ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES

By Hans Christian Andersen

CONTENTS

 The Emperor's New Clothes The Swineherd The Real Princess The Shoes of Fortune The Fir Tree The Snow Queen The Leap-Frog The Elderbush The Bell The Old House The Happy Family The Story of a Mother The False Collar The Shadow The Little Match Girl The Dream of Little Tuk The Naughty Boy The Red Shoes

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

Many years ago, there was an Emperor, who was so excessively fond ofnew clothes, that he spent all his money in dress. He did not troublehimself in the least about his soldiers; nor did he care to go either tothe theatre or the chase, except for the opportunities then afforded himfor displaying his new clothes. He had a different suit for each hour ofthe day; and as of any other king or emperor, one is accustomed to say, "he is sitting in council, " it was always said of him, "The Emperor issitting in his wardrobe. "

Time passed merrily in the large town which was his capital; strangersarrived every day at the court. One day, two rogues, calling themselvesweavers, made their appearance. They gave out that they knew how toweave stuffs of the most beautiful colors and elaborate patterns, theclothes manufactured from which should have the wonderful property ofremaining invisible to everyone who was unfit for the office he held, orwho was extraordinarily simple in character. 

"These must, indeed, be splendid clothes!" thought the Emperor. "Had Isuch a suit, I might at once find out what men in my realms are unfitfor their office, and also be able to distinguish the wise from thefoolish! This stuff must be woven for me immediately. " And he causedlarge sums of money to be given to both the weavers in order that theymight begin their work directly. 

So the two pretended weavers set up two looms, and affected to work verybusily, though in reality they did nothing at all. They asked for themost delicate silk and the purest gold thread; put both into their ownknapsacks; and then continued their pretended work at the empty loomsuntil late at night. 

"I should like to know how the weavers are getting on with my cloth, "said the Emperor to himself, after some little time had elapsed; he was, however, rather embarrassed, when he remembered that a simpleton, orone unfit for his office, would be unable to see the manufacture. To besure, he thought he had nothing to risk in his own person; but yet, hewould prefer sending somebody else, to bring him intelligence about theweavers, and their work, before he troubled himself in the affair. Allthe people throughout the city had heard of the wonderful property thecloth was to possess; and all were anxious to learn how wise, or howignorant, their neighbors might prove to be. 

"I will send my faithful old minister to the weavers, " said the Emperorat last, after some deliberation, "he will be best able to see how thecloth looks; for he is a man of sense, and no one can be more suitablefor his office than he is. "

So the faithful old minister went into the hall, where the knaves wereworking with all their might, at their empty looms. "What can be themeaning of this?" thought the old man, opening his eyes very wide. "Icannot discover the least bit of thread on the looms. " However, he didnot express his thoughts aloud. 

The impostors requested him very courteously to be so good as to comenearer their looms; and then asked him whether the design pleasedhim, and whether the colors were not very beautiful; at the same timepointing to the empty frames. The poor old minister looked and looked, he could not discover anything on the looms, for a very good reason, viz: there was nothing there. "What!" thought he again. "Is it possiblethat I am a simpleton? I have never thought so myself; and no one mustknow it now if I am so. Can it be, that I am unfit for my office? No, that must not be said either. I will never confess that I could not seethe stuff. "

"Well, Sir Minister!" said one of the knaves, still pretending to work. "You do not say whether the stuff pleases you. "

"Oh, it is excellent!" replied the old minister, looking at the loomthrough his spectacles. "This pattern, and the colors, yes, I will tellthe Emperor without delay, how very beautiful I think them. "

"We shall be much obliged to you, " said the impostors, and then theynamed the different colors and described the pattern of the pretendedstuff. The old minister listened attentively to their words, in orderthat he might repeat them to the Emperor; and then the knaves asked formore silk and gold, saying that it was necessary to complete whatthey had begun. However, they put all that was given them into theirknapsacks; and continued to work with as much apparent diligence asbefore at their empty looms. 

The Emperor now sent another officer of his court to see how the menwere getting on, and to ascertain whether the cloth would soon beready. It was just the same with this gentleman as with the minister;he surveyed the looms on all sides, but could see nothing at all but theempty frames. 

"Does not the stuff appear as beautiful to you, as it did to my lord theminister?" asked the impostors of the Emperor's second ambassador; atthe same time making the same gestures as before, and talking of thedesign and colors which were not there. 

"I certainly am not stupid!" thought the messenger. "It must be, that Iam not fit for my good, profitable office! That is very odd; however, noone shall know anything about it. " And accordingly he praised the stuffhe could not see, and declared that he was delighted with both colorsand patterns. "Indeed, please your Imperial Majesty, " said he to hissovereign when he returned, "the cloth which the weavers are preparingis extraordinarily magnificent. "

The whole city was talking of the splendid cloth which the Emperor hadordered to be woven at his own expense. 

And now the Emperor himself wished to see the costly manufacture, whileit was still in the loom. Accompanied by a select number of officers ofthe court, among whom were the two honest men who had already admiredthe cloth, he went to the crafty impostors, who, as soon as they wereaware of the Emperor's approach, went on working more diligently thanever; although they still did not pass a single thread through thelooms. 

"Is not the work absolutely magnificent?" said the two officers of thecrown, already mentioned. "If your Majesty will only be pleased to lookat it! What a splendid design! What glorious colors!" and at the sametime they pointed to the empty frames; for they imagined that everyoneelse could see this exquisite piece of workmanship. 

"How is this?" said the Emperor to himself. "I can see nothing! Thisis indeed a terrible affair! Am I a simpleton, or am I unfit to be anEmperor? That would be the worst thing that could happen--Oh! the clothis charming, " said he, aloud. "It has my complete approbation. " And hesmiled most graciously, and looked closely at the empty looms; for on noaccount would he say that he could not see what two of the officers ofhis court had praised so much. All his retinue now strained their eyes, hoping to discover something on the looms, but they could see no morethan the others; nevertheless, they all exclaimed, "Oh, how beautiful!"and advised his majesty to have some new clothes made from this splendidmaterial, for the approaching procession. "Magnificent! Charming!Excellent!" resounded on all sides; and everyone was uncommonly gay. TheEmperor shared in the general satisfaction; and presented the impostorswith the riband of an order of knighthood, to be worn in theirbutton-holes, and the title of "Gentlemen Weavers. "

The rogues sat up the whole of the night before the day on which theprocession was to take place, and had sixteen lights burning, so thateveryone might see how anxious they were to finish the Emperor's newsuit. They pretended to roll the cloth off the looms; cut the air withtheir scissors; and sewed with needles without any thread in them. "See!" cried they, at last. "The Emperor's new clothes are ready!"

And now the Emperor, with all the grandees of his court, came to theweavers; and the rogues raised their arms, as if in the act of holdingsomething up, saying, "Here are your Majesty's trousers! Here is thescarf! Here is the mantle! The whole suit is as light as a cobweb;one might fancy one has nothing at all on, when dressed in it; that, however, is the great virtue of this delicate cloth. "

"Yes indeed!" said all the courtiers, although not one of them could seeanything of this exquisite manufacture. 

"If your Imperial Majesty will be graciously pleased to take off yourclothes, we will fit on the new suit, in front of the looking glass. "

The Emperor was accordingly undressed, and the rogues pretended toarray him in his new suit; the Emperor turning round, from side to side, before the looking glass. 

"How splendid his Majesty looks in his new clothes, and how well theyfit!" everyone cried out. "What a design! What colors! These are indeedroyal robes!"

"The canopy which is to be borne over your Majesty, in the procession, is waiting, " announced the chief master of the ceremonies. 

"I am quite ready, " answered the Emperor. "Do my new clothes fit well?"asked he, turning himself round again before the looking glass, in orderthat he might appear to be examining his handsome suit. 

The lords of the bedchamber, who were to carry his Majesty's train feltabout on the ground, as if they were lifting up the ends of the mantle;and pretended to be carrying something; for they would by no meansbetray anything like simplicity, or unfitness for their office. 

So now the Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of theprocession, through the streets of his capital; and all the peoplestanding by, and those at the windows, cried out, "Oh! How beautifulare our Emperor's new clothes! What a magnificent train there is tothe mantle; and how gracefully the scarf hangs!" in short, no one wouldallow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, indoing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfitfor his office. Certainly, none of the Emperor's various suits, had evermade so great an impression, as these invisible ones. 

"But the Emperor has nothing at all on!" said a little child. 

"Listen to the voice of innocence!" exclaimed his father; and what thechild had said was whispered from one to another. 

"But he has nothing at all on!" at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but hethought the procession must go on now! And the lords of the bedchambertook greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a train, although, inreality, there was no train to hold. 

THE SWINEHERD

There was once a poor Prince, who had a kingdom. His kingdom was verysmall, but still quite large enough to marry upon; and he wished tomarry. 

It was certainly rather cool of him to say to the Emperor's daughter, "Will you have me?" But so he did; for his name was renowned far andwide; and there were a hundred princesses who would have answered, "Yes!" and "Thank you kindly. " We shall see what this princess said. 

Listen!

It happened that where the Prince's father lay buried, there grew a rosetree--a most beautiful rose tree, which blossomed only once in everyfive years, and even then bore only one flower, but that was a rose!It smelt so sweet that all cares and sorrows were forgotten by him whoinhaled its fragrance. 

And furthermore, the Prince had a nightingale, who could sing in such amanner that it seemed as though all sweet melodies dwelt in her littlethroat. So the Princess was to have the rose, and the nightingale; andthey were accordingly put into large silver caskets, and sent to her. 

The Emperor had them brought into a large hall, where the Princess wasplaying at "Visiting, " with the ladies of the court; and when she sawthe caskets with the presents, she clapped her hands for joy. 

"Ah, if it were but a little pussy-cat!" said she; but the rose tree, with its beautiful rose came to view. 

"Oh, how prettily it is made!" said all the court ladies. 

"It is more than pretty, " said the Emperor, "it is charming!"

But the Princess touched it, and was almost ready to cry. 

"Fie, papa!" said she. "It is not made at all, it is natural!"

"Let us see what is in the other casket, before we get into a badhumor, " said the Emperor. So the nightingale came forth and sang sodelightfully that at first no one could say anything ill-humored of her. 

"Superbe! Charmant!" exclaimed the ladies; for they all used to chatterFrench, each one worse than her neighbor. 

"How much the bird reminds me of the musical box that belonged to ourblessed Empress, " said an old knight. "Oh yes! These are the same tones, the same execution. "

"Yes! yes!" said the Emperor, and he wept like a child at theremembrance. 

"I will still hope that it is not a real bird, " said the Princess. 

"Yes, it is a real bird, " said those who had brought it. "Well then letthe bird fly, " said the Princess; and she positively refused to see thePrince. 

However, he was not to be discouraged; he daubed his face over brown andblack; pulled his cap over his ears, and knocked at the door. 

"Good day to my lord, the Emperor!" said he. "Can I have employment atthe palace?"

"Why, yes, " said the Emperor. "I want some one to take care of the pigs, for we have a great many of them. "

So the Prince was appointed "Imperial Swineherd. " He had a dirty littleroom close by the pigsty; and there he sat the whole day, and worked. Bythe evening he had made a pretty little kitchen-pot. Little bells werehung all round it; and when the pot was boiling, these bells tinkled inthe most charming manner, and played the old melody, "Ach! du lieber Augustin, Alles ist weg, weg, weg!"*

 * "Ah! dear Augustine! All is gone, gone, gone!"

But what was still more curious, whoever held his finger in the smoke ofthe kitchen-pot, immediately smelt all the dishes that were cooking onevery hearth in the city--this, you see, was something quite differentfrom the rose. 

Now the Princess happened to walk that way; and when she heard the tune, she stood quite still, and seemed pleased; for she could play "LieberAugustine"; it was the only piece she knew; and she played it with onefinger. 

"Why there is my piece, " said the Princess. "That swineherd mustcertainly have been well educated! Go in and ask him the price of theinstrument. "

So one of the court-ladies must run in; however, she drew on woodenslippers first. 

"What will you take for the kitchen-pot?" said the lady. 

"I will have ten kisses from the Princess, " said the swineherd. 

"Yes, indeed!" said the lady. 

"I cannot sell it for less, " rejoined the swineherd. 

"He is an impudent fellow!" said the Princess, and she walked on; butwhen she had gone a little way, the bells tinkled so prettily

 "Ach! du lieber Augustin, Alles ist weg, weg, weg!"

"Stay, " said the Princess. "Ask him if he will have ten kisses from theladies of my court. "

"No, thank you!" said the swineherd. "Ten kisses from the Princess, or Ikeep the kitchen-pot myself. "

"That must not be, either!" said the Princess. "But do you all standbefore me that no one may see us. "

And the court-ladies placed themselves in front of her, and spreadout their dresses--the swineherd got ten kisses, and the Princess--thekitchen-pot. 

That was delightful! The pot was boiling the whole evening, and thewhole of the following day. They knew perfectly well what was cooking atevery fire throughout the city, from the chamberlain's to the cobbler's;the court-ladies danced and clapped their hands. 

"We know who has soup, and who has pancakes for dinner to-day, who hascutlets, and who has eggs. How interesting!"

"Yes, but keep my secret, for I am an Emperor's daughter. "

The swineherd--that is to say--the Prince, for no one knew that he wasother than an ill-favored swineherd, let not a day pass without workingat something; he at last constructed a rattle, which, when it was swunground, played all the waltzes and jig tunes, which have ever been heardsince the creation of the world. 

"Ah, that is superbe!" said the Princess when she passed by. "I havenever heard prettier compositions! Go in and ask him the price of theinstrument; but mind, he shall have no more kisses!"

"He will have a hundred kisses from the Princess!" said the lady who hadbeen to ask. 

"I think he is not in his right senses!" said the Princess, and walkedon, but when she had gone a little way, she stopped again. "One mustencourage art, " said she, "I am the Emperor's daughter. Tell him heshall, as on yesterday, have ten kisses from me, and may take the restfrom the ladies of the court. "

"Oh--but we should not like that at all!" said they. "What are youmuttering?" asked the Princess. "If I can kiss him, surely you can. Remember that you owe everything to me. " So the ladies were obliged togo to him again. 

"A hundred kisses from the Princess, " said he, "or else let everyonekeep his own!"

"Stand round!" said she; and all the ladies stood round her whilst thekissing was going on. 

"What can be the reason for such a crowd close by the pigsty?" said theEmperor, who happened just then to step out on the balcony; he rubbedhis eyes, and put on his spectacles. "They are the ladies of thecourt; I must go down and see what they are about!" So he pulled up hisslippers at the heel, for he had trodden them down. 

As soon as he had got into the court-yard, he moved very softly, and theladies were so much engrossed with counting the kisses, that all mightgo on fairly, that they did not perceive the Emperor. He rose on histiptoes. 

"What is all this?" said he, when he saw what was going on, and he boxedthe Princess's ears with his slipper, just as the swineherd was takingthe eighty-sixth kiss. 

"March out!" said the Emperor, for he was very angry; and both Princessand swineherd were thrust out of the city. 

The Princess now stood and wept, the swineherd scolded, and the rainpoured down. 

"Alas! Unhappy creature that I am!" said the Princess. "If I had butmarried the handsome young Prince! Ah! how unfortunate I am!"

And the swineherd went behind a tree, washed the black and brown colorfrom his face, threw off his dirty clothes, and stepped forth in hisprincely robes; he looked so noble that the Princess could not helpbowing before him. 

"I am come to despise thee, " said he. "Thou would'st not have anhonorable Prince! Thou could'st not prize the rose and the nightingale, but thou wast ready to kiss the swineherd for the sake of a trumperyplaything. Thou art rightly served. "

He then went back to his own little kingdom, and shut the door of hispalace in her face. Now she might well sing, "Ach! du lieber Augustin, Alles ist weg, weg, weg!"

THE REAL PRINCESS

There was once a Prince who wished to marry a Princess; but then shemust be a real Princess. He travelled all over the world in hopes offinding such a lady; but there was always something wrong. Princesses hefound in plenty; but whether they were real Princesses it was impossiblefor him to decide, for now one thing, now another, seemed to him notquite right about the ladies. At last he returned to his palace quitecast down, because he wished so much to have a real Princess for hiswife. 

One evening a fearful tempest arose, it thundered and lightened, and therain poured down from the sky in torrents: besides, it was as dark aspitch. All at once there was heard a violent knocking at the door, andthe old King, the Prince's father, went out himself to open it. 

It was a Princess who was standing outside the door. What with the rainand the wind, she was in a sad condition; the water trickled down fromher hair, and her clothes clung to her body. She said she was a realPrincess. 

"Ah! we shall soon see that!" thought the old Queen-mother; however, shesaid not a word of what she was going to do; but went quietly into thebedroom, took all the bed-clothes off the bed, and put three little peason the bedstead. She then laid twenty mattresses one upon another overthe three peas, and put twenty feather beds over the mattresses. 

Upon this bed the Princess was to pass the night. 

The next morning she was asked how she had slept. "Oh, very badlyindeed!" she replied. "I have scarcely closed my eyes the whole nightthrough. I do not know what was in my bed, but I had something hardunder me, and am all over black and blue. It has hurt me so much!"

Now it was plain that the lady must be a real Princess, since she hadbeen able to feel the three little peas through the twenty mattressesand twenty feather beds. None but a real Princess could have had such adelicate sense of feeling. 

The Prince accordingly made her his wife; being now convinced that hehad found a real Princess. The three peas were however put into thecabinet of curiosities, where they are still to be seen, provided theyare not lost. 

Wasn't this a lady of real delicacy?

THE SHOES OF FORTUNE

I. A Beginning

Every author has some peculiarity in his descriptions or in his styleof writing. Those who do not like him, magnify it, shrug up theirshoulders, and exclaim--there he is again! I, for my part, know verywell how I can bring about this movement and this exclamation. It wouldhappen immediately if I were to begin here, as I intended to do, with:"Rome has its Corso, Naples its Toledo"--"Ah! that Andersen; there he isagain!" they would cry; yet I must, to please my fancy, continue quitequietly, and add: "But Copenhagen has its East Street. "

Here, then, we will stay for the present. In one of the houses not farfrom the new market a party was invited--a very large party, in order, as is often the case, to get a return invitation from the others. Onehalf of the company was already seated at the card-table, the other halfawaited the result of the stereotype preliminary observation of the ladyof the house:

"Now let us see what we can do to amuse ourselves. "

They had got just so far, and the conversation began to crystallise, as it could but do with the scanty stream which the commonplace worldsupplied. Amongst other things they spoke of the middle ages: somepraised that period as far more interesting, far more poetical than ourown too sober present; indeed Councillor Knap defended this opinionso warmly, that the hostess declared immediately on his side, and bothexerted themselves with unwearied eloquence. The Councillor boldlydeclared the time of King Hans to be the noblest and the most happyperiod. *

* A. D. 1482-1513

While the conversation turned on this subject, and was only for a momentinterrupted by the arrival of a journal that contained nothing worthreading, we will just step out into the antechamber, where cloaks, mackintoshes, sticks, umbrellas, and shoes, were deposited. Here sat twofemale figures, a young and an old one. One might have thought at firstthey were servants come to accompany their mistresses home; but onlooking nearer, one soon saw they could scarcely be mere servants; theirforms were too noble for that, their skin too fine, the cut of theirdress too striking. Two fairies were they; the younger, it is true, was not Dame Fortune herself, but one of the waiting-maids of herhandmaidens who carry about the lesser good things that she distributes;the other looked extremely gloomy--it was Care. She always attends toher own serious business herself, as then she is sure of having it doneproperly. 

They were telling each other, with a confidential interchange of ideas, where they had been during the day. The messenger of Fortune had onlyexecuted a few unimportant commissions, such as saving a new bonnet froma shower of rain, etc. ; but what she had yet to perform was somethingquite unusual. 

"I must tell you, " said she, "that to-day is my birthday; and in honorof it, a pair of walking-shoes or galoshes has been entrusted to me, which I am to carry to mankind. These shoes possess the property ofinstantly transporting him who has them on to the place or the periodin which he most wishes to be; every wish, as regards time or place, orstate of being, will be immediately fulfilled, and so at last man willbe happy, here below. "

"Do you seriously believe it?" replied Care, in a severe tone ofreproach. "No; he will be very unhappy, and will assuredly bless themoment when he feels that he has freed himself from the fatal shoes. "

"Stupid nonsense!" said the other angrily. "I will put them here bythe door. Some one will make a mistake for certain and take the wrongones--he will be a happy man. "

Such was their conversation. 

II. What Happened to the Councillor

It was late; Councillor Knap, deeply occupied with the times of KingHans, intended to go home, and malicious Fate managed matters so thathis feet, instead of finding their way to his own galoshes, slippedinto those of Fortune. Thus caparisoned the good man walked out of thewell-lighted rooms into East Street. By the magic power of the shoes hewas carried back to the times of King Hans; on which account his footvery naturally sank in the mud and puddles of the street, there havingbeen in those days no pavement in Copenhagen. 

"Well! This is too bad! How dirty it is here!" sighed the Councillor. "As to a pavement, I can find no traces of one, and all the lamps, itseems, have gone to sleep. "

The moon was not yet very high; it was besides rather foggy, so thatin the darkness all objects seemed mingled in chaotic confusion. At thenext corner hung a votive lamp before a Madonna, but the light it gavewas little better than none at all; indeed, he did not observe it beforehe was exactly under it, and his eyes fell upon the bright colors of thepictures which represented the well-known group of the Virgin and theinfant Jesus. 

"That is probably a wax-work show, " thought he; "and the people delaytaking down their sign in hopes of a late visitor or two. "

A few persons in the costume of the time of King Hans passed quickly byhim. 

"How strange they look! The good folks come probably from a masquerade!"

Suddenly was heard the sound of drums and fifes; the bright blaze of afire shot up from time to time, and its ruddy gleams seemed to contendwith the bluish light of the torches. The Councillor stood still, andwatched a most strange procession pass by. First came a dozen drummers, who understood pretty well how to handle their instruments; then camehalberdiers, and some armed with cross-bows. The principal person in theprocession was a priest. Astonished at what he saw, the Councillor askedwhat was the meaning of all this mummery, and who that man was. 

"That's the Bishop of Zealand, " was the answer. 

"Good Heavens! What has taken possession of the Bishop?" sighed theCouncillor, shaking his head. It certainly could not be the Bishop; eventhough he was considered the most absent man in the whole kingdom, andpeople told the drollest anecdotes about him. Reflecting on the matter, and without looking right or left, the Councillor went through EastStreet and across the Habro-Platz. The bridge leading to Palace Squarewas not to be found; scarcely trusting his senses, the nocturnalwanderer discovered a shallow piece of water, and here fell in with twomen who very comfortably were rocking to and fro in a boat. 

"Does your honor want to cross the ferry to the Holme?" asked they. 

"Across to the Holme!" said the Councillor, who knew nothing of the agein which he at that moment was. "No, I am going to Christianshafen, toLittle Market Street. "

Both men stared at him in astonishment. 

"Only just tell me where the bridge is, " said he. "It is reallyunpardonable that there are no lamps here; and it is as dirty as if onehad to wade through a morass. "

The longer he spoke with the boatmen, the more unintelligible did theirlanguage become to him. 

"I don't understand your Bornholmish dialect, " said he at last, angrily, and turning his back upon them. He was unable to find the bridge: therewas no railway either. "It is really disgraceful what a state this placeis in, " muttered he to himself. Never had his age, with which, however, he was always grumbling, seemed so miserable as on this evening. "I'lltake a hackney-coach!" thought he. But where were the hackney-coaches?Not one was to be seen. 

"I must go back to the New Market; there, it is to be hoped, Ishall find some coaches; for if I don't, I shall never get safe toChristianshafen. "

So off he went in the direction of East Street, and had nearly got tothe end of it when the moon shone forth. 

"God bless me! What wooden scaffolding is that which they have set upthere?" cried he involuntarily, as he looked at East Gate, which, inthose days, was at the end of East Street. 

He found, however, a little side-door open, and through this he went, and stepped into our New Market of the present time. It was a hugedesolate plain; some wild bushes stood up here and there, while acrossthe field flowed a broad canal or river. Some wretched hovels for theDutch sailors, resembling great boxes, and after which the place wasnamed, lay about in confused disorder on the opposite bank. 

"I either behold a fata morgana, or I am regularly tipsy, " whimpered outthe Councillor. "But what's this?"

He turned round anew, firmly convinced that he was seriously ill. Hegazed at the street formerly so well known to him, and now so strange inappearance, and looked at the houses more attentively: most of them wereof wood, slightly put together; and many had a thatched roof. 

"No--I am far from well, " sighed he; "and yet I drank only one glass ofpunch; but I cannot suppose it--it was, too, really very wrong to giveus punch and hot salmon for supper. I shall speak about it at the firstopportunity. I have half a mind to go back again, and say what I suffer. But no, that would be too silly; and Heaven only knows if they are upstill. "

He looked for the house, but it had vanished. 

"It is really dreadful, " groaned he with increasing anxiety; "I cannotrecognise East Street again; there is not a single decent shop from oneend to the other! Nothing but wretched huts can I see anywhere; justas if I were at Ringstead. Oh! I am ill! I can scarcely bear myself anylonger. Where the deuce can the house be? It must be here on this veryspot; yet there is not the slightest idea of resemblance, to such adegree has everything changed this night! At all events here are somepeople up and stirring. Oh! oh! I am certainly very ill. "

He now hit upon a half-open door, through a chink of which a faint lightshone. It was a sort of hostelry of those times; a kind of public-house. The room had some resemblance to the clay-floored halls in Holstein; apretty numerous company, consisting of seamen, Copenhagen burghers, anda few scholars, sat here in deep converse over their pewter cans, andgave little heed to the person who entered. 

"By your leave!" said the Councillor to the Hostess, who came bustlingtowards him. "I've felt so queer all of a sudden; would you have thegoodness to send for a hackney-coach to take me to Christianshafen?"

The woman examined him with eyes of astonishment, and shook her head;she then addressed him in German. The Councillor thought she did notunderstand Danish, and therefore repeated his wish in German. This, inconnection with his costume, strengthened the good woman in the beliefthat he was a foreigner. That he was ill, she comprehended directly; soshe brought him a pitcher of water, which tasted certainly pretty strongof the sea, although it had been fetched from the well. 

The Councillor supported his head on his hand, drew a long breath, andthought over all the wondrous things he saw around him. 

"Is this the Daily News of this evening?" he asked mechanically, as hesaw the Hostess push aside a large sheet of paper. 

The meaning of this councillorship query remained, of course, a riddleto her, yet she handed him the paper without replying. It was a coarsewood-cut, representing a splendid meteor "as seen in the town ofCologne, " which was to be read below in bright letters. 

"That is very old!" said the Councillor, whom this piece of antiquitybegan to make considerably more cheerful. "Pray how did you come intopossession of this rare print? It is extremely interesting, although thewhole is a mere fable. Such meteorous appearances are to be explained inthis way--that they are the reflections of the Aurora Borealis, and itis highly probable they are caused principally by electricity. "

Those persons who were sitting nearest him and heard his speech, stared at him in wonderment; and one of them rose, took off his hatrespectfully, and said with a serious countenance, "You are no doubt avery learned man, Monsieur. "

"Oh no, " answered the Councillor, "I can only join in conversation onthis topic and on that, as indeed one must do according to the demandsof the world at present. "

"Modestia is a fine virtue, " continued the gentleman; "however, as toyour speech, I must say mihi secus videtur: yet I am willing to suspendmy judicium. "

"May I ask with whom I have the pleasure of speaking?" asked theCouncillor. 

"I am a Bachelor in Theologia, " answered the gentleman with a stiffreverence. 

This reply fully satisfied the Councillor; the title suited the dress. "He is certainly, " thought he, "some village schoolmaster--some queerold fellow, such as one still often meets with in Jutland. "

"This is no locus docendi, it is true, " began the clerical gentleman;"yet I beg you earnestly to let us profit by your learning. Your readingin the ancients is, sine dubio, of vast extent?"

"Oh yes, I've read something, to be sure, " replied the Councillor. "Ilike reading all useful works; but I do not on that account despise themodern ones; 'tis only the unfortunate 'Tales of Every-day Life' that Icannot bear--we have enough and more than enough such in reality. "

"'Tales of Every-day Life?'" said our Bachelor inquiringly. 

"I mean those new fangled novels, twisting and writhing themselves inthe dust of commonplace, which also expect to find a reading public. "

"Oh, " exclaimed the clerical gentleman smiling, "there is much wit inthem; besides they are read at court. The King likes the history of SirIffven and Sir Gaudian particularly, which treats of King Arthur, andhis Knights of the Round Table; he has more than once joked about itwith his high vassals. "

"I have not read that novel, " said the Councillor; "it must be quite anew one, that Heiberg has published lately. "

"No, " answered the theologian of the time of King Hans: "that book isnot written by a Heiberg, but was imprinted by Godfrey von Gehmen. "

"Oh, is that the author's name?" said the Councillor. "It is a veryold name, and, as well as I recollect, he was the first printer thatappeared in Denmark. "

"Yes, he is our first printer, " replied the clerical gentleman hastily. 

So far all went on well. Some one of the worthy burghers now spoke ofthe dreadful pestilence that had raged in the country a few years back, meaning that of 1484. The Councillor imagined it was the cholera thatwas meant, which people made so much fuss about; and the discoursepassed off satisfactorily enough. The war of the buccaneers of 1490 wasso recent that it could not fail being alluded to; the Englishpirates had, they said, most shamefully taken their ships while in theroadstead; and the Councillor, before whose eyes the Herostratic [*]event of 1801 still floated vividly, agreed entirely with the others inabusing the rascally English. With other topics he was not so fortunate;every moment brought about some new confusion, and threatened to becomea perfect Babel; for the worthy Bachelor was really too ignorant, andthe simplest observations of the Councillor sounded to him too daringand phantastical. They looked at one another from the crown of the headto the soles of the feet; and when matters grew to too high apitch, then the Bachelor talked Latin, in the hope of being betterunderstood--but it was of no use after all. 

 * Herostratus, or Eratostratus--an Ephesian, who wantonly set fire to the famous temple of Diana, in order to commemorate his name by so uncommon an action. 

"What's the matter?" asked the Hostess, plucking the Councillor by thesleeve; and now his recollection returned, for in the course of theconversation he had entirely forgotten all that had preceded it. 

