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diff --git a/old/31103.txt b/old/31103.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d5d301 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/31103.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3792 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Christmas Greeting, by Hans Christian Andersen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Christmas Greeting + +Author: Hans Christian Andersen + +Release Date: January 27, 2010 [EBook #31103] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHRISTMAS GREETING *** + + + + +Produced by Jim Adcock + + + + + +New Juveniles for 1864 + +PUBLISHED BY +JAMES MILLER, +522 BROADWAY, N. Y. + +------ + +MAGNET STORIES, +For Summer Days and Winter Nights. +SECOND SERIES. + +------ + +IMPULSE AND PRINCIPLE, +AND OTHER STORIES. +BY MISS ABBOTT. + +------ + +THE PRIVATE PURSE, +And other Stories. +BY MRS. S. C. HALL. + +------ + +TURNS OF FORTUNE +And other Stories. +BY MRS. S. C. HALL. + +------------ + +Published By James Miller, 522 Broadway. + +------------ + +PHILIP GREY, +OR THREE MONTHS AT SEA. +BY PETER PARLEY. + +------ + +Hans Andersen's Wonderful Tales. +ILLUSTRATED. + +------ + +HANS ANDERSEN'S STORY BOOK. +ILLUSTRATED. + +------ + +Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. +ILLUSTRATED. + +------ + +GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. +New Edition. Illustrated. + +------ + +ESOP'S FABLES. +New Edition. Illustrated. + +------ + +Aunt Carrie's Rhymes for Children. + +------ + +LIFE OF GEO. WASHINGTON. +With Illustrations by Darley. + +------------ + +[Illustration: "The Dream of Little Tuk."] +THE DREAM OF LITTLE TUK. + +------------ + + + +Hans Andersen's Library. + +A CHRISTMAS GREETING: +A Series of Stories, +BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN +ILLUSTRATED. + +[Illustration: "Children Dancing."] + +Published by James Miller, +522 Broadway. + +------------ + +A CHRISTMAS GREETING + +A Series of Stories, + +BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN + +[Illustration: "Man Carrying Firewood."] + +New York: + +(Successor to C.S. Francis & Co.) + +Published by James Miller, + +522 Broadway. + +------------ + +TO + +CHARLES DICKENS, Esq. + +I am again in my quiet Danish home, but my thoughts are daily in dear +England, where, a few months ago, my many friends transformed for me +reality into a charming story. + +Whilst occupied with a greater work, there sprung forth--as the +flowers spring forth in the forest--seven short stories.* I feel a +desire, a longing, to transplant in England the first produce of my +poetic garden, as a Christmas greeting: and I send it to you, my dear, +noble, Charles Dickens, who by your works had been previously dear to +me, and since our meeting have taken root for ever in my heart. + +Your hand was the last that pressed mine on England's coast: it was +you who from her shores wafted me the last farewell. It is therefore +natural that I should send to you, from Denmark, my first greeting +again, as sincerely as an affectionate heart can convey it. + + Hans Christian Andersen. + + Copenhagen. 6th December, 1847. + +------ + + * The first seven in this volume. + +------------ + +CONTENTS, + +------ + +I. The Old House + +II. The Drop of Water + +III. The Happy Family + +IV. The Story of a Mother + +V. The False Collar + +VI. The Shadow + +VII. The Old Street-Lamp + +VIII. The Dream of Little Tuk + +IX. The Naughty Boy + +X. The Two Neighboring Families + +XI. The Darning Needle + +XII. The Little Match-Girl + +XIII. The Red Shoes + +XIV. To The Young Readers + + +------------ + + + +THE OLD HOUSE. + +In the street, up there, was an old, a very old house,--it was almost +three hundred years old, for that might be known by reading the great +beam on which the date of the year was carved: together with tulips +and hop-binds there were whole verses spelled as in former times, and +over every window was a distorted face cut out in the beam. The one +story stood forward a great way over the other; and directly under the +eaves was a leaden spout with a dragon's head; the rain-water should +have run out of the mouth, but it ran out of the belly, for there was +a hole in the spout. + +All the other houses in the street were so new and so neat, with large +window-panes and smooth walls, one could easily see that they would +have nothing to do with the old house: they certainly thought, "How +long is that old decayed thing to stand here as a spectacle in the +street? And then the protecting windows stand so far out, that no one +can see from our windows what happens in that direction! The steps are +as broad as those of a palace, and as high as to a church tower. The +iron railings look just like the door to an old family vault, and then +they have brass tops,--that's so stupid!" + +On the other side of the street were also new and neat houses, and +they thought just as the others did; but at the window opposite the +old house there sat a little boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright +beaming eyes: he certainly liked the old house best, and that both in +sunshine and moonshine. And when he looked across at the wall where +the mortar had fallen out, he could sit and find out there the +strangest figures imaginable; exactly as the street had appeared +before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could +see soldiers with halberds, and spouts where the water ran, like +dragons and serpents. _That_ was a house to look at; and there lived +an old man, who wore plush breeches; and he had a coat with large +brass buttons, and a wig that one could see was a real wig. Every +morning there came an old fellow to him who put his rooms in order, +and went on errands; otherwise, the old man in the plush breeches was +quite alone in the old house. Now and then he came to the window and +looked out, and the little boy nodded to him, and the old man nodded +again, and so they became acquaintances, and then they were friends, +although they had never spoken to each other,--but that made no +difference. The little boy heard his parents say, "The old man +opposite is very well off, but he is so very, very lonely!" + +The Sunday following, the little boy took something, and wrapped it up +in a piece of paper, went down stairs, and stood in the doorway; and +when the man who went on errands came past, he said to him-- + +"I say, master! will you give this to the old man over the way from +me? I have two pewter soldiers--this is one of them, and he shall have +it, for I know he is so very, very lonely." + +And the old errand man looked quite pleased, nodded, and took the +pewter soldier over to the old house. Afterwards there came a message; +it was to ask if the little boy himself had not a wish to come over +and pay a visit; and so he got permission of his parents, and then +went over to the old house. + +And the brass balls on the iron railings shone much brighter than +ever; one would have thought they were polished on account of the +visit; and it was as if the carved-out trumpeters--for there were +trumpeters, who stood in tulips, carved out on the door--blew with all +their might, their cheeks appeared so much rounder than before. Yes, +they blew--"Trateratra! the little boy comes trateratra!"--and then +the door opened. + +The whole passage was hung with portraits of knights in armor, and +ladies in silken gowns; and the armor rattled, and the silken gowns +rustled! And then there was a flight of stairs which went a good way +upwards, and a little way downwards, and then one came on a balcony +which was in a very dilapidated state, sure enough, with large holes +and long crevices, but grass grew there and leaves out of them +altogether, for the whole balcony outside, the yard, and the walls, +were overgrown with so much green stuff, that it looked like a garden; +but it was only a balcony. Here stood old flower-pots with faces and +asses' ears, and the flowers grew just as they liked. One of the pots +was quite overrun on all sides with pinks, that is to say, with the +green part; shoot stood by shoot, and it said quite distinctly, "The +air has cherished me, the sun has kissed me, and promised me a little +flower on Sunday!--a little flower on Sunday!" + +And then they entered a chamber where the walls were covered, with +hog's leather, and printed with gold flowers. + + "The gilding decays, + But hog's leather stays!" + +said the walls. + +And there stood easy chairs, with such high backs, and so carved out, +and with arms on both sides. "Sit down! sit down!" said they. "Ugh! +how I creak; now I shall certainly get the gout, like the old +clothes-press, ugh!" + +And then the little boy came into the room where the projecting +windows were, and where the old man sat. + +"I thank you for the pewter soldier, my little friend!" said the old +man, "and I thank you because you come over to me." + +"Thankee! thankee!" or "cranky! cranky!" sounded from all the +furniture; there was so much of it, that each article stood in the +other's way, to get a look at the little boy. + +In the middle of the wall hung a picture representing a beautiful +lady, so young, so glad, but dressed quite as in former times, with +clothes that stood quite stiff, and with powder in her hair; she +neither said "thankee, thankee!" nor "cranky, cranky!" but looked with +her mild eyes at the little boy, who directly asked the old man, +"Where did you get her?" + +"Yonder, at the broker's," said the old man, "where there are so many +pictures hanging. No one knows or cares about them, for they are all +of them buried; but I knew her in by-gone days, and now she has been +dead and gone these fifty years!" + +Under the picture, in a glazed frame, there hung a _bouquet_ of +withered flowers; they were almost fifty years old; they looked so +very old! + +The pendulum of the great clock went to and fro, and the hands turned, +and every thing in the room became still older; but they did not +observe it. + +"They say at home," said the little boy, "that you are so very, very +lonely!" + +"Oh!" said he, "the old thoughts, with what they may bring with them, +come and visit me, and now you also come! I am very well off!" + +Then he took a book with pictures in it down from the shelf; there +were whole long processions and pageants, with the strangest +characters, which one never sees now-a-days; soldiers like the knave +of clubs, and citizens with waving flags: the tailors had theirs, with +a pair of shears held by two lions,--and the shoemakers theirs, +without boots, but with an eagle that had two heads, for the +shoemakers must have everything so that they can say, it is a +pair!--Yes, that was a picture book! + +The old man now went into the other room to fetch preserves, apples, +and nuts;--yes, it was delightful over there in the old house. + +"I cannot bear it any longer!" said the pewter soldier, who sat on the +drawers; "it is so lonely and melancholy here! but when one has been +in a family circle one cannot accustom oneself to this life! I cannot +bear it any longer! the whole day is so long, and the evenings are +still longer! here it is not at all as it is over the way at your +home, where your father and mother spoke so pleasantly, and where you +and all your sweet children made such a delightful noise. Nay, how +lonely the old man is!--do you think that he gets kisses? do you think +he gets mild eyes, or a Christmas tree?--He will get nothing but a +grave.--I can bear it no longer!" + +"You must not let it grieve you so much," said the little boy; "I find +it so very delightful here, and then all the old thoughts, with what +they may bring with them, they come and visit here." + +"Yes, it's all very well, but I see nothing of them, and I don't know +them!" said the pewter soldier, "I cannot bear it!" + +"But you must!" said the little boy. + +Then in came the old man with the most pleased and happy face, the +most delicious preserves, apples, and nuts, and so the little boy +thought no more about the pewter soldier. + +The little boy returned home happy and pleased, and weeks and days +passed away, and nods were made to the old house, and from the old +house, and then the little boy went over there again. + +The carved trumpeters blew, "trateratra! there is the little boy! +trateratra!" and the swords and armor on the knights' portraits +rattled, and the silk gowns rustled; the hog's-leather spoke, and the +old chairs had the gout in their legs and rheumatism in their backs: +Ugh!--it was exactly like the first time, for over there one day and +hour was just like another. + +"I cannot bear it!" said the pewter soldier, "I have shed pewter +tears! it is too melancholy! rather let me go to the wars and lose +arms and legs! it would at least be a change. I cannot bear it +longer!--Now, I know what it is to have a visit from one's old +thoughts, with what they may bring with them! I have had a visit from +mine, and you may be sure it is no pleasant thing in the end; I was at +last about to jump down from the drawers. + +"I saw you all over there at home so distinctly, as if you really were +here; it was again that Sunday morning; all you children stood before +the table and sung your Psalms, as you do every morning. You stood +devoutly with folded hands; and father and mother were just as pious; +and then the door was opened, and little sister Mary, who is not two +years old yet, and who always dances when she hears music or singing, +of whatever kind it may be, was put into the room--though she ought +not to have been there--and then she began to dance, but could not +keep time, because the tones were so long; and then she stood, first +on the one leg, and bent her head forwards, and then on the other leg, +and bent her head forwards--but all would not do. You stood very +seriously all together, although it was difficult enough; but I +laughed to myself, and then I fell off the table, and got a bump, +which I have still--for it was not right of me to laugh. But the whole +now passes before me again in thought, and everything that I have +lived to see; and these are the old thoughts, with what they may bring +with them. + +"Tell me if you still sing on Sundays? Tell me something about little +Mary! and how my comrade, the other pewter soldier, lives! Yes, he is +happy enough, that's sure! I cannot bear it any longer!" + +"You are given away as a present!" said the little boy; "you must +remain. Can you not understand that?" + +The old man now came with a drawer, in which there was much to be +seen, both "tin boxes" and "balsam boxes," old cards, so large and so +gilded, such as one never sees them now. And several drawers were +opened, and the piano was opened; it had landscapes on the inside of +the lid, and it was so hoarse when the old man played on it! and then +he hummed a song. + +"Yes, she could sing that!" said he, and nodded to the portrait, which +he had bought at the broker's, and the old man's eyes shone so bright! + +"I will go to the wars! I will go to the wars!" shouted the pewter +soldier as loud as he could, and threw himself off the drawers right +down on the floor. + +What became of him? The old man sought, and the little boy sought; he +was away, and he stayed away. + +"I shall find him!" said the old man; but he never found him. The +floor was too open--the pewter soldier had fallen through a crevice, +and there he lay as in an open tomb. + +That day passed, and the little boy went home, and that week passed, +and several weeks too. The windows were quite frozen, the little boy +was obliged to sit and breathe on them to get a peep-hole over to the +old house, and there the snow had been blown into all the carved work +and inscriptions; it lay quite up over the steps, just as if there was +no one at home;--nor was there any one at home--the old man was dead! + +In the evening there was a hearse seen before the door, and he was +borne into it in his coffin: he was now to go out into the country, to +lie in his grave. He was driven out there, but no one followed; all +his friends were dead, and the little boy kissed his hand to the +coffin as it was driven away. + +Some days afterwards there was an auction at the old house, and the +little boy saw from his window how they carried the old knights and +the old ladies away, the flower-pots with the long ears, the old +chairs, and the old clothes-presses. Something came here, and +something came there; the portrait of her who had been found at the +broker's came to the broker's again; and there it hung, for no one +knew her more--no one cared about the old picture. + +In the spring they pulled the house down, for, as people said, it was +a ruin. One could see from the street right into the room with the +hog's-leather hanging, which was slashed and torn; and the green grass +and leaves about the balcony hung quite wild about the falling +beams.--And then it was put to rights. + +"That was a relief," said the neighboring houses. + + + * * * * * + + +A fine house was built there, with large windows, and smooth white +walls; but before it, where the old house had in fact stood, was a +little garden laid out, and a wild grapevine ran up the wall of the +neighboring house. Before the garden there was a large iron railing +with an iron door, it looked quite splendid, and people stood still +and peeped in, and the sparrows hung by scores in the vine, and +chattered away at each other as well as they could, but it was not +about the old house, for they could not remember it, so many years had +passed,--so many that the little boy had grown up to a whole man, yes, +a clever man, and a pleasure to his parents; and he had just been +married, and, together with his little wife, had come to live in the +house here, where the garden was; and he stood by her there whilst she +planted a field-flower that she found so pretty; she planted it with +her little hand, and pressed the earth around it with her fingers. Oh! +what was that? She had stuck herself. There sat something pointed, +straight out of the soft mould. + +It was----yes, guess!--it was the pewter soldier, he that was lost up +at the old man's, and had tumbled and turned about amongst the timber +and the rubbish, and had at last laid for many years in the ground. + +The young wife wiped the dirt off the soldier, first with a green +leaf, and then with her fine handkerchief--it had such a delightful +smell, that it was to the pewter soldier just as if he had awaked from +a trance. + +"Let me see him," said the young man. He laughed, and then shook his +head. "Nay, it cannot be he; but he reminds me of a story about a +pewter soldier which I had when I was a little boy!" And then he told +his wife about the old house, and the old man, and about the pewter +soldier that he sent over to him because he was so very, very lonely; +and he told it as correctly as it had really been, so that the tears +came into the eyes of his young wife, on account of the old house and +the old man. + +"It may possibly be, however, that it is the same pewter soldier!" +said she, "I will take care of it, and remember all that you have told +me; but you must show me the old man's grave!" + +"But I do not know it," said he, "and no one knows it! all his friends +were dead, no one took care of it, and I was then a little boy!" + +"How very, very lonely he must have been!" said she. + +"Very, very lonely!" said the pewter soldier; "but it is delightful +not to be forgotten!" + +"Delightful!" shouted something close by; but no one, except the +pewter soldier, saw that it was a piece of the hog's-leather hangings; +it had lost all its gilding, it looked like a piece of wet clay, but +it had an opinion, and it gave it: + + "The gilding decays, + But hog's leather stays!" + +This the pewter soldier did not believe. + + +------------ + + + +THE DROP OF WATER. + +What a magnifying glass is, you surely know--such a round sort of +spectacle-glass that makes everything full a hundred times larger than +it really is. When one holds it before the eye, and looks at a drop of +water out of the pond, then one sees above a thousand strange +creatures. It looks almost like a whole plateful of shrimps springing +about among each other, and they are so ravenous, they tear one +another's arms and legs, tails and sides, and yet they are glad and +pleased in their way. + +Now, there was once an old man, who was called by every body +Creep-and-Crawl; for that was his name. He would always make the best +out of everything, and when he could not make anything out of it he +resorted to witchcraft. + +Now, one day he sat and held his magnifying glass before his eye, and +looked at a drop of water that was taken out of a little pool in the +ditch. What a creeping and crawling was there! all the thousands of +small creatures hopped and jumped about, pulled one another, and +pecked one another. + +"But this is abominable!" said Creep-and-Crawl, "Can one not get them +to live in peace and quiet, and each mind his own business?" And he +thought and thought, but he could come to no conclusion, and so he was +obliged to conjure. "I must give them a color, that they may be more +discernible!" said he; and so he poured something like a little drop +of red wine into the drop of water, but it was bewitched blood from +the lobe of the ear--the very finest sort for a penny; and then all +the strange creatures became rose-colored over the whole body. It +looked like a whole town of naked savages. + +"What have you got there?" said another old wizard, who had no name, +and that was just the best of it. + +"Why," said Creep-and-Crawl, "if you can guess what it is, I will make +you a present of it; but it is not so easy to find out when one does +not know it!" + +The wizard who had no name looked through the magnifying glass. It +actually appeared like a whole town, where all the inhabitants ran +about without clothes! it was terrible, but still more terrible to see +how the one knocked and pushed the other, bit each other, and drew one +another about. What was undermost should be topmost, and what was +topmost should be undermost!