{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66688/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66688","id":"gutenberg_66688","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66688","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Children's stories, Danish -- Translations into English","Fairy tales","Fairy tales -- Denmark"],"text":"[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n HANS ANDERSEN\u2019S FAIRY TALES\n\n\n\n\n HANS:ANDERSEN\u2019S\n FAIRY:TALES;WITH\n ILLUSTRATIONS:BY\n W:HEATH:ROBINSON\n\n [Illustration]\n\n NEW:YORK\n HENRY:HOLT:&:CO.\n 1913\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n PAGE\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii\n\nLIST OF COLOURED PLATES xi\n\nTHE MARSH KING\u2019S DAUGHTER 2\n\nTOMMELISE 52\n\nTHE SNOW QUEEN.\n\nPART THE FIRST--WHICH TREATS OF THE MIRROR AND ITS\nFRAGMENTS 69\n\nPART THE SECOND--A LITTLE BOY AND A LITTLE GIRL 72\n\nPART THE THIRD--THE ENCHANTED FLOWER-GARDEN 80\n\nPART THE FOURTH--THE PRINCE AND THE PRINCESS 90\n\nPART THE FIFTH--THE LITTLE ROBBER-MAIDEN 99\n\nPART THE SIXTH--THE LAPLAND WOMAN AND THE FINLAND\nWOMAN 107\n\nPART THE SEVENTH--WHICH TREATS OF THE SNOW QUEEN\u2019S\nPALACE, AND OF WHAT CAME TO PASS THEREIN 112\n\nELFIN-MOUNT 121\n\nTHE LITTLE MERMAID 133\n\nTHE STORKS 165\n\nTHE NIGHTINGALE 173\n\nTHE WILD SWANS 190\n\nTHE REAL PRINCESS 214\n\nTHE RED SHOES 218\n\nTHE EMPEROR\u2019S NEW CLOTHES 229\n\nTHE SWINEHERD 238\n\nTHE FLYING TRUNK 247\n\nTHE LEAPING MATCH 258\n\nTHE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER 263\n\nTHE UGLY DUCKLING 271\n\nTHE NAUGHTY BOY 286\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n PAGE\n\nThe marsh king\u2019s daughter 1\n\nShe understood the speech of birds 2\n\nIt was he who pulled her down 7\n\nThe Nile flood had retired 13\n\nThere was a little bird that beat its wings 27\n\nPlaced the golden circuit about his neck 35\n\nThen she saw the storks 41\n\nThe swallow soared high into the air 51\n\n\u2018Thou poor little thing,\u2019 said the field-mouse 52\n\n\u2018This is just the wife for my son,\u2019 said the toad 56\n\nOh, how terrified was poor Tommelise 59\n\nThat was the greatest of pleasures 65\n\nThey carried the mirror from place to place 69\n\nHe chuckled with delight 71\n\nShe wore a large hat, with most beautiful flowers painted on it 79\n\nGerda knew every flower in the garden 87\n\nSuddenly a large raven hopped upon the snow in front of her 94\n\nCabinet councillors were walking about barefooted 97\n\nAnd the nearer they were to the door the prouder they looked 102\n\nAnd flapped his black wings at the carriage till it was\n out of sight 106\n\nThe little robber-maiden 109\n\nThe snow queen 112\n\nShe ran on as fast as she could 115\n\nShe entered the large, cold, empty hall 117\n\nTailpiece 119\n\nThe elfin king\u2019s housekeeper 120\n\nThe mer-king must be invited first 124\n\nThey felt quite as if they were at home 127\n\nI will have thee myself to wife 130\n\nThe little mermaid 132\n\nShe was on the whole a sensible sort of lady 137\n\nThe youngest was the most lovely 140\n\nThey ate from their hands 148\n\nMany an evening she rose to the place 155\n\nWhen the sun arose she awoke 159\n\nFather stork 164\n\n\u2018Stork! stork! long-legged stork!\u2019 168\n\nAnd fetch one for each of the boys 170\n\n\u2018Oh! how pretty that is!\u2019 he would say 172\n\nAmong the branches dwelt a nightingale 177\n\nThey admired the city, the palace, and the garden 179\n\nThe kitchen-maid 181\n\nThe chief imperial nightingale bringer 184\n\nHe was quite as successful as the real nightingale 187\n\nThe wild swans 189\n\nSo Elise took off her clothes and stepped into the water 195\n\nAnd met an old woman with a basket full of berries 198\n\nNot a boat was to be seen 201\n\nThere was only just room for her and them 204\n\nI must venture to the churchyard 209\n\nTailpiece 212\n\nI have scarcely closed my eyes the whole night through 213\n\nThe old king himself went out to open it 215\n\nAnd the pea was preserved in the cabinet of curiosities 216\n\nKaren 217\n\nAnd Karen was dressed very neatly 220\n\nKaren and the old lady walked to church 222\n\nHe sat there nodding at her 224\n\nDance she must, over field and meadow 226\n\nTwo rogues calling themselves weavers made their appearance 228\n\n\u2018Oh, it is excellent!\u2019 replied the minister 231\n\nAs if in the act of holding something up 233\n\nSo now the emperor walked under his high canopy 234\n\nThe two rogues 235\n\nTailpiece 236\n\nThe emperor\u2019s daughter 237\n\nAll cares and sorrows were forgotten by him who inhaled its\nfragrance 239\n\nAnd he wept like a child 241\n\n\u2018Ach! du lieber Augustin\u2019 243\n\nUp flew the trunk 246\n\nThe son lived merrily 248\n\nHe met a nurse 249\n\nWill you tell us a story? asked the queen 252\n\n\u2018But let it make us laugh,\u2019 said the king 253\n\nTheir slippers flew about their ears 255\n\nAnd thus the frog won the princess 257\n\nThe old councillor 259\n\n\u2018Say nothing for the present,\u2019 remarked the king 260\n\nIt may not be perfectly true 261\n\nThe shepherdess and the chimney-sweeper 262\n\nHeading 263\n\nTailpiece 269\n\nThe poor duckling was scorned by all 270\n\nHe came to a large moor 275\n\nAnd the cat said, \u2018Can you purr?\u2019 280\n\nAnd every one said, \u2018The new one is the best\u2019 283\n\nBeware of him, dear child! 285\n\nTHE END 289\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n\u2018The bud opened into a full-blown flower, in the middle of\nwhich lay a beautiful child\u2019 _Frontispiece_\n\n\u2018She stood at the door and begged for a piece of\nbarley-corn\u2019 _Facing page_ 56\n\n\u2018Yes! I will go with thee, said Tommelise, and she\nseated herself on the bird\u2019s back\u2019 \u201d 64\n\n\u2018The swing moves and the bubbles fly upward with\nbright ever-changing colours\u2019 \u201d 84\n\n\u2018He did not come to woo her, he said, he had only\ncome to hear the wisdom of the princess\u2019 \u201d 94\n\n\u2018Round and round they went, such whirling and\ntwirling\u2019 \u201d 126\n\n\u2018She put the statue in her garden\u2019 \u201d 134\n\n\u2018With the rest of the children of air, soared high\nabove the rosy cloud\u2019 \u201d 162\n\n\u2018We will bring him two little ones, a brother and\na sister\u2019 \u201d 170\n\n\u2018Then began the nightingale to sing\u2019 \u201d 176\n\n\u2018The peasant\u2019s wife sat on Sundays at the door of\nher cottage reading her hymn-book\u2019 \u201d 190\n\n\u2018Princesses he found in plenty, but whether they\nwere real princesses it was impossible for him\nto decide\u2019 \u201d 214\n\n\u2018She sat down one day and made out of some old\npieces of red cloth a pair of little shoes\u2019 _Opposite page_ 218\n\n\u2018The Swineherd scolded and the rain poured down\u2019 \u201d 244\n\n\u2018She sat the live-long day upon the roof of her\npalace, expecting him\u2019 \u201d 256\n\n\u2018He jumped down from the old man\u2019s lap and\ndanced around him on the floor\u2019 \u201d 286\n\n[Illustration: THE:MARSH:KING\u2019S:DAUGHTER]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: SHE UNDERSTOOD THE SPEECH OF BIRDS]\n\n\nTHE MARSH KING\u2019S DAUGHTER\n\n\nThe storks tell their young ones ever so many fairy tales, all of them\nfrom the fen and the moss. Generally the tales are suited to the\nyoungsters\u2019 age and understanding. The baby birds are pleased if they\nare told just \u2018kribly, krably, plurry-murry!\u2019 which they think\nwonderful; but the older ones will have something with more sense in it,\nor, at the least, a tale about themselves. Of the two oldest and longest\ntales which have been told among the storks, one we all know--that about\nMoses, who was placed by his mother in an ark on the waters of the Nile,\nwas found by the king\u2019s daughter, and then was taught all learning, and\nbecame a great man, and no one knows where he was buried. Everybody has\nheard that tale.\n\nBut the other story is not known at all even now; perhaps because it is\nreally a chimney-corner tale. It has been handed down by mother-stork to\nmother-stork for hundreds of years, and each in turn has told it better,\ntill now we are telling it best of all.\n\nThe first pair of storks who knew it had their summer quarters on a\nViking\u2019s log-house by the moor in Wendsyssel, which is in the county of\nHj\u00f6rring, near Skagen in Jutland, if we want to be accurate. To this day\nthere is still an enormous great moss there. You can read all about it\nin your geography book. The moss lies where was once the bottom of the\nsea, before the great upheaval of the land; and now it stretches for\nmiles, surrounded on all sides by watery meadows and quivering bog, with\nturf-moss cloudberries and stunted trees growing. A fog hangs over it\nalmost continually, and till about seventy years ago wolves were still\nfound there. It may certainly be called a wild moor, and you can imagine\nwhat lack of paths and what abundance of swamp and sea was there\nthousands of years ago. In that waste man saw ages back just what he\nsees to-day. The reeds were just as high, with the same kind of long\nleaves and purplish-brown, feathery flowers as they have now; the\nbirches stood with white bark and fine, loose-hung leaves just as they\nnow stand; and for the living creatures that came there, why, the fly\nwore its gauze suit of just the same cut as now, and the colour of the\nstork\u2019s dress was white and black, with red stockings. On the other\nhand, the men of that time wore different clothes from those we wear.\nBut whoever it was, poor peasant or free hunter, that trod on the\nquagmire, it happened thousands of years ago just as it does to-day--in\nhe went and down he sank, down to the Marsh King, as they called him,\nwho reigned beneath in the great Moss Kingdom. He was called also the\nMire King, but we will call him by the stork\u2019s name for him--Marsh King.\nPeople know very little about how he governed, but perhaps that is just\nas well.\n\nNear to the moss, and right in the Liim Fjord, stood the Viking\u2019s\nlog-house, with paved cellar and tower two storeys high. On the roof the\nstorks had built their nest. Mother-stork sat on her eggs, and was\npositive they would turn out well.\n\nOne evening father-stork had been out for a long time, and when he came\nhome he seemed excited and flurried.\n\n\u2018I\u2019ve dreadful news for you!\u2019 he said to mother-stork.\n\n\u2018Don\u2019t get excited,\u2019 said she. \u2018Remember I\u2019m sitting on my eggs, and I\nmight be upset by it, and then the eggs would suffer.\u2019\n\n\u2018You must know it!\u2019 he answered. \u2018She has come here, our landlord\u2019s\ndaughter in Egypt! She has ventured on the journey here, and she is\nlost!\u2019\n\n\u2018Why, she is of fairy descent! Tell me all about it; you know I can\u2019t\nbear to wait at this time, when I\u2019m sitting.\u2019\n\n\u2018Listen, mother. It\u2019s as you told me. She has believed what the doctor\nsaid, that the moor-flowers here could do her sick father good, and so\nshe has flown here in a feather-dress with the other winged princesses,\nwho have to come to the north every year to bathe and renew their youth.\nShe has come, and she is lost!\u2019\n\n\u2018You\u2019re getting too long-winded!\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018The eggs may be\nchilled! I can\u2019t bear to be excited!\u2019\n\n\u2018I have watched,\u2019 said father-stork, \u2018and in the evening, when I went\ninto the reeds, where the quagmire is able to bear me, there came three\nswans. Something in the way they flew told me, \u201cWatch; that isn\u2019t a real\nswan; it\u2019s only swan feathers.\u201d You know the feeling, mother, as well\nas I do; you can tell if it is right.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, certainly,\u2019 said she; \u2018but tell me about the princess. I\u2019m tired\nof hearing about the swan\u2019s feathers.\u2019\n\n\u2018Here, in the middle of the moor, you know,\u2019 said father-stork, \u2018is a\nkind of lake; you can see a part of it if you stand up. There, by the\nreeds and the green quagmire, lies a great elder-stump. The three swans\nlighted on it, flapped their wings, and looked round them. Then one of\nthem threw off her swan\u2019s plumage, and I saw it was our own princess, of\nour house in Egypt. Then she sat down, and she had no other covering\nthan her own long, black hair. I heard her ask the two others to take\ngreat care of her swan-skin while she plunged under the water to gather\na flower which she thought she saw. They nodded, and lifted up the loose\nfeather-dress. \u201cI wonder what they mean to do with it,\u201d said I to\nmyself; and no doubt she asked them the same. And she got an answer,\nsomething she could see for herself. They flew aloft with her\nfeather-dress! \u201cSink down,\u201d they cried; \u201cyou shall never fly in the\nswan-skin again; never see Egypt again! Stay in the moss!\u201d And so they\ntore her feather-dress into a hundred pieces, till the feathers flew\nabout as if it was snowing, and off flew the two good-for-nothing\nprincesses.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh, how dreadful!\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018I can\u2019t bear to hear it. But,\ntell me, what else happened?\u2019\n\n\u2018Our princess moaned and wept. Her tears fell on the elder-stump, and it\nwas quite moved, for it was the Marsh King himself, who lives in the\nquagmire. I saw the stump turn itself, so it wasn\u2019t only a trunk, for it\nput out long, muddy boughs like arms. Then the unhappy girl was\nfrightened, and sprang aside into the quivering marsh, which will not\nbear me, much less her. In at once she sank, and down with her went the\nelder-stump--it was he who pulled her down. Then a few big black\nbubbles, and no trace of her left. She is engulfed in the marsh, and\nwill never return to Egypt with her flower. You couldn\u2019t have borne to\nsee it, mother!\u2019\n\n\u2018You shouldn\u2019t have told me anything of the sort just now; it may affect\nthe eggs. The princess can take good care of herself. She\u2019ll get help\neasily enough. Had it been you or I, there would have been an end of\nus.\u2019\n\n\u2018However, I\u2019ll go day by day to see about it,\u2019 said father-stork; and so\nhe did.\n\nThe days and months went by. He saw at last one day that right from the\nbottom of the marsh a green stalk pushed up till it reached the surface\nof the water. Out of it grew a leaf, that grew wider and wider, and\nclose to it a bud put out. Then one morning, as the stork was flying\nover it, it opened, with the sun\u2019s warmth, into a full-blown flower, in\nthe middle of which lay a beautiful child, a little girl, as if she were\nfresh from the bath. So like was the child to the princess from Egypt,\nthat at first the stork believed it to be herself turned a child again.\nBut when he thought it over, he decided that it was more likely to be\nthe child of the princess and the Marsh King, and that was why she was\nlying in a water lily.\n\n\u2018She mustn\u2019t be left lying there,\u2019 thought father-stork, \u2018and there are\ntoo many already in my nest. But I have it! The Viking\u2019s wife has no\nchildren, and she has often wished for a little one. Yes, I get the name\nfor bringing the babies; I will do it in sober truth for once! I\u2019ll fly\nto the Viking\u2019s wife with the child. They\u2019ll be delighted!\u2019\n\nSo the stork took the little girl, flew to the log-house, made a hole\nwith his beak in the window, with panes made of bladder, laid the child\non the bosom of the Viking\u2019s wife, and flew away\n\n[Illustration: IT WAS HE WHO PULLED HER DOWN]\n\nto mother-stork to tell her all about it. Her young ones heard it too,\nfor they were now old enough.\n\n\u2018Listen; the princess is not dead. She has sent her little one up, and\nthe child has a home found for her.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, so I said from the first,\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018Now think a little\nabout your own children. It\u2019s almost time for our journey. I begin to\nfeel a tingling under my wings. The cuckoo and the nightingale are off\nalready, and I hear the quails chattering about it, and saying that we\nshall soon have a favourable wind. Our young ones are quite fit for\ntraining, I\u2019m sure.\u2019\n\nGlad indeed was the Viking\u2019s wife when she woke in the morning to find\nthe beautiful little child near her side. She kissed and fondled it, but\nit screamed with passion, and threw out its arms and legs, and seemed\nutterly miserable. At last it cried itself to sleep, and there it lay,\none of the prettiest babies you could set eyes on.\n\nThe Viking\u2019s wife was so happy, so gay, so well, that she could not but\nhope that her husband and his men would return as suddenly as the little\none had come, and so she and all her household busied themselves to get\neverything into order. The long coloured tapestries, which she and her\nmaidens had woven with figures of their gods--Odin, Thor, Freya, as they\nwere called--were hung up; the slaves were set to polish the old shields\nused for decoration; cushions were arranged on the benches, and dry wood\nplaced on the hearth in the middle of the hall, so that the fire could\nbe lit in a moment. The Viking\u2019s wife took her share in the work, so\nthat by the evening she was very tired, and slept soundly.\n\nWhen she woke towards daybreak she was terribly frightened. The little\nchild had vanished! She sprang up, lighted a brand, and looked\neverywhere around. There, just at the foot of the bed where she had\nlain, was, not a baby, but a great ugly toad! In utter disgust at it she\ntook a heavy stick to kill it, but the creature looked at her with such\nwonderfully sad eyes that she could not destroy it. Once more she gazed\nround; the toad uttered a faint, mournful croak. She started, and sprang\nfrom the bedside to the window, and opened it. At that moment the sun\nrose, and cast its rays upon the bed and upon the great toad. All at\nonce it seemed that the creature\u2019s wide mouth shrank, and became small\nand rosy; the limbs filled out into the most charming shape. It was her\nown beautiful babe that lay there, not the hideous reptile!\n\n\u2018What is this?\u2019 cried the dame. \u2018Was it an ill dream? Yes, there is my\nown sweet elfin child lying there!\u2019 She kissed it, and pressed it to her\nheart; but it fought and bit like a wild kitten!\n\nThe Viking, however, did not come that day, nor the next; for though he\nwas on his way, the wind was against him as it blew to the south for the\nstorks. Fair wind for one is foul for the other.\n\nIn those two days and nights the Viking\u2019s wife saw clearly how it was\nwith her little child. And dreadful indeed was the spell that lay on it.\nBy day it was as beautiful as an angel of light, but it had a bad, evil\ndisposition. By night, on the other hand, it was a hideous toad, quiet,\nsad, with sorrowful eyes. It had two natures, which changed with its\noutward form. And so it was that the baby, brought by the stork, had by\ndaylight its mother\u2019s own rightful shape, but its father\u2019s temper; while\nagain, night made the kinship with him evident in the bodily form, in\nwhich, however, dwelt the mother\u2019s mind and heart. Who could loose the\nspell cast by the power of witchcraft? The Viking\u2019s wife was worn and\ndistressed about it, and her heart was heavy for the unhappy being, of\nwhose condition she did not think that she dared tell her husband if he\ncame home then, for he would certainly follow the custom and practice of\nthe time, and expose the poor child on the high-road for any one that\nliked to take away. The good dame had not the heart to do this: her\nhusband should see the child only by daylight.\n\nOne morning the wings of storks were heard above the roof. More than a\nhundred pairs of the birds had rested themselves for the night after\ntheir heavy exercise, and they now flew up, preparatory to starting\nsouthwards.\n\n\u2018All ready, and the wives and children?\u2019 was their cry.\n\n\u2018Oh, I\u2019m so light,\u2019 said the young storks. \u2018My bones feel all\nkribly-krably, as if I was filled with live frogs! How splendid it is to\nhave to go abroad!\u2019\n\n\u2018Keep up in the flight,\u2019 said father and mother, \u2018and don\u2019t chatter so\nmuch; it tires the chest.\u2019\n\nAnd they flew.\n\nAt the same moment a horn sounded over the moor. The Viking had landed\nwith all his men, returning laden with booty from the coasts of Gaul,\nwhere the people, like those of Britain, used to chant in their terror:\n\u2018From the rage of the Northmen, Lord, deliver us!\u2019 Guess what stir and\nfestival now came to the Viking\u2019s stronghold near the moor! A barrel of\nmead was brought into hall; a huge fire was lighted; horses were\nslaughtered; everything went duly. The heathen priest sprinkled the\nslaves with warm blood, to begin their new life; the fire crackled; the\nsmoke curled under the roof; the soot fell down from the beams--but they\nwere used to that. Guests were invited, and received valuable gifts.\nPlots and treachery were forgotten; they drank deep and threw the picked\nbones in each other\u2019s faces in good-humoured horse-play. The bard--a\nkind of musician, but a warrior as well, who went with them, saw their\nexploits, and sang about them--gave them a song in which they heard all\ntheir warrior-deeds and feats of prowess. Each verse ended with the\nrefrain:\n\n \u2018Wealth, kindred, life cannot endure,\n But the warrior\u2019s glory standeth sure.\u2019\n\nAnd they all clashed upon their shields, and beat upon the table with\nknives and fists, and made great clamour.\n\nThe Viking\u2019s wife sat on the cross-bench in the open banqueting-hall.\nShe wore a robe of silk, with bracelets of gold and beads of amber. She\nhad put on her dress of state, and the bard sang of her, and told of the\ngolden treasure she had brought to her wealthy lord, while he was\ndelighted with the beautiful child, for he could see it by day in all\nits loveliness. He was well pleased with the baby\u2019s wildness, and said\nshe would become a right warrior-maid, and fight as his champion. She\ndid not even blink her eyes when a skilful hand cut her eyelashes with a\nsharp sword as a rough joke.\n\nThe barrel of mead was drained, and a second brought in, and all got\nwell drunk, for they were folk who loved to drink their fill. They had a\nproverb: \u2018The kine know when to go to stall from pasture, but the fool\nnever knows when he has had enough.\u2019 They knew it well enough, but know\nand do are different things. They had another proverb, too: \u2018The dearest\nfriend grows wearisome when he outstays his welcome.\u2019 But on they\nstayed. Meat and mead are good: it was glorious!--and the slaves slept\nin the warm ashes, and dipped their fingers in the fat and licked them.\nOh, it was a great time!\n\nOnce again that year the Viking went on a raid, though the autumn gales\nwere rising. He led his men to the coast of Britain--\u2018just over the\nwater,\u2019 he said; and his wife remained with the little girl. And truth\nto tell, the foster-mother soon grew fonder of the unhappy toad with the\ngentle eyes and deep sigh than of the beautiful child that fought and\nbit all about her.\n\nThe raw, dank autumn mist, \u2018Mouthless,\u2019 which devours the leaves lay\nover forest and moor; \u2018Bird Featherless,\u2019 as they called the snow, flew\nclosely all around; winter was nigh at hand. The sparrows took the\nstorks\u2019 nests for themselves, and criticised the ways of the late owners\nduring their absence. And where were mother-and father-stork and their\nyoung ones all the time? Down in the land of Egypt, where the sun shone\nwarm, as it does on a fine summer\u2019s day with us. Tamarinds and acacias\nbloomed round them; the crescent of Mahomet gleamed bright from the\ncupolas of the mosques; pairs and pairs of storks sat on the slender\nturrets, and rested after their long journey. Great flocks of them had\nbuilt nest by nest on the huge pillars and broken arches of temples and\nforgotten cities. The date-palm raised its foliage on high, as if to\nkeep off the glare of the sun. Grey-white pyramids stood out against the\nclear sky across the desert, where the ostrich raced at speed, and the\nlion crouched with great, wise eyes, and saw the marble sphinx that lay\nhalf-buried in the sand. The Nile flood had retired; the whole bed of\nthe river was swarming with frogs, and to the stork family that was\nquite the best thing to be seen in the country. The young ones thought\ntheir eyes must be playing them tricks, it all seemed so wonderful.\n\n\u2018We always have it just like this in our warm country,\u2019 said\nmother-stork; and the young ones felt their appetites grow.\n\n\u2018Will there be anything more to see?\u2019 said they. \u2018Shall we go much\nfarther into the country?\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THE NILE FLOOD HAD RETIRED]\n\n\u2018There is nothing better to see,\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018At that green\nborder is only a wild wood, where the trees crowd one upon another, and\nare entangled together with thorny creepers. Only an elephant with his\nclumsy legs can make a way there. The snakes are too large for us, and\nthe lizards too lively. If you try to go into the desert you get your\neyes full of sand in fair weather, and if there is much wind, you find\nyourself buried under a sand-heap. No, this is the best place. Here are\nfrogs and locusts. I shall stop here, and you must stay with me.\u2019 And\nthey stayed.\n\nThe old ones sat in their nest on the slender minaret and rested\nthemselves, while yet they were busy preening their feathers and rubbing\ntheir beaks on their red-stockinged legs. They would raise their necks,\nbow gravely, and hold up their heads with their high foreheads, fine,\nsmooth feathers, and brown eyes glancing sharply. The young hen-storks\nwalked gravely about among the coarse reeds, stealing glances at the\nother young storks, and devouring a frog at every third step, or else a\nsmall snake, which they found so good for their health, and so tasty.\nThe young males began to quarrel, beat each other with their wings,\npecked, yes, stabbed till the blood flowed! And so one and another got\nbetrothed, for that was the whole purpose of life. They built nests, and\nfrom that sprang new quarrels, for in hot countries tempers are so\nquick! Nevertheless, it was all delightful, especially to the old ones.\nEverything that one\u2019s own youngsters do becomes them. Every day there\nwas sunshine; every day was so much taken up with eating that there was\nhardly time to think of amusement.\n\nBut inside the rich palace of their Egyptian landlord, as they called\nhim, joy was unknown. Rich and mighty lord, there he lay on a couch, his\nlimbs rigid, stretched out like a mummy, in the midst of the great hall\nwith its many-coloured walls; it looked just as if he was lying in a\ntulip. His kinsmen and servants stood around him; he was not dead; you\ncould not call him alive; he existed. The healing moss-flower from the\nnorthern land, which should have been searched for and gathered by her\nwho loved him most dearly, would never be brought. His young and\nbeautiful daughter, who flew in swan\u2019s-plumage over sea and land, far\ntowards the north, would never return. \u2018She is dead and gone!\u2019 the two\nswan-maidens had told him on their return. They had invented a whole\nhistory of it. Said they:--\n\n\u2018We all three flew high in the air: a hunter saw us and shot an arrow;\nit struck our friend, and singing her farewell, like a dying swan, she\nslowly sank, in the midst of a forest lake. There we buried her, near\nthe shore of the lake, under a fragrant weeping-birch. But we took our\nrevenge! We bound fire under the wings of a swallow which had built\nunder the hunter\u2019s thatched roof! The thatch caught; the house blazed\nup! He was burned in it, and the light shone over the lake as far as the\ndrooping birch tree under which she is buried. She will never come back\nto the land of Egypt.\u2019\n\nAnd so they both wept; and the father-stork, when he heard it, chattered\nwith his beak till it rattled again.\n\n\u2018Lies and make-up!\u2019 said he. \u2018I have a great mind to drive my beak into\ntheir hearts.\u2019\n\n\u2018And break it off!\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018And what good would that do?\nThink first of yourself and your own family; everything else is of no\nconsequence!\u2019\n\n\u2018However, I will seat myself on the edge of the open court in the\nmorning, when all the learned doctors are met to talk about the illness.\nPerhaps they will come a little nearer the truth.\u2019\n\nAnd the learned doctors came together, and talked and talked all about,\nso that the stork could not make head or tail of it--nor did anything\ncome of it for the sickness, or for the daughter in the moor; but,\nnevertheless, we shall be glad to hear something about it, for we are\nobliged to listen to a great deal.\n\nBut now it will be a very good thing to learn what had gone before this\nmeeting, in order to understand the story better, for at least we know\nas much as father-stork.\n\n\u2018Love brings life! The highest love supports the highest life! Only\nthrough love will he be able to secure the preservation of his life!\u2019\nwas what they said; and very wisely and well said it was, according to\nthe learned.\n\n\u2018That\u2019s a pretty thought!\u2019 said father-stork.\n\n\u2018I don\u2019t rightly understand it!\u2019 said mother-stork, \u2018and it isn\u2019t my\nfault, but the expressions! However, be that as it may, I\u2019ve something\nelse to think about!\u2019\n\nThen the learned men had spoken of love for one thing to another, of the\ndifference there is between the affection of lovers and that of parent\nand child; of the love of plant and sunbeam, where the rays of the sun\ntouch the bud and the young shoot thus comes forth--all this was\nexpounded at such great length and in so learned a way that it was\nimpossible for father-stork to follow it, much less to repeat it. He was\nquite thoughtful about it, and half closed his eyes and stood on one leg\na whole day afterwards; such learning was too heavy for him to bear.\n\nHowever, he understood one thing. He had heard both the common folk and\nthose of the highest rank say the same thing from the bottom of their\nhearts--that it was a great misfortune for thousands of people, for the\ncountry at large, that this man should be ill and not recover; it would\nbe a joy and blessing if he were restored to health. \u2018But where does\nthe flower of health grow for him?\u2019 that was what they had all inquired.\nThey sought it from the scrolls of wisdom, from the twinkling stars, and\nfrom the winds; they had asked in all byways where they might find it,\nand at last the learned and wise announced, as we have said: \u2018Love\nbrings forth life, the life of a father,\u2019 and so they said more than\nthey themselves understood. They repeated it, and wrote it as a\nprescription: \u2018Love brings forth life\u2019; but how was the thing to be done\nfrom this prescription? There lay the difficulty. At length they came to\nan agreement about it; the help must come from the princess, who was\nattached to her father with her whole soul and heart. And then they\ndecided how it was to be brought about (all this was more than a year\nand a day before): she must go by night, at the new moon, to the marble\nsphinx near the desert, must clear away the sand from the door with her\nfeet, and then go through the long passage that led into the middle of\none of the great pyramids, where in his mummy-case lay one of the mighty\nkings of old, surrounded by splendour and magnificence. Here she was to\nhold her ear to the lips of the dead, and then it would be revealed to\nher how she was to gain life and health for her father.\n\nAll this she had done, and had learned in vision that, from the deep\nmarsh in the land of Denmark, a spot most clearly indicated, she might\nbring home the marsh-flower, which there in the depth of the water had\ntouched her breast. Then he would be healed. So she flew in swan\u2019s\nplumage from the land of Egypt to the moor.\n\nYou see, father-stork and mother-stork were aware of all this, and now\nwe know the story more fully than before. We remember that the Marsh\nKing dragged her down to him; we know that for those at home she is\ndead and gone; only the wisest of them all said still, with\nmother-stork: \u2018She takes good care of herself!\u2019 and they were obliged to\nwait, for that was all they knew about it.\n\n\u2018I believe I can steal the swans\u2019 plumage from the two good-for-nothing\nprincesses!\u2019 said father-stork, \u2018then they will not be able to go to the\nmoor to work mischief. I will hide the swans\u2019 skins themselves till they\nare wanted.\u2019\n\n\u2018Where will you hide them?\u2019 asked mother-stork.\n\n\u2018In our nest on the moor!\u2019 said he. \u2018I and the youngest of our brood can\nbe helped along with them, and if they are troublesome to us, there are\nplenty of places on the way where we can hide them till next time of\nmoving. One swan\u2019s dress would be enough for her, but two are better; it\nis well to have plenty of luggage in a northern climate!\u2019\n\n\u2018You will get no thanks for it!\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018However, you are\nthe master. I have nothing to say, except when I am sitting.\u2019\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn the Viking\u2019s stronghold near the moor, whither the storks flew at the\nspring, the little girl had received her name. They had called her\nHelga, but that was far too sweet for such a disposition as the one\npossessed by this most beautiful child. Month after month it became more\nevident, and as years went by--whilst the storks pursued the same\njourney, in autumn towards the Nile, in spring towards the moor--the\nlittle child became a grown girl, and before people thought of it, she\nwas in her sixteenth year, and the most beautiful of maidens. But the\nfruit was a beautiful shell, the kernel hard and rough. She was wilder\nthan most people even in that hard gloomy age.\n\nIt was a delight to her to splash with her white hands in the hot blood\nof the horse which had been slaughtered as a sacrifice; in her wildness\nshe bit off the neck of the black cock which should have been slain by\nthe heathen priest; and she said in sober earnest to her\nfoster-father:--\n\n\u2018If thine enemy came and tied a rope to the beams of the roof, and\nlifted it over thy chamber, whilst thou wast asleep, I should not wake\nthee, even if I could! I would not hear it, my blood still so hums in my\nears where thou didst slap me years ago! Thou! I remember!\n\nBut the Viking did not believe what she said; he was, like the others,\ninfatuated with her beauty; and he did not know how disposition and\nappearance changed in little Helga. She would sit without a saddle, as\nif she had grown to the horse, when it galloped at full speed; and she\nwould not leap off, even when it fought with other vicious horses. In\nall her clothes she would often cast herself from the bank into the\nstrong current of the fjord and swim to meet the Viking when his boat\nwas steering towards the land. She cut off the longest lock from her\nbeautiful long hair, and made it into a string for her bow. \u2018Self-made\nis well made!\u2019 she said.\n\nThe Viking\u2019s wife, according to the age and custom, was strong in will\nand in disposition, but towards the daughter she seemed a mild, anxious\nwoman, for she knew that the dreadful child was bewitched.\n\nWhen her mother stood on the balcony, or walked out into the courtyard,\nit seemed as if Helga took an evil delight in placing herself on the\nedge of the well, extending her arms and legs, and then leaping plump\ninto the narrow, deep hole, where she, with her frog-nature, dived, and\nrose again, crawled out, just as if she was a cat, and came, dripping\nwith water, into the lofty hall, so that the green leaves which were\nscattered on the floor floated about in the watery stream.\n\nBut there was one bond that restrained little Helga, and that was the\ndusk of the evening. Then she became quiet and pensive, and would allow\nherself to be called and led. She seemed to be drawn by some internal\nfeeling to her mother, and when the sun went down and the transformation\nwithout and within her took place, she sat there quiet and melancholy,\nshrunken together into the figure of a toad. Her body, indeed, was now\nfar larger than that creature\u2019s, but it was only so much the more\ndisgusting. She looked like a miserable dwarf with frog\u2019s head, and web\nbetween the fingers. There was something of the deepest melancholy in\nthe expression of her eyes; she had no voice but a hollow moan, just\nlike a child that sobs in its dreams. The Viking\u2019s wife could then take\nher on her knees: she forgot the ugly form, and looked only at the\nsorrowful eyes, and more than once she said:--\n\n\u2018I could wish almost that thou wast always my dumb frog-child! Thou art\nmore frightful to look at when thy beauty returns to thee.\u2019\n\nAnd she wrote runes against witchcraft and disease, and cast them over\nthe wretched girl, but she saw no change.\n\n\u2018Now that she is a full-grown woman, and so like the Egyptian mother,\u2019\nsaid father-stork, \u2018one could not believe that she was once so little\nthat she lay in a water-lily. We have never seen her mother since! She\ndid not take care of herself, as you and the learned men thought. Year\nout, year in, I have flown now in all directions over the moor, but she\nhas never made any sign. Yes, let me tell you that every year when I\nhave come up here some days ahead of you, to mend the nest and put one\nthing and another straight, I have flown for a whole night, like an owl\nor a bat, to and fro over the open water, but it was no use! Nor have\nthe two swan-dresses been any use which the young ones and I dragged\nhither from the land of the Nile. Toilsome work it was, and it took us\nthree journeys to do it. They have now lain for many years at the bottom\nof the nest, and if such a disaster as a fire should happen at any time,\nand the log-house be burnt, they would be lost!\u2019\n\n\u2018And our good nest would be lost also!\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018You think\ntoo little of that, and too much of the feather-dress, and your\nmoss-princess! You had better take it to her and stay in the bog! You\nare a useless father to your own family; I have said that ever since I\nsat on an egg for the first time! I only hope that we or our young ones\nmay not get an arrow in the wing from that mad Viking girl! She does not\nknow what she is doing. We have lived here a little longer than she, she\nshould remember! We never forget our obligations; we pay our taxes\nyearly, a feather, an egg, and a young one, as is right. Do you think,\nwhen she is outside, I feel inclined to go down there, as in the old\ndays, and as I do in Egypt, where I am half a companion with them,\nwithout their forgetting me, and peep into tub and pot? No, I sit up\nhere worrying myself about her--the hussy!--and about you too! You ought\nto have let her lie in the water-lily, and there would have been an end\nof her!\u2019\n\n\u2018You are kinder than your words!\u2019 said father-stork. \u2018I know you better\nthan you know yourself.\u2019\n\nAnd so he gave a jump, two heavy strokes of his wings, stretched his\nlegs behind him, and off he flew. He sailed away, without moving his\nwings. At a good distance off he gave a powerful stroke; the sun shone\non his white feathers; he stretched his neck and head forward! That was\nspeed and flight!\n\n\u2018But he is still the handsomest of them all!\u2019 said the mother-stork,\n\u2018only I don\u2019t tell him that.\u2019\n\n * * * * *\n\nEarly that autumn the Viking came home with spoil and captives. Among\nthese was a young Christian priest, one of those men who preached\nagainst the idols of the northern countries. Often at that period did\nthe talk in the hall and in the bower of the women refer to the new\nfaith, which had made its way into all the countries of the south, and\nby the holy Anskarius had been brought even to Haddeby on the Schlei.\nHelga herself had heard of the faith in the White Christ, who out of\nlove to men had given Himself to save them; but for her, as they say, it\nhad gone in at one ear and out at the other. She seemed to have only a\nperception of that word \u2018love\u2019 when she crouched in that closed room in\nher miserable frog-form. But the Viking\u2019s wife had listened to it, and\nfelt herself wonderfully affected by the story and traditions of the Son\nof the only true God. The men, on coming home from their expedition, had\ntold of the splendid temples of costly hewn stone, erected for Him whose\nmessage was love; and they brought home with them a pair of heavy golden\nvessels, elaborately pierced, and with a fragrant odour about them, for\nthey were censers, which the Christian priests used to swing before the\naltar where no blood was ever shed, but wine and consecrated bread\nchanged into His body and blood who had given Himself for generations\nyet unborn.\n\nIn the deep paved cellar of the log house the young captive Christian\npriest was confined, his feet and hands securely bound. The Viking\u2019s\nwife said that he was \u2018as fair as Baldur,\u2019 and she was touched by his\ndistress; but young Helga wished that a rope should be drawn through his\nlegs, and that he should be tied to the tails of wild oxen.\n\n\u2018Then I would set the dogs loose. Halloo! away over bog and fen, out to\nthe moor! That would be jolly to see! jollier still to be able to follow\nhim on his course!\u2019\n\nBut the Viking did not choose that he should be put to death that way,\nbut, as a denier and opposer of the high gods, he should be offered the\nnext morning on the blood-stone in the grove--the first time that a\nhuman sacrifice had been offered there.\n\nYoung Helga asked that she might sprinkle the images of the gods and the\npeople with his blood. She sharpened her gleaming knife, and when one of\nthe great, ferocious dogs, of which there were a good many in the\ncourt-yard, ran across her feet, she drove the knife into its side.\n\u2018That is to test it,\u2019 said she; and the Viking\u2019s wife looked sadly at\nthe wild, ill-tempered girl, and, when the night came, and the beautiful\nbodily form of her daughter was changed for the beauty of soul, she\nspoke glowing words of sorrow to her from her own afflicted spirit.\n\nThe hideous toad with the goblin\u2019s body stood before her, and fixed its\nbrown, sorrowful eyes on her; listening and seeming to understand with\nthe intelligence of a human being.\n\n\u2018Never, even to my husband, has a word fallen from my tongue about the\ntwofold nature I endure in thee,\u2019 said the Viking\u2019s wife. \u2018There is more\npity in my heart for thee than I could have believed! Great is the love\nof a mother; but affection never comes into thy mind! Thy heart is like\nthe cold clod! Whence didst thou then come into my house?\u2019\n\nAt that the hideous form trembled and shook. It seemed as if the word\ntouched some connexion between body and soul; great tears came into its\neyes.\n\n\u2018Thy bitter trial will come some time!\u2019 said the Viking\u2019s wife; \u2018and\nterrible will it be for me! Better hadst thou been abandoned on the\nhighway as a child, and the night-frost had lulled thee into death!\u2019 And\nthe Viking\u2019s wife wept bitter tears, and, wrathful and sad, passed\nbehind the loose curtains which hung over the beam and divided the room.\n\nThe shrunken toad sat alone in the corner. There was silence, but after\na short interval there came from her breast a half-smothered sigh. It\nwas as if, painfully, a soul awoke to life in a corner of her heart. She\ntook one step forward, listened, took another step, and then with her\nawkward hands she seized the heavy bar that was placed before the door.\nGently she put it back, and quietly she drew out the peg that was stuck\nin over the latch. She took the lighted lamp that stood in front of the\nrooms; it seemed as if a strong will gave her power. She drew the iron\npin out of the bolted shutter, and moved gently towards the prisoner. He\nwas asleep. She touched him with her cold, damp hand, and when he awoke\nand saw that hideous form, he shuddered, as if at an evil vision. She\ndrew her knife, severed his bonds, and made signs to him to follow her.\n\nHe called upon the holy Name, made the sign of the cross, and as the\nfigure stood unchanged, he repeated the words of the Bible:--\n\n\u2018\u201cThe Lord will preserve him and keep him alive: the Lord will deliver\nhim in time of trouble.\u201d Who art thou? Whence is this reptile shape that\nyet is so full of deeds of compassion?\u2019\n\nThe toad-figure beckoned and guided him behind sheltering curtains by a\nsolitary way out to the stable, pointed at a horse; he mounted it, and\nshe seated herself before him and held on by the mane of the animal. The\nprisoner understood her, and they rode away at a quick trot, by a path\nhe would never have discovered, out to the open heath.\n\nHe forgot her hideous form, for the favour and mercy of the Lord were\nacting through this hobgoblin. He offered up pious prayers, and began to\nsing holy songs; and she trembled; was it the power of the prayers and\nhymns that acted upon her? or was it the coldness of the morning which\nwas so quickly coming? What was it that she felt? She raised herself up\nin the breeze, and wished to stop the horse and spring off; but the\nChristian priest held her fast with all his strength, and sang aloud a\nPsalm, as if that would have power to loose the spell that held her in\nthat hideous frog shape, and the horse galloped forward yet more wildly.\nThe heaven became red; the first ray of the sun shot through the cloud,\nand with that clear spring of light came the change of form--she was the\nbeautiful young girl with the demoniac, evil temper! In his arms he held\na peerless maiden, and in utter terror he sprang from the horse and\nstopped it, for he thought he was encountering a new and deadly\nwitchcraft. But young Helga at the same time leapt to the ground; the\nshort child\u2019s frock reached only to her knees; she drew the sharp knife\nfrom her belt, and rushed at the startled man.\n\n\u2018Let me get at you!\u2019 she cried; \u2018let me get at you, and you shall feel\nthe knife. Yes, you are as pale as hay! Slave! Beardless boy!\u2019\n\nShe pressed him hard; they were engaged in a severe conflict, but it was\nas if an unseen power gave strength to the Christian. He held her fast,\nand the old oak tree hard by came to his help, for its roots, half\nloosened from the earth, caught her feet as they slipped under them. A\nspring gushed forth quite close to them; he sprinkled her with the fresh\nwater on breast and face, and charged the unclean spirit to come out of\nher, signing her with the cross, according to the Christian rite. But\nthe water of baptism had no power there, where the spring of faith had\nnot yet arisen within.\n\nYet herein also was he strong; more than a man\u2019s strength against the\nrival power of evil lay in his act, and as if it overwhelmed her, she\ndropped her arms, looked with a surprised glance and pale cheeks at him,\nwho seemed a powerful sorcerer, strong in wizardry and secret lore. They\nwere dark runes which he spoke, mystic signs which he was making in the\nair! She would not have blinked if he had swung an axe or a sharp knife\nbefore her eyes, but she did when he made the sign of the cross on her\nforehead and breast; she now sat like a tame bird, her head bowed down\non her bosom.\n\nGently he told her of the work of love she had done for him in the\nnight, that she had come in the hideous skin of a frog, and had loosed\nhis bonds, and brought him out to light and life. He said that she also\nwas bound--bound in a closer bondage than he had been, but she, too,\nwith him should come to light and life. He would bring her to Haddeby,\nto the holy Anskarius. There, in the Christian city, the enchantment\nwould be broken. But he would not dare to carry her in front of him on\nthe horse, although she herself was willing to sit there.\n\n\u2018You must sit behind me on the horse, not in front of me! Thy\nwitch-beauty has a power that is from the evil one. I dread it--and yet\nthere is victory for me in Christ!\u2019\n\nHe bent his knees and prayed gently and earnestly. It was as if the\nsilent glades of the forest were consecrated thereby into a holy church.\nThe birds began tosing as if they belonged to a new brotherhood; the\nmint poured forth its fragrance as if it would take the place of\nincense. The priest proclaimed aloud the words of Holy Writ:--\n\n\u2018\u201cThe Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that\nsit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into\nthe way of peace!\u201d\u2019\n\nAnd he spoke about the longing of the whole Creation, and whilst he\nspoke the horse, which had carried them in its wild race, stood quiet,\nand shook the great brambles, so that the ripe, juicy berries fell on\nlittle Helga\u2019s hand, offering themselves for her refreshment.\n\n[Illustration: THERE WAS A LITTLE BIRD THAT BEAT ITS WINGS]\n\nPatiently she let herself be lifted on to the back of the horse, and sat\nthere like one walks in his sleep, who is not awake, but yet is not\nmoving in his dream. The Christian fastened two boughs together with a\nstrip of bark to form a cross, and held it aloft in his hands. So they\nrode through the forest, which became denser as the way grew deeper, or\nrather, there was no way at all. Sloes grew across the path; one was\nobliged to ride around them. The spring did not become a running brook,\nbut a standing bog, and one had to ride around that. There was strength\nand refreshment in the fresh forest air; there was not less power in the\nword of gentleness which sounded in faith and Christian love, in the\nheartfelt desire to bring the possessed to light and life.\n\nThey say that the drops of rain can hollow the hard stone, the billows\nof the sea can in time wear smooth the broken, sharp-edged pieces of\nrock. The dew of Grace, which had descended upon little Helga, pierced\nthe hardness and rounded the ruggedness of her nature, although it was\nnot yet evident, and she was not yet aware of it herself. But what does\nthe germ in the earth know of the refreshing moisture and the warm rays\nof the sun, while yet it is hiding within itself plant and flower?\n\nAs a mother\u2019s song for her child imperceptibly fastens itself into its\nmind, and it babbles single words after her, without understanding them,\nalthough they afterwards collect themselves in its thoughts, and become\nclear in the course of time, so in her the Word worked which is able to\ncreate.\n\nThey rode out of the forest, away over the heath, again through pathless\nforest, and towards evening they met some robbers.\n\n\u2018Where have you stolen that fair maiden?\u2019 they shouted; they stopped the\nhorse, and snatched the two riders from it, for they were strong men.