"Merciful God, where am I!" exclaimed he in agony; and while he sothought, all his ideas and feelings of overpowering dizziness, againstwhich he struggled with the utmost power of desperation, encompassedhim with renewed force. "Let us drink claret and mead, and Bremen beer, "shouted one of the guests--"and you shall drink with us!"

Two maidens approached. One wore a cap of two staring colors, denotingthe class of persons to which she belonged. They poured out the liquor, and made the most friendly gesticulations; while a cold perspirationtrickled down the back of the poor Councillor. 

"What's to be the end of this! What's to become of me!" groaned he; buthe was forced, in spite of his opposition, to drink with the rest. Theytook hold of the worthy man; who, hearing on every side that he wasintoxicated, did not in the least doubt the truth of this certainlynot very polite assertion; but on the contrary, implored the ladiesand gentlemen present to procure him a hackney-coach: they, however, imagined he was talking Russian. 

Never before, he thought, had he been in such a coarse and ignorantcompany; one might almost fancy the people had turned heathens again. "It is the most dreadful moment of my life: the whole world is leaguedagainst me!" But suddenly it occurred to him that he might stoop downunder the table, and then creep unobserved out of the door. He did so;but just as he was going, the others remarked what he was about; theylaid hold of him by the legs; and now, happily for him, off fell hisfatal shoes--and with them the charm was at an end. 

The Councillor saw quite distinctly before him a lantern burning, andbehind this a large handsome house. All seemed to him in proper order asusual; it was East Street, splendid and elegant as we now see it. He laywith his feet towards a doorway, and exactly opposite sat the watchmanasleep. 

"Gracious Heaven!" said he. "Have I lain here in the street and dreamed?Yes; 'tis East Street! How splendid and light it is! But really it isterrible what an effect that one glass of punch must have had on me!"

Two minutes later, he was sitting in a hackney-coach and driving toFrederickshafen. He thought of the distress and agony he had endured, and praised from the very bottom of his heart the happy reality--our owntime--which, with all its deficiencies, is yet much better than that inwhich, so much against his inclination, he had lately been. 

III. The Watchman's Adventure

"Why, there is a pair of galoshes, as sure as I'm alive!" said thewatchman, awaking from a gentle slumber. "They belong no doubt to thelieutenant who lives over the way. They lie close to the door. "

The worthy man was inclined to ring and deliver them at the house, forthere was still a light in the window; but he did not like disturbingthe other people in their beds, and so very considerately he left thematter alone. 

"Such a pair of shoes must be very warm and comfortable, " said he; "theleather is so soft and supple. " They fitted his feet as though theyhad been made for him. "'Tis a curious world we live in, " continued he, soliloquizing. "There is the lieutenant, now, who might go quietly tobed if he chose, where no doubt he could stretch himself at his ease;but does he do it? No; he saunters up and down his room, because, probably, he has enjoyed too many of the good things of this world athis dinner. That's a happy fellow! He has neither an infirm mother, nora whole troop of everlastingly hungry children to torment him. Everyevening he goes to a party, where his nice supper costs him nothing:would to Heaven I could but change with him! How happy should I be!"

While expressing his wish, the charm of the shoes, which he had put on, began to work; the watchman entered into the being and nature of thelieutenant. He stood in the handsomely furnished apartment, and heldbetween his fingers a small sheet of rose-colored paper, on which someverses were written--written indeed by the officer himself; for who hasnot, at least once in his life, had a lyrical moment? And if one thenmarks down one's thoughts, poetry is produced. But here was written:

 OH, WERE I RICH!

 "Oh, were I rich! Such was my wish, yea such When hardly three feet high, I longed for much. Oh, were I rich! an officer were I, With sword, and uniform, and plume so high. And the time came, and officer was I! But yet I grew not rich. Alas, poor me! Have pity, Thou, who all man's wants dost see. 

 "I sat one evening sunk in dreams of bliss, A maid of seven years old gave me a kiss, I at that time was rich in poesy And tales of old, though poor as poor could be; But all she asked for was this poesy. Then was I rich, but not in gold, poor me! As Thou dost know, who all men's hearts canst see. 

 "Oh, were I rich! Oft asked I for this boon. The child grew up to womanhood full soon. She is so pretty, clever, and so kind Oh, did she know what's hidden in my mind-- A tale of old. Would she to me were kind! But I'm condemned to silence! oh, poor me! As Thou dost know, who all men's hearts canst see. 

 "Oh, were I rich in calm and peace of mind, My grief you then would not here written find! O thou, to whom I do my heart devote, Oh read this page of glad days now remote, A dark, dark tale, which I tonight devote! Dark is the future now. Alas, poor me! Have pity Thou, who all men's pains dost see. "

Such verses as these people write when they are in love! But no manin his senses ever thinks of printing them. Here one of the sorrows oflife, in which there is real poetry, gave itself vent; not thatbarren grief which the poet may only hint at, but never depict in itsdetail--misery and want: that animal necessity, in short, to snatchat least at a fallen leaf of the bread-fruit tree, if not at the fruititself. The higher the position in which one finds oneself transplanted, the greater is the suffering. Everyday necessity is the stagnant pool oflife--no lovely picture reflects itself therein. Lieutenant, love, andlack of money--that is a symbolic triangle, or much the same as thehalf of the shattered die of Fortune. This the lieutenant felt mostpoignantly, and this was the reason he leant his head against thewindow, and sighed so deeply. 

"The poor watchman out there in the street is far happier than I. Heknows not what I term privation. He has a home, a wife, and children, who weep with him over his sorrows, who rejoice with him when he isglad. Oh, far happier were I, could I exchange with him my being--withhis desires and with his hopes perform the weary pilgrimage of life! Oh, he is a hundred times happier than I!"

In the same moment the watchman was again watchman. It was the shoesthat caused the metamorphosis by means of which, unknown to himself, hetook upon him the thoughts and feelings of the officer; but, as we havejust seen, he felt himself in his new situation much less contented, and now preferred the very thing which but some minutes before he hadrejected. So then the watchman was again watchman. 

"That was an unpleasant dream, " said he; "but 'twas droll enoughaltogether. I fancied that I was the lieutenant over there: and yetthe thing was not very much to my taste after all. I missed my good oldmother and the dear little ones; who almost tear me to pieces for sheerlove. "

He seated himself once more and nodded: the dream continued to haunthim, for he still had the shoes on his feet. A falling star shone in thedark firmament. 

"There falls another star, " said he: "but what does it matter; thereare always enough left. I should not much mind examining the littleglimmering things somewhat nearer, especially the moon; for that wouldnot slip so easily through a man's fingers. When we die--so at leastsays the student, for whom my wife does the washing--we shall fly aboutas light as a feather from one such a star to the other. That's, ofcourse, not true: but 'twould be pretty enough if it were so. If I couldbut once take a leap up there, my body might stay here on the steps forwhat I care. "

Behold--there are certain things in the world to which one ought neverto give utterance except with the greatest caution; but doubly carefulmust one be when we have the Shoes of Fortune on our feet. Now justlisten to what happened to the watchman. 

As to ourselves, we all know the speed produced by the employment ofsteam; we have experienced it either on railroads, or in boats whencrossing the sea; but such a flight is like the travelling of a sloth incomparison with the velocity with which light moves. It flies nineteenmillion times faster than the best race-horse; and yet electricity isquicker still. Death is an electric shock which our heart receives; thefreed soul soars upwards on the wings of electricity. The sun's lightwants eight minutes and some seconds to perform a journey of more thantwenty million of our Danish [*] miles; borne by electricity, the soulwants even some minutes less to accomplish the same flight. To it thespace between the heavenly bodies is not greater than the distancebetween the homes of our friends in town is for us, even if they live ashort way from each other; such an electric shock in the heart, however, costs us the use of the body here below; unless, like the watchman ofEast Street, we happen to have on the Shoes of Fortune. 

 * A Danish mile is nearly 4 3/4 English. 

In a few seconds the watchman had done the fifty-two thousand of ourmiles up to the moon, which, as everyone knows, was formed out ofmatter much lighter than our earth; and is, so we should say, as softas newly-fallen snow. He found himself on one of the many circumjacentmountain-ridges with which we are acquainted by means of Dr. Madler's"Map of the Moon. " Within, down it sunk perpendicularly into a caldron, about a Danish mile in depth; while below lay a town, whose appearancewe can, in some measure, realize to ourselves by beating the white ofan egg in a glass of water. The matter of which it was built was just assoft, and formed similar towers, and domes, and pillars, transparent androcking in the thin air; while above his head our earth was rolling likea large fiery ball. 

He perceived immediately a quantity of beings who were certainly whatwe call "men"; yet they looked different to us. A far more correctimagination than that of the pseudo-Herschel* had created them; andif they had been placed in rank and file, and copied by some skilfulpainter's hand, one would, without doubt, have exclaimed involuntarily, "What a beautiful arabesque!"

*This relates to a book published some years ago in Germany, and saidto be by Herschel, which contained a description of the moon and itsinhabitants, written with such a semblance of truth that many weredeceived by the imposture. 

Probably a translation of the celebrated Moon hoax, written by RichardA. Locke, and originally published in New York. 

They had a language too; but surely nobody can expect that the soul ofthe watchman should understand it. Be that as it may, it did comprehendit; for in our souls there germinate far greater powers than we poormortals, despite all our cleverness, have any notion of. Does shenot show us--she the queen in the land of enchantment--her astoundingdramatic talent in all our dreams? There every acquaintance appears andspeaks upon the stage, so entirely in character, and with the same toneof voice, that none of us, when awake, were able to imitate it. Howwell can she recall persons to our mind, of whom we have not thought foryears; when suddenly they step forth "every inch a man, " resembling thereal personages, even to the finest features, and become the heroesor heroines of our world of dreams. In reality, such remembrances arerather unpleasant: every sin, every evil thought, may, like a clock withalarm or chimes, be repeated at pleasure; then the question is if we cantrust ourselves to give an account of every unbecoming word in our heartand on our lips. 

The watchman's spirit understood the language of the inhabitants of themoon pretty well. The Selenites* disputed variously about our earth, and expressed their doubts if it could be inhabited: the air, they said, must certainly be too dense to allow any rational dweller in the moonthe necessary free respiration. They considered the moon alone tobe inhabited: they imagined it was the real heart of the universe orplanetary system, on which the genuine Cosmopolites, or citizens of theworld, dwelt. What strange things men--no, what strange things Selenitessometimes take into their heads!

* Dwellers in the moon. 

About politics they had a good deal to say. But little Denmark musttake care what it is about, and not run counter to the moon; thatgreat realm, that might in an ill-humor bestir itself, and dash down ahail-storm in our faces, or force the Baltic to overflow the sides ofits gigantic basin. 

We will, therefore, not listen to what was spoken, and on no conditionrun in the possibility of telling tales out of school; but we willrather proceed, like good quiet citizens, to East Street, and observewhat happened meanwhile to the body of the watchman. 

He sat lifeless on the steps: the morning-star, * that is to say, theheavy wooden staff, headed with iron spikes, and which had nothing elsein common with its sparkling brother in the sky, had glided from hishand; while his eyes were fixed with glassy stare on the moon, lookingfor the good old fellow of a spirit which still haunted it. 

*The watchmen in Germany, had formerly, and in some places they stillcarry with them, on their rounds at night, a sort of mace or club, knownin ancient times by the above denomination. 

"What's the hour, watchman?" asked a passer-by. But when the watchmangave no reply, the merry roysterer, who was now returning home from anoisy drinking bout, took it into his head to try what a tweak of thenose would do, on which the supposed sleeper lost his balance, the bodylay motionless, stretched out on the pavement: the man was dead. Whenthe patrol came up, all his comrades, who comprehended nothing of thewhole affair, were seized with a dreadful fright, for dead he was, and he remained so. The proper authorities were informed of thecircumstance, people talked a good deal about it, and in the morning thebody was carried to the hospital. 

Now that would be a very pretty joke, if the spirit when it came backand looked for the body in East Street, were not to find one. No doubtit would, in its anxiety, run off to the police, and then to the"Hue and Cry" office, to announce that "the finder will be handsomelyrewarded, " and at last away to the hospital; yet we may boldly assertthat the soul is shrewdest when it shakes off every fetter, and everysort of leading-string--the body only makes it stupid. 

The seemingly dead body of the watchman wandered, as we have said, tothe hospital, where it was brought into the general viewing-room:and the first thing that was done here was naturally to pull off thegaloshes--when the spirit, that was merely gone out on adventures, musthave returned with the quickness of lightning to its earthly tenement. It took its direction towards the body in a straight line; and a fewseconds after, life began to show itself in the man. He asserted thatthe preceding night had been the worst that ever the malice of fate hadallotted him; he would not for two silver marks again go through what hehad endured while moon-stricken; but now, however, it was over. 

The same day he was discharged from the hospital as perfectly cured; butthe Shoes meanwhile remained behind. 

IV. A Moment of Head Importance--An Evening's "Dramatic Readings"--AMost Strange Journey

Every inhabitant of Copenhagen knows, from personal inspection, howthe entrance to Frederick's Hospital looks; but as it is possible thatothers, who are not Copenhagen people, may also read this little work, we will beforehand give a short description of it. 

The extensive building is separated from the street by a pretty highrailing, the thick iron bars of which are so far apart, that inall seriousness, it is said, some very thin fellow had of a nightoccasionally squeezed himself through to go and pay his little visitsin the town. The part of the body most difficult to manage on suchoccasions was, no doubt, the head; here, as is so often the case inthe world, long-headed people get through best. So much, then, for theintroduction. 

One of the young men, whose head, in a physical sense only, might besaid to be of the thickest, had the watch that evening. The rain poureddown in torrents; yet despite these two obstacles, the young man wasobliged to go out, if it were but for a quarter of an hour; and asto telling the door-keeper about it, that, he thought, was quiteunnecessary, if, with a whole skin, he were able to slip through therailings. There, on the floor lay the galoshes, which the watchmanhad forgotten; he never dreamed for a moment that they were those ofFortune; and they promised to do him good service in the wet; so he putthem on. The question now was, if he could squeeze himself through thegrating, for he had never tried before. Well, there he stood. 

"Would to Heaven I had got my head through!" said he, involuntarily; andinstantly through it slipped, easily and without pain, notwithstandingit was pretty large and thick. But now the rest of the body was to begot through!

"Ah! I am much too stout, " groaned he aloud, while fixed as in a vice. "I had thought the head was the most difficult part of the matter--oh!oh! I really cannot squeeze myself through!"

He now wanted to pull his over-hasty head back again, but he could not. For his neck there was room enough, but for nothing more. His firstfeeling was of anger; his next that his temper fell to zero. TheShoes of Fortune had placed him in the most dreadful situation; and, unfortunately, it never occurred to him to wish himself free. Thepitch-black clouds poured down their contents in still heavier torrents;not a creature was to be seen in the streets. To reach up to the bellwas what he did not like; to cry aloud for help would have availed himlittle; besides, how ashamed would he have been to be found caught in atrap, like an outwitted fox! How was he to twist himself through! He sawclearly that it was his irrevocable destiny to remain a prisoner tilldawn, or, perhaps, even late in the morning; then the smith must befetched to file away the bars; but all that would not be done so quicklyas he could think about it. The whole Charity School, just opposite, would be in motion; all the new booths, with their not verycourtier-like swarm of seamen, would join them out of curiosity, andwould greet him with a wild "hurrah!" while he was standing in hispillory: there would be a mob, a hissing, and rejoicing, and jeering, ten times worse than in the rows about the Jews some years ago--"Oh, myblood is mounting to my brain; 'tis enough to drive one mad! I shall gowild! I know not what to do. Oh! were I but loose; my dizziness wouldthen cease; oh, were my head but loose!"

You see he ought to have said that sooner; for the moment he expressedthe wish his head was free; and cured of all his paroxysms of love, hehastened off to his room, where the pains consequent on the fright theShoes had prepared for him, did not so soon take their leave. 

But you must not think that the affair is over now; it grows much worse. 

The night passed, the next day also; but nobody came to fetch the Shoes. 

In the evening "Dramatic Readings" were to be given at the littletheatre in King Street. The house was filled to suffocation; and amongother pieces to be recited was a new poem by H. C. Andersen, called, MyAunt's Spectacles; the contents of which were pretty nearly as follows:

"A certain person had an aunt, who boasted of particular skill infortune-telling with cards, and who was constantly being stormed bypersons that wanted to have a peep into futurity. But she was full ofmystery about her art, in which a certain pair of magic spectaclesdid her essential service. Her nephew, a merry boy, who was his aunt'sdarling, begged so long for these spectacles, that, at last, she lenthim the treasure, after having informed him, with many exhortations, that in order to execute the interesting trick, he need only repair tosome place where a great many persons were assembled; and then, from ahigher position, whence he could overlook the crowd, pass the company inreview before him through his spectacles. Immediately 'the inner man' ofeach individual would be displayed before him, like a game of cards, inwhich he unerringly might read what the future of every person presentedwas to be. Well pleased the little magician hastened away to prove thepowers of the spectacles in the theatre; no place seeming to him morefitted for such a trial. He begged permission of the worthy audience, and set his spectacles on his nose. A motley phantasmagoria presentsitself before him, which he describes in a few satirical touches, yetwithout expressing his opinion openly: he tells the people enough to setthem all thinking and guessing; but in order to hurt nobody, he wrapshis witty oracular judgments in a transparent veil, or rather in a luridthundercloud, shooting forth bright sparks of wit, that they may fall inthe powder-magazine of the expectant audience. "

The humorous poem was admirably recited, and the speaker much applauded. Among the audience was the young man of the hospital, who seemed to haveforgotten his adventure of the preceding night. He had on the Shoes; foras yet no lawful owner had appeared to claim them; and besides it was sovery dirty out-of-doors, they were just the thing for him, he thought. 

The beginning of the poem he praised with great generosity: he evenfound the idea original and effective. But that the end of it, like theRhine, was very insignificant, proved, in his opinion, the author'swant of invention; he was without genius, etc. This was an excellentopportunity to have said something clever. 

Meanwhile he was haunted by the idea--he should like to possess such apair of spectacles himself; then, perhaps, by using them circumspectly, one would be able to look into people's hearts, which, he thought, wouldbe far more interesting than merely to see what was to happen next year;for that we should all know in proper time, but the other never. 

"I can now, " said he to himself, "fancy the whole row of ladies andgentlemen sitting there in the front row; if one could but see intotheir hearts--yes, that would be a revelation--a sort of bazar. In thatlady yonder, so strangely dressed, I should find for certain a largemilliner's shop; in that one the shop is empty, but it wants cleaningplain enough. But there would also be some good stately shops amongthem. Alas!" sighed he, "I know one in which all is stately; but theresits already a spruce young shopman, which is the only thing that'samiss in the whole shop. All would be splendidly decked out, and weshould hear, 'Walk in, gentlemen, pray walk in; here you will find allyou please to want. ' Ah! I wish to Heaven I could walk in and take atrip right through the hearts of those present!"

And behold! to the Shoes of Fortune this was the cue; the whole manshrunk together and a most uncommon journey through the hearts of thefront row of spectators, now began. The first heart through which hecame, was that of a middle-aged lady, but he instantly fancied himselfin the room of the "Institution for the cure of the crooked anddeformed, " where casts of mis-shapen limbs are displayed in nakedreality on the wall. Yet there was this difference, in the institutionthe casts were taken at the entry of the patient; but here they wereretained and guarded in the heart while the sound persons went away. They were, namely, casts of female friends, whose bodily or mentaldeformities were here most faithfully preserved. 

With the snake-like writhings of an idea he glided into another femaleheart; but this seemed to him like a large holy fane. [*] The white dove ofinnocence fluttered over the altar. How gladly would he have sunk uponhis knees; but he must away to the next heart; yet he still heard thepealing tones of the organ, and he himself seemed to have become a newerand a better man; he felt unworthy to tread the neighboring sanctuarywhich a poor garret, with a sick bed-rid mother, revealed. But God'swarm sun streamed through the open window; lovely roses nodded fromthe wooden flower-boxes on the roof, and two sky-blue birds sangrejoicingly, while the sick mother implored God's richest blessings onher pious daughter. 

 * temple

He now crept on hands and feet through a butcher's shop; at least onevery side, and above and below, there was nought but flesh. It was theheart of a most respectable rich man, whose name is certain to be foundin the Directory. 

He was now in the heart of the wife of this worthy gentleman. It was anold, dilapidated, mouldering dovecot. The husband's portrait was used asa weather-cock, which was connected in some way or other with the doors, and so they opened and shut of their own accord, whenever the stern oldhusband turned round. 

Hereupon he wandered into a boudoir formed entirely of mirrors, likethe one in Castle Rosenburg; but here the glasses magnified to anastonishing degree. On the floor, in the middle of the room, sat, like aDalai-Lama, the insignificant "Self" of the person, quite confounded athis own greatness. He then imagined he had got into a needle-case fullof pointed needles of every size. 

"This is certainly the heart of an old maid, " thought he. But he wasmistaken. It was the heart of a young military man; a man, as peoplesaid, of talent and feeling. 

In the greatest perplexity, he now came out of the last heart in therow; he was unable to put his thoughts in order, and fancied that histoo lively imagination had run away with him. 

"Good Heavens!" sighed he. "I have surely a disposition to madness--'tisdreadfully hot here; my blood boils in my veins and my head is burninglike a coal. " And he now remembered the important event of the eveningbefore, how his head had got jammed in between the iron railings of thehospital. "That's what it is, no doubt, " said he. "I must do somethingin time: under such circumstances a Russian bath might do me good. Ionly wish I were already on the upper bank. " [*]

 *In these Russian (vapor) baths the person extends himself on a bank or form, and as he gets accustomed to the heat, moves to another higher up towards the ceiling, where, of course, the vapor is warmest. In this manner he ascends gradually to the highest. 

And so there he lay on the uppermost bank in the vapor-bath; but withall his clothes on, in his boots and galoshes, while the hot drops fellscalding from the ceiling on his face. 

"Holloa!" cried he, leaping down. The bathing attendant, on his side, uttered a loud cry of astonishment when he beheld in the bath, a mancompletely dressed. 

The other, however, retained sufficient presence of mind to whisper tohim, "'Tis a bet, and I have won it!" But the first thing he did as soonas he got home, was to have a large blister put on his chest and back todraw out his madness. 

The next morning he had a sore chest and a bleeding back; and, exceptingthe fright, that was all that he had gained by the Shoes of Fortune. 

V. Metamorphosis of the Copying-Clerk

The watchman, whom we have certainly not forgotten, thought meanwhileof the galoshes he had found and taken with him to the hospital; he nowwent to fetch them; and as neither the lieutenant, nor anybody else inthe street, claimed them as his property, they were delivered over tothe police-office. *

*As on the continent, in all law and police practices nothing is verbal, but any circumstance, however trifling, is reduced to writing, thelabor, as well as the number of papers that thus accumulate, isenormous. In a police-office, consequently, we find copying-clerks amongmany other scribes of various denominations, of which, it seems, ourhero was one. 

"Why, I declare the Shoes look just like my own, " said one of theclerks, eying the newly-found treasure, whose hidden powers, even he, sharp as he was, was not able to discover. "One must have more thanthe eye of a shoemaker to know one pair from the other, " said he, soliloquizing; and putting, at the same time, the galoshes in search ofan owner, beside his own in the corner. 

"Here, sir!" said one of the men, who panting brought him a tremendouspile of papers. 

The copying-clerk turned round and spoke awhile with the man about thereports and legal documents in question; but when he had finished, andhis eye fell again on the Shoes, he was unable to say whether those tothe left or those to the right belonged to him. "At all events it mustbe those which are wet, " thought he; but this time, in spite of hiscleverness, he guessed quite wrong, for it was just those of Fortunewhich played as it were into his hands, or rather on his feet. And why, I should like to know, are the police never to be wrong? So he put themon quickly, stuck his papers in his pocket, and took besides a few underhis arm, intending to look them through at home to make the necessarynotes. It was noon; and the weather, that had threatened rain, beganto clear up, while gaily dressed holiday folks filled the streets. "Alittle trip to Fredericksburg would do me no great harm, " thought he;"for I, poor beast of burden that I am, have so much to annoy me, that Idon't know what a good appetite is. 'Tis a bitter crust, alas! at whichI am condemned to gnaw!"

Nobody could be more steady or quiet than this young man; we thereforewish him joy of the excursion with all our heart; and it will certainlybe beneficial for a person who leads so sedentary a life. In the parkhe met a friend, one of our young poets, who told him that the followingday he should set out on his long-intended tour. 

"So you are going away again!" said the clerk. "You are a very freeand happy being; we others are chained by the leg and held fast to ourdesk. "

"Yes; but it is a chain, friend, which ensures you the blessed breadof existence, " answered the poet. "You need feel no care for the comingmorrow: when you are old, you receive a pension. "

"True, " said the clerk, shrugging his shoulders; "and yet you arethe better off. To sit at one's ease and poetise--that is a pleasure;everybody has something agreeable to say to you, and you are always yourown master. No, friend, you should but try what it is to sit from oneyear's end to the other occupied with and judging the most trivialmatters. "

The poet shook his head, the copying-clerk did the same. Each one keptto his own opinion, and so they separated. 

"It's a strange race, those poets!" said the clerk, who was very fond ofsoliloquizing. "I should like some day, just for a trial, to take suchnature upon me, and be a poet myself; I am very sure I should makeno such miserable verses as the others. Today, methinks, is a mostdelicious day for a poet. Nature seems anew to celebrate her awakeninginto life. The air is so unusually clear, the clouds sail on sobuoyantly, and from the green herbage a fragrance is exhaled that fillsme with delight. For many a year have I not felt as at this moment. "

We see already, by the foregoing effusion, that he is become a poet; togive further proof of it, however, would in most cases be insipid, forit is a most foolish notion to fancy a poet different from other men. Among the latter there may be far more poetical natures than many anacknowledged poet, when examined more closely, could boast of; thedifference only is, that the poet possesses a better mental memory, onwhich account he is able to retain the feeling and the thought till theycan be embodied by means of words; a faculty which the others do notpossess. But the transition from a commonplace nature to one that isrichly endowed, demands always a more or less breakneck leap over acertain abyss which yawns threateningly below; and thus must the suddenchange with the clerk strike the reader. 

"The sweet air!" continued he of the police-office, in his dreamyimaginings; "how it reminds me of the violets in the garden of my auntMagdalena! Yes, then I was a little wild boy, who did not go to schoolvery regularly. O heavens! 'tis a long time since I have thought onthose times. The good old soul! She lived behind the Exchange. Shealways had a few twigs or green shoots in water--let the winter ragewithout as it might. The violets exhaled their sweet breath, whilst Ipressed against the windowpanes covered with fantastic frost-work thecopper coin I had heated on the stove, and so made peep-holes. What splendid vistas were then opened to my view! What change--whatmagnificence! Yonder in the canal lay the ships frozen up, and desertedby their whole crews, with a screaming crow for the sole occupant. Butwhen the spring, with a gentle stirring motion, announced her arrival, a new and busy life arose; with songs and hurrahs the ice was sawnasunder, the ships were fresh tarred and rigged, that they might sailaway to distant lands. But I have remained here--must always remainhere, sitting at my desk in the office, and patiently see other peoplefetch their passports to go abroad. Such is my fate! Alas!"--sighed he, and was again silent. "Great Heaven! What is come to me! Never have Ithought or felt like this before! It must be the summer air that affectsme with feelings almost as disquieting as they are refreshing. "

He felt in his pocket for the papers. "These police-reports will soonstem the torrent of my ideas, and effectually hinder any rebelliousoverflowing of the time-worn banks of official duties"; he said tohimself consolingly, while his eye ran over the first page. "DAMETIGBRITH, tragedy in five acts. " "What is that? And yet it is undeniablymy own handwriting. Have I written the tragedy? Wonderful, verywonderful!--And this--what have I here? 'INTRIGUE ON THE RAMPARTS; orTHE DAY OF REPENTANCE: vaudeville with new songs to the most favoriteairs. ' The deuce! Where did I get all this rubbish? Some one must haveslipped it slyly into my pocket for a joke. There is too a letter to me;a crumpled letter and the seal broken. "

Yes; it was not a very polite epistle from the manager of a theatre, inwhich both pieces were flatly refused. 

"Hem! hem!" said the clerk breathlessly, and quite exhausted he seatedhimself on a bank. His thoughts were so elastic, his heart so tender;and involuntarily he picked one of the nearest flowers. It is a simpledaisy, just bursting out of the bud. What the botanist tells us aftera number of imperfect lectures, the flower proclaimed in a minute. Itrelated the mythus of its birth, told of the power of the sun-light thatspread out its delicate leaves, and forced them to impregnate the airwith their incense--and then he thought of the manifold struggles oflife, which in like manner awaken the budding flowers of feeling in ourbosom. Light and air contend with chivalric emulation for the love ofthe fair flower that bestowed her chief favors on the latter; full oflonging she turned towards the light, and as soon as it vanished, rolledher tender leaves together and slept in the embraces of the air. "It isthe light which adorns me, " said the flower. 

"But 'tis the air which enables thee to breathe, " said the poet's voice. 

Close by stood a boy who dashed his stick into a wet ditch. The drops ofwater splashed up to the green leafy roof, and the clerk thought of themillion of ephemera which in a single drop were thrown up to a height, that was as great doubtless for their size, as for us if we were tobe hurled above the clouds. While he thought of this and of the wholemetamorphosis he had undergone, he smiled and said, "I sleep and dream;but it is wonderful how one can dream so naturally, and know besides soexactly that it is but a dream. If only to-morrow on awaking, I couldagain call all to mind so vividly! I seem in unusually good spirits; myperception of things is clear, I feel as light and cheerful as thoughI were in heaven; but I know for a certainty, that if to-morrow a dimremembrance of it should swim before my mind, it will then seem nothingbut stupid nonsense, as I have often experienced already--especiallybefore I enlisted under the banner of the police, for that dispels likea whirlwind all the visions of an unfettered imagination. All we hearor say in a dream that is fair and beautiful is like the gold of thesubterranean spirits; it is rich and splendid when it is given us, butviewed by daylight we find only withered leaves. Alas!" he sighed quitesorrowful, and gazed at the chirping birds that hopped contentedly frombranch to branch, "they are much better off than I! To fly must be aheavenly art; and happy do I prize that creature in which it is innate. Yes! Could I exchange my nature with any other creature, I fain would besuch a happy little lark!"