--See there, now! his leg is longer than +mine!--whip it off, and away with it! There is one that has a little +lump behind the ear, a little innocent lump, but it pains him, and so +it shall pain him still more! And they pecked at it, and they dragged +him about, and they ate him, and all on account of the little lump. +There sat one as still as a little maid, who only wished for peace and +quietness, but she must be brought out and they dragged her, and they +pulled her, and they devoured her! + +"It is quite amusing!" said the wizard. + +"Yes; but what do you think it is?" asked Creep-and-Crawl. "Can you +find it out!" + +"It is very easy to see," said the other, "it is some great city, they +all resemble each other. A great city it is, that's sure!" + +"It is ditch-water!" said Creep-and-Crawl. + + +------------ + + + +THE HAPPY FAMILY. + +Really, the largest green leaf in this country is a dock-leaf; if one +holds it before one, it is like a whole apron, and if one holds it +over one's head in rainy weather, it is almost as good as an umbrella, +for it is so immensely large. The burdock never grows alone, but where +there grows one there always grow several: it is a great delight, and +all this delightfulness is snails' food. The great white snails which +persons of quality in former times made fricassees of, ate, and said, +"Hem, hem! how delicious!" for they thought it tasted so +delicate--lived on dock leaves, and therefore burdock seeds were sown. + +Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, +they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew +and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the +mastery over them--it was a whole forest of burdocks. Here and there +stood an apple and a plumb-tree, or else one never would have thought +that it was a garden; all was burdocks, and there lived the two last +venerable old snails. + +They themselves knew not how old they were, but they could remember +very well that there had been many more; that they were of a family +from foreign lands, and that for them and theirs the whole forest was +planted. They had never been outside it, but they knew that there was +still something more in the world, which was called the manor-house, +and that there they were boiled, and then they became black, and were +then placed on a silver dish; but what happened further they knew not; +or, in fact, what it was to be boiled, and to lie on a silver dish, +they could not possibly imagine; but it was said to be delightful, and +particularly genteel. Neither the chafers, the toads, nor the +earth-worms, whom they asked about it could give them any +information,--none of them had been boiled or laid on a silver dish. + +The old white snails were the first persons of distinction in the +world, that they knew; the forest was planted for their sake, and the +manor-house was there that they might be boiled and laid on a silver +dish. + +Now they lived a very lonely and happy life; and as they had no +children themselves, they had adopted a little common snail, which +they brought up as their own; but the little one would not grow, for +he was of a common family; but the old ones, especially Dame Mother +Snail, thought they could observe how he increased in size, and she +begged father, if he could not see it, that he would at least feel the +little snail's shell; and then he felt it, and found the good dame was +right. + +One day there was a heavy storm of rain. + +"Hear how it beats like a drum on the dock leaves!" said Father Snail. + +"There are also rain-drops!" said Mother Snail; "and now the rain +pours right down the stalk! You will see that it will be wet here! I +am very happy to think that we have our good house, and the little one +has his also! There is more done for us than for all other creatures, +sure enough; but can you not see that we are folks of quality in the +world? We are provided with a house from our birth, and the burdock +forest is planted for our sakes! I should like to know how far it +extends, and what there is outside!" + +"There is nothing at all," said Father Snail. "No place can be better +than ours, and I have nothing to wish for!" + +"Yes," said the dame. "I would willingly go to the manor-house, be +boiled, and laid on a silver dish; all our forefathers have been +treated so; there is something extraordinary in it, you may be sure!" + +"The manor-house has most likely fallen to ruin!" said Father Snail. +"or the burdocks have grown up over it, so that they cannot come out. +There need not, however, be any haste about that; but you are always +in such a tremendous hurry, and the little one is beginning to be the +same. Has he not been creeping up that stalk these three days? It +gives me a headache when I look up to him!" + +"You must not scold him," said Mother Snail; "he creeps so carefully; +he will afford us much pleasure--and we have nothing but him to live +for! But have you not thought of it?--where shall we get a wife for +him? Do you not think that there are some of our species at a great +distance in the interior of the burdock forest?" + +"Black snails, I dare say, there are enough of," said the old +one--"black snails without a house--but they are so common, and so +conceited. But we might give the ants a commission to look out for us; +they run to and fro as if they had something to do, and they certainly +know of a wife for our little snail!" + +"I know one, sure enough--the most charming one!" said one of the +ants; "but I am afraid we shall hardly succeed, for she is a queen!" + +"That is nothing!" said the old folks; "has she a house?" + +"She has a palace!" said the ant--"the finest ant's palace, with seven +hundred passages!" + +"I thank you!" said Mother Snail; "our son shall not go into an +ant-hill; if you know nothing better than that, we shall give the +commission to the white gnats. They fly far and wide, in rain and +sunshine; they know the whole forest here, both within and without." + +"We have a wife for him," said the gnats; "at a hundred human paces +from here there sits a little snail in her house, on a gooseberry +bush; she is quite lonely, and old enough to be married. It is only a +hundred human paces!" + +"Well, then, let her come to him!" said the old ones; "he has a whole +forest of burdocks, she has only a bush!" + +And so they went and fetched little Miss Snail. It was a whole week +before she arrived; but therein was just the very best of it, for one +could thus see that she was of the same species. + +And then the marriage was celebrated. Six earth-worms shone as well as +they could. In other respects the whole went off very quietly, for the +old folks could not bear noise and merriment; but old Dame Snail made +a brilliant speech. Father Snail could not speak, he was too much +affected; and so they gave them as a dowry and inheritance, the whole +forest of burdocks, and said--what they had always said--that it was +the best in the world; and if they lived honestly and decently, and +increased and multiplied, they and their children would once in the +course of time come to the manor-house, be boiled black, and laid on +silver dishes. After this speech was made, the old ones crept into +their shells, and never more came out. They slept; the young couple +governed in the forest, and had a numerous progeny, but they were +never boiled, and never came on the silver dishes; so from this they +concluded that the manor-house had fallen to ruins, and that all the +men in the world were extinct; and as no one contradicted them, so, of +course it was so. And the rain beat on the dock-leaves to make +drum-music for their sake, and the sun shone in order to give the +burdock forest a color for their sakes; and they were very happy, and +the whole family was happy; for they, indeed were so. + + +------------ + + + +THE STORY OF A MOTHER + +A mother sat there with her little child. She was so downcast, so +afraid that it should die! It was so pale, the small eyes had closed +themselves, and it drew its breath so softly, now and then, with a +deep respiration, as if it sighed; and the mother looked still more +sorrowfully on the little creature. + +Then a knocking was heard at the door, and in came a poor old, man +wrapped up as in a large horse-cloth, for it warms one, and he needed +it, as it was the cold winter season! Every thing out of doors was +covered with ice and snow, and the wind blew so that it cut the face. + +As the old man trembled with cold, and the little child slept a +moment, the mother went and poured some ale into a pot and set it on +the stove, that it might be warm for him; the old man sat and rocked +the cradle, and the mother sat down on a chair close by him, and +looked at her little sick child that drew its breath so deep, and +raised its little hand. + +"Do you not think that I shall save him?" said she, "_Our Lord_ will +not take him from me!" + +And the old man,--it was Death himself,--he nodded so strangely, it +could just as well signify yes as no. And the mother looked down in +her lap, and the tears ran down over her cheeks; her head became so +heavy--she had not closed her eyes for three days and nights; and now +she slept, but only for a minute, when she started up and trembled +with cold: "What is that?" said she, and looked on all sides; but the +old man was gone, and her little child was gone--he had taken it with +him; and the old clock in the corner burred, and burred, the great +leaden weight ran down to the floor, bump! and then the clock also +stood still. + +But the poor mother ran out of the house and cried aloud for her +child. + +Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black +clothes; and she said, "Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him +hasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and +he never brings back what he takes!" + +"Oh, only tell me which way he went!" said the mother: "Tell me the +way, and I shall find him!" + +"I know it!" said the woman in the black clothes, "but before I tell +it, thou must first sing for me all the songs thou hast sung for thy +child!--I am fond of them; I have heard them before; I am Night; I saw +thy tears whilst thou sang'st them!" + +"I will sing them all, all!" said the mother; "but do not stop me +now;--I may overtake him--I may find my child!" + +But Night stood still and mute. Then the mother wrung her hands, sang +and wept, and there were many songs, but yet many more tears; and then +Night said, "Go to the right, into the dark pine forest; thither I saw +Death take his way with thy little child!" + +The roads crossed each other in the depths of the forest, and she no +longer knew whither she should go; then there stood a thorn-bush; +there was neither leaf nor flower on it, it was also in the cold +winter season, and ice-flakes hung on the branches. + +"Hast thou not seen Death go past with my little child?" said the +mother. + +"Yes," said the thorn-bush; "but I will not tell thee which way he +took, unless thou wilt first warm me up at thy heart. I am freezing to +death; I shall become a lump of ice!" + +And she pressed the thorn-bush to her breast, so firmly, that it might +be thoroughly warmed, and the thorns went right into her flesh, and +her blood flowed in large drops, but the thorn-bush shot forth fresh +green leaves, and there came flowers on it in the cold winter night, +the heart of the afflicted mother was so warm; and the thorn-bush told +her the way she should go. + +She then came to a large lake, where there was neither ship nor boat. +The lake was not frozen sufficiently to bear her; neither was it open, +nor low enough that she could wade through it; and across it she must +go if she would find her child! Then she lay down to drink up the +lake, and that was an impossibility for a human being, but the +afflicted mother thought that a miracle might happen nevertheless. + +"Oh, what would I not give to come to my child!" said the weeping +mother; and she wept still more, and her eyes sunk down in the depths +of the waters, and became two precious pearls; but the water bore her +up, as if she sat in a swing, and she flew in the rocking waves to the +shore on the opposite side, where there stood a mile-broad, strange +house, one knew not if it were a mountain with forests and caverns, or +if it were built up; but the poor mother could not see it; she had +wept her eyes out. + +"Where shall I find Death, who took away my little child?" said she. + +"He has not come here yet!" said the old grave woman, who was +appointed to look after Death's great greenhouse! "How have you been +able to find the way hither? and who has helped you?" + +"_Our Lord_ has helped me," said she. "He is merciful, and you will +also be so! Where shall I find my little child?" + +"Nay, I know not," said the woman, "and you cannot see! Many flowers +and trees have withered this night; Death will soon come and plant +them over again! You certainly know that every person has his or her +life's tree or flower, just as every one happens to be settled; they +look like other plants, but they have pulsations of the heart. +Children's hearts can also beat; go after yours, perhaps you may know +your child's; but what will you give me if I tell you what you shall +do more?" + +"I have nothing to give," said the afflicted mother, "but I will go to +the world's end for you!" + +"Nay, I have nothing to do there!" said the woman, "but you can give +me your long black hair; you know yourself that it is fine, and that I +like! You shall have my white hair instead! and that's always +something!" + +"Do you demand nothing else?" said she,--"that I will gladly give +you!" And she gave her her fine black hair, and got the old woman's +snow-white hair instead. + +So they went into Death's great greenhouse, where flowers and trees +grew strangely into one another. There stood fine hyacinths under +glass bells, and there stood strong-stemmed peonies; there grew water +plants, some so fresh, others half sick, the water-snakes lay down on +them, and black crabs pinched their stalks. There stood beautiful +palm-trees, oaks, and plantains; there stood parsley and flowering +thyme: every tree and every flower had its name; each of them was a +human life, the human frame still lived--one in China, and another in +Greenland--round about in the world. There were large trees in small +pots, so that they stood so stunted in growth, and ready to burst the +pots; in other places, there was a little dull flower in rich mould, +with moss round about it, and it was so petted and nursed. But the +distressed mother bent down over all the smallest plants, and heard +within them how the human heart beat; and amongst millions she knew +her child's. + +"There it is!" cried she, and stretched her hands out over a little +blue crocus, that hung quite sickly on one side. + +"Don't touch the flower!" said the old woman, "but place yourself +here, and when Death comes,--I expect him every moment,--do not let +him pluck the flower up, but threaten him that you will do the same +with the others. Then he will be afraid! he is responsible for them to +_Our Lord_, and no one dares to pluck them up before _He_ gives +leave." + +All at once an icy cold rushed through the great hall, and the blind +mother could feel that it was Death that came. + +"How hast thou been able to find thy way hither?" he asked. "How +couldst thou come quicker than I?" + +"I am a mother," said she. + +And Death stretched out his long hand towards the fine little flower, +but she held her hands fast around his, so tight, and yet afraid that +she should touch one of the leaves. Then Death blew on her hands, and +she felt that it was colder than the cold wind, and her hands fell +down powerless. + +"Thou canst not do anything against me!" said Death. + +"But that _Our Lord_ can!" said she. + +"I only do His bidding!" said Death. "I am His gardener, I take all +His flowers and trees, and plant them out in the great garden of +Paradise, in the unknown land; but how they grow there, and how it is +there I dare not tell thee." + +"Give me back my child!" said the mother, and she wept and prayed. At +once she seized hold of two beautiful flowers close by, with each +hand, and cried out to Death, "I will tear all thy flowers off, for I +am in despair." + +"Touch them not!" said Death. "Thou say'st that thou art so unhappy, +and now thou wilt make another mother equally unhappy." + +"Another mother!" said the poor woman, and directly let go her hold of +both the flowers. + +"There, thou hast thine eyes," said Death; "I fished them up from the +lake, they shone so bright; I knew not they were thine. Take them +again, they are now brighter than before; now look down into the deep +well close by; I shall tell thee the names of the two flowers thou +wouldst have torn up, and thou wilt see their whole future life--their +whole human existence: and see what thou wast about to disturb and +destroy." + +And she looked down into the well; and it was a happiness to see how +the one became a blessing to the world, to see how much happiness and +joy were felt everywhere. And she saw the other's life, and it was +sorrow and distress, horror, and wretchedness. + +"Both of them are God's will!" said Death. + +"Which of them is Misfortune's flower? and which is that of +Happiness?" asked she. + +"That I will not tell thee," said Death; "but this thou shalt know +from me, that the one flower was thy own child! it was thy child's +fate thou saw'st,--thy own child's future life!" + +Then the mother screamed with terror, "Which of them was my child? +Tell it me! save the innocent! save my child from all that misery! +rather take it away! take it into God's kingdom! Forget my tears, +forget my prayers, and all that I have done!" + +"I do not understand thee!" said Death. "Wilt thou have thy child +again, or shall I go with it there, where thou dost not know!" + +Then the mother wrung her hands, fell on her knees, and prayed to our +Lord: "Oh, hear me not when I pray against Thy will, which is the +best! hear me not! hear me not!" + +And she bowed her head down in her lap, and Death took her child and +went with it into the unknown land. + + +[Illustration: "THE STORY OF A MOTHER."] + + +------------ + + + +THE FALSE COLLAR. + +There was once a fine gentleman, all of whose moveables were a +bootjack and a hair-comb: but he had the finest false collars in the +world; and it is about one of these collars that we are now to hear a +story. + +It was so old, that it began to think of marriage; and it happened +that it came to be washed in company with a garter. + +"Nay!" said the collar, "I