\nThe priest had no other weapon than the knife which he had taken from\nlittle Helga to defend himself with; one of the robbers swung his axe,\nbut the young Christian avoided it, and lightly sprang aside, or he\nwould have been struck; but the edge of the axe sank deep into the\nhorse\u2019s neck, so that the blood streamed out, and the animal fell to the\nearth. Then little Helga started, as if awakened out of a long, deep\nmeditation, and threw herself down on the expiring animal. The Christian\npriest placed himself before her in order to defend her, but one of the\nrobbers dashed a ponderous iron mace against his forehead, crushing it.\nThe blood and brains spurted around, and he fell dead to the earth.\n\nThe robbers seized little Helga by her white arm. At that moment the sun\nwent down, and as the last ray faded, she was changed to a hideous toad.\nHer greenish mouth opened across half her face; her arms became thin and\nslimy, and her hands grew broad and covered with webbing. Terror seized\nthe robbers at the sight. She stood among them, a hideous monster; then,\nfrog-like, hopped away, with bounds higher than she was herself, and\nvanished in the thicket. The robbers knew it for an evil trick of Loge,\nor secret magic art, and hurried away in affright.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe full moon was already rising, and soon shone forth in splendour, and\nlittle Helga crept forth from the thicket in the skin of a wretched\ntoad. She stood by the bodies of the Christian priest and of the horse,\nand she looked at them with eyes that seemed to weep. Her frog\u2019s head\nuttered a moan like a child beginning to cry. She threw herself now upon\none, now upon the other; she took water in her hand, which the webbed\nskin had made larger and more hollow, and poured it over them. They were\ndead, and would remain dead; she understood that. Wild animals would\nsoon come and devour their bodies; but that must not be! So she dug in\nthe earth as deep as she could. To open a grave for them was her wish,\nbut she had nothing to dig it with except a strong bough of a tree and\nher weak hands; but on them there was webbing stretched between her\nfingers. She tore it, and the blood flowed. These means would be of no\nuse, she could see. Then she took water and washed the dead man\u2019s face,\ncovered it with fresh green leaves, fetched great boughs and laid them\nover him, shook leaves between them, then took the heaviest stones she\nwas able to lift, laid them over the dead bodies, and filled up the\nopenings with moss. Then the mound seemed strong and protected, but this\narduous task had occupied the entire night--the sun now burst forth, and\nlittle Helga stood in all her beauty, with bleeding hands, and, for the\nfirst time, with tears on her flushed maiden cheeks.\n\nIn this transformation, it seemed as if the two natures struggled within\nher. She trembled, and gazed around her as if she had awoke from a\nfrightful dream. Running to a slender beech, she held fast to it for\nsupport, then climbed to the top of the tree, as lithely as a cat, and\nclung fast to it. There she sat like a frightened squirrel, sat there\nall through the long day in the deep solitude of the forest, where all\nis still and death-like as they say. Yet a pair of butterflies fluttered\nabout at play or in quarrel; there were ant-hills close by with many\nhundreds of busy little creatures that crowded backwards and forwards.\nCountless gnats danced in the air, swarm upon swarm; hosts of buzzing\nflies chased each other about; birds, dragon-flies, and other small\nwinged creatures filled the air. The earth-worm crept out from the moist\nsoil, the mole raised itself above the ground. In all else it was still\nand death-like around, or what one calls death-like indeed! Nothing took\nany notice of little Helga, except the jays, which flew screaming around\nthe top of the tree where she was sitting. They jumped along the\nbranches near her in daring inquisitiveness. One glance of her eye was\nenough to chase them away again; but they could not quite make her out,\nneither could she understand herself.\n\nWhen evening was near, and the sun began to go down, her approaching\nchange called her to movement again. She let herself slide down from the\ntree, and when the last ray of the sun disappeared, she sat there in\nthe toad\u2019s shrunken form, with the webbed skin of her hands lacerated,\nbut her eyes now sparkled with a brilliancy of beauty which they had\nscarcely possessed before, even in her beautiful human shape. They were\nnow the gentle eyes of a pious maiden that looked from behind the\nreptile\u2019s outward shape, and told of a deepened mind, of a true human\nheart. The beautiful eyes swam with tears, heavy tears that relieved her\nheart.\n\nThe cross of boughs bound together with a strip of bark, the last work\nof him who now lay dead and buried, was still lying on the grave she had\nmade. Little Helga now took it, at some unprompted impulse, and planted\nit amongst the stones, over him and the slain horse. The sadness of the\nrecollection brought tears to her eyes, and with the grief in her heart\nshe traced the same sign in the earth around the grave that so\nhonourably enclosed the dead. As with both hands she traced the sign of\nthe cross, the webbing fell off like a torn glove! She washed herself in\nthe water of the spring, and looked with astonishment at her fine white\nhands. Again she made the sign of the cross in the air between herself\nand the grave; her lips quivered, her tongue moved, and that Name, which\nshe had heard pronounced most frequently on her ride through the forest,\ncame audibly from her mouth--she said, \u2018Jesus Christ!\u2019\n\nThe toad\u2019s skin fell off: she was a beautiful young maiden; but her head\ndrooped wearily, her limbs needed repose--she slept.\n\nHer slumber was short; at midnight she awoke. The dead horse was\nstanding before her, shining, and full of life, that gleamed in light\nfrom its eyes and from its wounded neck. Close by she saw the murdered\nChristian priest, \u2018more beautiful than Baldur!\u2019 as the Viking\u2019s wife\nwould have said; and he appeared surrounded with a glory of fire.\n\nThere was an earnest look in his large, gentle eyes, just and searching,\nso penetrating a gaze that it seemed to shine into the inmost recesses\nof her heart. Little Helga trembled before it, and her memory was\nawakened with a power as if it was the Day of Judgment. Every kind\naction that had been done for her, every kindly word that had been\nspoken to her, seemed endued with life; she understood that it was mercy\nwhich had taken care of her during her days of trial, in which the child\nof spirit and clay works and strives. She owned that she had only\nfollowed the bent of her own desire, and had done nothing on her own\npart. Everything had been given to her, everything had been allowed, so\nto speak. She bowed herself humbly, ashamed before Him who alone can\nread the hidden things of the heart; and in that instant there seemed to\ncome to her a fiery touch of purifying flame--the flame of the Holy\nSpirit.\n\n\u2018Thou daughter of the mire,\u2019 said the Christian priest, \u2018from the mire,\nfrom the earth thou art sprung; from earth thou shalt again arise. The\nfire within thee returns in personality to its source; the ray is not\nfrom the sun, but from God. No soul shall perish, but far distant is the\ntime when life shall be merged in eternity. I come from the land of the\ndead; so shalt thou at some time travel through the deep valley to the\nshining hill-country, where grace and fulness dwell. I may not lead thee\nto Hadde for Christian baptism. First thou must burst the water-shield\nover the deep moorland, and draw up the living root that gave thee life\nand cradled thee. Thou must do thy work before the consecration may come\nto thee.\u2019\n\nAnd he lifted her on to the horse, handed her a golden censer, like\nthat which she had seen in the Viking\u2019s castle, from which there came a\nsweet, strong fragrance. The open wound on the forehead of the slain\nshone like a radiant diadem. He took the cross from the grave, raised it\non high; and now they went off through the air, over the rustling\nforest, then over the mounds where the warriors were buried, sitting on\ntheir dead steeds; and these majestic forms arose, and rode out to the\ntops of the hills. A broad golden hoop with a gold knob gleamed on their\nforeheads in the moonlight, and their cloaks fluttered in the wind. The\ndragon that sits and broods over treasure raised its head, and looked\nafter them. Dwarfs peered forth from the hills, and the furrows swarmed\nwith red, blue, and green lights, like a cluster of sparks in a burnt\npiece of paper.\n\nAway over wood and heath, stream and pool, they flew to the moor, and\nfloated over that in great circles. The Christian priest raised the\ncross on high; it shone like gold, and from his lips came the\neucharistic chant. Little Helga sang with him, as a child joins in the\nsong of its mother. She swung the censer, and there came a fragrance as\nif from an altar, so powerful, so subtly operating, that the rushes and\nreeds of the moor put forth their flowers. All the germs sprang up from\nthe deep soil; everything that had life arose. A veil of water-lilies\nspread itself like an embroidered carpet of flowers, and on it lay a\nsleeping woman, young and beautiful. Little Helga thought she saw\nherself mirrored in the still water; but it was her mother that she saw,\nthe Marsh King\u2019s wife, the princess from the waters of the Nile.\n\nThe dead Christian priest bade the sleeper be lifted on to the horse;\nbut that sank under the burden as if its body was only a winding-sheet\nflying in the breeze; but the sign of the cross made the airy phantom\nstrong, and all three rode to the firm ground.\n\nA cock crowed in the Viking\u2019s stronghold. The phantoms rose up in the\nmist, and were dispersed in the wind, but mother and daughter stood\nthere together.\n\n\u2018Is that myself that I see in the deep water?\u2019 said the mother.\n\n\u2018Is that myself that I see in the bright shield?\u2019 exclaimed the\ndaughter; and they came close together, breast to breast in each other\u2019s\narms. The mother\u2019s heart beat strongest, and she understood it all.\n\n\u2018My child! My own heart\u2019s flower! My lotus from the deep waters!\u2019\n\nAnd she embraced her child, and wept over her; and the tears were as a\nbaptism of new life and affection for little Helga.\n\n\u2018I came hither in a swan\u2019s skin, and I took it off,\u2019 said the mother. \u2018I\nsank through the quivering swamp, deep into the mire of the bog, that\nenclosed me as with a wall. But soon I found a fresher current about me;\na power seemed to draw me ever deeper and deeper. I felt a pressure of\nsleep on my eyelids; I slept, I dreamt--I seemed to lie again in the\npyramids of Egypt; but there still stood before me the moving\nelder-stump, which had frightened me on the surface of the moor. I\nlooked at the crevices in the bark, and they shone forth in colours and\nbecame hieroglyphics--it was the case of a mummy which I was looking at.\nThat burst, and out of it stepped a lord a thousand years old, a mummy\nform, black as pitch, shining black like a wood-snail or the slimy black\nmud--the Marsh King, or the mummy of the pyramid, I did not know which.\nHe flung his arms about me, and I felt that I should die. When I first\nreturned to life again, and my\n\n[Illustration: PLACED THE GOLDEN CIRCUIT ABOUT HIS NECK]\n\nbreast became warm, there was a little bird which beat its wings, and\ntwittered and sang. It flew up from my breast towards the dark, heavy\nroof, but a long green band still fastened it to me. I heard and\nunderstood its longing notes: \u201cLiberty! sunshine! to my father!\u201d Then I\nthought of my father in the sun-lit land of my home, my life, my\naffection! and I loosed the band and let him flutter away--home to his\nfather. Since that hour I have not dreamed; I slept a long and heavy\nsleep till the moment when the sounds and fragrance arose and raised\nme.\u2019\n\nThat green band from the mother\u2019s heart to the bird\u2019s wings, whither had\nit passed now? where was it lying cast away? Only the stork had seen it.\nThe band was that green stalk; the knot was that shining flower which\nserved as a cradle for the child who now had grown in beauty, and again\nreposed near the mother\u2019s heart.\n\nAnd whilst they stood there in close embrace, the father-stork flew in\ncircles about them, made speed to his nest, fetched from thence the\nfeather-dresses kept for so many years and threw one over each of them;\nand they flew, and raised themselves from the earth like two white\nswans.\n\n\u2018Let us talk,\u2019 said father-stork, \u2018now that we can understand each\nother\u2019s speech, although the beak is cut differently on one bird and on\nthe other! It is the most lucky thing possible that you came to-night.\nIn the morning we should have been off, mother, and I, and the young\nones! We are flying to the South! Yes, look at me! I am an old friend\nfrom the land of the Nile, and that is the mother; she has more in her\nheart than in her chatter. She always believed that the princess was\nonly taking care of herself. I and the young ones have brought the\nswan-skins here. Well, how glad I am! And what a fortunate thing it is\nthat I am here still! At daybreak we shall set off, a large party of\nstorks. We fly in front; you can fly behind, and then you will not\nmistake the way. I and the young ones will then be able to keep an eye\nupon you!\u2019\n\n\u2018And the lotus flower, that I ought to bring,\u2019 said the Egyptian\nprincess, \u2018it flies in swan\u2019s plumage by my side! I have the flower of\nmy heart with me; thus it has released itself. Homeward! homeward!\u2019\n\nBut Helga said that she could not leave the land of Denmark till she had\nonce more seen her foster-mother, the kind wife of the Viking. In\nHelga\u2019s thoughts came up every beautiful remembrance, every affectionate\nword, every tear which her foster-mother had shed, and it almost seemed\nat that instant as if she clung closest to that mother.\n\n\u2018Yes, we will go to the Viking\u2019s house,\u2019 said the stork-father. \u2018There I\nexpect mother and the young ones. How they will open their eyes and\nchatter about it! Yes, mother doesn\u2019t say so very much; what she does is\nshort and pithy, and so she thinks the best! I will sound the rattle\ndirectly, so that she will hear we are coming.\u2019\n\nAnd so father-stork chattered his beak, and flew with the swans to the\nViking\u2019s stronghold.\n\nEvery one there was lying deep in slumber. The Viking\u2019s wife had not\ngone to rest till late that night; she was still in fear for little\nHelga, who had disappeared three days ago with the Christian priest. She\nmust have helped him to escape, for it was her horse that was missing\nfrom the stable. By what power had all this been brought about? The\nViking\u2019s wife thought about the wonderful works which she had heard were\nperformed by the White Christ, and by those who believed in Him and\nfollowed Him. Her changing thoughts shaped themselves into a dream. It\nappeared to her that she was still sitting on her bed, awake, and\nmeditating, and that darkness shrouded everything outside. A storm\narose; she heard the rolling of the sea in the west and the east, from\nthe North Sea and the waters of the Cattegat. That huge serpent which\nencircles the earth in the depths of the ocean shook convulsively; it\nwas Ragnar\u00f6k, the twilight of the gods, as the heathen called the last\nhour, when everything should pass away, even the high gods themselves.\nThe trumpet sounded, and the gods rode forth over the rainbow, arrayed\nin steel, to take part in the last contest. Before them flew the winged\nwarrior-maidens, and behind them in array marched the forms of dead\nwarriors. The whole sky was illuminated by the northern lights, but the\ndarkness again prevailed. It was an appalling hour.\n\nAnd close by the frightened Viking\u2019s wife little Helga sat on the floor\nin the hideous form of a toad, trembling and nestling herself up against\nher foster-mother, who took her on her lap and affectionately held her\nfast, although she seemed more hideous than a toad. The air was full of\nthe sound of sword-strokes and the blows of maces, of arrows whizzing,\nas if a furious hail-storm was raging above them. The hour had come when\nearth and heaven should fail, the stars should fall, and everything be\nburned up in the fire of Surtr; but the dreamer knew that a new earth\nand heaven would come, and the corn wave where the sea now rolled over\nthe barren sand bottom; that the God who cannot be named rules, and up\nto Him rose Baldur, the gentle and kind, loosed from the realm of death.\nHe came--the Viking\u2019s wife saw him, and knew his face. It was the\ncaptive Christian priest.\n\n\u2018White Christ!\u2019 she cried aloud; and as she mentioned that Name she\npressed a kiss on the hideous forehead of her frog-child; the toad\u2019s\nskin fell off, and little Helga stood there in all her beauty, gentle\nas she had never been before, and with beaming eyes. She kissed her\nfoster-mother\u2019s hands, blessed her for all her care and affection with\nwhich she had surrounded her in the days of her distress and trial;\nthanked her for the thoughts to which she had given birth in her;\nthanked her for mentioning the Name which she repeated, \u2018White Christ!\u2019\nand then little Helga rose up as a noble swan, her wings expanded\nthemselves wide, wide, with a rustling as when a flock of birds of\npassage flies away!\n\nWith that the Viking\u2019s wife awoke, and still heard outside the same\nstrong sound of wings. She knew that it was time for the storks to\ndepart, and no doubt that was what she heard. Still, she wished to see\nthem once before their journey, and to bid them farewell. She stood up,\nwent out on to the balcony, and there she saw on the ridge of the\nout-house rows of storks, and round the courtyard and over the lofty\ntrees crowds of others were flying in great circles. But straight in\nfront of her, on the edge of the well, where little Helga had so often\nsat and frightened her with her wildness, two swans now sat and looked\nat her with intelligent eyes. Her dream came to her mind; it still quite\nfilled her as if it had been reality. She thought of little Helga in the\nform of a swan, she thought of the Christian priest, and she felt a\nstrange joy in her heart.\n\nThe swans beat their wings, and bent their necks, as if they wished so\nto salute her; and the Viking\u2019s wife stretched out her arms towards them\nas if she understood, and smiled at them through her tears.\n\nThen, with a noise of wings and chattering, all the storks arose to\nstart on their journey to the south.\n\n\u2018We cannot wait for the swans!\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018If they wish to come\nwith us they may; but we can\u2019t wait here till the plovers start! It is\na very good thing to travel in family parties; not like the chaffinches\nand ruffs, where the males fly by themselves and the females by\nthemselves; that is certainly not proper! And what are those swans\nflapping their wings for?\u2019\n\n\u2018Every one flies in his own way!\u2019 said father-stork. \u2018The swans go in\nslanting line, the cranes in a triangle, and the plovers in a wavy,\nsnake-like line.\u2019\n\n\u2018Don\u2019t mention serpents when we are flying up here!\u2019 said mother-stork;\n\u2018it only excites the appetites of our young ones when they can\u2019t be\nsatisfied.\u2019\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u2018Are those the high mountains down there which I have heard of?\u2019 asked\nHelga in the swan\u2019s skin.\n\n\u2018Those are thunder-clouds which drive below us,\u2019 said the mother.\n\n\u2018What are those white clouds which lift themselves so high?\u2019 asked\nHelga.\n\n\u2018Those are the everlasting snow-clad hills which you see,\u2019 said the\nmother; and they flew over the Alps, down towards the blue\nMediterranean.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u2018Land of Africa! Coast of Egypt!\u2019 jubilantly sang the daughter of the\nNile in her swan form, when, high in the air, she descried her native\nland, like a yellowish white, undulating streak.\n\nAnd as the birds saw it, they hastened their flight.\n\n\u2018I smell the mud of the Nile and the wet frogs!\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018It\nquite excites me! Yes, now you shall taste them; now you shall see the\nadjutant bird, the ibis,\n\n[Illustration: THEN SHE SAW THE STORKS]\n\nand the cranes! They all belong to our family, but they are not nearly\nso handsome as we are. They stick themselves up, especially the ibis; he\nis now quite pampered by the Egyptians--they make a mummy of him, and\nstuff him with aromatic herbs. I would rather be stuffed with live\nfrogs, and so would you, and so you shall be. It is better to have\nsomething inside you while you live than to be in state when you are\ndead! That is my opinion, and that is always right!\u2019\n\n\u2018Now the storks are come!\u2019 they said in the rich house on the bank of\nthe Nile, where, in the open hall on soft cushions covered with a\nleopard\u2019s skin, the royal master lay outstretched, neither living nor\ndead, hoping for the lotus flower from the deep marsh in the north.\nKinsmen and servants stood around him.\n\nAnd into the hall flew two beautiful white swans, which had come with\nthe storks! They threw off their dazzling feather-dress, and there stood\ntwo beautiful women, as much alike as two drops of dew! They bent down\nover the pale, withered old man; they put back their long hair, and when\nlittle Helga stooped over her grandfather, the colour returned to his\ncheeks, his eyes sparkled, and life came into his stiffened limbs. The\nold man raised himself healthy and vigorous; daughter and granddaughter\nheld him in their arms as if they were giving him a morning salutation\nin their joy after a long, heavy dream.\n\n * * * * *\n\nAnd there was joy over all the house and in the storks\u2019 nest, but there\nit was chiefly over the good food, and the swarming hosts of frogs; and\nwhilst the learned men made haste to note down in brief the history of\nthe two princesses and the flower of health, which was such a great\nevent and a blessing for house and country, the parent storks related it\nin their fashion to their own family, but not till they had all\nsatisfied their hunger, or else they would have had something else to do\nthan to listen to stories.\n\n\u2018Now you will become somebody!\u2019 whispered mother-stork; \u2018that is\ncertain!\u2019\n\n\u2018Well! what should I become?\u2019 said father-stork; \u2018and what have I done?\nA mere nothing!\u2019\n\n\u2018You have done more than all the others! But for you and the young ones\nthe two princesses would never have seen Egypt again, and made the old\nman well. You will become somebody! You will certainly receive a\nDoctor\u2019s degree, and our young ones will bear it afterwards, and their\nyoung ones will have it in turn. You look already like an Egyptian\ndoctor--in my eyes!\u2019\n\nThe wise and learned expounded the fundamental idea, as they called it,\nthat ran through the whole history: \u2018Love brings forth life!\u2019--they gave\nthat explanation in different ways--\u2018the warm sunbeam was the Egyptian\nprincess, she descended to the Marsh King, and in their meeting the\nflower sprang forth----\u2019\n\n\u2018I can\u2019t repeat the words quite right,\u2019 said father-stork, who had heard\nit from the roof, and was expected to tell them all about it in his\nnest. \u2018What they said was so involved, it was so clever, that they\nimmediately received honours and gifts. Even the head cook obtained a\nhigh mark of distinction--that was for the soup!\u2019\n\n\u2018And what did you receive?\u2019 inquired mother-stork; \u2018they ought not to\nforget the most important, and that is yourself. The learned have only\nchattered about it all, but your turn will come!\u2019\n\nLate that night, while peaceful slumber enwrapped the now prosperous\nhouse, there was one who was still awake; and that was not the\nfather-stork, though he stood on one leg in the nest and slept like a\nsentinel. No, little Helga was awake. She leaned out over the balcony\nand gazed at the clear sky, with the great, bright stars, larger and\npurer in their lustre than she had seen them in the north, and yet the\nsame. She thought of the Viking\u2019s wife by the moor, of her\nfoster-mother\u2019s gentle eyes, and the tears she had shed over her poor\ntoad-child, who now stood in the light and splendour of the stars by the\nwaters of the Nile in the soft air of spring. She thought of the love in\nthat heathen woman\u2019s breast, that love which she had shown to a\nmiserable creature who, in human form, was an evil brute, and in the\nform of an animal, loathsome to look at and to touch. She looked at the\nshining stars, and called to mind the splendour on the forehead of the\ndead man, when they flew away over forest and moor; tones resounded in\nher recollection, words she had heard pronounced when they rode away,\nand she sat as if paralysed--words about the great Author of Love, the\nhighest Love, embracing all generations.\n\nYes, how much had been given, gained, obtained! Little Helga\u2019s thoughts\nwere occupied, night and day, with all her good fortune, and she stood\nin contemplation of it like a child which turns quickly from the giver\nto all the beautiful presents that have been given; so she rose up in\nher increasing happiness, which could come and would come. She was\nindeed borne in mysterious ways to even higher joy and happiness, and in\nthis she lost herself one day so entirely that she thought no more of\nthe Giver. It was the strength of youthful courage that inspired her\nbold venture. Her eyes shone, but suddenly she was called back by a\ngreat clamour in the courtyard beneath. There she saw two powerful\nostriches running hurriedly about in narrow circles. She had never\nbefore seen that creature, so great a bird, so clumsy and heavy. Its\nwings looked as if they were clipped, the bird itself as if it had been\ninjured, and she inquired what had been done to it, and for the first\ntime heard the tradition which the Egyptians relate about the ostrich.\n\nThe race had at one time been beautiful, its wings large and powerful;\nthen, one evening, a mighty forest bird said to it: \u2018Brother, shall we\nfly to the river in the morning, if God will, and drink?\u2019 And the\nostrich replied: \u2018I will.\u2019 When day broke they flew off, at first high\nup towards the sun--the eye of God--ever higher and higher, the ostrich\nfar before all the others; it flew in its pride towards the light; it\nrelied on its own strength, and not on the Giver; it did not say, \u2018If\nGod will!\u2019 Then the avenging angel drew back the veil from the burning\nflame, and in that instant the bird\u2019s wings were burnt; it sank\nmiserably to the earth. Its descendants are no longer able to raise\nthemselves; they fly in terror, rush about in circles in that narrow\nspace. It is a reminder to us men, in all our thoughts, in all our\nactions, to say: \u2018If God will!\u2019\n\nAnd Helga thoughtfully bowed her head, looked at the hurrying ostrich,\nsaw its fear, saw its silly delight at the sight of its own great shadow\non the white sunlit wall. And deep seriousness fixed itself into her\nmind and thoughts. So rich a life, so full of prosperity, was given, was\nobtained--what would happen? What was yet to come? The best thing: \u2018If\nGod will!\u2019\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn the early spring, when the storks again started for the north, little\nHelga took her gold bracelet, scratched her name on it, beckoned to the\nstork-father, placed the golden circlet about his neck, and asked him to\nbear it to the Viking\u2019s wife, by which she would understand that her\nfoster-daughter was alive, and that she was happy, and thought of her.\n\n\u2018That is heavy to carry!\u2019 thought the father-stork when it was placed\naround his neck; \u2018but one does not throw gold and honour on the\nhigh-road. They will find it true up there that the stork brings\nfortune!\u2019\n\n\u2018You lay gold, and I lay eggs!\u2019 said the mother-stork; \u2018but you only lay\nonce, and I lay every year! But it vexes me that neither of us is\nappreciated.\u2019\n\n\u2018But we are quite aware of it ourselves, mother!\u2019 said father-stork.\n\n\u2018But you can\u2019t hang that on you,\u2019 said mother-stork. \u2018It neither gives\nus fair wind nor food.\u2019\n\nAnd so they flew.\n\nThe little nightingale, that sang in the tamarind-bush, also wished to\nstart for the north immediately. Little Helga had often heard him up\nthere near the moor; she wished to give him a message, for she\nunderstood the speech of birds when she flew in the swan\u2019s skin, and she\nhad often since that time used it with the stork and the swallow. The\nnightingale would understand her, and she asked him to fly to the\nbeech-forest on the peninsula of Jutland, where she had erected the\ngrave of stones and boughs; there she asked him to bid all the small\nbirds to protect the grave, and always to sing their songs around it.\nAnd the nightingale flew--and time flew also.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe eagle stood on the pyramid in the autumn, and saw a magnificent\narray of richly laden camels, with armed men in costly clothing, on\nsnorting Arabian steeds, shining as white as silver, and with red\nquivering nostrils, their heavy thick manes hanging down about their\nslender legs. Rich visitors, a royal prince from the land of Arabia,\nbeautiful as a prince ought to be, came to that noble house, where the\nstorks\u2019 nest now stood empty, its former occupants now far away in the\nnorthern land, but soon to return. And they came exactly on that day\nwhich was most filled with joy and mirth. There was a grand wedding, and\nlittle Helga was the bride arrayed in silk and jewels; the bridegroom\nwas the young prince from the land of Arabia; and the two sat highest at\nthe table between the mother and grandfather. But she did not look at\nthe bridegroom\u2019s brown, manly cheek, where his black beard curled; she\ndid not look at his dark, fiery eyes, which were fastened upon her; she\nlooked outwards and upwards towards the twinkling, sparkling stars,\nwhich beamed down from heaven.\n\nThen there was a rustling sound of strong wing-strokes outside in the\nair--the storks had returned; and the old couple, however tired they\nmight be with the journey, and however much they needed rest, still flew\non to the railing of the verandah immediately they were aware whose\nfestivity it was. They had already heard, at the frontier of the\ncountry, that little Helga had allowed them to be painted on the wall\nbecause they belonged to her history.\n\n\u2018That is very nicely borne in mind,\u2019 said father-stork.\n\n\u2018It is very little!\u2019 said the stork-mother; \u2018she could not have done\nless.\u2019\n\nAnd when Helga saw them, she got up and went out into the verandah to\nthem to pat them on the back. The old storks curtsied with their necks,\nand the youngest of their young ones looked on, and felt themselves\nhonoured.\n\nAnd Helga looked up to the bright stars which shone clearer and clearer;\nand between them and her a form seemed to move still purer than the air,\nand seen through it, that hovered quite near her--it was the dead\nChristian priest; so he came on the day of her festivity, came from the\nKingdom of Heaven.\n\n\u2018The splendour and glory which are there surpass everything that earth\nknows!\u2019 he said.\n\nAnd little Helga prayed gently and from her heart, as she had never\nprayed before, that she only for one single minute might dare to look\nwithin, might only cast one single glance into the Kingdom of Heaven, to\nthe Father of all.\n\nAnd he raised her into the splendour and glory, in one current of sounds\nand thoughts; it was not only round about her that it shone and sounded,\nbut within her. No words are able to describe it.\n\n\u2018Now we must return; you are wanted!\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018Only one glance more!\u2019 she entreated; \u2018only one short minute!\u2019\n\n\u2018We must go back to the earth; all the guests have gone away.\u2019\n\n\u2018Only one glance! the last----\u2019\n\n * * * * *\n\nAnd little Helga stood outside in the verandah; but all the torches\noutside were extinguished, all the lights in the wedding chamber were\ngone, the storks were gone, no guests to be seen, no bridegroom;\neverything seemed to be blown away in three short minutes.\n\nThen Helga was filled with terror, and she went through the great, empty\nhall, into the next room. Strange soldiers were sleeping there. She\nopened a side door that led into her apartment, and when she expected to\nstand there, she found herself outside in the garden; but it was not\nlike this before--the heaven was red and shining, it was towards\ndaybreak.\n\nOnly three minutes in Heaven, and a whole night had passed on the earth!\n\n * * * * *\n\nThen she saw the storks; she cried to them, speaking their language, and\nfather-stork turned his head, listened, and drew near her.\n\n\u2018You are speaking our language!\u2019 said he; \u2018what do you want? Why do you\ncome here, you strange woman?\u2019\n\n\u2018It is I! it is Helga! Don\u2019t you know me? Three minutes ago we were\ntalking together, yonder in the verandah.\u2019\n\n\u2018That is a mistake!\u2019 said the stork; \u2018you must have dreamt it!\u2019\n\n\u2018No, no!\u2019 she said, and reminded him of the Viking\u2019s stronghold and the\nmoor, and of the journey hither!\n\nThen father-stork blinked his eyes: \u2018That is a very old story; I have\nheard it from my great-great-great-grandmother\u2019s time! Yes, certainly,\nthere was such a princess in Egypt from the land of Denmark, but she\ndisappeared on the night of her wedding many hundreds of years ago, and\nnever came back again. That you may read for yourself on the monument in\nthe garden; there are sculptured both swans and storks, and at the top\nyou yourself stand in white marble.\u2019\n\nIt was indeed so. Little Helga saw it, understood it, and fell on her\nknees.\n\nThe sun broke forth, and as in former times at the touch of its beams\nthe toad form disappeared and the beautiful shape was seen, so she\nraised herself now at the baptism of light in a form of brighter beauty,\npurer than the air, a ray of light--to the Father of all.\n\nHer body sank in dust; there lay a faded lotus-flower where she had\nstood.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u2018Then that was a new ending to the story!\u2019 said the father-stork. \u2018I had\nnot at all expected it! but I rather like it!\u2019\n\n\u2018I wonder what my young ones will say about it!\u2019 said the mother-stork.\n\n\u2018Yes, that is certainly the principal thing!\u2019 answered the father.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: THE SWALLOW SOARED HIGH INTO THE AIR]\n\n[Illustration: \u2018THOU POOR LITTLE THING!\u2019 SAID THE FIELD-MOUSE]\n\n\n\n\nTOMMELISE\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a young wife who longed exceedingly to\npossess a little child of her own, so she went to an old witch-woman and\nsaid to her, \u2018I wish so very much to have a child, a little tiny child;\nwon\u2019t you give me one, old mother?\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh, with all my heart!\u2019 replied the witch. \u2018Here is a barley-corn for\nyou; it is not exactly of the same sort as those that grow on the\nfarmer\u2019s fields, or that are given to the fowls in the poultry yard, but\ndo you sow it in a flower-pot, and then you shall see what you shall\nsee!\u2019\n\n\u2018Thank you, thank you!\u2019 cried the woman, and she gave the witch a silver\nsixpence, and then having returned home sowed the barley-corn as she\nhad been directed, whereupon a large and beautiful flower immediately\nshot forth from the flower-pot. It looked like a tulip, but the petals\nwere tightly folded up; it was still in bud.\n\n\u2018What a lovely flower!\u2019 exclaimed the peasant-woman, and she kissed the\npretty red and yellow leaves, and as she kissed them the flower gave a\nloud report and opened. It was indeed a tulip, but on the small green\npointal in the centre of the flower there sat a little tiny girl, so\npretty and delicate, but her whole body scarcely bigger than the young\npeasant\u2019s thumb. So she called her Tommelise.\n\nA pretty varnished walnut-shell was given her as a cradle, blue violet\nleaves served as her mattresses, and a rose-leaf was her coverlet; here\nshe slept at night, but in the daytime she played on the table. The\npeasant-wife had filled a plate with water, and laid flowers in it,\ntheir blossoms bordering the edge of the plate, while the stalks lay in\nthe water; on the surface floated a large tulip-leaf, and on it\nTommelise might sit and sail from one side of the plate to the other,\ntwo white horse hairs having been given her for oars. That looked quite\ncharming! And Tommelise could sing too, and she sang in such low sweet\ntones as never were heard before.\n\nOne night, while she was lying in her pretty bed, a great ugly toad came\nhopping in through the broken window-pane. The toad was such a great\ncreature, old and withered-looking, and wet too; she hopped at once down\nupon the table where Tommelise lay sleeping under the red rose petal.\n\n\u2018That is just the wife for my son,\u2019 said the toad; and she seized hold\nof the walnut-shell, with Tommelise in it, and hopped away with her\nthrough the broken pane down into the garden. Here flowed a broad\nstream; its banks were muddy and swampy, and it was amongst this mud\nthat the old toad and her son dwelt. Ugh, how hideous and deformed he\nwas! just like his mother.\n\n\u2018Coax, coax, brekke-ke-kex!\u2019 was all he could find to say on seeing the\npretty little maiden in the walnut-shell.\n\n\u2018Don\u2019t make such a riot, or you\u2019ll wake her!\u2019 said old mother toad. \u2018She\nmay easily run away from us, for she is as light as a swan-down feather.\nI\u2019ll tell you what we\u2019ll do; we\u2019ll take her out into the brook, and set\nher down on one of the large water-lily leaves; it will be like an\nisland to her, who is so light and small. Then she cannot run away from\nus, and we can go and get ready the state-rooms down under the mud,\nwhere you and she are to dwell together.\u2019\n\nOut in the brook there grew many water-lilies, with their broad green\nleaves, each of which seemed to be floating over the water. The leaf\nwhich was the farthest from the shore was also the largest; to it swam\nold mother toad, and on it she set the walnut-shell, with Tommelise.\n\nThe poor little tiny creature awoke quite early next morning, and, when\nshe saw where she was, she began to weep most bitterly, for there was\nnothing but water on all sides of the large green leaf, and she could in\nno way reach the land.\n\nOld mother toad was down in the mud, decorating her apartments with\nbulrushes and yellow buttercups, so as to make it quite gay and tidy to\nreceive her new daughter-in-law. At last, she and her frightful son swam\ntogether to the leaf where she had left Tommelise; they wanted to fetch\nher pretty cradle, and place it for her in the bridal chamber before she\nherself was conducted into it. Old mother toad bowed low in the water,\nand said to her, \u2018Here is my son, he is to be thy husband, and you will\ndwell together so comfortably down in the mud!\u2019\n\n\u2018Coax, coax, brekke-ke-kex!\u2019 was all that her son could say.\n\nThen they took the neat little bed and swam away with it, whilst\nTommelise sat alone on the green leaf, weeping, for she did not like the\nthought of living with the withered old toad, and having her ugly son\nfor a husband. The little fishes that were swimming to and fro in the\nwater beneath had heard what mother toad had said, so they now put up\ntheir heads--they wanted to see the little maid. And when they saw her,\nthey were charmed with her delicate beauty, and it vexed them very much\nthat the hideous old toad should carry her off. No, that should never\nbe! They surrounded the green stalk in the water, whereon rested the\nwater-lily leaf, and gnawed it asunder with their teeth, and then the\nleaf floated away down the brook, with Tommelise on it; away, far away,\nwhere the old toad could not follow.\n\nTommelise sailed past so many places, and the wild birds among the\nbushes saw her and sang, \u2018Oh, what a sweet little maiden!\u2019 On and on,\nfarther and farther, floated the leaf: Tommelise was on her travels.\n\nA pretty little white butterfly kept fluttering round and round her, and\nat last settled down on the leaf, for he loved Tommelise very much, and\nshe was so pleased. There was nothing to trouble her now that she had no\nfear of the old toad pursuing her, and wherever she sailed everything\nwas so beautiful, for the sun shone down on the water, making it bright\nas liquid gold. And now she took off her sash, and tied one end of it\nround the butterfly, fastening the other end firmly into the leaf. On\nfloated the leaf, faster and faster, and Tommelise with it.\n\nPresently a great cock-chafer came buzzing past; he caught sight of her,\nand immediately fastening his claw round her slender waist, flew up\ninto a tree with her. But the green leaf still floated down the brook,\nand the butterfly with it; he was bound to the leaf and could not get\nloose.\n\n[Illustration: \u2018THIS IS JUST THE WIFE FOR MY SON,\u2019 SAID THE TOAD]\n\nOh, how terrified was poor Tommelise when the cock-chafer carried her up\ninto the tree, and how sorry she felt, too, for the darling white\nbutterfly which she had left tied fast to the leaf; she feared that if\nhe could not get away, he would perish of hunger. But the cock-chafer\ncared nothing for that. He settled with her upon the largest leaf in the\ntree, gave her some honey from the flowers to eat, and hummed her\npraises, telling her she was very pretty, although she was not at all\nlike a\n\n[Illustration]\n\nhen-chafer. And by-and-by all the chafers who lived in that tree came to\npay her a visit; they looked at Tommelise, and one Miss Hen-chafer drew\nin her feelers, saying, \u2018She has only two legs, how miserable that\nlooks!\u2019 \u2018She has no feelers,\u2019 cried another. \u2018And see how thin and lean\nher waist is; why, she is just like a human being!\u2019 observed a third.\n\u2018How very, very ugly she is!\u2019 at last cried all the lady-chafers in\nchorus. The chafer who had carried off Tommelise still could not\npersuade himself that she was otherwise than pretty, but, as all the\nrest kept repeating and insisting that she was ugly, he at last began to\nthink they must be in the right, and determined to have nothing more to\ndo with her; she might go wherever she would, for aught he cared, he\nsaid. And so the whole swarm flew down from the tree with her, and set\nher on a daisy; then she wept because she was so ugly that the\nlady-chafers would not keep company with her, and yet Tommelise was the\nprettiest little creature that could be imagined, soft and delicate and\ntransparent as the loveliest rose leaf.\n\nAll the summer long poor Tommelise lived alone in the wide wood. She\nwove herself a bed of grass-straw, and hung it under a large\nburdock-leaf which sheltered her from the rain; she dined off the honey\nfrom the flowers, and drank from the dew that every morning spangled the\nleaves and herblets around her. Thus passed the summer and autumn, but\nthen came winter, the cold, long winter. All the birds who had sung so\nsweetly to her flew away, trees and flowers withered, the large\nburdock-leaf under which Tommelise had lived rolled itself up and became\na dry, yellow stalk, and Tommelise was fearfully cold, for her clothes\nwere wearing out, and she herself was so slight and frail, poor little\nthing! she was nearly frozen to death. It began to snow, and every light\nflake that fell upon her made her feel as we should if a whole\nshovelful of snow were thrown upon us, for we are giants in comparison\nwith a little creature only an inch long. She wrapped herself up in a\nwithered leaf, but it gave her no warmth; she shuddered with cold.\n\nClose outside the wood, on the skirt of which Tommelise had been living,\nlay a large corn-field, but the corn had been carried away long ago,\nleaving only the dry, naked stubble standing up from the hard-frozen\nearth. It was like another wood to Tommelise, and oh, how she shivered\nwith cold as she made her way through. At last she came past the\nfield-mouse\u2019s door; for the field-mouse had made herself a little hole\nunder the stubble, and there she dwelt snugly and comfortably, having a\nroom full of corn, and a neat kitchen and store-chamber besides. And\npoor Tommelise must now play the beggar-girl; she stood at the door and\nbegged for a little piece of a barley-corn, for she had had nothing to\neat during two whole days.\n\n\u2018Thou poor little thing!\u2019 said the field-mouse, who was indeed a\nthoroughly good-natured old creature, \u2018come into my warm room and dine\nwith me.\u2019\n\nAnd as she soon took a great liking to Tommelise, she proposed to her to\nstay. \u2018You may dwell with me all the winter if you will, but keep my\nroom clean and neat, and tell me stories, for I love stories dearly.\u2019\n\nAnd Tommelise did all that the kind old field-mouse required of her, and\nwas made very comfortable in her new abode.\n\n\u2018We shall have a visitor presently,\u2019 observed the field-mouse; \u2018my\nnext-door neighbour comes to see me once every week. He is better off\nthan I am, has large rooms in his house, and wears a coat of such\nbeautiful black velvet. It would be a capital thing for you if you could\nsecure him for your husband, but unfortunately he is blind, he cannot\nsee you. You must tell him the prettiest stories you know.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: OH, HOW TERRIFIED WAS POOR TOMMELISE!]\n\nBut Tommelise did not care at all about pleasing their neighbour Mr.\nMole, nor did she wish to marry him. He came and paid a visit in his\nblack-velvet suit, he was so rich and so learned, and the field-mouse\ndeclared his domestic offices were twenty times larger than hers, but\nthe sun and the pretty flowers he could not endure, he was always\nabusing them, though he had never seen either. Tommelise was called upon\nto sing for his amusement, and by the time she had sung \u2018Lady-bird,\nlady-bird, fly away home!\u2019 and \u2018The Friar of Orders Grey,\u2019 the mole had\nquite fallen in love with her through the charm of her sweet voice;\nhowever, he said nothing, he was such a prudent, cautious animal.\n\nHe had just been digging a long passage through the earth from their\nhouse to his, and he now gave permission to the field-mouse and\nTommelise to walk in it as often as they liked; however, he bade them\nnot be afraid of the dead bird that lay in the passage; it was a whole\nbird, with beak and feathers entire, and therefore he supposed it must\nhave died quite lately, at the beginning of the winter, and had been\nburied just in the place where he had dug his passage.\n\nThe mole took a piece of tinder, which shines like fire in the dark, in\nhis mouth, and went on first to light his friends through the long dark\npassage, and when they came to the place where the dead bird lay, he\nthrust his broad nose up against the ceiling and pushed up the earth, so\nas to make a great hole for the light to come through. In the midst of\nthe floor lay a swallow, his wings clinging firmly to his sides, his\nhead and legs drawn under the feathers; the poor bird had evidently died\nof cold. Tommelise felt so very sorry, for she loved all the little\nbirds, who had sung and chirped so merrily to her the whole summer long;\nbut the mole kicked it with his short legs, saying, \u2018Here\u2019s a fine end\nto all its whistling! a miserable thing it must be to be born a bird.\nNone of my children will be birds, that\u2019s a comfort! Such creatures have\nnothing but their \u201cquivit,\u201d and must be starved to death in the winter.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, indeed, a sensible animal like you may well say so,\u2019 returned the\nfield-mouse; \u2018what has the bird got by all his chirping and chirruping?\nwhen winter comes it must starve and freeze; and it is such a great\ncreature too!\u2019\n\nTommelise said nothing, but when the two others had turned their backs\nupon the bird, she bent over it, smoothed down the feathers that covered\nits head, and kissed the closed eyes. \u2018Perhaps it was this one that sang\nso delightfully to me in the summer-time,\u2019 thought she; \u2018how much\npleasure it has given me, the dear, dear bird!\u2019\n\nThe mole now stopped up the hole through which the daylight had pierced,\nand then followed the ladies home. But Tommelise could not sleep that\nnight, so she got out of her bed, and wove a carpet out of hay, and then\nwent out and spread it round the dead bird; she also fetched some soft\ncotton from the field-mouse\u2019s room, which she laid over the bird, that\nit might be warm amid the cold earth.\n\n\u2018Farewell, thou dear bird,\u2019 said she; \u2018farewell, and thanks for thy\nbeautiful song in the summer-time, when all the trees were green, and\nthe sun shone so warmly upon us!\u2019 And she pressed her head against the\nbird\u2019s breast, but was terrified to feel something beating within it. It\nwas the bird\u2019s heart. The bird was not dead; it had lain in a swoon, and\nnow that it was warmer its life returned.\n\nEvery autumn all the swallows fly away to warm countries; but if one of\nthem linger behind, it freezes and falls down as though dead, and the\ncold snow covers it.\n\nTommelise trembled with fright, for the bird was very large compared\nwith her, who was only an inch in length. However, she took courage,\nlaid the cotton more closely round the poor swallow, and fetching a leaf\nwhich had served herself as a coverlet, spread it over the bird\u2019s head.\n\nThe next night she stole out again, and found that the bird\u2019s life had\nquite returned, though it was so feeble that only for one short moment\ncould it open its eyes to look at Tommelise, who stood by with a piece\nof tinder in her hand--she had no other lantern.\n\n\u2018Thanks to thee, thou sweet little child!\u2019 said the sick swallow. \u2018I\nfeel delightfully warm now; soon I shall recover my strength, and be\nable to fly again, out in the warm sunshine.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh, no,\u2019 she replied, \u2018it is too cold without, it snows and freezes!\nThou must stay in thy warm bed; I will take care of thee.\u2019\n\nShe brought the swallow water in a flower-petal and he drank, and then\nhe told her how he had torn one of his wings in a thorn bush, and\ntherefore could not fly fast enough to keep up with the other swallows\nwho were all migrating to the warm countries. He had at last fallen to\nthe earth, and more than that he could not remember; he did not at all\nknow how he had got underground.