He had hardly uttered these hasty words when the skirts and sleevesof his coat folded themselves together into wings; the clothes becamefeathers, and the galoshes claws. He observed it perfectly, and laughedin his heart. "Now then, there is no doubt that I am dreaming; but Inever before was aware of such mad freaks as these. " And up he flew intothe green roof and sang; but in the song there was no poetry, for thespirit of the poet was gone. The Shoes, as is the case with anybody whodoes what he has to do properly, could only attend to one thing at atime. He wanted to be a poet, and he was one; he now wished to be amerry chirping bird: but when he was metamorphosed into one, the formerpeculiarities ceased immediately. "It is really pleasant enough, " saidhe: "the whole day long I sit in the office amid the driestlaw-papers, and at night I fly in my dream as a lark in the gardens ofFredericksburg; one might really write a very pretty comedy upon it. " Henow fluttered down into the grass, turned his head gracefully on everyside, and with his bill pecked the pliant blades of grass, which, incomparison to his present size, seemed as majestic as the palm-branchesof northern Africa. 

Unfortunately the pleasure lasted but a moment. Presently black nightovershadowed our enthusiast, who had so entirely missed his part ofcopying-clerk at a police-office; some vast object seemed to be thrownover him. It was a large oil-skin cap, which a sailor-boy of the quayhad thrown over the struggling bird; a coarse hand sought its waycarefully in under the broad rim, and seized the clerk over the backand wings. In the first moment of fear, he called, indeed, as loud ashe could--"You impudent little blackguard! I am a copying-clerk atthe police-office; and you know you cannot insult any belonging to theconstabulary force without a chastisement. Besides, you good-for-nothingrascal, it is strictly forbidden to catch birds in the royal gardens ofFredericksburg; but your blue uniform betrays where you come from. "This fine tirade sounded, however, to the ungodly sailor-boy like a mere"Pippi-pi. " He gave the noisy bird a knock on his beak, and walked on. 

He was soon met by two schoolboys of the upper class--that is to say asindividuals, for with regard to learning they were in the lowest classin the school; and they bought the stupid bird. So the copying-clerkcame to Copenhagen as guest, or rather as prisoner in a family living inGother Street. 

"'Tis well that I'm dreaming, " said the clerk, "or I really should getangry. First I was a poet; now sold for a few pence as a lark; no doubtit was that accursed poetical nature which has metamorphosed meinto such a poor harmless little creature. It is really pitiable, particularly when one gets into the hands of a little blackguard, perfect in all sorts of cruelty to animals: all I should like to knowis, how the story will end. "

The two schoolboys, the proprietors now of the transformed clerk, carried him into an elegant room. A stout stately dame received themwith a smile; but she expressed much dissatisfaction that a commonfield-bird, as she called the lark, should appear in such high society. For to-day, however, she would allow it; and they must shut him in theempty cage that was standing in the window. "Perhaps he will amuse mygood Polly, " added the lady, looking with a benignant smile at a largegreen parrot that swung himself backwards and forwards most comfortablyin his ring, inside a magnificent brass-wired cage. "To-day is Polly'sbirthday, " said she with stupid simplicity: "and the little brownfield-bird must wish him joy. "

Mr. Polly uttered not a syllable in reply, but swung to and fro withdignified condescension; while a pretty canary, as yellow as gold, thathad lately been brought from his sunny fragrant home, began to singaloud. 

"Noisy creature! Will you be quiet!" screamed the lady of the house, covering the cage with an embroidered white pocket handkerchief. 

"Chirp, chirp!" sighed he. "That was a dreadful snowstorm"; and hesighed again, and was silent. 

The copying-clerk, or, as the lady said, the brown field-bird, wasput into a small cage, close to the Canary, and not far from "my goodPolly. " The only human sounds that the Parrot could bawl outwere, "Come, let us be men!" Everything else that he said was asunintelligible to everybody as the chirping of the Canary, except to theclerk, who was now a bird too: he understood his companion perfectly. 

"I flew about beneath the green palms and the blossoming almond-trees, "sang the Canary; "I flew around, with my brothers and sisters, overthe beautiful flowers, and over the glassy lakes, where the brightwater-plants nodded to me from below. There, too, I saw manysplendidly-dressed paroquets, that told the drollest stories, and thewildest fairy tales without end. "

"Oh! those were uncouth birds, " answered the Parrot. "They had noeducation, and talked of whatever came into their head. 

"If my mistress and all her friends can laugh at what I say, so may youtoo, I should think. It is a great fault to have no taste for what iswitty or amusing--come, let us be men. "

"Ah, you have no remembrance of love for the charming maidens thatdanced beneath the outspread tents beside the bright fragrant flowers?Do you no longer remember the sweet fruits, and the cooling juice inthe wild plants of our never-to-be-forgotten home?" said the formerinhabitant of the Canary Isles, continuing his dithyrambic. 

"Oh, yes, " said the Parrot; "but I am far better off here. I am wellfed, and get friendly treatment. I know I am a clever fellow; and thatis all I care about. Come, let us be men. You are of a poetical nature, as it is called--I, on the contrary, possess profound knowledge andinexhaustible wit. You have genius; but clear-sighted, calm discretiondoes not take such lofty flights, and utter such high natural tones. For this they have covered you over--they never do the like to me; forI cost more. Besides, they are afraid of my beak; and I have always awitty answer at hand. Come, let us be men!"

"O warm spicy land of my birth, " sang the Canary bird; "I will sing ofthy dark-green bowers, of the calm bays where the pendent boughskiss the surface of the water; I will sing of the rejoicing of all mybrothers and sisters where the cactus grows in wanton luxuriance. "

"Spare us your elegiac tones, " said the Parrot giggling. "Rather speakof something at which one may laugh heartily. Laughing is an infalliblesign of the highest degree of mental development. Can a dog, or a horselaugh? No, but they can cry. The gift of laughing was given to manalone. Ha! ha! ha!" screamed Polly, and added his stereotype witticism. "Come, let us be men!"

"Poor little Danish grey-bird, " said the Canary; "you have been caughttoo. It is, no doubt, cold enough in your woods, but there at leastis the breath of liberty; therefore fly away. In the hurry they haveforgotten to shut your cage, and the upper window is open. Fly, myfriend; fly away. Farewell!"

Instinctively the Clerk obeyed; with a few strokes of his wings he wasout of the cage; but at the same moment the door, which was only ajar, and which led to the next room, began to creak, and supple and creepingcame the large tomcat into the room, and began to pursue him. Thefrightened Canary fluttered about in his cage; the Parrot flapped hiswings, and cried, "Come, let us be men!" The Clerk felt a mortal fright, and flew through the window, far away over the houses and streets. Atlast he was forced to rest a little. 

The neighboring house had a something familiar about it; a window stoodopen; he flew in; it was his own room. He perched upon the table. 

"Come, let us be men!" said he, involuntarily imitating the chatter ofthe Parrot, and at the same moment he was again a copying-clerk; but hewas sitting in the middle of the table. 

"Heaven help me!" cried he. "How did I get up here--and so buried insleep, too? After all, that was a very unpleasant, disagreeable dreamthat haunted me! The whole story is nothing but silly, stupid nonsense!"

VI. The Best That the Galoshes Gave

The following day, early in the morning, while the Clerk was still inbed, someone knocked at his door. It was his neighbor, a young Divine, who lived on the same floor. He walked in. 

"Lend me your Galoshes, " said he; "it is so wet in the garden, thoughthe sun is shining most invitingly. I should like to go out a little. "

He got the Galoshes, and he was soon below in a little duodecimo garden, where between two immense walls a plumtree and an apple-tree werestanding. Even such a little garden as this was considered in themetropolis of Copenhagen as a great luxury. 

The young man wandered up and down the narrow paths, as well as theprescribed limits would allow; the clock struck six; without was heardthe horn of a post-boy. 

"To travel! to travel!" exclaimed he, overcome by most painful andpassionate remembrances. "That is the happiest thing in the world! Thatis the highest aim of all my wishes! Then at last would the agonizingrestlessness be allayed, which destroys my existence! But it must befar, far away! I would behold magnificent Switzerland; I would travel toItaly, and--"

It was a good thing that the power of the Galoshes worked asinstantaneously as lightning in a powder-magazine would do, otherwisethe poor man with his overstrained wishes would have travelled aboutthe world too much for himself as well as for us. In short, he wastravelling. He was in the middle of Switzerland, but packed up witheight other passengers in the inside of an eternally-creaking diligence;his head ached till it almost split, his weary neck could hardly bearthe heavy load, and his feet, pinched by his torturing boots, wereterribly swollen. He was in an intermediate state between sleeping andwaking; at variance with himself, with his company, with the country, and with the government. In his right pocket he had his letter ofcredit, in the left, his passport, and in a small leathern purse somedouble louis d'or, carefully sewn up in the bosom of his waistcoat. Every dream proclaimed that one or the other of these valuables waslost; wherefore he started up as in a fever; and the first movementwhich his hand made, described a magic triangle from the right pocket tothe left, and then up towards the bosom, to feel if he had them all safeor not. From the roof inside the carriage, umbrellas, walking-sticks, hats, and sundry other articles were depending, and hindered the view, which was particularly imposing. He now endeavored as well as hewas able to dispel his gloom, which was caused by outward chancecircumstances merely, and on the bosom of nature imbibe the milk ofpurest human enjoyment. 

Grand, solemn, and dark was the whole landscape around. The giganticpine-forests, on the pointed crags, seemed almost like little tufts ofheather, colored by the surrounding clouds. It began to snow, a coldwind blew and roared as though it were seeking a bride. 

"Augh!" sighed he, "were we only on the other side the Alps, then weshould have summer, and I could get my letters of credit cashed. Theanxiety I feel about them prevents me enjoying Switzerland. Were I buton the other side!"

And so saying he was on the other side in Italy, between Florence andRome. Lake Thracymene, illumined by the evening sun, lay like flaminggold between the dark-blue mountain-ridges; here, where Hannibaldefeated Flaminius, the rivers now held each other in their greenembraces; lovely, half-naked children tended a herd of black swine, beneath a group of fragrant laurel-trees, hard by the road-side. Could we render this inimitable picture properly, then would everybodyexclaim, "Beautiful, unparalleled Italy!" But neither the young Divinesaid so, nor anyone of his grumbling companions in the coach of thevetturino. 

The poisonous flies and gnats swarmed around by thousands; in vain onewaved myrtle-branches about like mad; the audacious insect populationdid not cease to sting; nor was there a single person in thewell-crammed carriage whose face was not swollen and sore from theirravenous bites. The poor horses, tortured almost to death, suffered mostfrom this truly Egyptian plague; the flies alighted upon them in largedisgusting swarms; and if the coachman got down and scraped them off, hardly a minute elapsed before they were there again. The sun now set: afreezing cold, though of short duration pervaded the whole creation;it was like a horrid gust coming from a burial-vault on a warm summer'sday--but all around the mountains retained that wonderful green tonewhich we see in some old pictures, and which, should we not have seen asimilar play of color in the South, we declare at once to be unnatural. It was a glorious prospect; but the stomach was empty, the body tired;all that the heart cared and longed for was good night-quarters; yethow would they be? For these one looked much more anxiously than for thecharms of nature, which every where were so profusely displayed. 

The road led through an olive-grove, and here the solitary inn wassituated. Ten or twelve crippled-beggars had encamped outside. Thehealthiest of them resembled, to use an expression of Marryat's, "Hunger's eldest son when he had come of age"; the others were eitherblind, had withered legs and crept about on their hands, or witheredarms and fingerless hands. It was the most wretched misery, draggedfrom among the filthiest rags. "Excellenza, miserabili!" sighed they, thrusting forth their deformed limbs to view. Even the hostess, withbare feet, uncombed hair, and dressed in a garment of doubtful color, received the guests grumblingly. The doors were fastened with a loop ofstring; the floor of the rooms presented a stone paving half tornup; bats fluttered wildly about the ceiling; and as to the smelltherein--no--that was beyond description. 

"You had better lay the cloth below in the stable, " said one of thetravellers; "there, at all events, one knows what one is breathing. "

The windows were quickly opened, to let in a little fresh air. Quicker, however, than the breeze, the withered, sallow arms of the beggars werethrust in, accompanied by the eternal whine of "Miserabili, miserabili, excellenza!" On the walls were displayed innumerable inscriptions, written in nearly every language of Europe, some in verse, some inprose, most of them not very laudatory of "bella Italia. "

The meal was served. It consisted of a soup of salted water, seasonedwith pepper and rancid oil. The last ingredient played a very prominentpart in the salad; stale eggs and roasted cocks'-combs furnished thegrand dish of the repast; the wine even was not without a disgustingtaste--it was like a medicinal draught. 

At night the boxes and other effects of the passengers were placedagainst the rickety doors. One of the travellers kept watch while theothers slept. The sentry was our young Divine. How close it was in thechamber! The heat oppressive to suffocation--the gnats hummed and stungunceasingly--the "miserabili" without whined and moaned in their sleep. 

"Travelling would be agreeable enough, " said he groaning, "if one onlyhad no body, or could send it to rest while the spirit went on itspilgrimage unhindered, whither the voice within might call it. WhereverI go, I am pursued by a longing that is insatiable--that I cannotexplain to myself, and that tears my very heart. I want something betterthan what is but what is fled in an instant. But what is it, and whereis it to be found? Yet, I know in reality what it is I wish for. Oh!most happy were I, could I but reach one aim--could but reach thehappiest of all!"

And as he spoke the word he was again in his home; the long whitecurtains hung down from the windows, and in the middle of the floorstood the black coffin; in it he lay in the sleep of death. His wishwas fulfilled--the body rested, while the spirit went unhindered on itspilgrimage. "Let no one deem himself happy before his end, " were thewords of Solon; and here was a new and brilliant proof of the wisdom ofthe old apothegm. 

Every corpse is a sphynx of immortality; here too on the black coffinthe sphynx gave us no answer to what he who lay within had written twodays before:

 "O mighty Death! thy silence teaches nought, Thou leadest only to the near grave's brink; Is broken now the ladder of my thoughts? Do I instead of mounting only sink?

 Our heaviest grief the world oft seeth not, Our sorest pain we hide from stranger eyes: And for the sufferer there is nothing left But the green mound that o'er the coffin lies. "

Two figures were moving in the chamber. We knew them both; it was thefairy of Care, and the emissary of Fortune. They both bent over thecorpse. 

"Do you now see, " said Care, "what happiness your Galoshes have broughtto mankind?"

"To him, at least, who slumbers here, they have brought an imperishableblessing, " answered the other. 

"Ah no!" replied Care. "He took his departure himself; he was not calledaway. His mental powers here below were not strong enough to reach thetreasures lying beyond this life, and which his destiny ordained heshould obtain. I will now confer a benefit on him. "

And she took the Galoshes from his feet; his sleep of death was ended;and he who had been thus called back again to life arose from hisdread couch in all the vigor of youth. Care vanished, and with her theGaloshes. She has no doubt taken them for herself, to keep them to alleternity. 

THE FIR TREE

Out in the woods stood a nice little Fir Tree. The place he had was avery good one: the sun shone on him: as to fresh air, there was enoughof that, and round him grew many large-sized comrades, pines as well asfirs. But the little Fir wanted so very much to be a grown-up tree. 

He did not think of the warm sun and of the fresh air; he did not carefor the little cottage children that ran about and prattled when theywere in the woods looking for wild-strawberries. The children often camewith a whole pitcher full of berries, or a long row of them threaded ona straw, and sat down near the young tree and said, "Oh, how pretty heis! What a nice little fir!" But this was what the Tree could not bearto hear. 

At the end of a year he had shot up a good deal, and after another yearhe was another long bit taller; for with fir trees one can always tellby the shoots how many years old they are. 

"Oh! Were I but such a high tree as the others are, " sighed he. "Then Ishould be able to spread out my branches, and with the tops to look intothe wide world! Then would the birds build nests among my branches: andwhen there was a breeze, I could bend with as much stateliness as theothers!"

Neither the sunbeams, nor the birds, nor the red clouds which morningand evening sailed above him, gave the little Tree any pleasure. 

In winter, when the snow lay glittering on the ground, a hare wouldoften come leaping along, and jump right over the little Tree. Oh, thatmade him so angry! But two winters were past, and in the third the Treewas so large that the hare was obliged to go round it. "To grow andgrow, to get older and be tall, " thought the Tree--"that, after all, isthe most delightful thing in the world!"

In autumn the wood-cutters always came and felled some of the largesttrees. This happened every year; and the young Fir Tree, that had nowgrown to a very comely size, trembled at the sight; for the magnificentgreat trees fell to the earth with noise and cracking, the branches werelopped off, and the trees looked long and bare; they were hardly to berecognised; and then they were laid in carts, and the horses draggedthem out of the wood. 

Where did they go to? What became of them?

In spring, when the swallows and the storks came, the Tree asked them, "Don't you know where they have been taken? Have you not met themanywhere?"

The swallows did not know anything about it; but the Stork lookedmusing, nodded his head, and said, "Yes; I think I know; I met manyships as I was flying hither from Egypt; on the ships were magnificentmasts, and I venture to assert that it was they that smelt so of fir. I may congratulate you, for they lifted themselves on high mostmajestically!"

"Oh, were I but old enough to fly across the sea! But how does the sealook in reality? What is it like?"

"That would take a long time to explain, " said the Stork, and with thesewords off he went. 

"Rejoice in thy growth!" said the Sunbeams. "Rejoice in thy vigorousgrowth, and in the fresh life that moveth within thee!"

And the Wind kissed the Tree, and the Dew wept tears over him; but theFir understood it not. 

When Christmas came, quite young trees were cut down: trees which oftenwere not even as large or of the same age as this Fir Tree, who couldnever rest, but always wanted to be off. These young trees, and theywere always the finest looking, retained their branches; they were laidon carts, and the horses drew them out of the wood. 

"Where are they going to?" asked the Fir. "They are not taller thanI; there was one indeed that was considerably shorter; and why do theyretain all their branches? Whither are they taken?"

"We know! We know!" chirped the Sparrows. "We have peeped in at thewindows in the town below! We know whither they are taken! The greatestsplendor and the greatest magnificence one can imagine await them. Wepeeped through the windows, and saw them planted in the middle of thewarm room and ornamented with the most splendid things, with gildedapples, with gingerbread, with toys, and many hundred lights!"

"And then?" asked the Fir Tree, trembling in every bough. "And then?What happens then?"

"We did not see anything more: it was incomparably beautiful. "

"I would fain know if I am destined for so glorious a career, " criedthe Tree, rejoicing. "That is still better than to cross the sea! Whata longing do I suffer! Were Christmas but come! I am now tall, and mybranches spread like the others that were carried off last year! Oh!were I but already on the cart! Were I in the warm room with all thesplendor and magnificence! Yes; then something better, something stillgrander, will surely follow, or wherefore should they thus ornament me?Something better, something still grander must follow--but what? Oh, howI long, how I suffer! I do not know myself what is the matter with me!"

"Rejoice in our presence!" said the Air and the Sunlight. "Rejoice inthy own fresh youth!"

But the Tree did not rejoice at all; he grew and grew, and was greenboth winter and summer. People that saw him said, "What a fine tree!"and towards Christmas he was one of the first that was cut down. The axestruck deep into the very pith; the Tree fell to the earth with a sigh;he felt a pang--it was like a swoon; he could not think of happiness, for he was sorrowful at being separated from his home, from the placewhere he had sprung up. He well knew that he should never see his dearold comrades, the little bushes and flowers around him, anymore; perhapsnot even the birds! The departure was not at all agreeable. 

The Tree only came to himself when he was unloaded in a court-yard withthe other trees, and heard a man say, "That one is splendid! We don'twant the others. " Then two servants came in rich livery and carried theFir Tree into a large and splendid drawing-room. Portraits were hangingon the walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood two large Chinesevases with lions on the covers. There, too, were large easy-chairs, silken sofas, large tables full of picture-books and full of toys, worthhundreds and hundreds of crowns--at least the children said so. And theFir Tree was stuck upright in a cask that was filled with sand; but noone could see that it was a cask, for green cloth was hung all round it, and it stood on a large gaily-colored carpet. Oh! how the Tree quivered!What was to happen? The servants, as well as the young ladies, decoratedit. On one branch there hung little nets cut out of colored paper, andeach net was filled with sugarplums; and among the other boughs gildedapples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though they had grownthere, and little blue and white tapers were placed among the leaves. Dolls that looked for all the world like men--the Tree had never beheldsuch before--were seen among the foliage, and at the very top alarge star of gold tinsel was fixed. It was really splendid--beyonddescription splendid. 

"This evening!" they all said. "How it will shine this evening!"

"Oh!" thought the Tree. "If the evening were but come! If the taperswere but lighted! And then I wonder what will happen! Perhaps the othertrees from the forest will come to look at me! Perhaps the sparrows willbeat against the windowpanes! I wonder if I shall take root here, andwinter and summer stand covered with ornaments!"

He knew very much about the matter--but he was so impatient that forsheer longing he got a pain in his back, and this with trees is the samething as a headache with us. 

The candles were now lighted--what brightness! What splendor! TheTree trembled so in every bough that one of the tapers set fire to thefoliage. It blazed up famously. 

"Help! Help!" cried the young ladies, and they quickly put out the fire. 

Now the Tree did not even dare tremble. What a state he was in! He wasso uneasy lest he should lose something of his splendor, that he wasquite bewildered amidst the glare and brightness; when suddenly bothfolding-doors opened and a troop of children rushed in as if they wouldupset the Tree. The older persons followed quietly; the little onesstood quite still. But it was only for a moment; then they shouted thatthe whole place re-echoed with their rejoicing; they danced round theTree, and one present after the other was pulled off. 

"What are they about?" thought the Tree. "What is to happen now!" Andthe lights burned down to the very branches, and as they burned downthey were put out one after the other, and then the children hadpermission to plunder the Tree. So they fell upon it with such violencethat all its branches cracked; if it had not been fixed firmly in theground, it would certainly have tumbled down. 

The children danced about with their beautiful playthings; no one lookedat the Tree except the old nurse, who peeped between the branches; butit was only to see if there was a fig or an apple left that had beenforgotten. 

"A story! A story!" cried the children, drawing a little fat man towardsthe Tree. He seated himself under it and said, "Now we are in the shade, and the Tree can listen too. But I shall tell only one story. Now whichwill you have; that about Ivedy-Avedy, or about Humpy-Dumpy, whotumbled downstairs, and yet after all came to the throne and married theprincess?"

"Ivedy-Avedy, " cried some; "Humpy-Dumpy, " cried the others. There wassuch a bawling and screaming--the Fir Tree alone was silent, and hethought to himself, "Am I not to bawl with the rest? Am I to do nothingwhatever?" for he was one of the company, and had done what he had todo. 

And the man told about Humpy-Dumpy that tumbled down, whonotwithstanding came to the throne, and at last married the princess. And the children clapped their hands, and cried. "Oh, go on! Do go on!"They wanted to hear about Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only toldthem about Humpy-Dumpy. The Fir Tree stood quite still and absorbedin thought; the birds in the wood had never related the like of this. "Humpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he married the princess! Yes, yes!That's the way of the world!" thought the Fir Tree, and believed it all, because the man who told the story was so good-looking. "Well, well! whoknows, perhaps I may fall downstairs, too, and get a princess as wife!"And he looked forward with joy to the morrow, when he hoped to be deckedout again with lights, playthings, fruits, and tinsel. 

"I won't tremble to-morrow!" thought the Fir Tree. "I will enjoy tothe full all my splendor! To-morrow I shall hear again the story ofHumpy-Dumpy, and perhaps that of Ivedy-Avedy too. " And the whole nightthe Tree stood still and in deep thought. 

In the morning the servant and the housemaid came in. 

"Now then the splendor will begin again, " thought the Fir. But theydragged him out of the room, and up the stairs into the loft: and here, in a dark corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him. "What'sthe meaning of this?" thought the Tree. "What am I to do here? Whatshall I hear now, I wonder?" And he leaned against the wall lost inreverie. Time enough had he too for his reflections; for days and nightspassed on, and nobody came up; and when at last somebody did come, itwas only to put some great trunks in a corner, out of the way. Therestood the Tree quite hidden; it seemed as if he had been entirelyforgotten. 

"'Tis now winter out-of-doors!" thought the Tree. "The earth is hard andcovered with snow; men cannot plant me now, and therefore I have beenput up here under shelter till the spring-time comes! How thoughtfulthat is! How kind man is, after all! If it only were not so dark here, and so terribly lonely! Not even a hare! And out in the woods it wasso pleasant, when the snow was on the ground, and the hare leaped by;yes--even when he jumped over me; but I did not like it then! It isreally terribly lonely here!"

"Squeak! Squeak!" said a little Mouse, at the same moment, peeping outof his hole. And then another little one came. They snuffed about theFir Tree, and rustled among the branches. 

"It is dreadfully cold, " said the Mouse. "But for that, it would bedelightful here, old Fir, wouldn't it?"

"I am by no means old, " said the Fir Tree. "There's many a oneconsiderably older than I am. "

"Where do you come from, " asked the Mice; "and what can you do?" Theywere so extremely curious. "Tell us about the most beautiful spot on theearth. Have you never been there? Were you never in the larder, wherecheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from above; where one dancesabout on tallow candles: that place where one enters lean, and comes outagain fat and portly?"

"I know no such place, " said the Tree. "But I know the wood, where thesun shines and where the little birds sing. " And then he told all abouthis youth; and the little Mice had never heard the like before; and theylistened and said, "Well, to be sure! How much you have seen! How happy you must havebeen!"

"I!" said the Fir Tree, thinking over what he had himself related. "Yes, in reality those were happy times. " And then he told aboutChristmas-eve, when he was decked out with cakes and candles. 

"Oh, " said the little Mice, "how fortunate you have been, old Fir Tree!"

"I am by no means old, " said he. "I came from the wood this winter; I amin my prime, and am only rather short for my age. "

"What delightful stories you know, " said the Mice: and the next nightthey came with four other little Mice, who were to hear what the Treerecounted: and the more he related, the more he remembered himself; andit appeared as if those times had really been happy times. "But they maystill come--they may still come! Humpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yethe got a princess!" and he thought at the moment of a nice little BirchTree growing out in the woods: to the Fir, that would be a real charmingprincess. 

"Who is Humpy-Dumpy?" asked the Mice. So then the Fir Tree told thewhole fairy tale, for he could remember every single word of it; and thelittle Mice jumped for joy up to the very top of the Tree. Next nighttwo more Mice came, and on Sunday two Rats even; but they said thestories were not interesting, which vexed the little Mice; and they, too, now began to think them not so very amusing either. 

"Do you know only one story?" asked the Rats. 

"Only that one, " answered the Tree. "I heard it on my happiest evening;but I did not then know how happy I was. "

"It is a very stupid story! Don't you know one about bacon and tallowcandles? Can't you tell any larder stories?"

"No, " said the Tree. 

"Then good-bye, " said the Rats; and they went home. 

At last the little Mice stayed away also; and the Tree sighed: "Afterall, it was very pleasant when the sleek little Mice sat round me, andlistened to what I told them. Now that too is over. But I will take goodcare to enjoy myself when I am brought out again. "

But when was that to be? Why, one morning there came a quantity ofpeople and set to work in the loft. The trunks were moved, the tree waspulled out and thrown--rather hard, it is true--down on the floor, but aman drew him towards the stairs, where the daylight shone. 

"Now a merry life will begin again, " thought the Tree. He felt the freshair, the first sunbeam--and now he was out in the courtyard. All passedso quickly, there was so much going on around him, the Tree quite forgotto look to himself. The court adjoined a garden, and all was in flower;the roses hung so fresh and odorous over the balustrade, the lindenswere in blossom, the Swallows flew by, and said, "Quirre-vit! My husbandis come!" but it was not the Fir Tree that they meant. 

"Now, then, I shall really enjoy life, " said he exultingly, and spreadout his branches; but, alas, they were all withered and yellow! It wasin a corner that he lay, among weeds and nettles. The golden star oftinsel was still on the top of the Tree, and glittered in the sunshine. 

In the court-yard some of the merry children were playing who had dancedat Christmas round the Fir Tree, and were so glad at the sight of him. One of the youngest ran and tore off the golden star. 

"Only look what is still on the ugly old Christmas tree!" said he, trampling on the branches, so that they all cracked beneath his feet. 

And the Tree beheld all the beauty of the flowers, and the freshness inthe garden; he beheld himself, and wished he had remained in his darkcorner in the loft; he thought of his first youth in the wood, of themerry Christmas-eve, and of the little Mice who had listened with somuch pleasure to the story of Humpy-Dumpy. 

"'Tis over--'tis past!" said the poor Tree. "Had I but rejoiced when Ihad reason to do so! But now 'tis past, 'tis past!"

And the gardener's boy chopped the Tree into small pieces; there was awhole heap lying there. The wood flamed up splendidly under the largebrewing copper, and it sighed so deeply! Each sigh was like a shot. 

The boys played about in the court, and the youngest wore the gold staron his breast which the Tree had had on the happiest evening of hislife. However, that was over now--the Tree gone, the story at an end. All, all was over--every tale must end at last. 

THE SNOW QUEEN

FIRST STORY. Which Treats of a Mirror and of the Splinters

Now then, let us begin. When we are at the end of the story, we shallknow more than we know now: but to begin. 

Once upon a time there was a wicked sprite, indeed he was the mostmischievous of all sprites. One day he was in a very good humor, forhe had made a mirror with the power of causing all that was good andbeautiful when it was reflected therein, to look poor and mean; butthat which was good-for-nothing and looked ugly was shown magnifiedand increased in ugliness. In this mirror the most beautiful landscapeslooked like boiled spinach, and the best persons were turned intofrights, or appeared to stand on their heads; their faces were sodistorted that they were not to be recognised; and if anyone had a mole, you might be sure that it would be magnified and spread over both noseand mouth. 

"That's glorious fun!" said the sprite. If a good thought passed througha man's mind, then a grin was seen in the mirror, and the sprite laughedheartily at his clever discovery. All the little sprites who went to hisschool--for he kept a sprite school--told each other that a miracle hadhappened; and that now only, as they thought, it would be possible tosee how the world really looked. They ran about with the mirror; and atlast there was not a land or a person who was not represented distortedin the mirror. So then they thought they would fly up to the sky, and have a joke there. The higher they flew with the mirror, the moreterribly it grinned: they could hardly hold it fast. Higher and higherstill they flew, nearer and nearer to the stars, when suddenly themirror shook so terribly with grinning, that it flew out of their handsand fell to the earth, where it was dashed in a hundred million and morepieces. And now it worked much more evil than before; for some of thesepieces were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about inthe wide world, and when they got into people's eyes, there they stayed;and then people saw everything perverted, or only had an eye for thatwhich was evil. This happened because the very smallest bit had thesame power which the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even gota splinter in their heart, and then it made one shudder, for their heartbecame like a lump of ice. Some of the broken pieces were so large thatthey were used for windowpanes, through which one could not see one'sfriends. Other pieces were put in spectacles; and that was a sad affairwhen people put on their glasses to see well and rightly. Then thewicked sprite laughed till he almost choked, for all this tickled hisfancy. The fine splinters still flew about in the air: and now we shallhear what happened next. 