never did see anything so slender and so +fine, so soft and so neat. May I not ask your name?" + +"That I shall not tell you!" said the garter. + +"Where do you live?" asked the collar. + +But the garter was so bashful, so modest, and thought it was a strange +question to answer. + +"You are certainly a girdle," said the collar; "that is to say an +inside girdle. I see well that you are both for use and ornament, my +dear young lady." + +"I will thank you not to speak to me," said the garter. "I think I +have not given the least occasion for it." + +"Yes! when one is as handsome as you," said the collar, "that is +occasion enough." + +"Don't come so near me, I beg of you!" said the garter. "You look so +much like those men-folks." + +"I am also a fine gentleman," said the collar. "I have a boot-jack and +a hair-comb." + +But that was not true, for it was his master who had them: but he +boasted. + +"Don't come so near me," said the garter: "I am not accustomed to it." + +"Prude!" exclaimed the collar; and then it was taken out of the +washing-tub. It was starched, hung over the back of a chair in the +sunshine, and was then laid on the ironing-blanket; then came the warm +box-iron. "Dear lady!" said the collar. "Dear widow-lady! I feel quite +hot. I am quite changed. I begin to unfold myself. You will burn a +hole in me. Oh! I offer you my hand." + +"Rag!" said the box-iron; and went proudly over the collar: for she +fancied she was a steam-engine, that would go on the railroad and draw +the waggons. "Rag!" said the box-iron. + +The collar was a little jagged at the edge, and so came the long +scissors to cut off the jagged part. + +"Oh!" said the collar, "you are certainly the first opera dancer. How +well you can stretch your legs out! It is the most graceful +performance I have ever seen. No one can imitate you." + +"I know it," said the scissors. + +"You deserve to be a baroness," said the collar. "All that I have is a +fine gentleman, a boot-jack, and a hair-comb. If I only had the +barony!" + +"Do you seek my hand?" said the scissors; for she was angry; and +without more ado, she _cut him_, and then he was condemned. + +"I shall now be obliged to ask the hair-comb. It is surprising how +well you preserve your teeth, Miss," said the collar. "Have you never +thought of being betrothed?" + +"Yes, of course! you may be sure of that," said the hair comb. "I _am_ +betrothed--to the boot-jack!" + +"Betrothed!" exclaimed the collar. Now there was no other to court, +and so he despised it. + +A long time passed away, then the collar came into the rag chest at +the paper mill; there was a large company of rags, the fine by +themselves, and the coarse by themselves, just as it should be. They +all had much to say, but the collar the most; for he was a real +boaster. + +"I have had such an immense number of sweet-hearts!" said the collar, +"I could not be in peace! It is true, I was always a fine starched-up +gentleman! I had both a bootjack and a hair-comb, which I never used! +You should have seen me then, you should have seen me when I lay +down!--I shall never forget _my first love_--she was a girdle, so +fine, so soft, and so charming, she threw herself into a tub of water +for my sake! There was also a widow, who became glowing hot, but I +left her standing till she got black again; there was also the first +opera dancer, she gave me that cut which I now go with, she was so +ferocious! my own hair-comb was in love with me, she lost all her +teeth from the heart-ache; yes, I have lived to see much of that sort +of thing; but I am extremely sorry for the garter--I mean the +girdle--that went into the water-tub. I have much on my conscience, I +want to become white paper!" + +And it became so, all the rags were turned into white paper; but the +collar came to be just this very piece of white paper we here see, and +on which the story is printed; and that was because it boasted so +terribly afterwards of what had never happened to it. It would be well +for us to beware, that we may not act in a similar manner, for we can +never know if we may not, in the course of time, also come into the +rag chest, and be made into white paper, and then have our whole +life's history printed on it, even the most secret, and be obliged to +run about and tell it ourselves, just like this collar. + + +------------ + + + +THE SHADOW. + +It is in the hot lands that the sun burns, sure enough!--there the +people become quite a mahogany brown, ay, and in the _hottest_ lands +they are burnt to negroes. But now it was only to the _hot_ lands that +a learned man had come from the cold; there he thought that he could +run about just as when at home, but he soon found out his mistake. + +He, and all sensible folks, were obliged to stay within doors,--the +window-shutters and doors were closed the whole day; it looked as if +the whole house slept, or there was no one at home. + +The narrow street with the high houses, was built so that the sunshine +must fall there from morning till evening--it was really not to be +borne. + +The learned man from the cold lands--he was a young man, and seemed to +be a clever man--sat in a glowing oven; it took effect on him, he +became quite meagre--even his shadow shrunk in, for the sun had also +an effect on it. It was first towards evening when the sun was down, +that they began to freshen up again. + +In the warm lands every window has a balcony, and the people came out +on all the balconies in the street--for one must have air, even if one +be accustomed to be mahogany!* It was lively both up and down the +street. Tailors, and shoemakers, and all the folks, moved out into the +street--chairs and tables were brought forth--and candles burnt--yes, +above a thousand lights were burning--and the one talked and the other +sung; and people walked and church-bells rang, and asses went along +with a dingle-dingle-dong! for they too had bells on. The street boys +were screaming and hooting, and shouting and shooting, with devils and +detonating balls:--and there came corpse bearers and hood +wearers,--for there were funerals with psalm and hymn,--and then the +din of carriages driving and company arriving:--yes, it was, in truth, +lively enough down in the street. Only in that single house, which +stood opposite that in which the learned foreigner lived, it was quite +still; and yet some one lived there, for there stood flowers in the +balcony--they grew so well in the sun's heat--and that they could not +do unless they were watered--and some one must water them--there must +be somebody there. The door opposite was also opened late in the +evening, but it was dark within, at least in the front room; further +in there was heard the sound of music. The learned foreigner thought +it quite marvellous, but now--it might be that he only imagined +it--for he found everything marvellous out there, in the warm lands, +if there had only been no sun. The stranger's landlord said that he +didn't know who had taken the house opposite, one saw no person about, +and as to the music, it appeared to him to be extremely tiresome. "It +is as if some one sat there, and practised a piece that he could not +master--always the same piece. 'I shall master it!' says he; but yet +he cannot master it, however long he plays." + +------ + +* The word _mahogany_ can be understood, in Danish, as having two +meanings. In general, it means the reddish-brown wood itself; but in +jest, it signifies "excessively fine," which arose from an anecdote of +Nyboder, in Copenhagen, (the seamen's quarter.) A sailor's wife, who +was always proud and fine, in her way, came to her neighbor, and +complained that she had got a splinter in her finger. "What of?" asked +the neighbor's wife. "It is a mahogany splinter;" said the other. +"Mahogany! it cannot be less with you!" exclaimed the woman;--and +thence the proverb, "It is so mahogany!"--(that is, so excessively +fine)--is derived. + +------ + +One night the stranger awoke--he slept with the doors of the balcony +open--the curtain before it was raised by the wind, and he thought +that a strange lustre came from the opposite neighbor's house; all the +flowers shone like flames, in the most beautiful colors, and in the +midst of the flowers stood a slender, graceful maiden,--it was as if +she also shone; the light really hurt his eyes. He now opened them +quite wide--yes, he was quite awake; with one spring he was on the +floor; he crept gently behind the curtain but the maiden was gone; the +flowers shone no longer, but there they stood, fresh and blooming as +ever; the door was ajar, and, far within, the music sounded so soft +and delightful, one could really melt away in sweet thoughts from it. +Yet it was like a piece of enchantment. And who lived there? Where was +the actual entrance? The whole of the ground-floor was a row of shops, +and there people could not always be running through. + +One evening the stranger sat out on the balcony. The light burnt in +the room behind him; and thus it was quite natural that his shadow +should fall on his opposite neighbor's wall. Yes! there it sat, +directly opposite, between the flowers on the balcony; and when the +stranger moved, the shadow also moved: for that it always does. + +"I think my shadow is the only living thing one sees over there," said +the learned man. "See! how nicely it sits between the flowers. The +door stands half-open: now the shadow should be cunning, and go into +the room, look about, and then come and tell me what it had seen. +Come, now! be useful, and do me a service," said he, in jest. "Have +the kindness to step in. Now! art thou going?" and then he nodded to +the shadow, and the shadow nodded again. "Well then, go! but don't +stay away." + +The stranger rose, and his shadow on the opposite neighbor's balcony +rose also; the stranger turned round and the shadow also turned round. +Yes! if any one had paid particular attention to it, they would have +seen, quite distinctly, that the shadow went in through the half-open +balcony-door of their opposite neighbor, just as the stranger went +into his own room, and let the long curtain fall down after him. + +Next morning, the learned man went out to drink coffee and read the +newspapers. + +"What is that?" said he, as he came out into the sunshine. "I have no +shadow! So then, it has actually gone last night, and not come again. +It is really tiresome!" + +This annoyed him: not so much because the shadow was gone, but because +he knew there was a story about a man without a shadow.* It was known +to everybody at home, in the cold lands; and if the learned man now +came there and told his story, they would say that he was imitating +it, and that he had no need to do. He would, therefore, not talk about +it at all; and that was wisely thought. + +------ + +* Peter Schlemihl, the shadowless man. + +------ + +In the evening he went out again on the balcony. He had placed the +light directly behind him, for he knew that the shadow would always +have its master for a screen, but he could not entice it. He made +himself little; he made himself great: but no shadow came again. He +said, "Hem! hem!" but it was of no use. + +It was vexatious; but in the warm lands every thing grows so quickly; +and after the lapse of eight days he observed, to his great joy, that +a new shadow came in the sunshine. In the course of three weeks he had +a very fair shadow, which, when he set out for his home in the +northern lands, grew more and more in the journey, so that at last it +was so long and so large, that it was more than sufficient. + +The learned man then came home, and he wrote books about what was true +in the world, and about what was good and what was beautiful; and +there passed days and years,--yes! many years passed away. + +One evening, as he was sitting in his room, there was a gentle +knocking at the door. + +"Come in!" said he; but no one came in; so he opened the door, and +there stood before him such an extremely lean man, that he felt quite +strange. As to the rest, the man was very finely dressed,--he must be +a gentleman. + +"Whom have I the honor of speaking to?" asked the learned man. + +"Yes! I thought as much," said the fine man. "I thought you would not +know me. I have got so much body. I have even got flesh and clothes. +You certainly never thought of seeing me so well off. Do you not know +your old shadow? You certainly thought I should never more return. +Things have gone on well with me since I was last with you. I have, in +all respects, become very well off. Shall I purchase my freedom from +service? If so, I can do it;" and then he rattled a whole bunch of +valuable seals that hung to his watch, and he stuck his hand in the +thick gold chain he wore around his neck;--nay! how all his fingers +glittered with diamond rings; and then all were pure gems. + +"Nay; I cannot recover from my surprise!" said the learned man: "what +is the meaning of all this?" + +"Something common, is it not," said the shadow: "but you yourself do +not belong to the common order; and I, as you know well, have from a +child followed in your footsteps, As soon as you found I was capable +to go out alone in the world, I went my own way. I am in the most +brilliant circumstances, but there came a sort of desire over me to +see you once more before you die; you will die, I suppose? I also +wished to see this land again,--for you know we always love our native +land. I know you have got another shadow again; have I anything to pay +to it or you? If so, you will oblige me by saying what it is." + +"Nay, is it really thou?" said the learned man: "it is most +remarkable: I never imagined that one's old shadow could come again as +a man." + +"Tell me what I have to pay," said the shadow; "for I don't like to be +in any sort of debt." + +"How canst thou talk so?" said the learned man; "what debt is there to +talk about? Make thyself as free as any one else. I am extremely glad +to hear of thy good fortune: sit down, old friend, and tell me a +little how it has gone with thee, and what thou hast seen at our +opposite neighbor's there--in the warm lands." + +"Yes, I will tell you all about it," said the shadow, and sat down: +"but then you must also promise me, that, wherever you may meet me, +you will never say to any one here in the town that I have been your +shadow. I intend to get betrothed, for I can provide for more than one +family." + +"Be quite at thy ease about that," said the learned man; "I shall not +say to any one who thou actually art: here is my hand--I promise it, +and a man's bond is his word." + +"A word is a shadow," said the shadow, "and as such it must speak." + +It was really quite astonishing how much of a man it was. It was +dressed entirely in black, and of the very finest cloth; it had patent +leather boots, and a hat that could be folded together, so that it was +bare crown and brim; not to speak of what we already know it +had--seals, gold neck-chain, and diamond rings; yes, the shadow was +well-dressed, and it was just that which made it quite a man. + +"Now I shall tell you my adventures," said the shadow; and then he +sat, with the polished boots, as heavily as he could, on the arm of +the learned man's new shadow, which lay like a poodle-dog at his feet. +Now this was perhaps from arrogance; and the shadow on the ground kept +itself so still and quiet, that it might hear all that passed: it +wished to know how it could get free, and work its way up, so as to +become its own master. + +"Do you know who lived in our opposite neighbor's house?" said the +shadow; "it was the most charming of all beings, it was Poesy! I was +there for three weeks, and that has as much effect as if one had lived +three thousand years, and read all that was composed and written; that +is what I say, and it is right. I have seen everything and I know +everything!" + +"Poesy!" cried the learned man; "yes, yes, she often dwells a recluse +in large cities! Poesy! yes, I have seen her,--a single short moment, +but sleep came into my eyes! She stood on the balcony and shone as the +aurora borealis shines. Go on, go on!--thou wert on the balcony, and +went through the doorway, and then------" + +"Then I was in the antechamber," said the shadow. "You always sat and +looked over to the antechamber. There was no light; there was a sort +of twilight, but the one door stood open directly opposite the other +through a long row of rooms and saloons, and there it was lighted up. +I should have been completely killed if I had gone over to the maiden; +but I was circumspect, I took time to think, and that one must always +do." + +"And what didst thou then see?" asked the learned man. + +"I saw everything, and I shall tell all to you: but,--it is no pride +on my part,--as a free man, and with the knowledge I have, not to +speak of my position in life, my excellent circumstances,--I certainly +wish that you would say _you_* to me!" + +"I beg your pardon," said the learned man; "it is an old habit with +me. _You_ are perfectly right, and I shall remember it; but now _you_ +must tell me all _you_ saw!" + +"Everything!" said the shadow, "for I saw everything, and I know +everything!" + +"How did it look in the furthest saloon?" asked the learned man. "Was +it there as in the fresh woods? Was it there as in a holy church? Were +the saloons like the starlit firmament when we stand on the high +mountains?" + +------ + +* It is the custom in Denmark for intimate acquaintances to use the +second person singular, "Du," (thou) when speaking to each other. When +a friendship is formed between men, they generally affirm it, when +occasion offers, either in public or private, by drinking to each +other and exclaiming, "_thy health_," at the same time striking their +glasses together.--This is called drinking "_Duus_:"--they are then, +"_Duus Brodre_," (thou brothers,) and ever afterwards use the pronoun +"_thou_," to each other, it being regarded as more familiar than "De," +(you). Father and mother, sister and brother, say _thou_ to one +another--without regard to age or rank. Master and mistress say _thou_ +to their servants--the superior to the inferior. But servants and +inferiors do not use the same term to their masters, or superiors--nor +is it ever used when speaking to a stranger, or any one with whom they +are but slightly acquainted--they then say as in English--_you._ + +------ + +"Everything was there!" said the shadow. "I did not go quite in, I +remained in the foremost room, in the twilight, but I stood there +quite well; I saw everything, and I know everything! I have been in +the antechamber at the court of Poesy." + +"But _what did_ you see? Did all the gods of the olden times pass +through the large saloons? Did the old heroes combat there? Did sweet +children play there, and relate their dreams?" + +"I tell you I was there, and you can conceive that I saw everything +there was to be seen. Had you come over there, you would not have been +a man; but I became so! And besides, I learned to know my inward +nature, my innate qualities, the relationship I had with Poesy. At the +time I was with you, I thought not of that, but always--you know it +well--when the sun rose, and when the sun went down, I became so +strangely great; in the moonlight I was very near being more distinct +than yourself; at that time I did not understand my nature; it was +revealed to me in the antechamber! I became a man!