\n\nHowever, underground he remained all the winter long, and Tommelise was\nkind to him, and loved him dearly, but she never said a word about him\neither to the mole or the field-mouse, for she knew they could not\nendure the poor swallow.\n\nAs soon as the spring came and the sun\u2019s warmth had penetrated the\nearth, the swallow said farewell to Tommelise, and she opened for him\nthe covering of earth which the mole had thrown back before. The sun\nshone in upon them so deliciously, and the swallow asked whether she\nwould not go with him; she might sit upon his back, and then they would\nfly together far out into the greenwood. But Tommelise knew it would vex\nthe old field-mouse if she were to leave her.\n\n\u2018No, I cannot, I must not go,\u2019 said Tommelise.\n\n\u2018Fare thee well, then, thou good and pretty maiden,\u2019 said the swallow,\nand away he flew into the sunshine. Tommelise looked after him and the\ntears came into her eyes, for she loved the poor swallow so much.\n\n\u2018Quivit, quivit,\u2019 sang the bird, as he flew into the greenwood. And\nTommelise was now sad indeed. She was not allowed to go out into the\nwarm sunshine; the wheat that had been sown in the field above the\nfield-mouse\u2019s house grew up so high that it seemed a perfect forest to\nthe poor little damsel who was only an inch in stature.\n\n\u2018This summer you must work at getting your wedding clothes ready,\u2019 said\nthe field-mouse, for their neighbour, the blind dull mole in the\nblack-velvet suit had now made his proposals in form to Tommelise. \u2018You\nshall have worsted and linen in plenty; you shall be well provided with\nall manner of clothes and furniture before you become the mole\u2019s wife.\u2019\nSo Tommelise was obliged to work hard at the distaff, and the\nfield-mouse hired four spiders to spin and weave night and day. Every\nevening came the mole, and always began to talk about the summer soon\ncoming to an end, and that then, when the sun would no longer shine so\nwarmly, scorching the earth till it was as dry as a stone, yes, then,\nhis nuptials with Tommelise should take place. But this sort of\nconversation did not please her at all; she was thoroughly wearied of\nhis dulness and his prating. Every morning when the sun rose, and every\nevening when it set, she used to steal out at the door, and when the\nwind blew the tops of the corn aside, so that she could see the blue sky\nthrough the opening, she thought how bright and beautiful it was out\nhere, and wished most fervently to see the dear swallow once more; but\nhe never came, he must have been flying far away in the beautiful\ngreenwood.\n\nAutumn came, and Tommelise\u2019s wedding clothes were ready.\n\n\u2018Four weeks more, and you shall be married!\u2019 said the field-mouse. But\nTommelise wept, and said she would not marry the dull mole.\n\n\u2018Fiddlestick!\u2019 exclaimed the field-mouse; \u2018don\u2019t be obstinate, child, or\nI shall bite thee with my white teeth! Is he not handsome, pray? Why,\nthe Queen has not got such a black-velvet dress as he wears! And isn\u2019t\nhe rich? rich both in kitchens and cellars? Be thankful to get such a\nhusband!\u2019\n\nSo Tommelise must be married. The day fixed had arrived, the mole had\nalready come to fetch his bride, and she must dwell with him, deep under\nthe earth, never again to come out into the warm sunshine which she\nloved so much, and which he could not endure. The poor child was in\ndespair at the thought that she must now bid farewell to the beautiful\nsun of which she had at least been allowed to catch a glimpse every now\nand then while she lived with the field-mouse.\n\n\u2018Farewell, thou glorious sun!\u2019 she cried, throwing her arms up into the\nair, and she walked on a little way beyond the field-mouse\u2019s door; the\ncorn was already reaped, and only the dry stubble surrounded her.\n\u2018Farewell, farewell!\u2019 repeated she, as she clasped her tiny arms round a\nlittle red flower that grew there. \u2018Greet the dear swallow from me, if\nthou shouldst see him.\u2019\n\n\u2018Quivit! quivit!\u2019--there was a fluttering of wings just over her head;\nshe looked up, and behold! the little swallow was flying past. And how\npleased he was when he perceived Tommelise! She told how that she had\nbeen obliged to accept the disagreeable mole as a husband, and that she\nwould have to dwell deep underground where the sun never pierced. And\nshe could not help weeping as she spoke.\n\n\u2018The cold winter will soon be here!\u2019 said the swallow; \u2018I shall fly far\naway to the warm countries. Wilt thou go with me? Thou canst sit on my\nback, and tie thyself firmly\n\n[Illustration]\n\nto me with thy sash, and thus we shall fly away from the stupid mole and\nhis dark room, far away over the mountains to those countries where the\nsun shines so brightly, where it is always summer, and flowers blossom\nall the year round. Come and fly with me, thou sweet little Tommelise,\nwho didst save my life when I lay frozen in the dark cellars of the\nearth!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THAT WAS THE GREATEST OF PLEASURES]\n\n\u2018Yes, I will go with thee!\u2019 said Tommelise. And she seated herself on\nthe bird\u2019s back, her feet resting on the out-spread wings, and tied her\ngirdle firmly round one of the strongest feathers, and then the swallow\nsoared high into the air, and flew away over forest and over lake, over\nmountains whose crests are covered with snow all the year round. How\nTommelise shivered as she breathed the keen frosty air! However, she\nsoon crept down under the bird\u2019s warm feathers, her head still peering\nforth, eager to behold all the glory and beauty beneath her. At last\nthey reached the warm countries. There the sun shone far more brightly\nthan in her native clime. The heavens seemed twice as high, and twice as\nblue; and ranged along the sloping hills grew, in rich luxuriance, the\nloveliest green and purple grapes. Citrons and melons were seen in the\ngroves, the fragrance of myrtles and balsams filled the air, and by the\nwayside gambolled groups of pretty merry children, chasing large\nbright-winged butterflies.\n\nBut the swallow did not rest here; still he flew on; and still the scene\nseemed to grow more and more beautiful. Near a calm, blue lake, overhung\nby lofty trees, stood a half-ruined palace of white marble, built in\ntimes long past; vine-wreaths trailed up the long slender pillars, and\non the capitals, among the green leaves and waving tendrils, many a\nswallow had built his nest, and one of these nests belonged to the\nswallow on whose back Tommelise was riding.\n\n\u2018This is my house,\u2019 said the swallow, \u2018but if thou wouldst rather choose\nfor thyself one of the splendid flowers growing beneath us, I will take\nthee there, and thou shalt make thy home in the loveliest of them all.\u2019\n\n\u2018That will be charming!\u2019 exclaimed she, clapping her tiny hands.\n\nOn the green turf beneath there lay the fragments of a white marble\ncolumn which had fallen to the ground, and around these fragments twined\nsome beautiful large white flowers. The swallow flew down with\nTommelise, and set her on one of the broad petals. But what was her\nsurprise when she saw sitting in the very heart of the flower a little\nmannikin, fair and transparent as though he were made of glass! wearing\nthe prettiest gold crown on his head, and the brightest, most delicate\nwings on his shoulders, yet scarcely one whit larger than Tommelise\nherself. He was the spirit of the flower. In every blossom there dwelt\none such fa\u00ebry youth or maiden, but this one was the king of all these\nflower-spirits.\n\n\u2018Oh, how handsome he is, this king!\u2019 whispered Tommelise to the swallow.\nThe fa\u00ebry prince was quite startled at the sudden descent of the\nswallow, who was a sort of giant compared with him; but when he saw\nTommelise he was delighted, for she was the very loveliest maiden he had\never seen. So he took his gold crown off his own head and set it upon\nhers, asked her name, and whether she would be his bride, and reign as\nqueen over all the flower-spirits. This, you see, was quite a different\nbridegroom from the son of the ugly old toad, or the blind mole with his\nblack-velvet coat. So Tommelise replied \u2018Yes\u2019 to the beautiful prince,\nand then the lady and gentlemen fa\u00ebries came out, each from a separate\nflower, to pay their homage to Tommelise; so gracefully and courteously\nthey paid their homage: and every one of them brought her a present.\n\nBut the best of all the presents was a pair of transparent wings; they\nwere fastened on Tommelise\u2019s shoulders, and enabled her to fly from\nflower to flower. That was the greatest of pleasures; and the little\nswallow sat in his nest above and sang to her his sweetest song; in his\nheart, however, he was very sad, for he loved Tommelise, and would have\nwished never to part from her.\n\n\u2018Thou shalt no longer be called Tommelise,\u2019 said the king of flowers to\nher, \u2018for it is not a pretty name, and thou art so lovely! We will call\nthee Maia.\u2019\n\n\u2018Farewell! farewell!\u2019 sang the swallow, and away he flew from the warm\ncountries, far away back to Denmark. There he had a little nest just\nover the window of the man who writes stories for children. \u2018Quivit,\nquivit, quivit!\u2019 he sang to him, and from him we have learned this\nhistory.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: THEY CARRIED THE MIRROR FROM PLACE TO PLACE]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SNOW QUEEN\n\nIN SEVEN PARTS\n\n\n\n\nPART THE FIRST\n\nWHICH TREATS OF THE MIRROR AND ITS FRAGMENTS\n\n\nListen! We are beginning our story! When we arrive at the end of it we\nshall, it is to be hoped, know more than we do now. There was once a\nmagician! a wicked magician!! a most wicked magician!!! Great was his\ndelight at having constructed a mirror possessing this peculiarity,\nviz:--that everything good and beautiful, when reflected in it, shrank\nup almost to nothing, whilst those things that were ugly and useless\nwere magnified, and made to appear ten times worse than before. The\nloveliest landscapes reflected in this mirror looked like boiled\nspinach; and the handsomest persons appeared odious, or as if standing\nupon their heads, their features being so distorted that their friends\ncould never have recognised them. Moreover, if one of them had a\nfreckle, he might be sure that it would seem to spread over the nose and\nmouth; and if a good or pious thought glanced across his mind, a wrinkle\nwas seen in the mirror. All this the magician thought highly\nentertaining, and he chuckled with delight at his own clever invention.\nThose who frequented the school of magic where he taught spread abroad\nthe fame of this wonderful mirror, and declared that by its means the\nworld and its inhabitants might be seen now for the first time as they\nreally were. They carried the mirror from place to place, till at last\nthere was no country nor person that had not been misrepresented in it.\nIts admirers now must needs fly up to the sky with it, to see if they\ncould carry on their sport even there. But the higher they flew the more\nwrinkled did the mirror become; they could scarcely hold it together.\nThey flew on and on, higher and higher, till at last the mirror trembled\nso fearfully that it escaped\n\n[Illustration: HE CHUCKLED WITH DELIGHT]\n\nfrom their hands, and fell to the earth, breaking into millions,\nbillions, and trillions of pieces. And then it caused far greater\nunhappiness than before, for fragments of it, scarcely so large as a\ngrain of sand, would be flying about in the air, and sometimes get into\npeople\u2019s eyes, causing them to view everything the wrong way, or to have\neyes only for what was perverted and corrupt; each little fragment\nhaving retained the peculiar properties of the entire mirror. Some\npeople were so unfortunate as to receive a little splinter into their\nhearts--that was terrible! The heart became cold and hard, like a lump\nof ice. Some pieces were large enough to be used as window panes, but it\nwas of no use to look at one\u2019s friends through such panes as those.\nOther fragments were made into spectacles, and then what trouble people\nhad with setting and re-setting them!\n\nThe wicked magician was greatly amused with all this, and he laughed\ntill his sides ached.\n\nThere are still some little splinters of this mischievous mirror flying\nabout in the air. We shall hear more about them very soon.\n\n\n\n\nPART THE SECOND\n\nA LITTLE BOY AND A LITTLE GIRL\n\nIN a large town, where there are so many houses and inhabitants that\nthere is not room enough for all the people to possess a little garden\nof their own, and therefore many are obliged to content themselves with\nkeeping a few plants in pots, there dwelt two poor children, whose\ngarden was somewhat larger than a flower-pot. They were not brother and\nsister, but they loved each other as much as if they had been, and their\nparents lived in two attics exactly opposite. The roof of one\nneighbour\u2019s house nearly joined the other, the gutter ran along between,\nand there was in each roof a little window, so that you could stride\nacross the gutter from one window to the other. The parents of each\nchild had a large wooden box in which grew herbs for kitchen use, and\nthey had placed these boxes upon the gutter, so near that they almost\ntouched each other. A beautiful little rose-tree grew in each box,\nscarlet runners entwined their long shoots over the windows, and,\nuniting with the branches of the rose-trees, formed a flowery arch\nacross the street. The boxes were very high, and the children knew that\nthey might not climb over them, but they often obtained leave to sit on\ntheir little stools, under the rose-trees, and thus they passed many a\ndelightful hour.\n\nBut when winter came there was an end to these pleasures. The windows\nwere often quite frozen over, and then they heated halfpence on the\nstove, held the warm copper against the frozen pane, and thus made a\nlittle round peep-hole, behind which would sparkle a bright gentle eye,\none from each window.\n\nThe little boy was called Kay, the little girl\u2019s name was Gerda. In\nsummer-time they could get out of window and jump over to each other;\nbut in winter there were stairs to run down, and stairs to run up, and\nsometimes the wind roared, and the snow fell without-doors.\n\n\u2018Those are the white bees swarming there!\u2019 said the old grandmother.\n\n\u2018Have they a Queen bee?\u2019 asked the little boy, for he knew that the real\nbees have one.\n\n\u2018They have,\u2019 said the grandmother. \u2018She flies yonder where they swarm so\nthickly; she is the largest of them, and never remains upon the earth,\nbut flies up again into the black cloud. Sometimes on a winter\u2019s night\nshe flies through the streets of the town, and breathes with her frosty\nbreath upon the windows, and then they are covered with strange and\nbeautiful forms, like trees and flowers.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, I have seen them!\u2019 said both the children--they knew that this was\ntrue.\n\n\u2018Can the Snow Queen come in here?\u2019 asked the little girl.\n\n\u2018If she do come in,\u2019 said the boy, \u2018I will put her on the warm stove and\nthen she will melt.\u2019\n\nAnd the grandmother stroked his hair and told him some stories.\n\nThat same evening, after little Kay had gone home, and was half\nundressed, he crept upon the chair by the window and peeped through the\nlittle round hole. Just then a few snow-flakes fell outside, and one,\nthe largest of them, remained lying on the edge of one of the\nflower-pots. The snow-flake appeared larger and larger, and at last took\nthe form of a lady dressed in the finest white crape, her attire being\ncomposed of millions of star-like particles. She was exquisitely fair\nand delicate, but entirely of ice, glittering, dazzling ice; her eyes\ngleamed like two bright stars, but there was no rest or repose in them.\nShe nodded at the window, and beckoned with her hand. The little boy was\nfrightened and jumped down from the chair; he then fancied he saw a\nlarge bird fly past the window.\n\nThere was a clear frost next day, and soon afterwards came spring--the\ntrees and flowers budded, the swallows built their nests, the windows\nwere opened, and the little children sat once more in their little\ngarden upon the gutter that ran along the roofs of the houses.\n\nThe roses blossomed beautifully that summer, and the little girl had\nlearned a hymn in which there was something about roses; it reminded her\nof her own. So she sang it to the little boy, and he sang it with her.\n\n \u2018Our roses bloom and fade away,\n Our Infant Lord abides alway;\n May we be blessed His face to see,\n And ever little children be!\u2019\n\nAnd the little ones held each other by the hand, kissed the roses, and\nlooked up into the blue sky, talking away all the time. What glorious\nsummer days were those! how delightful it was to sit under those\nrose-trees which seemed as if they never intended to leave off\nblossoming! One day Kay and Gerda were sitting looking at their\npicture-book full of birds and animals, when suddenly--the clock on the\nold church tower was just striking five--Kay exclaimed, \u2018Oh, dear! what\nwas that shooting pain in my heart: and now again, something has\ncertainly got into my eye!\u2019\n\nThe little girl turned and looked at him. He winked his eyes; no, there\nwas nothing to be seen.\n\n\u2018I believe it is gone,\u2019 said he; but gone it was not. It was one of\nthose glass splinters from the Magic Mirror, the wicked glass which made\neverything great and good reflected in it to appear little and hateful,\nand which magnified everything ugly and mean. Poor Kay had also received\na splinter in his heart; it would now become hard and cold like a lump\nof ice. He felt the pain no longer, but the splinter was there.\n\n\u2018Why do you cry?\u2019 asked he; \u2018you look so ugly when you cry! there is\nnothing the matter with me. Fie!\u2019 exclaimed he again, \u2018this rose has an\ninsect in it, and just look at this! After all, they are ugly roses! and\nit is an ugly box they grow in!\u2019 then he kicked the box, and tore off\nthe roses.\n\n\u2018O Kay, what are you doing?\u2019 cried the little girl, but when he saw how\nit grieved her, he tore off another rose, and jumped down through his\nown window, away from his once dear little Gerda.\n\nEver afterwards when she brought forward the picture-book, he called it\na baby\u2019s book, and when her grandmother told stories, he interrupted her\nwith a \u2018but,\u2019 and sometimes, whenever he could manage it, he would get\nbehind her, put on her spectacles, and speak just as she did; he did\nthis in a very droll manner, and so people laughed at him. Very soon he\ncould mimic everybody in the street. All that was singular and awkward\nabout them could Kay imitate, and his neighbours said, \u2018What a\nremarkable head that boy has!\u2019 But no, it was the glass splinter which\nhad fallen into his eye, the glass splinter which had pierced into his\nheart--it was these which made him regardless whose feelings he wounded,\nand even made him tease the little Gerda who loves him so fondly.\n\nHis games were now quite different from what they used to be, they were\nso rational! One winter\u2019s day when it was snowing, he came out with a\nlarge burning-glass in his hand, and holding up the skirts of his blue\ncoat let the snow-flakes fall upon them. \u2018Now look through the glass,\nGerda!\u2019 said he, returning to the house. Every snow-flake seemed much\nlarger, and resembled a splendid flower, or a star with ten points; they\nwere quite beautiful. \u2018See, how curious!\u2019 said Kay, \u2018these are far more\ninteresting than real flowers, there is not a single blemish in them;\nthey would be quite perfect if only they did not melt.\u2019\n\nSoon after this Kay came in again, with thick gloves on his hands, and\nhis sledge slung across his back. He called out to Gerda, \u2018I have got\nleave to drive on the great square where the other boys play!\u2019 and away\nhe went.\n\nThe boldest boys in the square used to fasten their sledges firmly to\nthe wagons of the country people, and thus drive a good way along with\nthem; this they thought particularly pleasant. Whilst they were in the\nmidst of their play, a large sledge painted white passed by; in it sat a\nperson wrapped in a rough white fur, and wearing a rough white cap. When\nthe sledge had driven twice round the square, Kay bound to it his little\nsledge, and was carried on with it. On they went, faster and faster,\ninto the next street. The person who drove the large sledge turned\nround and nodded kindly to Kay, just as if they had been old\nacquaintances, and every time Kay was going to loose his little sledge\nturned and nodded again, as if to signify that he must stay. So Kay sat\nstill, and they passed through the gates of the town. Then the snow\nbegan to fall so thickly that the little boy could not see his own hand,\nbut he was still carried on. He tried hastily to unloose the cords and\nfree himself from the large sledge, but it was of no use; his little\ncarriage could not be unfastened, and glided on swift as the wind. Then\nhe cried out as loud as he could, but no one heard him, the snow fell\nand the sledge flew; every now and then it made a spring as if driving\nover hedges and ditches. He was very much frightened; he would have\nrepeated \u2018Our Father,\u2019 but he could remember nothing but the\nmultiplication table.\n\nThe snow-flakes seemed larger and larger, at last they looked like great\nwhite fowls. All at once they fell aside, the large sledge stopped, and\nthe person who drove it arose from the seat. He saw that the cap and\ncoat were entirely of snow, that it was a lady, tall and slender, and\ndazzlingly white--it was the Snow Queen!\n\n\u2018We have driven fast!\u2019 said she, \u2018but no one likes to be frozen; creep\nunder my bear-skin,\u2019 and she seated him in the sledge by her side, and\nspread her cloak around him--he felt as if he were sinking into a drift\nof snow.\n\n\u2018Are you still cold?\u2019 asked she, and then she kissed his brow. Oh! her\nkiss was colder than ice. It went to his heart, although that was half\nfrozen already; he thought he should die. It was, however, only for a\nmoment; directly afterwards he was quite well, and no longer felt the\nintense cold around.\n\n\u2018My sledge! do not forget my sledge!\u2019--he thought first of that--it was\nfastened to one of the white fowls which flew behind with it on his\nback. The Snow Queen kissed Kay again, and he entirely forgot little\nGerda, her grandmother, and all at home.\n\n\u2018Now you must have no more kisses!\u2019 said she, \u2018else I should kiss thee\nto death.\u2019\n\nKay looked at her, she was so beautiful; a more intelligent, more lovely\ncountenance, he could not imagine; she no longer appeared to him ice,\ncold ice as at the time when she sat outside the window and beckoned to\nhim; in his eyes she was perfect; he felt no fear. He told her how well\nhe could reckon in his head, even fractions; that he knew the number of\nsquare miles of every country, and the number of the inhabitants\ncontained in different towns. She smiled, and then it occurred to him\nthat, after all, he did not yet know so very much. He looked up into the\nwide, wide space, and she flew with him high up into the black cloud\nwhile the storm was raging; it seemed now to Kay as though singing songs\nof olden time.\n\nThey flew over woods and over lakes, over sea and over land; beneath\nthem the cold wind whistled, the wolves howled, the snow glittered, and\nthe black crow flew cawing over the plain, whilst above them shone the\nmoon, so clear and tranquil.\n\nThus did Kay spend the long, long winter night; all day he slept at the\nfeet of the Snow Queen.\n\n[Illustration: SHE WORE A LARGE HAT, WITH MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS PAINTED\nON IT]\n\n\n\n\nPART THE THIRD\n\nTHE ENCHANTED FLOWER-GARDEN\n\n\nBut how fared it with little Gerda when Kay never returned? Where could\nhe be? No one knew, no one could give any account of him. The boy said\nthat they had seen him fasten his sledge to another larger and very\nhandsome one which had driven into the street, and thence through the\ngates of the town. No one knew where he was, and many were the tears\nthat were shed; little Gerda wept much and long, for the boys said he\nmust be dead, he must have been drowned in the river that flowed not far\nfrom the town. Oh, how long and dismal the winter days were now! At last\ncame the spring, with its warm sunshine.\n\n\u2018Alas, Kay is dead and gone,\u2019 said little Gerda.\n\n\u2018That I do not believe,\u2019 said the sunshine.\n\n\u2018He is dead and gone,\u2019 said she to the swallows.\n\n\u2018That we do not believe,\u2019 returned they, and at last little Gerda\nherself did not believe it.\n\n\u2018I will put on my new red shoes,\u2019 said she one morning, \u2018those which Kay\nhas never seen, and then I will go down to the river and ask after him.\u2019\n\nIt was quite early. She kissed her old grandmother, who was still\nsleeping, put on her red shoes, and went alone through the gates of the\ntown towards the river.\n\n\u2018Is it true,\u2019 said she, \u2018that thou hast taken my little playfellow away?\nI will give thee my red shoes if thou wilt restore him to me!\u2019\n\nAnd the wavelets of the river flowed towards her in a manner which she\nfancied was unusual; she fancied that they intended to accept her\noffer, so she took off her red shoes--though she prized them more than\nanything else she possessed--and threw them into the stream; but they\nfell near the shore, and the little waves bore them back to her, as\nthough they would not take from her what she most prized, as they had\nnot got little Kay. However, she thought she had not thrown the shoes\nfar enough, so she stepped into a little boat which lay among the reeds\nby the shore, and, standing at the farthest end of it, threw them from\nthence into the water. The boat was not fastened, and her movements in\nit caused it to glide away from the shore. She saw this, and hastened to\nget out, but by the time she reached the other end of the boat it was\nmore than a yard distant from the land; she could not escape, and the\nboat glided on.\n\nLittle Gerda was much frightened and began to cry, but no one besides\nthe sparrows heard her, and they could not carry her back to the land;\nhowever, they flew along the banks, and sang, as if to comfort her,\n\u2018Here we are, here we are!\u2019 The boat followed the stream. Little Gerda\nsat in it quite still; her red shoes floated behind her, but they could\nnot overtake the boat, which glided along faster than they did.\n\nBeautiful were the shores of that river; lovely flowers, stately old\ntrees, and bright green hills dotted with sheep and cows, were seen in\nabundance, but not a single human being.\n\n\u2018Perhaps the river may bear me to my dear Kay,\u2019 thought Gerda, and then\nshe became more cheerful, and amused herself for hours with looking at\nthe lovely country around her. At last she glided past a large\ncherry-garden, wherein stood a little cottage with thatched roof and\ncurious red and blue windows; two wooden soldiers stood at the door, who\npresented arms when they saw the little vessel approach.\n\nGerda called to them, thinking that they were alive, but they,\nnaturally enough, made no answer. She came close up to them, for the\nstream drifted the boat to the land.\n\nGerda called still louder, whereupon an old lady came out of the house,\nsupporting herself on a crutch; she wore a large hat, with most\nbeautiful flowers painted on it.\n\n\u2018Thou poor little child!\u2019 said the old woman, \u2018the mighty flowing river\nhas indeed borne thee a long, long way,\u2019 and she walked right into the\nwater, seized the boat with her crutch, drew it to land, and took out\nthe little girl.\n\nGerda was glad to be on dry land again, although she was a little afraid\nof the strange old lady.\n\n\u2018Come and tell me who thou art, and how thou camest hither,\u2019 said she.\n\nAnd Gerda told her all, and the old lady shook her head, and said, \u2018Hem!\nhem!\u2019 And when Gerda asked if she had seen little Kay, the lady said\nthat he had not arrived there yet, but that he would be sure to come\nsoon, and that in the meantime Gerda must not be sad; that she might\nstay with her, might eat her cherries, and look at her flowers, which\nwere prettier than any picture-book, and could each tell her a story.\n\nShe then took Gerda by the hand; they went together into the cottage,\nand the old lady shut the door. The windows were very high and their\npanes of different coloured glass, red, blue, and yellow, so that when\nthe bright daylight streamed through them, various and beautiful were\nthe hues reflected upon the room. Upon a table in the centre was placed\na plate of very fine cherries, and of these Gerda was allowed to eat as\nmany as she liked. And whilst she was eating them, the old dame combed\nher hair with a golden comb, and the bright flaxen ringlets fell on each\nside of her pretty, gentle face, which looked as round and as fresh as a\nrose.\n\n\u2018I have long wished for such a dear little girl,\u2019 said the old lady. \u2018We\nshall see if we cannot live very happily together.\u2019 And, as she combed\nlittle Gerda\u2019s hair, the child thought less and less of her\nfoster-brother Kay, for the old lady was an enchantress. She did not,\nhowever, practise magic for the sake of mischief, but merely for her own\namusement. And now she wished very much to keep little Gerda, to live\nwith her; so, fearing that if Gerda saw her roses, she would be reminded\nof her own flowers and of little Kay, and that then she might run away,\nshe went out into the garden, and extended her crutch over all her\nrose-bushes, upon which, although they were full of leaves and blossoms,\nthey immediately sank into the black earth, and no one would have\nguessed that such plants had ever grown there.\n\nThen she led Gerda into this flower-garden. Oh how beautiful and how\nfragrant it was! Flowers of all seasons and all climes grew there in\nfulness of beauty--certainly no picture-book could be compared with it.\nGerda bounded with delight, and played among the flowers till the sun\nset behind the tall cherry-trees; after which a pretty little bed, with\ncrimson silk cushions, stuffed with blue violet leaves, was prepared for\nher, and here she slept so sweetly and had such dreams as a queen might\nhave on her bridal eve.\n\nThe next day she again played among the flowers in the warm sunshine,\nand many more days were spent in the same manner. Gerda knew every\nflower in the garden, but, numerous as they were, it seemed to her that\none was wanting, she could not tell which. She was sitting one day,\nlooking at her hostess\u2019s hat, which had flowers painted on it, and,\nbehold, the loveliest among them was a rose! The old lady had entirely\nforgotten the painted rose on her hat, when she made the real roses to\ndisappear from her garden and sink into the ground. This is often the\ncase when things are done hastily.\n\n\u2018What,\u2019 cried Gerda \u2018are there no roses in the garden?\u2019 And she ran from\none bed to another, sought and sought again, but no rose was to be\nfound. She sat down and wept, and it so chanced that her tears fell on a\nspot where a rose-tree had formerly stood, and as soon as her warm tears\nhad moistened the earth, the bush shot up anew, as fresh and as blooming\nas it was before it had sunk into the ground; and Gerda threw her arms\naround it, kissed the blossoms, and immediately recalled to memory the\nbeautiful roses at home, and her little playfellow Kay. \u2018Oh, how could I\nstay here so long!\u2019 exclaimed the little maiden. \u2018I left my home to seek\nfor Kay. Do you know where he is?\u2019 she asked of the roses; \u2018think you\nthat he is dead?\u2019\n\n\u2018Dead he is not,\u2019 said the roses. \u2018We have been down in the earth; the\ndead are there, but not Kay.\u2019\n\n\u2018I thank you,\u2019 said little Gerda, and she went to the other flowers,\nbent low over their cups, and asked, \u2018Know you not where little Kay is?\u2019\n\nBut every flower stood in the sunshine dreaming its own little tale.\nThey related their stories to Gerda, but none of them knew anything of\nKay.\n\n\u2018And what think you?\u2019 said the tiger-lily.\n\n\u2018Listen to the drums beating, boom! boom! They have but two notes,\nalways boom! boom! Listen to the dirge the women are singing! Listen to\nthe chorus of priests! Enveloped in her long red robes stands the Hindoo\nwife on the funeral pile; the flames blaze around her and her dead\nhusband, but the Hindoo wife thinks not of the dead. She thinks only of\nthe living, and the anguish which consumes her spirit is keener than the\nfire which will soon reduce her body to ashes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCan the flame of the heart expire amid the flames of the funeral pile?\u2019\n\n\u2018I do not understand that at all!\u2019 said little Gerda.\n\n\u2018That is my tale!\u2019 said the tiger-lily.\n\n\u2018What says the convolvulus?\u2019\n\n\u2018Hanging over a narrow mountain causeway, behold an ancient, baronial\ncastle. Thick evergreens grow amongst the time stained walls, their\nleafy branches entwine about the balcony, and there stands a beautiful\nmaiden; she bends over the balustrades and fixes her eyes with eager\nexpectation on the road winding beneath. The rose hangs not fresher and\nlovelier on its stem than she; the apple-blossom which the wind\nthreatens every moment to tear from its branch is not more fragile and\ntrembling. Listen to the rustling of her rich silken robe! Listen to her\nhalf-whispered words, \u201cHe comes not yet\u201d.\u2019\n\n\u2018Is it Kay you mean?\u2019 asked little Gerda.\n\n\u2018I do but tell you my tale--my dream,\u2019 replied the convolvulus.\n\n\u2018What says the little snowdrop?\u2019\n\n\u2018Between two trees hangs a swing. Two pretty little maidens, their dress\nas white as snow, and long green ribbands fluttering from their hats,\nsit and swing themselves in it. Their brother stands up in the swing, he\nhas thrown his arms round the ropes to keep himself steady, for in one\nhand he holds a little cup, in the other a pipe made of clay; he is\nblowing soap bubbles. The swing moves and the bubbles fly upwards with\nbright, ever-changing colours; the last hovers on the edge of the pipe,\nand moves with the wind. The swing is still in motion, and the little\nblack dog, almost as light as the soap bubbles, rises on his hind feet\nand tries to get into the swing also; away goes the swing, the dog\nfalls, is out of temper, and barks; he is laughed at, and the bubbles\nburst. A swinging board, a frothy, fleeting image is my song.\u2019\n\n\u2018What you describe may be all very pretty, but you speak so mournfully,\nand there is nothing about Kay.\u2019\n\n\u2018What say the hyacinths?\u2019\n\n\u2018There were three fair sisters, transparent and delicate they were; the\nkirtle of the one was red, that of the second blue, of the third pure\nwhite; hand in hand they danced in the moonlight beside the quiet lake;\nthey were not fairies, but daughters of men. Sweet was the fragrance\nwhen the maidens vanished into the wood; the fragrance grew stronger;\nthree biers, whereon lay the fair sisters, glided out from the depths of\nthe wood, and floated upon the lake; the glow-worms flew shining around\nlike little hovering lamps. Sleep the dancing maidens, or are they dead?\nThe odour from the flowers tells us they are corpses, the evening bells\npeal out their dirge.\u2019\n\n\u2018You make me quite sad,\u2019 said little Gerda. \u2018Your fragrance is so strong\nI cannot help thinking of the dead maidens. Alas! and is little Kay\ndead? The roses have been under the earth, and they say no!\u2019\n\n\u2018Ding dong! ding dong!\u2019 rang the hyacinth bells. \u2018We toll not for little\nKay, we know him not! We do but sing our own song, the only one we\nknow!\u2019\n\nAnd Gerda went to the buttercup, which shone so brightly from among her\nsmooth green leaves.\n\n\u2018Thou art like a little bright sun,\u2019 said Gerda; \u2018tell me, if thou\ncanst, where I may find my playfellow.\u2019\n\nAnd the buttercup glittered so brightly, and looked at Gerda. What song\ncould the buttercup sing? Neither was hers about Kay. \u2018One bright spring\nmorning, the sun shone warmly upon a little court-yard. The bright beams\nstreamed down the white walls of a neighbouring house, and close by\n\n[Illustration: GERDA KNEW EVERY FLOWER IN THE GARDEN]\n\ngrew the first yellow flower of spring, glittering like gold in the warm\nsunshine. An old grandmother sat without in her arm-chair, her\ngrand-daughter, a pretty, lowly maiden, had just returned home from a\nshort visit; she kissed her grandmother; there was gold, pure gold, in\nthat loving kiss:\n\n \u2018Gold was the flower!\n Gold the fresh, bright, morning hour!\u2019\n\n\u2018That is my little story,\u2019 said the buttercup.\n\n\u2018My poor old grandmother!\u2019 sighed Gerda; \u2018yes, she must be wishing for\nme, just as she wished for little Kay. But I shall soon go home again,\nand take Kay with me. It is of no use to ask the flowers about him; they\nonly know their own song, they can give me no information.\u2019 And she\nfolded her little frock round her, that she might run the faster; but,\nin jumping over the narcissus, it caught her foot, as if wishing to stop\nher, so she turned and looked at the tall yellow flower, \u2018Have you any\nnews to give me?\u2019 She bent over the narcissus, waiting for an answer.\n\nAnd what said the narcissus?\n\n\u2018I can look at myself!--I can see myself! Oh, how sweet is my\nfragrance!\u2019 Up in the little attic-chamber stands a little dancer. She\nrests sometimes on one leg, sometimes on two. She has trampled the whole\nworld under her feet; she is nothing but an illusion. She pours water\nfrom a tea-pot upon a piece of cloth she holds in her hand--it is her\nbodice; cleanliness is a fine thing! Her white dress hangs on the hook,\nthat has also been washed by the water from the tea-pot, and dried on\nthe roof of the house. She puts it on, and wraps a saffron-coloured\nhandkerchief round her neck; it makes the dress look all the whiter.\nWith one leg extended, there she stands, as though on a stalk. \u2018I can\nlook at myself!--I see myself!\u2019\n\n\u2018I don\u2019t care if you do!\u2019 said Gerda. \u2018You need not have told me that!\u2019\nand away she ran to the end of the garden.\n\nThe gate was closed, but she pressed upon the rusty lock till it broke.\nThe gate sprang open, and little Gerda, with bare feet, ran out into the\nwide world. Three times she looked back, there was no one following her;\nshe ran till she could run no longer, and then sat down to rest upon a\nlarge stone. Casting a glance around, she saw that the summer was past,\nthat it was now late in the autumn. Of course, she had not remarked this\nin the enchanted garden, where there were sunshine and flowers all the\nyear round.\n\n\u2018How long I must have stayed there!\u2019 said little Gerda. \u2018So, it is now\nautumn! Well, then, there is no time to lose!\u2019 and she rose to pursue\nher way.\n\nOh, how sore and weary were her little feet; and all around looked so\ncold and barren. The long willow-leaves had already turned yellow, and\nthe dew trickled down from them like water. The leaves fell off the\ntrees, one by one; the sloe alone bore fruit, and its berries were so\nsharp and bitter! Cold, and grey, and sad seemed the world to her that\nday.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPART THE FOURTH\n\nTHE PRINCE AND THE PRINCESS\n\n\nGerda was again obliged to stop and take rest. Suddenly a\nlarge raven hopped upon the snow in front of her, saying,\n\u2018Caw!--Caw!--Good-day!--Good-day!\u2019 He sat for some time on the withered\nbranch of a tree just opposite, eyeing the little maiden, and wagging\nhis head, and he now came forward to make acquaintance and to ask her\nwhither she was going all alone. That word \u2018alone\u2019 Gerda understood\nright well--she felt how sad a meaning it has. She told the raven the\nhistory of her life and fortunes, and asked if he had seen Kay.\n\nAnd the raven nodded his head, half doubtfully, and said, \u2018That is\npossible--possible.\u2019\n\n\u2018Do you think so?\u2019 exclaimed the little girl, and she kissed the raven\nso vehemently that it is a wonder she did not squeeze him to death.\n\n\u2018More moderately!--moderately!\u2019 said the raven. \u2018I think I know. I think\nit may be little Kay; but he has certainly forsaken thee for the\nprincess.\u2019\n\n\u2018Dwells he with a princess?\u2019 asked Gerda.\n\n\u2018Listen to me,\u2019 said the raven, \u2018but it is so difficult to speak your\nlanguage! Do you understand Ravenish? If so, I can tell you much\nbetter.\u2019\n\n\u2018No! I have never learned Ravenish,\u2019 said Gerda, \u2018but my grandmother\nknew it, and Pye-language also. Oh, how I wish I had learned it!\u2019\n\n\u2018Never mind,\u2019 said the raven, \u2018I will relate my story in the best manner\nI can, though bad will be the best\u2019; and he told all he knew.\n\n\u2018In the kingdom wherein we are now sitting, there dwells a princess, a\nmost uncommonly clever princess. All the newspapers in the world has she\nread, and forgotten them again, so clever is she. It is not long since\nshe ascended the throne, which I have heard is not quite so agreeable a\nsituation as one would fancy; and immediately after she began to sing a\nnew song, the burden of which was this, \u201cWhy should I not marry me?\u201d\n\u201cThere is some sense in this song!\u201d said she, and she determined she\nwould marry, but at the same time declared that the man whom she would\nchoose must be able to answer sensibly whenever people spoke to him, and\nmust be good for something else besides merely looking grand and\nstately. The ladies of the court were then all drummed together, in\norder to be informed of her intentions, whereupon they were highly\ndelighted, and one exclaimed, \u201cThat is just what I wish\u201d; and another,\nthat she had lately been thinking of the very same thing. Believe me,\u2019\ncontinued the raven, \u2018every word I say is true, for I have a tame\nbeloved who hops at pleasure about the palace, and she has told me all\nthis.\u2019\n\nOf course the \u2018beloved\u2019 was also a raven, for birds of a feather flock\ntogether.\n\n\u2018Proclamations, adorned with borders of hearts, were immediately issued,\nwherein, after enumerating the style and titles of the princess, it was\nset forth that every well-favoured youth was free to go to the palace\nand converse with the princess, and that whoever should speak in such\nwise as showed that he felt himself at home, there would be the one the\nprincess would choose for her husband.\n\n\u2018Yes, indeed,\u2019 continued the raven, \u2018you may believe me; all this is as\ntrue as that I sit here. The people all crowded to the palace; there was\nfamous pressing and squeezing; but it was all of no use, either the\nfirst or the second day; the young men could speak well enough while\nthey were outside the palace gates, but when they entered, and saw the\nroyal guard in silver uniform, and the lackeys on the staircase in gold,\nand the spacious saloon, all lighted up, they were quite confounded.\nThey stood before the throne where the princess sat, and when she spoke\nto them, they could only repeat the last word she had uttered, which,\nyou know, it was not particularly interesting for her to hear over\nagain. It was just as though they had been struck dumb the moment they\nentered the palace, for as soon as they got out, they could talk fast\nenough. There was a regular procession constantly moving from the gates\nof the town to the gates of the palace. I was there, and saw it with my\nown eyes,\u2019 said the raven. \u2018They grew both hungry and thirsty whilst\nwaiting at the palace, but no one could get even so much as a glass of\nwater; to be sure, some of them, wiser than the rest, had brought with\nthem slices of bread and butter, but none would give any to his\nneighbour, for he thought to himself, \u201cLet him look hungry, and then the\nprincess will be sure not to choose him.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u2018But Kay, little Kay, when did he come?\u2019 asked Gerda; \u2018was he among the\ncrowd?\u2019\n\n\u2018Presently, presently; we have just come to him. On the third day\narrived a youth with neither horse nor carriage; gaily he marched up to\nthe palace; his eyes sparkled like yours; he had long beautiful hair,\nbut was very meanly clad.\u2019\n\n\u2018That was Kay!\u2019 exclaimed Gerda. \u2018Oh then I have found him,\u2019 and she\nclapped her hands with delight.\n\n\u2018He carried a knapsack on his back,\u2019 said the raven.\n\n\u2018No, not a knapsack,\u2019 said Gerda, \u2018a sledge, for he had a sledge with\nhim when he left home.\u2019\n\n\u2018It is possible,\u2019 rejoined the raven, \u2018I did not look very closely, but\nthis I heard from my beloved, that when he entered the palace gates and\nsaw the royal guard in silver, and the lackeys in gold upon the\nstaircase, he did not seem in the least confused, but nodded pleasantly\nand said to them, \u201cIt must be very tedious standing out here; I prefer\ngoing in.\u201d The halls glistened with light, cabinet councillors and\nexcellencies were walking about bare-footed and carrying golden keys--it\nwas just a place to make a man solemn and silent--and the youth\u2019s boots\ncreaked horribly, yet he was not at all afraid.\u2019\n\n\u2018That most certainly was Kay!\u2019 said Gerda; \u2018I know he had new boots; I\nhave heard them creak in my grandmother\u2019s room.\u2019\n\n\u2018Indeed they did creak,\u2019 said the raven, \u2018but merrily went he up to the\nprincess, who was sitting upon a pearl as large as a spinning-wheel,\nwhilst all the ladies of the court, with the maids of honour and their\nhandmaidens, ranged in order, stood on one side, and all the gentlemen\nin waiting, with their gentlemen, and their gentlemen\u2019s gentlemen, who\nalso kept pages, stood ranged in order on the other side, and the nearer\nthey were to the door the prouder they looked. The gentlemen\u2019s\ngentlemen\u2019s page, who always wears slippers, one dare hardly look at, so\nproudly he stands at the door.\u2019\n\n\u2018That must be dreadful!\u2019 said little Gerda. \u2018And has Kay really won the\nprincess?\u2019\n\n\u2018Had I not been a raven I should have won her myself,\n\n[Illustration: SUDDENLY A LARGE RAVEN HOPPED UPON THE SNOW IN FRONT OF\nHER]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nnotwithstanding my being betrothed. The young man spoke as well as I\nspeak when I converse in Ravenish; that I have heard from my tame\nbeloved. He was handsome and lively--\u201cHe did not come to woo her,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201che had only come to hear the wisdom of the princess,\u201d and he\nliked her much, and she liked him in return.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, to be sure, that was Kay,\u2019 said Gerda; \u2018he was so clever, he could\nreckon in his head, even fractions! Oh, will you not take me into the\npalace?\u2019\n\n\u2018Ah! that is easily said,\u2019 replied the raven, \u2018but how is it to be done?\nI will talk it over with my tame beloved; she will advise us what to do,\nfor I must tell you that such a little girl as you are will never gain\npermission to enter publicly.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, I shall!\u2019 cried Gerda. \u2018When Kay knows that I am here, he will\nimmediately come out and fetch me.\u2019\n\n\u2018Wait for me at the trellis yonder,\u2019 said the raven. He wagged his head\nand away he flew.\n\nThe raven did not return till late in the evening. \u2018Caw, caw,\u2019 said he.\n\u2018My tame beloved greets you kindly, and sends you a piece of bread which\nshe took from the kitchen; there is plenty of bread there, and you must\ncertainly be hungry. It is not possible for you to enter the palace, for\nyou have bare feet; the royal guard in silver uniform, and the lackeys\nin gold, would never permit it; but do not weep, thou shalt go there. My\nbeloved knows a little back staircase leading to the sleeping\napartments, and she knows also where to find the key.\u2019\n\nAnd they went into the garden, down the grand avenue, where the leaves\ndropped upon them as they passed along, and, when the lights in the\npalace one by one had all been extinguished, the raven took Gerda to a\nback-door which stood half open. Oh, how Gerda\u2019s heart beat with fear\nand expectation! It was just as though she was about to do something\nwrong, although she only wanted to know whether Kay was really\nthere--yes, it must be he, she remembered so well his bright eyes and\nlong hair. She would see if his smile were the same as it used to be\nwhen they sat together under the rose-trees. He would be so glad to see\nher, to hear how far she had come for his sake, how all his home mourned\nhis absence. Her heart trembled with fear and joy.\n\nThey went up the staircase. A small lamp placed on a cabinet gave a\nglimmering light; on the floor stood the tame raven, who first turned\nher head on all sides, and then looked at Gerda, who made her curtsy, as\nher grandmother had taught her.\n\n\u2018My betrothed has told me much about you, my good young maiden,\u2019 said\nthe tame raven; \u2018your adventures, too, are extremely interesting! If you\nwill take the lamp, I will show you the way. We are going straight on,\nwe shall not meet any one now.\u2019\n\n\u2018It seems to me as if some one were behind us,\u2019 said Gerda; and in fact\nthere was a rushing sound as of something passing; strange-looking\nshadows flitted rapidly along the wall, horses with long, slender legs\nand fluttering manes, huntsmen, knights, and ladies.\n\n\u2018These are only dreams!\u2019 said the raven; \u2018they come to amuse the great\npersonages here at night; you will have a better opportunity of looking\nat them when you are in bed. I hope that when you arrive at honours and\ndignities you will show a grateful heart.\u2019\n\n\u2018Do not talk of that!\u2019 said the wood-raven.\n\nThey now entered the first saloon; its walls were covered with\nrose-coloured satin, embroidered with gold flowers. The Dreams rustled\npast them, but with such rapidity that Gerda could not see them. The\napartments through which they passed vied with each other in splendour,\nand at last they reached the sleeping-hall. In the centre of this room\nstood a pillar of gold resembling the stem of a large palm-tree, whose\nleaves of glass, costly glass, formed the ceiling, and depending from\nthe tree, hung near the door, on thick golden stalks, two beds in the\nform of lilies--the one was white, wherein reposed the princess, the\nother was red, and here must Gerda seek her playfellow, Kay. She bent\naside one of the red leaves and saw a brown neck. Oh, it must be Kay!