SECOND STORY. A Little Boy and a Little Girl

In a large town, where there are so many houses, and so many people, that there is no roof left for everybody to have a little garden; andwhere, on this account, most persons are obliged to content themselveswith flowers in pots; there lived two little children, who had a gardensomewhat larger than a flower-pot. They were not brother and sister; butthey cared for each other as much as if they were. Their parents livedexactly opposite. They inhabited two garrets; and where the roof of theone house joined that of the other, and the gutter ran along the extremeend of it, there was to each house a small window: one needed only tostep over the gutter to get from one window to the other. 

The children's parents had large wooden boxes there, in which vegetablesfor the kitchen were planted, and little rosetrees besides: there was arose in each box, and they grew splendidly. They now thought of placingthe boxes across the gutter, so that they nearly reached from one windowto the other, and looked just like two walls of flowers. The tendrilsof the peas hung down over the boxes; and the rose-trees shot up longbranches, twined round the windows, and then bent towards each other: itwas almost like a triumphant arch of foliage and flowers. The boxes werevery high, and the children knew that they must not creep over them; sothey often obtained permission to get out of the windows to each other, and to sit on their little stools among the roses, where they could playdelightfully. In winter there was an end of this pleasure. The windowswere often frozen over; but then they heated copper farthings on thestove, and laid the hot farthing on the windowpane, and then they had acapital peep-hole, quite nicely rounded; and out of each peeped a gentlefriendly eye--it was the little boy and the little girl who were lookingout. His name was Kay, hers was Gerda. In summer, with one jump, theycould get to each other; but in winter they were obliged first togo down the long stairs, and then up the long stairs again: andout-of-doors there was quite a snow-storm. 

"It is the white bees that are swarming, " said Kay's old grandmother. 

"Do the white bees choose a queen?" asked the little boy; for he knewthat the honey-bees always have one. 

"Yes, " said the grandmother, "she flies where the swarm hangs in thethickest clusters. She is the largest of all; and she can never remainquietly on the earth, but goes up again into the black clouds. Many awinter's night she flies through the streets of the town, and peeps inat the windows; and they then freeze in so wondrous a manner that theylook like flowers. "

"Yes, I have seen it, " said both the children; and so they knew that itwas true. 

"Can the Snow Queen come in?" said the little girl. 

"Only let her come in!" said the little boy. "Then I'd put her on thestove, and she'd melt. "

And then his grandmother patted his head and told him other stories. 

In the evening, when little Kay was at home, and half undressed, heclimbed up on the chair by the window, and peeped out of the littlehole. A few snow-flakes were falling, and one, the largest of all, remained lying on the edge of a flower-pot. 

The flake of snow grew larger and larger; and at last it was like ayoung lady, dressed in the finest white gauze, made of a million littleflakes like stars. She was so beautiful and delicate, but she was ofice, of dazzling, sparkling ice; yet she lived; her eyes gazed fixedly, like two stars; but there was neither quiet nor repose in them. Shenodded towards the window, and beckoned with her hand. The little boywas frightened, and jumped down from the chair; it seemed to him as if, at the same moment, a large bird flew past the window. 

The next day it was a sharp frost--and then the spring came; the sunshone, the green leaves appeared, the swallows built their nests, thewindows were opened, and the little children again sat in their prettygarden, high up on the leads at the top of the house. 

That summer the roses flowered in unwonted beauty. The little girl hadlearned a hymn, in which there was something about roses; and then shethought of her own flowers; and she sang the verse to the little boy, who then sang it with her:

 "The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet, And angels descend there the children to greet. "

And the children held each other by the hand, kissed the roses, lookedup at the clear sunshine, and spoke as though they really saw angelsthere. What lovely summer-days those were! How delightful to be out inthe air, near the fresh rose-bushes, that seem as if they would neverfinish blossoming!

Kay and Gerda looked at the picture-book full of beasts and of birds;and it was then--the clock in the church-tower was just strikingfive--that Kay said, "Oh! I feel such a sharp pain in my heart; and nowsomething has got into my eye!"

The little girl put her arms around his neck. He winked his eyes; nowthere was nothing to be seen. 

"I think it is out now, " said he; but it was not. It was just one ofthose pieces of glass from the magic mirror that had got into his eye;and poor Kay had got another piece right in his heart. It will soonbecome like ice. It did not hurt any longer, but there it was. 

"What are you crying for?" asked he. "You look so ugly! There's nothingthe matter with me. Ah, " said he at once, "that rose is cankered! Andlook, this one is quite crooked! After all, these roses are very ugly!They are just like the box they are planted in!" And then he gave thebox a good kick with his foot, and pulled both the roses up. 

"What are you doing?" cried the little girl; and as he perceived herfright, he pulled up another rose, got in at the window, and hastenedoff from dear little Gerda. 

Afterwards, when she brought her picture-book, he asked, "What horridbeasts have you there?" And if his grandmother told them stories, healways interrupted her; besides, if he could manage it, he would getbehind her, put on her spectacles, and imitate her way of speaking; hecopied all her ways, and then everybody laughed at him. He was soon ableto imitate the gait and manner of everyone in the street. Everythingthat was peculiar and displeasing in them--that Kay knew how to imitate:and at such times all the people said, "The boy is certainly veryclever!" But it was the glass he had got in his eye; the glass that wassticking in his heart, which made him tease even little Gerda, whosewhole soul was devoted to him. 

His games now were quite different to what they had formerly been, theywere so very knowing. One winter's day, when the flakes of snow wereflying about, he spread the skirts of his blue coat, and caught the snowas it fell. 

"Look through this glass, Gerda, " said he. And every flake seemedlarger, and appeared like a magnificent flower, or beautiful star; itwas splendid to look at!

"Look, how clever!" said Kay. "That's much more interesting than realflowers! They are as exact as possible; there is not a fault in them, ifthey did not melt!"

It was not long after this, that Kay came one day with large gloves on, and his little sledge at his back, and bawled right into Gerda's ears, "I have permission to go out into the square where the others areplaying"; and off he was in a moment. 

There, in the market-place, some of the boldest of the boys used to tietheir sledges to the carts as they passed by, and so they were pulledalong, and got a good ride. It was so capital! Just as they were in thevery height of their amusement, a large sledge passed by: it was paintedquite white, and there was someone in it wrapped up in a rough whitemantle of fur, with a rough white fur cap on his head. The sledge droveround the square twice, and Kay tied on his sledge as quickly as hecould, and off he drove with it. On they went quicker and quicker intothe next street; and the person who drove turned round to Kay, andnodded to him in a friendly manner, just as if they knew each other. Every time he was going to untie his sledge, the person nodded to him, and then Kay sat quiet; and so on they went till they came outsidethe gates of the town. Then the snow began to fall so thickly that thelittle boy could not see an arm's length before him, but still on hewent: when suddenly he let go the string he held in his hand in orderto get loose from the sledge, but it was of no use; still the littlevehicle rushed on with the quickness of the wind. He then cried as loudas he could, but no one heard him; the snow drifted and the sledge flewon, and sometimes it gave a jerk as though they were driving over hedgesand ditches. He was quite frightened, and he tried to repeat theLord's Prayer; but all he could do, he was only able to remember themultiplication table. 

The snow-flakes grew larger and larger, till at last they looked justlike great white fowls. Suddenly they flew on one side; the large sledgestopped, and the person who drove rose up. It was a lady; her cloak andcap were of snow. She was tall and of slender figure, and of a dazzlingwhiteness. It was the Snow Queen. 

"We have travelled fast, " said she; "but it is freezingly cold. Comeunder my bearskin. " And she put him in the sledge beside her, wrapped the fur round him, and he felt as though he were sinking in asnow-wreath. 

"Are you still cold?" asked she; and then she kissed his forehead. Ah! it was colder than ice; it penetrated to his very heart, which wasalready almost a frozen lump; it seemed to him as if he were about todie--but a moment more and it was quite congenial to him, and he did notremark the cold that was around him. 

"My sledge! Do not forget my sledge!" It was the first thing he thoughtof. It was there tied to one of the white chickens, who flew along withit on his back behind the large sledge. The Snow Queen kissed Kay oncemore, and then he forgot little Gerda, grandmother, and all whom he hadleft at his home. 

"Now you will have no more kisses, " said she, "or else I should kiss youto death!"

Kay looked at her. She was very beautiful; a more clever, or a morelovely countenance he could not fancy to himself; and she no longerappeared of ice as before, when she sat outside the window, and beckonedto him; in his eyes she was perfect, he did not fear her at all, andtold her that he could calculate in his head and with fractions, even;that he knew the number of square miles there were in the differentcountries, and how many inhabitants they contained; and she smiled whilehe spoke. It then seemed to him as if what he knew was not enough, andhe looked upwards in the large huge empty space above him, and on sheflew with him; flew high over the black clouds, while the storm moanedand whistled as though it were singing some old tune. On they flewover woods and lakes, over seas, and many lands; and beneath them thechilling storm rushed fast, the wolves howled, the snow crackled; abovethem flew large screaming crows, but higher up appeared the moon, quitelarge and bright; and it was on it that Kay gazed during the long longwinter's night; while by day he slept at the feet of the Snow Queen. 

THIRD STORY. Of the Flower-Garden At the Old Woman's Who UnderstoodWitchcraft

But what became of little Gerda when Kay did not return? Where could hebe? Nobody knew; nobody could give any intelligence. All the boys knewwas, that they had seen him tie his sledge to another large and splendidone, which drove down the street and out of the town. Nobody knewwhere he was; many sad tears were shed, and little Gerda wept long andbitterly; at last she said he must be dead; that he had been drowned inthe river which flowed close to the town. Oh! those were very long anddismal winter evenings!

At last spring came, with its warm sunshine. 

"Kay is dead and gone!" said little Gerda. 

"That I don't believe, " said the Sunshine. 

"Kay is dead and gone!" said she to the Swallows. 

"That I don't believe, " said they: and at last little Gerda did notthink so any longer either. 

"I'll put on my red shoes, " said she, one morning; "Kay has never seenthem, and then I'll go down to the river and ask there. "

It was quite early; she kissed her old grandmother, who was stillasleep, put on her red shoes, and went alone to the river. 

"Is it true that you have taken my little playfellow? I will make you apresent of my red shoes, if you will give him back to me. "

And, as it seemed to her, the blue waves nodded in a strange manner;then she took off her red shoes, the most precious things she possessed, and threw them both into the river. But they fell close to the bank, andthe little waves bore them immediately to land; it was as if the streamwould not take what was dearest to her; for in reality it had not gotlittle Kay; but Gerda thought that she had not thrown the shoes out farenough, so she clambered into a boat which lay among the rushes, wentto the farthest end, and threw out the shoes. But the boat was notfastened, and the motion which she occasioned, made it drift from theshore. She observed this, and hastened to get back; but before she coulddo so, the boat was more than a yard from the land, and was glidingquickly onward. 

Little Gerda was very frightened, and began to cry; but no one heard herexcept the sparrows, and they could not carry her to land; but they flewalong the bank, and sang as if to comfort her, "Here we are! Here weare!" The boat drifted with the stream, little Gerda sat quite stillwithout shoes, for they were swimming behind the boat, but she could notreach them, because the boat went much faster than they did. 

The banks on both sides were beautiful; lovely flowers, venerable trees, and slopes with sheep and cows, but not a human being was to be seen. 

"Perhaps the river will carry me to little Kay, " said she; and thenshe grew less sad. She rose, and looked for many hours at the beautifulgreen banks. Presently she sailed by a large cherry-orchard, where wasa little cottage with curious red and blue windows; it was thatched, and before it two wooden soldiers stood sentry, and presented arms whenanyone went past. 

Gerda called to them, for she thought they were alive; but they, ofcourse, did not answer. She came close to them, for the stream driftedthe boat quite near the land. 

Gerda called still louder, and an old woman then came out of thecottage, leaning upon a crooked stick. She had a large broad-brimmed haton, painted with the most splendid flowers. 

"Poor little child!" said the old woman. "How did you get upon the largerapid river, to be driven about so in the wide world!" And then theold woman went into the water, caught hold of the boat with her crookedstick, drew it to the bank, and lifted little Gerda out. 

And Gerda was so glad to be on dry land again; but she was rather afraidof the strange old woman. 

"But come and tell me who you are, and how you came here, " said she. 

And Gerda told her all; and the old woman shook her head and said, "A-hem! a-hem!" and when Gerda had told her everything, and asked her ifshe had not seen little Kay, the woman answered that he had not passedthere, but he no doubt would come; and she told her not to be cast down, but taste her cherries, and look at her flowers, which were finer thanany in a picture-book, each of which could tell a whole story. She thentook Gerda by the hand, led her into the little cottage, and locked thedoor. 

The windows were very high up; the glass was red, blue, and green, andthe sunlight shone through quite wondrously in all sorts of colors. Onthe table stood the most exquisite cherries, and Gerda ate as many asshe chose, for she had permission to do so. While she was eating, theold woman combed her hair with a golden comb, and her hair curled andshone with a lovely golden color around that sweet little face, whichwas so round and so like a rose. 

"I have often longed for such a dear little girl, " said the old woman. "Now you shall see how well we agree together"; and while she combedlittle Gerda's hair, the child forgot her foster-brother Kay more andmore, for the old woman understood magic; but she was no evil being, sheonly practised witchcraft a little for her own private amusement, andnow she wanted very much to keep little Gerda. She therefore went outin the garden, stretched out her crooked stick towards the rose-bushes, which, beautifully as they were blowing, all sank into the earth and noone could tell where they had stood. The old woman feared that if Gerdashould see the roses, she would then think of her own, would rememberlittle Kay, and run away from her. 

She now led Gerda into the flower-garden. Oh, what odour and whatloveliness was there! Every flower that one could think of, and of everyseason, stood there in fullest bloom; no picture-book could be gayer ormore beautiful. Gerda jumped for joy, and played till the sun set behindthe tall cherry-tree; she then had a pretty bed, with a red silkencoverlet filled with blue violets. She fell asleep, and had as pleasantdreams as ever a queen on her wedding-day. 

The next morning she went to play with the flowers in the warm sunshine, and thus passed away a day. Gerda knew every flower; and, numerous asthey were, it still seemed to Gerda that one was wanting, though shedid not know which. One day while she was looking at the hat of the oldwoman painted with flowers, the most beautiful of them all seemed to herto be a rose. The old woman had forgotten to take it from her hatwhen she made the others vanish in the earth. But so it is when one'sthoughts are not collected. "What!" said Gerda. "Are there no roseshere?" and she ran about amongst the flowerbeds, and looked, and looked, but there was not one to be found. She then sat down and wept; but herhot tears fell just where a rose-bush had sunk; and when her warm tearswatered the ground, the tree shot up suddenly as fresh and blooming aswhen it had been swallowed up. Gerda kissed the roses, thought of herown dear roses at home, and with them of little Kay. 

"Oh, how long I have stayed!" said the little girl. "I intended to lookfor Kay! Don't you know where he is?" she asked of the roses. "Do youthink he is dead and gone?"

"Dead he certainly is not, " said the Roses. "We have been in the earthwhere all the dead are, but Kay was not there. "

"Many thanks!" said little Gerda; and she went to the other flowers, looked into their cups, and asked, "Don't you know where little Kay is?"

But every flower stood in the sunshine, and dreamed its own fairy taleor its own story: and they all told her very many things, but not oneknew anything of Kay. 

Well, what did the Tiger-Lily say?

"Hearest thou not the drum? Bum! Bum! Those are the only two tones. Always bum! Bum! Hark to the plaintive song of the old woman, to thecall of the priests! The Hindoo woman in her long robe stands upon thefuneral pile; the flames rise around her and her dead husband, but theHindoo woman thinks on the living one in the surrounding circle; on himwhose eyes burn hotter than the flames--on him, the fire of whose eyespierces her heart more than the flames which soon will burn her body toashes. Can the heart's flame die in the flame of the funeral pile?"

"I don't understand that at all, " said little Gerda. 

"That is my story, " said the Lily. 

What did the Convolvulus say?

"Projecting over a narrow mountain-path there hangs an old feudalcastle. Thick evergreens grow on the dilapidated walls, and around thealtar, where a lovely maiden is standing: she bends over the railing andlooks out upon the rose. No fresher rose hangs on the branches than she;no appleblossom carried away by the wind is more buoyant! How her silkenrobe is rustling!

"'Is he not yet come?'"

"Is it Kay that you mean?" asked little Gerda. 

"I am speaking about my story--about my dream, " answered theConvolvulus. 

What did the Snowdrops say?

"Between the trees a long board is hanging--it is a swing. Two littlegirls are sitting in it, and swing themselves backwards and forwards;their frocks are as white as snow, and long green silk ribands flutterfrom their bonnets. Their brother, who is older than they are, stands upin the swing; he twines his arms round the cords to hold himself fast, for in one hand he has a little cup, and in the other a clay-pipe. He isblowing soap-bubbles. The swing moves, and the bubbles float in charmingchanging colors: the last is still hanging to the end of the pipe, androcks in the breeze. The swing moves. The little black dog, as light asa soap-bubble, jumps up on his hind legs to try to get into the swing. It moves, the dog falls down, barks, and is angry. They tease him; thebubble bursts! A swing, a bursting bubble--such is my song!"

"What you relate may be very pretty, but you tell it in so melancholy amanner, and do not mention Kay. "

What do the Hyacinths say?

"There were once upon a time three sisters, quite transparent, and verybeautiful. The robe of the one was red, that of the second blue, andthat of the third white. They danced hand in hand beside the calmlake in the clear moonshine. They were not elfin maidens, but mortalchildren. A sweet fragrance was smelt, and the maidens vanished in thewood; the fragrance grew stronger--three coffins, and in them threelovely maidens, glided out of the forest and across the lake: theshining glow-worms flew around like little floating lights. Do thedancing maidens sleep, or are they dead? The odour of the flowers saysthey are corpses; the evening bell tolls for the dead!"

"You make me quite sad, " said little Gerda. "I cannot help thinking ofthe dead maidens. Oh! is little Kay really dead? The Roses have been inthe earth, and they say no. "

"Ding, dong!" sounded the Hyacinth bells. "We do not toll for littleKay; we do not know him. That is our way of singing, the only one wehave. "

And Gerda went to the Ranunculuses, that looked forth from among theshining green leaves. 

"You are a little bright sun!" said Gerda. "Tell me if you know where Ican find my playfellow. "

And the Ranunculus shone brightly, and looked again at Gerda. Whatsong could the Ranunculus sing? It was one that said nothing about Kayeither. 

"In a small court the bright sun was shining in the first days ofspring. The beams glided down the white walls of a neighbor's house, andclose by the fresh yellow flowers were growing, shining like gold inthe warm sun-rays. An old grandmother was sitting in the air; hergrand-daughter, the poor and lovely servant just come for a short visit. She knows her grandmother. There was gold, pure virgin gold in thatblessed kiss. There, that is my little story, " said the Ranunculus. 

"My poor old grandmother!" sighed Gerda. "Yes, she is longing for me, no doubt: she is sorrowing for me, as she did for little Kay. But Iwill soon come home, and then I will bring Kay with me. It is of no useasking the flowers; they only know their own old rhymes, and can tell menothing. " And she tucked up her frock, to enable her to run quicker; butthe Narcissus gave her a knock on the leg, just as she was going tojump over it. So she stood still, looked at the long yellow flower, andasked, "You perhaps know something?" and she bent down to the Narcissus. And what did it say?

"I can see myself--I can see myself! Oh, how odorous I am! Up in thelittle garret there stands, half-dressed, a little Dancer. She standsnow on one leg, now on both; she despises the whole world; yet she livesonly in imagination. She pours water out of the teapot over a piece ofstuff which she holds in her hand; it is the bodice; cleanliness is afine thing. The white dress is hanging on the hook; it was washed in theteapot, and dried on the roof. She puts it on, ties a saffron-coloredkerchief round her neck, and then the gown looks whiter. I can seemyself--I can see myself!"

"That's nothing to me, " said little Gerda. "That does not concern me. "And then off she ran to the further end of the garden. 

The gate was locked, but she shook the rusted bolt till it was loosened, and the gate opened; and little Gerda ran off barefooted into the wideworld. She looked round her thrice, but no one followed her. At last shecould run no longer; she sat down on a large stone, and when she lookedabout her, she saw that the summer had passed; it was late in theautumn, but that one could not remark in the beautiful garden, wherethere was always sunshine, and where there were flowers the whole yearround. 

"Dear me, how long I have staid!" said Gerda. "Autumn is come. I mustnot rest any longer. " And she got up to go further. 

Oh, how tender and wearied her little feet were! All around it lookedso cold and raw: the long willow-leaves were quite yellow, and the fogdripped from them like water; one leaf fell after the other: the sloesonly stood full of fruit, which set one's teeth on edge. Oh, how darkand comfortless it was in the dreary world!

FOURTH STORY. The Prince and Princess

Gerda was obliged to rest herself again, when, exactly opposite to her, a large Raven came hopping over the white snow. He had long been lookingat Gerda and shaking his head; and now he said, "Caw! Caw!" Good day!Good day! He could not say it better; but he felt a sympathy for thelittle girl, and asked her where she was going all alone. The word"alone" Gerda understood quite well, and felt how much was expressedby it; so she told the Raven her whole history, and asked if he had notseen Kay. 

The Raven nodded very gravely, and said, "It may be--it may be!"

"What, do you really think so?" cried the little girl; and she nearlysqueezed the Raven to death, so much did she kiss him. 

"Gently, gently, " said the Raven. "I think I know; I think that it maybe little Kay. But now he has forgotten you for the Princess. "

"Does he live with a Princess?" asked Gerda. 

"Yes--listen, " said the Raven; "but it will be difficult for me tospeak your language. If you understand the Raven language I can tell youbetter. "

"No, I have not learnt it, " said Gerda; "but my grandmother understandsit, and she can speak gibberish too. I wish I had learnt it. "

"No matter, " said the Raven; "I will tell you as well as I can; however, it will be bad enough. " And then he told all he knew. 

"In the kingdom where we now are there lives a Princess, who isextraordinarily clever; for she has read all the newspapers in the wholeworld, and has forgotten them again--so clever is she. She was lately, it is said, sitting on her throne--which is not very amusing afterall--when she began humming an old tune, and it was just, 'Oh, whyshould I not be married?' 'That song is not without its meaning, ' saidshe, and so then she was determined to marry; but she would have ahusband who knew how to give an answer when he was spoken to--notone who looked only as if he were a great personage, for that is sotiresome. She then had all the ladies of the court drummed together; andwhen they heard her intention, all were very pleased, and said, 'We arevery glad to hear it; it is the very thing we were thinking of. ' You maybelieve every word I say, " said the Raven; "for I have a tame sweetheartthat hops about in the palace quite free, and it was she who told me allthis. 

"The newspapers appeared forthwith with a border of hearts and theinitials of the Princess; and therein you might read that everygood-looking young man was at liberty to come to the palace and speak tothe Princess; and he who spoke in such wise as showed he felt himself athome there, that one the Princess would choose for her husband. 

"Yes, Yes, " said the Raven, "you may believe it; it is as true as I amsitting here. People came in crowds; there was a crush and a hurry, butno one was successful either on the first or second day. They could alltalk well enough when they were out in the street; but as soon asthey came inside the palace gates, and saw the guard richly dressedin silver, and the lackeys in gold on the staircase, and the largeilluminated saloons, then they were abashed; and when they stood beforethe throne on which the Princess was sitting, all they could do wasto repeat the last word they had uttered, and to hear it again did notinterest her very much. It was just as if the people within were undera charm, and had fallen into a trance till they came out again into thestreet; for then--oh, then--they could chatter enough. There was a wholerow of them standing from the town-gates to the palace. I was theremyself to look, " said the Raven. "They grew hungry and thirsty; but fromthe palace they got nothing whatever, not even a glass of water. Someof the cleverest, it is true, had taken bread and butter with them:but none shared it with his neighbor, for each thought, 'Let him lookhungry, and then the Princess won't have him. '"

"But Kay--little Kay, " said Gerda, "when did he come? Was he among thenumber?"

"Patience, patience; we are just come to him. It was on the third daywhen a little personage without horse or equipage, came marching rightboldly up to the palace; his eyes shone like yours, he had beautifullong hair, but his clothes were very shabby. "

"That was Kay, " cried Gerda, with a voice of delight. "Oh, now I'vefound him!" and she clapped her hands for joy. 

"He had a little knapsack at his back, " said the Raven. 

"No, that was certainly his sledge, " said Gerda; "for when he went awayhe took his sledge with him. "

"That may be, " said the Raven; "I did not examine him so minutely; butI know from my tame sweetheart, that when he came into the court-yardof the palace, and saw the body-guard in silver, the lackeys on thestaircase, he was not the least abashed; he nodded, and said to them, 'It must be very tiresome to stand on the stairs; for my part, I shallgo in. ' The saloons were gleaming with lustres--privy councillors andexcellencies were walking about barefooted, and wore gold keys; it wasenough to make any one feel uncomfortable. His boots creaked, too, soloudly, but still he was not at all afraid. "

"That's Kay for certain, " said Gerda. "I know he had on new boots; Ihave heard them creaking in grandmama's room. "

"Yes, they creaked, " said the Raven. "And on he went boldly up to thePrincess, who was sitting on a pearl as large as a spinning-wheel. All the ladies of the court, with their attendants and attendants'attendants, and all the cavaliers, with their gentlemen and gentlemen'sgentlemen, stood round; and the nearer they stood to the door, theprouder they looked. It was hardly possible to look at the gentleman'sgentleman, so very haughtily did he stand in the doorway. "

"It must have been terrible, " said little Gerda. "And did Kay get thePrincess?"

"Were I not a Raven, I should have taken the Princess myself, althoughI am promised. It is said he spoke as well as I speak when I talk Ravenlanguage; this I learned from my tame sweetheart. He was bold and nicelybehaved; he had not come to woo the Princess, but only to hear herwisdom. She pleased him, and he pleased her. "

"Yes, yes; for certain that was Kay, " said Gerda. "He was so clever;he could reckon fractions in his head. Oh, won't you take me to thepalace?"

"That is very easily said, " answered the Raven. "But how are we tomanage it? I'll speak to my tame sweetheart about it: she must adviseus; for so much I must tell you, such a little girl as you are willnever get permission to enter. "

"Oh, yes I shall, " said Gerda; "when Kay hears that I am here, he willcome out directly to fetch me. "

"Wait for me here on these steps, " said the Raven. He moved his headbackwards and forwards and flew away. 

The evening was closing in when the Raven returned. "Caw--caw!" said he. "She sends you her compliments; and here is a roll for you. She tookit out of the kitchen, where there is bread enough. You are hungry, no doubt. It is not possible for you to enter the palace, for you arebarefooted: the guards in silver, and the lackeys in gold, would notallow it; but do not cry, you shall come in still. My sweetheart knows alittle back stair that leads to the bedchamber, and she knows where shecan get the key of it. "

And they went into the garden in the large avenue, where one leaf wasfalling after the other; and when the lights in the palace had allgradually disappeared, the Raven led little Gerda to the back door, which stood half open. 

Oh, how Gerda's heart beat with anxiety and longing! It was just as ifshe had been about to do something wrong; and yet she only wanted toknow if little Kay was there. Yes, he must be there. She called to mindhis intelligent eyes, and his long hair, so vividly, she could quite seehim as he used to laugh when they were sitting under the roses at home. "He will, no doubt, be glad to see you--to hear what a long way you havecome for his sake; to know how unhappy all at home were when he did notcome back. "

Oh, what a fright and a joy it was!

They were now on the stairs. A single lamp was burning there; and on thefloor stood the tame Raven, turning her head on every side and lookingat Gerda, who bowed as her grandmother had taught her to do. 

"My intended has told me so much good of you, my dear young lady, " saidthe tame Raven. "Your tale is very affecting. If you will take the lamp, I will go before. We will go straight on, for we shall meet no one. "

"I think there is somebody just behind us, " said Gerda; and somethingrushed past: it was like shadowy figures on the wall; horses withflowing manes and thin legs, huntsmen, ladies and gentlemen onhorseback. 

"They are only dreams, " said the Raven. "They come to fetch the thoughtsof the high personages to the chase; 'tis well, for now you can observethem in bed all the better. But let me find, when you enjoy honor anddistinction, that you possess a grateful heart. "

"Tut! That's not worth talking about, " said the Raven of the woods. 

They now entered the first saloon, which was of rose-colored satin, withartificial flowers on the wall. Here the dreams were rushing past, but they hastened by so quickly that Gerda could not see the highpersonages. One hall was more magnificent than the other; one mightindeed well be abashed; and at last they came into the bedchamber. Theceiling of the room resembled a large palm-tree with leaves of glass, of costly glass; and in the middle, from a thick golden stem, hung twobeds, each of which resembled a lily. One was white, and in this lay thePrincess; the other was red, and it was here that Gerda was to look forlittle Kay. She bent back one of the red leaves, and saw a brown neck. Oh! that was Kay! She called him quite loud by name, held the lamptowards him--the dreams rushed back again into the chamber--he awoke, turned his head, and--it was not little Kay!

The Prince was only like him about the neck; but he was young andhandsome. And out of the white lily leaves the Princess peeped, too, and asked what was the matter. Then little Gerda cried, and told her herwhole history, and all that the Ravens had done for her. 

"Poor little thing!" said the Prince and the Princess. They praised theRavens very much, and told them they were not at all angry with them, but they were not to do so again. However, they should have a reward. "Will you fly about here at liberty, " asked the Princess; "or would youlike to have a fixed appointment as court ravens, with all the brokenbits from the kitchen?"

And both the Ravens nodded, and begged for a fixed appointment; forthey thought of their old age, and said, "It is a good thing to have aprovision for our old days. "

And the Prince got up and let Gerda sleep in his bed, and more than thishe could not do. She folded her little hands and thought, "How good menand animals are!" and she then fell asleep and slept soundly. All thedreams flew in again, and they now looked like the angels; they drewa little sledge, in which little Kay sat and nodded his head; but thewhole was only a dream, and therefore it all vanished as soon as sheawoke. 