--I came out +matured; but you were no longer in the warm lands;--as a man I was +ashamed to go as I did. I was in want of boots, of clothes, of the +whole human varnish that makes a man perceptible. I took my way--I +tell it to you, but you will not put it in any book--I took my way to +the cake woman--I hid myself behind her; the woman didn't think how +much she concealed. I went out first in the evening; I ran about the +streets in the moonlight; I made myself long up the walls--it tickles +the back so delightfully! I ran up, and ran down, peeped into the +highest windows, into the saloons, and on the roofs, I peeped in where +no one could peep, and I saw what no one else saw, what no one else +should see! This is, in fact, a base world! I would not be a man if it +were not now once accepted and regarded as something to be so! I saw +the most unimaginable things with the women, with the men, with +parents, and with the sweet, matchless children; I saw," said the +shadow "what no human being must know, but what they would all so +willingly know--what is bad in their neighbor. Had I written a +newspaper, it would have been read! but I wrote direct to the persons +themselves, and there was consternation in all the towns where I came. +They were so afraid of me, and yet they were so excessively fond of +me. The professors made a professor of me; the tailors gave me new +clothes--I am well furnished; the master of the mint struck new coin +for me, and the women said I was so handsome! and so I became the man +I am. And I now bid you farewell;--here is my card--I live on the +sunny side of the street, and am always at home in rainy weather!" And +so away went the shadow. + +"That was most extraordinary!" said the learned man. + +Years and days passed away, then the shadow came again. + +"How goes it?" said the shadow. + +"Alas!" said the learned man, "I write about the true, and the good, +and the beautiful, but no one cares to hear such things; I am quite +desperate, for I take it so much to heart!" + +"But I don't!" said the shadow, "I become fat, and it is that one +wants to become! You do not understand the world. You will become ill +by it. You must travel! I shall make a tour this summer; will you go +with me?--I should like to have a travelling companion! will you go +with me, as shadow? It will be a great pleasure for me to have you +with me; I shall pay the travelling expenses!" + +"Nay, this is too much!" said the learned man. + +"It is just as one takes it!"--said the shadow. "It will do you much +good to travel!--will you be my shadow?--you shall have everything +free on the journey!" + +"Nay, that is too bad!" said the learned man. + +"But it is just so with the world!" said the shadow,--"and so it will +be!"--and away it went again. + +The learned man was not at all in the most enviable state; grief and +torment followed him, and what he said about the true, and the good, +and the beautiful, was, to most persons, like roses for a cow!--he was +quite ill at last. + +"You really look like a shadow!" said his friends to him; and the +learned man trembled, for he thought of it. + +"You must go to a watering-place!" said the shadow, who came and +visited him; "there is nothing else for it! I will take you with me +for old acquaintance' sake; I will pay the travelling expenses, and +you write the descriptions--and if they are a little amusing for me on +the way! I will go to a watering-place,--my beard does not grow out as +it ought--that is also a sickness--and one must have a beard! Now you +be wise and accept the offer; we shall travel as comrades!" + +And so they travelled; the shadow was master, and the master was the +shadow; they drove with each other, they rode and walked together, +side by side, before and behind, just as the sun was; the shadow +always took care to keep itself in the master's place. Now the learned +man didn't think much about that; he was a very kind-hearted man, and +particularly mild and friendly, and so he said one day to the shadow: +"As we have now become companions, and in this way have grown up +together from childhood, shall we not drink '_thou_' together, it is +more familiar?" + +"You are right," said the shadow, who was now the proper master. "It +is said in a very straight-forward and well-meant manner. You, as a +learned man, certainty know how strange nature is. Some persons cannot +bear to touch grey paper, or they become ill; others shiver in every +limb if one rub a pane of glass with a nail: I have just such a +feeling on hearing you say _thou_ to me; I feel myself as if pressed +to the earth in my first situation with you. You see that it is a +feeling; that it is not pride: I cannot allow you to say _thou_ to me, +but I will willingly say _thou_ to you, so it is half done!" + +So the shadow said _thou_ to its former master. + +"This is rather too bad," thought he, that I must say _you_ and he say +"thou," but he was now obliged to put up with it. + +So they came to a watering-place where there were many strangers, and +amongst them was a princess, who was troubled with seeing too well; +and that was so alarming! + +She directly observed that the stranger who had just come was quite a +different sort of person to all the others;--"He has come here in +order to get his beard to grow, they say, but I see the real cause, he +cannot cast a shadow." + +She had become inquisitive; and so she entered into conversation +directly with the strange gentleman, on their promenades. As the +daughter of a king, she needed not to stand upon trifles, so she said, +"Your complaint is, that you cannot cast a shadow?" + +"Your Royal Highness must be improving considerably," said the +shadow,--"I know your complaint is, that you see too clearly, but it +has decreased, you are cured. I just happen to have a very unusual +shadow! Do you not see that person who always goes with me? Other +persons have a common shadow, but I do not like what is common to all. +We give our servants finer cloth for their livery than we ourselves +use, and so I had my shadow trimmed up into a man: yes, you see I have +even given him a shadow. It is somewhat expensive, but I like to have +something for myself!" + +"What!" thought the princess, "should I really be cured! These baths +are the first in the world! In our time water has wonderful powers. +But I shall not leave the place, for it now begins to be amusing here. +I am extremely fond of that stranger: would that his beard should not +grow! for in that case he will leave us." + +In the evening, the princess and the shadow danced together in the +large ball-room. She was light, but he was still lighter; she had +never had such a partner in the dance. She told him from what land she +came, and he knew that land; he had been there, but then she was not +at home; he had peeped in at the window, above and below--he had seen +both the one and the other, and so he could answer the princess, and +make insinuations, so that she was quite astonished; he must be the +wisest man in the whole world! she felt such respect for what he knew! +So that when they again danced together she fell in love with him; and +that the shadow could remark, for she almost pierced him through with +her eyes. So they danced once more together; and she was about to +declare herself, but she was discreet; she thought of her country and +kingdom, and of the many persons she would have to reign over. + +"He is a wise man," said she to herself--"It is well; and he dances +delightfully--that is also good; but has he solid knowledge?--that is +just as important!--he must be examined." + +So she began, by degrees, to question him about the most difficult +things she could think of, and which she herself could not have +answered; so that the shadow made a strange face. + +"You cannot answer these questions?" said the princess. + +"They belong to my childhood's learning," said the shadow. "I really +believe my shadow, by the door there, can answer them!" + +"Your shadow!" said the princess; "that would indeed be marvellous!" + +"I will not say for a certainty that he can," said the shadow, "but I +think so; he has now followed me for so many years, and listened to my +conversation--I should think it possible. But your royal highness will +permit me to observe, that he is so proud of passing himself off for a +man, that when he is to be in a proper humor--and he must be so to +answer well--he must be treated quite like a man." + +"Oh! I like that!" said the princess. + +So she went to the learned man by the door, and she spoke to him about +the sun and the moon, and about persons out of and in the world, and +he answered with wisdom and prudence. + +"What a man that must be who has so wise a shadow!" thought she; "It +will be a real blessing to my people and kingdom if I choose him for +my consort--I will do it!" + +They were soon agreed, both the princess and the shadow; but no one +was to know about it before she arrived in her own kingdom. + +"No one--not even my shadow!" said the shadow, and he had his own +thoughts about it! + +Now they were in the country where the princess reigned when she was +at home. + +"Listen, my good friend," said the shadow to the learned man. "I have +now become as happy and mighty as any one can be; I will, therefore, +do something particular for thee! Thou shalt always live with me in +the palace, drive with me in my royal carriage, and have ten thousand +pounds a year; but then thou must submit to be called shadow by all +and every one; thou must not say that thou hast ever been a man; and +once a-year, when I sit on the balcony in the sunshine, thou must lie +at my feet, as a shadow shall do! I must tell thee: I am going to +marry the king's daughter, and the nuptials are to take place this +evening!" + +"Nay, this is going too far!" said the learned man; "I will not have +it; I will not do it! it is to deceive the whole country and the +princess too! I will tell every thing!--that I am a man, and that thou +art a shadow--thou art only dressed up!" + +"There is no one who will believe it!" said the shadow; "be +reasonable, or I will call the guard!" + +"I will go directly to the princess!" said the learned man. + +"But I will go first!" said the shadow, "and thou wilt go to prison!" +and that he was obliged to do--for the sentinels obeyed him whom they +knew the king's daughter was to marry. + +"You tremble!" said the princess, as the shadow came into her chamber; +"has anything happened? You must not be unwell this evening, now that +we are to have our nuptials celebrated." + +"I have lived to see the most cruel thing that any one can live to +see!" said the shadow. "Only imagine--yes, it is true, such a poor +shadow-skull cannot bear much--only think, my shadow has become mad; +he thinks that he is a man, and that I--now only think--that I am his +shadow!" + +"It is terrible!" said the princess; "but he is confined, is he not?" + +"That he is. I am afraid that he will never recover." + +"Poor shadow!" said the princess, "he is very unfortunate; it would be +a real work of charity to deliver him from the little life he has, +and, when I think properly over the matter, I am of opinion that it +will be necessary to do away with him in all stillness!" + +"It is certainly hard!" said the shadow, "for he was a faithful +servant!" and then he gave a sort of sigh. + +"You are a noble character!" said the princess. + +The whole city was illuminated in the evening, and the cannons went +off with a bum! bum! and the soldiers presented arms. That was a +marriage! The princess and the shadow went out on the balcony to show +themselves, and get another hurrah! + +The learned man heard nothing of all this--for they had deprived him +of life. + + +------------ + + + +THE OLD STREET-LAMP. + +Have you heard the story about the old street lamp? It is not so very +amusing, but one may very well hear it once. It was such a decent old +street-lamp, that had done its duty for many, many years, but now it +was to be condemned. It was the last evening,--it sat there on the +post and lighted the street; and it was in just such a humor as an old +figurante in a ballet, who dances for the last evening, and knows that +she is to be put on the shelf to-morrow. The lamp had such a fear of +the coming day, for it knew that it should then be carried to the +town-hall for the first time, and examined by the authorities of the +city, who should decide if it could be used or not. It would then be +determined whether it should be sent out to one of the suburbs, or in +to the country to a manufactory; perhaps it would be sent direct to +the ironfounder's and be re-cast; in that case it could certainly be +all sorts of things: but it pained it not to know whether it would +then retain the remembrance of its having been a street-lamp. + +However it might be, whether it went into the country or not, it would +be separated from the watchman and his wife, whom it regarded as its +family. It became a street-lamp when he became watchman. His wife was +a very fine woman at that time; it was only in the evening when she +went past the lamp that she looked at it, but never in the daytime. +Now, on the contrary, of late years, as they had all three grown +old,--the watchman, his wife, and the lamp,--the wife had always +attended to it, polished it up, and put oil in it. They were honest +folks that married couple, they had not cheated the lamp of a single +drop. It was its last evening in the street, and to-morrow it was to +be taken to the town-hall; these were two dark thoughts in the lamp, +and so one can know how it burnt. But other thoughts also passed +through it; there was so much it had seen, so much it had a desire +for, perhaps just as much as the whole of the city authorities; but it +didn't say so, for it was a well-behaved old lamp--it would not insult +any one, least of all its superiors. It remembered so much, and now +and then the flames within it blazed up,--it was as if it had a +feeling of--yes, they will also remember me! There was now that +handsome young man--but that is many years since,--he came with a +letter, it was on rose-colored paper; so fine--so fine! and with a +gilt edge; it was so neatly written, it was a lady's hand; he read it +twice, and he kissed it, and he looked up to me with his two bright +eyes--they said, "I am the happiest of men!" Yes, only he and I knew +what stood in that first letter from his beloved. + +I also remember two other eyes--it is strange how one's thoughts fly +about!--there was a grand funeral here in the street, the beautiful +young wife lay in the coffin on the velvet-covered funeral car; there +were so many flowers and wreaths, there were so many torches burning, +that I was quite forgotten--out of sight; the whole footpath was +filled with persons; they all followed in the procession; but when the +torches were out of sight, and I looked about, there stood one who +leaned against my post and wept. I shall never forget those two +sorrowful eyes that looked into me. Thus there passed many thoughts +through the old street-lamp, which this evening burnt for the last +time. The sentinel who is relieved from his post knows his successor, +and can say a few words to him, but the lamp knew not its successor; +and yet it could have given him a hint about rain and drizzle, and how +far the moon shone on the footpath, and from what corner the wind +blew. + +Now, there stood three on the kerb-stone; they had presented +themselves before the lamp, because they thought it was the +street-lamp who gave away the office; the one of these three was a +herring's head, for it shines in the dark, and it thought that it +could be of great service, and a real saving of oil, if it came to be +placed on the lamp-post. The other was a piece of touchwood, which +also shines, and always more than a stock-fish; besides, it said so +itself, it was the last piece of a tree that had once been the pride +of the forest. The third was a glow-worm; but where it had come from +the lamp could not imagine; but the glow-worm was there, and it also +shone, but the touchwood and the herring's head took their oaths that +it only shone at certain times, and therefore it could never be taken +into consideration. + +The old lamp said that none of them shone well enough to be a +street-lamp; but not one of them thought so; and as they heard that it +was not the lamp itself that gave away the office, they said that it +was a very happy thing, for that it was too infirm and broken down to +be able to choose. + +At the same moment the wind came from the street corner, it whistled +through the cowl of the old lamp, and said to it, "What is it that I +hear, are you going away to-morrow? Is it the last evening I shall +meet you here? Then you shall have a present!--now I will blow up your +brain-box so that you shall not only remember, clearly and distinctly, +what you have seen and heard, but when anything is told or read in +your presence, you shall be so clear-headed that you will also see +it." + +"That is certainly much!" said the old street-lamp; "I thank you much; +if I be only not re-cast." + +"It will not happen yet awhile," said the wind; "and now I will blow +up your memory; if you get more presents than that you may have quite +a pleasant old age." + +"If I be only not re-cast," said the lamp; "or can you then assure me +my memory?" + +"Old lamp, be reasonable!" said the wind, and then it blew. The moon +came forth at the same time. "What do you give?" asked the wind. + +"I give nothing!" said the moon; "I am waning, and the lamps have +never shone for me, but I have shone for the lamps."* So the moon went +behind the clouds again, for it would not be plagued. A drop of rain +then fell straight down on the lamp's cowl, it was like a drop of +water from the eaves, but the drop said that it came from the grey +clouds, and was also a present,---and perhaps the best of all. "I +penetrate into you, so that you have the power, if you wish it, in one +night to pass over to rust, so that you may fall in pieces and become +dust." But the lamp thought this was a poor present, and the wind +thought the same. "Is there no better--is there no better?" it +whistled, as loud as it could. A shooting-star then fell, it shone in +a long stripe. + +------ + +* It is the custom in Denmark, and one deserving the severest censure, +that, on those nights in which the moon shines; or, according to +almanac authority, ought to shine, the street lamps are not lighted; +so that, as it too frequently happens, when the moon is overclouded, +or on rainy evenings when she is totally obscured, the streets are for +the most part in perfect darkness. This petty economy is called "the +magistrates' light," they having the direction of the lighting, +paving, and cleansing of towns. + +The same management may be met with in some other countries besides +Denmark. + +------ + +"What was that?" exclaimed the herring's head; "did not a star fall +right down? I think it went into the lamp! Well, if persons who stand +so high seek the office, we may as well take ourselves off." + +And it did so, and the others did so too; but the old lamp shone all +at once so singularly bright. + +"That was a fine present!" it said; "the bright stars which I have +always pleased myself so much about, and which shine so +beautifully,--as I really have never been able to shine, although it +was my whole aim and endeavor,--have noticed me, a poor old-lamp, and +sent one down with a present to me, which consists of that quality, +that everything I myself remember and see quite distinctly, shall also +be seen by those I am fond of; and that is, above all, a true +pleasure, for what one cannot share with others is but a half +delight." + +"It is a very estimable thought," said the wind; "but you certainly +don't know that there must be wax-candles; for unless a wax-candle be +lighted in you there are none of the others that will be able to see +anything particular about you. The stars have not thought of that; +they think that everything which shines has, at least, a wax-candle in +it. But now I am tired," said the wind, "I will now lie down;" and so +it lay down to rest. + +The next day--yes, the next day we will spring over: the next evening +the lamp lay in the arm chair,--and where? At the old watchman's. He +had, for his long and faithful services, begged of the authorities +that he might be allowed to keep the old lamp; they laughed at him +when he begged for it, and then gave him it; and now the lamp lay in +the arm-chair, close by the warm stove, and it was really just as if +it had become larger on that account,--it almost filled the whole +chair. The old folks now sat at their supper, and cast mild looks at +the old lamp, which they would willingly have given a place at the +table with them. It is true they lived in a cellar, a yard or so below +ground: one had to go through a paved front-room to come into the room +they lived in; but it was warm here, for there was list round the door +to keep it so. It looked clean and neat, with curtains round the bed +and over the small windows, where two strange-looking flowerpots stood +on the sill. Christian, the sailor, had brought them from the East or +West Indies; they were of clay in the form of two elephants, the backs +of which were wanting: but in their