\nShe called him by his name aloud, held the lamp close to him, the Dreams\nagain rushed by--he awoke, turned his head, and behold! it was not Kay.\n\nThe prince resembled him only about the throat; he was, however, young\nand handsome; and the princess looked out from the white lily petals,\nand asked what was the matter. Then little Gerda wept and told her whole\nstory, and what the ravens had done for her. \u2018Poor child!\u2019 said the\nprince and princess; and they praised the ravens, and said they were not\nat all angry with them. Such liberties must never be taken again in\ntheir palace, but this time they should be rewarded.\n\n[Illustration: CABINET COUNCILLORS WERE WALKING ABOUT BAREFOOTED]\n\n\u2018Would you like to fly away free to the woods?\u2019 asked the princess,\naddressing the ravens, \u2018or to have the appointment secured to you as\nCourt-Ravens with the perquisites belonging to the kitchen, such as\ncrumbs and leavings?\u2019\n\nAnd both the ravens bowed low and chose the appointment at Court, for\nthey thought of old age, and said it would be so comfortable to be well\nprovided for in their declining years. Then the prince arose and made\nGerda sleep in his bed; and she folded her little hands, thinking, \u2018How\nkind both men and animals are to me!\u2019 She closed her eyes and slept\nsoundly and sweetly, and all the Dreams flitted about her; they looked\nlike angels from heaven, and seemed to be drawing a sledge whereon Kay\nsat and nodded to her. But this was only fancy, for as soon as she awoke\nall the beautiful visions had vanished.\n\nThe next day she was dressed from head to foot in silk and velvet. She\nwas invited to stay at the palace and enjoy all sorts of diversions, but\nshe begged only for a little carriage and a horse, and a pair of little\nboots,--all she desired was to go again into the wide world to seek Kay.\n\nAnd they gave her the boots and a muff besides; she was dressed so\nprettily. And as soon as she was ready there drove up to the door a new\ncarriage of pure gold with the arms of the prince and princess\nglittering upon it like a star, the coachman, the footman, and\noutriders, all wearing gold crowns. The prince and princess themselves\nhelped her into the carriage and wished her success. The wood-raven, who\nwas now married, accompanied her the first three miles; he sat by her\nside, for riding backwards was a thing he could not bear. The other\nraven stood at the door flapping her wings; she did not go with them on\naccount of a headache she had felt ever since she had received her\nappointment, in consequence of eating too much. The carriage was well\nprovided with sugar-plums, fruit, and gingerbread nuts.\n\n\u2018Farewell! farewell!\u2019 cried the prince and princess. Little Gerda wept,\nand the raven wept out of sympathy. But his farewell was a far sorer\ntrial; he flew up to the branch of a tree and flapped his black wings at\nthe carriage till it was out of sight.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPART THE FIFTH\n\nTHE LITTLE ROBBER MAIDEN\n\n\nThey drove through the dark, dark forest; the carriage shone like a\ntorch. Unfortunately its brightness attracted the eyes of the robbers\nwho dwelt in the forest-shades; they could not bear it.\n\n\u2018That is gold! gold!\u2019 cried they. Forward they rushed, seized the\nhorses, stabbed the outriders, coachman, and footmen to death, and\ndragged little Gerda out of the carriage.\n\n\u2018She is plump, she is pretty, she has been fed on nut-kernels,\u2019 said the\nold robber-wife, who had a long, bristly beard, and eyebrows hanging\nlike bushes over her eyes. \u2018She is like a little fat lamb, and how\nsmartly she is dressed!\u2019 and she drew out her bright dagger, glittering\nmost terribly.\n\n\u2018Oh, oh!\u2019 cried the woman, for at the very moment she had lifted her\ndagger to stab Gerda, her own wild and wilful daughter jumped upon her\nback and bit her ear violently. \u2018You naughty child!\u2019 said the mother.\n\n\u2018She shall play with me,\u2019 said the little robber-maiden, \u2018she shall give\nme her muff and her pretty frock, and sleep with me in my bed!\u2019 And then\nshe bit her mother again, till the robber-wife sprang up and shrieked\nwith pain, whilst the robbers all laughed, saying, \u2018Look at her playing\nwith her young one!\u2019\n\n\u2018I will get into the carriage,\u2019 and so spoiled and wayward was the\nlittle robber-maiden that she always had her own way, and she and Gerda\nsat together in the carriage, and drove over stock and stone farther and\nfarther into the wood. The little robber-maiden was about as tall as\nGerda, but much stronger; she had broad shoulders, and a very dark skin;\nher eyes were quite black, and had an expression almost melancholy. She\nput her arm round Gerda\u2019s waist, and said, \u2018She shall not kill thee so\nlong as I love thee! Art thou not a princess?\u2019\n\n\u2018No!\u2019 said Gerda; and then she told her all that had happened to her,\nand how much she loved little Kay.\n\nThe robber-maiden looked earnestly in her face, shook her head, and\nsaid, \u2018She shall not kill thee even if I do quarrel with thee; then,\nindeed, I would rather do it myself!\u2019 And she dried Gerda\u2019s tears, and\nput both her hands into the pretty muff that was so soft and warm.\n\nThe carriage at last stopped in the middle of the courtyard of the\nrobbers\u2019 castle. This castle was half-ruined; crows and ravens flew out\nof the openings, and some fearfully large bull-dogs, looking as if they\ncould devour a man in a moment, jumped round the carriage; they did not\nbark, for that was forbidden.\n\nThe maidens entered a large, smoky hall, where a tremendous fire was\nblazing on the stone floor; the smoke rose up to the ceiling, seeking a\nway of escape, for there was no chimney; a large caldron full of soup\nwas boiling over the fire, whilst hares and rabbits were roasting on the\nspit.\n\n\u2018Thou shalt sleep with me and my little pets to-night!\u2019 said the\nrobber-maiden. Then they had some food, and afterwards went to the\ncorner wherein lay straw and a piece of carpet. Nearly a hundred pigeons\nwere perched on staves and laths around them; they seemed to be asleep,\nbut were startled when the little maidens approached.\n\n\u2018These all belong to me,\u2019 said Gerda\u2019s companion, and seizing hold of\none of the nearest, she held the poor bird by the feet and swung it.\n\u2018Kiss it,\u2019 said she, flapping it into Gerda\u2019s face. \u2018The rabble from the\nwood sit up there,\u2019 continued she, pointing to a number of laths\nfastened across a hole in the wall; \u2018those are wood-pigeons, they would\nfly away if I did not keep them shut up. And here is my old favourite!\u2019\nShe pulled forward by the horn a reindeer who wore a bright copper ring\nround his neck, by which he was fastened to a large stone. \u2018We are\nobliged to chain him up, or he would run away from us; every evening I\ntickle his neck with my sharp dagger; it makes him fear me so much!\u2019 and\nthe robber-maiden drew out a long dagger from a gap in the wall, and\npassed it over the reindeer\u2019s throat; the poor animal struggled and\nkicked, but the girl laughed, and then she pulled Gerda into bed with\nher.\n\n\u2018Will you keep the dagger in your hand whilst you sleep?\u2019 asked Gerda,\nlooking timidly at the dangerous plaything.\n\n\u2018I always sleep with my dagger by my side,\u2019 replied the little\nrobber-maiden; \u2018one never knows what may happen. But now tell me all\nover again what you told me before about\n\n[Illustration: AND THE NEARER THEY WERE TO THE DOOR THE PROUDER THEY\nLOOKED]\n\nKay, and the reason of your coming into the wide world all by yourself.\u2019\n\nAnd Gerda again related her history, and the wood-pigeons imprisoned\nabove listened, but the others were fast asleep. The little\nrobber-maiden threw one arm round Gerda\u2019s neck, and holding the dagger\nwith the other, was also soon asleep; one could hear her heavy\nbreathing, but Gerda could not close her eyes throughout the night--she\nknew not what would become of her, whether she would even be suffered to\nlive. The robbers sat round the fire drinking and singing. Oh, it was a\ndreadful night for the poor little girl!\n\nThen spoke the wood-pigeons, \u2018Coo, coo, coo! we have seen little Kay. A\nwhite fowl carried his sledge, he himself was in the Snow Queen\u2019s\nchariot, which passed through the wood whilst we sat in our nest. She\nbreathed upon us young ones as she passed, and all died of her breath\nexcepting us two,--coo, coo, coo!\u2019\n\n\u2018What are you saying?\u2019 cried Gerda; \u2018where was the Snow Queen going? Do\nyou know anything about it?\u2019\n\n\u2018She travels most likely to Lapland, where ice and snow abide all the\nyear round. Ask the reindeer bound to the rope there.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, ice and snow are there all through the year; it is a glorious\nland!\u2019 said the reindeer. \u2018There, free and happy, one can roam through\nthe wide sparkling valleys! There the Snow Queen has her summer-tent;\nher strong castle is very far off, near the North Pole, on the island\ncalled Spitsbergen.\u2019\n\n\u2018O Kay, dear Kay!\u2019 sighed Gerda.\n\n\u2018You must lie still,\u2019 said the robber-maiden, \u2018or I will thrust my\ndagger into your side.\u2019\n\nWhen morning came Gerda repeated to her what the wood-pigeons had said,\nand the little robber-maiden looked grave for a moment, then nodded her\nhead, saying, \u2018No matter! no matter! Do you know where Lapland is?\u2019\nasked she of the reindeer.\n\n\u2018Who should know but I?\u2019 returned the animal, his eyes kindling. \u2018There\nwas I born and bred, there how often have I bounded over the wild icy\nplains!\u2019\n\n\u2018Listen to me!\u2019 said the robber-maiden to Gerda. \u2018You see all our men\nare gone; my mother is still here and will remain, but towards noon she\nwill drink a little out of the great flask, and after that she will\nsleep--then I will do something for you!\u2019 And so saying she jumped out\nof bed, sprang upon her mother, pulled her by the beard, and said, \u2018My\nown dear mam, good morning!\u2019 and the mother caressed her so roughly that\nshe was red and blue all over; however, it was from pure love.\n\nWhen her mother was fast asleep, the robber-maiden went up to the\nreindeer, and said, \u2018I should have great pleasure in stroking you a few\nmore times with my sharp dagger, for then you look so droll, but never\nmind, I will unloose your chain and help you to escape, on condition\nthat you run as fast as you can to Lapland, and take this little girl to\nthe castle of the Snow Queen, where her playfellow is. You must have\nheard her story, for she speaks loud enough, and you know well how to\nlisten.\u2019\n\nThe reindeer bounded with joy, and the robber-maiden lifted Gerda on his\nback, taking the precaution to bind her on firmly, as well as to give\nher a little cushion to sit on. \u2018And here,\u2019 said she, \u2018are your fur\nboots, you will need them in that cold country; the muff I must keep\nmyself, it is too pretty to part with; but you shall not be frozen. Here\nare my mother\u2019s huge gloves, they reach up to the elbow; put them\non--now your hands look as clumsy as my old mother\u2019s!\u2019\n\nAnd Gerda shed tears of joy.\n\n\u2018I cannot bear to see you crying!\u2019 said the little robber-maiden, \u2018you\nought to look glad; see, here are two loaves and a piece of bacon for\nyou, that you may not be hungry on the way.\u2019 She fastened this provender\nalso on the reindeer\u2019s back, opened the door, called away the great\ndogs, and then cutting asunder with her dagger the rope which bound the\nreindeer, shouted to him, \u2018Now then, run! but take good care of the\nlittle girl.\u2019\n\nAnd Gerda stretched out her hands to the robber-maiden and bade her\nfarewell, and the reindeer fleeted through the forest, over stock and\nstone, over desert and heath, over meadow and moor. The wolves howled\nand the ravens shrieked. \u2018Isch! Isch!\u2019 a red light flashed--one might\nhave fancied the sky was sneezing.\n\n\u2018Those are my dear old Northern Lights!\u2019 said the reindeer; \u2018look at\nthem, how beautiful they are!\u2019 And he ran faster than ever, night and\nday he ran--the loaves were eaten, so was the bacon--at last they were\nin Lapland.\n\n[Illustration: AND FLAPPED HIS BLACK WINGS AT THE CARRIAGE TILL IT WAS\nOUT OF SIGHT]\n\n\n\n\nPART THE SIXTH\n\nTHE LAPLAND WOMAN AND THE FINLAND WOMAN\n\n\nThey stopped at a little hut, a wretched hut it was; the roof very\nnearly touched the ground, and the door was so low that whoever wished\nto go either in or out was obliged to crawl upon hands and knees. No one\nwas at home except the old Lapland woman, who was busy boiling fish over\na lamp filled with train oil. The reindeer related to her Gerda\u2019s whole\nhistory, not, however, till after he had made her acquainted with his\nown, which appeared to him of much more importance. Poor Gerda,\nmeanwhile, was so overpowered by the cold that she could not speak.\n\n\u2018Ah, poor things!\u2019 said the Lapland woman, \u2018you have still a long way\nbefore you! You have a hundred miles to run before you can arrive in\nFinland: the Snow Queen dwells there, and burns blue lights every\nevening. I will write for you a few words on a piece of dried\nstock-fish--paper I have none--and you may take it with you to the wise\nFinland woman who lives there; she will advise you better than I can.\u2019\n\nSo when Gerda had well warmed herself and taken some food, the Lapland\nwoman wrote a few words on a dried stock-fish, bade Gerda take care of\nit, and bound her once more firmly on the reindeer\u2019s back.\n\nOnwards they sped, the wondrous Northern Lights, now of the loveliest,\nbrightest blue colour, shone all through the night, and amidst these\nsplendid illuminations they arrived in Finland, and knocked at the\nchimney of the wise-woman, for door to her house she had none.\n\nHot, very hot was it within--so much so that the wise-woman wore\nscarcely any clothing; she was low in stature and very dirty. She\nimmediately loosened little Gerda\u2019s dress, took off her fur boots and\nthick gloves, laid a piece of ice on the reindeer\u2019s head, and then read\nwhat was written on the stock-fish. She read it three times. After the\nthird reading she knew it by heart, and threw the fish into the\nporridge-pot, for it might make a very excellent supper, and she never\nwasted anything.\n\nThe reindeer then repeated his own story, and when that was finished he\ntold of little Gerda\u2019s adventures, and the wise-woman twinkled her wise\neyes, but spoke not a word.\n\n\u2018Thou art so powerful,\u2019 continued the reindeer, \u2018that I know thou canst\ntwist all the winds of the world into a thread, of which if the pilot\nloosen one knot he will have a favourable wind; if he loosen the second\nit will blow sharp, and if he loosen the third, so tremendous a storm\nwill arise that the trees of the forest will be uprooted, and the ship\nwrecked. Wilt thou not mix for this little maiden that wonderful draught\nwhich will give her the strength of twelve men, and thus enable her to\novercome the Snow Queen?\u2019\n\n\u2018The strength of twelve men!\u2019 repeated the wise-woman, \u2018that would be of\nmuch use to be sure!\u2019 and she walked away, drew forth a large parchment\nroll from a shelf and began to read. What strange characters were seen\ninscribed on the scroll as the wise-woman slowly unrolled it! She read\nso intently that the perspiration ran down her forehead.\n\nBut the reindeer pleaded so earnestly for little Gerda, and Gerda\u2019s eyes\nwere raised so entreatingly and tearfully, that at last the wise-woman\u2019s\neyes began to twinkle again out of sympathy, and she drew the reindeer\ninto a corner, and putting a fresh piece of ice upon his head, whispered\nthus:\n\n\u2018Little Kay is still with the Snow Queen, in whose abode everything is\naccording to his taste, and therefore he believes it to be the best\nplace in the world. But that is because he has a glass splinter in his\nheart, and a glass splinter in his eye--until he has got rid of them he\nwill never feel like a human being, and the Snow Queen will always\nmaintain her influence over him.\u2019\n\n\u2018But canst thou not give something to little Gerda whereby she may\novercome all these evil influences?\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THE LITTLE ROBBER-MAIDEN]\n\n\u2018I can give her no power so great as that which she already possesses.\nSeest thou not how strong she is? Seest thou not that both men and\nanimals must serve her--a poor little girl wandering barefoot through\nthe world? Her power is greater than ours; it proceeds from her heart,\nfrom her being a loving and innocent child. If this power which she\nalready possesses cannot give her access to the Snow Queen\u2019s palace, and\nenable her to free Kay\u2019s eye and heart from the glass fragment, we can\ndo nothing for her! Two miles hence is the Snow Queen\u2019s garden; thither\nthou canst carry the little maiden. Put her down close by the bush\nbearing red berries and half covered with snow: lose no time, and hasten\nback to this place!\u2019\n\nAnd the wise-woman lifted Gerda on the reindeer\u2019s back, and away they\nwent.\n\n\u2018Oh, I have left my boots behind! I have left my gloves behind,\u2019 cried\nlittle Gerda, when it was too late. The cold was piercing, but the\nreindeer dared not stop; on he ran until he reached the bush with the\nred berries. Here he set Gerda down, kissed her, the tears rolling down\nhis cheeks the while, and ran fast back again--which was the best thing\nhe could do. And there stood poor Gerda, without shoes, without gloves,\nalone in that barren region, that terribly icy-cold Finland.\n\nShe ran on as fast as she could; a whole regiment of snow-flakes came to\nmeet her. They did not fall from the sky, which was cloudless and bright\nwith the Northern Lights; they ran straight along the ground, and the\nfarther Gerda advanced the larger they grew. Gerda then remembered how\nlarge and curious the snow-flakes had appeared to her when one day she\nhad looked at them through a burning-glass; these, however, were very\nmuch larger, they were living forms, they were in fact the Snow Queen\u2019s\nguards. Their shapes were the strangest that could be imagined; some\nlooked like great ugly porcupines, others like snakes rolled into knots\nwith their heads peering forth, and others like little fat bears with\nbristling hair--all, however, were alike dazzlingly white--all were\nliving snow-flakes. Little Gerda began to repeat \u2018Our Father\u2019:\nmeanwhile, the cold was so intense that she could see her own breath,\nwhich, as it escaped her mouth, ascended into the air like vapour; the\ncold grew intense, the vapour more dense, and at length took the forms\nof little bright angels which, as they touched the earth, became larger\nand more distinct. They wore helmets on their heads, and carried shields\nand spears in their hands; their number increased so rapidly that, by\nthe time Gerda had finished her prayer, a whole legion stood around her.\nThey thrust with their spears against the horrible snow-flakes, which\nfell into thousands of pieces, and little Gerda walked on unhurt and\nundaunted. The angels touched her hands and feet, and then she scarcely\nfelt the cold, and boldly approached the Snow Queen\u2019s palace.\n\nBut before we accompany her there, let us see what Kay is doing. He is\ncertainly not thinking of little Gerda; least of all can he imagine that\nshe is now standing at the palace gate.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPART THE SEVENTH\n\nWHICH TREATS OF THE SNOW QUEEN\u2019S PALACE, AND OF WHAT CAME TO PASS\nTHEREIN\n\n\nThe walls of the palace were formed of the driven snow, its doors and\nwindows of the cutting winds. There were above a hundred halls, the\nlargest of them many miles in extent, all illuminated by the Northern\nLights, all alike vast, empty, icily cold, and dazzlingly white. No\nsounds of mirth ever resounded through these dreary spaces; no cheerful\nscene refreshed the sight--not even so much as a bear\u2019s ball, such as\none might imagine sometimes takes place, the tempest forming a band of\nmusicians, and the polar bears standing on their hind paws and\nexhibiting themselves in the oddest positions. Nor was there ever a\ncard-assembly, wherein the cards might be held in the mouth and dealt\nout by paws; nor even a small select coffee-party for the white young\nlady foxes. Vast, empty, and cold were the Snow Queen\u2019s chambers, and\nthe Northern Lights flashed, now high, now low, in regular gradations.\nIn the midst of the empty, interminable snow saloon lay a frozen lake;\nit was broken into a thousand pieces, but these pieces so exactly\nresembled each other, that the breaking of them might well be deemed a\nwork of more than human skill. The Snow Queen, when at home, always sat\nin the centre of this lake; she used to say that she was then sitting on\nthe Mirror of Reason, and that hers was the best, indeed the only one,\nin the world.\n\nLittle Kay was quite blue, nay, almost black with cold, but he did not\nobserve it, for the Snow Queen had kissed away the shrinking feeling he\nused to experience, and his heart was like a lump of ice. He was busied\namong the sharp icy fragments, laying and joining them together in every\npossible way, just as people do with what are called Chinese puzzles.\nKay could form the most curious and complete figures--this was the\nice-puzzle of reason--and in his eyes these figures were of the utmost\nimportance. He often formed whole words, but there was one word he could\nnever succeed in forming--it was Eternity. The Snow Queen had said to\nhim, \u2018When thou canst put that figure together, thou shalt become thine\nown master and I will give thee the whole world, and a new pair of\nskates besides.\u2019\n\nBut he could never do it.\n\n\u2018Now I am going to the warm countries,\u2019 said the Snow Queen. \u2018I shall\nflit through the air, and look into the black caldrons\u2019--she meant the\nburning mountains, Etna and Vesuvius. \u2018I shall whiten them a little;\nthat will be good for the citrons and vineyards.\u2019 So away flew the Snow\nQueen, leaving Kay sitting all alone in the large empty hall of ice. He\nlooked at the fragments, and thought and thought till his head ached. He\nsat so still and so stiff that one might have fancied that he too was\nfrozen.\n\nCold and cutting blew the winds when little Gerda passed through the\npalace gates, but she repeated her evening prayer, and they immediately\nsank to rest. She entered the large, cold, empty hall: she saw Kay, she\nrecognised him, she flew upon his neck, she held him fast, and cried,\n\u2018Kay! dear, dear Kay! I have found thee at last!\u2019\n\nBut he sat still as before, cold, silent, motionless; his unkindness\nwounded poor Gerda deeply. Hot and bitter were the tears she shed; they\nfell upon his breast, they reached his heart, they thawed the ice and\ndissolved the tiny splinter of glass within it. He looked at her whilst\nshe sang her hymn--\n\n \u2018Our roses bloom and fade away,\n Our Infant Lord abides alway;\n May we be blessed His face to see,\n And ever little children be!\u2019\n\nThen Kay burst into tears. He wept till the glass splinter floated in\nhis eye and fell with his tears; he knew his old companion immediately,\nand exclaimed with joy, \u2018Gerda, my dear little Gerda, where hast thou\nbeen all this time?--and where have I been?\u2019\n\nHe looked around him. \u2018How cold it is here! how wide and empty!\u2019 and he\nembraced Gerda, whilst she laughed and wept by turns. Even the pieces of\nice took part in their joy; they danced about merrily, and when they\nwere wearied and lay down they formed of their own accord the mystical\nletters of which the Snow Queen had said that when Kay could put them\ntogether he should be his own master, and that she would give him the\nwhole world, with a new pair of skates besides.\n\nAnd Gerda kissed his cheeks, whereupon they became fresh and glowing as\never; she kissed his eyes, and they sparkled like her own; she kissed\nhis hands and feet, and he was once more healthy and merry. The Snow\nQueen might now come home as soon as she liked--it mattered not; Kay\u2019s\ncharter of freedom stood written on the mirror in bright icy characters.\n\n[Illustration: SHE RAN ON AS FAST AS SHE COULD]\n\nThey took each other by the hand, and wandered forth out of the palace,\ntalking meanwhile about the aged grandmother and the rose-trees on the\nroof of their houses; and as they walked on, the winds were hushed into\na calm, and the sun burst forth in splendour from among the dark\nstorm-clouds. When they arrived at the bush with the red berries, they\nfound the reindeer standing by awaiting their arrival; he had brought\nwith him another and younger reindeer, whose udders were full, and who\ngladly gave her warm milk to refresh the young travellers.\n\nThe old reindeer and the young hind now carried Kay and Gerda on their\nbacks, first to the little hot room of the wise-woman of Finland, where\nthey warmed themselves, and received advice how to proceed in their\njourney home, and afterwards to the abode of the Lapland woman, who made\nthem some new clothes and provided them with a sledge.\n\nThe whole party now ran on together till they came to the boundary of\nthe country; but just where the green leaves began to sprout, the\nLapland woman and the two reindeers took their leave. \u2018Farewell!\nfarewell!\u2019 said they all. And the first little birds they had seen for\nmany a long day began to chirp, and warble their pretty songs; and the\ntrees of the forest burst upon them full of rich and variously tinted\nfoliage. Suddenly the green boughs parted asunder, and a spirited horse\ngalloped up. Gerda knew it well, for it was the one which had been\nharnessed to her gold coach; and on it sat a young girl wearing a bright\nscarlet cap, and with pistols on the holster before her. It was indeed\nno other than the robber-maiden, who, weary of her home in the forest,\nwas going on her travels, first to the north and afterwards to other\nparts of the world. She at once recognised Gerda, and Gerda had not\nforgotten her. Most joyful was their greeting.\n\n\u2018A fine gentleman you are, to be sure, you graceless young truant!\u2019 said\nshe to Kay. \u2018I should like to know if you deserved that any one should\nbe running to the end of the world on your account!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: SHE ENTERED THE LARGE, COLD, EMPTY HALL]\n\nBut Gerda stroked her cheeks, and asked after the prince and princess.\n\n\u2018They are gone travelling into foreign countries,\u2019 replied the\nrobber-maiden.\n\n\u2018And the raven?\u2019 asked Gerda.\n\n\u2018Ah! the raven is dead,\u2019 returned she. \u2018The tame beloved has become a\nwidow; so she hops about with a piece of worsted wound round her leg;\nshe moans most piteously, and chatters more than ever! But tell me now\nall that has happened to you, and how you managed to pick up your old\nplayfellow.\u2019\n\nAnd Gerda and Kay told their story.\n\n\u2018Snip-snap-snurre-basselurre!\u2019 said the robber-maiden. She pressed the\nhands of both, promised that if ever she passed through their town she\nwould pay them a visit, and then bade them farewell, and rode away out\ninto the wide world.\n\nKay and Gerda walked on hand in hand, and wherever they went it was\nspring, beautiful spring, with its bright flowers and green leaves.\n\nThey arrived at a large town, the church bells were ringing merrily, and\nthey immediately recognised the high towers rising into the sky--it was\nthe town wherein they had lived. Joyfully they passed through the\nstreets, joyfully they stopped at the door of Gerda\u2019s grandmother. They\nwalked up the stairs and entered the well-known room. The clock said\n\u2018Tick, tick!\u2019 and the hands moved as before. Only one alteration could\nthey find, and that was in themselves, for they saw that they were now\nfull-grown persons. The rose-trees on the roof blossomed in front of the\nopen window, and there beneath them stood the children\u2019s stools. Kay and\nGerda went and sat down upon them, still holding each other by the\nhands; the cold, hollow splendour of the Snow Queen\u2019s palace they had\nforgotten, it seemed to them only an unpleasant dream. The grandmother\nmeanwhile sat amid God\u2019s bright sunshine, and read from the Bible these\nwords: \u2018Unless ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the\nkingdom of heaven.\u2019\n\nAnd Kay and Gerda gazed on each other; they now understood the words of\ntheir hymn--\n\n \u2018Our roses bloom and fade away,\n Our Infant Lord abides alway;\n May we be blessed His face to see,\n And ever little children be!\u2019\n\nThere they sat, those two happy ones, grown-up and yet\nchildren--children in heart, while all around them glowed bright\nsummer,--warm, glorious summer.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: THE ELFIN KING\u2019S HOUSEKEEPER]\n\n\n\n\nELFIN-MOUNT\n\n\nSeveral large lizards were running nimbly in and out among the clefts of\nan old tree; they could understand each other perfectly well, for they\nall spoke the lizards\u2019 language. \u2018Only hear what a rumbling and\ngrumbling there is in the old Elfin-mount yonder!\u2019 observed one lizard.\n\u2018I have not been able to close my eyes for the last two nights; I might\nas well have had the toothache, for the sleep I have had!\u2019\n\n\u2018There is something in the wind, most certainly!\u2019 rejoined the second\nlizard. \u2018They raise the Mount upon four red pillars till cock-crowing;\nthere is a regular cleaning and dusting going on, and the Elfin-maidens\nare learning new dances--such a stamping they make in them! There is\ncertainly something in the wind!\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes; I have been talking it over with an earth-worm of my\nacquaintance,\u2019 said a third lizard. \u2018The earth-worm has just come from\nthe Mount; he has been grubbing in the ground there for days and nights\ntogether, and has overheard a good deal; he can\u2019t see at all, poor\nwretch! but no one can be quicker than he is at feeling and hearing.\nThey are expecting strangers at the Elfin-mount--distinguished\nstrangers; but who they are, the earth-worm would not say; most likely\nhe did not know. All the wills-o\u2019-the-wisp are engaged to form a\nprocession of torches--so they call it; and all the silver and gold, of\nwhich there is such a store in the Elfin-mount, is being fresh rubbed\nup, and set out to shine in the moonlight.\u2019\n\n\u2018But who can these strangers be?\u2019 exclaimed all the lizards with one\nvoice. \u2018What can be in the wind? Only listen!--what buzzing and\nhumming!\u2019\n\nJust then the Elfin-mount parted asunder; and an elderly Elfin damsel\ncame tripping out--she was the old Elfin-King\u2019s housekeeper, and\ndistantly related to his family, on which account she wore an amber\nheart on her forehead, but was otherwise plainly dressed. Like all other\nelves, she was hollow in the back. She was very quick and light-footed;\ntrip--trip--trip, away she ran, straight into the marsh, to the\nnight-raven. \u2018You are invited to Elfin-mount, for this very evening,\u2019\nsaid she; \u2018but will you not first do us a very great kindness, and be\nthe bearer of the other invitations? You do not keep house, yourself,\nyou know; so you can easily oblige us. We are expecting some very\ndistinguished strangers, Trolds in fact; and his Elfin Majesty intends\nto welcome them in person.\u2019\n\n\u2018Who are to be invited?\u2019 inquired the night-raven.\n\n\u2018Why, to the grand ball all the world may come; even men, if they could\nbut talk in their sleep, or do a little bit of anything in our way. But\nthe first banquet must be very select; none but guests of the very\nhighest rank must be present. To say the truth, I and the King have been\nhaving a little dispute; for I insist, that not even ghosts may be\nadmitted to-night. The Mer-King and his daughters must be invited first;\nthey don\u2019t much like coming on land, but I\u2019ll promise they shall each\nhave a wet stone, or, perhaps, something better still, to sit on; and\nthen, I think, they cannot possibly refuse us this time. All old Trolds\nof the first rank we must have; also, the River-Spirit and the Nisses;\nand, I fancy, we cannot pass over the Death-Horse and Kirkegrim; true,\nthey do not belong to our set, they are too solemn for us, but they are\nconnected with the family, and pay us regular visits.\u2019\n\n\u2018Caw!\u2019 said the night-raven; and away he flew to bear the invitations.\n\nThe Elfin-maidens were still dancing in the Elfin-mount; they danced\nwith long scarfs woven from mist and moonlight, and for those who like\nthat sort of thing it looks pretty enough. The large state-room in the\nMount had been regularly cleaned and cleared out; the floor had been\nwashed with moonshine, and the walls rubbed with witches\u2019 fat till they\nshone as tulips do when held up to the light. In the kitchen, frogs were\nroasting on the spit; while divers other choice dishes, such as mushroom\nseed, hemlock soup, etc., were prepared or preparing. These were to\nsupply the first courses; rusty nails, bits of coloured glass, and such\nlike dainties, were to come in for the dessert; there was also bright\nsaltpetre wine, and ale brewed in the brewery of the Wise Witch of the\nMoor.\n\nThe old Elfin-King\u2019s gold crown had been fresh rubbed with\npowdered slate-pencil; new curtains had been hung up in all the\nsleeping-rooms,--yes, there was indeed a rare bustle and commotion.\n\n\u2018Now, we must have the rooms scented with cows\u2019 hairs and swine\u2019s\nbristles; and then, I think, I shall have done my part!\u2019 said the\nElfin-King\u2019s housekeeper.\n\n\u2018Dear papa,\u2019 said the youngest of the daughters, \u2018won\u2019t you tell me now\nwho these grand visitors are?\u2019\n\n\u2018Well!\u2019 replied His Majesty, \u2018I suppose there\u2019s no use in keeping it a\nsecret. Let two of my daughters get themselves ready for their\nwedding-day, that\u2019s all! Two of them most certainly will be married. The\nChief of the Norwegian Trolds, he who dwells in old Dofrefield, and has\nso many castles of freestone among these rocky fastnesses, besides a\ngold-mine,--which is a capital thing, let me tell you,--he is coming\ndown here with his two boys, who are both to choose themselves a bride.\nSuch an honest, straightforward, true old Norseman is this mountain\nchief! so merry and jovial! he and I are old comrades; he came down here\nyears ago to fetch his wife; she is dead now; she was the daughter of\nthe Rock-King at M\u00f6en. Oh, how I long to see the old Norseman again! His\nsons, they say, are rough unmannerly cubs, but perhaps report may have\ndone them injustice, and at any rate they are sure to improve in a year\nor two, when they have sown their wild oats. Let me see how you will\npolish them up!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THE MER-KING MUST BE INVITED FIRST]\n\n\u2018And how soon are they to be here?\u2019 inquired his youngest daughter\nagain.\n\n\u2018That depends on wind and weather!\u2019 returned the Elfin-King. \u2018They\ntravel economically; they come at the ship\u2019s convenience. I wanted them\nto pass over by Sweden, but the old man would not hear of that. He does\nnot keep pace with the times, that\u2019s the only fault I can find with\nhim.\u2019\n\nJust then two wills-o\u2019-the-wisp were seen dancing up in a vast hurry,\neach trying to get before the other, and to be the first to bring the\nnews.\n\n\u2018They come, they come!\u2019 cried both with one voice.\n\n\u2018Give me my crown, and let me stand in the moonlight!\u2019 said the\nElfin-King.\n\nAnd his seven daughters lifted their long scarfs and bowed low to the\nearth.\n\nThere stood the Trold Chief from the Dofrefield, wearing a crown\ncomposed of icicles and polished pine cones; for the rest, he was\nequipped in a bear-skin cloak and sledge-boots; his sons were clad more\nslightly, and kept their throats uncovered, by way of showing that they\ncared nothing about the cold.\n\n\u2018Is that a mount?\u2019 asked the youngest of them, pointing to it. \u2018Why, up\nin Norway we should call it a cave!\u2019\n\n\u2018You foolish boy!\u2019 replied his father; \u2018a cave you go into, a mount you\ngo up! Where are your eyes, not to see the difference?\u2019\n\nThe only thing that surprised them in this country, they said, was that\nthe people should speak and understand their language.\n\n\u2018Behave yourselves now!\u2019 said the old man; \u2018don\u2019t let your host fancy\nyou never went into decent company before!\u2019\n\nAnd now they all entered the Elfin-mount, into the grand saloon, where a\nreally very select party was assembled, although at such short notice\nthat it seemed almost as though some fortunate gust of wind had blown\nthem together. And every possible arrangement had been made for the\ncomfort of each of the guests; the Mer-King\u2019s family, for instance, sat\nat table in large tubs of water, and they declared they felt quite as if\nthey were at home. All behaved with strict good-breeding except the two\nyoung northern Trolds, who at last so far forgot themselves as to put\ntheir legs on the table.\n\n\u2018Take your legs away from the plates!\u2019 said their father, and they\nobeyed, but not so readily as they might have done. Presently they took\nsome pine cones out of their pockets and began pelting the lady who sat\nbetween them, and then, finding their boots incommode them, they took\nthem off, and coolly gave them to this lady to hold. But their father,\nthe old mountain Chief, conducted himself very differently; he talked so\ndelightfully about the proud Norse mountains, and the torrents, white\nwith dancing spray, that dashed foaming down their rocky steeps with a\nnoise loud and hoarse as thunder, yet musical as the full burst of an\norgan, touched by a master hand; he told of the salmon leaping up from\nthe wild waters while the Neck was playing on his golden harp; he told\nof the star-light winter nights when the sledge bells tinkled so\nmerrily, and the youths ran with lighted torches over the icy crust, so\nglassy and transparent that through it they could see the fishes\nwhirling to and fro in deadly terror beneath their feet; he told of the\ngallant northern youths and pretty maidens singing songs of old time,\nand dancing the Hallinge dance,--yes, so charmingly he described all\nthis, that you could not but fancy you heard and saw it all. Oh fie, for\nshame: all of a sudden the mountain Chief turned round upon the elderly\nElfin maiden, and gave her a cousinly salute, and he was not yet\nconnected ever so remotely with the family.\n\nThe young Elfin-maidens were now called upon to dance. First they danced\nsimple dances, then stamping dances, and\n\n[Illustration]\n\nthey did both remarkably well. Last came the most difficult of all, the\n\u2018Dance out of the dance,\u2019 as it was called. Bravo! how long their legs\nseemed to grow, and how they whirled and spun about! You could hardly\ndistinguish legs from arms, or arms from legs. Round and round they\nwent, such whirling and twirling, such whirring and whizzing there was\nthat it made the death-horse feel quite dizzy, and at last he grew so\nunwell that he was obliged to leave the table.\n\n[Illustration: THEY FELT QUITE AS IF THEY WERE AT HOME]\n\n\u2018Hurrah!\u2019 cried the mountain Chief, \u2018they know how to use their limbs\nwith a vengeance! but can they do nothing else than dance, stretch out\ntheir feet, and spin round like a whirlwind?\u2019\n\n\u2018You shall judge for yourself,\u2019 replied the Elfin-King, and here he\ncalled the eldest of his daughters to him. She was transparent and fair\nas moonlight; she was, in fact, the most delicate of all the sisters;\nshe put a white wand between her lips and vanished: that was her\naccomplishment.\n\nBut the mountain Chief said he should not at all like his wife to\npossess such an accomplishment as this, and he did not think his sons\nwould like it either.\n\nThe second could walk by the side of herself, just as though she had a\nshadow, which elves and trolds never have.\n\nThe accomplishment of the third sister was of quite another kind: she\nhad learned how to brew good ale from the Wise Witch of the Moor, and\nshe also knew how to lard alder-wood with glow-worms.\n\n\u2018She will make a capital housewife,\u2019 remarked the old mountain Chief.\n\nAnd now advanced the fourth Elfin damsel; she carried a large gold harp,\nand no sooner had she struck the first chord than all the company lifted\ntheir left feet--for elves are left-sided--and when she struck the\nsecond chord, they were all compelled to do whatever she wished.\n\n\u2018A dangerous lady, indeed!\u2019 said the old Trold Chief. Both of his sons\nnow got up and strode out of the mount; they were heartily weary of\nthese accomplishments.\n\n\u2018And what can the next daughter do?\u2019 asked the mountain Chief.\n\n\u2018I have learned to love the north,\u2019 replied she, \u2018and I have resolved\nnever to marry unless I may go to Norway.\u2019\n\nBut the youngest of the sisters whispered to the old man, \u2018That is only\nbecause she has heard an old Norse rhyme, which says that when the end\nof the world shall come, the Norwegian rocks shall stand firm amid the\nruins; she is very much afraid of death, and therefore she wants to go\nto Norway.\u2019\n\n\u2018Ho, ho!\u2019 cried the mountain Chief, \u2018sits the wind in that quarter? But\nwhat can the seventh and last do?\u2019\n\n\u2018The sixth comes before the seventh,\u2019 said the Elfin-King; for he could\ncount better than to make such a mistake. However, the sixth seemed in\nno hurry to come forward.\n\n\u2018I can only tell people the truth,\u2019 said she. \u2018Let no one trouble\nhimself about me; I have enough to do to sew my shroud!\u2019\n\nAnd now came the seventh and last, and what could she do? Why, she could\ntell fairy tales, as many as any one could wish to hear.\n\n\u2018Here are my five fingers,\u2019 said the mountain Chief; \u2018tell me a story\nfor each finger.\u2019\n\nAnd the Elfin-maiden took hold of his wrist, and told her stories, and\nhe laughed till his sides ached, and when she came to the finger that\nwore a gold ring, as though it knew it might be wanted, the mountain\nChief suddenly exclaimed, \u2018Hold fast what thou hast; the hand is thine!\nI will have thee myself to wife!\u2019 But the Elfin-maiden said that she had\nstill two more stories to tell, one for the ring-finger, and another for\nthe little finger.\n\n\u2018Keep them for next winter, we\u2019ll hear them then,\u2019 replied the mountain\nChief. \u2018And we\u2019ll hear about the \u201cLoves of the Fir-Tree and the Birch,\u201d\nabout the Valkyria\u2019s gifts too, for we all love fairy legends in Norway,\nand no one there can tell them so charmingly as thou dost. And then we\nwill sit in our rocky halls, whilst the fir-logs are blazing and\ncrackling in the stove, and drink mead out of the golden horns of the\nold Norse kings; the Neck has taught me a few of his rare old ditties,\nbesides the Garbo will often come and pay us a visit, and he will sing\nthee all the sweet songs that the mountain maidens sang in days of\nyore;--that will be most delightful! The salmon in the torrent will\nspring up and beat himself against the rock walls, but in vain, he will\nnot be able to get in. Oh, thou canst not imagine what a happy, glorious\nlife we lead in that dear old Norway! But where are the boys?\u2019\n\nWhere were the boys? Why, they were racing about in the fields and\nblowing out the poor wills-o\u2019-the-wisp, who were just ranging themselves\nin the proper order to make a procession of torches.\n\n\u2018What do you mean by making all this riot?\u2019 inquired the mountain Chief.\n\u2018I have been choosing you a mother; now you come and choose yourselves\nwives from among your aunts.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: I WILL HAVE THEE MYSELF TO WIFE]\n\nBut his sons said they would rather make speeches and drink toasts; they\nhad not the slightest wish to marry. And accordingly they made speeches,\ntossed off their glasses and turned them topsy-turvy on the table, to\nshow that they were quite empty; after this they took off their coats,\nand most unceremoniously lay down on the table and went to sleep. But\nthe old mountain Chief, the while, danced round the hall with his young\nbride, and exchanged boots with her, because that is not so vulgar as\nexchanging rings.\n\n\u2018Listen, the cock is crowing!\u2019 exclaimed the lady-housekeeper. \u2018We must\nmake haste and shut the window-shutters close, or the sun will scorch\nour complexions.\u2019\n\nAnd herewith Elfin-mount closed.\n\nBut outside, in the cloven trunk, the lizards kept running up and down,\nand one and all declared, \u2018What a capital fellow that old Norwegian\nTrold is!\u2019 \u2018For my part, I prefer the boys,\u2019 said the earth-worm;--but\nhe, poor wretch, could see nothing either of them or of their father, so\nhis opinion was not worth much.\n\n[Illustration: THE LITTLE MERMAID]\n\n\n\n\nTHE LITTLE MERMAID\n\n\nFar out in the wide sea,--where the water is blue as the loveliest\ncornflower, and clear as the purest crystal, where it is so deep that\nvery, very many church-towers must be heaped one upon another in order\nto reach from the lowest depth to the surface above,--dwell the\nMer-people.\n\nNow you must not imagine that there is nothing but sand below the water:\nno, indeed, far from it! Trees and plants of wondrous beauty grow there,\nwhose stems and leaves are so light, that they are waved to and fro by\nthe slightest motion of the water, almost as if they were living beings.\nFishes, great and small, glide in and out among the branches, just as\nbirds fly about among our trees.\n\nWhere the water is deepest stands the palace of the Mer-king. The walls\nof this palace are of coral, and the high, pointed windows are of amber;\nthe roof, however, is composed of mussel-shells, which, as the billows\npass over them, are continually opening and shutting. This looks\nexceedingly pretty, especially as each of these mussel-shells contains a\nnumber of bright, glittering pearls, one only of which would be the most\ncostly ornament in the diadem of a king in the upper world.\n\nThe Mer-king, who lived in this palace, had been for many years a\nwidower; his old mother managed the household affairs for him. She was,\non the whole, a sensible sort of a lady, although extremely proud of\nher high birth and station, on which account she wore twelve oysters on\nher tail, whilst the other inhabitants of the sea, even those of\ndistinction, were allowed only six. In every other respect she merited\nunlimited praise, especially for the affection she showed to the six\nlittle princesses, her grand-daughters. These were all very beautiful\nchildren; the youngest was, however, the most lovely; her skin was as\nsoft and delicate as a rose-leaf, her eyes were of as deep a blue as the\nsea, but like all other mermaids, she had no feet, her body ended in a\ntail like that of a fish.\n\nThe whole day long the children used to play in the spacious apartments\nof the palace, where beautiful flowers grew out of the walls on all\nsides around them. When the great amber windows were opened, fishes\nwould swim into these apartments as swallows fly into our rooms; but the\nfishes were bolder than the swallows, they swam straight up to the\nlittle princesses, ate from their hands, and allowed themselves to be\ncaressed.\n\nIn front of the palace there was a large garden, full of fiery red and\ndark blue trees, whose fruit glittered like gold, and whose flowers\nresembled a bright, burning sun. The sand that formed the soil of the\ngarden was of a bright blue colour, something like flames of sulphur;\nand a strangely beautiful blue was spread over the whole, so that one\nmight have fancied oneself raised very high in the air, with the sky at\nonce above and below, certainly not at the bottom of the sea. When the\nwaters were quite still, the sun might be seen looking like a purple\nflower, out of whose cup streamed forth the light of the world.\n\nEach of the little princesses had her own plot in the garden, where she\nmight plant and sow at her pleasure. One chose hers to be made in the\nshape of a whale, another preferred the figure of a mermaid, but the\nyoungest had hers quite round\n\n[Illustration]\n\nlike the sun, and planted in it only those flowers that were red, as the\nsun seemed to her. She was certainly a singular child, very quiet and\nthoughtful. Whilst her sisters were adorning themselves with all sorts\nof gay things that came out of a ship which had been wrecked, she asked\nfor nothing but a beautiful white marble statue of a boy, which had been\nfound in it. She put the statue in her garden, and planted a red weeping\nwillow by its side. The tree grew up quickly, and let its long boughs\nfall upon the bright blue ground, where ever-moving shadows played in\nviolet hues, as if boughs and root were embracing.\n\nNothing pleased the little princess more than to hear about the world of\nhuman beings living above the sea. She made her old grandmother tell her\neverything she knew about ships, towns, men, and land animals, and was\nparticularly pleased when she heard that the flowers of the upper world\nhad a pleasant fragrance (for the flowers of the sea are scentless), and\nthat the woods were green, and the fishes fluttering among the branches\nof various gay colours, and that they could sing with a loud clear\nvoice. The old lady meant birds, but she called them fishes, because her\ngrandchildren, having never seen a bird, would not otherwise have\nunderstood her.\n\n\u2018When you have attained your fifteenth year,\u2019 added she, \u2018you will be\npermitted to rise to the surface of the sea; you will then sit by\nmoonlight in the clefts of the rocks, see the ships sail by, and learn\nto distinguish towns and men.\u2019\n\nThe next year the eldest of the sisters reached this happy age, but the\nothers--alas! the second sister was a year younger than the eldest, the\nthird a year younger than the second, and so on; the youngest had still\nfive whole years to wait till that joyful time should come when she also\nmight rise to the surface of the water and see what was going on in the\nupper world; however, the eldest promised to tell the others of\neverything she might see, when the first day of her being of age\narrived; for the grandmother gave them but little information, and there\nwas so much that they wished to hear.\n\nBut none of all the sisters longed so ardently for the day when she\nshould be released from childish restraint as the youngest, she who had\nlongest to wait, and was so quiet and thoughtful. Many a night she stood\nby the open window, looking up through the clear blue water, whilst the\nfishes were leaping and playing around her. She could see the sun and\nthe moon; their light was pale, but they appeared larger than they do to\nthose who live in the upper world. If a shadow passed over them, she\nknew it must be either a whale or a ship sailing by full of human\nbeings, who indeed little thought that, far beneath them, a little\nmermaid was passionately stretching forth her white hands towards their\nship\u2019s keel.