The next day she was dressed from head to foot in silk and velvet. Theyoffered to let her stay at the palace, and lead a happy life; but shebegged to have a little carriage with a horse in front, and for a smallpair of shoes; then, she said, she would again go forth in the wideworld and look for Kay. 

Shoes and a muff were given her; she was, too, dressed very nicely; andwhen she was about to set off, a new carriage stopped before the door. It was of pure gold, and the arms of the Prince and Princess shonelike a star upon it; the coachman, the footmen, and the outriders, foroutriders were there, too, all wore golden crowns. The Prince and thePrincess assisted her into the carriage themselves, and wished her allsuccess. The Raven of the woods, who was now married, accompanied herfor the first three miles. He sat beside Gerda, for he could not bearriding backwards; the other Raven stood in the doorway, and flapped herwings; she could not accompany Gerda, because she suffered from headachesince she had had a fixed appointment and ate so much. The carriagewas lined inside with sugar-plums, and in the seats were fruits andgingerbread. 

"Farewell! Farewell!" cried Prince and Princess; and Gerda wept, andthe Raven wept. Thus passed the first miles; and then the Raven bade herfarewell, and this was the most painful separation of all. He flew intoa tree, and beat his black wings as long as he could see the carriage, that shone from afar like a sunbeam. 

FIFTH STORY. The Little Robber Maiden

They drove through the dark wood; but the carriage shone like a torch, and it dazzled the eyes of the robbers, so that they could not bear tolook at it. 

"'Tis gold! 'Tis gold!" they cried; and they rushed forward, seizedthe horses, knocked down the little postilion, the coachman, and theservants, and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage. 

"How plump, how beautiful she is! She must have been fed onnut-kernels, " said the old female robber, who had a long, scrubby beard, and bushy eyebrows that hung down over her eyes. "She is as good as afatted lamb! How nice she will be!" And then she drew out a knife, theblade of which shone so that it was quite dreadful to behold. 

"Oh!" cried the woman at the same moment. She had been bitten in the earby her own little daughter, who hung at her back; and who was so wildand unmanageable, that it was quite amusing to see her. "You naughtychild!" said the mother: and now she had not time to kill Gerda. 

"She shall play with me, " said the little robber child. "She shall giveme her muff, and her pretty frock; she shall sleep in my bed!" And thenshe gave her mother another bite, so that she jumped, and ran round withthe pain; and the Robbers laughed, and said, "Look, how she is dancingwith the little one!"

"I will go into the carriage, " said the little robber maiden; and shewould have her will, for she was very spoiled and very headstrong. Sheand Gerda got in; and then away they drove over the stumps of felledtrees, deeper and deeper into the woods. The little robber maiden was astall as Gerda, but stronger, broader-shouldered, and of dark complexion;her eyes were quite black; they looked almost melancholy. She embracedlittle Gerda, and said, "They shall not kill you as long as I am notdispleased with you. You are, doubtless, a Princess?"

"No, " said little Gerda; who then related all that had happened to her, and how much she cared about little Kay. 

The little robber maiden looked at her with a serious air, nodded herhead slightly, and said, "They shall not kill you, even if I am angrywith you: then I will do it myself"; and she dried Gerda's eyes, and putboth her hands in the handsome muff, which was so soft and warm. 

At length the carriage stopped. They were in the midst of the court-yardof a robber's castle. It was full of cracks from top to bottom; and outof the openings magpies and rooks were flying; and the great bull-dogs, each of which looked as if he could swallow a man, jumped up, but theydid not bark, for that was forbidden. 

In the midst of the large, old, smoking hall burnt a great fire on thestone floor. The smoke disappeared under the stones, and had to seekits own egress. In an immense caldron soup was boiling; and rabbits andhares were being roasted on a spit. 

"You shall sleep with me to-night, with all my animals, " said the littlerobber maiden. They had something to eat and drink; and then went intoa corner, where straw and carpets were lying. Beside them, on laths andperches, sat nearly a hundred pigeons, all asleep, seemingly; but yetthey moved a little when the robber maiden came. "They are all mine, "said she, at the same time seizing one that was next to her by the legsand shaking it so that its wings fluttered. "Kiss it, " cried the littlegirl, and flung the pigeon in Gerda's face. "Up there is the rabble ofthe wood, " continued she, pointing to several laths which were fastenedbefore a hole high up in the wall; "that's the rabble; they would allfly away immediately, if they were not well fastened in. And here is mydear old Bac"; and she laid hold of the horns of a reindeer, that had abright copper ring round its neck, and was tethered to the spot. "We areobliged to lock this fellow in too, or he would make his escape. Everyevening I tickle his neck with my sharp knife; he is so frightened atit!" and the little girl drew forth a long knife, from a crack in thewall, and let it glide over the Reindeer's neck. The poor animal kicked;the girl laughed, and pulled Gerda into bed with her. 

"Do you intend to keep your knife while you sleep?" asked Gerda; lookingat it rather fearfully. 

"I always sleep with the knife, " said the little robber maiden. "Thereis no knowing what may happen. But tell me now, once more, all aboutlittle Kay; and why you have started off in the wide world alone. " AndGerda related all, from the very beginning: the Wood-pigeons cooed abovein their cage, and the others slept. The little robber maiden wound herarm round Gerda's neck, held the knife in the other hand, and snored soloud that everybody could hear her; but Gerda could not close her eyes, for she did not know whether she was to live or die. The robbers satround the fire, sang and drank; and the old female robber jumped aboutso, that it was quite dreadful for Gerda to see her. 

Then the Wood-pigeons said, "Coo! Coo! We have seen little Kay! A whitehen carries his sledge; he himself sat in the carriage of the SnowQueen, who passed here, down just over the wood, as we lay in our nest. She blew upon us young ones; and all died except we two. Coo! Coo!"

"What is that you say up there?" cried little Gerda. "Where did the SnowQueen go to? Do you know anything about it?"

"She is no doubt gone to Lapland; for there is always snow and icethere. Only ask the Reindeer, who is tethered there. "

"Ice and snow is there! There it is, glorious and beautiful!" said theReindeer. "One can spring about in the large shining valleys! The SnowQueen has her summer-tent there; but her fixed abode is high up towardsthe North Pole, on the Island called Spitzbergen. "

"Oh, Kay! Poor little Kay!" sighed Gerda. 

"Do you choose to be quiet?" said the robber maiden. "If you don't, Ishall make you. "

In the morning Gerda told her all that the Wood-pigeons had said; andthe little maiden looked very serious, but she nodded her head, andsaid, "That's no matter--that's no matter. Do you know where Laplandlies!" she asked of the Reindeer. 

"Who should know better than I?" said the animal; and his eyes rolled inhis head. "I was born and bred there--there I leapt about on the fieldsof snow. "

"Listen, " said the robber maiden to Gerda. "You see that the men aregone; but my mother is still here, and will remain. However, towardsmorning she takes a draught out of the large flask, and then she sleepsa little: then I will do something for you. " She now jumped out of bed, flew to her mother; with her arms round her neck, and pulling her by thebeard, said, "Good morrow, my own sweet nanny-goat of a mother. " And hermother took hold of her nose, and pinched it till it was red and blue;but this was all done out of pure love. 

When the mother had taken a sup at her flask, and was having a nap, thelittle robber maiden went to the Reindeer, and said, "I should very muchlike to give you still many a tickling with the sharp knife, for thenyou are so amusing; however, I will untether you, and help you out, so that you may go back to Lapland. But you must make good use of yourlegs; and take this little girl for me to the palace of the Snow Queen, where her playfellow is. You have heard, I suppose, all she said; forshe spoke loud enough, and you were listening. "

The Reindeer gave a bound for joy. The robber maiden lifted up littleGerda, and took the precaution to bind her fast on the Reindeer's back;she even gave her a small cushion to sit on. "Here are your worstedleggins, for it will be cold; but the muff I shall keep for myself, forit is so very pretty. But I do not wish you to be cold. Here is a pairof lined gloves of my mother's; they just reach up to your elbow. Onwith them! Now you look about the hands just like my ugly old mother!"

And Gerda wept for joy. 

"I can't bear to see you fretting, " said the little robber maiden. "Thisis just the time when you ought to look pleased. Here are two loaves anda ham for you, so that you won't starve. " The bread and the meat werefastened to the Reindeer's back; the little maiden opened the door, called in all the dogs, and then with her knife cut the rope thatfastened the animal, and said to him, "Now, off with you; but take goodcare of the little girl!"

And Gerda stretched out her hands with the large wadded gloves towardsthe robber maiden, and said, "Farewell!" and the Reindeer flew on overbush and bramble through the great wood, over moor and heath, as fast ashe could go. 

"Ddsa! Ddsa!" was heard in the sky. It was just as if somebody wassneezing. 

"These are my old northern-lights, " said the Reindeer, "look how theygleam!" And on he now sped still quicker--day and night on he went: theloaves were consumed, and the ham too; and now they were in Lapland. 

SIXTH STORY. The Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman

Suddenly they stopped before a little house, which looked verymiserable. The roof reached to the ground; and the door was so low, thatthe family were obliged to creep upon their stomachs when they went inor out. Nobody was at home except an old Lapland woman, who was dressingfish by the light of an oil lamp. And the Reindeer told her the wholeof Gerda's history, but first of all his own; for that seemed to him ofmuch greater importance. Gerda was so chilled that she could not speak. 

"Poor thing, " said the Lapland woman, "you have far to run still. Youhave more than a hundred miles to go before you get to Finland; therethe Snow Queen has her country-house, and burns blue lights everyevening. I will give you a few words from me, which I will write on adried haberdine, for paper I have none; this you can take with you tothe Finland woman, and she will be able to give you more informationthan I can. "

When Gerda had warmed herself, and had eaten and drunk, the Laplandwoman wrote a few words on a dried haberdine, begged Gerda to take careof them, put her on the Reindeer, bound her fast, and away sprang theanimal. "Ddsa! Ddsa!" was again heard in the air; the most charmingblue lights burned the whole night in the sky, and at last they came toFinland. They knocked at the chimney of the Finland woman; for as to adoor, she had none. 

There was such a heat inside that the Finland woman herself went aboutalmost naked. She was diminutive and dirty. She immediately loosenedlittle Gerda's clothes, pulled off her thick gloves and boots; forotherwise the heat would have been too great--and after laying a pieceof ice on the Reindeer's head, read what was written on the fish-skin. She read it three times: she then knew it by heart; so she put the fishinto the cupboard--for it might very well be eaten, and she never threwanything away. 

Then the Reindeer related his own story first, and afterwards that oflittle Gerda; and the Finland woman winked her eyes, but said nothing. 

"You are so clever, " said the Reindeer; "you can, I know, twist all thewinds of the world together in a knot. If the seaman loosens one knot, then he has a good wind; if a second, then it blows pretty stiffly; ifhe undoes the third and fourth, then it rages so that the forests areupturned. Will you give the little maiden a potion, that she may possessthe strength of twelve men, and vanquish the Snow Queen?"

"The strength of twelve men!" said the Finland woman. "Much good thatwould be!" Then she went to a cupboard, and drew out a large skin rolledup. When she had unrolled it, strange characters were to be seen writtenthereon; and the Finland woman read at such a rate that the perspirationtrickled down her forehead. 

But the Reindeer begged so hard for little Gerda, and Gerda looked soimploringly with tearful eyes at the Finland woman, that she winked, anddrew the Reindeer aside into a corner, where they whispered together, while the animal got some fresh ice put on his head. 

"'Tis true little Kay is at the Snow Queen's, and finds everything therequite to his taste; and he thinks it the very best place in the world;but the reason of that is, he has a splinter of glass in his eye, and inhis heart. These must be got out first; otherwise he will never go backto mankind, and the Snow Queen will retain her power over him. "

"But can you give little Gerda nothing to take which will endue her withpower over the whole?"

"I can give her no more power than what she has already. Don't you seehow great it is? Don't you see how men and animals are forced to serveher; how well she gets through the world barefooted? She must not hearof her power from us; that power lies in her heart, because she isa sweet and innocent child! If she cannot get to the Snow Queen byherself, and rid little Kay of the glass, we cannot help her. Two mileshence the garden of the Snow Queen begins; thither you may carry thelittle girl. Set her down by the large bush with red berries, standingin the snow; don't stay talking, but hasten back as fast as possible. "And now the Finland woman placed little Gerda on the Reindeer's back, and off he ran with all imaginable speed. 

"Oh! I have not got my boots! I have not brought my gloves!" criedlittle Gerda. She remarked she was without them from the cutting frost;but the Reindeer dared not stand still; on he ran till he came to thegreat bush with the red berries, and there he set Gerda down, kissed hermouth, while large bright tears flowed from the animal's eyes, and thenback he went as fast as possible. There stood poor Gerda now, withoutshoes or gloves, in the very middle of dreadful icy Finland. 

She ran on as fast as she could. There then came a whole regiment ofsnow-flakes, but they did not fall from above, and they were quitebright and shining from the Aurora Borealis. The flakes ran alongthe ground, and the nearer they came the larger they grew. Gerda wellremembered how large and strange the snow-flakes appeared when sheonce saw them through a magnifying-glass; but now they were large andterrific in another manner--they were all alive. They were the outpostsof the Snow Queen. They had the most wondrous shapes; some looked likelarge ugly porcupines; others like snakes knotted together, with theirheads sticking out; and others, again, like small fat bears, with thehair standing on end: all were of dazzling whiteness--all were livingsnow-flakes. 

Little Gerda repeated the Lord's Prayer. The cold was so intense thatshe could see her own breath, which came like smoke out of her mouth. Itgrew thicker and thicker, and took the form of little angels, that grewmore and more when they touched the earth. All had helms on their heads, and lances and shields in their hands; they increased in numbers; andwhen Gerda had finished the Lord's Prayer, she was surrounded by a wholelegion. They thrust at the horrid snow-flakes with their spears, so thatthey flew into a thousand pieces; and little Gerda walked on bravely andin security. The angels patted her hands and feet; and then she felt thecold less, and went on quickly towards the palace of the Snow Queen. 

But now we shall see how Kay fared. He never thought of Gerda, and leastof all that she was standing before the palace. 

SEVENTH STORY. What Took Place in the Palace of the Snow Queen, and whatHappened Afterward. 

The walls of the palace were of driving snow, and the windows and doorsof cutting winds. There were more than a hundred halls there, accordingas the snow was driven by the winds. The largest was many miles inextent; all were lighted up by the powerful Aurora Borealis, and allwere so large, so empty, so icy cold, and so resplendent! Mirth neverreigned there; there was never even a little bear-ball, with the stormfor music, while the polar bears went on their hind legs and showed offtheir steps. Never a little tea-party of white young lady foxes; vast, cold, and empty were the halls of the Snow Queen. The northern-lightsshone with such precision that one could tell exactly when they wereat their highest or lowest degree of brightness. In the middle of theempty, endless hall of snow, was a frozen lake; it was cracked in athousand pieces, but each piece was so like the other, that it seemedthe work of a cunning artificer. In the middle of this lake sat the SnowQueen when she was at home; and then she said she was sitting in theMirror of Understanding, and that this was the only one and the bestthing in the world. 

Little Kay was quite blue, yes nearly black with cold; but he did notobserve it, for she had kissed away all feeling of cold from his body, and his heart was a lump of ice. He was dragging along some pointedflat pieces of ice, which he laid together in all possible ways, for hewanted to make something with them; just as we have little flat piecesof wood to make geometrical figures with, called the Chinese Puzzle. Kay made all sorts of figures, the most complicated, for it wasan ice-puzzle for the understanding. In his eyes the figures wereextraordinarily beautiful, and of the utmost importance; for the bitof glass which was in his eye caused this. He found whole figures whichrepresented a written word; but he never could manage to represent justthe word he wanted--that word was "eternity"; and the Snow Queen hadsaid, "If you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master, and I will make you a present of the whole world and a pair of newskates. " But he could not find it out. 

"I am going now to warm lands, " said the Snow Queen. "I must have a lookdown into the black caldrons. " It was the volcanoes Vesuvius and Etnathat she meant. "I will just give them a coating of white, for that isas it ought to be; besides, it is good for the oranges and the grapes. "And then away she flew, and Kay sat quite alone in the empty halls ofice that were miles long, and looked at the blocks of ice, and thoughtand thought till his skull was almost cracked. There he sat quitebenumbed and motionless; one would have imagined he was frozen to death. 

Suddenly little Gerda stepped through the great portal into the palace. The gate was formed of cutting winds; but Gerda repeated her eveningprayer, and the winds were laid as though they slept; and the littlemaiden entered the vast, empty, cold halls. There she beheld Kay: sherecognised him, flew to embrace him, and cried out, her arms firmlyholding him the while, "Kay, sweet little Kay! Have I then found you atlast?"

But he sat quite still, benumbed and cold. Then little Gerda shedburning tears; and they fell on his bosom, they penetrated to hisheart, they thawed the lumps of ice, and consumed the splinters of thelooking-glass; he looked at her, and she sang the hymn:

"The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet, And angels descend therethe children to greet. "

Hereupon Kay burst into tears; he wept so much that the splinter rolledout of his eye, and he recognised her, and shouted, "Gerda, sweet littleGerda! Where have you been so long? And where have I been?" He lookedround him. "How cold it is here!" said he. "How empty and cold!" And heheld fast by Gerda, who laughed and wept for joy. It was so beautiful, that even the blocks of ice danced about for joy; and when they weretired and laid themselves down, they formed exactly the letters whichthe Snow Queen had told him to find out; so now he was his own master, and he would have the whole world and a pair of new skates into thebargain. 

Gerda kissed his cheeks, and they grew quite blooming; she kissed hiseyes, and they shone like her own; she kissed his hands and feet, and hewas again well and merry. The Snow Queen might come back as soon as sheliked; there stood his discharge written in resplendent masses of ice. 

They took each other by the hand, and wandered forth out of the largehall; they talked of their old grandmother, and of the roses upon theroof; and wherever they went, the winds ceased raging, and the sun burstforth. And when they reached the bush with the red berries, they foundthe Reindeer waiting for them. He had brought another, a young one, withhim, whose udder was filled with milk, which he gave to the little ones, and kissed their lips. They then carried Kay and Gerda--first to theFinland woman, where they warmed themselves in the warm room, andlearned what they were to do on their journey home; and they went tothe Lapland woman, who made some new clothes for them and repaired theirsledges. 

The Reindeer and the young hind leaped along beside them, andaccompanied them to the boundary of the country. Here the firstvegetation peeped forth; here Kay and Gerda took leave of the Laplandwoman. "Farewell! Farewell!" they all said. And the first green budsappeared, the first little birds began to chirrup; and out of the woodcame, riding on a magnificent horse, which Gerda knew (it was one of theleaders in the golden carriage), a young damsel with a bright-red cap onher head, and armed with pistols. It was the little robber maiden, who, tired of being at home, had determined to make a journey to the north;and afterwards in another direction, if that did not please her. Sherecognised Gerda immediately, and Gerda knew her too. It was a joyfulmeeting. 

"You are a fine fellow for tramping about, " said she to little Kay; "Ishould like to know, faith, if you deserve that one should run from oneend of the world to the other for your sake?"

But Gerda patted her cheeks, and inquired for the Prince and Princess. 

"They are gone abroad, " said the other. 

"But the Raven?" asked little Gerda. 

"Oh! The Raven is dead, " she answered. "His tame sweetheart is awidow, and wears a bit of black worsted round her leg; she laments mostpiteously, but it's all mere talk and stuff! Now tell me what you'vebeen doing and how you managed to catch him. "

And Gerda and Kay both told their story. 

And "Schnipp-schnapp-schnurre-basselurre, " said the robber maiden; andshe took the hands of each, and promised that if she should some daypass through the town where they lived, she would come and visit them;and then away she rode. Kay and Gerda took each other's hand: it waslovely spring weather, with abundance of flowers and of verdure. Thechurch-bells rang, and the children recognised the high towers, and thelarge town; it was that in which they dwelt. They entered and hastenedup to their grandmother's room, where everything was standing asformerly. The clock said "tick! tack!" and the finger moved round; butas they entered, they remarked that they were now grown up. The roseson the leads hung blooming in at the open window; there stood the littlechildren's chairs, and Kay and Gerda sat down on them, holding eachother by the hand; they both had forgotten the cold empty splendor ofthe Snow Queen, as though it had been a dream. The grandmother sat inthe bright sunshine, and read aloud from the Bible: "Unless ye become aslittle children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. "

And Kay and Gerda looked in each other's eyes, and all at once theyunderstood the old hymn:

"The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet, And angels descend therethe children to greet. "

There sat the two grown-up persons; grown-up, and yet children; childrenat least in heart; and it was summer-time; summer, glorious summer!

THE LEAP-FROG

A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Leap-frog once wanted to see which couldjump highest; and they invited the whole world, and everybody elsebesides who chose to come to see the festival. Three famous jumpers werethey, as everyone would say, when they all met together in the room. 

"I will give my daughter to him who jumps highest, " exclaimed the King;"for it is not so amusing where there is no prize to jump for. "

The Flea was the first to step forward. He had exquisite manners, andbowed to the company on all sides; for he had noble blood, and was, moreover, accustomed to the society of man alone; and that makes a greatdifference. 

Then came the Grasshopper. He was considerably heavier, but he waswell-mannered, and wore a green uniform, which he had by right of birth;he said, moreover, that he belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family, and that in the house where he then was, he was thought much of. Thefact was, he had been just brought out of the fields, and put in apasteboard house, three stories high, all made of court-cards, with thecolored side inwards; and doors and windows cut out of the body ofthe Queen of Hearts. "I sing so well, " said he, "that sixteen nativegrasshoppers who have chirped from infancy, and yet got no house builtof cards to live in, grew thinner than they were before for sheervexation when they heard me. "

It was thus that the Flea and the Grasshopper gave an account ofthemselves, and thought they were quite good enough to marry a Princess. 

The Leap-frog said nothing; but people gave it as their opinion, thathe therefore thought the more; and when the housedog snuffed at himwith his nose, he confessed the Leap-frog was of good family. The oldcouncillor, who had had three orders given him to make him hold histongue, asserted that the Leap-frog was a prophet; for that one couldsee on his back, if there would be a severe or mild winter, and thatwas what one could not see even on the back of the man who writes thealmanac. 

"I say nothing, it is true, " exclaimed the King; "but I have my ownopinion, notwithstanding. "

Now the trial was to take place. The Flea jumped so high that nobodycould see where he went to; so they all asserted he had not jumped atall; and that was dishonorable. 

The Grasshopper jumped only half as high; but he leaped into the King'sface, who said that was ill-mannered. 

The Leap-frog stood still for a long time lost in thought; it wasbelieved at last he would not jump at all. 

"I only hope he is not unwell, " said the house-dog; when, pop! he made ajump all on one side into the lap of the Princess, who was sitting on alittle golden stool close by. 

Hereupon the King said, "There is nothing above my daughter; thereforeto bound up to her is the highest jump that can be made; but for this, one must possess understanding, and the Leap-frog has shown that he hasunderstanding. He is brave and intellectual. "

And so he won the Princess. 

"It's all the same to me, " said the Flea. "She may have the oldLeap-frog, for all I care. I jumped the highest; but in this worldmerit seldom meets its reward. A fine exterior is what people look atnow-a-days. "

The Flea then went into foreign service, where, it is said, he waskilled. 

The Grasshopper sat without on a green bank, and reflected on worldlythings; and he said too, "Yes, a fine exterior is everything--a fineexterior is what people care about. " And then he began chirping hispeculiar melancholy song, from which we have taken this history; andwhich may, very possibly, be all untrue, although it does stand hereprinted in black and white. 

THE ELDERBUSH

Once upon a time there was a little boy who had taken cold. He hadgone out and got his feet wet; though nobody could imagine how it hadhappened, for it was quite dry weather. So his mother undressed him, puthim to bed, and had the tea-pot brought in, to make him a good cup ofElderflower tea. Just at that moment the merry old man came in wholived up a-top of the house all alone; for he had neither wife norchildren--but he liked children very much, and knew so many fairy tales, that it was quite delightful. 

"Now drink your tea, " said the boy's mother; "then, perhaps, you mayhear a fairy tale. "

"If I had but something new to tell, " said the old man. "But how did thechild get his feet wet?"

"That is the very thing that nobody can make out, " said his mother. 

"Am I to hear a fairy tale?" asked the little boy. 

"Yes, if you can tell me exactly--for I must know that first--how deepthe gutter is in the little street opposite, that you pass through ingoing to school. "

"Just up to the middle of my boot, " said the child; "but then I must gointo the deep hole. "

"Ah, ah! That's where the wet feet came from, " said the old man. "Iought now to tell you a story; but I don't know any more. "

"You can make one in a moment, " said the little boy. "My mother saysthat all you look at can be turned into a fairy tale: and that you canfind a story in everything. "

"Yes, but such tales and stories are good for nothing. The right sortcome of themselves; they tap at my forehead and say, 'Here we are. '"

"Won't there be a tap soon?" asked the little boy. And his motherlaughed, put some Elder-flowers in the tea-pot, and poured boiling waterupon them. 

"Do tell me something! Pray do!"

"Yes, if a fairy tale would come of its own accord; but they are proudand haughty, and come only when they choose. Stop!" said he, all on asudden. "I have it! Pay attention! There is one in the tea-pot!"

And the little boy looked at the tea-pot. The cover rose more and more;and the Elder-flowers came forth so fresh and white, and shot up longbranches. Out of the spout even did they spread themselves on all sides, and grew larger and larger; it was a splendid Elderbush, a whole tree;and it reached into the very bed, and pushed the curtains aside. Howit bloomed! And what an odour! In the middle of the bush sat afriendly-looking old woman in a most strange dress. It was quitegreen, like the leaves of the elder, and was trimmed with large whiteElder-flowers; so that at first one could not tell whether it was astuff, or a natural green and real flowers. 

"What's that woman's name?" asked the little boy. 

"The Greeks and Romans, " said the old man, "called her a Dryad; but thatwe do not understand. The people who live in the New Booths [*] have a muchbetter name for her; they call her 'old Granny'--and she it is towhom you are to pay attention. Now listen, and look at the beautifulElderbush. 

 * A row of buildings for seamen in Copenhagen. 

"Just such another large blooming Elder Tree stands near the New Booths. It grew there in the corner of a little miserable court-yard; and underit sat, of an afternoon, in the most splendid sunshine, two oldpeople; an old, old seaman, and his old, old wife. They hadgreat-grand-children, and were soon to celebrate the fiftiethanniversary of their marriage; but they could not exactly recollect thedate: and old Granny sat in the tree, and looked as pleased as now. 'Iknow the date, ' said she; but those below did not hear her, for theywere talking about old times. 

"'Yes, can't you remember when we were very little, ' said the oldseaman, 'and ran and played about? It was the very same court-yard wherewe now are, and we stuck slips in the ground, and made a garden. '

"'I remember it well, ' said the old woman; 'I remember it quite well. Wewatered the slips, and one of them was an Elderbush. It took root, putforth green shoots, and grew up to be the large tree under which we oldfolks are now sitting. '

"'To be sure, ' said he. 'And there in the corner stood a waterpail, where I used to swim my boats. '

"'True; but first we went to school to learn somewhat, ' said she; 'andthen we were confirmed. We both cried; but in the afternoon we went upthe Round Tower, and looked down on Copenhagen, and far, far away overthe water; then we went to Friedericksberg, where the King and the Queenwere sailing about in their splendid barges. '

"'But I had a different sort of sailing to that, later; and that, too, for many a year; a long way off, on great voyages. '

"'Yes, many a time have I wept for your sake, ' said she. 'I thought youwere dead and gone, and lying down in the deep waters. Many a night haveI got up to see if the wind had not changed: and changed it had, sureenough; but you never came. I remember so well one day, when the rainwas pouring down in torrents, the scavengers were before the house whereI was in service, and I had come up with the dust, and remained standingat the door--it was dreadful weather--when just as I was there, thepostman came and gave me a letter. It was from you! What a tour thatletter had made! I opened it instantly and read: I laughed and wept. I was so happy. In it I read that you were in warm lands where thecoffee-tree grows. What a blessed land that must be! You related somuch, and I saw it all the while the rain was pouring down, and Istanding there with the dust-box. At the same moment came someone whoembraced me. '

"'Yes; but you gave him a good box on his ear that made it tingle!'

"'But I did not know it was you. You arrived as soon as your letter, and you were so handsome--that you still are--and had a long yellow silkhandkerchief round your neck, and a bran new hat on; oh, you were sodashing! Good heavens! What weather it was, and what a state the streetwas in!'

"'And then we married, ' said he. 'Don't you remember? And then wehad our first little boy, and then Mary, and Nicholas, and Peter, andChristian. '

"'Yes, and how they all grew up to be honest people, and were beloved byeverybody. '

"'And their children also have children, ' said the old sailor; 'yes, those are our grand-children, full of strength and vigor. It was, methinks about this season that we had our wedding. '

"'Yes, this very day is the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage, ' saidold Granny, sticking her head between the two old people; who thoughtit was their neighbor who nodded to them. They looked at each other andheld one another by the hand. Soon after came their children, and theirgrand-children; for they knew well enough that it was the day of thefiftieth anniversary, and had come with their gratulations that verymorning; but the old people had forgotten it, although they were ableto remember all that had happened many years ago. And the Elderbush sentforth a strong odour in the sun, that was just about to set, and shoneright in the old people's faces. They both looked so rosy-cheeked; andthe youngest of the grandchildren danced around them, and called outquite delighted, that there was to be something very splendid thatevening--they were all to have hot potatoes. And old Nanny nodded in thebush, and shouted 'hurrah!' with the rest. "

"But that is no fairy tale, " said the little boy, who was listening tothe story. 

"The thing is, you must understand it, " said the narrator; "let us askold Nanny. "

"That was no fairy tale, 'tis true, " said old Nanny; "but now it'scoming. The most wonderful fairy tales grow out of that which isreality; were that not the case, you know, my magnificent Elderbushcould not have grown out of the tea-pot. " And then she took the littleboy out of bed, laid him on her bosom, and the branches of the ElderTree, full of flowers, closed around her. They sat in an aerialdwelling, and it flew with them through the air. Oh, it was wondrousbeautiful! Old Nanny had grown all of a sudden a young and prettymaiden; but her robe was still the same green stuff with white flowers, which she had worn before. On her bosom she had a real Elderflower, and in her yellow waving hair a wreath of the flowers; her eyes were solarge and blue that it was a pleasure to look at them; she kissed theboy, and now they were of the same age and felt alike. 