place there came flourishing +plants out of the earth that was in them; in the one was the finest +chive,--It was the old folks' kitchen-garden,--and in the other was a +large flowering geranium--this was their flower-garden. On the wall +hung a large colored print of "The Congress of Vienna;" there they had +all the kings and emperors at once. A Bornholm* clock, with heavy +leaden weights went "tic-tac!" and always too fast; but the old folks +said it was better than if it went too slow. They ate their suppers, +and the old lamp, as we have said, lay in the armchair close by the +warm stove. It was, for the old lamp, as if the whole world was turned +upside down. But when the old watchman looked at it, and spoke about +what they had lived to see with each other, in rain and drizzle, in +the clear, short summer nights, and when the snow drove about so that +it was good to get into the pent-house of the cellar,--then all was +again in order for the old lamp, it saw it all just as if it were now +present;--yes! the wind had blown it up right well,--it had +enlightened it. + +------ + +* Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic is famous for its +manufactures of clocks, potteries, and cement; it contains also +considerable coal mines, though not worked to any extent. It is +fertile in minerals, chalks, potters' clay of the finest quality, and +other valuable natural productions; but, on account of the jealous +nature of the inhabitants, which deters foreigners from settling +there, these productions are not made so available or profitable as +they otherwise might be. + +------ + +The old folks were so clever and industrious, not an hour was quietly +dozed away; on Sunday afternoons some book was always brought forth, +particularly a book of travels, and the old man read aloud about +Africa, about the great forests and the elephants that were there +quite wild; and the old woman listened so attentively, and now and +then took a side glance at the clay elephants--her flower-pots. "I can +almost imagine it!" said she; and the lamp wished so much that there +was a wax candle to light and be put in it, so that she could plainly +see everything just as the lamp saw it; the tall trees, the thick +branches twining into one another, the black men on horseback, and +whole trains of elephants, which, with their broad feet, crushed the +canes and bushes. + +"Of what use are all my abilities when there is no wax candle?" sighed +the lamp; "they have only train oil and tallow candles, and they are +not sufficient." + +One day there came a whole bundle of stumps of wax candles into the +cellar, the largest pieces were burnt, and the old woman used the +smaller pieces to wax her thread with when she sewed; there were wax +candle ends, but they never thought of putting a little piece in the +lamp. + +"Here I stand with my rare abilities," said the lamp; "I have +everything within me, but I cannot share any part with them. They know +not that I can transform the white walls to the prettiest +paper-hangings, to rich forests, to everything that they may wish for. +They know it not!" + +For the rest, the lamp stood in a corner, where it always met the eye, +and it was neat and well scoured; folks certainly said it was an old +piece of rubbish; but the old man and his wife didn't care about that, +they were fond of the lamp. + +One day it was the old watchman's birth day; the old woman came up to +the lamp, smiled, and said, "I will illuminate for him," and the +lamp's cowl creaked, for it thought, "They will now be enlightened!" +But she put in train oil, and no wax candle; it burnt the whole +evening; but now it knew that the gift which the stars had given it, +the best gift of all, was a dead treasure for this life. It then +dreamt--and when one has such abilities, one can surely dream,--that +the old folks were dead, and that it had come to an ironfounder's to +be cast anew; it was in as much anxiety as when it had to go to the +town-hall to be examined by the authorities; but although it had the +power to fall to pieces in rust and dust, when it wished it, yet it +did not do it; and so it came into the furnace and was re-cast as a +pretty iron candlestick, in which any one might set a wax candle. It +had the form of an angel, bearing a nosegay, and in the centre of the +nosegay they put a wax taper and it was placed on a green +writing-table; and the room was so snug and comfortable: there hung +beautiful pictures--there stood many books; it was at a poet's, and +everything that he wrote, unveiled itself round about: the room became +a deep, dark forest,--a sun-lit meadow where the stork stalked about; +and a ship's deck high aloft on the swelling sea! + +"What power I have!" said the old lamp, as it awoke. "I almost long to +be re-cast;--but no, it must not be as long as the old folks live. +They are fond of me for the sake of my person. I am to them as a +child, and they have scoured me, and they have given me train oil. +After all, I am as well off as 'The Congress,'--which is something so +very grand." + +From that time it had more inward peace, which was merited by the old +street-lamp. + +------------ + + + +THE DREAM OF LITTLE TUK. + +Ah! yes, that was little Tuk: in reality his name was not Tuk, but +that was what he called himself before he could speak plain: he meant +it for Charles, and it is all well enough if one do but know it. He +had now to take care of his little sister Augusta, who was much less +than himself, and he was, besides, to learn his lesson at the same +time; but these two things would not do together at all. There sat the +poor little fellow with his sister on his lap, and he sang to her all +the songs he knew; and he glanced the while from time to time into the +geography-book that lay open before him. By the next morning he was to +have learnt all the towns in Zealand by heart, and to know about them +all that is possible to be known. + +His mother now came home, for she had been out, and took little +Augusta on her arm. Tuk ran quickly to the window, and read so eagerly +that he pretty nearly read his eyes out; for it got darker and darker, +but his mother had no money to buy a candle. + +"There goes the old washerwoman over the way," said his mother, as she +looked out of the window. "The poor woman can hardly drag herself +along, and she must now drag the pail home from the fountain: be a +good boy, Tukey, and run across and help the old woman, won't you?" + +So Tuk ran over quickly and helped her; but when he came back again +into the room it was quite dark, and as to a light, there was no +thought of such a thing. He was now to go to bed; that was an old +turn-up bedstead; in it he lay and thought about his geography lesson, +and of Zealand, and of all that his master had told him. He ought, to +be sure, to have read over his lesson again, but that, you know, he +could not do. He therefore put his geography-book under his pillow, +because he had heard that was a very good thing to do when one wants +to learn one's lesson; but one cannot, however, rely upon it entirely. +Well there he lay, and thought an thought, and all at once it was just +as if some one kissed his eyes and mouth: he slept, and yet he did not +sleep; it was as though the old washerwoman gazed on him with her mild +eyes and said, "It were a great sin if you were not to know your +lesson tomorrow morning. You have aided me, I therefore will now help +you; and the loving God will do so at all times." And all of a sudden +the book under Tuk's pillow began scraping and scratching. + +"Kickery-ki! kluk! kluk! kluk!"--that was an old hen who came creeping +along, and she was from Kjoge. I am a Kjoger hen,"* said she, and then +she related how many inhabitants there were there, and about the +battle that had taken place, and which, after all, was hardly worth +talking about. + +------ + +* Kjoge a town in the bay of Kjoge "To see the Kjoge hens," is an +expression similar to "showing a child London," which is said to be +done by taking his head in both hands, and so lifting him off the +ground. At the invasion of the English in 1807, an encounter of a no +very glorious nature took place between the British troops and the +undisciplined Danish militia. + +------ + +"Kribledy, krabledy--plump!" down fell somebody: it was a wooden bird, +the popinjay used at the shooting-matches at Prastoe. Now _he_ said +that there were just as many inhabitants as he had nails in his body; +and he was very proud. "Thorwaldsen lived almost next door to me.* +Plump! here I lie capitally." + +------ + +* Prastoe, a still smaller town than Kjoge. Some hundred paces from it +lies the manor-house Ny Soe, where Thorwaldsen generally sojourned +during his stay in Denmark, and where he called many of his immortal +works into existence. + +------ + +But little Tuk was no longer lying down: all at once he was on +horseback. On he went at full gallop, still galloping on and on. A +knight with a gleaming plume, and most magnificently dressed, held him +before him on the horse, and thus they rode through the wood to the +old town of Bordingborg, and that was a large and very lively town. +High towers rose from the castle of the king, and the brightness of +many candles streamed from all the windows; within was dance and song, +and King Waldemar and the young, richly-attired maids of honor danced +together. The morn now came; and as soon as the sun appeared, the +whole town and the king's palace crumbled together, and one tower +after the other; and at last only a single one remained standing where +the castle had been before,* and the town was so small and poor, and +the school boys came along with their books under their arms, and +said, "2000 inhabitants!" but that was not true, for there were not so +many. + +------ + +* Bordingborg, in the reign of King Waldemar a considerable place, now +an unimportant little town. One solitary tower only, and some remains +of a wall, show where the castle once stood. + +------ + +And little Tukey lay in his bed: it seemed to him as if he dreamed, +and yet as if he were not dreaming; however, somebody was close beside +him. + +"Little Tukey! little Tukey!" cried some one near. It was a seaman, +quite a little personage, so little as if he were a midshipman; but a +midshipman it was not. + +"Many remembrances from Corsor.* That is a town that is just rising +into importance; a lively town that has steam-boats and stagecoaches: +formerly people called it ugly, but that is no longer true. I lie on +the sea," said Corsor; "I have high roads and gardens, and I have +given birth to a poet who was witty and amusing, which all poets are +not. I once intended to equip a ship that was to sail all round the +earth; but I did not do it, although I could have done so: and then, +too, I smell so deliciously, for close before the gate bloom the most +beautiful roses." + +------ + +* Corsor, on the Great Belt, called, formerly, before the introduction +of steam-vessels, when travellers were often obliged to wait a long +time for a favorable wind, "the most tiresome of towns." The poet +Baggesen was born here. + +------ + +Little Tuk looked, and all was red and green before his eyes; but as +soon as the confusion of colors was somewhat over, all of a sudden +there appeared a wooded slope close to the bay, and high up above +stood a magnificent old church, with two high pointed towers. From out +the hill-side spouted fountains in thick streams of water, so that +there was a continual splashing; and close beside them sat an old king +with a golden crown upon his white head: that was King Hroar, near the +fountains, close to the town of Roeskilde, as it is now called. And up +the slope into the old church went all the kings and queens of +Denmark, hand in hand, all with their golden crowns; and the organ +played and the fountains rustled. Little Tuk saw all, heard all. "Do +not forget the diet," said King Hroar.[1] Again all suddenly +disappeared. Yes, and whither? It seemed to him just as if one turned +over a leaf in a book. And now stood there an old peasant-woman, who +came from Soroe,[2] where grass grows in the marketplace. + +------ + +[1] Roeskilde, once the capital of Denmark. The town takes its name +from King Hroar, and the many fountains in the neighborhood. In the +beautiful cathedral the greater number of the kings and queens of +Denmark are interred. In Roeskilde, too, the members of the Danish +Diet assemble. + +[2] Soroe, a very quiet little town, beautifully situated, surrounded +by woods and lakes. Holberg, Denmark's Moliere, founded here an +academy for the sons of the nobles. The poets Hauch and Ingemann were +appointed professors here. The latter lives there still. + +------ + +She had an old grey linen apron hanging over her head and back: it was +so wet, it certainly must have been raining "Yes, that it has," said +she; and she now related many pretty things out of Holberg's comedies, +and about Waldemar and Absalon; but all at once she cowered together, +and her head began shaking backwards and forwards, and she looked as +she were going to make a spring. "Croak! croak!" said she: "it is wet, +it is wet; there is such a pleasant death-like stillness in Soroe!" +She was now suddenly a frog, "Croak;" and now she was an old woman. +"One must dress according to the weather," said she. "It is wet, it is +wet. My town is just like a bottle; and one gets in by the neck, and +by the neck one must get out again! In former times I had the finest +fish, and now I have fresh rosy-cheeked boys at the bottom of the +bottle, who learn wisdom, Hebrew, Greek,--Croak!" When she spoke it +sounded just like the noise of frogs, or as if one walked with great +boots over a moor; always the same tone, so uniform and so tiring that +little Tuk fell into a good sound sleep, which, by the bye, could not +do him any harm. + +But even in this sleep there came a dream, or whatever else it was: +his little sister Augusta, she with the blue eyes and the fair curling +hair, was suddenly a tall, beautiful girl, and without having wings +was yet able to fly; and she now flew over Zealand--over the green +woods and the blue lakes. + +"Do you hear the cock crow, Tukey? cock-a-doodle-doo! The cocks are +flying up from Kjoge! You will have a farm-yard, so large, oh! so very +large! You will suffer neither hunger nor thirst! You will get on in +the world! You will be a rich and happy man! Your house will exalt +itself like King Waldemar's tower, and will be richly decorated with +marble statues, like that at Prastoe. You understand what I mean. Your +name shall circulate with renown all round the earth, like unto the +ship that was to have sailed from Corsor; and in Roeskilde"---- + +"Do not forget the diet!" said King Hroar. + +"Then you will speak well and wisely, little Tukey; and when at last +you sink into your grave, you shall sleep as quietly"---- + +"As if I lay in Soroe," said Tuk, awaking. It was bright day, and he +was now quite unable to call to mind his dream; that, however, was not +at all necessary, for one may not know what the future will bring. + +And out of bed he jumped, and read in his book, and now all at once he +knew his whole lesson. And the old washerwoman popped her head in at +the door, nodded to him friendly, and said, "Thanks, many thanks, my +good child, for your help! May the good ever-loving God fulfil your +loveliest dream!" + +Little Tukey did not at all know what he had dreamed, but the loving +God knew it. + + +------------ + + + +THE NAUGHTY BOY. + +A long time ago there lived an old poet, a thoroughly kind old poet. +As he was sitting one evening in his room, a dreadful storm arose +without, and the rain streamed down from heaven; but the old poet sat +warm and comfortable in his chimney-corner, where the fire blazed and +the roasting apple hissed. + +"Those who have not a roof over their heads will be wetted to the +skin," said the good old poet. + +"Oh let me in! let me in! I am cold, and I'm so wet!" exclaimed +suddenly a child that stood crying at the door and knocking for +admittance, while the rain poured down, and the wind made all the +windows rattle. + +"Poor thing!" said the old poet, as he went to open the door. There +stood a little boy, quite naked, and the water ran down from his long +golden hair; he trembled with cold, and had he not come into a warm +room he would most certainly have perished in the frightful tempest. + +"Poor child!" said the old poet, as he took the boy by the hand. "Come +in, come in, and I will soon restore thee! Thou shalt have wine and +roasted apples, for thou art verily a charming child!" And the boy was +so really. His eyes were like two bright stars; and although the water +trickled down his hair, it waved in beautiful curls. He looked exactly +like a little angel, but he was so pale, and his whole body trembled +with cold. He had a nice little bow in his hand, but it was quite +spoiled by the rain, and the tints of his many-colored arrows ran one +into the other. + +The old poet seated himself beside his hearth, and took the little +fellow on his lap; he squeezed the water out of his dripping hair, +warmed his hands between his own, and boiled for him some sweet wine. +Then the boy recovered, his cheeks again grew rosy, he jumped down +from the lap where he was sitting, and danced round the kind old poet. + +"You are a merry fellow," said the old man; "what's your name?" + +"My name is Cupid," answered the boy. "Don't you know me? There lies +my bow; it shoots well, I can assure you! Look, the weather is now +clearing up, and the moon is shining clear again through the window." + +"Why, your bow is quite spoiled," said the old poet. + +"That were sad indeed," said the boy, and he took the bow in his hand +and examined it on every side. "Oh, it is dry again, and is not hurt +at all; the string is quite tight. I will try it directly." And he +bent his bow, took aim, and shot an arrow at the old poet, right into +his heart. "You see now that my bow was not spoiled," said he, +laughing; and away he ran. + +The naughty boy! to shoot the old poet in that way; he who had taken +him into his warm room, who had treated him so kindly, and who had +given him warm wine and the very best apples! + +The poor poet lay on the earth and wept, for the arrow had really +flown into his heart. + +"Fie!" said he, "how naughty a boy Cupid is! I will tell all children +about him, that they may take care and not play with him, for he will +only cause them sorrow and many a heart-ache." + +And all good children to whom he related this story, took great heed +of this naughty Cupid; but he made fools of them still, for he is +astonishingly cunning. When the university students come from the +lectures, he runs beside them in a black coat, and with a book under +his arm. It is quite impossible for them to know him, and they walk +along with him arm in arm, as if he, too, were a student like +themselves; and then, unperceived, he thrusts an arrow to their bosom. +When the young maidens come from being examined by the clergyman, or +go to church to be confirmed, there he is again close behind them. +Yes, he is for ever following people. At the play he sits in the great +chandelier and burns in bright flames, so that people think it is +really a flame, but they soon discover it is something else. He roves +about in the garden of the palace and upon the ramparts: yes, once he +even shot your father and mother right in the heart. Ask them only, +and you will hear what they'll tell you. Oh, he is a naughty boy, that +Cupid; you must never have anything to do with him. He is for ever +running after everybody. Only think, he shot an arrow once at your old +grandmother! But that is a long time ago, and it is all past now; +however, a thing of that sort she never forgets. Fie, naughty Cupid! +But now you know him, and you know, too, how ill-behaved he is! + + +------------ + + + +THE TWO NEIGHBORING FAMILIES. + +We really might have thought something of importance was going on in +the duck-pond, but there was nothing going on. All the ducks that were +resting tranquilly on the water, or were standing in it on their +heads--for that they were able to do--swam suddenly to the shore: you +could see in the wet ground the traces of their feet, and hear their +quacking far and near. The water, which but just now was smooth and +bright as a mirror, was quite put into commotion. Before, one saw +every tree reflected in it, every bush that was near: the old +farm-house, with the holes in the roof and with the swallow's nest +under the eaves; but principally, however, the great rose-bush, sown, +as it were, with flowers. It covered the wall, and hung forwards over +the water, in which one beheld the whole as in a picture, except that +everything was upside down; but when the water was agitated, all swam +away and the picture was gone. Two duck's feathers, which the +fluttering ducks had lost, were rocking to and fro: suddenly they flew +forwards as if the wind were coming, but it did not come: they were, +therefore, obliged to remain where they were, and the water grew quiet +and smooth again, and again the roses reflected themselves--they were +so beautiful, but that they did not know, for nobody had told them. +The sun shone in between the tender leaves--all breathed the most +beautiful fragrance; and to them it was as with us, when right +joyfully we are filled with the thought of our happiness. + +"How beautiful is existence!" said each rose. "There is but one thing +I should wish for,--to kiss the sun, because it is so bright and +warm.