\n\nThe day had now arrived when the eldest princess had attained her\nfifteenth year, and was therefore allowed to rise up to the surface of\nthe sea.\n\nWhen she returned she had a thousand things to relate. Her chief\npleasure had been to sit upon a sandbank in the moonlight, looking at\nthe large town which lay on the coast, where lights were beaming like\nstars, and where music was playing; she had heard the distant noise of\nmen and carriages, she had seen the high church-towers, had listened to\nthe ringing of the bells; and just because she could not go there she\nlonged the more after all these things.\n\nHow attentively did her youngest sister listen to her words! And when\nshe next stood at night-time by her open window, gazing upward through\nthe blue waters, she thought so intensely of the great noisy city that\nshe fancied she could hear the church-bells ringing.\n\nNext year the second sister received permission to swim wherever she\npleased. She rose to the surface of the sea, just when the sun was\nsetting; and this sight so delighted her, that she declared it to be\nmore beautiful than anything else she had seen above the waters.\n\n\u2018The whole sky seemed tinged with gold,\u2019 said she, \u2018and it is impossible\nfor me to describe to you the beauty of the clouds. Now red, now violet,\nthey glided over me; but still more swiftly flew over the water a flock\nof white swans, just where the sun was descending; I looked after them,\nbut the sun disappeared, and the bright rosy light on the surface of the\nsea and on the edges of the clouds was gradually extinguished.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: SHE WAS ON THE WHOLE A SENSIBLE SORT OF LADY]\n\nIt was now time for the third sister to visit the upper world. She was\nthe boldest of the six, and ventured up a river. On its shores she saw\ngreen hills covered with woods and vineyards, from among which arose\nhouses and castles; she heard the birds singing, and the sun shone with\nso much power, that she was continually obliged to plunge below, in\norder to cool her burning face. In a little bay she met with a number of\nchildren, who were bathing and jumping about; she would have joined in\ntheir gambols, but the children fled back to land in great terror, and a\nlittle black animal barked at her in such a manner, that she herself was\nfrightened at last, and swam back to the sea. She could not, however,\nforget the green woods, the verdant hills, and the pretty children,\nwho, although they had no fins, were swimming about in the river so\nfearlessly.\n\nThe fourth sister was not so bold, she remained in the open sea, and\nsaid on her return home she thought nothing could be more beautiful. She\nhad seen ships sailing by, so far off that they looked like sea-gulls,\nshe had watched the merry dolphins gambolling in the water, and the\nenormous whales, sending up into the air a thousand sparkling fountains.\n\nThe year after, the fifth sister attained her fifteenth year. Her\nbirthday happened at a different season to that of her sisters; it was\nwinter, the sea was of a green colour, and immense icebergs were\nfloating on its surface. These, she said, looked like pearls; they were,\nhowever, much larger than the church-towers in the land of human beings.\nShe sat down upon one of these pearls, and let the wind play with her\nlong hair, but then all the ships hoisted their sails in terror, and\nescaped as quickly as possible. In the evening the sky was covered with\nsails; and whilst the great mountains of ice alternately sank and rose\nagain, and beamed with a reddish glow, flashes of lightning burst forth\nfrom the clouds, and the thunder rolled on, peal after peal. The sails\nof all the ships were instantly furled, and horror and affright reigned\non board, but the princess sat still on the iceberg, looking\nunconcernedly at the blue zig-zag of the flashes.\n\nThe first time that either of these sisters rose out of the sea, she was\nquite enchanted at the sight of so many new and beautiful objects, but\nthe novelty was soon over, and it was not long ere their own home\nappeared more attractive than the upper world, for there only did they\nfind everything agreeable.\n\nMany an evening would the five sisters rise hand in hand from the depths\nof the ocean. Their voices were far sweeter than any human voice, and\nwhen a storm was coming on, they would swim in front of the ships, and\nsing,--oh! how sweetly did they sing! describing the happiness of those\nwho lived at the bottom of the sea, and entreating the sailors not to be\nafraid, but to come down to them.\n\nThe mariners, however, did not understand their words; they fancied the\nsong was only the whistling of the wind, and thus they lost the hidden\nglories of the sea; for if their ships were wrecked, all on board were\ndrowned, and none but dead men ever entered the Mer-king\u2019s palace.\n\nWhilst the sisters were swimming at evening-time, the youngest would\nremain motionless and alone, in her father\u2019s palace, looking up after\nthem. She would have wept, but mermaids cannot weep, and therefore, when\nthey are troubled, suffer infinitely more than human beings do.\n\n\u2018Oh, if I were but fifteen!\u2019 sighed she, \u2018I know that I should love the\nupper world and its inhabitants so much.\u2019\n\nAt last the time she had so longed for arrived.\n\n\u2018Well, now it is your turn,\u2019 said the grandmother; \u2018come here, that I\nmay adorn you like your sisters.\u2019 And she wound around her hair a wreath\nof white lilies, whose every petal was the half of a pearl, and then\ncommanded eight large oysters to fasten themselves to the princess\u2019s\ntail, in token of her high rank.\n\n\u2018But that is so very uncomfortable!\u2019 said the little princess.\n\n\u2018One must not mind slight inconveniences when one wishes to look well,\u2019\nsaid the old lady.\n\nHow willingly would the princess have given up all this splendour, and\nexchanged her heavy crown for the red flowers of her garden, which were\nso much more becoming to her. But she dared not do so. \u2018Farewell,\u2019 said\nshe; and she rose from the sea, light as a flake of foam.\n\n[Illustration: THE YOUNGEST WAS THE MOST LOVELY]\n\nWhen, for the first time in her life, she appeared on the surface of the\nwater, the sun had just sunk below the horizon, the clouds were beaming\nwith bright golden and rosy hues, the evening star was shining in the\npale western sky, the air was mild and refreshing, and the sea as smooth\nas a looking-glass. A large ship with three masts lay on the still\nwaters; one sail only was unfurled, but not a breath was stirring, and\nthe sailors were quietly seated on the cordage and ladders of the\nvessel. Music and song resounded from the deck, and after it grew dark\nhundreds of lamps all on a sudden burst forth into light, whilst\ninnumerable flags were fluttering overhead. The little mermaid swam\nclose up to the captain\u2019s cabin, and every now and then when the ship\nwas raised by the motion of the water, she could look through the clear\nwindow panes. She saw within many richly dressed men; the handsomest\namong them was a young prince with large black eyes. He could not\ncertainly be more than sixteen years old, and it was in honour of his\nbirthday that a grand festival was being celebrated. The crew were\ndancing on the deck, and when the young prince appeared among them, a\nhundred rockets were sent up into the air, turning night into day, and\nso terrifying the little mermaid, that for some minutes she plunged\nbeneath the water. However, she soon raised her little head again, and\nthen it seemed as if all the stars were falling down upon her. Such a\nfiery shower she had never even seen before, never had she heard that\nmen possessed such wonderful powers. Large suns revolved around her,\nbright fishes swam in the air, and everything was reflected perfectly on\nthe clear surface of the sea. It was so light in the ship, that\neverything could be seen distinctly. Oh, how happy the young prince was!\nHe shook hands with the sailors, laughed and jested with them, whilst\nsweet notes of music mingled with the silence of night.\n\nIt was now late, but the little mermaid could not tear herself away from\nthe ship and the handsome young prince. She remained looking through the\ncabin window, rocked to and fro by the waves. There was a foaming and\nfermentation in the depths beneath, and the ship began to move on\nfaster; the sails were spread, the waves rose high, thick clouds\ngathered over the sky, and the noise of distant thunder was heard. The\nsailors perceived that a storm was coming on, so they again furled the\nsails. The great vessel was tossed about on the tempestuous ocean like a\nlight boat, and the waves rose to an immense height, towering over the\nship, which alternately sank beneath and rose above them. To the little\nmermaid this seemed most delightful, but the ship\u2019s crew thought very\ndifferently. The vessel cracked, the stout masts bent under the violence\nof the billows, the waters rushed in. For a minute the ship tottered to\nand fro, then the main-mast broke, as if it had been a reed; the ship\nturned over, and was filled with water. The little mermaid now perceived\nthat the crew was in danger, for she herself was forced to beware of the\nbeams and splinters torn from the vessel, and floating about on the\nwaves. But at the same time it became pitch dark so that she could not\ndistinguish anything; presently, however, a dreadful flash of lightning\ndisclosed to her the whole of the wreck. Her eyes sought the young\nprince--the same instant the ship sank to the bottom. At first she was\ndelighted, thinking that the prince must now come to her abode; but she\nsoon remembered that man cannot live in water, and that therefore if the\nprince ever entered her palace, it would be as a corpse.\n\n\u2018Die! no, he must not die!\u2019 She swam through the fragments with which\nthe water was strewn regardless of the danger she was incurring, and at\nlast found the prince all but exhausted, and with great difficulty\nkeeping his head above water. He had already closed his eyes, and must\ninevitably have been drowned, had not the little mermaid come to his\nrescue. She seized hold of him and kept him above water, suffering the\ncurrent to bear them on together.\n\nTowards morning the storm was hushed; no trace, however, remained of the\nship. The sun rose like fire out of the sea; his beams seemed to\nrestore colour to the prince\u2019s cheeks, but his eyes were still closed.\nThe mermaid kissed his high forehead and stroked his wet hair away from\nhis face. He looked like the marble statue in her garden; she kissed him\nagain and wished most fervently that he might recover.\n\nShe now saw the dry land with its mountains glittering with snow. A\ngreen wood extended along the coast, and at the entrance of the wood\nstood a chapel or convent, she could not be sure which. Citron and lemon\ntrees grew in the garden adjoining it, an avenue of tall palm trees led\nup to the door. The sea here formed a little bay, in which the water was\nquite smooth but very deep, and under the cliffs there were dry, firm\nsands. Hither swam the little mermaid with the seemingly dead prince;\nshe laid him upon the warm sand, and took care to place his head high,\nand to turn his face to the sun.\n\nThe bells began to ring in the large white building which stood before\nher, and a number of young girls came out to walk in the garden. The\nmermaid went away from the shore, hid herself behind some stones,\ncovered her head with foam, so that her little face could not be seen,\nand watched the prince with unremitting attention.\n\nIt was not long before one of the young girls approached. She seemed\nquite frightened at finding the prince in this state, apparently dead;\nsoon, however, she recovered herself, and ran back to call her sisters.\nThe little mermaid saw that the prince revived, and that all around\nsmiled kindly and joyfully upon him--for her, however, he looked not, he\nknew not that it was she who had saved him, and when the prince was\ntaken into the house she felt so sad, that she immediately plunged\nbeneath the water, and returned to her father\u2019s palace.\n\nIf she had been before quiet and thoughtful, she now grew still more\nso. Her sisters asked her what she had seen in the upper world, but she\nmade no answer.\n\nMany an evening she rose to the place where she had left the prince. She\nsaw the snow on the mountains melt, the fruits in the garden ripen and\ngathered, but the prince she never saw, so she always returned\nsorrowfully to her subterranean abode. Her only pleasure was to sit in\nher little garden gazing on the beautiful statue so like the prince. She\ncared no longer for her flowers; they grew up in wild luxuriance,\ncovered the steps, and entwined their long stems and tendrils among the\nboughs of the trees, so that her whole garden became a bower.\n\nAt last, being unable to conceal her sorrow any longer, she revealed the\nsecret to one of her sisters, who told it to the other princesses, and\nthey to some of their friends. Among them was a young mermaid who\nrecollected the prince, having been an eye-witness herself to the\nfestivities in the ship; she knew also in what country the prince lived,\nand the name of its king.\n\n\u2018Come, little sister!\u2019 said the princesses, and embracing her, they rose\ntogether arm in arm, out of the water, just in front of the prince\u2019s\npalace.\n\nThis palace was built of bright yellow stones, a flight of white marble\nsteps led from it down to the sea. A gilded cupola crowned the building,\nand white marble figures, which might almost have been taken for real\nmen and women, were placed among the pillars surrounding it. Through the\nclear glass of the high windows one might look into magnificent\napartments hung with silken curtains, the walls adorned with magnificent\npaintings. It was a real treat to the little royal mermaids to behold so\nsplendid an abode; they gazed through the windows of one of the largest\nrooms, and in the centre saw a fountain playing, whose waters sprang up\nso high as to reach the glittering cupola above, through which the\nsunbeams fell dancing on the water, and brightening the pretty plants\nwhich grew around it.\n\nThe little mermaid now knew where her beloved prince dwelt, and\nhenceforth she went there almost every evening. She often approached\nnearer the land than her sisters had ventured, and even swam up the\nnarrow channel that flowed under the marble balcony. Here on a bright\nmoonlight night, she would watch the young prince, who believed himself\nalone.\n\nSometimes she saw him sailing on the water in a gaily painted boat with\nmany coloured flags waving above. She would then hide among the green\nreeds which grew on the banks, listening to his voice, and if any one in\nthe boat noticed the rustling of her long silver veil, which was caught\nnow and then by the light breeze, they only fancied it was a swan\nflapping his wings.\n\nMany a night when the fishermen were casting their nets by the beacon\u2019s\nlight, she heard them talking of the prince, and relating the noble\nactions he had performed. She was then so happy, thinking how she had\nsaved his life when struggling with the waves, and remembering how his\nhead had rested on her bosom, and how she had kissed him when he knew\nnothing of it, and could never even dream of such a thing.\n\nHuman beings became more and more dear to her every day; she wished that\nshe were one of them. Their world seemed to her much larger than that of\nthe mer-people; they could fly over the ocean in their ships, as well as\nclimb to the summits of those high mountains that rose above the clouds;\nand their wooded domains extended much farther than a mermaid\u2019s eye\ncould penetrate.\n\nThere were many things that she wished to hear explained, but her\nsisters could not give her any satisfactory answer; she was again\nobliged to have recourse to the old queen-mother, who knew a great deal\nabout the upper world, which she used to call \u2018the country above the\nsea.\u2019\n\n\u2018Do men when they are not drowned live for ever?\u2019 she asked one day. \u2018Do\nthey not die as we do, who live at the bottom of the sea?\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes,\u2019 was the grandmother\u2019s reply, \u2018they must die like us, and their\nlife is much shorter than ours. We live to the age of three hundred\nyears, but when we die, we become foam on the sea, and are not allowed\neven to share a grave among those that are dear to us. We have no\nimmortal souls, we can never live again, and are like the grass which,\nwhen once cut down, is withered for ever. Human beings, on the contrary,\nhave souls that continue to live when their bodies become dust, and as\nwe rise out of the water to admire the abode of man, they ascend to\nglorious unknown dwellings in the skies which we are not permitted to\nsee.\u2019\n\n\u2018Why have not _we_ immortal souls?\u2019 asked the little mermaid. \u2018I would\nwillingly give up my three hundred years to be a human being for only\none day, thus to become entitled to that heavenly world above.\u2019\n\n\u2018You must not think of that,\u2019 answered her grandmother, \u2018it is much\nbetter as it is; we live longer and are far happier than human beings.\u2019\n\n\u2018So I must die, and be dashed like foam over the sea, never to rise\nagain and hear the gentle murmur of the ocean, never again see the\nbeautiful flowers and the bright sun! Tell me, dear grandmother, are\nthere no means by which I may obtain an immortal soul?\u2019\n\n\u2018No!\u2019 replied the old lady. \u2018It is true that if thou couldst so win the\naffections of a human being as to become dearer to him than either\nfather or mother; if he loved thee with all his heart, and promised\nwhilst the priest joined his hands with thine to be always faithful to\nthee; then his soul would flow into thine, and thou wouldst then become\npartaker of human bliss. But that can never be! for what in our eyes is\nthe most beautiful part of our body, the tail, the inhabitants of the\nearth think hideous, they cannot bear it. To appear handsome to them,\nthe body must have two clumsy props which they call legs.\u2019\n\nThe little mermaid sighed and looked mournfully at the scaly part of her\nform, otherwise so fair and delicate.\n\n\u2018We are happy,\u2019 added the old lady, \u2018we shall jump and swim about\nmerrily for three hundred years; that is a long time, and afterwards we\nshall repose peacefully in death. This evening we have a court ball.\u2019\n\nThe ball which the queen-mother spoke of was far more splendid than any\nthat earth has ever seen. The walls of the saloon were of crystal, very\nthick, but yet very clear; hundreds of large mussel-shells were planted\nin rows along them; these shells were some of rose-colour, some green as\ngrass, but all sending forth a bright light, which not only illuminated\nthe whole apartment, but also shone through the glassy walls so as to\nlight up the waters around for a great space, and making the scales of\nthe numberless fishes, great and small, crimson and purple, silver and\ngold-coloured, appear more brilliant than ever.\n\nThrough the centre of the saloon flowed a bright, clear stream, on the\nsurface of which danced mermen and mermaids to the melody of their own\nsweet voices, voices far sweeter than those of the dwellers upon earth.\nThe little princess sang more harmoniously than any other, and they\nclapped their hands and applauded her. She was pleased at this, for she\nknew well that there was neither on earth or in the sea a more beautiful\nvoice than hers. But her thoughts soon returned to the world above her:\nshe could not forget the handsome prince; she could not control her\nsorrow at not having an immortal soul. She stole away from her father\u2019s\npalace, and whilst all was joy within, she sat alone lost in thought in\nher little neglected garden. On a sudden she heard the tones of horns\nresounding over the water far away in the distance, and she said to\nherself, \u2018Now he is going out to hunt, he whom I love more than my\nfather and my mother, with whom my thoughts are constantly occupied, and\nto whom I would so willingly trust the happiness of my life! All! all,\nwill I risk to win him--and an immortal soul! Whilst my sisters are\nstill dancing in the palace, I will go to the enchantress whom I have\nhitherto feared so much, but who is, nevertheless, the only person who\ncan advise and help me.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THEY ATE FROM THEIR HANDS]\n\nSo the little mermaid left the garden, and went to the foaming whirlpool\nbeyond which dwelt the enchantress. She had never been this way\nbefore--neither flowers nor sea-grass bloomed along her path; she had to\ntraverse an extent of bare grey sand till she reached the whirlpool,\nwhose waters were eddying and whizzing like mill-wheels, tearing\neverything they could seize along with them into the abyss below. She\nwas obliged to make her way through this horrible place, in order to\narrive at the territory of the enchantress. Then she had to pass through\na boiling, slimy bog, which the enchantress called her turf-moor: her\nhouse stood in a wood beyond this, and a strange abode it was. All the\ntrees and bushes around were polypi, looking like hundred-headed\nserpents shooting up out of the ground; their branches were long slimy\narms with fingers of worms, every member, from the root to the uttermost\ntip, ceaselessly moving and extending on all sides. Whatever they seized\nthey fastened upon so that it could not loosen itself from their grasp.\nThe little mermaid stood still for a minute looking at this horrible\nwood; her heart beat with fear, and she would certainly have returned\nwithout attaining her object, had she not remembered the prince--and\nimmortality. The thought gave her new courage, she bound up her long\nwaving hair, that the polypi might not catch hold of it, crossed her\ndelicate arms over her bosom, and, swifter than a fish can glide through\nthe water, she passed these unseemly trees, who stretched their eager\narms after her in vain. She could not, however, help seeing that every\npolypus had something in his grasp, held as firmly by a thousand little\narms as if enclosed by iron bands. The whitened skeletons of a number of\nhuman beings who had been drowned in the sea, and had sunk into the\nabyss, grinned horribly from the arms of these polypi; helms, chests,\nskeletons of land animals were also held in their embrace; among other\nthings might be seen even a little mermaid whom they had seized and\nstrangled! What a fearful sight for the unfortunate princess!\n\nBut she got safely through this wood of horrors, and then arrived at a\nslimy place, where immense, fat snails were crawling about, and in the\nmidst of this place stood a house built of the bones of unfortunate\npeople who had been shipwrecked. Here sat the witch caressing a toad in\nthe same manner as some persons would a pet bird. The ugly fat snails\nshe called her chickens, and she permitted them to crawl about her.\n\n\u2018I know well what you would ask of me,\u2019 said she to the little princess.\n\u2018Your wish is foolish enough, yet it shall be fulfilled, though its\naccomplishment is sure to bring misfortune on you, my fairest princess.\nYou wish to get rid of your tail, and to have instead two stilts like\nthose of human beings, in order that a young prince may fall in love\nwith you, and that you may obtain an immortal soul. Is it not so?\u2019\nWhilst the witch spoke these words, she laughed so violently that her\npet toad and snails fell from her lap. \u2018You come just at the right\ntime,\u2019 continued she; \u2018had you come after sunset, it would not have been\nin my power to have helped you before another year. I will prepare for\nyou a drink with which you must swim to land, you must sit down upon the\nshore and swallow it, and then your tail will fall and shrink up to the\nthings which men call legs. This transformation will, however, be very\npainful; you will feel as though a sharp knife passed through your body.\nAll who look on you after you have been thus changed will say that you\nare the loveliest child of earth they have ever seen; you will retain\nyour peculiar undulating movements, and no dancer will move so lightly,\nbut every step you take will cause you pain all but unbearable; it will\nseem to you as though you were walking on the sharp edges of swords, and\nyour blood will flow. Can you endure all this suffering? If so, I will\ngrant your request.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, I will,\u2019 answered the princess, with a faltering voice; for she\nremembered her dear prince, and the immortal soul which her suffering\nmight win.\n\n\u2018Only consider,\u2019 said the witch, \u2018that you can never again become a\nmermaid, when once you have received a human form. You may never return\nto your sisters, and your father\u2019s palace; and unless you shall win the\nprince\u2019s love to such a degree that he shall leave father and mother for\nyou, that you shall be mixed up with all his thoughts and wishes, and\nunless the priest join your hands, so that you become man and wife, you\nwill never obtain the immortality you seek. The morrow of the day on\nwhich he is united to another will see your death; your heart will break\nwith sorrow, and you will be changed to foam on the sea.\u2019\n\n\u2018Still I will venture!\u2019 said the little mermaid, pale and trembling as a\ndying person.\n\n\u2018Besides all this, I must be paid, and it is no slight thing that I\nrequire for my trouble. Thou hast the sweetest voice of all the dwellers\nin the sea, and thou thinkest by its means to charm the prince; this\nvoice, however, I demand as my recompense. The best thing thou\npossessest I require in exchange for my magic drink; for I shall be\nobliged to sacrifice my own blood, in order to give it the sharpness of\na two-edged sword.\u2019\n\n\u2018But if you take my voice from me,\u2019 said the princess, \u2018what have I left\nwith which to charm the prince?\u2019\n\n\u2018Thy graceful form,\u2019 replied the witch, \u2018thy modest gait, and speaking\neyes. With such as these, it will be easy to infatuate a vain human\nheart. Well now! hast thou lost courage? Put out thy little tongue, that\nI may cut it off, and take it for myself, in return for my magic drink.\u2019\n\n\u2018Be it so!\u2019 said the princess, and the witch took up her caldron, in\norder to mix her potion. \u2018Cleanliness is a good thing,\u2019 remarked she,\nas she began to rub the caldron with a handful of toads and snails. She\nthen scratched her bosom, and let the black blood trickle down into the\ncaldron, every moment throwing in new ingredients, the smoke from the\nmixture assuming such horrible forms, as were enough to fill beholders\nwith terror, and a moaning and groaning proceeding from it, which might\nbe compared to the weeping of crocodiles. The magic drink at length\nbecame clear and transparent as pure water; it was ready.\n\n\u2018Here it is!\u2019 said the witch to the princess, cutting out her tongue at\nthe same moment. The poor little mermaid was now dumb: she could neither\nsing nor speak.\n\n\u2018If the polypi should attempt to seize you, as you pass through my\nlittle grove,\u2019 said the witch, \u2018you have only to sprinkle some of this\nmagic drink over them, and their arms will burst into a thousand\npieces.\u2019 But the princess had no need of this counsel, for the polypi\ndrew hastily back, as soon as they perceived the bright phial, that\nglittered in her hand like a star; thus she passed safely through the\nformidable wood over the moor, and across the foaming mill-stream.\n\nShe now looked once again at her father\u2019s palace; the lamps in the\nsaloon were extinguished, and all the family were asleep. She would not\ngo in, for she could not speak if she did; she was about to leave her\nhome for ever; her heart was ready to break with sorrow at the thought;\nshe stole into the garden, plucked a flower from the bed of each of her\nsisters as a remembrance, kissed her hand again and again, and then rose\nthrough the dark blue waters to the world above.\n\nThe sun had not yet risen when she arrived at the prince\u2019s dwelling, and\nascended those well-known marble steps. The moon still shone in the sky\nwhen the little mermaid drank off the wonderful liquid contained in her\nphial. She felt it run through her like a sharp knife, and she fell\ndown in a swoon. When the sun rose, she awoke; and felt a burning pain\nin all her limbs, but--she saw standing close to her the object of her\nlove, the handsome young prince, whose coal-black eyes were fixed\ninquiringly upon her. Full of shame she cast down her own, and\nperceived, instead of the long fish-like tail she had hitherto borne,\ntwo slender legs; but she was quite naked, and tried in vain to cover\nherself with her long thick hair. The prince asked who she was, and how\nshe had got there; and she, in reply, smiled and gazed upon him with her\nbright blue eyes, for alas! she could not speak. He then led her by the\nhand into the palace. She found that the witch had told her true--she\nfelt as though she were walking on the edges of sharp swords, but she\nbore the pain willingly; on she passed, light as a zephyr, and all who\nsaw her wondered at her light, undulating movements.\n\nWhen she entered the palace, rich clothes of muslin and silk were\nbrought to her; she was lovelier than all who dwelt there, but she could\nneither speak nor sing. Some female slaves, gaily dressed in silk and\ngold brocade, sang before the prince and his royal parents; and one of\nthem distinguished herself by her clear sweet voice, which the prince\napplauded by clapping his hands. This made the little mermaid very sad,\nfor she knew that she used to sing far better than the young slave.\n\u2018Alas!\u2019 thought she, \u2018if he did but know that, for his sake, I have\ngiven away my voice for ever.\u2019\n\nThe slaves began to dance; our lovely little mermaiden then arose,\nstretched out her delicate white arms, and hovered gracefully about the\nroom. Every motion displayed more and more the perfect symmetry and\nelegance of her figure; and the expression which beamed in her speaking\neyes touched the hearts of the spectators far more than the song of the\nslaves.\n\nAll present were enchanted, but especially the young prince, who called\nher his dear little foundling. And she danced again and again, although\nevery step cost her excessive pain. The prince then said she should\nalways be with him; and accordingly a sleeping-place was prepared for\nher on velvet cushions in the anteroom of his own apartment.\n\nThe prince caused a suit of male apparel to be made for her, in order\nthat she might accompany him in his rides; so together they traversed\nthe fragrant woods, where green boughs brushed against their shoulders,\nand the birds sang merrily among the fresh leaves. With him she climbed\nup steep mountains, and although her tender feet bled, so as to be\nremarked by the attendants, she only smiled, and followed her dear\nprince to the heights, whence they could see the clouds chasing each\nother beneath them, like a flock of birds migrating to other countries.\n\nDuring the night she would, when all in the palace were at rest, walk\ndown the marble steps, in order to cool her feet in the deep waters; she\nwould then think of those beloved ones who dwelt in the lower world.\n\nOne night, as she was thus bathing her feet, her sisters swam together\nto the spot, arm in arm and singing, but alas! so mournfully! She\nbeckoned to them, and they immediately recognised her, and told her how\ngreat was the mourning in her father\u2019s house for her loss. From this\ntime the sisters visited her every night; and once they brought with\nthem the old grandmother, who had not seen the upper world for a great\nmany years; they likewise brought their father, the Mer-king, with his\ncrown on his head; but these two old people did not venture near enough\nto land to be able to speak to her.\n\nThe little mermaiden became dearer and dearer to the prince every day;\nbut he only looked upon her as a sweet, gentle child, and the thought of\nmaking her his wife never entered his head. And yet his wife she must\nbe, ere she could receive an immortal soul; his wife she must be, or she\nwould change into foam, and be driven restlessly over the billows of the\nsea!\n\n\u2018Dost thou not love me above all others?\u2019 her eyes seemed to ask, as he\npressed her fondly in his arms, and kissed her lovely brow.\n\n[Illustration: MANY AN EVENING SHE ROSE TO THE PLACE]\n\n\u2018Yes,\u2019 the prince would say, \u2018thou art dearer to me than any other, for\nno one is as good as thou art! Thou lovest me so much; and thou art so\nlike a young maiden whom I have seen but once, and may never see again.\nI was on board a ship, which was wrecked by a sudden tempest; the waves\nthrew me on the shore, near a holy temple, where a number of young girls\nare occupied constantly with religious services. The youngest of them\nfound me on the shore, and saved my life. I saw her only once, but her\nimage is vividly impressed upon my memory, and her alone can I love. But\nshe belongs to the holy temple; and thou who resemblest her so much hast\nbeen given to me for consolation; never will we be parted!\u2019\n\n\u2018Alas! he does not know that it was I who saved his life,\u2019 thought the\nlittle mermaiden, sighing deeply; \u2018I bore him over the wild waves, into\nthe wooded bay, where the holy temple stood; I sat behind the rocks,\nwaiting till some one should come. I saw the pretty maiden approach,\nwhom he loves more than me,\u2019--and again she heaved a deep sigh, for she\ncould not weep. \u2018He said that the young girl belongs to the holy temple;\nshe never comes out into the world, so they cannot meet each other\nagain,--and I am always with him, see him daily; I will love him, and\ndevote my whole life to him.\u2019\n\n\u2018So the prince is going to be married to the beautiful daughter of the\nneighbouring king,\u2019 said the courtiers, \u2018that is why he is having that\nsplendid ship fitted out. It is announced that he wishes to travel, but\nin reality he goes to see the princess; a numerous retinue will\naccompany him.\u2019 The little mermaiden smiled at these and similar\nconjectures, for she knew the prince\u2019s intentions better than any one\nelse.\n\n\u2018I must go,\u2019 he said to her, \u2018I must see the beautiful princess; my\nparents require me to do so; but they will not compel me to marry her,\nand bring her home as my bride. And it is quite impossible for me to\nlove her, for she cannot be so like the beautiful girl in the temple as\nthou art; and if I were obliged to choose, I should prefer thee, my\nlittle silent foundling, with the speaking eyes.\u2019 And he kissed her rosy\nlips, played with her locks, and folded her in his arms, whereupon arose\nin her heart a sweet vision of human happiness, and immortal bliss.\n\n\u2018Thou art not afraid of the sea, art thou, my sweet silent child?\u2019 asked\nhe tenderly, as they stood together in the splendid ship, which was to\ntake them to the country of the neighbouring king. And then he told her\nof the storms that sometimes agitate the waters; of the strange fishes\nthat inhabit the deep, and of the wonderful things seen by divers. But\nshe smiled at his words, for she knew better than any child of earth\nwhat went on in the depths of the ocean.\n\nAt night-time, when the moon shone brightly, and when all on board were\nfast asleep, she sat in the ship\u2019s gallery, looking down into the sea.\nIt seemed to her, as she gazed through the foamy track made by the\nship\u2019s keel, that she saw her father\u2019s palace, and her grandmother\u2019s\nsilver crown. She then saw her sisters rise out of the water, looking\nsorrowful and stretching out their hands towards her. She nodded to\nthem, smiled, and would have explained that everything was going on\nquite according to her wishes; but just then the cabin boy approached,\nupon which the sisters plunged beneath the water so suddenly that the\nboy thought what he had seen on the waves was nothing but foam.\n\nThe next morning the ship entered the harbour of the king\u2019s splendid\ncapital. Bells were rung, trumpets sounded, and soldiers marched in\nprocession through the city, with waving banners, and glittering\nbayonets. Every day witnessed some new entertainments, balls and parties\nfollowed each other; the princess, however, was not yet in the town; she\nhad been sent to a distant convent for education, and had there been\ntaught the practice of all royal virtues. At last she arrived at the\npalace.\n\nThe little mermaid had been anxious to see this unparalleled princess;\nand she was now obliged to confess that she had never before seen so\nbeautiful a creature.\n\nThe skin of the princess was so white and delicate that the veins might\nbe seen through it, and her dark eyes sparkled beneath a pair of finely\nformed eye-brows.\n\n\u2018It is herself!\u2019 exclaimed the prince, when they met, \u2018it is she who\nsaved my life, when I lay like a corpse on the sea-shore!\u2019 and he\npressed his blushing bride to his beating heart.\n\n\u2018Oh, I am all too happy!\u2019 said he to his dumb foundling. \u2018What I never\ndared to hope for has come to pass. Thou must rejoice in my happiness,\nfor thou lovest me more than all others who surround me.\u2019--And the\nlittle mermaid kissed his hand in silent sorrow; it seemed to her as if\nher heart was breaking already, although the morrow of his marriage-day,\nwhich must inevitably see her death, had not yet dawned.\n\nAgain rung the church-bells, whilst heralds rode through the streets of\nthe capital, to announce the approaching bridal. Odorous flames burned\nin silver candlesticks on all the altars; the priests swung their golden\ncensers; and bride and bridegroom joined hands, whilst the holy words\nthat united them were spoken. The little mermaid, clad in silk and cloth\nof gold, stood behind the princess, and held the train of the bridal\ndress; but her ear heard nothing of the solemn music; her eye saw not\nthe holy ceremony; she remembered her approaching end, she remembered\nthat she had lost both this world and the next.\n\nThat very same evening bride and bridegroom went on board the ship;\ncannons were fired, flags waved with the breeze, and in the centre of\nthe deck stood a magnificent pavilion of purple and cloth of gold,\nfitted up with the richest and softest couches. Here the princely pair\nwere to spend the night. A favourable wind swelled the sails, and the\nship glided lightly over the blue waters.\n\nAs soon as it was dark, coloured lamps were hung out and dancing began\non the deck. The little mermaid was thus involuntarily reminded of what\nshe had seen the first time she rose to the upper world. The spectacle\nthat now presented itself was equally splendid--and she was obliged to\njoin in the\n\n[Illustration: WHEN THE SUN AROSE SHE AWOKE]\n\ndance, hovering lightly as a bird over the ship boards. All applauded\nher, for never had she danced with more enchanting grace. Her little\nfeet suffered extremely, but she no longer felt the pain; the anguish\nher heart suffered was much greater. It was the last evening she might\nsee him, for whose sake she had forsaken her home and all her family,\nhad given away her beautiful voice, and suffered daily the most violent\npain--all without his having the least suspicion of it. It was the last\nevening that she might breathe the same atmosphere in which he, the\nbeloved one, lived; the last evening when she might behold the deep blue\nsea, and the starry heavens--an eternal night, in which she might\nneither think nor dream, awaited her. And all was joy in the ship; and\nshe, her heart filled with thoughts of death and annihilation, smiled\nand danced with the others, till past midnight. Then the prince kissed\nhis lovely bride, and arm in arm they entered the magnificent tent\nprepared for their repose.\n\nAll was now still; the steersman alone stood at the ship\u2019s helm. The\nlittle mermaid leaned her white arms on the gallery, and looked towards\nthe east, watching for the dawn; she well knew that the first sunbeam\nwould witness her dissolution. She saw her sisters rise out of the sea;\ndeadly pale were their features; and their long hair no more fluttered\nover their shoulders, it had all been cut off.\n\n\u2018We have given it to the witch,\u2019 said they, \u2018to induce her to help thee,\nso that thou mayest not die. She has given to us a penknife: here it is!\nBefore the sun rises, thou must plunge it into the prince\u2019s heart; and\nwhen his warm blood trickles down upon thy feet they will again be\nchanged to a fish-like tail; thou wilt once more become a mermaid, and\nwilt live thy full three hundred years, ere thou changest to foam on the\nsea. But hasten! either he or thou must die before sunrise. Our aged\nmother mourns for thee so much her grey hair has fallen off through\nsorrow, as ours fell before the scissors of the witch. Kill the prince,\nand come down to us! Hasten! hasten! dost thou not see the red streaks\non the eastern sky, announcing the near approach of the sun? A few\nminutes more and he rises, and then all will be over with thee.\u2019 At\nthese words they sighed deeply and vanished.\n\nThe little mermaid drew aside the purple curtains of the pavilion, where\nlay the bride and bridegroom; bending over them, she kissed the prince\u2019s\nforehead, and then glancing at the sky, she saw that the dawning light\nbecame every moment brighter. The prince\u2019s lips unconsciously murmured\nthe name of his bride--he was dreaming of her, and her only, whilst the\nfatal penknife trembled in the hand of the unhappy mermaid. All at once,\nshe threw far out into the sea that instrument of death; the waves rose\nlike bright blazing flames around, and the water where it fell seemed\ntinged with blood. With eyes fast becoming dim and fixed, she looked\nonce more at her beloved prince; then plunged from the ship into the\nsea, and felt her body slowly but surely dissolving into foam.\n\nThe sun rose from his watery bed; his beams fell so softly and warmly\nupon her, that our little mermaid was scarcely sensible of dying. She\nstill saw the glorious sun; and over her head hovered a thousand\nbeautiful, transparent forms; she could still distinguish the white\nsails of the ship, and the bright red clouds in the sky; the voices of\nthose airy creatures above her had a melody so sweet and soothing, that\na human ear would be as little able to catch the sound as her eye was\ncapable of distinguishing their forms; they hovered around her without\nwings, borne by their own lightness through the air. The little mermaid\nat last saw that she had a body as transparent as theirs; and felt\nherself raised gradually from the foam of the sea to higher regions.\n\n\u2018Where are they taking me?\u2019 asked she, and her words sounded just like\nthe voices of those heavenly beings.\n\n\u2018Speak you to the daughters of air?\u2019 was the answer. \u2018The mermaid has no\nimmortal soul, and can only acquire that heavenly gift by winning the\nlove of one of the sons of men; her immortality depends upon union with\nman. Neither do the daughters of air possess immortal souls, but they\ncan acquire them by their own good deeds. We fly to hot countries, where\nthe children of earth are sinking under sultry pestilential breezes--our\nfresh cooling breath revives them. We diffuse ourselves through the\natmosphere; we perfume it with the delicious fragrance of flowers; and\nthus spread delight and health over the earth. By doing good in this\nmanner for three hundred years, we win immortality, and receive a share\nof the eternal bliss of human beings. And thou, poor little mermaid!\nwho, following the impulse of thine own heart, hast done and suffered so\nmuch, thou art now raised to the airy world of spirits, that by\nperforming deeds of kindness for three hundred years, thou mayest\nacquire an immortal soul.\u2019\n\nThe little mermaid stretched out her transparent arms to the sun; and,\nfor the first time in her life, tears moistened her eyes.\n\nAnd now again all were awake and rejoicing in the ship; she saw the\nprince, with his pretty bride; they had missed her; they looked\nsorrowfully down on the foamy waters, as if they knew she had plunged\ninto the sea; unseen she kissed the bridegroom\u2019s forehead, smiled upon\nhim, and then, with the rest of the children of air, soared high above\nthe rosy cloud which was sailing so peacefully over the ship.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u2018After three hundred years we shall fly in the kingdom of Heaven!\u2019\n\n\u2018We may arrive there even sooner,\u2019 whispered one of her sisters. \u2018We fly\ninvisibly through the dwellings of men, where there are children; and\nwhenever we find a good child, who gives pleasure to his parents and\ndeserves their love, the good God shortens our time of probation. No\nchild is aware that we are flitting about his room, and that whenever\njoy draws from us a smile, a year is struck out of our three hundred.\nBut when we see a rude naughty child, we weep bitter tears of sorrow,\nand every tear we shed adds a day to our time of probation.\u2019\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: FATHER-STORK]\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORKS\n\n\nOn the roof of a house situated at the extremity of a small town, a\nstork had built his nest. There sat the mother-stork, with her four\nyoung ones, who all stretched out their little black bills, which had\nnot yet become red. Not far off, upon the parapet, erect and proud,\nstood the father-stork; he had drawn one of his legs under him, being\nweary of standing on two. You might have fancied him carved in wood, he\nstood so motionless. \u2018It looks so grand,\u2019 thought he, \u2018for my wife to\nhave a sentinel to keep guard over her nest; people cannot know that I\nam her husband, they will certainly think that I am commanded to stand\nhere--how well it looks!\u2019 and so he remained standing on one leg.\n\nIn the street below, a number of children were playing together. When\nthey saw the storks, one of the liveliest amongst them began to sing as\nmuch as he could remember of some old rhymes about storks, in which he\nwas soon joined by the others--\n\n \u2018Stork! stork! long-legged stork!\n Into thy nest I prithee walk;\n There sits thy mate,\n With her four children so great.\n The first we\u2019ll hang like a cat,\n The second we\u2019ll burn,\n The third on a spit we\u2019ll turn,\n The fourth drown dead as a rat!\u2019\n\n\u2018Only listen to what the boys are singing,\u2019 said the little storks;\n\u2018they say we shall be hanged and burnt!\u2019\n\n\u2018Never mind,\u2019 said the mother, \u2018don\u2019t listen to them; they will do you\nno harm.\u2019\n\nBut the boys went on singing, and pointed their fingers at the storks:\nonly one little boy, called Peter, said \u2018it was a sin to mock and tease\nanimals, and that he would have nothing to do with it.\u2019\n\nThe mother-stork again tried to comfort her little ones. \u2018Never mind,\u2019\nsaid she; \u2018see how composedly your father is standing there, and upon\none leg only.\u2019\n\n\u2018But we are so frightened!\u2019 said the young ones, drawing their heads\ndown into the nest.\n\nThe next day, when the children were again assembled to play together,\nand saw the storks, they again began their song--\n\n \u2018The first we \u2018ll hang like a cat,\n The second we\u2019ll burn!\u2019\n\n\u2018And are we really to be hanged and burnt?\u2019 asked the young storks.\n\n\u2018No indeed!\u2019 said the mother. \u2018You shall learn to fly: I will teach you\nmyself. Then we can fly over to the meadow, and pay a visit to the\nfrogs. They will bow to us in the water, and say, \u201cCroak, croak!\u201d and\nthen we shall eat them; will not that be nice?\u2019\n\n\u2018And what then?\u2019 asked the little storks.\n\n\u2018Then all the storks in the country will gather together, and the\nautumnal exercise will begin. It is of the greatest consequence that you\nshould fly well then; for every one who does not, the general will stab\nto death with his bill; so you must pay great attention when we begin to\ndrill you, and learn very quickly.\u2019\n\n\u2018Then we shall really be killed after all, as the boys said? Oh, listen!\nthey are singing it again!\u2019\n\n\u2018Attend to me, and not to them!\u2019 said the mother. \u2018After the grand\nexercise, we shall fly to warm countries, far, far away from here, over\nmountains and forests. We shall fly to Egypt, where are the\nthree-cornered stone houses whose summits reach the clouds; they are\ncalled pyramids, and are older than it is possible for storks to\nimagine. There is a river too, which overflows its banks, so as to make\nthe whole country like a marsh, and we shall go into the marsh and eat\nfrogs.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh!\u2019 said the young ones.\n\n\u2018Yes, it is delightful! one does nothing but eat all the day long. And\nwhilst we are so comfortable, in this country not a single green leaf is\nleft on the trees, and it is so cold that the clouds are frozen, and\nfall down upon the earth in little white pieces.\u2019--She meant snow, but\nshe could not express herself more clearly.\n\n\u2018And will the naughty boys be frozen to pieces too?\u2019 asked the young\nstorks.\n\n\u2018No, they will not be frozen to pieces; but they will be nearly as badly\noff as if they were; they will be obliged to crowd round the fire in\ntheir little dark rooms; while you, on the contrary, will be flying\nabout in foreign lands, where there are beautiful flowers and warm\nsunshine.\u2019\n\nWell, time passed away, and the young storks grew so tall, that when\nthey stood upright in the nest they could see the country around to a\ngreat distance. The father-stork used to bring them every day the nicest\nlittle frogs, as well as snails, and all the other stork tit-bits he\ncould find. Oh! it was so droll to see him show them his tricks; he\nwould lay his head upon his tail, make a rattling noise with his bill,\nand then tell them such charming stories all about the moors.\n\n\u2018Now you must learn to fly!\u2019 said the mother one day; and accordingly,\nall the four young storks were obliged to come out upon the parapet.\nOh, how they trembled! And though they balanced themselves on their\nwings, they were very near falling.\n\n\u2018Only look at me,\u2019 said the mother. \u2018This is the way you must hold your\nheads; and in this manner place your feet,--one, two! one, two! this\nwill help you to get on.\u2019 She flew a little way, and the young ones made\nan awkward spring after her,--bounce! down they fell; for their bodies\nwere heavy.\n\n[Illustration: \u2018STORK! STORK! LONG-LEGGED STORK!