Denmark,
+          the country in which little Tuk lived.
+
+        PAGE 22. _Kjöge_ (ke ẽ gĕh): a town about which
+          Tuk was to learn.
+
+        PAGE 24. _Præstö_ (præs´tẽ): another town about
+          which Tuk was to learn.
+
+        _popinjay_ (pŏp´ĭn jāy): an image of a parrot.
+
+        _Thorwaldsen_ (tôr vȧl s_e_n): one of the
+          greatest of modern sculptors. Supposed to have
+          been a native of Denmark.
+
+        _Vordingborg_ (vōr´dĭng bŏrk): in ancient
+          times this was a place of great importance. Now it
+          is an insignificant town; only a single lonely
+          tower remains where once a noble castle stood.
+
+        PAGE 25. _Korsör_ (kôr´sor): before the time of
+          steamers this used to be called the most tiresome
+          town in Denmark. Travelers had to wait for a
+          favorable wind. The poet mentioned in the story
+          was Baggeson.
+
+        PAGE 26. _Roskilde_ (rôs gĕl lẽ): once the
+          capital of Denmark.
+
+        PAGE 27. _Sorö_ (so´rẽ): a very quiet little
+          town, in a beautiful situation, surrounded by
+          forests and lakes. Holberg, one of Denmark's
+          greatest poets, founded a celebrated academy here.
+          Other noted poets also had their homes here, and
+          taught in the academy.
+
+
+LITTLE THUMBELINA
+
+        PAGE 88. Decaying wood sometimes gives out a faint
+          light called _phosphorescence_.
+
+
+SUNSHINE STORIES
+
+        PAGE 106. For the story of the Golden Fleece, see
+          Kingsley's "Greek Heroes."
+
+
+OLE-LUK-OIE, THE DREAM GOD
+
+        PAGE 145. _Ole-Luk-Oie_ (ō´le l[)oo]k´oi): the
+          Danish name for the sandman.
+
+
+ELDER-TREE MOTHER
+
+        PAGE 179. _Copenhagen_ (kō pĕn hā´gĕn): the capital
+          of Denmark.
+
+        _Fredericksburg_ (frĕd´ẽr ĭcks bûrg):
+          twenty-one miles from Copenhagen; the summer
+          residence of the royal family.
+
+
+THE SNOW QUEEN
+
+FOURTH STORY
+
+THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS
+
+        PAGE 217. Children have a kind of language, or
+          gibberish, which is sometimes called _crows'
+          language_. It is formed by adding letters or
+          syllables to every word.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+
+Page 24, "Thorvaldsen" changed to "Thorwaldsen" (Thorwaldsen lived in
+one)
+
+Page 299, Glossary, some of the words were missing the stressing accent.
+This was retained.
+
+Glossary: The double o with a breve above had been rendered as [)oo].
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, by 
+Hans Christian Andersen
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