* The roses yonder, too, below in the water, the exact image of +ourselves--them also I should like to kiss, and the nice little birds +below in their nest. There are some above, too; they stretch out their +heads and chirrup quite loud: they have no feathers at all, as their +fathers and mothers have. They are good neighbors, those below as well +as those above. How beautiful existence is!" + +The young birds above and below--those below of course the reflection +only in the water--were sparrows: their parents were likewise +sparrows; and they had taken possession of the empty swallow's nest of +the preceding year, and now dwelt therein as if it had been their own +property. + +"Are those little duck children that are swimming there?" asked the +young sparrows, when they discovered the duck's feathers on the water. + +------ + +* In Danish the sun is of the feminine gender, and not, as with us, +when personified, spoken of as "he." We beg to make this observation, +lest the roses' wish "to kiss the sun," be thought unmaidenly. We are +anxious, also, to remove a stumbling block, which might perchance trip +up exquisitely-refined modern notions, sadly shocked, no doubt, as +they would be, at such an apparent breach of modesty and +decorum.--(Note of the Translator.) + +------ + +"If you _will_ ask questions, do let them be a little rational at +least," said the mother. "Don't you see that they are feathers, living +stuff for clothing such as I wear, and such as you will wear also? But +ours is finer. I should, however, be glad if we had it up here in our +nest, for it keeps one warm. I am curious to know at what the ducks +were so frightened; at us, surely not; 'tis true I said 'chirp,' to +you rather loud. In reality, the thick-headed roses ought to know, but +they know nothing; they only gaze on themselves and smell: for my +part, I am heartily tired of these neighbors." + +"Listen to the charming little birds above," said the roses, "they +begin to want to sing too, but they cannot as yet. However, they will +do so by and by: what pleasure that must afford! It is so pleasant to +have such merry neighbors!" + +Suddenly two horses came galloping along to be watered. A peasant boy +rode on one, and he had taken off all his clothes except his large +broad black hat. The youth whistled like a bird, and rode into the +pond where it was deepest; and as he passed by the rosebush he +gathered a rose and stuck it in his hat; and now he fancied himself +very fine, and rode on. The other roses looked after their sister, and +asked each other, "Whither is she going?" but that no one knew. + +"I should like to go out into the world," thought one; "yet here at +home amid our foliage it is also beautiful. By day the sun shines so +warm, and in the night the sky shines still more beautifully: we can +see that through all the little holes that are in it." By this they +meant the stars, but they did not know any better. + +"We enliven the place," said the mamma sparrow; "and the swallow's +nest brings luck, so people say, and therefore people are pleased to +have us. But our neighbors! Such a rose-bush against the wall produces +damp; it will doubtless be cleared away, and then, perhaps, some corn +at least may grow there. The roses are good for nothing except to look +at and to smell, and, at most to put into one's hat. Every year--that +I know from my mother--they fall away; the peasants wife collects them +together and strews salt among them; they then receive a French name +which I neither can nor care to pronounce, and are put upon the fire, +when they are to give a pleasant odor. Look ye, such is their life; +they are only here to please the eye and nose! And so now you know the +whole matter." + +As the evening came on, and the gnats played in the warm air and in +the red clouds, the nightingale came and sang to the roses; sang that +the beautiful is as the sunshine in this world, and that the beautiful +lives for ever. But the roses thought that the nightingale sang his +own praise, which one might very well have fancied; for that the song +related to them, of that they never thought: they rejoiced in it, +however, and meditated if perhaps all the little sparrows could become +nightingales too. + +"I understood _the song of that bird quite well_," said the young +sparrows; "one word only was not quite clear to me. What was the +meaning of 'the beautiful?'" + +"That is nothing," said the mamma sparrow, "that is only something +external. Yonder at the mansion, where the pigeons have a house of +their own, and where every day peas and corn is strewn before them--I +have myself eaten there with them, and you shall, too, in time; tell +me what company you keep, and I'll tell you who you are--yes, yonder +at the mansion they have got two birds with green necks and a comb on +their head; they can spread out their tail like a great wheel, and in +it plays every color, that it quite hurts one's eyes to look at it. +These birds are called peacocks, and that is 'THE BEAUTIFUL.' They +only want to be plucked a little, and then they would not look at all +different from the rest of us. I would already have plucked them, if +they had not been quite so big." + +"I will pluck them," chirped the smallest sparrow, that as yet had not +a single feather. + +In the peasant's cottage dwelt a young married couple; they loved each +other dearly, and were industrious and active: everything in their +house looked so neat and pretty. On Sunday morning early the young +woman came out, gathered a handful of the most beautiful roses, and +put them into a glass of water, which she placed on the shelf. + +"Now I see that it is Sunday," said the man, and kissed his little +wife. They sat down, read in the hymn-book, and held each other by the +hand: the sun beamed on the fresh roses and on the young married +couple. + +"This is really too tiring a sight," said the mamma sparrow, who from +her nest could look into the room, and away she flew. + +The next Sunday it was the same, for every Sunday fresh roses were put +in the glass: yet the rose-tree bloomed on equally beautiful. The +young sparrows had now feathers, and wanted much to fly with their +mother; she, however, would not allow it, so they were forced to +remain. Off she flew; but, however, it happened, before she was aware, +she got entangled in a springe of horse-hair, which some boys had set +upon a bough. The horse-hair drew itself tightly round her leg, so +tightly as though it would cut it in two. That was an agony, a fright! +The boys ran to the spot and caught hold of the bird, and that too in +no very gentle manner. + +"It's only a sparrow," said they; but they, nevertheless, did not let +her fly, but took her home with them, and every time she cried they +gave her a tap on the beak. + +There stood in the farm-yard an old man, who knew how to make +shaving-soap and soap for washing, in square cakes as well as in round +balls. He was a merry, wandering old man. When he saw the sparrow that +the boys had caught, and which, as they said, they did not care about +at all, he asked, "Shall we make something very fine of him?" Mamma +sparrow felt an icy coldness creep over her. Out of the box, in which +were the most beautiful colors, the old man took a quantity of gold +leaf, and the boys were obliged to go and fetch the white of an egg, +with which the sparrow was painted all over; on this the gold was +stuck, and mamma sparrow was now entirely gilded; but she did not +think of adornment, for she trembled in every limb. And the +soap-dealer tore a bit off the lining of his old jacket, cut scollops +in it so that it might look like a cock's comb, and stuck it on the +head of the bird. + +"Now, then, you shall see master gold-coat fly," said the old man, and +let the sparrow go, who, in deadly fright, flew off, illumined by the +beaming sun. How she shone! All the sparrows, even a crow, although an +old fellow, were much frightened at the sight; they, however flew on +after him, in order to learn what foreign bird it was. + +Impelled by anguish and terror, he flew homewards: he was near falling +exhausted to the earth. The crowd of pursuing birds increased; yes, +some indeed even tried to peck at him. + +"Look! there's a fellow! Look! there's a fellow!" screamed they all. + +"Look! there's a fellow! Look! there's a fellow!" cried the young +sparrows, as the old one approached the nest. "That, for certain, is a +young peacock; all sorts of colors are playing in his feathers: it +quite hurts one's eyes to look at him, just as our mother told us. +Chirp! chirp! That is the beautiful!" And now they began pecking at +the bird with their little beaks, so that it was quite impossible for +the sparrow to get into the nest: she was so sadly used that she could +not even say "Chirrup," still less, "Why, I am your own mother!" The +other birds, too, now set upon the sparrow, and plucked out feather +after feather; so that at last she fell bleeding in the rose-bush +below. + +"Oh! poor thing!" said all the roses, "be quieted; we will hide you. +Lean your little head on us." + +The sparrow spread out her wings once more, then folded them close to +her body, and lay dead in the midst of the family who were her +neighbors,--the beautiful fresh roses. + +"Chirp! chirp!" sounded from the nest. "Where can our mother be? It is +quite inconceivable! It cannot surely be a trick of hers by which she +means to tell us that we are now to provide for ourselves? She has +left us the house as an inheritance; but to which of us is it +exclusively to belong, when we ourselves have families'?" + +"Yes, that will never do that you stay here with me when my household +is increased by the addition of a wife and children," said the +smallest. + +"I shall have, I should think, more wives and children than you," said +the second. + +"But I am the eldest," said the third. They all now grew passionate; +they beat each other with their wings, pecked with their beaks, when, +plump! one after the other was tumbled out of the nest. There they lay +with their rage; they turned their heads on one side, and winked their +eyes as they looked upward: that was their way of playing the +simpleton. They could fly a little, and by practice they learned to do +so still better; and they finally were unanimous as to a sign by +which, when at some future time they should meet again in the world, +they might recognise each other. It was to consist in a "Chirrup!" and +in a thrice-repeated scratching on the ground with the left leg. + +The young sparrow that had been left behind in the nest spread himself +out to his full size. He was now, you know, a householder; but his +grandeur did not last long: in the night red fire broke through the +windows, the flames seized on the roof, the dry thatch blazed up high, +the whole house was burnt, and the young sparrow with it; but the +young married couple escaped, fortunately, with life. When the sun +rose again, and every thing looked so refreshed and invigorated, as +after a peaceful sleep, there was nothing left of the cottage except +some charred black beams leaning against the chimney, which now was +its own master. A great deal of smoke still rose from the ground, but +without, quite uninjured, stood the rose-bush, fresh and blooming, and +mirrored every flower, every branch, in the clear water. + +"Oh! how beautifully the roses are blooming in front of the burnt-down +house!" cried a passer-by. "It is impossible to fancy a more lovely +picture. I must have that!" + +And the man took a little book with white leaves out of his pocket: he +was a painter, and with a pencil he drew the smoking house, the +charred beams, and the toppling chimney, which now hung over more and +more. But the large and blooming rose-tree, quite in the foreground, +afforded a magnificent sight; it was on its account alone that the +whole picture had been made. + +Later in the day two of the sparrows who had been born here passed by. +"Where is the house?" asked they. "Where the nest? Chirp! chirp! All +is burnt down, and our strong brother,--that is what he has got for +keeping the nest. The roses have escaped well; there they are yet +standing with their red cheeks. They, forsooth, do not mourn at the +misfortune of their neighbors. I have no wish whatever to address +them; and, besides, it is very ugly here, that's my opinion." And off +and away they flew. + +On a beautiful, bright, sunny autumn day--one might almost have +thought it was still the middle of summer--the pigeons were strutting +about the dry and nicely-swept court-yard in front of the great +steps--black and white and party-colored--and they shone in the +sunshine. The old mamma pigeon said to the young ones: "Form +yourselves in groups, form yourselves in groups, for that makes a much +better appearance." + +"What little brown creatures are those running about amongst us?" +asked an old pigeon, whose eyes were green and yellow. "Poor little +brownies! poor little brownies!" + +"They are sparrows: we have always had the reputation of being kind +and gentle; we will, therefore, allow them to pick up the grain with +us. They never mix in the conversation, and they scrape a leg so +prettily." + +"Yes, they scratched three times with their leg, and with the left leg +too, and said also "Chirrup!" It is by this they recognised each +other; for they were three sparrows out of the nest of the house that +had been burnt down. + +"Very good eating here," said one of the sparrows. The pigeons +strutted round each other, drew themselves up, and had inwardly their +own views and opinions. + +"Do you see the cropper pigeon?" said one of the others. "Do you see +how she swallows the peas? She takes too many, and the very best into +the bargain!"--"Coo! coo!"--"How she puts up her top-knot, the ugly, +mischievous creature!" "Coo! coo! coo!" + +And every eye sparkled with malice. "Form yourselves in groups! form +yourselves in groups! Little brown creatures! Poor little brownies! +Coo! coo!" So it went on unceasingly, and so will they go on +chattering in a thousand years to come. + +The sparrows ate right bravely. They listened attentively to what was +said, and even placed themselves in a row side by side, with the +others. It was not at all becoming to them, however. They were not +satisfied, and they therefore quitted the pigeons, and exchanged +opinions about them; nestled along under the garden palisades, and, as +they found the door of the room open that led upon the lawn, one of +them, who was filled to satiety, and was therefore over-bold, hopped +upon the threshold. "Chirrup!" said he, "I dare to venture!" + +"Chirrup!" said another, "I dare, too, and more besides!" and he +hopped into the chamber. No one was present: the third saw this, and +flew still further into the room, calling out, "Either all or nothing! +However, 'tis a curious human nest that we have here; and what have +they put up there? What is that?" + +Close in front of the sparrows bloomed the roses; they mirrored +themselves in the water, and the charred rafters leaned against the +over-hanging chimney. But what can that be? how comes this in the room +of the mansion? And all three sparrows were about to fly away over the +roses and the chimney, but they flew against a flat wall. It was all a +picture, a large, beautiful picture, which the painter had executed +after the little sketch. + +"Chirrup!" said the sparrows, "it is nothing! It only looks like +something. Chirrup! That is beautiful! Can you comprehend it? I +cannot!" And away they flew, for people came into the room. + +Days and months passed, the pigeons had often cooed, the sparrows had +suffered cold in winter, and in summer lived right jollily; they were +all betrothed and married, or whatever you choose to call it. They had +young ones, and each naturally considered his the handsomest and the +cleverest: one flew here, another there; and if they met they +recognised each other by the "Chirrup?" and by the thrice-repeated +scratching with the left leg. The eldest sparrow had remained an old +maid, who had no nest and no family; her favorite notion was to see a +large town, so away she flew to Copenhagen. + +There one beheld a large house, painted with many bright colors, quite +close to the canal, in which lay many barges laden with earthen pots +and apples. The windows were broader below than above, and when the +sparrow pressed through, every room appeared like a tulip, with the +most varied colors and shades, but in the middle of the tulip white +men were standing: they were of marble, some, too, were of plaister; +but when viewed with a sparrow's eyes, they are the same. Up above on +the roof stood a metal chariot, with metal horses harnessed to it; and +the goddess of victory, also of metal, held the reins. It was +_Thorwaldsen's Museum._ + +"How it shines! How it shines!'' said the old maiden sparrow. That, +doubtless, is 'the beautiful.' Chirrup! But here it is larger than a +peacock!" She remembered still what her mother, when she was a child, +had looked upon as the grandest among all beautiful things. The +sparrow fled down into the court: all was so magnificent. Palms and +foliage were painted on the walls. In the middle of the court stood a +large, blooming rose-tree; it spread out its fresh branches, with its +many roses, over a grave. Thither flew the old maiden sparrow, for she +saw there many of her sort. "Chirrup!" and three scrapes with the left +leg. Thus had she often saluted, from one year's end to the other, and +nobody had answered the greeting--for those who are once separated do +not meet again every day--till at last the salutation had grown into a +habit. But to-day, however, two old sparrows and one young one +answered with a "Chirrup!" and with a thrice-repeated scrape of the +left leg. + +"Ah, good day, good day!" It was two old birds from the nest, and a +little one besides, of the family. "That we should meet here! It is a +very grand sort of place, but there is nothing to eat here: that is +'the beautiful!' Chirrup!" + +And many persons advanced from the side apartments, where the +magnificent marble figures stood, and approached the grave that hid +the great master who had formed the marble figures. All stood with, +glorified countenances around Thorwaldsen's grave, and some picked up +the shed rose-leaves and carefully guarded them. They had come from +far--one from mighty England, others from Germany and France: the most +lovely lady gathered one of the roses and hid it in her bosom. Then +the sparrows thought that the roses governed here, and that the whole +house had been built on account of them. Now, this seemed to them, at +all events, too much; however, as it was for the roses that the +persons showed all their love, they would remain no longer. "Chirrup!" +said they, and swept the floor with their tails, and winked with one +eye at the roses. They had not looked at them long before they +convinced themselves that they were their old neighbors. And they +really were so. The painter who had drawn the rose-bush beside the +burned-down house, had afterwards obtained permission to dig it up, +and had given it to the