\u2019]\n\n\u2018I will not fly,\u2019 said one of the young ones, as he crept back into the\nnest. \u2018I do not want to go into the warm countries!\u2019\n\n\u2018Do you want to be frozen to death during the winter? Shall the boys\ncome, and hang, burn, or roast you? Wait a little, I will call them!\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh no!\u2019 said the little stork; and again he began to hop about on the\nroof like the others. By the third day they could fly pretty well, and\nso they thought they could also sit and take their ease in the air; but\nbounce! down they tumbled, and found themselves obliged to make use of\ntheir wings. The boys now came into the street, singing their favourite\nsong--\n\n \u2018Stork! stork! long-legged stork!\u2019\n\n\u2018Shall not we fly down and peck out their eyes?\u2019 said the young ones.\n\n\u2018No, leave them alone!\u2019 said the mother. \u2018Attend to me, that is of much\nmore importance!--one, two, three, now to the right!--one, two, three,\nnow to the left, round the chimneypot! That was very well; you managed\nyour wings so neatly last time, that I will permit you to come with me\nto-morrow to the marsh: several first-rate stork families will be there\nwith their children. Let it be said that mine are the prettiest and best\nbehaved of all; and remember to stand very upright, and to throw out\nyour chest; that looks well, and gives such an air of distinction!\u2019\n\n\u2018But are we not to take revenge upon those rude boys?\u2019 asked the young\nones.\n\n\u2018Let them screech as much as they please! You will fly among the clouds,\nyou will go to the land of the pyramids, when they must shiver with\ncold, and have not a single green leaf to look at, nor a single sweet\napple to eat!\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, we shall be revenged!\u2019 whispered they one to another. And then\nthey were drilled again.\n\nOf all the boys in the town, the forwardest in singing nonsensical\nverses was always the same one who had begun teasing the storks, a\nlittle urchin not more than six years old. The young storks indeed\nfancied him a hundred years old, because he was bigger than either\ntheir father or mother, and what should they know about the ages of\nchildren, or grown up human beings! All their schemes of revenge were\naimed at this little boy; he had been the first to tease them, and\ncontinued to do so. The young storks were highly excited about it, and\nthe older they grew, the less they were inclined to endure persecution.\nTheir mother, in order to pacify them, at last promised that they should\nbe revenged, but not until the last day of their stay in this place.\n\n\u2018We must first see how you behave yourselves at the grand exercise; if\nthen you should fly badly, and the general should thrust his beak into\nyour breast, the boys will, in some measure, be proved in the right. Let\nme see how well you will behave!\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, that you shall!\u2019 said the young ones. And now they really took\ngreat pains, practised every day, and at last flew so lightly and\nprettily, that it was a pleasure to see them.\n\n[Illustration: AND FETCH ONE FOR EACH OF THE BOYS]\n\nWell, now came the autumn. All the storks assembled, in order to fly\ntogether to warm countries for the winter. What a practising there was!\nAway they went over woods and fields, towns and villages, merely to see\nhow well they could fly, for they had a long journey before them. The\nyoung storks distinguished themselves so honourably that they were\npronounced \u2018worthy of frogs and serpents.\u2019 This was the highest\ncharacter\n\n[Illustration]\n\nthey could obtain; now they were allowed to eat frogs and serpents, and\naccordingly they did eat them.\n\n\u2018Now we will have our revenge!\u2019 said they.\n\n\u2018Very well!\u2019 said the mother; \u2018I have been thinking what will be the\nbest. I know where the pool is in which all the little human children\nlie until the storks come and take them to their parents: the pretty\nlittle things sleep and dream so pleasantly as they will never dream\nagain. All parents like to have a little child, and all children like to\nhave a little brother or sister. We will fly to the pool and fetch one\nfor each of the boys who has not sung that wicked song, nor made a jest\nof the storks; and the other naughty children shall have none.\u2019\n\n\u2018But he who first sung those naughty rhymes! that great ugly fellow!\nwhat shall we do to him?\u2019 cried the young storks.\n\n\u2018In the pool there lies a little child who has dreamed away his life; we\nwill take it for him, and he will weep because he has only a little dead\nbrother. But as to the good boy who said it was a sin to mock and tease\nanimals, surely you have not forgotten him? We will bring him two little\nones, a brother and a sister. And as this little boy\u2019s name is Peter,\nyou too shall for the future be called \u201cPeter!\u201d\u2019\n\nAnd it came to pass just as the mother said; and all the storks were\ncalled \u2018Peter,\u2019 and are still so called to this very day.\n\n[Illustration: \u2018OH! HOW PRETTY THAT IS!\u2019 HE WOULD SAY]\n\n\n\n\nTHE NIGHTINGALE\n\n\nIn China, as you well know, the Emperor is Chinese, and all around him\nare Chinese also. Now what I am about to relate happened many years ago,\nbut even on that very account it is the more important that you should\nhear the story now, before it is forgotten.\n\nThe Emperor\u2019s palace was the most magnificent palace in the world; it\nwas made entirely of fine porcelain, exceedingly costly; but at the same\ntime so brittle, that it was dangerous even to touch it.\n\nThe choicest flowers were to be seen in the garden; and to the most\nsplendid of all these little silver bells were fastened, in order that\ntheir tinkling might prevent any one from passing by without noticing\nthem. Yes! everything in the Emperor\u2019s garden was excellently well\narranged; and the garden extended so far, that even the gardener did not\nknow the end of it; whoever walked beyond it, however, came to a\nbeautiful wood, with very high trees; and beyond that, to the sea. The\nwood went down quite to the sea, which was very deep and blue; large\nships could sail close under the branches; and among the branches dwelt\na nightingale, who sang so sweetly, that even the poor fisherman, who\nhad so much else to do, when he came out at night-time to cast his nets,\nwould stand still and listen to her song. \u2018Oh! how pretty that is!\u2019 he\nwould say--but then he was obliged to mind his work, and forget the\nbird; yet the following night, if again the nightingale sang, and the\nfisherman came out, again he would say, \u2018Oh! how pretty that is!\u2019\n\nTravellers came from all parts of the world to the Emperor\u2019s city; and\nthey admired the city, the palace, and the garden; but if they heard the\nnightingale, they all said, \u2018This is the best.\u2019 And they talked about\nher after they went home, and learned men wrote books about the city,\nthe palace, and the garden; nor did they forget the nightingale: she was\nextolled above everything else; and poets wrote the most beautiful\nverses about the nightingale of the wood near the sea.\n\nThese books went round the world, and one of them at last reached the\nEmperor. He was sitting in his golden arm-chair; he read and read, and\nnodded his head every moment; for these splendid descriptions of the\ncity, the palace, and the garden pleased him greatly. \u2018But the\nnightingale is the best of all,\u2019 was written in the book.\n\n\u2018What in the world is this?\u2019 said the Emperor. \u2018The nightingale! I do\nnot know it at all! Can there be such a bird in my empire, in my garden\neven, without my having even heard of it? Truly one may learn something\nfrom books.\u2019\n\nSo he called his Cavalier;[1] now this was so grand a personage, that no\none of inferior rank might speak to him; and if one did venture to ask\nhim a question, his only answer was \u2018Pish!\u2019 which has no particular\nmeaning.\n\n[1] Gentleman in waiting.\n\n\u2018There is said to be a very remarkable bird here, called the\nnightingale,\u2019 said the Emperor; \u2018her song, they say, is worth more than\nanything else in all my dominions; why has no one ever told me of her?\u2019\n\n\u2018I have never before heard her mentioned,\u2019 said the Cavalier; \u2018she has\nnever been presented at court.\u2019\n\n\u2018I wish her to come, and sing before me this evening,\u2019 said the\nEmperor. \u2018The whole world knows what I have, and I do not know it\nmyself!\u2019\n\n\u2018I have never before heard her mentioned,\u2019 said the Cavalier, \u2018but I\nwill seek her, I will find her.\u2019\n\nBut where was she to be found? The Cavalier ran up one flight of steps,\ndown another, through halls, and through passages; not one of all whom\nhe met had ever heard of the nightingale; and the Cavalier returned to\nthe Emperor, and said, \u2018It must certainly be an invention of the man who\nwrote the book. Your Imperial Majesty must not believe all that is\nwritten in books; much in them is pure invention, and there is what is\ncalled the Black Art.\u2019\n\n\u2018But the book in which I have read it,\u2019 said the Emperor, \u2018was sent me\nby the high and mighty Emperor of Japan, and therefore it cannot be\nuntrue. I wish to hear the nightingale; she must be here this evening,\nand if she do not come, after supper the whole court shall be flogged.\u2019\n\n\u2018Tsing-pe!\u2019 said the Cavalier; and again he ran upstairs, and\ndownstairs, through halls, and through passages, and half the court ran\nwith him; for not one would have relished the flogging. Many were the\nquestions asked respecting the wonderful nightingale, whom the whole\nworld talked of, and about whom no one at court knew anything.\n\nAt last they met a poor little girl in the kitchen, who said, \u2018Oh yes!\nthe nightingale! I know her very well. Oh! how she can sing! Every\nevening I carry the fragments left at table to my poor sick mother. She\nlives by the sea-shore; and when I am coming back, and stay to rest a\nlittle in the wood, I hear the nightingale sing; it makes the tears come\ninto my eyes! it is just as if my mother kissed me.\u2019\n\n\u2018Little kitchen maiden,\u2019 said the Cavalier, \u2018I will procure for you a\nsure appointment in the kitchen, together with permission to see His\nMajesty the Emperor dine, if you will conduct us to the nightingale, for\nshe is expected at court this evening.\u2019\n\nSo they went together to the wood, where the nightingale was accustomed\nto sing; and half the court went with them. Whilst on their way, a cow\nbegan to low.\n\n\u2018Oh!\u2019 said the court pages, \u2018now we have her! It is certainly an\nextraordinary voice for so small an animal; surely I have heard it\nsomewhere before.\u2019\n\n\u2018No, those are cows you hear lowing,\u2019 said the little kitchen-maid, \u2018we\nare still far from the place.\u2019\n\nThe frogs were now croaking in the pond.\n\n\u2018That is famous!\u2019 said the chief court-preacher, \u2018now I hear her; it\nsounds just like little church-bells.\u2019\n\n\u2018No, those are frogs,\u2019 said the little kitchen-maid, \u2018but now I think we\nshall soon hear her.\u2019\n\nThen began the nightingale to sing.\n\n\u2018There she is!\u2019 said the little girl. \u2018Listen! listen! there she sits,\u2019\nand she pointed to a little grey bird up in the branches.\n\n\u2018Is it possible?\u2019 said the Cavalier. \u2018I should not have thought it. How\nsimple she looks! she must certainly have changed colour at the sight of\nso many distinguished personages.\u2019\n\n\u2018Little nightingale!\u2019 called out the kitchen-maid, \u2018our gracious Emperor\nwishes you to sing something to him.\u2019\n\n\u2018With the greatest pleasure,\u2019 said the nightingale, and she sang in such\na manner that it was delightful to hear her.\n\n\u2018It sounds like glass bells,\u2019 said the Cavalier. \u2018And look at her little\nthroat, how it moves! It is singular that we should never have heard her\nbefore; she will have great success at court.\u2019\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u2018Shall I sing again to the Emperor?\u2019 asked the nightingale, for she\nthought the Emperor was among them.\n\n\u2018Most excellent nightingale!\u2019 said the Cavalier, \u2018I have the honour to\ninvite you to a court festival, which is to take place this evening,\nwhen His Imperial Majesty will be enchanted with your delightful song.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: AMONG THE BRANCHES DWELT A NIGHTINGALE]\n\n\u2018My song would sound far better among the green trees,\u2019 said the\nnightingale; however, she followed willingly when she heard that the\nEmperor wished it.\n\nThere was a regular trimming and polishing at the palace; the walls and\nthe floors, which were all of porcelain, glittered with a thousand gold\nlamps; the loveliest flowers, with the merriest tinkling bells, were\nplaced in the passages; there was a running to and fro, which made all\nthe bells to ring, so that one could not hear his own words.\n\nIn the midst of the grand hall where the Emperor sat, a golden perch was\nerected, on which the nightingale was to sit. The whole court was\npresent, and the little kitchen-maid received permission to stand behind\nthe door, for she had now actually the rank and title of \u2018Maid of the\nKitchen.\u2019 All were dressed out in their finest clothes; and all eyes\nwere fixed upon the little grey bird, to whom the Emperor nodded as a\nsignal for her to begin.\n\nAnd the nightingale sang so sweetly, that tears came into the Emperor\u2019s\neyes, tears rolled down his cheeks; and the nightingale sang more\nsweetly still, and touched the hearts of all who heard her; and the\nEmperor was so merry, that he said, \u2018The nightingale should have his\ngolden slippers, and wear them round her neck.\u2019 But the nightingale\nthanked him, and said she was already sufficiently rewarded.\n\n\u2018I have seen tears in the Emperor\u2019s eyes; that is the greatest reward I\ncan have. The tears of an Emperor have a particular value. Heaven knows\nI am sufficiently rewarded.\u2019 And then she sang again with her sweet,\nlovely voice.\n\n\u2018It is the most amiable coquetry ever known,\u2019 said the ladies present;\nand they put water into their mouths, and tried to move their throats as\nshe did when they spoke; they thought to become nightingales also.\nIndeed even the footmen and chamber-maids declared that they were quite\ncontented; which was a great thing to say, for of all people they are\nthe most difficult to satisfy. Yes indeed! the nightingale\u2019s success was\ncomplete. She was now to remain at court, to have her own cage; with\npermission to fly out twice in the day, and once in the night. Twelve\nattendants were allotted her, who were to hold a silken band, fastened\nround her foot; and they kept good hold. There was no pleasure in\nexcursions made in this manner.\n\n[Illustration: THEY ADMIRED THE CITY, THE PALACE, AND THE GARDEN]\n\nAll the city was talking of the wonderful bird; and when two persons\nmet, one would say only \u2018night,\u2019 and the other \u2018gale,\u2019 and then they\nsighed, and understood each other perfectly; indeed eleven of the\nchildren of the citizens were named after the nightingale, but none of\nthem had her tones in their throats.\n\nOne day a large parcel arrived for the Emperor, on which was written\n\u2018Nightingale.\u2019\n\n\u2018Here we have another new book about our far-famed bird,\u2019 said the\nEmperor. But it was not a book; it was a little piece of mechanism,\nlying in a box; an artificial nightingale, which was intended to look\nlike the living one, but was covered all over with diamonds, rubies, and\nsapphires. When this artificial bird had been wound up, it could sing\none of the tunes that the real nightingale sang; and its tail, all\nglittering with silver and gold, went up and down all the time. A little\nband was fastened round its neck, on which was written, \u2018The nightingale\nof the Emperor of China is poor compared with the nightingale of the\nEmperor of Japan.\u2019\n\n\u2018That is famous!\u2019 said every one; and he who had brought the bird\nobtained the title of \u2018Chief Imperial Nightingale Bringer.\u2019 \u2018Now they\nshall sing together; we will have a duet.\u2019\n\nAnd so they must sing together; but it did not succeed, for the real\nnightingale sang in her own way, and the artificial bird produced its\ntones by wheels. \u2018It is not his fault,\u2019 said the artist, \u2018he keeps exact\ntime and quite according to method.\u2019\n\nSo the artificial bird must now sing alone; he was quite as successful\nas the real nightingale; and then he was so much prettier to look at;\nhis plumage sparkled like jewels.\n\nThree and thirty times he sang one and the same tune, and yet he was not\nweary; every one would willingly have heard\n\n[Illustration: THE KITCHEN-MAID]\n\nhim again; however, the Emperor now wished the real nightingale should\nsing something--but where was she? No one had remarked that she had\nflown out of the open window; flown away to her own green wood.\n\n\u2018What is the meaning of this?\u2019 said the Emperor; and all the courtiers\nabused the nightingale, and called her a most ungrateful creature. \u2018We\nhave the best bird at all events,\u2019 said they, and for the four and\nthirtieth time they heard the same tune, but still they did not quite\nknow it, because it was so difficult. The artist praised the bird\ninordinately; indeed he declared it was superior to the real\nnightingale, not only in its exterior, all sparkling with diamonds, but\nalso intrinsically.\n\n\u2018For see, my noble lords, his Imperial Majesty especially, with the real\nnightingale, one could never reckon on what was coming; but everything\nis settled with the artificial bird; he will sing in this one way, and\nno other: this can be proved, he can be taken to pieces, and the works\ncan be shown, where the wheels lie, how they move, and how one follows\nfrom another.\u2019\n\n\u2018That is just what I think,\u2019 said everybody; and the artist received\npermission to show the bird to the people on the following Sunday. \u2018They\ntoo should hear him sing,\u2019 the Emperor said. So they heard him, and were\nas well pleased as if they had all been drinking tea; for it is tea that\nmakes Chinese merry, and they all said oh! and raised their\nfore-fingers, and nodded their heads. But the fisherman, who had heard\nthe real nightingale, said, \u2018It sounds very pretty, almost like the real\nbird; but yet there is something wanting, I do not know what.\u2019\n\nThe real nightingale was, however, banished the empire.\n\nThe artificial bird had his place on a silken cushion, close to the\nEmperor\u2019s bed; all the presents he received, gold and precious stones,\nlay around him; he had obtained the rank and title of \u2018High Imperial\nDessert Singer,\u2019 and, therefore, his place was number one on the left\nside; for the Emperor thought that the side where the heart was situated\nmust be the most honourable, and the heart is situated on the left side\nof an Emperor, as well as with other folks.\n\nAnd the artist wrote five and twenty volumes about the artificial bird,\nwith the longest and most difficult words that are to be found in the\nChinese language. So, of course, all said they had read and understood\nthem, otherwise they would have been stupid, and perhaps would have been\nflogged.\n\nThus it went on for a year. The Emperor, the court, and all the Chinese\nknew every note of the artificial bird\u2019s song by heart; but that was the\nvery reason they enjoyed it so much, they could now sing with him. The\nlittle boys in the street sang \u2018Zizizi, cluck, cluck, cluck!\u2019 and the\nEmperor himself sang too--yes indeed, that was charming!\n\nBut one evening, when the bird was in full voice, and the Emperor lay in\nbed, and listened, there was suddenly a noise, \u2018bang,\u2019 inside the bird,\nthen something sprang \u2018fur-r-r-r,\u2019 all the wheels were running about,\nand the music stopped.\n\nThe Emperor jumped quickly out of bed, and had his chief physician\ncalled; but of what use could he be? Then a clockmaker was fetched, and\nat last, after a great deal of discussion and consultation, the bird was\nin some measure put to rights again; but the clockmaker said he must be\nspared much singing, for the pegs were almost worn out, and it was\nimpossible to renew them, at least so that the music should be correct.\n\nThere was great lamentation, for now the artificial bird was allowed to\nsing only once a year, and even then there were difficulties; however,\nthe artist made a short speech full of his favourite long words, and\nsaid the bird was as good as ever: so then, of course, it was as good as\never.\n\nWhen five years were passed away, a great affliction visited the whole\nempire, for in their hearts the people thought highly of their Emperor;\nand now he was ill, and it was reported that he could not live. A new\nEmperor had already been chosen, and the people stood in the street,\noutside the palace, and asked the Cavalier how the Emperor was?\n\n[Illustration: THE CHIEF IMPERIAL NIGHTINGALE BRINGER]\n\n\u2018Pish!\u2019 said he, and shook his head.\n\nCold and pale lay the Emperor in his magnificent bed; all the court\nbelieved him to be already dead, and every one had hastened away to\ngreet the new Emperor; the men ran out for a little gossip on the\nsubject, and the maids were having a grand coffee-party.\n\nThe floors of all the rooms and passages were covered with cloth, in\norder that not a step should be heard--it was everywhere so still! so\nstill! But the Emperor was not yet dead; stiff and pale he lay in his\nsplendid bed, with the long velvet curtains, and heavy gold tassels. A\nwindow was opened above, and the moon shone down on the Emperor and the\nartificial bird.\n\nThe poor Emperor could scarcely breathe; it appeared to him as though\nsomething was sitting on his chest; he opened his eyes, and saw that it\nwas Death, who had put on the Emperor\u2019s crown, and with one hand held\nthe golden scimitar, with the other the splendid imperial banner;\nwhilst, from under the folds of the thick velvet hangings, the\nstrangest-looking heads were seen peering forth; some with an expression\nabsolutely hideous, and others with an extremely gentle and lovely\naspect: they were the bad and good deeds of the Emperor, which were now\nall fixing their eyes upon him, whilst Death sat on his heart.\n\n\u2018Dost thou know this?\u2019 they whispered one after another. \u2018Dost thou\nremember that?\u2019 And they began reproaching him in such a manner that the\nsweat broke out upon his forehead.\n\n\u2018I have never known anything like it,\u2019 said the Emperor. \u2018Music, music,\nthe great Chinese drum!\u2019 cried he; \u2018let me not hear what they are\nsaying.\u2019\n\nThey went on, however; and Death, quite in the Chinese fashion, nodded\nhis head to every word.\n\n\u2018Music, music!\u2019 cried the Emperor. \u2018Thou dear little artificial bird!\nsing, I pray thee, sing!--I have given thee gold and precious stones, I\nhave even hung my golden slippers round thy neck--sing, I pray thee,\nsing!\u2019\n\nBut the bird was silent; there was no one there to wind him up, and he\ncould not sing without this. Death continued to stare at the Emperor\nwith his great hollow eyes! and everywhere it was still, fearfully\nstill!\n\nAll at once the sweetest song was heard from the window; it was the\nlittle living nightingale who was sitting on a branch outside--she had\nheard of her Emperor\u2019s severe illness, and was come to sing to him of\ncomfort and hope. As she sang, the spectral forms became paler and\npaler, the blood flowed more and more quickly through the Emperor\u2019s\nfeeble members, and even Death listened and said, \u2018Go on, little\nnightingale, go on.\u2019\n\n\u2018Wilt thou give me the splendid gold scimitar? Wilt thou give me the gay\nbanner, and the Emperor\u2019s crown?\u2019\n\nAnd Death gave up all these treasures for a song; and the nightingale\nsang on: she sang of the quiet churchyard, where white roses blossom,\nwhere the lilac sends forth its fragrance, and the fresh grass is\nbedewed with the tears of the sorrowing friends of the departed. Then\nDeath was seized with a longing after his garden, and like a cold white\nshadow, flew out at the window.\n\n\u2018Thanks, thanks,\u2019 said the Emperor, \u2018thou heavenly little bird, I know\nthee well. I have banished thee from my realm, and thou hast sung away\nthose evil faces from my bed, and Death from my heart; how shall I\nreward thee?\u2019\n\n\u2018Thou hast already rewarded me,\u2019 said the nightingale; \u2018I have seen\ntears in thine eyes, as when I sang to thee for the first time: those I\nshall never forget, they are jewels which do so much good to a\nminstrel\u2019s heart! but sleep now, and wake fresh and healthy; I will sing\nthee to sleep.\u2019\n\nAnd she sang--and the Emperor fell into a sweet sleep. Oh, how soft and\nkindly was that sleep!\n\nThe sun shone in at the window when he awoke, strong and healthy. Not\none of his servants had returned, for they all believed him dead; but\nthe nightingale still sat and sang.\n\n[Illustration: HE WAS QUITE AS SUCCESSFUL AS THE REAL NIGHTINGALE]\n\n\u2018Thou shalt always stay with me,\u2019 said the Emperor, \u2018thou shalt only\nsing when it pleases thee, and the artificial bird I will break into a\nthousand pieces.\u2019\n\n\u2018Do not so,\u2019 said the nightingale; \u2018truly he has done what he could;\ntake care of him. I cannot stay in the palace; but let me come when I\nlike: I will sit on the branches close to the window, in the evening,\nand sing to thee, that thou mayest become happy and thoughtful. I will\nsing to thee of the joyful and the sorrowing, I will sing to thee of all\nthat is good or bad, which is concealed from thee. The little minstrel\nflies afar to the fisherman\u2019s hut, to the peasant\u2019s cottage, to all who\nare far distant from thee and thy court. I love thy heart more than thy\ncrown, and yet the crown has an odour of something holy about it. I will\ncome, I will sing. But thou must promise me one thing.\u2019\n\n\u2018Everything,\u2019 said the Emperor. And now he stood in his imperial\nsplendour, which he had put on himself, and held the scimitar so heavy\nwith gold to his heart. \u2018One thing I beg of thee: let no one know that\nthou hast a little bird, who tells thee everything, then all will go on\nwell.\u2019 And the nightingale flew away.\n\nThe attendants came in to look at their dead Emperor. Lo! there they\nstood--and the Emperor said, \u2018Good-morning!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THE WILD SWANS]\n\n\n\n\nTHE WILD SWANS\n\n\nFar hence, in a country whither the Swallows fly in our winter-time,\nthere dwelt a King who had eleven sons, and one daughter, the beautiful\nElise. The eleven brothers (they were princes) went to school with stars\non their breasts and swords by their sides; they wrote on golden tablets\nwith diamond pens, and could read either with a book or without one--in\nshort, it was easy to perceive that they were princes. Their sister\nElise used to sit upon a little glass stool, and had a picture-book\nwhich had cost the half of a kingdom. Oh, the children were so happy!\nbut happy they were not to remain always.\n\nTheir father the King married a very wicked Queen, who was not at all\nkind to the poor children; they found this out on the first day after\nthe marriage, when there was a grand gala at the palace; for when the\nchildren played at receiving company, instead of having as many cakes\nand sweetmeats as they liked, the Queen gave them only some sand in a\nlittle dish, and told them to imagine that was something nice.\n\nThe week after, she sent the little Elise to be brought up by some\npeasants in the country, and it was not long before she told the King so\nmany falsehoods about the poor princes that he would have nothing more\nto do with them.\n\n\u2018Away, out into the world, and take care of yourselves,\u2019 said the wicked\nQueen; \u2018fly away in the form of great speechless birds.\u2019 But she could\nnot make their transformation so\n\n[Illustration]\n\ndisagreeable as she wished,--the Princes were changed into eleven white\nswans. Sending forth a strange cry, they flew out of the palace windows,\nover the park and over the wood.\n\nIt was still early in the morning when they passed by the place where\nElise lay sleeping in the peasant\u2019s cottage; they flew several times\nround the roof, stretched their long necks, and flapped their wings, but\nno one either heard or saw them; they were forced to fly away, up to the\nclouds and into the wide world, so on they went to the forest, which\nextended as far as the sea-shore.\n\nThe poor little Elise stood in the peasant\u2019s cottage amusing herself\nwith a green leaf, for she had no other plaything. She pricked a hole in\nthe leaf and peeped through it at the sun, and then she fancied she saw\nher brother\u2019s bright eyes, and whenever the warm sunbeams shone full\nupon her cheeks, she thought of her brother\u2019s kisses.\n\nOne day passed exactly like the other. When the wind blew through the\nthick hedge of rose-trees in front of the house, she would whisper to\nthe roses, \u2018Who is more beautiful than you?\u2019 but the roses would shake\ntheir heads and say, \u2018Elise.\u2019 And when the peasant\u2019s wife sat on Sundays\nat the door of her cottage reading her hymn-book, the wind would rustle\nin the leaves and say to the book, \u2018Who is more pious than\nthou?\u2019--\u2018Elise,\u2019 replied the hymn-book. And what the roses and the\nhymn-book said, was no more than the truth.\n\nElise was now fifteen years old, she was sent for home; but when the\nQueen saw how beautiful she was, she hated her the more, and would\nwillingly have transformed her like her brothers into a wild swan, but\nshe dared not do so, because the King wished to see his daughter.\n\nSo the next morning the Queen went into a bath which was made of marble,\nand fitted up with soft pillows and the gayest carpets; she took three\ntoads, kissed them, and said to one, \u2018Settle thou upon Elise\u2019s head that\nshe may become dull and sleepy like thee.\u2019--\u2018Settle thou upon her\nforehead,\u2019 said she to another, \u2018and let her become ugly like thee, so\nthat her father may not know her again.\u2019 And \u2018Do thou place thyself upon\nher bosom,\u2019 whispered she to the third, \u2018that her heart may become\ncorrupt and evil, a torment to herself.\u2019 She then put the toads into the\nclear water, which was immediately tinted with a green colour, and\nhaving called Elise, took off her clothes and made her get into the\nbath--one toad settled among her hair, another on her forehead, and the\nthird upon her bosom, but Elise seemed not at all aware of it; she rose\nup and three poppies were seen swimming on the water. Had not the\nanimals been poisonous and kissed by a witch, they would have been\nchanged into roses whilst they remained on Elise\u2019s head and heart--she\nwas too good for magic to have any power over her. When the Queen\nperceived this, she rubbed walnut juice all over the maiden\u2019s skin, so\nthat it became quite swarthy, smeared a nasty salve over her lovely\nface, and entangled her long thick hair,--it was impossible to recognise\nthe beautiful Elise after this.\n\nWhen her father saw her he was shocked, and said she could not be his\ndaughter; no one would have anything to do with her but the mastiff and\nthe swallows; but they, poor things, could not say anything in her\nfavour.\n\nPoor Elise wept, and thought of her eleven brothers, not one of whom she\nsaw at the palace. In great distress she stole away and wandered the\nwhole day over fields and moors, till she reached the forest. She knew\nnot where to go, but she was so sad, and longed so much to see her\nbrothers, who had been driven out into the world, that she determined to\nseek and find them.\n\nShe had not been long in the forest when night came on, and she lost her\nway amid the darkness. So she lay down on the soft moss, said her\nevening prayer, and leaned her head against the trunk of a tree. It was\nso still in the forest, the air was mild, and from the grass and mould\naround gleamed the green light of many hundred glowworms, and when Elise\nlightly touched one of the branches hanging over her, bright insects\nfell down upon her like falling stars.\n\nAll the night long she dreamed of her brothers. They were all children\nagain, played together, wrote with diamond pens upon golden tablets, and\nlooked at the pictures in the beautiful book which had cost half of a\nkingdom. But they did not as formerly make straight strokes and pothooks\nupon the tablets; no, they wrote of the bold actions they had performed,\nand the strange adventures they had encountered, and in the picture-book\neverything seemed alive--the birds sang, men and women stepped from the\nbook and talked to Elise and her brothers; however, when she turned over\nthe leaves, they jumped back into their places, so that the pictures did\nnot get confused together.\n\nWhen Elise awoke the sun was already high in the heavens. She could not\nsee it certainly, for the tall trees of the forest entwined their\nthickly leaved branches closely together, which, as the sunbeams played\nupon them, looked like a golden veil waving to and fro. And the air was\nso fragrant, and the birds perched upon Elise\u2019s shoulders. She heard the\nnoise of water, there were several springs forming a pool, with the\nprettiest pebbles at the bottom, bushes were growing thickly round, but\nthe deer had trodden a broad path through them, and by this path Elise\nwent down to the water\u2019s edge. The water was so clear that had not the\nboughs and bushes around been moved to and fro by the wind, you might\nhave fancied they were painted upon the smooth surface, so distinctly\nwas each little leaf mirrored upon it, whether glowing in the sunlight\nor lying in the shade.\n\nAs soon as Elise saw her face reflected in the water, she was quite\nstartled, so brown and ugly did it look; however, when she wetted her\nlittle hand, and rubbed her brow and eyes, the white skin again\nappeared.--So Elise took off her clothes, stepped into the fresh water,\nand in the whole world there was not a king\u2019s daughter more beautiful\nthan she then appeared.\n\nAfter she had again dressed herself, and had braided her long hair, she\nwent to the bubbling spring, drank out of the hollow of her hand, and\nthen wandered farther into the forest. She knew not where she was going,\nbut she thought of her brothers, and of the good God who, she felt,\nwould never forsake her. He it was who made the wild crab-trees grow in\norder to feed the hungry, and who showed her a tree whose boughs bent\nunder the weight of their fruit. She made her noonday meal under its\nshade, propped up the boughs, and then walked on amid the dark twilight\nof the forest. It was so still that she could hear her own footsteps,\nand the rustling of each little withered leaf that was crushed beneath\nher feet; not a bird was to be seen, not a single sunbeam penetrated\nthrough the thick foliage, and the tall stems of the trees stood so\nclose together, that when she looked straight before her, she seemed\nenclosed by trellis-work upon trellis-work. Oh! there was a solitariness\nin this forest such as Elise had never known before.\n\nAnd the night was so dark! not a single glowworm sent forth its light.\nSad and melancholy she lay down to sleep, and then it seemed to her as\nthough the boughs above her opened, and that she saw the Angel of God\nlooking down upon her with gentle aspect, and a thousand little cherubs\nall around\n\n[Illustration: SO ELISE TOOK OFF HER CLOTHES AND STEPPED INTO THE\nWATER]\n\nhim. When she awoke in the morning she could not tell whether this was a\ndream, or whether she had really been so watched.\n\nShe walked on a little farther and met an old woman with a basket full\nof berries; the old woman gave her some of them, and Elise asked if she\nhad not seen eleven princes ride through the wood.\n\n\u2018No,\u2019 said the old woman, \u2018but I saw yesterday eleven Swans with golden\ncrowns on their heads swim down the brook near this place.\u2019\n\nAnd she led Elise on a little farther to a precipice, the base of which\nwas washed by a brook; the trees on each side stretched their long leafy\nbranches towards each other, and where they could not unite, the roots\nhad disengaged themselves from the earth and hung their interlaced\nfibres over the water.\n\nElise bade the old woman farewell, and wandered by the side of the\nstream till she came to the place where it reached the open sea.\n\nThe great, the beautiful sea lay extended before the maiden\u2019s eyes, but\nnot a ship, not a boat was to be seen; how was she to go on? She\nobserved the numberless little stones on the shore, all of which the\nwaves had washed into a round form; glass, iron, stone, everything that\nlay scattered there, had been moulded into shape, and yet the water\nwhich had effected this was much softer than Elise\u2019s delicate little\nhand. \u2018It rolls on unweariedly,\u2019 said she, \u2018and subdues what is so hard;\nI will be no less unwearied! Thank you for the lesson you have given me,\nye bright rolling waves; some day, my heart tells me, you shall carry me\nto my dear brothers!\u2019\n\nThere lay upon the wet sea-grass eleven white swan-feathers; Elise\ncollected them together; drops of water hung about them, whether dew or\ntears she could not tell. She was quite alone on the sea-shore, but she\ndid not care for that; the sea presented an eternal variety to her, more\nindeed in a few hours than the gentle inland waters would have offered\nin a whole year. When a black cloud passed over the sky, it seemed as if\nthe sea would say, \u2018I too can look dark,\u2019 and then the wind would blow\nand the waves fling out their white foam; but when the clouds shone with\na bright red tint, and the winds were asleep, the sea also became like a\nrose-leaf in hue; it was now green, now white, but as it reposed\npeacefully, a slight breeze on the shore caused the water to heave\ngently like the bosom of a sleeping child.\n\nAt sunset Elise saw eleven Wild Swans with golden crowns on their heads\nfly towards the land; they flew one behind another, looking like a\nstreaming white ribbon. Elise climbed the precipice, and concealed\nherself behind a bush; the swans settled close to her, and flapped their\nlong white wings.\n\nAs the sun sank beneath the water, the swans also vanished, and in their\nplace stood eleven handsome princes, the brothers of Elise. She uttered\na loud cry, for although they were very much altered, Elise knew that\nthey were, felt that they must be, her brothers; she ran into their\narms, called them by their names--and how happy were _they_ to see and\nrecognise their sister, who was now grown so tall and so beautiful! They\nlaughed and wept, and soon told each other how wickedly their\nstep-mother had acted towards them.\n\n\u2018We,\u2019 said the eldest of the brothers, \u2018fly or swim as long as the sun\nis above the horizon, but when it sinks below, we appear again in our\nhuman form; we are therefore obliged to look out for a safe\nresting-place, for if at sunset we were flying among the clouds, we\nshould fall down as soon as we resumed our own form. We do not dwell\nhere, a land quite as beautiful as this lies on the opposite side of the\nsea, but it is far off. To reach it, we have to cross the deep waters,\nand there is no island midway on which we may rest at night; one little\nsolitary rock rises from the waves, and upon it we only just find room\nenough to stand side by side. There we spend the night in our human\nform, and when the sea is rough, we are sprinkled by its foam; but we\nare thankful for this resting-place, for without it we\n\n[Illustration: AND MET AN OLD WOMAN WITH A BASKET FULL OF BERRIES]\n\nshould never be able to visit our dear native country. Only once in the\nyear is this visit to the home of our fathers permitted; we require two\nof the longest days for our flight, and can remain here only eleven\ndays, during which time we fly over the large forest, whence we can see\nthe palace in which we were born, where our father dwells, and the tower\nof the church in which our mother was buried. Here even the trees and\nbushes seem of kin to us, here the wild horses still race over the\nplains, as in the days of our childhood, here the charcoal-burner still\nsings the same old tunes to which we used to dance in our youth, here we\nare still attracted, and here we have found thee, thou dear little\nsister! We have yet two days longer to stay here, then we must fly over\nthe sea to a land beautiful indeed, but not our fatherland. How shall we\ntake thee with us? we have neither ship nor boat!\u2019\n\n\u2018How shall I be able to release you?\u2019 said the sister. And so they went\non talking almost the whole of the night. They slumbered only a few\nhours.\n\nElise was awakened by the rustling of swans\u2019 wings which were fluttering\nabove her. Her brothers were again transformed, and for some time flew\naround in large circles. At last they flew far, far away; one of them\nremained behind, it was the youngest; he laid his head in her lap and\nshe stroked his white wings; they remained the whole day together.\nTowards evening the others came back, and when the sun was set, again\nthey stood on the firm ground in their natural form.\n\n\u2018To-morrow we shall fly away, and may not return for a year, but we\ncannot leave thee; hast thou courage to accompany us? My arm is strong\nenough to bear thee through the forest; shall we not have sufficient\nstrength in our wings to transport thee over the sea?\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, take me with you,\u2019 said Elise. They spent the whole night in\nweaving a mat of the pliant willow bark and the tough rushes, and their\nmat was thick and strong. Elise lay down upon it, and when the sun had\nrisen, and the brothers were again transformed into wild swans, they\nseized the mat with their beaks and flew up high among the clouds with\ntheir dear sister, who was still sleeping. The sunbeams shone full upon\nher face, so one of the swans flew over her head, and shaded her with\nhis broad wings.\n\nThey were already far from land when Elise awoke: she thought she was\nstill dreaming, so strange did it appear to her to be travelling through\nthe air, and over the sea. By her side lay a cluster of pretty berries,\nand a handful of savoury roots. Her youngest brother had collected and\nlaid them there; and she thanked him with a smile, for she knew him as\nthe swan who flew over her head and shaded her with his wings.\n\nThey flew so high, that the first ship they saw beneath them seemed like\na white sea-gull hovering over the water. Elise saw behind her a large\ncloud, it looked like a mountain, and on it she saw the gigantic shadows\nof herself and the eleven swans--it formed a picture more splendid than\nany she had ever yet seen; soon, however, the sun rose higher, the cloud\nremained far behind, and then the floating shadowy picture disappeared.\n\nThe whole day they continued flying with a whizzing noise somewhat like\nan arrow, but yet they went slower than usual--they had their sister to\ncarry. A heavy tempest was gathering, the evening approached; anxiously\ndid Elise watch the sun, it was setting. Still the solitary rock could\nnot be seen; it appeared to her that the swans plied their wings with\nincreasing vigour. Alas! it would be her fault if her brothers did not\narrive at the place in time; they would become human beings when the sun\nset, and if this happened before they reached the rock, they must fall\ninto the sea, and be drowned. She prayed to God most fervently, still no\nrock was to be seen; the black clouds drew nearer, violent gusts of wind\nannounced the approach of a tempest, the clouds rested perpendicularly\nupon a fearfully large wave which rolled quickly forwards, one flash of\nlightning rapidly succeeded another.\n\nThe sun was now on the rim of the sea. Elise\u2019s heart beat violently; the\nswans shot downwards so swiftly that she thought she must fall, but\nagain they began to hover; the sun was half sunk beneath the water, and\nat that moment she saw the little rock below her; it looked like a\nseal\u2019s head when he raises it just above the water. And the sun was\nsinking fast,--it seemed scarcely larger than a star,--her foot touched\nthe hard ground, and it vanished altogether, like the last spark on a\nburnt piece of paper. Arm in arm stood her brothers around her--there\nwas only just room for her and them; the sea beat tempestuously against\nthe rock, flinging over them a shower of foam; the sky seemed in a\ncontinual blaze, with the fast-succeeding flashes of fire that lightened\nit, and peal after peal rolled on the thunder, but sister and brothers\nkept firm hold of each other\u2019s hands. They sang a psalm, and their psalm\ngave them comfort and courage.\n\n[Illustration: NOT A BOAT WAS TO BE SEEN]\n\nBy daybreak the air was pure and still, and as soon as the sun rose, the\nswans flew away with Elise from the rock. The waves rose higher and\nhigher, and when they looked from the clouds down upon the\nblackish-green sea, covered as it was with white foam, they might have\nfancied that millions of swans were swimming on its surface.\n\nAs day advanced, Elise saw floating in the air before her a land of\nmountains intermixed with glaciers, and in the centre a palace a mile in\nlength, with splendid colonnades, surrounded by palm-trees and\ngorgeous-looking flowers as large as mill-wheels. She asked if this were\nthe country to which they were flying, but the swans shook their heads,\nfor what she saw was the beautiful airy castle of the fairy Morgana,\nwhere no human being was admitted; and whilst Elise still bent her eyes\nupon it, mountains, trees, and castle all disappeared, and in their\nplace stood twelve churches with high towers and pointed windows--she\nfancied she heard the organ play, but it was only the murmur of the sea.\nShe was now close to these churches, but behold! they have changed into\na large fleet sailing under them; she looked down and saw it was only a\nsea-mist passing rapidly over the water. An eternal variety floated\nbefore her eyes, till at last the actual land to which she was going\nappeared in sight. Beautiful blue mountains, cedar woods, towns, and\ncastles rose to view. Long before sunset Elise sat down among the\nmountains, in front of a large cavern; delicate young creepers grew\naround so thickly, that it appeared covered with gay embroidered\ncarpets.\n\n\u2018Now we shall see what thou wilt dream of to-night!\u2019 said her youngest\nbrother, as he showed her the sleeping-chamber destined for her.\n\n\u2018Oh that I could dream how you might be released from the spell!\u2019 said\nshe; and this thought completely occupied her. She prayed most earnestly\nfor God\u2019s assistance, nay, even in her dreams she continued praying, and\nit appeared to her that she was flying up high in the air towards the\ncastle of the fairy Morgana. The fairy came forward to meet her, radiant\nand beautiful, and yet she fancied she resembled the old woman who had\ngiven her berries in the forest, and told her of the swans with golden\ncrowns.\n\n\u2018Thou _canst_ release thy brothers,\u2019 said she, \u2018but hast thou courage\nand patience sufficient? The water is indeed softer than thy delicate\nhands, and yet can mould the hard stones to its will, but then it cannot\nfeel the pain which thy tender fingers will feel; it has no heart, and\ncannot suffer the anxiety and grief which thou must suffer. Dost thou\nsee these stinging-nettles which I have in my hand? There are many of\nthe same kind growing round the cave where thou art sleeping; only those\nthat grow there or on the graves in the church-yard are of use, remember\nthat! Thou must pluck them, although they will sting thy hand; thou must\ntrample on the nettles with thy feet, and get yarn from them, and with\nthis yarn thou must weave eleven shirts with long sleeves;--throw them\nover the eleven wild swans, and the spell is broken. But mark this: from\nthe moment that thou beginnest thy work till it is completed, even\nshould it occupy thee for years, thou must not speak a word; the first\nsyllable that escapes thy lips will fall like a dagger into the hearts\nof thy brothers; on thy tongue depends their life. Mark well all this!\u2019\n\nAnd at the same moment the fairy touched Elise\u2019s hands with a nettle,\nwhich made them burn like fire, and Elise awoke. It was broad daylight,\nand close to her lay a nettle like the one she had seen in her dream.\nShe fell upon her knees, thanked God, and then went out of the cave in\norder to begin her work. She plucked with her own delicate hands the\ndisagreeable stinging-nettles; they burned large blisters on her hands\nand arms, but she bore the pain willingly in the hope of releasing her\ndear brothers. She trampled on the nettles with her naked feet, and spun\nthe green yarn.\n\nAt sunset came her brothers. Elise\u2019s silence quite frightened them, they\nthought it must be the effect of some fresh spell of their wicked\nstep-mother; but when they saw her blistered hands, they found out what\ntheir sister was doing for their sakes. The youngest brother wept, and\nwhen his tears fell upon her hands, Elise felt no more pain, the\nblisters disappeared.\n\nThe whole night she spent in her work, for she could not rest till she\nhad released her brothers. All the following days she sat in her\nsolitude, for the swans had flown away; but never had time passed so\nquickly. One shirt was ready; she now began the second.\n\n[Illustration: THERE WAS ONLY JUST ROOM FOR HER AND THEM]\n\nSuddenly a hunting-horn resounded among the mountains. Elise was\nfrightened. The noise came nearer, she heard the hounds barking; in\ngreat terror she fled into the cave, bound up the nettles which she had\ngathered and combed into a bundle, and sat down upon it.\n\nIn the same moment a large dog sprang out from the bushes; two others\nimmediately followed; they barked loudly, ran away and then returned. It\nwas not long before the hunters stood in front of the cave; the\nhandsomest among them was the King of that country; he stepped up to\nElise. Never had he seen a lovelier maiden.\n\n\u2018How camest thou here, thou beautiful child?\u2019 said he. Elise shook her\nhead; she dared not speak, a word might have cost her the life of her\nbrothers; and she hid her hands under her apron lest the King should see\nhow she was suffering.\n\n\u2018Come with me,\u2019 said he, \u2018thou must not stay here! If thou art good as\nthou art beautiful, I will dress thee in velvet and silk, I will put a\ngold crown upon thy head, and thou shalt dwell in my palace!\u2019 So he\nlifted her upon his horse, while she wept and wrung her hands; but the\nKing said, \u2018I only desire thy happiness! thou shalt thank me for this\nsome day!