Hand in hand they went out of the bower, and they were standing in thebeautiful garden of their home. Near the green lawn papa's walking-stickwas tied, and for the little ones it seemed to be endowed with life; foras soon as they got astride it, the round polished knob was turned intoa magnificent neighing head, a long black mane fluttered in the breeze, and four slender yet strong legs shot out. The animal was strong andhandsome, and away they went at full gallop round the lawn. 

"Huzza! Now we are riding miles off, " said the boy. "We are riding awayto the castle where we were last year!"

And on they rode round the grass-plot; and the little maiden, who, weknow, was no one else but old Nanny, kept on crying out, "Now we are inthe country! Don't you see the farm-house yonder? And there is an ElderTree standing beside it; and the cock is scraping away the earth for thehens, look, how he struts! And now we are close to the church. It lieshigh upon the hill, between the large oak-trees, one of which is halfdecayed. And now we are by the smithy, where the fire is blazing, andwhere the half-naked men are banging with their hammers till the sparksfly about. Away! away! To the beautiful country-seat!"

And all that the little maiden, who sat behind on the stick, spoke of, flew by in reality. The boy saw it all, and yet they were only goinground the grass-plot. Then they played in a side avenue, and marked outa little garden on the earth; and they took Elder-blossoms from theirhair, planted them, and they grew just like those the old people plantedwhen they were children, as related before. They went hand in hand, asthe old people had done when they were children; but not to the RoundTower, or to Friedericksberg; no, the little damsel wound her arms roundthe boy, and then they flew far away through all Denmark. And springcame, and summer; and then it was autumn, and then winter; and athousand pictures were reflected in the eye and in the heart of the boy;and the little girl always sang to him, "This you will never forget. "And during their whole flight the Elder Tree smelt so sweet and odorous;he remarked the roses and the fresh beeches, but the Elder Tree hada more wondrous fragrance, for its flowers hung on the breast of thelittle maiden; and there, too, did he often lay his head during theflight. 

"It is lovely here in spring!" said the young maiden. And they stood ina beech-wood that had just put on its first green, where the woodroof [*]at their feet sent forth its fragrance, and the pale-red anemony lookedso pretty among the verdure. "Oh, would it were always spring in thesweetly-smelling Danish beech-forests!"

 * Asperula odorata. 

"It is lovely here in summer!" said she. And she flew past old castlesof by-gone days of chivalry, where the red walls and the embattledgables were mirrored in the canal, where the swans were swimming, andpeered up into the old cool avenues. In the fields the corn was wavinglike the sea; in the ditches red and yellow flowers were growing; whilewild-drone flowers, and blooming convolvuluses were creeping in thehedges; and towards evening the moon rose round and large, and thehaycocks in the meadows smelt so sweetly. "This one never forgets!"

"It is lovely here in autumn!" said the little maiden. And suddenly theatmosphere grew as blue again as before; the forest grew red, and green, and yellow-colored. The dogs came leaping along, and whole flocks ofwild-fowl flew over the cairn, where blackberry-bushes were hanginground the old stones. The sea was dark blue, covered with ships fullof white sails; and in the barn old women, maidens, and children weresitting picking hops into a large cask; the young sang songs, but theold told fairy tales of mountain-sprites and soothsayers. Nothing couldbe more charming. 

"It is delightful here in winter!" said the little maiden. And all thetrees were covered with hoar-frost; they looked like white corals; thesnow crackled under foot, as if one had new boots on; and one fallingstar after the other was seen in the sky. The Christmas-tree was lightedin the room; presents were there, and good-humor reigned. In the countrythe violin sounded in the room of the peasant; the newly-baked cakeswere attacked; even the poorest child said, "It is really delightfulhere in winter!"

Yes, it was delightful; and the little maiden showed the boy everything;and the Elder Tree still was fragrant, and the red flag, with the whitecross, was still waving: the flag under which the old seaman in the NewBooths had sailed. And the boy grew up to be a lad, and was to go forthin the wide world-far, far away to warm lands, where the coffee-treegrows; but at his departure the little maiden took an Elder-blossom fromher bosom, and gave it him to keep; and it was placed between the leavesof his Prayer-Book; and when in foreign lands he opened the book, itwas always at the place where the keepsake-flower lay; and the more helooked at it, the fresher it became; he felt as it were, the fragranceof the Danish groves; and from among the leaves of the flowers he coulddistinctly see the little maiden, peeping forth with her bright blueeyes--and then she whispered, "It is delightful here in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter"; and a hundred visions glided before his mind. 

Thus passed many years, and he was now an old man, and sat with his oldwife under the blooming tree. They held each other by the hand, as theold grand-father and grand-mother yonder in the New Booths did, and theytalked exactly like them of old times, and of the fiftieth anniversaryof their wedding. The little maiden, with the blue eyes, and withElder-blossoms in her hair, sat in the tree, nodded to both of them, and said, "To-day is the fiftieth anniversary!" And then she took twoflowers out of her hair, and kissed them. First, they shone like silver, then like gold; and when they laid them on the heads of the old people, each flower became a golden crown. So there they both sat, like a kingand a queen, under the fragrant tree, that looked exactly like an elder:the old man told his wife the story of "Old Nanny, " as it had been toldhim when a boy. And it seemed to both of them it contained much thatresembled their own history; and those parts that were like it pleasedthem best. 

"Thus it is, " said the little maiden in the tree, "some call me 'OldNanny, ' others a 'Dryad, ' but, in reality, my name is 'Remembrance';'tis I who sit in the tree that grows and grows! I can remember; I cantell things! Let me see if you have my flower still?"

And the old man opened his Prayer-Book. There lay the Elder-blossom, as fresh as if it had been placed there but a short time before; andRemembrance nodded, and the old people, decked with crowns of gold, satin the flush of the evening sun. They closed their eyes, and--and--!Yes, that's the end of the story!

The little boy lay in his bed; he did not know if he had dreamed ornot, or if he had been listening while someone told him the story. Thetea-pot was standing on the table, but no Elder Tree was growing outof it! And the old man, who had been talking, was just on the point ofgoing out at the door, and he did go. 

"How splendid that was!" said the little boy. "Mother, I have been towarm countries. "

"So I should think, " said his mother. "When one has drunk two goodcupfuls of Elder-flower tea, 'tis likely enough one goes into warmclimates"; and she tucked him up nicely, least he should take cold. "Youhave had a good sleep while I have been sitting here, and arguing withhim whether it was a story or a fairy tale. "

"And where is old Nanny?" asked the little boy. 

"In the tea-pot, " said his mother; "and there she may remain. "

THE BELL

People said "The Evening Bell is sounding, the sun is setting. " For astrange wondrous tone was heard in the narrow streets of a large town. It was like the sound of a church-bell: but it was only heard for amoment, for the rolling of the carriages and the voices of the multitudemade too great a noise. 

Those persons who were walking outside the town, where the houses werefarther apart, with gardens or little fields between them, could seethe evening sky still better, and heard the sound of the bell muchmore distinctly. It was as if the tones came from a church in the stillforest; people looked thitherward, and felt their minds attuned mostsolemnly. 

A long time passed, and people said to each other--"I wonder if thereis a church out in the wood? The bell has a tone that is wondrous sweet;let us stroll thither, and examine the matter nearer. " And the richpeople drove out, and the poor walked, but the way seemed strangelylong to them; and when they came to a clump of willows which grew on theskirts of the forest, they sat down, and looked up at the longbranches, and fancied they were now in the depth of the green wood. Theconfectioner of the town came out, and set up his booth there; and soonafter came another confectioner, who hung a bell over his stand, asa sign or ornament, but it had no clapper, and it was tarred over topreserve it from the rain. When all the people returned home, they saidit had been very romantic, and that it was quite a different sort ofthing to a pic-nic or tea-party. There were three persons who assertedthey had penetrated to the end of the forest, and that they had alwaysheard the wonderful sounds of the bell, but it had seemed to them as ifit had come from the town. One wrote a whole poem about it, and said thebell sounded like the voice of a mother to a good dear child, andthat no melody was sweeter than the tones of the bell. The king of thecountry was also observant of it, and vowed that he who could discoverwhence the sounds proceeded, should have the title of "UniversalBell-ringer, " even if it were not really a bell. 

Many persons now went to the wood, for the sake of getting the place, but one only returned with a sort of explanation; for nobody went farenough, that one not further than the others. However, he said thatthe sound proceeded from a very large owl, in a hollow tree; a sort oflearned owl, that continually knocked its head against the branches. Butwhether the sound came from his head or from the hollow tree, that noone could say with certainty. So now he got the place of "UniversalBell-ringer, " and wrote yearly a short treatise "On the Owl"; buteverybody was just as wise as before. 

It was the day of confirmation. The clergyman had spoken so touchingly, the children who were confirmed had been greatly moved; it wasan eventful day for them; from children they become all at oncegrown-up-persons; it was as if their infant souls were now to fly allat once into persons with more understanding. The sun was shininggloriously; the children that had been confirmed went out of the town;and from the wood was borne towards them the sounds of the unknown bellwith wonderful distinctness. They all immediately felt a wish to gothither; all except three. One of them had to go home to try on aball-dress; for it was just the dress and the ball which had caused herto be confirmed this time, for otherwise she would not have come;the other was a poor boy, who had borrowed his coat and boots to beconfirmed in from the innkeeper's son, and he was to give them back bya certain hour; the third said that he never went to a strange placeif his parents were not with him--that he had always been a good boyhitherto, and would still be so now that he was confirmed, and that oneought not to laugh at him for it: the others, however, did make fun ofhim, after all. 

There were three, therefore, that did not go; the others hastened on. The sun shone, the birds sang, and the children sang too, and each heldthe other by the hand; for as yet they had none of them any high office, and were all of equal rank in the eye of God. 

But two of the youngest soon grew tired, and both returned to town; twolittle girls sat down, and twined garlands, so they did not go either;and when the others reached the willow-tree, where the confectioner was, they said, "Now we are there! In reality the bell does not exist; it isonly a fancy that people have taken into their heads!"

At the same moment the bell sounded deep in the wood, so clear andsolemnly that five or six determined to penetrate somewhat further. Itwas so thick, and the foliage so dense, that it was quite fatiguingto proceed. Woodroof and anemonies grew almost too high; bloomingconvolvuluses and blackberry-bushes hung in long garlands from tree totree, where the nightingale sang and the sunbeams were playing: it wasvery beautiful, but it was no place for girls to go; their clothes wouldget so torn. Large blocks of stone lay there, overgrown with moss ofevery color; the fresh spring bubbled forth, and made a strange gurglingsound. 

"That surely cannot be the bell, " said one of the children, lying downand listening. "This must be looked to. " So he remained, and let theothers go on without him. 

They afterwards came to a little house, made of branches and the bark oftrees; a large wild apple-tree bent over it, as if it would shower downall its blessings on the roof, where roses were blooming. The long stemstwined round the gable, on which there hung a small bell. 

Was it that which people had heard? Yes, everybody was unanimous on thesubject, except one, who said that the bell was too small and too fineto be heard at so great a distance, and besides it was very differenttones to those that could move a human heart in such a manner. It was aking's son who spoke; whereon the others said, "Such people always wantto be wiser than everybody else. "

They now let him go on alone; and as he went, his breast was filled moreand more with the forest solitude; but he still heard the little bellwith which the others were so satisfied, and now and then, when thewind blew, he could also hear the people singing who were sitting at teawhere the confectioner had his tent; but the deep sound of the bell roselouder; it was almost as if an organ were accompanying it, and the tonescame from the left hand, the side where the heart is placed. A rustlingwas heard in the bushes, and a little boy stood before the King's Son, aboy in wooden shoes, and with so short a jacket that one could see whatlong wrists he had. Both knew each other: the boy was that one amongthe children who could not come because he had to go home and return hisjacket and boots to the innkeeper's son. This he had done, and was nowgoing on in wooden shoes and in his humble dress, for the bell soundedwith so deep a tone, and with such strange power, that proceed he must. 

"Why, then, we can go together, " said the King's Son. But the poorchild that had been confirmed was quite ashamed; he looked at his woodenshoes, pulled at the short sleeves of his jacket, and said that he wasafraid he could not walk so fast; besides, he thought that the bell mustbe looked for to the right; for that was the place where all sorts ofbeautiful things were to be found. 

"But there we shall not meet, " said the King's Son, nodding at the sametime to the poor boy, who went into the darkest, thickest part of thewood, where thorns tore his humble dress, and scratched his face andhands and feet till they bled. The King's Son got some scratches too;but the sun shone on his path, and it is him that we will follow, for hewas an excellent and resolute youth. 

"I must and will find the bell, " said he, "even if I am obliged to go tothe end of the world. "

The ugly apes sat upon the trees, and grinned. "Shall we thrash him?"said they. "Shall we thrash him? He is the son of a king!"

But on he went, without being disheartened, deeper and deeper into thewood, where the most wonderful flowers were growing. There stood whitelilies with blood-red stamina, skyblue tulips, which shone as they wavedin the winds, and apple-trees, the apples of which looked exactly likelarge soapbubbles: so only think how the trees must have sparkled in thesunshine! Around the nicest green meads, where the deer were playing inthe grass, grew magnificent oaks and beeches; and if the bark of one ofthe trees was cracked, there grass and long creeping plants grew inthe crevices. And there were large calm lakes there too, in which whiteswans were swimming, and beat the air with their wings. The King's Sonoften stood still and listened. He thought the bell sounded from thedepths of these still lakes; but then he remarked again that the toneproceeded not from there, but farther off, from out the depths of theforest. 

The sun now set: the atmosphere glowed like fire. It was still in thewoods, so very still; and he fell on his knees, sung his evening hymn, and said: "I cannot find what I seek; the sun is going down, and nightis coming--the dark, dark night. Yet perhaps I may be able once moreto see the round red sun before he entirely disappears. I will climb upyonder rock. "

And he seized hold of the creeping-plants, and the roots oftrees--climbed up the moist stones where the water-snakes were writhingand the toads were croaking--and he gained the summit before the sunhad quite gone down. How magnificent was the sight from this height! Thesea--the great, the glorious sea, that dashed its long waves against thecoast--was stretched out before him. And yonder, where sea and sky meet, stood the sun, like a large shining altar, all melted together in themost glowing colors. And the wood and the sea sang a song of rejoicing, and his heart sang with the rest: all nature was a vast holy church, in which the trees and the buoyant clouds were the pillars, flowers andgrass the velvet carpeting, and heaven itself the large cupola. The redcolors above faded away as the sun vanished, but a million stars werelighted, a million lamps shone; and the King's Son spread out his armstowards heaven, and wood, and sea; when at the same moment, coming bya path to the right, appeared, in his wooden shoes and jacket, the poorboy who had been confirmed with him. He had followed his own path, andhad reached the spot just as soon as the son of the king had done. Theyran towards each other, and stood together hand in hand in the vastchurch of nature and of poetry, while over them sounded the invisibleholy bell: blessed spirits floated around them, and lifted up theirvoices in a rejoicing hallelujah!

THE OLD HOUSE

In the street, up there, was an old, a very old house--it was almostthree hundred years old, for that might be known by reading the greatbeam on which the date of the year was carved: together with tulips andhop-binds there were whole verses spelled as in former times, and overevery window was a distorted face cut out in the beam. The one storystood forward a great way over the other; and directly under the eaveswas a leaden spout with a dragon's head; the rain-water should have runout of the mouth, but it ran out of the belly, for there was a hole inthe spout. 

All the other houses in the street were so new and so neat, with largewindow panes and smooth walls, one could easily see that they would havenothing to do with the old house: they certainly thought, "How long isthat old decayed thing to stand here as a spectacle in the street? Andthen the projecting windows stand so far out, that no one can see fromour windows what happens in that direction! The steps are as broad asthose of a palace, and as high as to a church tower. The iron railingslook just like the door to an old family vault, and then they have brasstops--that's so stupid!"

On the other side of the street were also new and neat houses, and theythought just as the others did; but at the window opposite the old housethere sat a little boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes:he certainly liked the old house best, and that both in sunshine andmoonshine. And when he looked across at the wall where the mortarhad fallen out, he could sit and find out there the strangest figuresimaginable; exactly as the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could see soldiers withhalberds, and spouts where the water ran, like dragons and serpents. That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who wore plushbreeches; and he had a coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that onecould see was a real wig. Every morning there came an old fellow to himwho put his rooms in order, and went on errands; otherwise, the old manin the plush breeches was quite alone in the old house. Now and then hecame to the window and looked out, and the little boy nodded to him, and the old man nodded again, and so they became acquaintances, and thenthey were friends, although they had never spoken to each other--butthat made no difference. The little boy heard his parents say, "The oldman opposite is very well off, but he is so very, very lonely!"

The Sunday following, the little boy took something, and wrapped it upin a piece of paper, went downstairs, and stood in the doorway; and whenthe man who went on errands came past, he said to him--

"I say, master! will you give this to the old man over the way from me?I have two pewter soldiers--this is one of them, and he shall have it, for I know he is so very, very lonely. "

And the old errand man looked quite pleased, nodded, and took the pewtersoldier over to the old house. Afterwards there came a message; it wasto ask if the little boy himself had not a wish to come over and pay avisit; and so he got permission of his parents, and then went over tothe old house. 

And the brass balls on the iron railings shone much brighter than ever;one would have thought they were polished on account of the visit; andit was as if the carved-out trumpeters--for there were trumpeters, whostood in tulips, carved out on the door--blew with all theirmight, their cheeks appeared so much rounder than before. Yes, theyblew--"Trateratra! The little boy comes! Trateratra!"--and then the dooropened. 

The whole passage was hung with portraits of knights in armor, andladies in silken gowns; and the armor rattled, and the silken gownsrustled! And then there was a flight of stairs which went a good wayupwards, and a little way downwards, and then one came on a balconywhich was in a very dilapidated state, sure enough, with large holes andlong crevices, but grass grew there and leaves out of them altogether, for the whole balcony outside, the yard, and the walls, were overgrownwith so much green stuff, that it looked like a garden; only a balcony. Here stood old flower-pots with faces and asses' ears, and the flowersgrew just as they liked. One of the pots was quite overrun on all sideswith pinks, that is to say, with the green part; shoot stood by shoot, and it said quite distinctly, "The air has cherished me, the sun haskissed me, and promised me a little flower on Sunday! a little flower onSunday!"

And then they entered a chamber where the walls were covered with hog'sleather, and printed with gold flowers. 

 "The gilding decays, But hog's leather stays!"

said the walls. 

And there stood easy-chairs, with such high backs, and so carved out, and with arms on both sides. "Sit down! sit down!" said they. "Ugh! howI creak; now I shall certainly get the gout, like the old clothespress, ugh!"

And then the little boy came into the room where the projecting windowswere, and where the old man sat. 

"I thank you for the pewter soldier, my little friend!" said the oldman. "And I thank you because you come over to me. "

"Thankee! thankee!" or "cranky! cranky!" sounded from all the furniture;there was so much of it, that each article stood in the other's way, toget a look at the little boy. 

In the middle of the wall hung a picture representing a beautiful lady, so young, so glad, but dressed quite as in former times, with clothesthat stood quite stiff, and with powder in her hair; she neither said"thankee, thankee!" nor "cranky, cranky!" but looked with her mild eyesat the little boy, who directly asked the old man, "Where did you gether?"

"Yonder, at the broker's, " said the old man, "where there are so manypictures hanging. No one knows or cares about them, for they are all ofthem buried; but I knew her in by-gone days, and now she has been deadand gone these fifty years!"

Under the picture, in a glazed frame, there hung a bouquet of witheredflowers; they were almost fifty years old; they looked so very old!

The pendulum of the great clock went to and fro, and the hands turned, and everything in the room became still older; but they did not observeit. 

"They say at home, " said the little boy, "that you are so very, verylonely!"

"Oh!" said he. "The old thoughts, with what they may bring with them, come and visit me, and now you also come! I am very well off!"

Then he took a book with pictures in it down from the shelf; there werewhole long processions and pageants, with the strangest characters, which one never sees now-a-days; soldiers like the knave of clubs, and citizens with waving flags: the tailors had theirs, with a pair ofshears held by two lions--and the shoemakers theirs, without boots, but with an eagle that had two heads, for the shoemakers must haveeverything so that they can say, it is a pair! Yes, that was a picturebook!

The old man now went into the other room to fetch preserves, apples, andnuts--yes, it was delightful over there in the old house. 

"I cannot bear it any longer!" said the pewter soldier, who sat on thedrawers. "It is so lonely and melancholy here! But when one has been ina family circle one cannot accustom oneself to this life! I cannot bearit any longer! The whole day is so long, and the evenings are stilllonger! Here it is not at all as it is over the way at your home, whereyour father and mother spoke so pleasantly, and where you and all yoursweet children made such a delightful noise. Nay, how lonely the old manis--do you think that he gets kisses? Do you think he gets mild eyes, or a Christmas tree? He will get nothing but a grave! I can bear it nolonger!"

"You must not let it grieve you so much, " said the little boy. "I findit so very delightful here, and then all the old thoughts, with whatthey may bring with them, they come and visit here. "

"Yes, it's all very well, but I see nothing of them, and I don't knowthem!" said the pewter soldier. "I cannot bear it!"

"But you must!" said the little boy. 

Then in came the old man with the most pleased and happy face, the mostdelicious preserves, apples, and nuts, and so the little boy thought nomore about the pewter soldier. 

The little boy returned home happy and pleased, and weeks and dayspassed away, and nods were made to the old house, and from the oldhouse, and then the little boy went over there again. 

The carved trumpeters blew, "Trateratra! There is the little boy!Trateratra!" and the swords and armor on the knights' portraits rattled, and the silk gowns rustled; the hog's leather spoke, and the old chairshad the gout in their legs and rheumatism in their backs: Ugh! it wasexactly like the first time, for over there one day and hour was justlike another. 

"I cannot bear it!" said the pewter soldier. "I have shed pewter tears!It is too melancholy! Rather let me go to the wars and lose arms andlegs! It would at least be a change. I cannot bear it longer! Now, Iknow what it is to have a visit from one's old thoughts, with what theymay bring with them! I have had a visit from mine, and you may be sureit is no pleasant thing in the end; I was at last about to jump downfrom the drawers. 

"I saw you all over there at home so distinctly, as if you really werehere; it was again that Sunday morning; all you children stood beforethe table and sung your Psalms, as you do every morning. You stooddevoutly with folded hands; and father and mother were just as pious;and then the door was opened, and little sister Mary, who is not twoyears old yet, and who always dances when she hears music or singing, ofwhatever kind it may be, was put into the room--though she ought not tohave been there--and then she began to dance, but could not keep time, because the tones were so long; and then she stood, first on the oneleg, and bent her head forwards, and then on the other leg, and benther head forwards--but all would not do. You stood very seriously alltogether, although it was difficult enough; but I laughed to myself, andthen I fell off the table, and got a bump, which I have still--for itwas not right of me to laugh. But the whole now passes before me againin thought, and everything that I have lived to see; and these are theold thoughts, with what they may bring with them. 

"Tell me if you still sing on Sundays? Tell me something about littleMary! And how my comrade, the other pewter soldier, lives! Yes, he ishappy enough, that's sure! I cannot bear it any longer!"

"You are given away as a present!" said the little boy. "You mustremain. Can you not understand that?"

The old man now came with a drawer, in which there was much to be seen, both "tin boxes" and "balsam boxes, " old cards, so large and so gilded, such as one never sees them now. And several drawers were opened, andthe piano was opened; it had landscapes on the inside of the lid, and itwas so hoarse when the old man played on it! and then he hummed a song. 

"Yes, she could sing that!" said he, and nodded to the portrait, whichhe had bought at the broker's, and the old man's eyes shone so bright!

"I will go to the wars! I will go to the wars!" shouted the pewtersoldier as loud as he could, and threw himself off the drawers rightdown on the floor. What became of him? The old man sought, and thelittle boy sought; he was away, and he stayed away. 

"I shall find him!" said the old man; but he never found him. The floorwas too open--the pewter soldier had fallen through a crevice, and therehe lay as in an open tomb. 

That day passed, and the little boy went home, and that week passed, and several weeks too. The windows were quite frozen, the little boy wasobliged to sit and breathe on them to get a peep-hole over to the oldhouse, and there the snow had been blown into all the carved work andinscriptions; it lay quite up over the steps, just as if there was noone at home--nor was there any one at home--the old man was dead!

In the evening there was a hearse seen before the door, and he was borneinto it in his coffin: he was now to go out into the country, to lie inhis grave. He was driven out there, but no one followed; all his friendswere dead, and the little boy kissed his hand to the coffin as it wasdriven away. 

Some days afterwards there was an auction at the old house, and thelittle boy saw from his window how they carried the old knights and theold ladies away, the flower-pots with the long ears, the old chairs, andthe old clothes-presses. Something came here, and something came there;the portrait of her who had been found at the broker's came to thebroker's again; and there it hung, for no one knew her more--no onecared about the old picture. 

In the spring they pulled the house down, for, as people said, it wasa ruin. One could see from the street right into the room with thehog's-leather hanging, which was slashed and torn; and the green grassand leaves about the balcony hung quite wild about the falling beams. And then it was put to rights. 

"That was a relief, " said the neighboring houses. 

A fine house was built there, with large windows, and smooth whitewalls; but before it, where the old house had in fact stood, was alittle garden laid out, and a wild grapevine ran up the wall of theneighboring house. Before the garden there was a large iron railingwith an iron door, it looked quite splendid, and people stood still andpeeped in, and the sparrows hung by scores in the vine, and chatteredaway at each other as well as they could, but it was not about the oldhouse, for they could not remember it, so many years had passed--so manythat the little boy had grown up to a whole man, yes, a clever man, anda pleasure to his parents; and he had just been married, and, togetherwith his little wife, had come to live in the house here, where thegarden was; and he stood by her there whilst she planted a field-flowerthat she found so pretty; she planted it with her little hand, andpressed the earth around it with her fingers. Oh! what was that? Shehad stuck herself. There sat something pointed, straight out of the softmould. 

It was--yes, guess! It was the pewter soldier, he that was lost up atthe old man's, and had tumbled and turned about amongst the timber andthe rubbish, and had at last laid for many years in the ground. 

The young wife wiped the dirt off the soldier, first with a green leaf, and then with her fine handkerchief--it had such a delightful smell, that it was to the pewter soldier just as if he had awaked from atrance. 

"Let me see him, " said the young man. He laughed, and then shook hishead. "Nay, it cannot be he; but he reminds me of a story about a pewtersoldier which I had when I was a little boy!" And then he told his wifeabout the old house, and the old man, and about the pewter soldier thathe sent over to him because he was so very, very lonely; and he told itas correctly as it had really been, so that the tears came into the eyesof his young wife, on account of the old house and the old man. 

"It may possibly be, however, that it is the same pewter soldier!" saidshe. "I will take care of it, and remember all that you have told me;but you must show me the old man's grave!"

"But I do not know it, " said he, "and no one knows it! All his friendswere dead, no one took care of it, and I was then a little boy!"

"How very, very lonely he must have been!" said she. 

"Very, very lonely!" said the pewter soldier. "But it is delightful notto be forgotten!"

"Delightful!" shouted something close by; but no one, except the pewtersoldier, saw that it was a piece of the hog's-leather hangings; it hadlost all its gilding, it looked like a piece of wet clay, but it had anopinion, and it gave it:

 "The gilding decays, But hog's leather stays!"

This the pewter soldier did not believe. 

THE HAPPY FAMILY

Really, the largest green leaf in this country is a dock-leaf; if oneholds it before one, it is like a whole apron, and if one holds it overone's head in rainy weather, it is almost as good as an umbrella, forit is so immensely large. The burdock never grows alone, but where theregrows one there always grow several: it is a great delight, and all thisdelightfulness is snails' food. The great white snails which persons ofquality in former times made fricassees of, ate, and said, "Hem, hem! how delicious!" for they thought it tasted so delicate--lived ondock-leaves, and therefore burdock seeds were sown. 

Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, theywere quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew andgrew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the masteryover them--it was a whole forest of burdocks. Here and there stood anapple and a plum-tree, or else one never would have thought that it wasa garden; all was burdocks, and there lived the two last venerable oldsnails. 

They themselves knew not how old they were, but they could remembervery well that there had been many more; that they were of a familyfrom foreign lands, and that for them and theirs the whole forest wasplanted. They had never been outside it, but they knew that there wasstill something more in the world, which was called the manor-house, andthat there they were boiled, and then they became black, and were thenplaced on a silver dish; but what happened further they knew not; or, infact, what it was to be boiled, and to lie on a silver dish, they couldnot possibly imagine; but it was said to be delightful, and particularlygenteel. Neither the chafers, the toads, nor the earth-worms, whom theyasked about it could give them any information--none of them had beenboiled or laid on a silver dish. 

The old white snails were the first persons of distinction in theworld, that they knew; the forest was planted for their sake, and themanor-house was there that they might be boiled and laid on a silverdish. 

Now they lived a very lonely and happy life; and as they had no childrenthemselves, they had adopted a little common snail, which they broughtup as their own; but the little one would not grow, for he was of acommon family; but the old ones, especially Dame Mother Snail, thoughtthey could observe how he increased in size, and she begged father, if he could not see it, that he would at least feel the little snail'sshell; and then he felt it, and found the good dame was right. 

One day there was a heavy storm of rain. 

"Hear how it beats like a drum on the dock-leaves!" said Father Snail. 

"There are also rain-drops!" said Mother Snail. "And now the rain poursright down the stalk! You will see that it will be wet here! I am veryhappy to think that we have our good house, and the little one hashis also! There is more done for us than for all other creatures, sureenough; but can you not see that we are folks of quality in the world?We are provided with a house from our birth, and the burdock forest isplanted for our sakes! I should like to know how far it extends, andwhat there is outside!"

"There is nothing at all, " said Father Snail. "No place can be betterthan ours, and I have nothing to wish for!"

"Yes, " said the dame. "I would willingly go to the manorhouse, beboiled, and laid on a silver dish; all our forefathers have been treatedso; there is something extraordinary in it, you may be sure!"

"The manor-house has most likely fallen to ruin!" said Father Snail. "Orthe burdocks have grown up over it, so that they cannot come out. Thereneed not, however, be any haste about that; but you are always in such atremendous hurry, and the little one is beginning to be the same. Has henot been creeping up that stalk these three days? It gives me a headachewhen I look up to him!"