architect--for more beautiful roses had never +been seen--and the architect had planted it on Thorwaldsen's grave, +where it bloomed as a symbol of the beautiful, and gave up its red +fragrant leaves to be carried to distant lands as a remembrance. + +"Have you got an appointment here in town?" asked the sparrows. + +And the roses nodded: they recognised their brown neighbors, and +rejoiced to see them again. "How delightful it is to live and to +bloom, to see old friends again, and every day to look on happy faces! +It is as if every day were a holy-day." + +"Chirrup!" said the sparrows. "Yes, it is in truth our old neighbors; +their origin--from the pond--is still quite clear in our memory! +Chirrup! How they have risen in the world! Yes, Fortune favors some +while they sleep! Ah! there is a withered leaf that I see quite +plainly." And they pecked at it so long till the leaf fell off; and +the tree stood there greener and more fresh, the roses gave forth +their fragrance in the sunshine over Thorwaldsen's grave, with whose +immortal name, they were united. + + +------------ + + + +THE DARNING-NEEDLE. + +There was once upon a time a darning needle, that imagined itself so +fine, that at last it fancied it was a sewing-needle. + +"Now, pay attention, and hold me firmly!" said the darning-needle to +the fingers that were taking it out. "Do not let me fall! If I fall on +the ground, I shall certainly never be found again, so fine am I." + +"Pretty well as to that," answered the fingers; and so saying, they +took hold of it by the body. + +"Look, I come with a train!" said the darning-needle, drawing a long +thread after it, but there was no knot to the thread. + +The fingers directed the needle against an old pair of shoes belonging +to the cook. The upper-leather was torn, and it was now to be sewed +together. + +"That is vulgar work," said the needle; "I can never get through it. I +shall break! I shall break!" And it really did break. "Did I not say +so?" said the needle; "I am too delicate." + +"Now it's good for nothing," said the fingers, but they were obliged +to hold it still; the cook dropped sealing-wax upon it, and pinned her +neckerchief together with it. + +"Well, now I am a breast-pin," said the darning-needle. "I was sure I +should be raised to honor: if one is something, one is sure to get +on!" and at the same time it laughed inwardly; for one can never see +when a darning-needle laughs. So there it sat now as proudly as in a +state-carriage, and looked around on every side. + +"May I take the liberty to inquire if you are of gold?" asked the +needle of a pin that was its neighbor. "You have a splendid exterior, +and a head of your own, but it is small, however. You must do what you +can to grow, for it is not every one that is bedropped with +sealing-wax!" And then the darning-needle drew itself up so high that +it fell out of the kerchief, and tumbled right into the sink, which +the cook was at that moment rinsing out. + +"Now we are going on our travels," said the needle. "If only I do not +get lost!" But it really did get lost. + +"I am too delicate for this world!" said the needle, as it lay in the +sink, "but I know who I am, and that is always a consolation;" and the +darning-needle maintained its proud demeanor, and lost none of its +good-humor. + +And all sorts of things swam over it--shavings, straws, and scraps of +old newspapers. + +"Only look how they sail by," said the needle. "They do not know what +is hidden below them! I stick fast here: here I sit. Look! there goes +a shaving: it thinks of nothing in the world but of itself--but of a +shaving! There drifts a straw; and how it tacks about, how it turns +round! Think of something else besides yourself, or else perhaps +you'll run against a stone! There swims a bit of a newspaper. What's +written there is long ago forgotten, and yet out it spreads itself, as +if it were mighty important! I sit here patient and still: I know who +I am, and that I shall remain after all!" + +One day there lay something close beside the needle. It glittered so +splendidly, that the needle thought it must be a diamond: but it was +only a bit of a broken bottle, and because it glittered the +darning-needle addressed it, and introduced itself to the other as a +breast-pin. + +"You are, no doubt, a diamond?" + +"Yes, something of that sort." And so each thought the other something +very precious, and they talked together of the world, and of how +haughty it is. + +"I was with a certain miss, in a little box," said the darning-needle, +"and this miss was cook; and on each hand she had five fingers. In my +whole life I have never seen anything so conceited as these fingers! +And yet they were only there to take me out of the box and to put me +back into it again!" + +"Were they, then, of noble birth?" asked the broken bottle. + +"Noble!" said the darning-needle; "no, but high-minded! There were +five brothers, all descendants of the 'Finger' family. They always +kept together, although they were of different lengths. The outermost +one, little Thumb, was short and stout; he went at the side, a little +in front of the ranks: he had, too, but one joint in his back, so that +he could only make one bow; but he said, if a man were to cut him off, +such a one were no longer fit for military service. Sweet-tooth, the +second finger, pryed into what was sweet, as well as into what was +sour, pointed to the sun and moon, and he it was that gave stress when +they wrote. Longman, the third brother, looked at the others +contemptuously over his shoulder. Goldrim, the fourth, wore a golden +girdle round his body! and the little Peter Playallday did nothing at +all, of which he was very proud. 'Twas boasting, and boasting, and +nothing but boasting, and so away I went." + +"And now we sit here and glitter," said the broken glass bottle. + +At the same moment more water came along the gutter; it streamed over +the sides and carried the bit of bottle away with it. + +"Well, that's an advancement," said the darning-needle. "I remain +where I am: I am too fine; but that is just my pride, and as such is +to be respected." And there it sat so proudly, and had many grand +thoughts. + +"I should almost think that I was born of a sunbeam, so fine am I! It +seems to me, too, as if the sunbeams were always seeking me beneath +the surface of the water. Ah! I am so fine, that my mother is unable +to find me! Had I my old eye that broke, I verily think I could weep; +but I would not--weep! no, it's not genteel to weep!" + +One day two boys came rummaging about in the sink, where they found +old nails, farthings, and such sort of things. It was dirty work; +however, they took pleasure in it. + +"Oh!" cried one who had pricked himself with the needle, "there's a +fellow for you." + +"I am no fellow, I am a lady!" said the darning-needle; but no one +heard it. The sealing-wax had worn off, and it had become quite black; +but black makes one look more slender, and the needle fancied it +looked more delicate than ever. + +"Here comes an egg-shell sailing along!" said the boys; and then they +stuck the needle upright in the egg-shell. + +"The walls white and myself black," said the needle. "That is +becoming! People can see me now! If only I do not get seasick, for +then I shall snap." + +But it was not sea-sick, and did not snap. + +"It is good for sea-sickness to have a stomach of steel, and not to +forget that one is something more than a human being! Now my +sea-sickness is over. The finer one is, the more one can endure!" + +"Crack!" said the egg-shell: a wheel went over it. + +"Good heavens! how heavy that presses!" said the needle. "Now I shall +be sea-sick! I snap!" But it did not snap, although a wheel went over +it. It lay there at full length, and there it may lie still. + + +------------ + + + +THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL. + +Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and +evening--the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there +went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked +feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was +the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had +hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them +as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that +rolled by dreadfully fast. One slipper was nowhere to be found; the +other had been laid hold of by an urchin, and off he ran with it; he +thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he some day or other +should have children himself. So the little maiden walked on with her +tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold. She carried a +quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in +her hand. Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no +one had given her a single farthing. + +She crept along trembling with cold and hunger--a very picture of +sorrow, the poor little thing! + +The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in beautiful +curls around her neck; but of that, of course, she never once now +thought. From all the windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt +so deliciously of roast goose, for you know it was new year's eve; +yes, of that she thought. + +In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced more than the +other, she seated herself down and cowered together. Her little feet +she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder, and to +go home she did not venture, for she had not sold any matches and +could not bring a farthing of money: from her father she would +certainly get blows, and at home it was cold too, for above her she +had only the roof, through which the wind whistled, even though the +largest cracks were stopped up with straw and rags. + +Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh! a match might +afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared take a single one out +of the bundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. +She drew one out. "Rischt!" how it blazed, how it burnt! It was a +warm, bright flame, like a candle, as she held her hands over it: it +was a wonderful light. It seemed really to the little maiden as though +she were sitting before a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet +and a brass ornament at top. The fire burned with such blessed +influence; it warmed so delightfully. The little girl had already +stretched out her feet to warm them too; but--the small flame went +out, the stove vanished: she had only the remains of the burnt out +match in her hand. + +She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, and where the +light fell on the wall, there the wall became transparent like a veil, +so that she could see into the room. On the table was spread a +snow-white tablecloth; upon it was a splendid porcelain service, and +the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing of apple and +dried plums. And what was still more capital to behold was, the goose +hopped down from the dish, reeled about on the floor with knife and +fork in its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl; when--the +match went out and nothing but the thick, cold, damp wall was left +behind. She lighted another match. Now there she was sitting under the +most magnificent Christmas trees: it was still larger, and more +decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door in +the rich merchant's house. + + +[Illustration: THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL.] + + +Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and +gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows +looked down upon her. The little maiden stretched out her hands +towards them when--the match went out. The lights of the Christmas +tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one +fell down and formed a long trail of fire. + +"Some one is just dead!" said the little girl; for her old +grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who was now no +more, had told her, that when a star falls, a soul ascends to God. + +She drew another match against the wall: it was again light, and in +the lustre there stood the old grandmother, so bright and radiant, so +mild, and with such an expression of love. + +"Grandmother!" cried the little one; "oh, take me with you! You go +away when the match burns out; you vanish like the warm stove, like +the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree!" +And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against the wall, +for she wanted to be quite sure of keeping her grandmother near her. +And the matches gave such a brilliant light that it was brighter than +at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and +so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both flew in +brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was +neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety--they were with God. + +But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, with +rosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall--frozen +to death on the last evening of the old year. Stiff and stark sat the +child there with her matches, of which one bundle had been burnt. "She +wanted to warm herself," people said: no one had the slightest +suspicion of what beautiful things she had seen; no one even dreamed +of the splendor in which, with her grandmother she had entered on the +joys of a new year. + + +------------ + + + +THE RED SHOES. + +There was once a little girl who was very pretty and delicate, but in +summer she was forced to run about with bare feet, she was so poor, +and in winter wear very large wooden shoes, which made her little +insteps quite red, and that looked so dangerous! + +In the middle of the village lived old Dame Shoemaker; she sate and +sewed together, as well as she could, a little pair of shoes out of +old red strips of cloth; they were very clumsy, but it was a kind +thought. They were meant for the little girl. The little girl was +called Karen. + +On the very day her mother was buried, Karen received the red shoes, +and wore them for the first time. They were certainly not intended for +mourning, but she had no others, and with stockingless feet she +followed the poor straw coffin in them. + +Suddenly a large old carriage drove up and a large old lady sate in +it: she looked at the little girl, felt compassion for her, and then +said to the clergyman: + +"Here, give me the little girl, I will adopt her!" + +And Karen believed all this happened on account of the red shoes, but +the old lady thought they were horrible, and they were burnt. But +Karen herself was cleanly and nicely dressed; she must learn to read +and sew; and people said she was a nice little thing, but the +looking-glass said: "Thou art more than nice, thou art beautiful!" + +Now the queen once traveled through the land, and she had her little +daughter with her. And this little daughter was a princess, and people +streamed to the castle, and Karen was there also, and the little +princess stood in her fine white dress, in a window, and let herself +be stared at; she had neither a train nor a golden crown, but splendid +red morocco shoes. They were certainly far handsomer than those Dame +Shoemaker had made for little Karen. Nothing in the world can be +compared with red shoes. + +Now Karen was old enough to be confirmed; she had new clothes and was +to have new shoes also. The rich shoemaker in the city took the +measure of her little foot. This took place at his house, in his room; +where stood large glass-cases, filled with elegant shoes and brilliant +boots. All this looked charming, but the old lady could not see well, +and so had no pleasure in them. In the midst of the shoes stood a pair +of red ones, just like those the princess had worn. How beautiful they +were! The shoemaker said also they had been made for the child of a +count, but had not fitted. + +"That must be patent leather!" said the old lady, "they shine so!'" + +"Yes, they shine!" said Karen, and they fitted, and were bought, but +the old lady knew nothing about their being red, else she would never +have allowed Karen to have gone in red shoes to be confirmed. Yet such +was the case. + +Everybody looked at her feet; and when she stepped through the chancel +door on the church pavement, it seemed to her as if the old figures on +the tombs, those portraits of old preachers and preachers' wives, with +stiff ruffs, and long black dresses, fixed their eyes on her red +shoes. And she thought only of them as the clergyman laid his hand +upon her head, and spoke of the holy baptism, of the covenant with +God, and how she should be now a matured Christian; and the organ +pealed so solemnly; the sweet children's voices sang, and the old +music-directors sang, but Karen only thought of her red shoes. + +In the afternoon, the old lady heard from every one that the shoes had +been red, and she said that it was very wrong of Karen, that it was +not at all becoming, and that in future Karen should only go in black +shoes to church, even when she should be older. + +The next Sunday there was the sacrament, and Karen looked at the black +shoes, looked at the red ones--looked at them again, and put on the +red shoes. + +The sun shone gloriously; Karen and the old lady walked along the path +through the corn; it was rather dusty there. + +At the church door stood an old soldier with a crutch, and with a +wonderfully long beard, which was more red than white, and he bowed to +the ground, and asked the old lady whether he might dust her shoes. +And Karen stretched out her little foot. + +"See! what beautiful dancing-shoes!" said the soldier, "sit firm when +you dance;" and he put his hand out towards the soles. + +And the old lady gave the old soldier an alms, and went into the +church with Karen. + +And all the people in the church looked at Karen's red shoes, and all +the pictures, and as Karen knelt before the altar, and raised the cup +to her lips, she only thought of the red shoes, and they seemed to +swim in it; and she forgot to sing her psalm, and she forgot to pray, +"Our father in Heaven!" + +Now all the people went out of church, and the old lady got into her +carriage. Karen raised her foot to get in after her, when the old +soldier said, + +"Look, what beautiful dancing shoes!" + +And Karen could not help dancing a step or two, and when she began her +feet continued to dance; it was just as though the shoes had power +over them. She danced round the church corner, she could not leave +off; the coachman was obliged to run after and catch hold of her, and +he lifted her in the carriage, but her feet continued to dance so that +she trod on the old lady dreadfully. At length she took the shoes off, +and then her legs had peace. + +The shoes were placed in a closet at home, but Karen could not avoid +looking at them. + +Now the old lady was sick, and it was said she could not recover? She +must be nursed and waited upon, and there was no one whose duty it was +so much as Karen's. But there was a great ball in the city, to which +Karen was invited. She looked, at the old lady, who could not recover, +she looked at the red shoes, and she thought there could be no sin in +it;--she put on the red shoes, she might do that also, she thought. +But then she went to the ball and began to dance. + +When she wanted to dance to the right, the shoes would dance to the +left, and when she wanted to dance up the room, the shoes danced back +again, down the steps, into the street, and out of the city gate. She +danced, and was forced to dance straight out into the gloomy wood. + +Then it was suddenly light up among the trees, and she fancied it must +be the moon, for there was a face; but it was the old soldier with the +red beard; he sate there, nodded his head, and said, "Look, what +beautiful dancing shoes!" + +Then she was terrified, and wanted to fling off the red shoes, but +they clung fast; and she pulled down her stockings, but the shoes +seemed to have grown to her feet. And she danced, and must dance, over +fields and meadows, in rain and sunshine, by night and day; but at +night it was the most fearful. + +She danced over the churchyard, but the dead did not dance,--they had +something better to do than to dance. She wished to seat herself on a +poor man's grave, where the bitter tansy grew; but for her there