\u2019 and away he rode over mountains and valleys, holding her on\nhis horse in front, whilst the other hunters followed. When the sun set,\nthe King\u2019s magnificent capital with its churches and cupolas lay before\nthem, and the King led Elise into the palace, where, in a high marble\nhall, fountains were playing, and the walls and ceiling displayed the\nmost beautiful paintings. But Elise cared not for all this splendour;\nshe wept and mourned in silence, even whilst some female attendants\ndressed her in royal robes, wove costly pearls in her hair, and drew\nsoft gloves over her blistered hands.\n\nAnd now she was full dressed, and as she stood in her splendid attire,\nher beauty was so dazzling, that the courtiers all bowed low before her;\nand the King chose her for his bride, although the Archbishop shook his\nhead, and whispered that the \u2018beautiful lady of the wood must certainly\nbe a witch, who had blinded their eyes, and infatuated the King\u2019s\nheart.\u2019\n\nBut the King did not listen; he ordered that music should be played. A\nsumptuous banquet was served up, and the loveliest maidens danced round\nthe bride; she was led through fragrant gardens into magnificent halls,\nbut not a smile was seen to play upon her lips or beam from her eyes.\nThe King then opened a small room next her sleeping apartment; it was\nadorned with costly green tapestry, and exactly resembled the cave in\nwhich she had been found; upon the ground lay the bundle of yarn which\nshe had spun from the nettles, and by the wall hung the shirt she had\ncompleted. One of the hunters had brought all this, thinking there must\nbe something wonderful in it.\n\n\u2018Here thou mayest dream of thy former home,\u2019 said the King; \u2018here is the\nwork which employed thee; amidst all thy present splendour it may\nsometimes give thee pleasure to fancy thyself there again.\u2019\n\nWhen Elise saw what was so dear to her heart, she smiled, and the blood\nreturned to her cheeks; she thought her brothers might still be\nreleased, and she kissed the King\u2019s hand; he pressed her to his heart\nand ordered the bells of all the churches in the city to be rung, to\nannounce the celebration of their wedding. The beautiful dumb maiden of\nthe wood was to become Queen of the land.\n\nThe Archbishop whispered evil words in the King\u2019s ear, but they made no\nimpression upon him; the marriage was solemnised, and the Archbishop\nhimself was obliged to put the crown upon her head. In his rage he\npressed the narrow rim so firmly on her forehead that it hurt her; but a\nheavier weight (sorrow for her brothers) lay upon her heart, she did not\nfeel bodily pain. She was still silent, a single word would have killed\nher brothers; her eyes, however, beamed with heartfelt love to the King,\nso good and handsome, who had done so much to make her happy. She became\nmore warmly attached to him every day. Oh, how much she wished she might\nconfide to him all her sorrows! but she was forced to remain silent,\nshe could not speak until her work was completed. To this end she stole\naway every night, and went into the little room that was fitted up in\nimitation of the cave; there she worked at her shirts, but by the time\nshe had begun the seventh all her yarn was spent.\n\nShe knew that the nettles she needed grew in the church-yard, but she\nmust gather them herself; how was she to get them?\n\n\u2018Oh, what is the pain in my fingers compared to the anguish my heart\nsuffers?\u2019 thought she. \u2018I must venture to the church-yard; the good God\nwill not withdraw His protection from me!\u2019\n\nFearful as though she were about to do something wrong, one moonlight\nnight she crept down to the garden, and through the long avenues got\ninto the lonely road leading to the church-yard. She saw sitting on one\nof the broadest tombstones a number of ugly old witches. They took off\ntheir ragged clothes as if they were going to bathe, and digging with\ntheir long lean fingers into the fresh grass, drew up the dead bodies\nand devoured the flesh. Elise was obliged to pass close by them, and the\nwitches fixed their wicked eyes upon her; but she repeated her prayer,\ngathered the stinging-nettles, and took them back with her into the\npalace. One person only had seen her; it was the Archbishop, he was\nawake when others slept; now he was convinced that all was not right\nabout the Queen: she must be a witch, who had through her enchantments\ninfatuated the King, and all the people.\n\nIn the Confessional he told the King what he had seen, and what he\nfeared; and when the slanderous words came from his lips, the sculptured\nimages of the saints shook their heads as though they would say, \u2018It is\nuntrue, Elise is innocent!\u2019 But the Archbishop explained the omen quite\notherwise; he thought it was a testimony against her that the holy\nimages shook their heads at hearing of her sin.\n\nTwo large tears rolled down the King\u2019s cheeks. He returned home in\ndoubt; he pretended to sleep at night, though sleep never visited him;\nand he noticed that Elise rose from her bed every night, and every time\nhe followed her secretly and saw her enter her little room.\n\nHis countenance became darker every day; Elise perceived it, though she\nknew not the cause. She was much pained, and besides, what did she not\nsuffer in her heart for her brothers! Her bitter tears ran down on the\nroyal velvet and purple; they looked like bright diamonds, and all who\nsaw the magnificence that surrounded her, wished themselves in her\nplace. She had now nearly finished her work, only one shirt was wanting;\nunfortunately, yarn was wanting also, she had not a single nettle left.\nOnce more, only this one time, she must go to the church-yard and gather\na few handfuls. She shuddered when she thought of the solitary walk and\nof the horrid witches, but her resolution was as firm as her trust in\nGod.\n\nElise went; the King and the Archbishop followed her; they saw her\ndisappear at the church-yard door, and when they came nearer, they saw\nthe witches sitting on the tombstones as Elise had seen them, and the\nKing turned away, for he believed her whose head had rested on his bosom\nthat very evening to be amongst them. \u2018Let the people judge her!\u2019 said\nhe. And the people condemned her to be burnt.\n\nShe was now dragged from the King\u2019s sumptuous apartments into a dark,\ndamp prison, where the wind whistled through the grated window. Instead\nof velvet and silk, they gave her the bundle of nettles she had\ngathered; on that must she lay her head, the shirts she had woven must\nserve her as mattress and counterpane;--but they could not have given\nher anything she valued so much; and she continued her work, at the same\ntime praying earnestly to her God. The boys sang scandalous songs about\nher in front of her prison; not a soul comforted her with one word of\nlove.\n\n[Illustration: I MUST VENTURE TO THE CHURCH-YARD]\n\nTowards evening she heard the rustling of Swans\u2019 wings at the grating.\nIt was the youngest of her brothers, who had at last found his sister,\nand she sobbed aloud for joy, although she knew that the coming night\nwould probably be the last of her life; but then her work was almost\nfinished and her brother was near.\n\nThe Archbishop came in order to spend the last hour with her; he had\npromised the King he would; but she shook her head and entreated him\nwith her eyes and gestures to go--this night she must finish her work,\nor all she had suffered, her pain, her anxiety, her sleepless nights,\nwould be in vain. The Archbishop went away with many angry words, but\nthe unfortunate Elise knew herself to be perfectly innocent, and went on\nwith her work.\n\nLittle mice ran busily about and dragged the nettles to her feet,\nwishing to help her; and the thrush perched on the iron bars of the\nwindow, and sang all night as merrily as he could, that Elise might not\nlose courage.\n\nIt was still twilight, just one hour before sunrise, when the eleven\nbrothers stood before the palace gates, requesting an audience with the\nKing; but it could not be, they were told, it was still night, the King\nwas asleep, and they dared not wake him. They entreated, they\nthreatened, the guard came up, the King himself at last stepped out to\nask what was the matter,--at that moment the sun rose, the brothers\ncould be seen no longer, and eleven white Swans flew away over the\npalace.\n\nThe people poured forth from the gates of the city; they wished to see\nthe witch burnt. One wretched horse drew the cart in which Elise was\nplaced; a coarse frock of sackcloth had been put on her, her beautiful\nlong hair hung loosely over her shoulders, her cheeks were of a deadly\npaleness, her lips moved gently, and her fingers wove the green yarn:\neven on her way to her cruel death she did not give up her work; the ten\nshirts lay at her feet, she was now labouring to complete the eleventh.\nThe rabble insulted her.\n\n\u2018Look at the witch, how she mutters! She has not a hymn-book in her\nhand, no, there she sits with her accursed hocus-pocus. Tear it from\nher, tear it into a thousand pieces!\u2019\n\nAnd they all crowded about her, and were on the point of snatching away\nthe shirts, when eleven white Swans came flying towards the cart; they\nsettled all round her, and flapped their wings. The crowd gave way in\nterror.\n\n\u2018It is a sign from Heaven! she is certainly innocent!\u2019 whispered some;\nthey dared not say so aloud.\n\nThe Sheriff now seized her by the hand--in a moment she threw the eleven\nshirts over the Swans, and eleven handsome Princes appeared in their\nplace. The youngest had, however, only one arm, and a wing instead of\nthe other, for one sleeve was deficient in his shirt, it had not been\nquite finished.\n\n\u2018Now I may speak,\u2019 said she: \u2018I am innocent!\u2019\n\nAnd the people who had seen what had happened bowed before her as before\na saint. She, however, sank lifeless in her brothers\u2019 arms; suspense,\nfear, and grief had quite exhausted her.\n\n\u2018Yes, she is innocent,\u2019 said her eldest brother, and he now related\ntheir wonderful history. Whilst he spoke a fragrance as delicious as\nthough it proceeded from millions of roses, diffused itself around, for\nevery piece of wood in the funeral pile had taken root and sent forth\nbranches, a hedge of blooming red roses surrounded Elise, and above all\nthe others blossomed a flower of dazzling white colour, bright as a\nstar; the King plucked it and laid it on Elise\u2019s bosom, whereupon she\nawoke from her trance with peace and joy in her heart.\n\nAnd all the church-bells began to ring of their own accord, and birds\nflew to the spot in swarms, and there was a festive procession back to\nthe palace, such as no King has ever seen equalled.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: I HAVE SCARCELY CLOSED MY EYES THE WHOLE NIGHT THROUGH]\n\n\n\n\nTHE REAL PRINCESS\n\n\nThere was once a Prince who wished to marry a Princess; but then she\nmust be a real Princess. He travelled all over the world in hopes of\nfinding such a lady; but there was always something wrong. Princesses he\nfound in plenty; but whether they were real Princesses it was impossible\nfor him to decide, for now one thing, now another, seemed to him not\nquite right about the ladies. At last he returned to his palace quite\ncast down, because he wished so much to have a real Princess for his\nwife.\n\nOne evening a fearful tempest arose; it thundered and lightened, and the\nrain poured down from the sky in torrents; besides, it was as dark as\npitch. All at once there was heard a violent knocking at the door, and\nthe old King, the Prince\u2019s father, went out himself to open it.\n\nIt was a Princess who was standing outside the door. What with the rain\nand the wind, she was in a sad condition: the water trickled down from\nher hair, and her clothes clung to her body. She said she was a real\nPrincess.\n\n\u2018Ah, we shall soon see that!\u2019 thought the old Queen-mother; however, she\nsaid not a word of what she was going to do, but went quietly into the\nbedroom, took all the bedclothes off the bed, and put three little peas\non the bedstead. She then laid twenty mattresses one upon another over\nthe three peas, and put twenty feather-beds over the mattresses.\n\nUpon this bed the Princess was to pass the night.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe next morning she was asked how she had slept. \u2018Oh, very badly\nindeed!\u2019 she replied. \u2018I have scarcely closed my eyes the whole night\nthrough. I do not know what was in my bed, but I had something hard\nunder me, and am all over black and blue. It has hurt me so much!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD KING HIMSELF WENT OUT TO OPEN IT]\n\nNow it was plain that the lady must be a real Princess, since she had\nbeen able to feel the three little peas through the twenty mattresses\nand twenty feather-beds. None but a real Princess could have had such a\ndelicate sense of feeling.\n\n[Illustration: THE PEAS WERE PRESERVED IN THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES]\n\nThe Prince accordingly made her his wife, being now convinced that he\nhad found a real Princess. The three peas were, however, put into the\ncabinet of curiosities, where they are still to be seen, provided they\nare not lost.\n\nWas not this a lady of real delicacy?\n\n[Illustration: KAREN]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RED SHOES\n\n\nThere was once a little girl, very pretty and delicate, but so poor that\nin summer-time she always went barefoot, and in winter wore large wooden\nshoes, so that her little ankles grew quite red and sore.\n\nIn the village dwelt the shoemaker\u2019s mother. She sat down one day and\nmade out of some old pieces of red cloth a pair of little shoes; they\nwere clumsy enough, certainly, but they fitted the little girl tolerably\nwell, and she gave them to her. The little girl\u2019s name was Karen.\n\nIt was the day of her mother\u2019s funeral when the red shoes were given to\nKaren; they were not at all suitable for mourning, but she had no\nothers, and in them she walked with bare legs behind the miserable straw\nbier.\n\nJust then a large old carriage rolled by; in it sat a large old lady;\nshe looked at the little girl and pitied her, and she said to the\npriest, \u2018Give me the little girl and I will take care of her.\u2019\n\nAnd Karen thought it was all for the sake of the red shoes that the old\nlady had taken this fancy to her, but the old lady said they were\nfrightful, and they were burnt. And Karen was dressed very neatly; she\nwas taught to read and to work; and people told her she was pretty--but\nthe mirror said, \u2018Thou art more than pretty, thou art beautiful!\u2019\n\nIt happened one day that the Queen travelled through that part of the\ncountry with her little daughter, the Princess; and all the people,\nKaren amongst them, crowded in front of\n\n[Illustration]\n\nthe palace, whilst the little Princess stood, dressed in white, at a\nwindow, for every one to see her. She wore neither train nor gold crown;\nbut on her feet were pretty red morocco shoes, much prettier ones indeed\nthan those the shoemaker\u2019s mother had made for little Karen. Nothing in\nthe world could be compared to these red shoes!\n\nKaren was now old enough to be confirmed, she was to have both new frock\nand new shoes. The rich shoemaker in the town took the measure of her\nlittle foot. Large glass cases full of neat shoes and shining boots were\nfixed round the room; however, the old lady\u2019s sight was not very good,\nand, naturally enough, she had not so much pleasure in looking at them\nas Karen had. Amongst the shoes was a pair of red ones, just like those\nworn by the Princess. How gay they were! and the shoemaker said they had\nbeen made for a count\u2019s daughter, but had not quite fitted her.\n\n\u2018They are of polished leather,\u2019 said the old lady, \u2018see how they shine!\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, they shine beautifully!\u2019 exclaimed Karen. And as the shoes fitted\nher, they were bought; but the old lady did not know that they were red,\nfor she would never have suffered Karen to go to confirmation in red\nshoes. But Karen did so. Everybody looked at her feet, and as she walked\nup the nave to the chancel, it seemed to her that even the antique\nsculptured figures on the monuments, with their stiff ruffs and long\nblack robes, fixed their eyes on her red shoes. Of them only she thought\nwhen the Bishop laid his hand on her head, when he spoke of Holy\nBaptism, of her covenant with God, and how that she must now be a\nfull-grown Christian. The organ sent forth its deep, solemn tones, the\nchildren\u2019s sweet voices mingled with those of the choristers, but Karen\nstill thought only of her red shoes.\n\n[Illustration: AND KAREN WAS DRESSED VERY NEATLY]\n\nThat afternoon, when the old lady was told that Karen had worn red shoes\nat her confirmation, she was much vexed, and told Karen that they were\nquite unsuitable, and that, henceforward, whenever she went to church,\nshe must wear black shoes, were they ever so old.\n\nNext Sunday was the communion day. Karen looked first at the red shoes,\nthen at the black ones, then at the red again, and--put them on.\n\nIt was beautiful sunshiny weather; Karen and the old lady walked to\nchurch through the corn-fields; the path was very dusty.\n\nAt the church door stood an old soldier; he was leaning on crutches, and\nhad a marvellously long beard, not white, but reddish-hued, and he bowed\nalmost to the earth, and asked the old lady if he might wipe the dust\noff her shoes. And Karen put out her little foot also. \u2018Oh, what pretty\ndancing-shoes!\u2019 quoth the old soldier; \u2018take care, and mind you do not\nlet them slip off when you dance\u2019; and he passed his hands over them.\n\nThe old lady gave the soldier a halfpenny, and then went with Karen into\nchurch.\n\nAnd every one looked at Karen\u2019s red shoes; and all the carved figures,\ntoo, bent their gaze upon them; and when Karen knelt before the altar,\nthe red shoes still floated before her eyes; she thought of them and of\nthem only, and she forgot to join in the hymn of praise--she forgot to\nrepeat \u2018Our Father.\u2019\n\nAt last all the people came out of church, and the old lady got into her\ncarriage. Karen was just lifting her foot to follow her, when the old\nsoldier standing in the porch exclaimed, \u2018Only look, what pretty\ndancing-shoes!\u2019 And Karen could not help it, she felt she must make a\nfew of her dancing steps; and after she had once begun, her feet\ncontinued to move, just as though the shoes had received power over\nthem; she danced round the church-yard, she could not stop. The coachman\nwas obliged to run after her; he took hold of her and lifted her into\nthe carriage, but the feet still continued to dance, so as to kick the\ngood old lady most cruelly. At last the shoes were taken off, and the\nfeet had rest.\n\n[Illustration: KAREN AND THE OLD LADY WALKED TO CHURCH]\n\nAnd now the shoes were put away in a press, but Karen could not help\ngoing to look at them every now and then.\n\nThe old lady lay ill in bed; the doctor said she could not live much\nlonger. She certainly needed careful nursing, and who should be her\nnurse and constant attendant but Karen? But there was to be a grand ball\nin the town. Karen was invited; she looked at the old lady who was\nalmost dying--she looked at the red shoes--she put them on, there could\nbe no harm in doing that, at least; she went to the ball, and began to\ndance. But when she wanted to move to the right, the shoes bore her to\nthe left; and when she would dance up the room, the shoes danced down\nthe room, danced down the stairs, through the streets, and through the\ngates of the town. Dance she did, and dance she must, straight out into\nthe dark wood.\n\nSomething all at once shone through the trees. She thought at first it\nmust be the moon\u2019s bright face, shining blood-red through the night\nmists; but no, it was the old soldier with the red beard--he sat there,\nnodding at her, and repeating, \u2018Only look, what pretty dancing-shoes!\u2019\n\nShe was very much frightened, and tried to throw off her red shoes, but\ncould not unclasp them. She hastily tore off her stockings; but the\nshoes she could not get rid of--they had, it seemed, grown on to her\nfeet. Dance she did, and dance she must, over field and meadow, in rain\nand in sunshine, by night and by day. By night! that was most horrible!\nShe danced into the lonely church-yard, but the dead there danced not,\nthey were at rest. She would fain have sat down on the poor man\u2019s grave,\nwhere the bitter tansy grew, but for her there was neither rest nor\nrespite. She danced past the open church door; there she saw an angel,\nclad in long white robes, and with wings that reached from his shoulders\nto the earth; his countenance was grave and stern, and in his hand he\nheld a broad glittering sword.\n\n\u2018Dance thou shalt,\u2019 said he; \u2018dance on, in thy red shoes, till thou art\npale and cold, and thy skin shrinks and crumples up like a skeleton\u2019s!\nDance thou shalt still, from door to door, and wherever proud, vain\nchildren live thou shalt knock, so that they may hear thee and fear!\nDance shalt thou, dance on----\u2019\n\n\u2018Mercy!\u2019 cried Karen; but she heard not the angel\u2019s answer, for the\nshoes carried her through the gate, into the fields, along highways and\nby-ways, and still she must dance.\n\nOne morning she danced past a door she knew well; she heard\npsalm-singing from within, and presently a coffin, strewn with flowers,\nwas borne out. Then Karen knew that the good old lady was dead, and she\nfelt herself a thing forsaken by all mankind, and accursed by the Angel\nof God.\n\n[Illustration: HE SAT THERE NODDING AT HER]\n\nDance she did, and dance she must, even through the dark night; the\nshoes bore her continually over thorns and briars, till her limbs were\ntorn and bleeding. Away she danced over the heath to a little solitary\nhouse; she knew that the headsman dwelt there, and she tapped with her\nfingers against the panes, crying--\n\n\u2018Come out! come out!--I cannot come in to you, I am dancing.\u2019\n\nAnd the headsman replied, \u2018Surely thou knowest not who I am. I cut off\nthe heads of wicked men, and my axe is very sharp and keen.\u2019\n\n\u2018Cut not off my head!\u2019 said Karen; \u2018for then I could not live to repent\nof my sin; but cut off my feet with the red shoes.\u2019\n\nAnd then she confessed to him all her sin, and the headsman cut off her\nfeet with the red shoes on them; but even after this the shoes still\ndanced away with those little feet over the fields, and into the deep\nforests.\n\nAnd the headsman made her a pair of wooden feet and hewed down some\nboughs to serve her as crutches, and he taught her the psalm which is\nalways repeated by criminals, and she kissed the hand that had guided\nthe axe, and went her way over the heath. \u2018Now I have certainly suffered\nquite enough through the red shoes,\u2019 thought Karen, \u2018I will go to church\nand let people see me once more!\u2019 and she went as fast as she could to\nthe church-porch, but as she approached it, the red shoes danced before\nher and she was frightened and turned her back.\n\nAll that week through she endured the keenest anguish and shed many\nbitter tears; however, when Sunday came, she said to herself, \u2018Well, I\nmust have suffered and striven enough by this time, I dare say I am\nquite as good as many of those who are holding their heads so high in\nchurch.\u2019 So she took courage and went there, but she had not passed the\nchurchyard gate before she saw the red shoes again dancing before her,\nand in great terror she again turned back, and more deeply than ever\nbewailed her sin.\n\nShe then went to the pastor\u2019s house, and begged that some employment\nmight be given her, promising to work diligently and do all she could;\nshe did not wish for any wages, she said, she only wanted a roof to\nshelter her, and to dwell with good people. And the pastor\u2019s wife had\npity on her, and took her into her service. And Karen was grateful and\nindustrious.\n\nEvery evening she sat silently listening to the pastor, while he read\nthe Holy Scriptures aloud. All the children loved her, but when she\nheard them talk about dress and finery, and about being as beautiful as\na queen, she would sorrowfully shake her head.\n\n[Illustration: DANCE SHE MUST, OVER FIELD AND MEADOW]\n\nAgain Sunday came, all the pastor\u2019s household went to church, and they\nasked her if she would not go too, but she sighed and looked with tears\nin her eyes upon her crutches.\n\nWhen they were all gone, she went into her own little, lowly chamber--it\nwas but just large enough to contain a bed and chair--and there she sat\ndown with her psalm-book in her hand, and whilst she was meekly and\ndevoutly reading in it, the wind wafted the tones of the organ from the\nchurch into her room, and she lifted up her face to heaven and prayed,\nwith tears, \u2018O God, help me!\u2019\n\nThen the sun shone brightly, so brightly!--and behold! close before her\nstood the white-robed Angel of God, the same whom she had seen on that\nnight of horror at the church-porch, but his hand wielded not now, as\nthen, a sharp, threatening sword--he held a lovely green bough, full of\nroses. With this he touched the ceiling, which immediately rose to a\ngreat height, a bright gold star spangling in the spot where the Angel\u2019s\ngreen bough had touched it. And he touched the walls, whereupon the room\nwidened, and Karen saw the organ, the old monuments, and the\ncongregation all sitting in their richly carved seats and singing from\ntheir psalm-books.\n\nFor the church had come home to the poor girl in her narrow chamber, or\nrather the chamber had grown, as it were, into the church; she sat with\nthe rest of the pastor\u2019s household, and, when the psalm was ended, they\nlooked up and nodded to her, saying, \u2018Thou didst well to come, Karen!\u2019\n\n\u2018This is mercy!\u2019 said she.\n\nAnd the organ played again, and the children\u2019s voices in the choir\nmingled so sweetly and plaintively with it! The bright sunbeams streamed\nwarmly through the windows upon Karen\u2019s seat; her heart was so full of\nsunshine, of peace and gladness, that it broke; her soul flew upon a\nsunbeam to her Father in heaven, where not a look of reproach awaited\nher, not a word was breathed of the red shoes.\n\n[Illustration: TWO ROGUES CALLING THEMSELVES WEAVERS MADE THEIR\nAPPEARANCE]\n\n\n\n\nTHE EMPEROR\u2019S NEW CLOTHES\n\n\nMany years ago, there was an Emperor, who was so excessively fond of new\nclothes that he spent all his money in dress. He did not trouble himself\nin the least about his soldiers; nor did he care to go either to the\ntheatre or the chase, except for the opportunities then afforded him for\ndisplaying his new clothes. He had a different suit for each hour of the\nday; and as of any other king or emperor one is accustomed to say, \u2018He\nis sitting in council,\u2019 it was always said of him, \u2018The Emperor is\nsitting in his wardrobe.\u2019\n\nTime passed away merrily in the large town which was his capital;\nstrangers arrived every day at the court. One day, two rogues, calling\nthemselves weavers, made their appearance. They gave out that they knew\nhow to weave stuffs of the most beautiful colours and elaborate\npatterns, the clothes manufactured from which should have the wonderful\nproperty of remaining invisible to every one who was unfit for the\noffice he held, or who was extraordinarily simple in character.\n\n\u2018These must indeed be splendid clothes!\u2019 thought the Emperor. \u2018Had I\nsuch a suit, I might, at once, find out what men in my realms are unfit\nfor their office, and also be able to distinguish the wise from the\nfoolish! This stuff must be woven for me immediately.\u2019 And he caused\nlarge sums of money to be given to both the weavers, in order that they\nmight begin their work directly.\n\nSo the two pretended weavers set up two looms, and affected to work very\nbusily, though in reality they did nothing at all. They asked for the\nmost delicate silk and the purest gold thread, put both into their own\nknapsacks, and then continued their pretended work at the empty looms\nuntil late at night.\n\n\u2018I should like to know how the weavers are getting on with my cloth,\u2019\nsaid the Emperor to himself, after some little time had elapsed; he was,\nhowever, rather embarrassed, when he remembered that a simpleton, or one\nunfit for his office, would be unable to see the manufacture. \u2018To be\nsure,\u2019 he thought, \u2018he had nothing to risk in his own person; but yet,\nhe would prefer sending somebody else, to bring him intelligence about\nthe weavers, and their work, before he troubled himself in the affair.\u2019\nAll the people throughout the city had heard of the wonderful property\nthe cloth was to possess; and all were anxious to learn how wise, or how\nignorant, their neighbours might prove to be.\n\n\u2018I will send my faithful old minister to the weavers,\u2019 said the Emperor\nat last, after some deliberation, \u2018he will be best able to see how the\ncloth looks; for he is a man of sense, and no one can be more suitable\nfor his office than he is.\u2019\n\nSo the faithful old minister went into the hall, where the knaves were\nworking with all their might at their empty looms. \u2018What can be the\nmeaning of this?\u2019 thought the old man, opening his eyes very wide. \u2018I\ncannot discover the least bit of thread on the looms!\u2019 However, he did\nnot express his thoughts aloud.\n\nThe impostors requested him very courteously to be so good as to come\nnearer their looms; and then asked him whether the design pleased him,\nand whether the colours were not very beautiful, at the same time\npointing to the empty frames. The poor old minister looked and looked,\nhe could not discover anything on the looms, for a very good reason,\nviz. there was nothing there. \u2018What!\u2019 thought he again, \u2018is it possible\nthat I am a simpleton? I have never thought so myself; and no one must\nknow it now if I am so. Can it be that I am unfit for my office? No,\nthat must not be said either. I will never confess that I could not see\nthe stuff.\u2019\n\n\u2018Well, Sir Minister,\u2019 said one of the knaves, still pretending to work,\n\u2018you do not say whether the stuff pleases you.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh, it is excellent!\u2019 replied the old minister, looking at the loom\nthrough his spectacles. \u2018This pattern, and the colours--yes, I will tell\nthe Emperor without delay how very beautiful I think them.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: \u2018OH, IT IS EXCELLENT!\u2019 REPLIED THE MINISTER]\n\n\u2018We shall be much obliged to you,\u2019 said the impostors, and then they\nnamed the different colours and described the pattern of the pretended\nstuff. The old minister listened attentively to their words, in order\nthat he might repeat them to the Emperor; and then the knaves asked for\nmore silk and gold, saying that it was necessary to complete what they\nhad begun. However, they put all that was given them into their\nknapsacks, and continued to work with as much apparent diligence as\nbefore at their empty looms.\n\nThe Emperor now sent another officer of his court to see how the men\nwere getting on, and to ascertain whether the cloth would soon be ready.\nIt was just the same with this gentleman as with the minister; he\nsurveyed the looms on all sides, but could see nothing at all but the\nempty frames.\n\n\u2018Does not the stuff appear as beautiful to you as it did to my lord the\nminister?\u2019 asked the impostors of the Emperor\u2019s second ambassador; at\nthe same time making the same gestures as before, and talking of the\ndesign and colours which were not there.\n\n\u2018I certainly am not stupid!\u2019 thought the messenger. \u2018It must be that I\nam not fit for my good, profitable office! That is very odd; however, no\none shall know anything about it.\u2019 And accordingly he praised the stuff\nhe could not see, and declared that he was delighted with both colours\nand patterns. \u2018Indeed, please your Imperial Majesty,\u2019 said he to his\nsovereign, when he returned, \u2018the cloth which the weavers are preparing\nis extraordinarily magnificent.\u2019\n\nThe whole city was talking of the splendid cloth which the Emperor had\nordered to be woven at his own expense.\n\nAnd now the Emperor himself wished to see the costly manufacture whilst\nit was still on the loom. Accompanied by a select number of officers of\nthe court, among whom were the two honest men who had already admired\nthe cloth, he went to the crafty impostors, who, as soon as they were\naware of the Emperor\u2019s approach, went on working more diligently than\never, although they still did not pass a single thread through the\nlooms.\n\n\u2018Is not the work absolutely magnificent?\u2019 said the two officers of the\nCrown, already mentioned. \u2018If your Majesty will only be pleased to look\nat it! what a splendid design! what glorious colours!\u2019 and, at the same\ntime, they pointed to the empty frames; for they imagined that every one\nelse could see this exquisite piece of workmanship.\n\n\u2018How is this?\u2019 said the Emperor to himself, \u2018I can see nothing! this is\nindeed a terrible affair! Am I a simpleton, or am I unfit to be an\nEmperor? that would be the worst thing that could happen. Oh! the cloth\nis charming,\u2019 said he aloud. \u2018It has my complete approbation.\u2019 And he\nsmiled most graciously, and looked closely at the empty looms; for on no\naccount would he say that he could not see what two of the officers of\nhis court had praised so much. All his retinue now strained their eyes,\nhoping to discover something on the looms, but they could see no more\nthan the others; nevertheless, they all exclaimed, \u2018Oh, how beautiful!\u2019\nand advised his Majesty to have some new clothes made from this splendid\nmaterial, for the approaching procession. \u2018Magnificent! charming!\nexcellent!\u2019 resounded on all sides; and every one was uncommonly gay.\nThe Emperor shared in the general satisfaction; and presented the\nimpostors with the riband of an order of knighthood, to be worn in their\nbutton-holes, and the title of \u2018Gentlemen Weavers.\u2019\n\nThe rogues sat up the whole of the night before the day on which the\nprocession was to take place, and had sixteen lights burning, so that\nevery one might see how anxious they were to finish the Emperor\u2019s new\nsuit. They pretended to roll the cloth off the looms; cut the air with\ntheir scissors; and sewed with needles without any thread in them.\n\u2018See!\u2019 cried they at last, \u2018the Emperor\u2019s new clothes are ready!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: AS IF IN THE ACT OF HOLDING SOMETHING UP]\n\nAnd now the Emperor, with all the grandees of his court, came to the\nweavers; and the rogues raised their arms, as if in the act of holding\nsomething up, saying, \u2018Here are your Majesty\u2019s trousers! here is the\nscarf! here is the mantle! The whole suit is as light as a cobweb; one\nmight fancy one has nothing at all on, when dressed in it; that,\nhowever, is the great virtue of this delicate cloth.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, indeed!\u2019 said all the courtiers, although not one of them could\nsee anything of this exquisite manufacture.\n\n\u2018If your Imperial Majesty will be graciously pleased to take off your\nclothes, we will fit on the new suit in front of the looking-glass.\u2019\n\nThe Emperor was accordingly undressed, and the rogues pretended to array\nhim in his new suit; the Emperor turning round, from side to side,\nbefore the looking-glass.\n\n[Illustration: SO NOW THE EMPEROR WALKED UNDER HIS HIGH CANOPY]\n\n\u2018How splendid his Majesty looks in his new clothes! and how well they\nfit!\u2019 every one cried out. \u2018What a design! what colours! these are\nindeed royal robes!\u2019\n\n\u2018The canopy which is to be borne over your Majesty in the procession is\nwaiting,\u2019 announced the chief master of the ceremonies.\n\n\u2018I am quite ready,\u2019 answered the Emperor. \u2018Do my new clothes fit well?\u2019\nasked he, turning himself round again before the looking-glass, in\norder that he might appear to be examining his handsome suit.\n\nThe lords of the bed-chamber, who were to carry his Majesty\u2019s train,\nfelt about on the ground, as if they were lifting up the ends of the\nmantle, and pretending to be carrying something; for they would by no\nmeans betray anything like simplicity or unfitness for their office.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo now the Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of the\nprocession, through the streets of his capital; and all the people\nstanding by, and those at the windows, cried out, \u2018Oh! how beautiful are\nour Emperor\u2019s new clothes! what a magnificent train there is to the\nmantle! and how gracefully the scarf hangs!\u2019 in short, no one would\nallow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in\ndoing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit for\nhis office. Certainly, none of the Emperor\u2019s various suits had ever made\nso great an impression as these invisible ones.\n\n\u2018But the Emperor has nothing at all on!\u2019 said a little child. \u2018Listen to\nthe voice of innocence!\u2019 exclaimed his father; and what the child had\nsaid was whispered from one to another.\n\n\u2018But he has nothing at all on!\u2019 at last cried out all the people. The\nEmperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he\nthought the procession must go on now! And the lords of the bed-chamber\ntook greater pains than ever to appear holding up a train, although, in\nreality, there was no train to hold.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SWINEHERD\n\n\nThere was once a poor Prince, who had a kingdom; his kingdom was very\nsmall, but still quite large enough to marry upon; and he wished to\nmarry.\n\nIt was certainly rather cool of him to say to the Emperor\u2019s daughter,\nWill you have me? But so he did; for his name was renowned far and wide;\nand there were a hundred princesses who would have answered \u2018Yes!\u2019 and\n\u2018Thank you kindly.\u2019 We shall see what this Princess said.\n\nListen!\n\nIt happened that where the Prince\u2019s father lay buried, there grew a\nrose-tree--a most beautiful rose-tree, which blossomed only once in\nevery five years, and even then bore only one flower, but that _was_ a\nrose! It smelt so sweet, that all cares and sorrows were forgotten by\nhim who inhaled its fragrance.\n\nAnd furthermore, the Prince had a nightingale, who could sing in such a\nmanner that it seemed as though all sweet melodies dwelt in her little\nthroat. So the Princess was to have the rose, and the nightingale; and\nthey were accordingly put into large silver caskets, and sent to her.\n\nThe Emperor had them brought into a large hall, where the Princess was\nplaying at \u2018Visiting,\u2019 with the ladies of the court; and when she saw\nthe caskets with the presents, she clapped her hands for joy.\n\n\u2018Ah, if it were but a little pussy-cat!\u2019 said she--but the rose-tree\nwith its beautiful rose came to view.\n\n\u2018Oh, how prettily it is made!\u2019 said all the court ladies.\n\n\u2018It is more than pretty,\u2019 said the Emperor, \u2018it is charming!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: ALL CARES AND SORROWS WERE FORGOTTEN BY HIM WHO INHALED\nITS FRAGRANCE]\n\nBut the Princess touched it, and was almost ready to cry.\n\n\u2018Fie, papa!\u2019 said she, \u2018it is not made at all, it is natural!\u2019\n\n\u2018Let us see what is in the other casket, before we get into a bad\nhumour,\u2019 said the Emperor. So the nightingale came forth, and sang so\ndelightfully that at first no one could say anything ill-humoured of\nher.\n\n\u2018_Superbe! charmant!_\u2019 exclaimed the ladies; for they all used to\nchatter French, each one worse than her neighbour.\n\n\u2018How much the bird reminds me of the musical box that belonged to our\nblessed Empress,\u2019 said an old knight. \u2018Oh yes! these are the same tones,\nthe same execution.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes! yes!\u2019 said the Emperor, and he wept like a child at the\nremembrance.\n\n\u2018I will still hope that it is not a real bird,\u2019 said the Princess.\n\n\u2018Yes, it is a real bird,\u2019 said those who had brought it. \u2018Well, then,\nlet the bird fly,\u2019 said the Princess; and she positively refused to see\nthe Prince.\n\nHowever, he was not to be discouraged; he daubed his face over brown and\nblack, pulled his cap over his ears, and knocked at the door.\n\n\u2018Good day to my lord the Emperor!\u2019 said he. \u2018Can I have employment at\nthe palace?\u2019\n\n\u2018Why, yes,\u2019 said the Emperor, \u2018I want some one to take care of the pigs,\nfor we have a great many of them.\u2019\n\nSo the Prince was appointed \u2018Imperial Swineherd.\u2019 He had a dirty little\nroom close by the pig-sty; and there he sat the whole day, and worked.\nBy the evening he had made a pretty little kitchen-pot. Little bells\nwere hung all round it; and when the pot was boiling, these bells\ntinkled in the most charming manner, and played the old melody,\n\n \u2018Ach! du lieber Augustin,\n lles ist weg, weg, weg!\u2019[2]\n\n[2]\n\n \u2018Ah! dear Augustine,\n ll is gone, gone, gone!\u2019\n\n\nBut what was still more curious, whoever held his finger in the smoke of\nthe kitchen-pot, immediately smelt all the dishes that were cooking on\nevery hearth in the city.--This, you see, was something quite different\nfrom the rose.\n\n[Illustration: AND HE WEPT LIKE A CHILD]\n\nNow the Princess happened to walk that way; and when she heard the tune,\nshe stood quite still, and seemed pleased; for she could play \u2018Lieber\nAugustin\u2019; it was the only piece she knew; and she played it with one\nfinger.\n\n\u2018Why, there is my piece,\u2019 said the Princess; \u2018that swineherd must\ncertainly have been well educated! Go in and ask him the price of the\ninstrument.\u2019\n\nSo one of the court ladies must run in; however, she drew on wooden\nslippers first.\n\n\u2018What will you take for the kitchen-pot?\u2019 said the lady.\n\n\u2018I will have ten kisses from the Princess,\u2019 said the swineherd.\n\n\u2018Yes, indeed!\u2019 said the lady.\n\n\u2018I cannot sell it for less,\u2019 rejoined the swineherd.\n\n\u2018He is an impudent fellow!\u2019 said the Princess, and she walked on; but\nwhen she had gone a little way, the bells tinkled so prettily,\n\n \u2018Ach! du lieber Augustin,\n Alles ist weg, weg, weg!\u2019\n\n\u2018Stay,\u2019 said the Princess. \u2018Ask him if he will have ten kisses from the\nladies of my court.\u2019\n\n\u2018No, thank you!\u2019 said the swineherd, \u2018ten kisses from the Princess, or I\nkeep the kitchen-pot myself.\u2019\n\n\u2018That must not be either!\u2019 said the Princess; \u2018but do you all stand\nbefore me that no one may see us.\u2019\n\nAnd the court-ladies placed themselves in front of her, and spread out\ntheir dresses: the swineherd got ten kisses, and the Princess--the\nkitchen-pot.\n\nThat was delightful! the pot was boiling the whole evening, and the\nwhole of the following day. They knew perfectly well what was cooking at\nevery fire throughout the city, from the chamberlain\u2019s to the cobbler\u2019s:\nthe court ladies danced, and clapped their hands.\n\n\u2018We know who has soup, and who has pancakes for dinner to-day; who has\ncutlets, and who has eggs. How interesting!\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, but keep my secret, for I am an Emperor\u2019s daughter.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: \u2018ACH! DU LIEBER AUGUSTIN\u2019]\n\nThe swineherd--that is to say, the Prince, for no one knew that he was\nother than an ill-favoured swineherd--let not a day pass without working\nat something; he at last constructed a rattle, which, when it was swung\nround, played all the waltzes and jig-tunes which have ever been heard\nsince the creation of the world.\n\n\u2018Ah, that is _superbe_!\u2019 said the Princess when she passed by. \u2018I have\nnever heard prettier compositions! Go in and ask him the price of the\ninstrument; but mind, he shall have no more kisses!\u2019\n\n\u2018He will have a hundred kisses from the Princess!\u2019 said the lady who had\nbeen to ask.\n\n\u2018I think he is not in his right senses!\u2019 said the Princess, and walked\non; but when she had gone a little way, she stopped again. \u2018One must\nencourage art,\u2019 said she. \u2018I am the Emperor\u2019s daughter. Tell him he\nshall, as on yesterday, have ten kisses from me, and may take the rest\nfrom the ladies of the court.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh!--but we should not like that at all!\u2019 said they. \u2018What are you\nmuttering?\u2019 asked the Princess; \u2018if I can kiss him, surely you can!\nRemember that you owe everything to me.\u2019 So the ladies were obliged to\ngo to him again.\n\n\u2018A hundred kisses from the Princess!\u2019 said he, \u2018or else let every one\nkeep his own.\u2019\n\n\u2018Stand round!\u2019 said she; and all the ladies stood round her whilst the\nkissing was going on.\n\n\u2018What can be the reason for such a crowd close by the pig-sty?\u2019 said the\nEmperor, who happened just then to step out on the balcony; he rubbed\nhis eyes and put on his spectacles. \u2018They are the ladies of the court; I\nmust go down and see what they are about!\u2019 So he pulled up his slippers\nat the heel, for he had trodden them down.\n\nAs soon as he had got into the court-yard, he moved very softly, and the\nladies were so much engrossed with counting the kisses that all might go\non fairly, that they did not perceive the Emperor. He rose on his\ntiptoes.\n\n\u2018What is all this?\u2019 said he, when he saw what was going on, and he boxed\nthe Princess\u2019s ears with his slipper, just as the swineherd was taking\nthe eighty-sixth kiss.\n\n\u2018March out!\u2019 said the Emperor, for he was very angry; and both Princess\nand swineherd were thrust out of the city.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Princess now stood and wept, the swineherd scolded, and the rain\npoured down.\n\n\u2018Alas! unhappy creature that I am!\u2019 said the Princess. \u2018If I had but\nmarried the handsome young Prince! Ah, how unfortunate I am!\u2019\n\nAnd the swineherd went behind a tree, washed the black and brown colour\nfrom his face, threw off his dirty clothes, and stepped forth in his\nprincely robes; he looked so noble that the Princess could not help\nbowing before him.\n\n\u2018I am come to despise thee,\u2019 said he. \u2018Thou wouldst not have an\nhonourable prince! thou couldst not prize the rose and the nightingale,\nbut thou wast ready to kiss the swineherd for the sake of a trumpery\nplaything. Thou art rightly served.\u2019\n\nHe then went back to his own little kingdom, and shut the door of his\npalace in her face. Now she might well sing\n\n \u2018Ach! du lieber Augustin,\n Alles ist weg, weg, weg!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: UP FLEW THE TRUNK]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FLYING TRUNK\n\n\nThere was once a merchant, so rich that he might have paved the whole\nstreet where he lived and an alley besides with pieces of silver, but\nthis he did not do; he knew another way of using his money, and whenever\nhe laid out a shilling he gained a crown in return: a merchant he lived,\nand a merchant he died.\n\nAll his money then went to his son. But the son lived merrily and spent\nall his time in pleasures, went to masquerades every evening, made\nbank-notes into paper kites, and played at ducks and drakes in the pond\nwith gold pieces instead of stones. In this manner his money soon\nvanished, until at last he had only a few pennies left, and his wardrobe\nwas reduced to a pair of slippers and an old dressing-gown. His friends\ncared no more about him, now that they could no longer walk abroad with\nhim; one of them, however, more good-natured than the rest, sent him an\nold trunk, with this advice, \u2018Pack up, and be off!\u2019 This was all very\nfine, but he had nothing that he could pack up, so he put himself into\nthe trunk.\n\nIt was a droll trunk! When the lock was pressed close it could fly. The\nmerchant\u2019s son did press the lock, and lo! up flew the trunk with him\nthrough the chimney, high into the clouds, on and on, higher and higher;\nthe lower part cracked, which rather frightened him, for if it had\nbroken in two, a pretty fall he would have had!\n\nHowever, it descended safely, and he found himself in Turkey. He hid\nthe trunk under a heap of dry leaves in a wood, and walked into the next\ntown: he could do so very well, for among the Turks everybody goes about\nclad as he was, in dressing-gown and slippers. He met a nurse, carrying\na little child in her arms. \u2018Hark ye, Turkish nurse,\u2019 quoth he; \u2018what\npalace is that with the high windows close by the town?\u2019\n\n[Illustration: THE SON LIVED MERRILY]\n\n\u2018The King\u2019s daughter dwells there,\u2019 replied the nurse; \u2018it has been\nprophesied of her that she shall be made very unhappy by a lover, and\ntherefore no one may visit her, except when the King and Queen are with\nher.\u2019\n\n\u2018Thank you,\u2019 said the merchant\u2019s son, and he immediately went back into\nthe wood, sat down in his trunk, flew up to the roof of the palace, and\ncrept through the window into the Princess\u2019s apartment.\n\nShe was lying asleep on the sofa. She was so beautiful that the\nmerchant\u2019s son could not help kneeling down to kiss her hand, whereupon\nshe awoke, and was not a little frightened at the sight of this\nunexpected visitor; but he told her, however, that he was the Turkish\nprophet, and had come down from the sky on purpose to woo her, and on\nhearing this she was well pleased. So they sat down side by side, and he\ntalked to her about her eyes, how that they were beautiful dark-blue\nseas, and that thoughts and feelings floated like mermaidens therein;\nand he spoke of her brow, how that it was a fair snowy mountain, with\nsplendid halls and pictures, and many other such like things he told\nher.\n\n[Illustration: HE MET A NURSE]\n\nOh, these were charming stories! and thus he wooed the Princess, and she\nimmediately said \u2018Yes!\u2019\n\n\u2018But you must come here on Saturday,\u2019 said she; \u2018the King and Queen have\npromised to drink tea with me that evening; they will be so proud and\nso pleased when they hear that I am to marry the Turkish prophet! And\nmind you tell them a very pretty story, for they are exceedingly fond of\nstories; my mother likes them to be very moral and aristocratic, and my\nfather likes them to be merry, so as to make him laugh.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, I shall bring no other bridal present than a tale,\u2019 replied the\nmerchant\u2019s son; and here they parted, but not before the Princess had\ngiven her lover a sabre all covered with gold. He knew excellently well\nwhat use to make of this present.