"You must not scold him, " said Mother Snail. "He creeps so carefully; hewill afford us much pleasure--and we have nothing but him to live for!But have you not thought of it? Where shall we get a wife for him? Doyou not think that there are some of our species at a great distance inthe interior of the burdock forest?"

"Black snails, I dare say, there are enough of, " said the old one. "Black snails without a house--but they are so common, and so conceited. But we might give the ants a commission to look out for us; they runto and fro as if they had something to do, and they certainly know of awife for our little snail!"

"I know one, sure enough--the most charming one!" said one of the ants. "But I am afraid we shall hardly succeed, for she is a queen!"

"That is nothing!" said the old folks. "Has she a house?"

"She has a palace!" said the ant. "The finest ant's palace, with sevenhundred passages!"

"I thank you!" said Mother Snail. "Our son shall not go into anant-hill; if you know nothing better than that, we shall give thecommission to the white gnats. They fly far and wide, in rain andsunshine; they know the whole forest here, both within and without. "

"We have a wife for him, " said the gnats. "At a hundred human paces fromhere there sits a little snail in her house, on a gooseberry bush; sheis quite lonely, and old enough to be married. It is only a hundredhuman paces!"

"Well, then, let her come to him!" said the old ones. "He has a wholeforest of burdocks, she has only a bush!"

And so they went and fetched little Miss Snail. It was a whole weekbefore she arrived; but therein was just the very best of it, for onecould thus see that she was of the same species. 

And then the marriage was celebrated. Six earth-worms shone as well asthey could. In other respects the whole went off very quietly, for theold folks could not bear noise and merriment; but old Dame Snail madea brilliant speech. Father Snail could not speak, he was too muchaffected; and so they gave them as a dowry and inheritance, the wholeforest of burdocks, and said--what they had always said--that it wasthe best in the world; and if they lived honestly and decently, andincreased and multiplied, they and their children would once in thecourse of time come to the manor-house, be boiled black, and laid onsilver dishes. After this speech was made, the old ones crept into theirshells, and never more came out. They slept; the young couple governedin the forest, and had a numerous progeny, but they were never boiled, and never came on the silver dishes; so from this they concluded thatthe manor-house had fallen to ruins, and that all the men in the worldwere extinct; and as no one contradicted them, so, of course it was so. And the rain beat on the dock-leaves to make drum-music for their sake, and the sun shone in order to give the burdock forest a color for theirsakes; and they were very happy, and the whole family was happy; forthey, indeed were so. 

THE STORY OF A MOTHER

A mother sat there with her little child. She was so downcast, soafraid that it should die! It was so pale, the small eyes had closedthemselves, and it drew its breath so softly, now and then, with adeep respiration, as if it sighed; and the mother looked still moresorrowfully on the little creature. 

Then a knocking was heard at the door, and in came a poor old manwrapped up as in a large horse-cloth, for it warms one, and he neededit, as it was the cold winter season! Everything out-of-doors wascovered with ice and snow, and the wind blew so that it cut the face. 

As the old man trembled with cold, and the little child slept a moment, the mother went and poured some ale into a pot and set it on the stove, that it might be warm for him; the old man sat and rocked the cradle, and the mother sat down on a chair close by him, and looked at herlittle sick child that drew its breath so deep, and raised its littlehand. 

"Do you not think that I shall save him?" said she. "Our Lord will nottake him from me!"

And the old man--it was Death himself--he nodded so strangely, it couldjust as well signify yes as no. And the mother looked down in her lap, and the tears ran down over her cheeks; her head became so heavy--shehad not closed her eyes for three days and nights; and now she slept, but only for a minute, when she started up and trembled with cold. 

"What is that?" said she, and looked on all sides; but the old man wasgone, and her little child was gone--he had taken it with him; and theold clock in the corner burred, and burred, the great leaden weight randown to the floor, bump! and then the clock also stood still. 

But the poor mother ran out of the house and cried aloud for her child. 

Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, blackclothes; and she said, "Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw himhasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and henever brings back what he takes!"

"Oh, only tell me which way he went!" said the mother. "Tell me the way, and I shall find him!"

"I know it!" said the woman in the black clothes. "But before I tell it, thou must first sing for me all the songs thou hast sung for thy child!I am fond of them. I have heard them before; I am Night; I saw thy tearswhilst thou sang'st them!"

"I will sing them all, all!" said the mother. "But do not stop me now--Imay overtake him--I may find my child!"

But Night stood still and mute. Then the mother wrung her hands, sangand wept, and there were many songs, but yet many more tears; and thenNight said, "Go to the right, into the dark pine forest; thither I sawDeath take his way with thy little child!"

The roads crossed each other in the depths of the forest, and she nolonger knew whither she should go! then there stood a thorn-bush;there was neither leaf nor flower on it, it was also in the cold winterseason, and ice-flakes hung on the branches. 

"Hast thou not seen Death go past with my little child?" said themother. 

"Yes, " said the thorn-bush; "but I will not tell thee which way he took, unless thou wilt first warm me up at thy heart. I am freezing to death;I shall become a lump of ice!"

And she pressed the thorn-bush to her breast, so firmly, that it mightbe thoroughly warmed, and the thorns went right into her flesh, and herblood flowed in large drops, but the thornbush shot forth fresh greenleaves, and there came flowers on it in the cold winter night, the heartof the afflicted mother was so warm; and the thorn-bush told her the wayshe should go. 

She then came to a large lake, where there was neither ship nor boat. The lake was not frozen sufficiently to bear her; neither was it open, nor low enough that she could wade through it; and across it she must goif she would find her child! Then she lay down to drink up the lake, andthat was an impossibility for a human being, but the afflicted motherthought that a miracle might happen nevertheless. 

"Oh, what would I not give to come to my child!" said the weepingmother; and she wept still more, and her eyes sunk down in the depths ofthe waters, and became two precious pearls; but the water bore her up, as if she sat in a swing, and she flew in the rocking waves to the shoreon the opposite side, where there stood a mile-broad, strange house, oneknew not if it were a mountain with forests and caverns, or if it werebuilt up; but the poor mother could not see it; she had wept her eyesout. 

"Where shall I find Death, who took away my little child?" said she. 

"He has not come here yet!" said the old grave woman, who was appointedto look after Death's great greenhouse! "How have you been able to findthe way hither? And who has helped you?"

"OUR LORD has helped me, " said she. "He is merciful, and you will alsobe so! Where shall I find my little child?"

"Nay, I know not, " said the woman, "and you cannot see! Many flowers andtrees have withered this night; Death will soon come and plant them overagain! You certainly know that every person has his or her life's treeor flower, just as everyone happens to be settled; they look like otherplants, but they have pulsations of the heart. Children's hearts canalso beat; go after yours, perhaps you may know your child's; but whatwill you give me if I tell you what you shall do more?"

"I have nothing to give, " said the afflicted mother, "but I will go tothe world's end for you!"

"Nay, I have nothing to do there!" said the woman. "But you can giveme your long black hair; you know yourself that it is fine, and thatI like! You shall have my white hair instead, and that's alwayssomething!"

"Do you demand nothing else?" said she. "That I will gladly give you!"And she gave her her fine black hair, and got the old woman's snow-whitehair instead. 

So they went into Death's great greenhouse, where flowers and treesgrew strangely into one another. There stood fine hyacinths under glassbells, and there stood strong-stemmed peonies; there grew water plants, some so fresh, others half sick, the water-snakes lay down on them, and black crabs pinched their stalks. There stood beautiful palm-trees, oaks, and plantains; there stood parsley and flowering thyme: every treeand every flower had its name; each of them was a human life, the humanframe still lived--one in China, and another in Greenland--round aboutin the world. There were large trees in small pots, so that they stoodso stunted in growth, and ready to burst the pots; in other places, there was a little dull flower in rich mould, with moss round about it, and it was so petted and nursed. But the distressed mother bent downover all the smallest plants, and heard within them how the human heartbeat; and amongst millions she knew her child's. 

"There it is!" cried she, and stretched her hands out over a little bluecrocus, that hung quite sickly on one side. 

"Don't touch the flower!" said the old woman. "But place yourself here, and when Death comes--I expect him every moment--do not let him pluckthe flower up, but threaten him that you will do the same with theothers. Then he will be afraid! He is responsible for them to OUR LORD, and no one dares to pluck them up before HE gives leave. "

All at once an icy cold rushed through the great hall, and the blindmother could feel that it was Death that came. 

"How hast thou been able to find thy way hither?" he asked. "How couldstthou come quicker than I?"

"I am a mother, " said she. 

And Death stretched out his long hand towards the fine little flower, but she held her hands fast around his, so tight, and yet afraid thatshe should touch one of the leaves. Then Death blew on her hands, andshe felt that it was colder than the cold wind, and her hands fell downpowerless. 

"Thou canst not do anything against me!" said Death. 

"But OUR LORD can!" said she. 

"I only do His bidding!" said Death. "I am His gardener, I take all Hisflowers and trees, and plant them out in the great garden of Paradise, in the unknown land; but how they grow there, and how it is there I darenot tell thee. "

"Give me back my child!" said the mother, and she wept and prayed. Atonce she seized hold of two beautiful flowers close by, with each hand, and cried out to Death, "I will tear all thy flowers off, for I am indespair. "

"Touch them not!" said Death. "Thou say'st that thou art so unhappy, andnow thou wilt make another mother equally unhappy. "

"Another mother!" said the poor woman, and directly let go her hold ofboth the flowers. 

"There, thou hast thine eyes, " said Death; "I fished them up from thelake, they shone so bright; I knew not they were thine. Take them again, they are now brighter than before; now look down into the deep wellclose by; I shall tell thee the names of the two flowers thou wouldsthave torn up, and thou wilt see their whole future life--their wholehuman existence: and see what thou wast about to disturb and destroy. "

And she looked down into the well; and it was a happiness to see how theone became a blessing to the world, to see how much happiness and joywere felt everywhere. And she saw the other's life, and it was sorrowand distress, horror, and wretchedness. 

"Both of them are God's will!" said Death. 

"Which of them is Misfortune's flower and which is that of Happiness?"asked she. 

"That I will not tell thee, " said Death; "but this thou shalt know fromme, that the one flower was thy own child! it was thy child's fate thousaw'st--thy own child's future life!"

Then the mother screamed with terror, "Which of them was my child? Tellit me! Save the innocent! Save my child from all that misery! Rathertake it away! Take it into God's kingdom! Forget my tears, forget myprayers, and all that I have done!"

"I do not understand thee!" said Death. "Wilt thou have thy child again, or shall I go with it there, where thou dost not know!"

Then the mother wrung her hands, fell on her knees, and prayed to ourLord: "Oh, hear me not when I pray against Thy will, which is the best!hear me not! hear me not!"

And she bowed her head down in her lap, and Death took her child andwent with it into the unknown land. 

THE FALSE COLLAR

There was once a fine gentleman, all of whose moveables were a boot-jackand a hair-comb: but he had the finest false collars in the world; andit is about one of these collars that we are now to hear a story. 

It was so old, that it began to think of marriage; and it happened thatit came to be washed in company with a garter. 

"Nay!" said the collar. "I never did see anything so slender and sofine, so soft and so neat. May I not ask your name?"

"That I shall not tell you!" said the garter. 

"Where do you live?" asked the collar. 

But the garter was so bashful, so modest, and thought it was a strangequestion to answer. 

"You are certainly a girdle, " said the collar; "that is to say an insidegirdle. I see well that you are both for use and ornament, my dear younglady. "

"I will thank you not to speak to me, " said the garter. "I think I havenot given the least occasion for it. "

"Yes! When one is as handsome as you, " said the collar, "that isoccasion enough. "

"Don't come so near me, I beg of you!" said the garter. "You look somuch like those men-folks. "

"I am also a fine gentleman, " said the collar. "I have a bootjack and ahair-comb. "

But that was not true, for it was his master who had them: but heboasted. 

"Don't come so near me, " said the garter: "I am not accustomed to it. "

"Prude!" exclaimed the collar; and then it was taken out of thewashing-tub. It was starched, hung over the back of a chair in thesunshine, and was then laid on the ironing-blanket; then came the warmbox-iron. "Dear lady!" said the collar. "Dear widow-lady! I feel quitehot. I am quite changed. I begin to unfold myself. You will burn a holein me. Oh! I offer you my hand. "

"Rag!" said the box-iron; and went proudly over the collar: for shefancied she was a steam-engine, that would go on the railroad and drawthe waggons. "Rag!" said the box-iron. 

The collar was a little jagged at the edge, and so came the longscissors to cut off the jagged part. "Oh!" said the collar. "You arecertainly the first opera dancer. How well you can stretch your legsout! It is the most graceful performance I have ever seen. No one canimitate you. "

"I know it, " said the scissors. 

"You deserve to be a baroness, " said the collar. "All that I have is afine gentleman, a boot-jack, and a hair-comb. If I only had the barony!"

"Do you seek my hand?" said the scissors; for she was angry; and withoutmore ado, she CUT HIM, and then he was condemned. 

"I shall now be obliged to ask the hair-comb. It is surprising how wellyou preserve your teeth, Miss, " said the collar. "Have you never thoughtof being betrothed?"

"Yes, of course! you may be sure of that, " said the hair-comb. "I AMbetrothed--to the boot-jack!"

"Betrothed!" exclaimed the collar. Now there was no other to court, andso he despised it. 

A long time passed away, then the collar came into the rag chest at thepaper mill; there was a large company of rags, the fine by themselves, and the coarse by themselves, just as it should be. They all had much tosay, but the collar the most; for he was a real boaster. 

"I have had such an immense number of sweethearts!" said the collar. "I could not be in peace! It is true, I was always a fine starched-upgentleman! I had both a boot-jack and a hair-comb, which I never used!You should have seen me then, you should have seen me when I lay down!I shall never forget MY FIRST LOVE--she was a girdle, so fine, so soft, and so charming, she threw herself into a tub of water for my sake!There was also a widow, who became glowing hot, but I left her standingtill she got black again; there was also the first opera dancer, shegave me that cut which I now go with, she was so ferocious! Myown hair-comb was in love with me, she lost all her teeth from theheart-ache; yes, I have lived to see much of that sort of thing; but Iam extremely sorry for the garter--I mean the girdle--that went into thewater-tub. I have much on my conscience, I want to become white paper!"

And it became so, all the rags were turned into white paper; but thecollar came to be just this very piece of white paper we here see, and on which the story is printed; and that was because it boasted soterribly afterwards of what had never happened to it. It would be wellfor us to beware, that we may not act in a similar manner, for we cannever know if we may not, in the course of time, also come into therag chest, and be made into white paper, and then have our whole life'shistory printed on it, even the most secret, and be obliged to run aboutand tell it ourselves, just like this collar. 

THE SHADOW

It is in the hot lands that the sun burns, sure enough! there the peoplebecome quite a mahogany brown, ay, and in the HOTTEST lands they areburnt to Negroes. But now it was only to the HOT lands that a learnedman had come from the cold; there he thought that he could run aboutjust as when at home, but he soon found out his mistake. 

He, and all sensible folks, were obliged to stay within doors--thewindow-shutters and doors were closed the whole day; it looked as if thewhole house slept, or there was no one at home. 

The narrow street with the high houses, was built so that the sunshinemust fall there from morning till evening--it was really not to beborne. 

The learned man from the cold lands--he was a young man, and seemed tobe a clever man--sat in a glowing oven; it took effect on him, he becamequite meagre--even his shadow shrunk in, for the sun had also an effecton it. It was first towards evening when the sun was down, that theybegan to freshen up again. 

In the warm lands every window has a balcony, and the people came out onall the balconies in the street--for one must have air, even if one beaccustomed to be mahogany!* It was lively both up and down thestreet. Tailors, and shoemakers, and all the folks, moved out into thestreet--chairs and tables were brought forth--and candles burnt--yes, above a thousand lights were burning--and the one talked and the othersung; and people walked and church-bells rang, and asses went along witha dingle-dingle-dong! for they too had bells on. The street boys werescreaming and hooting, and shouting and shooting, with devils anddetonating balls--and there came corpse bearers and hood wearers--forthere were funerals with psalm and hymn--and then the din of carriagesdriving and company arriving: yes, it was, in truth, lively enough downin the street. Only in that single house, which stood opposite that inwhich the learned foreigner lived, it was quite still; and yet some onelived there, for there stood flowers in the balcony--they grew sowell in the sun's heat! and that they could not do unless they werewatered--and some one must water them--there must be somebody there. The door opposite was also opened late in the evening, but it was darkwithin, at least in the front room; further in there was heard the soundof music. The learned foreigner thought it quite marvellous, but now--itmight be that he only imagined it--for he found everything marvellousout there, in the warm lands, if there had only been no sun. Thestranger's landlord said that he didn't know who had taken the houseopposite, one saw no person about, and as to the music, it appearedto him to be extremely tiresome. "It is as if some one sat there, andpractised a piece that he could not master--always the same piece. 'Ishall master it!' says he; but yet he cannot master it, however long heplays. "

* The word mahogany can be understood, in Danish, as having twomeanings. In general, it means the reddish-brown wood itself; but injest, it signifies "excessively fine, " which arose from an anecdote ofNyboder, in Copenhagen, (the seamen's quarter. ) A sailor's wife, who wasalways proud and fine, in her way, came to her neighbor, and complainedthat she had got a splinter in her finger. "What of?" asked theneighbor's wife. "It is a mahogany splinter, " said the other. "Mahogany!It cannot be less with you!" exclaimed the woman--and thence theproverb, "It is so mahogany!"--(that is, so excessively fine)--isderived. 

One night the stranger awoke--he slept with the doors of the balconyopen--the curtain before it was raised by the wind, and he thoughtthat a strange lustre came from the opposite neighbor's house; all theflowers shone like flames, in the most beautiful colors, and in themidst of the flowers stood a slender, graceful maiden--it was as if shealso shone; the light really hurt his eyes. He now opened them quitewide--yes, he was quite awake; with one spring he was on the floor; hecrept gently behind the curtain, but the maiden was gone; the flowersshone no longer, but there they stood, fresh and blooming as ever;the door was ajar, and, far within, the music sounded so soft anddelightful, one could really melt away in sweet thoughts from it. Yetit was like a piece of enchantment. And who lived there? Where was theactual entrance? The whole of the ground-floor was a row of shops, andthere people could not always be running through. 

One evening the stranger sat out on the balcony. The light burnt in theroom behind him; and thus it was quite natural that his shadow shouldfall on his opposite neighbor's wall. Yes! there it sat, directlyopposite, between the flowers on the balcony; and when the strangermoved, the shadow also moved: for that it always does. 

"I think my shadow is the only living thing one sees over there, " saidthe learned man. "See, how nicely it sits between the flowers. The doorstands half-open: now the shadow should be cunning, and go into theroom, look about, and then come and tell me what it had seen. Come, now!Be useful, and do me a service, " said he, in jest. "Have the kindness tostep in. Now! Art thou going?" and then he nodded to the shadow, and theshadow nodded again. "Well then, go! But don't stay away. "

The stranger rose, and his shadow on the opposite neighbor's balconyrose also; the stranger turned round and the shadow also turned round. Yes! if anyone had paid particular attention to it, they would haveseen, quite distinctly, that the shadow went in through the half-openbalcony-door of their opposite neighbor, just as the stranger went intohis own room, and let the long curtain fall down after him. 

Next morning, the learned man went out to drink coffee and read thenewspapers. 

"What is that?" said he, as he came out into the sunshine. "I have noshadow! So then, it has actually gone last night, and not come again. Itis really tiresome!"

This annoyed him: not so much because the shadow was gone, but becausehe knew there was a story about a man without a shadow. * It was knownto everybody at home, in the cold lands; and if the learned man now camethere and told his story, they would say that he was imitating it, andthat he had no need to do. He would, therefore, not talk about it atall; and that was wisely thought. 

*Peter Schlemihl, the shadowless man. 

In the evening he went out again on the balcony. He had placed the lightdirectly behind him, for he knew that the shadow would always have itsmaster for a screen, but he could not entice it. He made himself little;he made himself great: but no shadow came again. He said, "Hem! hem!"but it was of no use. 

It was vexatious; but in the warm lands everything grows so quickly; andafter the lapse of eight days he observed, to his great joy, that a newshadow came in the sunshine. In the course of three weeks he had a veryfair shadow, which, when he set out for his home in the northern lands, grew more and more in the journey, so that at last it was so long and solarge, that it was more than sufficient. 

The learned man then came home, and he wrote books about what was truein the world, and about what was good and what was beautiful; and therepassed days and years--yes! many years passed away. 

One evening, as he was sitting in his room, there was a gentle knockingat the door. 

"Come in!" said he; but no one came in; so he opened the door, and therestood before him such an extremely lean man, that he felt quite strange. As to the rest, the man was very finely dressed--he must be a gentleman. 

"Whom have I the honor of speaking?" asked the learned man. 

"Yes! I thought as much, " said the fine man. "I thought you would notknow me. I have got so much body. I have even got flesh and clothes. Youcertainly never thought of seeing me so well off. Do you not know yourold shadow? You certainly thought I should never more return. Thingshave gone on well with me since I was last with you. I have, in allrespects, become very well off. Shall I purchase my freedom fromservice? If so, I can do it"; and then he rattled a whole bunch ofvaluable seals that hung to his watch, and he stuck his hand in thethick gold chain he wore around his neck--nay! how all his fingersglittered with diamond rings; and then all were pure gems. 

"Nay; I cannot recover from my surprise!" said the learned man. "What isthe meaning of all this?"

"Something common, is it not, " said the shadow. "But you yourself do notbelong to the common order; and I, as you know well, have from a childfollowed in your footsteps. As soon as you found I was capable to goout alone in the world, I went my own way. I am in the most brilliantcircumstances, but there came a sort of desire over me to see you oncemore before you die; you will die, I suppose? I also wished to see thisland again--for you know we always love our native land. I know you havegot another shadow again; have I anything to pay to it or you? If so, you will oblige me by saying what it is. "

"Nay, is it really thou?" said the learned man. "It is most remarkable:I never imagined that one's old shadow could come again as a man. "

"Tell me what I have to pay, " said the shadow; "for I don't like to bein any sort of debt. "

"How canst thou talk so?" said the learned man. "What debt is there totalk about? Make thyself as free as anyone else. I am extremely glad tohear of thy good fortune: sit down, old friend, and tell me a littlehow it has gone with thee, and what thou hast seen at our oppositeneighbor's there--in the warm lands. "

"Yes, I will tell you all about it, " said the shadow, and sat down: "butthen you must also promise me, that, wherever you may meet me, you willnever say to anyone here in the town that I have been your shadow. Iintend to get betrothed, for I can provide for more than one family. "

"Be quite at thy ease about that, " said the learned man; "I shall notsay to anyone who thou actually art: here is my hand--I promise it, anda man's bond is his word. "

"A word is a shadow, " said the shadow, "and as such it must speak. "

It was really quite astonishing how much of a man it was. It was dressedentirely in black, and of the very finest cloth; it had patent leatherboots, and a hat that could be folded together, so that it was barecrown and brim; not to speak of what we already know it had--seals, goldneck-chain, and diamond rings; yes, the shadow was well-dressed, and itwas just that which made it quite a man. 

"Now I shall tell you my adventures, " said the shadow; and then hesat, with the polished boots, as heavily as he could, on the arm of thelearned man's new shadow, which lay like a poodle-dog at his feet. Now this was perhaps from arrogance; and the shadow on the ground keptitself so still and quiet, that it might hear all that passed: it wishedto know how it could get free, and work its way up, so as to become itsown master. 

"Do you know who lived in our opposite neighbor's house?" said theshadow. "It was the most charming of all beings, it was Poesy! I wasthere for three weeks, and that has as much effect as if one had livedthree thousand years, and read all that was composed and written;that is what I say, and it is right. I have seen everything and I knoweverything!"

"Poesy!" cried the learned man. "Yes, yes, she often dwells a reclusein large cities! Poesy! Yes, I have seen her--a single short moment, but sleep came into my eyes! She stood on the balcony and shone as theAurora Borealis shines. Go on, go on--thou wert on the balcony, and wentthrough the doorway, and then--"

"Then I was in the antechamber, " said the shadow. "You always sat andlooked over to the antechamber. There was no light; there was a sortof twilight, but the one door stood open directly opposite the otherthrough a long row of rooms and saloons, and there it was lighted up. Ishould have been completely killed if I had gone over to the maiden; butI was circumspect, I took time to think, and that one must always do. "

"And what didst thou then see?" asked the learned man. 

"I saw everything, and I shall tell all to you: but--it is no pride onmy part--as a free man, and with the knowledge I have, not to speak ofmy position in life, my excellent circumstances--I certainly wish thatyou would say YOU* to me!"

* It is the custom in Denmark for intimate acquaintances to use thesecond person singular, "Du, " (thou) when speaking to each other. Whena friendship is formed between men, they generally affirm it, whenoccasion offers, either in public or private, by drinking to each otherand exclaiming, "thy health, " at the same time striking their glassestogether. This is called drinking "Duus": they are then, "Duus Brodre, "(thou brothers) and ever afterwards use the pronoun "thou, " to eachother, it being regarded as more familiar than "De, " (you). Father andmother, sister and brother say thou to one another--without regard toage or rank. Master and mistress say thou to their servants the superiorto the inferior. But servants and inferiors do not use the same termto their masters, or superiors--nor is it ever used when speaking to astranger, or anyone with whom they are but slightly acquainted--theythen say as in English--you. 

"I beg your pardon, " said the learned man; "it is an old habit with me. YOU are perfectly right, and I shall remember it; but now you must tellme all YOU saw!"

"Everything!" said the shadow. "For I saw everything, and I knoweverything!"

"How did it look in the furthest saloon?" asked the learned man. "Was itthere as in the fresh woods? Was it there as in a holy church? Were thesaloons like the starlit firmament when we stand on the high mountains?"

"Everything was there!" said the shadow. "I did not go quite in, Iremained in the foremost room, in the twilight, but I stood therequite well; I saw everything, and I know everything! I have been in theantechamber at the court of Poesy. "

"But WHAT DID you see? Did all the gods of the olden times pass throughthe large saloons? Did the old heroes combat there? Did sweet childrenplay there, and relate their dreams?"

"I tell you I was there, and you can conceive that I saw everythingthere was to be seen. Had you come over there, you would not have beena man; but I became so! And besides, I learned to know my inward nature, my innate qualities, the relationship I had with Poesy. At the time Iwas with you, I thought not of that, but always--you know it well--whenthe sun rose, and when the sun went down, I became so strangely great;in the moonlight I was very near being more distinct than yourself; atthat time I did not understand my nature; it was revealed to me in theantechamber! I became a man! I came out matured; but you were no longerin the warm lands; as a man I was ashamed to go as I did. I was inwant of boots, of clothes, of the whole human varnish that makes a manperceptible. I took my way--I tell it to you, but you will not put it inany book--I took my way to the cake woman--I hid myself behind her;the woman didn't think how much she concealed. I went out first in theevening; I ran about the streets in the moonlight; I made myself long upthe walls--it tickles the back so delightfully! I ran up, and ran down, peeped into the highest windows, into the saloons, and on the roofs, Ipeeped in where no one could peep, and I saw what no one else saw, whatno one else should see! This is, in fact, a base world! I would not be aman if it were not now once accepted and regarded as something to be so!I saw the most unimaginable things with the women, with the men, withparents, and with the sweet, matchless children; I saw, " said theshadow, "what no human being must know, but what they would allso willingly know--what is bad in their neighbor. Had I written anewspaper, it would have been read! But I wrote direct to the personsthemselves, and there was consternation in all the towns where I came. They were so afraid of me, and yet they were so excessively fond ofme. The professors made a professor of me; the tailors gave me newclothes--I am well furnished; the master of the mint struck new coin forme, and the women said I was so handsome! And so I became the man I am. And I now bid you farewell. Here is my card--I live on the sunny sideof the street, and am always at home in rainy weather!" And so away wentthe shadow. "That was most extraordinary!" said the learned man. Yearsand days passed away, then the shadow came again. "How goes it?" saidthe shadow. 

"Alas!" said the learned man. "I write about the true, and the good, and the beautiful, but no one cares to hear such things; I am quitedesperate, for I take it so much to heart!"

"But I don't!" said the shadow. "I become fat, and it is that one wantsto become! You do not understand the world. You will become ill by it. You must travel! I shall make a tour this summer; will you go with me?I should like to have a travelling companion! Will you go with me, asshadow? It will be a great pleasure for me to have you with me; I shallpay the travelling expenses!"

"Nay, this is too much!" said the learned man. 

"It is just as one takes it!" said the shadow. "It will do you much goodto travel! Will you be my shadow? You shall have everything free on thejourney!"

"Nay, that is too bad!" said the learned man. 

"But it is just so with the world!" said the shadow, "and so it willbe!" and away it went again. 

The learned man was not at all in the most enviable state; grief andtorment followed him, and what he said about the true, and the good, andthe beautiful, was, to most persons, like roses for a cow! He was quiteill at last. 

"You really look like a shadow!" said his friends to him; and thelearned man trembled, for he thought of it. 

"You must go to a watering-place!" said the shadow, who came and visitedhim. "There is nothing else for it! I will take you with me for oldacquaintance' sake; I will pay the travelling expenses, and you writethe descriptions--and if they are a little amusing for me on the way!I will go to a watering-place--my beard does not grow out as itought--that is also a sickness--and one must have a beard! Now you bewise and accept the offer; we shall travel as comrades!"

And so they travelled; the shadow was master, and the master was theshadow; they drove with each other, they rode and walked together, sideby side, before and behind, just as the sun was; the shadow always tookcare to keep itself in the master's place. Now the learned man didn'tthink much about that; he was a very kind-hearted man, and particularlymild and friendly, and so he said one day to the shadow: "As we havenow become companions, and in this way have grown up together fromchildhood, shall we not drink 'thou' together, it is more familiar?"

"You are right, " said the shadow, who was now the proper master. "It issaid in a very straight-forward and well-meant manner. You, as a learnedman, certainly know how strange nature is. Some persons cannot bear totouch grey paper, or they become ill; others shiver in every limb if onerub a pane of glass with a nail: I have just such a feeling on hearingyou say thou to me; I feel myself as if pressed to the earth in my firstsituation with you. You see that it is a feeling; that it is not pride:I cannot allow you to say THOU to me, but I will willingly say THOU toyou, so it is half done!"