was +neither peace nor rest; and when she danced towards the open church +door, she saw an angel standing there. He wore long, white garments; +he had wings which reached from his shoulders to the earth; his +countenance was severe and grave; and in his hand he held a sword, +broad and glittering. + +"Dance shalt thou!" said he,--"dance in thy red shoes till thou art +pale and cold! Till thy skin shrivels up and thou art a skeleton! +Dance shalt thou from door to door, and where proud, vain children +dwell, thou shalt knock, that they may hear thee and tremble! Dance +shalt thou------!" + +"Mercy!" cried Karen. But she did not hear the angel's reply, for the +shoes carried her through the gate into the fields, across roads and +bridges, and she must keep ever dancing. + +One morning she danced past a door which she well knew. Within sounded +a psalm; a coffin, decked with flowers, was borne forth. Then she knew +that the old lady was dead, and felt that she was abandoned by all, +and condemned by the angel of God. + +She danced, and she was forced to dance through the gloomy night. The +shoes carried her over stack and stone; she was torn till she bled; +she danced over the heath till she came to a little house. Here, she +knew, dwelt the executioner; and she tapped with her fingers at the +window, and said, "Come out! come out! I cannot come in, for I am +forced to dance!" + +And the executioner said, "Thou dost not know who I am, I fancy? I +strike bad people's heads off; and I hear that my axe rings!" + +"Don't strike my head off!" said Karen, "then I can't repent of my +sins! But strike off my feet in the red shoes!" + +And then she confessed her entire sin, and the executioner struck off +her feet with the red shoes, but the shoes danced away with the little +feet across the field into the deep wood. + +And he carved out little wooden feet for her, and crutches, taught her +the psalm criminals always sing; and she kissed the hand which had +wielded the axe, and went over the heath. + +"Now I have suffered enough for the red shoes!" said she; "now I will +go into the church that people may see me!" And she hastened towards +the church door: but when she was near it, the red shoes danced before +her, and she was terrified, and turned round. The whole week she was +unhappy, and wept many bitter tears; but when Sunday returned, she +said, "Well, now I have suffered and struggled enough! I really +believe I am as good as many a one who sits in the church, and holds +her head so high!" + +And away she went boldly; but she had not got farther than the +churchyard gate before she saw the red shoes dancing before her; and +she was frightened, and turned back, and repented of her sin from her +heart. + +And she went to the parsonage, and begged that they would take her +into service; she would be very industrious, she said, and would do +everything she could; she did not care about the wages, only she +wished to have a home, and be with good people. And the clergyman's +wife was sorry for her and took her into service; and she was +industrious and thoughtful. She sate still and listened when the +clergyman read the Bible in the evenings. All the children thought a +deal of her; but when they spoke of dress, and grandeur, and beauty, +she shook her head. + +The following Sunday, when the family was going to church, they asked +her whether she would not go with them; but she glanced sorrowfully, +with tears in her eyes, at her crutches. The family went to hear the +word of God; but she went alone into her little chamber; there was +only room for a bed and chair to stand in it; and here she sate down +with her prayer-book; and whilst she read with a pious mind, the wind +bore the strains of the organ towards her, and she raised her tearful +countenance, and said, "O God, help me!" + +And the sun shone so clearly! and straight before her stood the angel +of God in white garments, the same she had seen that night at the +church door; but he no longer carried the sharp sword, but in its +stead a splendid green spray, full of roses. And he touched the +ceiling with the spray, and the ceiling rose so high, and where he had +touched it there gleamed a golden star. And he touched the walls, and +they widened out, and she saw the organ which was playing; she saw the +old pictures of the preachers and the preachers' wives. The +congregation sat in cushioned seats, and sang out of their +prayer-books. For the church itself had come to the poor girl in her +narrow chamber, or else she had come into the church. She sate in the +pew with the clergyman's family, and when they had ended the psalm and +looked up, they nodded and said, "It is right that thou art come!" + +"It was through mercy!" she said. + +And the organ pealed, and the children's voices in the choir sounded +so sweet and soft! The clear sunshine streamed so warmly through the +window into the pew where Karen sate! Her heart was so full of +sunshine, peace, and joy, that it broke. Her soul flew on the sunshine +to God, and there no one asked after the Red Shoes. + + + +------------ + + + +TO THE YOUNG READERS + +Here is another volume of Andersen's charming stories for you; and I +am sure you will be glad to get it. For my part, I am always delighted +to find one that I do not happen to have yet seen; and as I know the +others pleased you--for I have heard so, both directly and indirectly, +from a great many people, there can be no doubt that you all will be +overjoyed to have a few more of these stories told you. + +And there is no one who participates in this delight more than--whom +do you think? Why, than Andersen himself! He is so happy that his +Tales have been thus joyfully received, and that they have found their +way to the hearts and sympathies of you all. He speaks of it with +evident pleasure; and it is not vanity, but his kind affectionate +nature, which inclines him to mention such little occurrences as prove +how firm a hold his writings have taken on the minds of the young and +gentle-natured. "So much praise might," he says, "spoil a man, and +make him vain. Yet no, it does not spoil him: on the contrary, it +makes him better; it purifies his thoughts, and this must give one the +impulse and the will to deserve it all." He was so pleased to hear, +and I, you may be sure, was equally pleased to tell him, what had been +written to me by a friend a short time before--that several little +boys and girls, Miss Edgeworth's nephews and nieces were so delighted +with the "**Tales From Denmark**," that they not only read and re-read +them continually, but used _to act the stories_ together in their +play-hours! + +And a certain little dark-eyed thing of my acquaintance, "little +Nelly," or "the little gipsey," as I sometimes call her, knows the +whole story of "Ellie and the Pretty Swallow," by heart; and another +"wee thing," that cannot yet read, but is always wanting to have +stories told her, knows all about Kay and Gerda, and the +flower-garden, and how Gerda went to look for her brother, inquiring +of every body she met, and how at last the good sister found him. + +In Copenhegan, as Andersen himself told me, all the children know him. +"And," he said, with such a countenance that showed such homage was +dearer to him than the more splendid honors paid as tributes to his +genius, "as I walk along the street, the little darlings nod and kiss +their hands to me; and they say to one another, 'There's Andersen!' +and then some more run and wave their hands. Oh yes, they all know me. +But sometimes, if there be one who does not, then, perhaps, his mamma +will say, 'Look, that is he who wrote the story you read the other +day, and that you liked so much;' and so we soon get acquainted." And +_this_ popularity delights him more than anything; and you surely +cannot call it vanity. + +In the account he has written of his life, he relates a circumstance +that happened to him at Dresden; and it is so pretty that I insert it +here. He writes: "An evening that for me was particularly interesting +I spent with the royal family, who received me most graciously. Here +reigned the same quiet that is found in private life in a happy +family. A whole troop of amiable children, all belonging to Prince +John, were present. The youngest of the princesses, a little girl who +knew that I had written the story of 'The Fir-tree,' began familiarly +her conversation with me in these words: 'Last Christmas we also had a +fir-tree, and it stood here in this very room.' Afterwards, when she +was taken to bed earlier than the others, and had wished her parents +and the king and queen 'Good night,' she turned round once more at the +half-closed door, and nodded to me in a friendly manner, and as though +we were old acquaintance. I was her prince of the fairy tale." + +But it is not the praise of the great, or the admiration of a court, +on which he sets most value, as you will see by the following extract +from a letter which I received from him to-day, only an hour or two +ago. It is about his stay in England, and his visit to the north, +after I had left him, and I am sure he will not mind my sharing thus +much of what he writes to me with you. "The hearty welcome I met with +in Scotland moved me greatly. My writings were so well known, I found +so many friends, that I can hardly take in so much happiness. But I +must relate you one instance: in Edinburgh I went with a party of +friends to Heriot's Hospital, where orphan children are taken care of +and educated. We were all obliged to inscribe our names in the +visitors' book. The porter read the names, and asked if that was +Andersen the author: and when some one answered 'Yes,' the old man +folded his hands and gazed quite in ecstacy at an old gentleman who +was with us, and said: 'Yes, yes! he is just as I had always fancied +him to myself--the venerable white hair--the mild expression--yes, +that is Andersen!' They then explained to him that I was the person. +'That young man!' he exclaimed; 'Why generally such people, when one +hears about them, are either dead or very old.' When the story was +told me, I at first thought it was a joke; but the porter came up to +me in a most touching manner, and told me how he and all the boys +entered so entirely and heartily into my stories. It so affected me +that I almost shed tears." + +This is indeed popularity! + +Now I dare say you thought that the little princes and princesses in a +king's palace had tastes and feelings very different from a poor +charity-boy; but you see, although so different in rank, they were +alike in one thing--they were both children; and childhood, if left to +itself, is in all situations the same. + +And do you know, too, my little friends, that you are very excellent +critics? Yes, most sage and excellent critics; though I dare say not +one of you even ever dreamt of such a thing. But it is, nevertheless, +true; and not some, but all of you, whether in England, Scotland, or +Ireland--the little boys in Heriot's Hospital, and the little princess +at Dresden who knew the story of "The Fir-Tree." For without one +dissentient voice you have passed favorable judgment on these stories: +in your estimation of them your were unanimous. + +Yet when they first appeared in Denmark some of the critics by +profession found fault with them, and wondered, as they said, how an +author who had written works of greater pretension, could think of +making his appearance with something so childish as these tales. And +some kind friends, grown-up people, whose opinion was not unimportant, +advised him by all means to give up writing such stories as he had no +talent for them; and it was only later, that, to use Andersen's own +words, "every door and heart in Denmark was open to them." But all of +you, not critics by profession, you welcomed them at once; as soon as +you saw them you perceived their beauty--you cherished and gave them a +place in your heart. And this is the reason why I say that you are +sage and excellent critics; and if you can preserve the same +simple-heartedness, finding pleasure in what is natural and truthful, +and allow yourselves to be guided by the instincts of your pure +uncorrupted nature, you may always be so. + +You will like to know that Thorwaldsen, the great Thorwaldsen, loved +to hear Andersen repeat these tales. It is true he has quite a +peculiar way of relating them, which adds greatly to their charm. I +begged him one day to tell me the story of "The Top and Ball," and he +immediately sat down on the sofa and began. Though I knew it by heart +from beginning to end, so often had I read it over, yet it now seemed +quite new, from his manner of telling it; and I was as amused and +laughed as much as though I had never heard it before. That very +pretty one, "Ole Luckoie," was written when in the society of +Thorwaldsen; and "often at dusk," so Andersen relates, "when the +family circle were sitting in the summer house, would Thorwaldsen +glide gently in, and, tapping me on the shoulder, ask, 'Are we little +ones to have no story tonight?' It pleased him to hear the same story +over and over again; and often, while employed on his grandest works, +he would stand with a smiling countenance and listen to the tale of +'Top and Ball,' and 'The Ugly Duck.'" The last is my favorite also. + +From Rome, where this occurred, you must now take a jump with me to +Hamburg; for I have to tell you an anecdote that happened there to +Andersen, also, about his stories which he relates in his "Life." He +had gone to see Otto Speckter, whose clever and characteristic +pictures most of you will certainly know, and he intended to go +afterwards to the play. Speckter accompanied him. "We passed an +elegant house. 'We must first go in here, my dear friend,' said he; 'a +very rich family lives there, friends of mine, friends of your tales; +the children will be overjoyed--' 'But the opera,' said I. 'Only for +two minutes,' he replied, and drew me into the house, told my name, +and the circle of children collected round me. 'And now repeat a +story,' he said: 'only a single one.' I did so, and hurried to the +theatre. 'That was a strange visit,' I said. 'A capital one! a most +excellent one!' shouted he. 'Only think! the children are full of +Andersen and his fairy tales: all of a sudden he stands in the midst +of them, and relates one himself, and then he is gone--vanished. Why, +that very circumstance is a fairy tale for the children, and will +remain vividly in their memory.' It amused me too." + +You will be getting impatient, I am afraid. However, before I finish I +must tell you something about the stories in this volume. The +translation of them I had begun in Andersen's room, and when he came +in we began talking about them, one of which, "The Little Girl with +the Matches," I had read in his absence. I told him how delighted I +was with it--that I found it most exquisitely narrated; but that how +such a thing came into his head, I could not conceive. He then said, +"That was written when I was on a visit at The Duke of Augustenburg's. +I received a letter from Copenhagen from the editor of a Danish +almanac for the people, in which he said he was very anxious to have +something of mine for it, but that the book was already nearly +printed. In the letter were two woodcuts, and these he wished to make +use of, if only I would write something to which they might serve as +illustrations. One was the picture of a little match-girl, exactly as +I have described her. It was from the picture that I wrote the +story--wrote it surrounded by splendor and rejoicing, at the castle of +Grauenstein, in Schleswig." + +"And Little Tuk," said I.--"Oh! 'Little Tuk,'" answered he, laughing; +"I will tell you all about him. When in Oldenburg I lived for some +time at the house of a friend, the Counsellor von E***. The children's +names were Charles and Gustave (Augusta?) but the little boy always +called himself 'Tuk.' He meant to say 'Charles,' but he could not +pronounce it otherwise. Now once I promised the dear little things +that I would put them in a fairy tale, and so both of them appeared, +but as poor children in the story of 'Little Tuk.' So you see, as +reward for all the hospitality I received in Germany, I take the +German children and make Danes of them." + +You see he can make a story out of anything. "They peep over his +shoulder," as he once wrote to me, a long time ago. And one time, when +he was just going to set off on a journey, his friend said to him, "My +little Erich possesses two leaden soldiers, and he has given one of +them to me for you, that you may take it with you on your travels." + +Now I should not at all wonder if this were the very "Resolute Leaden +Soldier" you read of in the "**Tales From Denmark**;" but this one, it +is true, was a Turk, and I don't think the other was. And then, too, +there is nothing said about this one having but one leg. However, it +may be the same, after all. + +As to the tale called "The Naughty Boy," that, it is true, is an old +story. The poet Anacreon wrote it long, long ago; but Andersen has +here re-told it in so humorous a manner, that it will no doubt amuse +you as much as though it had been written originally by him. He has +given the whole, too, quite another dress; and "the naughty boy" +himself he has tricked out so drolly, and related such amusing tricks +of him, that I think Mr. Andersen had better take care the young rogue +does not play him a sly turn some day or other, for the little +incorrigible rascal respects nobody. + +Before I say farewell, there is one thing I must tell you; which is, +there are two persons you certainly little think of, to whom you owe +some thanks for the pretty tales of Anderson that have so greatly +delighted you, as well as for those he may still write. You will never +guess who they are, so I will tell you. They are Frederick VI., the +late, and Christian VIII., the present King of Denmark. The former +gave Andersen a pension to relieve him from the necessity of depending +on his pen for bread; so that, free from cares, he was able to pursue +his own varied fancies. Though not much, it was sufficient; but the +present king, who has always been most kind to your friend +Andersen--for so you surely consider him--increased his pension +considerably, in order that, he might be able to travel, and follow in +full liberty the bent of his genius. + +Now do you not like a king who thus holds out his hand to genius, who +delights to honor the man who has done honor to their common country, +and who is proud to interest himself in his fate as in that of a +friend? And this King Christian VIII. does. Am I not right, then, in +saying that you owe him your thanks? + +Farewell, my little friends, and believe that I am always ready and +willing to serve you. + +Charles Boner.* + +Donau Stauf, near Ratisbon. + +------ + +* By whom several of the stories in this volume were translated + +------------ + + + +Published by James Miller, New York. + + + +------------ + + + +THE STORY + +OF THE + +RED BOOK OF APPIN: + +A Fairy Tale of the Middle Ages. + +WITH + +AN INTERPRETATION. + +By the Author of +"Alchemy and the Alchemists," +"Swedenborg a Hermetic Philosopher," and +"Christ the Spirit." + +Price 50 cents. + + +------ + + + +THE ICE MAIDEN, + +And other Tales. + +By Hans Christian Andersen. + +Translated by Fanny Fuller. Price 75 cents. + + + +------ + + + +ON THE + +CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE + +of + +WASHINGTON. + +By M. Guizot. + +50 cents. + + + +------ + + + +FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. + +A SERIES OF READINGS, AND DISCOURSES THEREON. + +4 vols. 12mo. + + + +------ + + + +THE + +UGLY DUCK, + +And other Tales. + +BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. + +Illustrated. + +[Illustration: Mother Holding Mistletoe Above Infant.] + +New York: + +Published by James Miller, + +(Successor To C. S. Francis & Co.) + +522 Broadway. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Christmas Greeting, by Hans Christian Andersen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHRISTMAS GREETING *** + +***** This file should be named 31103.txt or 31103.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/1/0/31103/ + +Produced by Jim Adcock + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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