\n\nSo he flew away, bought a new dressing-gown, and then sat down in the\nwood to compose the tale which was to be ready by Saturday, and\ncertainly he found composition not the easiest thing in the world.\n\nAt last he was ready, and at last Saturday came.\n\nThe King, the Queen, and the whole court were waiting tea for him at the\nPrincess\u2019s palace. The suitor was received with much ceremony.\n\n\u2018Will you not tell us a story?\u2019 asked the Queen; \u2018a story that is\ninstructive and full of deep meaning.\u2019\n\n\u2018But let it make us laugh,\u2019 said the King.\n\n\u2018With pleasure,\u2019 replied the merchant\u2019s son; and now you must hear his\nstory:--\n\n * * * * *\n\nThere was once a bundle of matches, who were all extremely proud of\ntheir high descent, for their genealogical tree, that is to say, the\ntall fir-tree, from which each of them was a splinter, had been a tree\nof great antiquity, and distinguished by his height from all the other\ntrees of the forest. The matches were now lying on the mantlepiece,\nbetween a tinder-box and an old iron saucepan, and to these two they\noften talked about their youth. \u2018Ah, when we were upon the green\nbranches,\u2019 said they; \u2018when we really lived upon green branches--that\nwas a happy time! Every morning and evening we had diamond-tea--that is,\ndew; the whole day long we had sunshine, at least whenever the sun\nshone, and all the little birds used to tell stories to us. It might\neasily be seen, too, that we were rich, for the other trees were clothed\nwith leaves only during the summer, whereas our family could afford to\nwear green clothes both summer and winter. But at last came the\nwood-cutters: then was the great revolution, and our family was\ndispersed. The paternal trunk obtained a situation as mainmast to a\nmagnificent ship, which could sail round the world if it chose; the\nboughs were transported to various places, and our vocation was\nhenceforth to kindle lights for low, common people. Now you will\nunderstand how it comes to pass that persons of such high descent as we\nare should be living in a kitchen.\u2019\n\n\u2018To be sure, mine is a very different history,\u2019 remarked the iron\nsaucepan, near which the matches were lying. \u2018From the moment I came\ninto the world until now, I have been rubbed and scrubbed, and boiled\nover and over again--oh, how many times! I love to have to do with what\nis solidly good, and am really of the first importance in this house. My\nonly recreation is to stand clean and bright upon this mantlepiece after\ndinner, and hold some rational conversation with my companions. However,\nexcepting the water-pail, who now and then goes out into the court, we\nall of us lead a very quiet domestic life here. Our only newsmonger is\nthe turf-basket, but he talks in such a democratic way about\n\u201cgovernment\u201d and the \u201cpeople\u201d--why, I assure you, not long ago, there\nwas an old jar standing here, who was so much shocked by what he heard\nsaid that he fell down from the mantlepiece and broke into a thousand\npieces! That turf-basket is a Liberal, that\u2019s the fact.\u2019\n\n\u2018Now, you talk too much,\u2019 interrupted the tinder-box, and the steel\nstruck the flint, so that the sparks flew out. \u2018Why should we not spend\na pleasant evening?\u2019\n\n[Illustration: \u2018WILL YOU TELL US A STORY?\u2019 ASKED THE QUEEN]\n\n\u2018Yes, let us settle who is of highest rank among us!\u2019 proposed the\nmatches.\n\n\u2018Oh no; for my part I would rather not speak of myself,\u2019 objected the\nearthenware pitcher. \u2018Suppose we have an intellectual entertainment? I\nwill begin; I will relate something of everyday life, such as we have\nall experienced; one can easily transport oneself into it, and that is\nso interesting! Near the Baltic, among the Danish beech-groves----\u2019\n\n\u2018That is a capital beginning!\u2019 cried all the plates at once; \u2018it will\ncertainly be just the sort of story for me!\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, there I spent my youth in a very quiet family; the furniture was\nrubbed, the floors were washed, clean curtains were hung up every\nfortnight.\u2019\n\n\u2018How very interesting! what a charming way you have of describing\nthings!\u2019 said the hair-broom. \u2018Any one might guess immediately that it\nis a lady who is speaking; the tale breathes such a spirit of\ncleanliness!\u2019\n\n\u2018Very true; so it does!\u2019 exclaimed the water-pail, and in the excess of\nhis delight he gave a little jump, so that some of the water splashed\nupon the floor.\n\nAnd the pitcher went on with her tale, and the end proved as good as the\nbeginning.\n\nAll the plates clattered applause, and the hair-broom took some green\nparsley out of the sand-hole and crowned the pitcher, for he knew that\nthis would vex the others; and, thought he, \u2018If I crown her to-day, she\nwill crown me to-morrow.\u2019\n\n\u2018Now I will dance,\u2019 said the fire-tongs, and accordingly she did dance,\nand oh! it was wonderful to see how high she threw one of her legs up\ninto the air; the old chair-cover in the corner tore with horror at\nseeing her. \u2018Am not I to be crowned too?\u2019 asked the tongs, and she was\ncrowned forthwith.\n\n\u2018These are the vulgar rabble!\u2019 thought the matches.\n\n[Illustration: \u2018BUT LET IT MAKE US LAUGH,\u2019 SAID THE KING]\n\nThe tea-urn was now called upon to sing, but she had a cold; she said\nshe could only sing when she was boiling; however, this was all her\npride and affectation. The fact was she never cared to sing except when\nshe was standing on the parlour-table before company.\n\nOn the window-ledge lay an old quill-pen, with which the maids used to\nwrite; there was nothing remarkable about her, except that she had been\ndipped too low in the ink; however, she was proud of that. \u2018If the\ntea-urn does not choose to sing,\u2019 quoth she, \u2018she may let it alone;\nthere is a nightingale in the cage hung just outside--he can sing; to\nbe sure, he had never learnt the notes--never mind, we will not speak\nevil of any one this evening!\u2019\n\n\u2018I think it highly indecorous,\u2019 observed the tea-kettle, who was the\nvocalist of the kitchen, and a half-brother of the tea-urn\u2019s, \u2018that a\nforeign bird should be listened to. Is it patriotic? I appeal to the\nturf-basket.\u2019\n\n\u2018I am only vexed,\u2019 said the turf-basket. \u2018I am vexed from my inmost soul\nthat such things are thought of at all. Is it a becoming way of spending\nthe evening? Would it not be much more rational to reform the whole\nhouse, and establish a totally new order of things, rather more\naccording to nature? Then every one would get into his right place, and\nI would undertake to direct the revolution. What say you to it? That\nwould be something worth the doing!\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh yes, we will make a grand commotion!\u2019 cried they all. Just then the\ndoor opened--it was the servant-maid. They all stood perfectly still,\nnot one dared stir, yet there was not a single kitchen utensil among\nthem all but was thinking about the great things he could have done, and\nhow great was his superiority over the others.\n\n\u2018Ah, if I had chosen it,\u2019 thought each of them, \u2018what a merry evening we\nmight have had!\u2019\n\nThe maid took the matches and struck a light--oh, how they sputtered and\nblazed up!\n\n\u2018Now every one may see,\u2019 thought they, \u2018that we are of highest rank;\nwhat a splendid, dazzling light we give, how glorious!\u2019--and in another\nmoment they were burnt out.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u2018That is a capital story,\u2019 said the Queen; \u2018I quite felt myself\ntransported into the kitchen;--yes, thou shalt have our daughter!\u2019\n\n\u2018With all my heart,\u2019 said the King; \u2018on Monday thou shalt marry our\ndaughter.\u2019 They said \u2018thou\u2019 to him now, since he was so soon to become\none of the family.\n\nThe wedding was a settled thing; and on the evening preceding, the whole\ncity was illuminated; cakes, buns, and sugar-plums were thrown out among\nthe people; all the little boys in the streets stood upon tiptoes,\nshouting \u2018Hurrah!\u2019 and whistling through their fingers--it was famous!\n\n[Illustration: THEIR SLIPPERS FLEW ABOUT THEIR EARS]\n\n\u2018Well, I suppose I ought to do my part too,\u2019 thought the merchant\u2019s son,\nso he went and bought sky-rockets, squibs, Catherine-wheels,\nRoman-candles, and all kinds of fireworks conceivable; put them all\ninto his trunk, and flew up into the air, letting them off as he flew.\n\nHurrah! what a glorious sky-rocket was that!\n\nAll the Turks jumped up to look, so hastily that their slippers flew\nabout their ears; such a meteor they had never seen before. Now they\nmight be sure that it was indeed the prophet who was to marry their\nPrincess.\n\nAs soon as the merchant\u2019s son had returned in his trunk to the wood, he\nsaid to himself, \u2018I will now go into the city and hear what people say\nabout me, and what sort of figure I made in the air.\u2019 And, certainly,\nthis was a very natural idea.\n\nOh, what strange accounts were given! Every one whom he accosted had\nbeheld the bright vision in a way peculiar to himself, but all agreed\nthat it was marvellously beautiful.\n\n\u2018I saw the great prophet with my own eyes,\u2019 declared one; \u2018he had eyes\nlike sparkling stars, and a beard like foaming water.\u2019\n\n\u2018He flew enveloped in a mantle of fire,\u2019 said another; \u2018the prettiest\nlittle cherubs were peeping forth from under its folds.\u2019\n\nYes; he heard of many beautiful things, and the morrow was to be his\nwedding-day.\n\nHe now went back to the wood, intending to get into his trunk again, but\nwhere was it?\n\nAlas! the trunk was burnt. One spark from the fireworks had been left in\nit, and set it on fire; the trunk now lay in ashes. The poor merchant\u2019s\nson could never fly again--could never again visit his bride.\n\nShe sat the livelong day upon the roof of her palace expecting him; she\nexpects him still; he, meantime, goes about the world telling stories,\nbut none of his stories now are so pleasant as that one which he related\nin the Princess\u2019s palace about the Brimstone Matches.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE LEAPING MATCH\n\n\nThe flea, the grasshopper, and the frog once wanted to try which of them\ncould jump highest; so they invited the whole world, and anybody else\nwho liked, to come and see the grand sight. Three famous jumpers were\nthey, as was seen by every one when they met together in the room.\n\n\u2018I will give my daughter to him who shall jump highest,\u2019 said the King;\n\u2018it would be too bad for you to have the trouble of jumping, and for us\nto offer you no prize.\u2019\n\nThe flea was the first to introduce himself; he had such polite manners,\nand bowed to the company on every side, for he was of noble blood;\nbesides, he was accustomed to the society of man, which had been a great\nadvantage to him.\n\nNext came the grasshopper; he was not quite so slightly and elegantly\nformed as the flea; however, he knew perfectly well how to conduct\nhimself, and wore a green uniform, which belonged to him by right of\nbirth. Moreover, he declared himself to have sprung from a very ancient\nand honourable Egyptian family, and that in his present home he was very\nhighly esteemed, so much so, indeed, that he had been taken out of the\nfield and put into a card-house three stories high, built on purpose for\nhim, and all of court-cards, the coloured sides being turned inwards: as\nfor the doors and windows in his house, they were cut out of the body of\nthe Queen of Hearts. \u2018And I can sing so well,\u2019 added he, \u2018that sixteen\nparlour-bred crickets, who have chirped and chirped ever since they\nwere born and yet could never get anybody to build them a card-house,\nafter hearing me have fretted themselves ten times thinner than ever,\nout of sheer envy and vexation!\u2019 Both the flea and the grasshopper knew\nexcellently well how to make the most of themselves, and each considered\nhimself quite an equal match for a princess.\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD COUNCILLOR]\n\nThe frog said not a word; however, it might be that he thought the more,\nand the house-dog, after going snuffing about him, confessed that the\nfrog must be of a good family. And the old councillor, who in vain\nreceived three orders to hold his tongue, declared that the frog must be\ngifted with the spirit of prophecy, for that one could read on his back\nwhether there was to be a severe or a mild winter, which, to be sure, is\nmore than can be read on the back of the man who writes the weather\nalmanack.\n\n\u2018Ah, I say nothing for the present!\u2019 remarked the old King, \u2018but I\nobserve everything, and form my own private opinion thereupon.\u2019 And now\nthe match began. The flea jumped so high that no one could see what had\nbecome of him, and so they insisted that he had not jumped at all,\n\u2018which was disgraceful, after he had made such a fuss!\u2019\n\nThe grasshopper only jumped half as high, but he jumped right into the\nKing\u2019s face, and the King declared he was quite disgusted by his\nrudeness.\n\n[Illustration: \u2018I SAY NOTHING FOR THE PRESENT,\u2019 REMARKED THE KING]\n\nThe frog stood still as if lost in thought; at last people fancied he\ndid not intend to jump at all.\n\n\u2018I\u2019m afraid he is ill!\u2019 said the dog; and he went snuffing at him\nagain, when lo! all at once he made a little side-long jump into the lap\nof the Princess, who was sitting on a low stool close by.\n\nThen spoke the King: \u2018There is nothing higher than my daughter,\ntherefore he who jumps up to her jumps highest; but only a person of\ngood understanding would ever have thought of that, and thus the frog\nhas shown us that he has understanding. He has brains in his head, that\nhe has!\u2019\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd thus the frog won the Princess.\n\n\u2018I jumped highest for all that!\u2019 exclaimed the flea. \u2018But it\u2019s all the\nsame to me; let her have the stiff-legged, slimy creature, if she like\nhim! I jumped highest, but I am too light and airy for this stupid\nworld; the people can neither see me nor catch me; dulness and heaviness\nwin the day with them!\u2019\n\nAnd so the flea went into foreign service, where, it is said, he was\nkilled.\n\nAnd the grasshopper sat on a green bank, meditating on the world and its\ngoings on, and at length he repeated the flea\u2019s last words--\u2018Yes,\ndulness and heaviness win the day! dulness and heaviness win the day!\u2019\nAnd then he again began singing his own peculiar, melancholy song, and\nit is from him that we have learnt this history; and yet, my friend,\nthough you read it here in a printed book, it may not be perfectly\ntrue.\n\n[Illustration: THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER\n\n\nHave you never seen an old-fashioned oaken-wood cabinet, quite black\nwith age and covered with varnish and carving-work? Just such a piece of\nfurniture, an old heir-loom that had been the property of its present\nmistress\u2019s great-grandmother, once stood in a parlour. It was carved\nfrom top to bottom--roses, tulips, and little stags\u2019 heads with long,\nbranching antlers, peering forth from the curious scrolls and foliage\nsurrounding them. Moreover, in the centre panel of the cabinet was\ncarved the full-length figure of a man, who seemed to be perpetually\ngrinning, perhaps at himself, for in truth he was a most ridiculous\nfigure; he had crooked legs, small horns on his forehead, and a long\nbeard. The children of the house used to call him \u2018the crooked-legged\nField-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant,\u2019 for this was a long,\nhard name, and not many figures, whether carved in wood or in stone,\ncould boast of such a title. There he stood, his eyes always fixed upon\nthe table under the pier-glass, for on this table stood a pretty little\nporcelain shepherdess, her mantle gathered gracefully round her, and\nfastened with a red rose; her shoes and hat were gilt, her hand held a\ncrook--oh, she was charming! Close by her stood a little\nchimney-sweeper, likewise of porcelain. He was as clean and neat as any\nof the other figures, indeed, the manufacturer might just as well have\nmade a prince as a chimney-sweeper of him, for though elsewhere black as\na coal, his face was as fresh and rosy as a girl\u2019s, which was certainly\na mistake,--it ought to have been black. His ladder in his hand, there\nhe kept his station, close by the little shepherdess; they had been\nplaced together from the first, had always remained on the same spot,\nand had thus plighted their troth to each other; they suited each other\nso well, they were both young people, both of the same kind of\nporcelain, both alike fragile and delicate.\n\nNot far off stood a figure three times as large as the others. It was an\nold Chinese mandarin who could nod his head; he too was of porcelain,\nand declared that he was grandfather to the little shepherdess. He could\nnot prove his assertion; however, he insisted that he had authority\nover her, and so, when \u2018the crooked-legged\nField-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant\u2019 made proposals to the\nlittle shepherdess, he nodded his head in token of his consent.\n\n\u2018Now, you will have a husband,\u2019 said the old mandarin to her, \u2018a husband\nwho, I verily believe, is of mahogany-wood; you will be the wife of a\nField-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant, of a man who has a whole\ncabinet full of silverplate, besides a store of no one knows what in the\nsecret drawers!\u2019\n\n\u2018I will not go into that dismal cabinet!\u2019 declared the little\nshepherdess. \u2018I have heard say that eleven porcelain ladies are already\nimprisoned there.\u2019\n\n\u2018Then you shall be the twelfth, and you will be in good company!\u2019\nrejoined the mandarin. \u2018This very night, when the old cabinet creaks,\nyour nuptials shall be celebrated, as sure as I am a Chinese mandarin!\u2019\n\nWhereupon he nodded his head and fell asleep.\n\nBut the little shepherdess wept, and turned to the beloved of her heart,\nthe porcelain chimney-sweep.\n\n\u2018I believe I must ask you,\u2019 said she, \u2018to go out with me into the wide\nworld, for here we cannot stay.\u2019\n\n\u2018I will do everything you wish,\u2019 replied the little chimney-sweeper;\n\u2018let us go at once. I think I can support you by my profession.\u2019\n\n\u2018If you could but get off the table!\u2019 sighed she; \u2018I shall never be\nhappy till we are away, out in the wide world.\u2019\n\nAnd he comforted her, and showed her how to set her little foot on the\ncarved edges and gilded foliage twining round the leg of the table, till\nat last they reached the floor. But turning to look at the old cabinet,\nthey saw everything in a grand commotion, all the carved stags putting\ntheir little heads farther out, raising their antlers, and moving their\nthroats, whilst \u2018the crooked-legged\nField-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant\u2019 sprang up, and shouted\nout to the old Chinese mandarin, \u2018Look, they are eloping! they are\neloping!\u2019 They were not a little frightened, and quickly jumped into an\nopen drawer for protection.\n\nIn this drawer there were three or four incomplete packs of cards, and\nalso a little puppet-theatre; a play was being performed, and all the\nqueens, whether of diamonds, hearts, clubs, or spades, sat in the front\nrow fanning themselves with the flowers they held in their hands; behind\nthem stood the knaves, showing that they had each two heads, one above\nand one below, as most cards have. The play was about two persons who\nwere crossed in love, and the shepherdess wept over it, for it was just\nlike her own history.\n\n\u2018I cannot bear this!\u2019 said she. \u2018Let us leave the drawer.\u2019 But when they\nhad again reached the floor, on looking up at the table, they saw that\nthe old Chinese mandarin had awakened, and was rocking his whole body to\nand fro with rage.\n\n\u2018Oh, the old mandarin is coming!\u2019 cried the little shepherdess, and down\nshe fell on her porcelain knees in the greatest distress. \u2018A sudden\nthought has struck me,\u2019 said the chimney-sweeper: \u2018suppose we creep into\nthe large pot-pourri vase that stands in the corner; there we can rest\nupon roses and lavender, and throw salt in his eyes if he come near us.\u2019\n\n\u2018That will not do at all,\u2019 said she; \u2018besides, I know that the old\nmandarin was once betrothed to the pot-pourri vase, and no doubt there\nis still some slight friendship existing between them. No, there is no\nhelp for it, we must wander forth together into the wide world.\u2019\n\n\u2018Hast thou indeed the courage to go with me into the wide world?\u2019 asked\nthe chimney-sweeper. \u2018Hast thou considered how large it is, and that we\nmay never return home again?\u2019\n\n\u2018I have,\u2019 replied she.\n\nAnd the chimney-sweeper looked keenly at her, and then said, \u2018My path\nleads through the chimney! hast thou indeed the courage to creep with me\nthrough the stove, through the flues and the tunnel? Well do I know the\nway! We shall mount up so high that they cannot come near us, and at the\ntop there is a cavern that leads into the wide world.\u2019\n\nAnd he led her to the door of the stove.\n\n\u2018Oh, how black it looks!\u2019 sighed she; however, she went on with him,\nthrough the flues and through the tunnel, where it was dark, pitch\ndark.\n\n\u2018Now we are in the chimney,\u2019 said he; \u2018and look, what a lovely star\nshines above us!\u2019\n\nAnd there was actually a star in the sky, shining right down upon them,\nas if to show them the way. And they crawled and crept--a fearful path\nwas theirs--so high, so very high! but he guided and supported her, and\nshowed her the best places whereon to plant her tiny porcelain feet,\ntill they reached the edge of the chimney, where they sat down to rest,\nfor they were very tired, and indeed not without reason.\n\nHeaven with all its stars was above them, and the town with all its\nroofs lay beneath them; the wide, wide world surrounded them. The poor\nshepherdess had never imagined all this; she leant her little head on\nher chimney-sweeper\u2019s arm, and wept so vehemently that the gilding broke\noff from her waistband.\n\n\u2018This is too much!\u2019 exclaimed she. \u2018This can I not endure! The world is\nall too large! Oh that I were once more upon the little table under the\npier-glass! I shall never be happy till I am there again. I have\nfollowed thee out into the wide world, surely thou canst follow me home\nagain, if thou lovest me!\u2019\n\nAnd the chimney-sweeper talked very sensibly to her, reminding\nher of the old Chinese mandarin and \u2018the crooked-legged\nField-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant,\u2019 but she wept so\nbitterly, and kissed her little chimney-sweep so fondly, that at last he\ncould not but yield to her request, unreasonable as it was.\n\nSo with great difficulty they crawled down the chimney, crept through\nthe flues and the tunnel, and at length found themselves once more in\nthe dark stove; but they still lurked behind the door, listening, before\nthey would venture to return into the room. Everything was quite still;\nthey peeped out: alas! on the ground lay the old Chinese mandarin. In\nattempting to follow the runaways, he had fallen down off the table and\nhad broken into three pieces; his head lay shaking in a corner; \u2018the\ncrooked-legged Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant\u2019 stood\nwhere he had always stood, thinking over what had happened.\n\n\u2018Oh, how shocking!\u2019 exclaimed the little shepherdess; \u2018old grandfather\nis broken in pieces, and we are the cause! I shall never survive it!\u2019\nand she wrung her delicate hands.\n\n\u2018He can be put together again,\u2019 replied the chimney-sweeper. \u2018He can\nvery easily be put together; only be not so impatient! If they glue his\nback together, and put a strong rivet in his neck, then he will be as\ngood as new again, and will be able to say plenty of unpleasant things\nto us.\u2019\n\n\u2018Do you really think so?\u2019 asked she. And then they climbed up the table\nto the place where they had stood before.\n\n\u2018See how far we have been!\u2019 observed the chimney-sweeper, \u2018we might have\nspared ourselves all the trouble.\u2019\n\n\u2018If we could but have old grandfather put together!\u2019 said the\nshepherdess. \u2018Will it cost very much?\u2019\n\nAnd he was put together; the family had his back glued and his neck\nriveted; he was as good as new, but could no longer nod his head.\n\n\u2018You have certainly grown very proud since you broke in\npieces!\u2019 remarked the crooked-legged\nField-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant, \u2018but I must say, for my\npart, I do not see that there is anything to be proud of. Am I to have\nher or am I not? Just answer me that!\u2019\n\nAnd the chimney-sweeper and the little shepherdess looked imploringly at\nthe old mandarin; they were so afraid lest he should nod his head. But\nnod he could not, and it was disagreeable to him to tell a stranger\nthat he had a rivet in his neck: so the young porcelain people always\nremained together; they blessed the grandfather\u2019s rivet, and loved each\nother till they broke in pieces.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: THE POOR DUCKLING WAS SCORNED BY ALL]\n\n\n\n\nTHE UGLY DUCKLING\n\n\nIt was beautiful in the country, it was summer-time; the wheat was\nyellow, the oats were green, the hay was stacked up in the green\nmeadows, and the stork paraded about on his long red legs, discoursing\nin Egyptian, which language he had learned from his mother. The fields\nand meadows were skirted by thick woods, and a deep lake lay in the\nmidst of the woods.--Yes, it was indeed beautiful in the country! The\nsunshine fell warmly on an old mansion, surrounded by deep canals, and\nfrom the walls down to the water\u2019s edge there grew large burdock-leaves,\nso high that children could stand upright among them without being\nperceived. This place was as wild and unfrequented as the thickest part\nof the wood, and on that account a duck had chosen to make her nest\nthere. She was sitting on her eggs; but the pleasure she had felt at\nfirst was now almost gone, because she had been there so long, and had\nso few visitors, for the other ducks preferred swimming on the canals to\nsitting among the burdock-leaves gossiping with her.\n\nAt last the eggs cracked one after another, \u2018Tchick tchick!\u2019 All the\neggs were alive, and one little head after another appeared. \u2018Quack,\nquack,\u2019 said the duck, and all got up as well as they could; they peeped\nabout from under the green leaves, and as green is good for the eyes,\ntheir mother let them look as long as they pleased.\n\n\u2018How large the world is!\u2019 said the little ones, for they found their\npresent situation very different to their former confined one, while yet\nin the egg-shells.\n\n\u2018Do you imagine this to be the whole of the world?\u2019 said the mother; \u2018it\nextends far beyond the other side of the garden, to the pastor\u2019s field;\nbut I have never been there. Are you all here?\u2019 And then she got up.\n\u2018No, I have not got you all, the largest egg is still here. How long\nwill this last? I am so weary of it!\u2019 And then she sat down again.\n\n\u2018Well, and how are you getting on?\u2019 asked an old duck, who had come to\npay her a visit.\n\n\u2018This one egg keeps me so long,\u2019 said the mother, \u2018it will not break.\nBut you should see the others; they are the prettiest little ducklings I\nhave seen in all my days; they are all like their father,--the\ngood-for-nothing fellow! he has not been to visit me once.\u2019\n\n\u2018Let me see the egg that will not break,\u2019 said the old duck; \u2018depend\nupon it, it is a turkey\u2019s egg. I was cheated in the same way once\nmyself, and I had such trouble with the young ones; for they were afraid\nof the water, and I could not get them there. I called and scolded, but\nit was all of no use. But let me see the egg--ah yes! to be sure, that\nis a turkey\u2019s egg. Leave it, and teach the other little ones to swim.\u2019\n\n\u2018I will sit on it a little longer,\u2019 said the duck. \u2018I have been sitting\nso long, that I may as well spend the harvest here.\u2019\n\n\u2018It is no business of mine,\u2019 said the old duck, and away she waddled.\n\nThe great egg burst at last, \u2018Tchick, tchick,\u2019 said the little one, and\nout it tumbled--but oh, how large and ugly it was! The duck looked at\nit, \u2018That is a great, strong creature,\u2019 said she, \u2018none of the others\nare at all like it; can it be a young turkey-cock? Well, we shall soon\nfind out, it must go into the water, though I push it in myself!\n\nThe next day there was delightful weather, and the sun shone warmly upon\nall the green leaves when mother-duck with all her family went down to\nthe canal; plump she went into the water, \u2018Quack, quack,\u2019 cried she, and\none duckling after another jumped in. The water closed over their heads,\nbut all came up again, and swam together in the pleasantest manner;\ntheir legs moved without effort. All were there, even the ugly grey one.\n\n\u2018No! it is not a turkey,\u2019 said the old duck; \u2018only see how prettily it\nmoves its legs, how upright it holds itself; it is my own child! it is\nalso really very pretty when one looks more closely at it; quack, quack,\nnow come with me, I will take you into the world, introduce you in the\nduck-yard; but keep close to me, or some one may tread on you, and\nbeware of the cat.\u2019\n\nSo they came into the duck-yard. There was a horrid noise; two families\nwere quarrelling about the remains of an eel, which in the end was\nsecured by the cat.\n\n\u2018See, my children, such is the way of the world,\u2019 said the mother-duck,\nwiping her beak, for she too was fond of roasted eels. \u2018Now use your\nlegs,\u2019 said she, \u2018keep together, and bow to the old duck you see yonder.\nShe is the most distinguished of all the fowls present, and is of\nSpanish blood, which accounts for her dignified appearance and manners.\nAnd look, she has a red rag on her leg; that is considered extremely\nhandsome, and is the greatest distinction a duck can have. Don\u2019t turn\nyour feet inwards; a well-educated duckling always keeps his legs far\napart, like his father and mother, just so--look, now bow your necks,\nand say \u201cquack.\u201d\u2019\n\nAnd they did as they were told. But the other ducks who were in the yard\nlooked at them and said aloud, \u2018Only see, now we have another brood, as\nif there were not enough of us already. And fie! how ugly that one is!\nWe will not endure it\u2019; and immediately one of the ducks flew at him,\nand bit him in the neck.\n\n\u2018Leave him alone,\u2019 said the mother, \u2018he is doing no one any harm.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes, but he is so large, and so strange-looking, and therefore he shall\nbe teased.\u2019\n\n\u2018Those are fine children that our good mother has,\u2019 said the old duck\nwith the red rag on her leg. \u2018All are pretty except one, and that has\nnot turned out well; I almost wish it could be hatched over again.\u2019\n\n\u2018That cannot be, please your highness,\u2019 said the mother. \u2018Certainly he\nis not handsome, but he is a very good child, and swims as well as the\nothers, indeed rather better. I think he will grow like the others all\nin good time, and perhaps will look smaller. He stayed so long in the\negg-shell, that is the cause of the difference,\u2019 and she scratched the\nduckling\u2019s neck, and stroked his whole body. \u2018Besides,\u2019 added she, \u2018he\nis a drake; I think he will be very strong, therefore it does not matter\nso much; he will fight his way through.\u2019\n\n\u2018The other ducks are very pretty,\u2019 said the old duck, \u2018pray make\nyourselves at home, and if you find an eel\u2019s head you can bring it to\nme.\u2019\n\nAnd accordingly they made themselves at home.\n\nBut the poor little duckling, who had come last out of its egg-shell,\nand who was so ugly, was bitten, pecked, and teased by both ducks and\nhens. \u2018It is so large,\u2019 said they all. And the turkey-cock, who had come\ninto the world with spurs on, and therefore fancied he was an emperor,\npuffed himself up like a ship in full sail, and marched up to the\nduckling quite red with passion. The poor little thing scarcely knew\nwhat to do; he was quite distressed, because he was so ugly, and because\nhe was the jest of the poultry-yard.\n\n[Illustration: HE CAME TO A WIDE MOOR]\n\nSo passed the first day, and afterwards matters grew worse and worse;\nthe poor duckling was scorned by all. Even his brothers and sisters\nbehaved unkindly, and were constantly saying, \u2018The cat fetch thee, thou\nnasty creature!\u2019 The mother said, \u2018Ah, if thou wert only far away!\u2019 The\nducks bit him, the hens pecked him, and the girl who fed the poultry\nkicked him. He ran over the hedge; the little birds in the bushes were\nterrified. \u2018That is because I am so ugly,\u2019 thought the duckling,\nshutting his eyes, but he ran on. At last he came to a wide moor, where\nlived some wild ducks; here he lay the whole night, so tired and so\ncomfortless. In the morning the wild ducks flew up, and perceived their\nnew companion. \u2018Pray, who are you?\u2019 asked they; and our little duckling\nturned himself in all directions, and greeted them as politely as\npossible.\n\n\u2018You are really uncommonly ugly,\u2019 said the wild ducks; \u2018however that\ndoes not matter to us, provided you do not marry into our families.\u2019\nPoor thing! he had never thought of marrying; he only begged permission\nto lie among the reeds, and drink the water of the moor.\n\nThere he lay for two whole days--on the third day there came two wild\ngeese, or rather ganders, who had not been long out of their egg-shells,\nwhich accounts for their impertinence.\n\n\u2018Hark ye,\u2019 said they, \u2018you are so ugly that we like you infinitely well;\nwill you come with us, and be a bird of passage? On another moor, not\nfar from this, are some dear, sweet, wild geese, as lovely creatures as\nhave ever said \u201chiss, hiss.\u201d You are truly in the way to make your\nfortune, ugly as you are.\u2019\n\nBang! a gun went off all at once, and both wild geese were stretched\ndead among the reeds; the water became red with blood;--bang! a gun went\noff again, whole flocks of wild geese flew up from among the reeds, and\nanother report followed.\n\nThere was a grand hunting party: the hunters lay in ambush all around;\nsome were even sitting in the trees, whose huge branches stretched far\nover the moor. The blue smoke rose through the thick trees like a mist,\nand was dispersed as it fell over the water; the hounds splashed about\nin the mud, the reeds and rushes bent in all directions. How frightened\nthe poor little duck was! He turned his head, thinking to hide it under\nhis wings, and in a moment a most formidable-looking dog stood close to\nhim, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, his eyes sparkling fearfully.\nHe opened wide his jaws at the sight of our duckling, showed him his\nsharp white teeth, and, splash, splash! he was gone, gone without\nhurting him.\n\n\u2018Well! let me be thankful,\u2019 sighed he, \u2018I am so ugly, that even the dog\nwill not eat me.\u2019\n\nAnd now he lay still, though the shooting continued among the reeds,\nshot following shot.\n\nThe noise did not cease till late in the day, and even then the poor\nlittle thing dared not stir; he waited several hours before he looked\naround him, and then hastened away from the moor as fast as he could. He\nran over fields and meadows, though the wind was so high that he had\nsome difficulty in proceeding.\n\nTowards evening he reached a wretched little hut, so wretched that it\nknew not on which side to fall, and therefore remained standing. The\nwind blew violently, so that our poor little duckling was obliged to\nsupport himself on his tail, in order to stand against it; but it became\nworse and worse. He then remarked that the door had lost one of its\nhinges, and hung so much awry that he could creep through the crevice\ninto the room, which he did.\n\nIn this room lived an old woman, with her tom-cat and her hen; and the\ncat, whom she called her little son, knew how to set up his back and\npurr; indeed he could even emit sparks when stroked the wrong way. The\nhen had very short legs, and was therefore called \u2018Cuckoo Shortlegs\u2019;\nshe laid very good eggs, and the old woman loved her as her own child.\n\nThe next morning the new guest was perceived; the cat began to mew, and\nthe hen to cackle.\n\n\u2018What is the matter?\u2019 asked the old woman, looking round; however, her\neyes were not good, so she took the young duckling to be a fat duck who\nhad lost her way. \u2018This is a capital catch,\u2019 said she, \u2018I shall now have\nduck\u2019s eggs, if it be not a drake: we must try.\u2019\n\nAnd so the duckling was put to the proof for three weeks, but no eggs\nmade their appearance.\n\nNow the cat was the master of the house, and the hen was the mistress,\nand they used always to say, \u2018We and the World,\u2019 for they imagined\nthemselves to be not only the half of the world, but also by far the\nbetter half. The duckling thought it was possible to be of a different\nopinion, but that the hen would not allow.\n\n\u2018Can you lay eggs?\u2019 asked she.\n\n\u2018No.\u2019\n\n\u2018Well, then, hold your tongue.\u2019\n\nAnd the cat said, \u2018Can you set up your back? can you purr?\u2019\n\n\u2018No.\u2019\n\n\u2018Well, then, you should have no opinion when reasonable persons are\nspeaking.\u2019\n\nSo the duckling sat alone in a corner, and was in a very bad humour;\nhowever, he happened to think of the fresh air and bright sunshine, and\nthese thoughts gave him such a strong desire to swim again that he could\nnot help telling it to the hen.\n\n\u2018What ails you?\u2019 said the hen. \u2018You have nothing to do, and, therefore,\nbrood over these fancies; either lay eggs, or purr, then you will forget\nthem.\u2019\n\n\u2018But it is so delicious to swim,\u2019 said the duckling, \u2018so delicious when\nthe waters close over your head, and you plunge to the bottom.\u2019\n\n\u2018Well, that is a queer sort of a pleasure,\u2019 said the hen; \u2018I think you\nmust be crazy. Not to speak of myself, ask the cat--he is the most\nsensible animal I know--whether he would like to swim or to plunge to\nthe bottom of the water. Ask our mistress, the old woman--there is no\none in the world wiser than she--do you think she would take pleasure in\nswimming, and in the waters closing over her head?\u2019\n\n\u2018You do not understand me,\u2019 said the duckling.\n\n\u2018What, we do not understand you! so you think yourself wiser than the\ncat, and the old woman, not to speak of myself. Do not fancy any such\nthing, child, but be thankful for all the kindness that has been shown\nyou. Are you not lodged in a warm room, and have you not the advantage\nof society from which you can learn something? But you are a simpleton,\nand it is wearisome to have anything to do with you. Believe me, I wish\nyou well. I tell you unpleasant truths, but it is thus that real\nfriendship is shown. Come, for once give yourself the trouble to learn\nto purr, or to lay eggs.\u2019\n\n\u2018I think I will go out into the wide world again,\u2019 said the duckling.\n\n\u2018Well, go,\u2019 answered the hen.\n\nSo the duckling went. He swam on the surface of the water, he plunged\nbeneath, but all animals passed him by, on account of his ugliness. And\nthe autumn came, the leaves turned yellow and brown, the wind caught\nthem and danced them about, the air was very cold, the clouds were heavy\nwith hail or snow, and the raven sat on the hedge and croaked:--the poor\nduckling was certainly not very comfortable!\n\nOne evening, just as the sun was setting with unusual brilliancy, a\nflock of large beautiful birds rose from out of the brushwood; the\nduckling had never seen anything so beautiful before; their plumage was\nof a dazzling white, and they had long, slender necks. They were swans;\nthey uttered a singular cry, spread out their long, splendid wings, and\nflew away from these cold regions to warmer countries, across the open\nsea. They flew so high, so very high! and the little ugly duckling\u2019s\nfeelings were so strange; he turned round and round in the water like a\nmill-wheel, strained his neck to look after them, and sent forth such a\nloud and strange cry, that it almost frightened himself.--Ah! he could\nnot forget them, those noble\n\n[Illustration: AND THE CAT SAID, \u2018CAN YOU PURR?\u2019]\n\nbirds! those happy birds! When he could see them no longer, he plunged\nto the bottom of the water, and when he rose again was almost beside\nhimself. The duckling knew not what the birds were called, knew not\nwhither they were flying, yet he loved them as he had never before loved\nanything; he envied them not, it would never have occurred to him to\nwish such beauty for himself; he would have been quite contented if the\nduck in the duck-yard had but endured his company--the poor ugly animal!\n\nAnd the winter was so cold, so cold! The duckling was obliged to swim\nround and round in the water, to keep it from freezing; but every night\nthe opening in which he swam became smaller and smaller; it froze so\nthat the crust of ice crackled; the duckling was obliged to make good\nuse of his legs to prevent the water from freezing entirely; at last,\nwearied out, he lay stiff and cold in the ice.\n\nEarly in the morning there passed by a peasant, who saw him, broke the\nice in pieces with his wooden shoe, and brought him home to his wife.\n\nHe now revived; the children would have played with him, but our\nduckling thought they wished to tease him, and in his terror jumped into\nthe milk-pail, so that the milk was spilled about the room: the good\nwoman screamed and clapped her hands; he flew thence into the pan where\nthe butter was kept, and thence into the meal-barrel, and out again, and\nthen how strange he looked!\n\nThe woman screamed, and struck at him with the tongs; the children ran\nraces with each other trying to catch him, and laughed and screamed\nlikewise. It was well for him that the door stood open; he jumped out\namong the bushes into the new-fallen snow--he lay there as in a dream.\n\nBut it would be too melancholy to relate all the trouble and misery\nthat he was obliged to suffer during the severity of the winter--he was\nlying on a moor among the reeds, when the sun began to shine warmly\nagain, the larks sang, and beautiful spring had returned.\n\nAnd once more he shook his wings. They were stronger than formerly, and\nbore him forwards quickly, and before he was well aware of it, he was in\na large garden where the apple-trees stood in full bloom, where the\nsyringas sent forth their fragrance and hung their long green branches\ndown into the winding canal. Oh, everything was so lovely, so full of\nthe freshness of spring! And out of the thicket came three beautiful\nwhite swans. They displayed their feathers so proudly, and swam so\nlightly, so lightly! The duckling knew the glorious creatures, and was\nseized with a strange melancholy.\n\n\u2018I will fly to them, those kingly birds!\u2019 said he. \u2018They will kill me,\nbecause I, ugly as I am, have presumed to approach them; but it matters\nnot, better to be killed by them than to be bitten by the ducks, pecked\nby the hens, kicked by the girl who feeds the poultry, and to have so\nmuch to suffer during the winter!\u2019 He flew into the water, and swam\ntowards the beautiful creatures--they saw him and shot forward to meet\nhim. \u2018Only kill me,\u2019 said the poor animal, and he bowed his head low,\nexpecting death,--but what did he see in the water?--he saw beneath him\nhis own form, no longer that of a plump, ugly, grey bird--it was that of\na swan.\n\nIt matters not to have been born in a duck-yard, if one has been hatched\nfrom a swan\u2019s egg.\n\nThe good creature felt himself really elevated by all the troubles and\nadversities he had experienced. He could now rightly estimate his own\nhappiness, and the larger swans swam round him, and stroked him with\ntheir beaks.\n\nSome little children were running about in the garden;\n\n[Illustration: AND EVERY ONE SAID, \u2018THE NEW ONE IS THE BEST\u2019]\n\nthey threw grain and bread into the water, and the youngest exclaimed,\n\u2018There is a new one!\u2019--the others also cried out, \u2018Yes, there is a new\nswan come!\u2019 and they clapped their hands, and danced around. They ran to\ntheir father and mother, bread and cake were thrown into the water, and\nevery one said, \u2018The new one is the best, so young, and so beautiful!\u2019\nand the old swans bowed before him. The young swan felt quite ashamed,\nand hid his head under his wings; he scarcely knew what to do, he was\nall too happy, but still not proud, for a good heart is never proud.\n\nHe remembered how he had been persecuted and derided, and he now heard\nevery one say he was the most beautiful of all beautiful birds. The\nsyringas bent down their branches towards him low into the water, and\nthe sun shone so warmly and brightly--he shook his feathers, stretched\nhis slender neck, and in the joy of his heart said, \u2018How little did I\ndream of so much happiness when I was the ugly, despised duckling!\u2019\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE NAUGHTY BOY\n\n\nThere was once an old poet, such a good, honest old poet! He was sitting\nalone in his own little room on a very stormy evening; the wind was\nroaring without, and the rain poured down in torrents. But the old man\nsat cosily by his warm stove, the fire was blazing brightly, and some\napples were roasting in front of it.\n\n\u2018Those poor people who have no roof to shelter them to-night will, most\nassuredly, not have a dry thread left on their skin,\u2019 said the\nkind-hearted old man.\n\n\u2018Oh, open the door! open the door! I am so cold, and quite wet through\nbesides--open the door!\u2019 cried a voice from without. The voice was like\na child\u2019s, and seemed half-choked with sobs. \u2018Rap, rap, rap!\u2019 it went on\nknocking at the door, whilst the rain still kept streaming down from the\nclouds, and the wind rattled among the window-panes.\n\n\u2018Poor thing!\u2019 said the old poet; and he arose and opened the door. There\nstood a little boy, almost naked; the water trickled down from his long\nflaxen hair; he was shivering with cold, and had he been left much\nlonger out in the street, he must certainly have perished in the storm.\n\n\u2018Poor boy!\u2019 said the old poet again, taking him by the hand, and leading\nhim into his room. \u2018Come to me, and we\u2019ll soon make thee warm again, and\nI will give thee some wine, and some roasted apples for thy supper, my\npretty child!\u2019\n\nAnd, of a truth, the boy was exceedingly pretty. His eyes\n\n[Illustration]\n\nshone as bright as stars, and his hair, although dripping with water,\ncurled in beautiful ringlets. He looked quite like a little cherub, but\nhe was very pale, and trembled in every limb with cold. In his hand he\nheld a pretty little cross-bow, but it seemed entirely spoilt by the\nrain, and the colours painted on the arrows all ran one into another.\n\nThe old poet sat down again beside the stove, and took the little boy in\nhis lap; he wrung the water out of his streaming hair, warmed the\nchild\u2019s hands within his own, and gave him mulled wine to drink. The boy\nsoon became himself again, the rosy colour returned to his cheeks, he\njumped down from the old man\u2019s lap, and danced around him on the floor.\n\n\u2018Thou art a merry fellow!\u2019 said the poet. \u2018Thou must tell me thy name.\u2019\n\n\u2018They call me Cupid,\u2019 replied the boy. \u2018Don\u2019t you know me? There lies my\nbow; ah, you can\u2019t think how capitally I can shoot! See, the weather is\nfine again now; the moon is shining bright.\u2019\n\n\u2018But thy bow is spoilt,\u2019 said the old man.\n\n\u2018That would be a sad disaster, indeed,\u2019 remarked the boy, as he took the\nbow in his hand and examined it closely. \u2018Oh, it is quite dry by this\ntime, and it is not a bit damaged; the string, too, is quite strong\nenough, I think. However, I may as well try it!\u2019 He then drew his bow,\nplaced an arrow before the string, took his aim, and shot direct into\nthe old poet\u2019s heart. \u2018Now you may be sure that my cross-bow is not\nspoilt!\u2019 cried he, as, with a loud laugh, he ran away.\n\nThe naughty boy! This was, indeed, ungrateful of him, to shoot to the\nheart the good old man who had so kindly taken him in, warmed him, and\ndried his clothes, given him sweet wine, and nice roasted apples for\nsupper!\n\nThe poor poet lay groaning on the ground, for the arrow had wounded him\nsorely. \u2018Fie, for shame, Cupid!\u2019 cried he, \u2018thou art a wicked boy! I\nwill tell all good children how thou hast treated me, and bid them take\nheed and never play with thee, for thou wilt assuredly do them a\nmischief, as thou hast done to me.\u2019\n\nAll the good boys and girls to whom he related this story were on their\nguard against the wicked boy, Cupid; but, notwithstanding, he made fools\nof them again and again, he is so terribly cunning! When the students\nare returning home from lecture, he walks by their side, dressed in a\nblack gown, and with a book under his arm. They take him to be a\nfellow-student, and so they suffer him to walk arm-in-arm with them,\njust as if he were one of their intimate friends. But whilst they are\nthus familiar with him, all of a sudden he thrusts his arrows into their\nbosoms. Even when young girls are going to church, he will follow and\nwatch for his opportunity: he is always waylaying people. In the\ntheatre, he sits in the great chandelier, and kindles such a bright, hot\nflame, men fancy it a lamp, but they are soon undeceived. He wanders\nabout in the royal gardens and all the public walks, making mischief\neverywhere; nay, once he even shot thy father and mother to the heart!\nOnly ask them, dear child, and they will certainly tell thee all about\nit. In fine, this fellow, this Cupid, is a very wicked boy! Do not play\nwith him! He waylays everybody, boys and girls, youths and maidens, men\nand women, rich and poor, old and young. Only think of this: he once\nshot an arrow into thy good old grandmother\u2019s heart! It happened a long\ntime ago, and she has recovered from the wound, but she will never\nforget him, depend upon it.\n\nFie, for shame! wicked Cupid! Is he not a mischievous boy?\n\nBeware of him, beware of him, dear child!\n\n[Illustration: THE END]\n\nPrinted by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty\nat the Edinburgh University Press","title":"Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":71470}