So the shadow said THOU to its former master. 

"This is rather too bad, " thought he, "that I must say YOU and he sayTHOU, " but he was now obliged to put up with it. 

So they came to a watering-place where there were many strangers, andamongst them was a princess, who was troubled with seeing too well; andthat was so alarming!

She directly observed that the stranger who had just come was quite adifferent sort of person to all the others; "He has come here in orderto get his beard to grow, they say, but I see the real cause, he cannotcast a shadow. "

She had become inquisitive; and so she entered into conversationdirectly with the strange gentleman, on their promenades. As thedaughter of a king, she needed not to stand upon trifles, so she said, "Your complaint is, that you cannot cast a shadow?"

"Your Royal Highness must be improving considerably, " said the shadow, "I know your complaint is, that you see too clearly, but it hasdecreased, you are cured. I just happen to have a very unusual shadow!Do you not see that person who always goes with me? Other persons havea common shadow, but I do not like what is common to all. We give ourservants finer cloth for their livery than we ourselves use, and so Ihad my shadow trimmed up into a man: yes, you see I have even given hima shadow. It is somewhat expensive, but I like to have something formyself!"

"What!" thought the princess. "Should I really be cured! These baths arethe first in the world! In our time water has wonderful powers. But Ishall not leave the place, for it now begins to be amusing here. I amextremely fond of that stranger: would that his beard should not grow, for in that case he will leave us!"

In the evening, the princess and the shadow danced together in the largeball-room. She was light, but he was still lighter; she had never hadsuch a partner in the dance. She told him from what land she came, andhe knew that land; he had been there, but then she was not at home; hehad peeped in at the window, above and below--he had seen both theone and the other, and so he could answer the princess, and makeinsinuations, so that she was quite astonished; he must be the wisestman in the whole world! She felt such respect for what he knew! So thatwhen they again danced together she fell in love with him; and that theshadow could remark, for she almost pierced him through with her eyes. So they danced once more together; and she was about to declare herself, but she was discreet; she thought of her country and kingdom, and of themany persons she would have to reign over. 

"He is a wise man, " said she to herself--"It is well; and he dancesdelightfully--that is also good; but has he solid knowledge? That isjust as important! He must be examined. "

So she began, by degrees, to question him about the most difficultthings she could think of, and which she herself could not haveanswered; so that the shadow made a strange face. 

"You cannot answer these questions?" said the princess. 

"They belong to my childhood's learning, " said the shadow. "I reallybelieve my shadow, by the door there, can answer them!"

"Your shadow!" said the princess. "That would indeed be marvellous!"

"I will not say for a certainty that he can, " said the shadow, "but Ithink so; he has now followed me for so many years, and listened to myconversation--I should think it possible. But your royal highness willpermit me to observe, that he is so proud of passing himself off fora man, that when he is to be in a proper humor--and he must be so toanswer well--he must be treated quite like a man. "

"Oh! I like that!" said the princess. 

So she went to the learned man by the door, and she spoke to him aboutthe sun and the moon, and about persons out of and in the world, and heanswered with wisdom and prudence. 

"What a man that must be who has so wise a shadow!" thought she. "Itwill be a real blessing to my people and kingdom if I choose him for myconsort--I will do it!"

They were soon agreed, both the princess and the shadow; but no one wasto know about it before she arrived in her own kingdom. 

"No one--not even my shadow!" said the shadow, and he had his ownthoughts about it!

Now they were in the country where the princess reigned when she was athome. 

"Listen, my good friend, " said the shadow to the learned man. "I havenow become as happy and mighty as anyone can be; I will, therefore, dosomething particular for thee! Thou shalt always live with me in thepalace, drive with me in my royal carriage, and have ten thousandpounds a year; but then thou must submit to be called SHADOW by all andeveryone; thou must not say that thou hast ever been a man; and oncea year, when I sit on the balcony in the sunshine, thou must lie at myfeet, as a shadow shall do! I must tell thee: I am going to marry theking's daughter, and the nuptials are to take place this evening!"

"Nay, this is going too far!" said the learned man. "I will not have it;I will not do it! It is to deceive the whole country and the princesstoo! I will tell everything! That I am a man, and that thou art ashadow--thou art only dressed up!"

"There is no one who will believe it!" said the shadow. "Be reasonable, or I will call the guard!"

"I will go directly to the princess!" said the learned man. 

"But I will go first!" said the shadow. "And thou wilt go to prison!"and that he was obliged to do--for the sentinels obeyed him whom theyknew the king's daughter was to marry. 

"You tremble!" said the princess, as the shadow came into her chamber. "Has anything happened? You must not be unwell this evening, now that weare to have our nuptials celebrated. "

"I have lived to see the most cruel thing that anyone can live tosee!" said the shadow. "Only imagine--yes, it is true, such a poorshadow-skull cannot bear much--only think, my shadow has become mad;he thinks that he is a man, and that I--now only think--that I am hisshadow!"

"It is terrible!" said the princess; "but he is confined, is he not?"

"That he is. I am afraid that he will never recover. "

"Poor shadow!" said the princess. "He is very unfortunate; it would bea real work of charity to deliver him from the little life he has, and, when I think properly over the matter, I am of opinion that it will benecessary to do away with him in all stillness!"

"It is certainly hard, " said the shadow, "for he was a faithfulservant!" and then he gave a sort of sigh. 

"You are a noble character!" said the princess. 

The whole city was illuminated in the evening, and the cannons went offwith a bum! bum! and the soldiers presented arms. That was a marriage!The princess and the shadow went out on the balcony to show themselves, and get another hurrah!

The learned man heard nothing of all this--for they had deprived him oflife. 

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL

Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, andevening--the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness therewent along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with nakedfeet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what wasthe good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother hadhitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost themas she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages thatrolled by dreadfully fast. 

One slipper was nowhere to be found; the other had been laid hold of byan urchin, and off he ran with it; he thought it would do capitally fora cradle when he some day or other should have children himself. So thelittle maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite redand blue from cold. She carried a quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought anything ofher the whole livelong day; no one had given her a single farthing. 

She crept along trembling with cold and hunger--a very picture ofsorrow, the poor little thing!

The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in beautifulcurls around her neck; but of that, of course, she never once nowthought. From all the windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt sodeliciously of roast goose, for you know it was New Year's Eve; yes, ofthat she thought. 

In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced more than theother, she seated herself down and cowered together. Her little feetshe had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder, and to gohome she did not venture, for she had not sold any matches and couldnot bring a farthing of money: from her father she would certainly getblows, and at home it was cold too, for above her she had only the roof, through which the wind whistled, even though the largest cracks werestopped up with straw and rags. 

Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh! a match might affordher a world of comfort, if she only dared take a single one out of thebundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. She drewone out. "Rischt!" how it blazed, how it burnt! It was a warm, brightflame, like a candle, as she held her hands over it: it was a wonderfullight. It seemed really to the little maiden as though she were sittingbefore a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet and a brassornament at top. The fire burned with such blessed influence; it warmedso delightfully. The little girl had already stretched out her feet towarm them too; but--the small flame went out, the stove vanished: shehad only the remains of the burnt-out match in her hand. 

She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, and where thelight fell on the wall, there the wall became transparent like aveil, so that she could see into the room. On the table was spread asnow-white tablecloth; upon it was a splendid porcelain service, and theroast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing of apple and driedplums. And what was still more capital to behold was, the goose hoppeddown from the dish, reeled about on the floor with knife and fork in itsbreast, till it came up to the poor little girl; when--the match wentout and nothing but the thick, cold, damp wall was left behind. She lighted another match. Now there she was sitting under the mostmagnificent Christmas tree: it was still larger, and more decorated thanthe one which she had seen through the glass door in the rich merchant'shouse. 

Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, andgaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, lookeddown upon her. The little maiden stretched out her hands towards themwhen--the match went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higherand higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one fell down andformed a long trail of fire. 

"Someone is just dead!" said the little girl; for her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who was now no more, had toldher, that when a star falls, a soul ascends to God. 

She drew another match against the wall: it was again light, and in thelustre there stood the old grandmother, so bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression of love. 

"Grandmother!" cried the little one. "Oh, take me with you! You goaway when the match burns out; you vanish like the warm stove, like thedelicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree!" Andshe rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against the wall, forshe wanted to be quite sure of keeping her grandmother near her. Andthe matches gave such a brilliant light that it was brighter than atnoon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful andso tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both flew inbrightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was neithercold, nor hunger, nor anxiety--they were with God. 

But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, withrosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall--frozento death on the last evening of the old year. Stiff and stark sat thechild there with her matches, of which one bundle had been burnt. "Shewanted to warm herself, " people said. No one had the slightest suspicionof what beautiful things she had seen; no one even dreamed of thesplendor in which, with her grandmother she had entered on the joys of anew year. 

THE DREAM OF LITTLE TUK

Ah! yes, that was little Tuk: in reality his name was not Tuk, but thatwas what he called himself before he could speak plain: he meant it forCharles, and it is all well enough if one does but know it. He had nowto take care of his little sister Augusta, who was much younger thanhimself, and he was, besides, to learn his lesson at the same time; butthese two things would not do together at all. There sat the poor littlefellow, with his sister on his lap, and he sang to her all the songs heknew; and he glanced the while from time to time into the geography-bookthat lay open before him. By the next morning he was to have learntall the towns in Zealand by heart, and to know about them all that ispossible to be known. 

His mother now came home, for she had been out, and took little Augustaon her arm. Tuk ran quickly to the window, and read so eagerly that hepretty nearly read his eyes out; for it got darker and darker, but hismother had no money to buy a candle. 

"There goes the old washerwoman over the way, " said his mother, as shelooked out of the window. "The poor woman can hardly drag herself along, and she must now drag the pail home from the fountain. Be a good boy, Tukey, and run across and help the old woman, won't you?"

So Tuk ran over quickly and helped her; but when he came back again intothe room it was quite dark, and as to a light, there was no thought ofsuch a thing. He was now to go to bed; that was an old turn-up bedstead;in it he lay and thought about his geography lesson, and of Zealand, andof all that his master had told him. He ought, to be sure, to have readover his lesson again, but that, you know, he could not do. He thereforeput his geography-book under his pillow, because he had heard that wasa very good thing to do when one wants to learn one's lesson; but onecannot, however, rely upon it entirely. Well, there he lay, and thoughtand thought, and all at once it was just as if someone kissed his eyesand mouth: he slept, and yet he did not sleep; it was as though the oldwasherwoman gazed on him with her mild eyes and said, "It were a greatsin if you were not to know your lesson tomorrow morning. You have aidedme, I therefore will now help you; and the loving God will do so at alltimes. " And all of a sudden the book under Tuk's pillow began scrapingand scratching. 

"Kickery-ki! kluk! kluk! kluk!"--that was an old hen who came creepingalong, and she was from Kjoge. "I am a Kjoger hen, " [*] said she, and thenshe related how many inhabitants there were there, and about the battlethat had taken place, and which, after all, was hardly worth talkingabout. 

 * Kjoge, a town in the bay of Kjoge. "To see the Kjoge hens, " is an expression similar to "showing a child London, " which is said to be done by taking his head in both bands, and so lifting him off the ground. At the invasion of the English in 1807, an encounter of a no very glorious nature took place between the British troops and the undisciplined Danish militia. 

"Kribledy, krabledy--plump!" down fell somebody: it was a wooden bird, the popinjay used at the shooting-matches at Prastoe. Now he said thatthere were just as many inhabitants as he had nails in his body; and hewas very proud. "Thorwaldsen lived almost next door to me. * Plump! HereI lie capitally. "

* Prastoe, a still smaller town than Kjoge. Some hundred paces fromit lies the manor-house Ny Soe, where Thorwaldsen, the famed sculptor, generally sojourned during his stay in Denmark, and where he called manyof his immortal works into existence. 

But little Tuk was no longer lying down: all at once he was onhorseback. On he went at full gallop, still galloping on and on. Aknight with a gleaming plume, and most magnificently dressed, held himbefore him on the horse, and thus they rode through the wood to the oldtown of Bordingborg, and that was a large and very lively town. Hightowers rose from the castle of the king, and the brightness of manycandles streamed from all the windows; within was dance and song, and King Waldemar and the young, richly-attired maids of honor dancedtogether. The morn now came; and as soon as the sun appeared, the wholetown and the king's palace crumbled together, and one tower after theother; and at last only a single one remained standing where the castlehad been before, * and the town was so small and poor, and the schoolboys came along with their books under their arms, and said, "2000inhabitants!" but that was not true, for there were not so many. 

*Bordingborg, in the reign of King Waldemar, a considerable place, nowan unimportant little town. One solitary tower only, and some remains ofa wall, show where the castle once stood. 

And little Tukey lay in his bed: it seemed to him as if he dreamed, andyet as if he were not dreaming; however, somebody was close beside him. 

"Little Tukey! Little Tukey!" cried someone near. It was a seaman, quite a little personage, so little as if he were a midshipman; but amidshipman it was not. 

"Many remembrances from Corsor. * That is a town that is just risinginto importance; a lively town that has steam-boats and stagecoaches:formerly people called it ugly, but that is no longer true. I lie onthe sea, " said Corsor; "I have high roads and gardens, and I have givenbirth to a poet who was witty and amusing, which all poets are not. Ionce intended to equip a ship that was to sail all round the earth; butI did not do it, although I could have done so: and then, too, I smellso deliciously, for close before the gate bloom the most beautifulroses. "

*Corsor, on the Great Belt, called, formerly, before the introductionof steam-vessels, when travellers were often obliged to wait a long timefor a favorable wind, "the most tiresome of towns. " The poet Baggesenwas born here. 

Little Tuk looked, and all was red and green before his eyes; but assoon as the confusion of colors was somewhat over, all of a sudden thereappeared a wooded slope close to the bay, and high up above stood amagnificent old church, with two high pointed towers. From out thehill-side spouted fountains in thick streams of water, so that therewas a continual splashing; and close beside them sat an old king witha golden crown upon his white head: that was King Hroar, near thefountains, close to the town of Roeskilde, as it is now called. And upthe slope into the old church went all the kings and queens of Denmark, hand in hand, all with their golden crowns; and the organ played andthe fountains rustled. Little Tuk saw all, heard all. "Do not forget thediet, " said King Hroar. *

*Roeskilde, once the capital of Denmark. The town takes its name fromKing Hroar, and the many fountains in the neighborhood. In the beautifulcathedral the greater number of the kings and queens of Denmark areinterred. In Roeskilde, too, the members of the Danish Diet assemble. 

Again all suddenly disappeared. Yes, and whither? It seemed to himjust as if one turned over a leaf in a book. And now stood there anold peasant-woman, who came from Soroe, * where grass grows in themarket-place. She had an old grey linen apron hanging over her head andback: it was so wet, it certainly must have been raining. "Yes, that ithas, " said she; and she now related many pretty things out of Holberg'scomedies, and about Waldemar and Absalon; but all at once she coweredtogether, and her head began shaking backwards and forwards, and shelooked as she were going to make a spring. "Croak! croak!" said she. "It is wet, it is wet; there is such a pleasant deathlike stillness inSorbe!" She was now suddenly a frog, "Croak"; and now she was an oldwoman. "One must dress according to the weather, " said she. "It is wet;it is wet. My town is just like a bottle; and one gets in by the neck, and by the neck one must get out again! In former times I had thefinest fish, and now I have fresh rosy-cheeked boys at the bottom of thebottle, who learn wisdom, Hebrew, Greek--Croak!"

* Sorbe, a very quiet little town, beautifully situated, surrounded bywoods and lakes. Holberg, Denmark's Moliere, founded here an academyfor the sons of the nobles. The poets Hauch and Ingemann were appointedprofessors here. The latter lives there still. 

When she spoke it sounded just like the noise of frogs, or as if onewalked with great boots over a moor; always the same tone, so uniformand so tiring that little Tuk fell into a good sound sleep, which, bythe bye, could not do him any harm. 

But even in this sleep there came a dream, or whatever else it was: hislittle sister Augusta, she with the blue eyes and the fair curling hair, was suddenly a tall, beautiful girl, and without having wings was yetable to fly; and she now flew over Zealand--over the green woods and theblue lakes. 

"Do you hear the cock crow, Tukey? Cock-a-doodle-doo! The cocks areflying up from Kjoge! You will have a farm-yard, so large, oh! so verylarge! You will suffer neither hunger nor thirst! You will get on in theworld! You will be a rich and happy man! Your house will exalt itselflike King Waldemar's tower, and will be richly decorated with marblestatues, like that at Prastoe. You understand what I mean. Your nameshall circulate with renown all round the earth, like unto the ship thatwas to have sailed from Corsor; and in Roeskilde--"

"Do not forget the diet!" said King Hroar. 

"Then you will speak well and wisely, little Tukey; and when at last yousink into your grave, you shall sleep as quietly--"

"As if I lay in Soroe, " said Tuk, awaking. It was bright day, and he wasnow quite unable to call to mind his dream; that, however, was not atall necessary, for one may not know what the future will bring. 

And out of bed he jumped, and read in his book, and now all at once heknew his whole lesson. And the old washerwoman popped her head in at thedoor, nodded to him friendly, and said, "Thanks, many thanks, my goodchild, for your help! May the good ever-loving God fulfil your loveliestdream!"

Little Tukey did not at all know what he had dreamed, but the loving Godknew it. 

THE NAUGHTY BOY

Along time ago, there lived an old poet, a thoroughly kind old poet. Ashe was sitting one evening in his room, a dreadful storm arose without, and the rain streamed down from heaven; but the old poet sat warmand comfortable in his chimney-corner, where the fire blazed and theroasting apple hissed. 

"Those who have not a roof over their heads will be wetted to the skin, "said the good old poet. 

"Oh let me in! Let me in! I am cold, and I'm so wet!" exclaimed suddenlya child that stood crying at the door and knocking for admittance, whilethe rain poured down, and the wind made all the windows rattle. 

"Poor thing!" said the old poet, as he went to open the door. Therestood a little boy, quite naked, and the water ran down from his longgolden hair; he trembled with cold, and had he not come into a warm roomhe would most certainly have perished in the frightful tempest. 

"Poor child!" said the old poet, as he took the boy by the hand. "Comein, come in, and I will soon restore thee! Thou shalt have wine androasted apples, for thou art verily a charming child!" And the boy wasso really. His eyes were like two bright stars; and although the watertrickled down his hair, it waved in beautiful curls. He looked exactlylike a little angel, but he was so pale, and his whole body trembledwith cold. He had a nice little bow in his hand, but it was quitespoiled by the rain, and the tints of his many-colored arrows ran oneinto the other. 

The old poet seated himself beside his hearth, and took the littlefellow on his lap; he squeezed the water out of his dripping hair, warmed his hands between his own, and boiled for him some sweet wine. Then the boy recovered, his cheeks again grew rosy, he jumped down fromthe lap where he was sitting, and danced round the kind old poet. 

"You are a merry fellow, " said the old man. "What's your name?"

"My name is Cupid, " answered the boy. "Don't you know me? There lies mybow; it shoots well, I can assure you! Look, the weather is now clearingup, and the moon is shining clear again through the window. "

"Why, your bow is quite spoiled, " said the old poet. 

"That were sad indeed, " said the boy, and he took the bow in his handand examined it on every side. "Oh, it is dry again, and is not hurt atall; the string is quite tight. I will try it directly. " And he bent hisbow, took aim, and shot an arrow at the old poet, right into his heart. "You see now that my bow was not spoiled, " said he laughing; and away heran. 

The naughty boy, to shoot the old poet in that way; he who had taken himinto his warm room, who had treated him so kindly, and who had given himwarm wine and the very best apples!

The poor poet lay on the earth and wept, for the arrow had really flowninto his heart. 

"Fie!" said he. "How naughty a boy Cupid is! I will tell all childrenabout him, that they may take care and not play with him, for he willonly cause them sorrow and many a heartache. "

And all good children to whom he related this story, took great heedof this naughty Cupid; but he made fools of them still, for he isastonishingly cunning. When the university students come from thelectures, he runs beside them in a black coat, and with a book under hisarm. It is quite impossible for them to know him, and they walk alongwith him arm in arm, as if he, too, were a student like themselves; andthen, unperceived, he thrusts an arrow to their bosom. When the youngmaidens come from being examined by the clergyman, or go to church tobe confirmed, there he is again close behind them. Yes, he is foreverfollowing people. At the play, he sits in the great chandelier and burnsin bright flames, so that people think it is really a flame, but theysoon discover it is something else. He roves about in the garden of thepalace and upon the ramparts: yes, once he even shot your father andmother right in the heart. Ask them only and you will hear what they'lltell you. Oh, he is a naughty boy, that Cupid; you must never haveanything to do with him. He is forever running after everybody. Onlythink, he shot an arrow once at your old grandmother! But that is along time ago, and it is all past now; however, a thing of that sort shenever forgets. Fie, naughty Cupid! But now you know him, and you know, too, how ill-behaved he is!

THE RED SHOES

There was once a little girl who was very pretty and delicate, but insummer she was forced to run about with bare feet, she was so poor, andin winter wear very large wooden shoes, which made her little instepsquite red, and that looked so dangerous!

In the middle of the village lived old Dame Shoemaker; she sat and sewedtogether, as well as she could, a little pair of shoes out of old redstrips of cloth; they were very clumsy, but it was a kind thought. Theywere meant for the little girl. The little girl was called Karen. 

On the very day her mother was buried, Karen received the red shoes, and wore them for the first time. They were certainly not intended formourning, but she had no others, and with stockingless feet she followedthe poor straw coffin in them. 

Suddenly a large old carriage drove up, and a large old lady sat in it:she looked at the little girl, felt compassion for her, and then said tothe clergyman:

"Here, give me the little girl. I will adopt her!"

And Karen believed all this happened on account of the red shoes, butthe old lady thought they were horrible, and they were burnt. But Karenherself was cleanly and nicely dressed; she must learn to read and sew;and people said she was a nice little thing, but the looking-glass said:"Thou art more than nice, thou art beautiful!"

Now the queen once travelled through the land, and she had her littledaughter with her. And this little daughter was a princess, and peoplestreamed to the castle, and Karen was there also, and the littleprincess stood in her fine white dress, in a window, and let herself bestared at; she had neither a train nor a golden crown, but splendidred morocco shoes. They were certainly far handsomer than those DameShoemaker had made for little Karen. Nothing in the world can becompared with red shoes. 

Now Karen was old enough to be confirmed; she had new clothes and was tohave new shoes also. The rich shoemaker in the city took the measure ofher little foot. This took place at his house, in his room; where stoodlarge glass-cases, filled with elegant shoes and brilliant boots. Allthis looked charming, but the old lady could not see well, and so hadno pleasure in them. In the midst of the shoes stood a pair of red ones, just like those the princess had worn. How beautiful they were! Theshoemaker said also they had been made for the child of a count, but hadnot fitted. 

"That must be patent leather!" said the old lady. "They shine so!"

"Yes, they shine!" said Karen, and they fitted, and were bought, but theold lady knew nothing about their being red, else she would never haveallowed Karen to have gone in red shoes to be confirmed. Yet such wasthe case. 

Everybody looked at her feet; and when she stepped through the chanceldoor on the church pavement, it seemed to her as if the old figures onthe tombs, those portraits of old preachers and preachers' wives, withstiff ruffs, and long black dresses, fixed their eyes on her red shoes. And she thought only of them as the clergyman laid his hand upon herhead, and spoke of the holy baptism, of the covenant with God, and howshe should be now a matured Christian; and the organ pealed so solemnly;the sweet children's voices sang, and the old music-directors sang, butKaren only thought of her red shoes. 

In the afternoon, the old lady heard from everyone that the shoes hadbeen red, and she said that it was very wrong of Karen, that it was notat all becoming, and that in future Karen should only go in black shoesto church, even when she should be older. 

The next Sunday there was the sacrament, and Karen looked at the blackshoes, looked at the red ones--looked at them again, and put on the redshoes. 

The sun shone gloriously; Karen and the old lady walked along the paththrough the corn; it was rather dusty there. 

At the church door stood an old soldier with a crutch, and with awonderfully long beard, which was more red than white, and he bowed tothe ground, and asked the old lady whether he might dust her shoes. AndKaren stretched out her little foot. 

"See, what beautiful dancing shoes!" said the soldier. "Sit firm whenyou dance"; and he put his hand out towards the soles. 

And the old lady gave the old soldier alms, and went into the churchwith Karen. 

And all the people in the church looked at Karen's red shoes, and allthe pictures, and as Karen knelt before the altar, and raised the cup toher lips, she only thought of the red shoes, and they seemed to swimin it; and she forgot to sing her psalm, and she forgot to pray, "OurFather in Heaven!"

Now all the people went out of church, and the old lady got into hercarriage. Karen raised her foot to get in after her, when the oldsoldier said, "Look, what beautiful dancing shoes!"

And Karen could not help dancing a step or two, and when she began herfeet continued to dance; it was just as though the shoes had power overthem. She danced round the church corner, she could not leave off; thecoachman was obliged to run after and catch hold of her, and he liftedher in the carriage, but her feet continued to dance so that she trod onthe old lady dreadfully. At length she took the shoes off, and then herlegs had peace. 

The shoes were placed in a closet at home, but Karen could not avoidlooking at them. 

Now the old lady was sick, and it was said she could not recover. Shemust be nursed and waited upon, and there was no one whose duty it wasso much as Karen's. But there was a great ball in the city, to whichKaren was invited. She looked at the old lady, who could not recover, she looked at the red shoes, and she thought there could be no sin init; she put on the red shoes, she might do that also, she thought. Butthen she went to the ball and began to dance. 

When she wanted to dance to the right, the shoes would dance to theleft, and when she wanted to dance up the room, the shoes danced backagain, down the steps, into the street, and out of the city gate. Shedanced, and was forced to dance straight out into the gloomy wood. 

Then it was suddenly light up among the trees, and she fancied it mustbe the moon, for there was a face; but it was the old soldier withthe red beard; he sat there, nodded his head, and said, "Look, whatbeautiful dancing shoes!"

Then she was terrified, and wanted to fling off the red shoes, but theyclung fast; and she pulled down her stockings, but the shoes seemed tohave grown to her feet. And she danced, and must dance, over fields andmeadows, in rain and sunshine, by night and day; but at night it was themost fearful. 

She danced over the churchyard, but the dead did not dance--they hadsomething better to do than to dance. She wished to seat herself on apoor man's grave, where the bitter tansy grew; but for her there wasneither peace nor rest; and when she danced towards the open churchdoor, she saw an angel standing there. He wore long, white garments; hehad wings which reached from his shoulders to the earth; his countenancewas severe and grave; and in his hand he held a sword, broad andglittering. 

"Dance shalt thou!" said he. "Dance in thy red shoes till thou art paleand cold! Till thy skin shrivels up and thou art a skeleton! Dance shaltthou from door to door, and where proud, vain children dwell, thou shaltknock, that they may hear thee and tremble! Dance shalt thou--!"

"Mercy!" cried Karen. But she did not hear the angel's reply, for theshoes carried her through the gate into the fields, across roads andbridges, and she must keep ever dancing. 

One morning she danced past a door which she well knew. Within soundeda psalm; a coffin, decked with flowers, was borne forth. Then she knewthat the old lady was dead, and felt that she was abandoned by all, andcondemned by the angel of God. 

She danced, and she was forced to dance through the gloomy night. Theshoes carried her over stack and stone; she was torn till she bled; shedanced over the heath till she came to a little house. Here, she knew, dwelt the executioner; and she tapped with her fingers at the window, and said, "Come out! Come out! I cannot come in, for I am forced todance!"

And the executioner said, "Thou dost not know who I am, I fancy? Istrike bad people's heads off; and I hear that my axe rings!"

"Don't strike my head off!" said Karen. "Then I can't repent of my sins!But strike off my feet in the red shoes!"

And then she confessed her entire sin, and the executioner struck offher feet with the red shoes, but the shoes danced away with the littlefeet across the field into the deep wood. 

And he carved out little wooden feet for her, and crutches, taughther the psalm criminals always sing; and she kissed the hand which hadwielded the axe, and went over the heath. 

"Now I have suffered enough for the red shoes!" said she. "Now I willgo into the church that people may see me!" And she hastened towards thechurch door: but when she was near it, the red shoes danced before her, and she was terrified, and turned round. The whole week she was unhappy, and wept many bitter tears; but when Sunday returned, she said, "Well, now I have suffered and struggled enough! I really believe I am as goodas many a one who sits in the church, and holds her head so high!"

And away she went boldly; but she had not got farther than thechurchyard gate before she saw the red shoes dancing before her; and shewas frightened, and turned back, and repented of her sin from her heart. 

And she went to the parsonage, and begged that they would take herinto service; she would be very industrious, she said, and would doeverything she could; she did not care about the wages, only she wishedto have a home, and be with good people. And the clergyman's wife wassorry for her and took her into service; and she was industrious andthoughtful. She sat still and listened when the clergyman read the Biblein the evenings. All the children thought a great deal of her; but whenthey spoke of dress, and grandeur, and beauty, she shook her head. 

The following Sunday, when the family was going to church, they askedher whether she would not go with them; but she glanced sorrowfully, with tears in her eyes, at her crutches. The family went to hear theword of God; but she went alone into her little chamber; there was onlyroom for a bed and chair to stand in it; and here she sat down with herPrayer-Book; and whilst she read with a pious mind, the wind borethe strains of the organ towards her, and she raised her tearfulcountenance, and said, "O God, help me!"

And the sun shone so clearly, and straight before her stood the angelof God in white garments, the same she had seen that night at the churchdoor; but he no longer carried the sharp sword, but in its stead asplendid green spray, full of roses. And he touched the ceiling with thespray, and the ceiling rose so high, and where he had touched it theregleamed a golden star. And he touched the walls, and they widened out, and she saw the organ which was playing; she saw the old pictures of thepreachers and the preachers' wives. The congregation sat in cushionedseats, and sang out of their Prayer-Books. For the church itself hadcome to the poor girl in her narrow chamber, or else she had come intothe church. She sat in the pew with the clergyman's family, and whenthey had ended the psalm and looked up, they nodded and said, "It isright that thou art come!"

"It was through mercy!" she said. 

And the organ pealed, and the children's voices in the choir sounded sosweet and soft! The clear sunshine streamed so warmly through the windowinto the pew where Karen sat! Her heart was so full of sunshine, peace, and joy, that it broke. Her soul flew on the sunshine to God, and thereno one asked after the RED SHOES.