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diff --git a/43600-0.txt b/43600-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85b6c0f --- /dev/null +++ b/43600-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2861 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43600 *** + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +Obvious spelling, typographical and punctuation errors have been +corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the +text and consultation of external sources. + + More detail can be found at the end of the book. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + The oe ligature has been expanded. + + + + + WONDERFUL STORIES + FOR CHILDREN. + + BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, + AUTHOR OF "THE IMPROVISATORE," ETC. + + TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH BY MARY HOWITT. + + NEW YORK. + WILEY & PUTNAM, + 161 Broadway. + + 1846. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + OLÉ LUCKOIÈ--THE STORY-TELLER AT NIGHT 5 + + THE DAISY 28 + + THE NAUGHTY BOY 37 + + TOMMELISE 42 + + THE ROSE-ELF 64 + + THE GARDEN OF PARADISE 74 + + A NIGHT IN THE KITCHEN 102 + + LITTLE IDA'S FLOWERS 108 + + THE CONSTANT TIN SOLDIER 124 + + THE STORKS 133 + + + + +OLÉ LUCKOIÈ, (SHUT-EYE.) + + +There is nobody in all this world who knows so many tales as Olé +Luckoiè! He can tell tales! In an evening, when a child sits so nicely +at the table, or on its little stool, Olé Luckoiè comes. He comes +so quietly into the house, for he walks without shoes; he opens the +door without making any noise, and then he flirts sweet milk into the +children's eyes; but so gently, so very gently, that they cannot keep +their eyes open, and, therefore, they never see him; he steals softly +behind them and blows gently on their necks, and thus their heads +become heavy. Oh yes! But then it does them no harm; for Olé Luckoiè +means nothing but kindness to the children, he only wants to amuse +them; and the best thing that can be done is for somebody to carry them +to bed, where they may lie still and listen to the tales that he will +tell them. + +Now when the children are asleep, Olé Luckoiè sits down on the bed; +he is very well dressed; his coat is of silk, but it is not possible +to tell what color it is, because it shines green, and red, and blue, +just as if one color ran into another. He holds an umbrella under each +arm; one of them is covered all over the inside with pictures, and +this he sets over the good child, and it dreams all night long the +most beautiful histories. The other umbrella has nothing at all within +it; this he sets over the heads of naughty children, and they sleep so +heavily, that next morning when they wake they have not dreamed the +least in the world. + +Now we will hear how Olé Luckoiè came every evening for a whole week to +a little boy, whose name was Yalmar, and what he told him. There are +seven stories, because there are seven days in a week. + + +MONDAY. + +"Just listen!" said Olé Luckoiè, in the evening, when they had put +Yalmar in bed; "now I shall make things fine!"--and with that all the +plants in the flower-pots grew up into great trees which stretched +out their long branches along the ceiling and the walls, till the +whole room looked like the most beautiful summer-house; and all the +branches were full of flowers, and every flower was more beautiful than +a rose, and was so sweet, that if anybody smelt at it, it was sweeter +than raspberry jam! The fruit on the trees shone like gold, and great +big bunches of raisins hung down--never had any thing been seen like +it!--but all at once there began such a dismal lamentation in the +table-drawer where Yalmar kept his school-books. + +"What is that?" said Olé Luckoiè, and went to the table and opened +the drawer. It was the slate that was in great trouble; for there was +an addition sum on it that was added up wrong, and the slate-pencil +was hopping and jumping about in its string, like a little dog that +wanted to help the sum, but it could not! And besides this, Yalmar's +copy-book was crying out sadly! All the way down each page stood a +row of great letters, each with a little one by its side; these were +the copy; and then there stood other letters, which fancied that they +looked like the copy; and these Yalmar had written; but they were +some one way and some another, just as if they were tumbling over the +pencil-lines on which they ought to have stood. + +"Look, you should hold yourselves up--thus!" said the copy; "thus, all +in a line, with a brisk air!" + +"Oh! we would so gladly, if we could," said Yalmar's writing; "but we +cannot, we are so miserable!" + +"Then we will make you!" said Olé Luckoiè gruffly. + +"Oh, no!" cried the poor little crooked letters; but for all that they +straightened themselves, till it was quite a pleasure to see them. + +"Now, then, cannot we tell a story?" said Olé Luckoiè; "now I can +exercise them! One, two! One, two!" And so, like a drill-sergeant, he +put them all through their exercise, and they stood as straight and +as well-shaped as any copy. After that Olé Luckoiè went his way; and +Yalmar, when he looked at the letters next morning, found them tumbling +about just as miserably as at first. + + +TUESDAY. + +No sooner was Yalmar in bed than Olé Luckoiè came with his little wand, +and touched all the furniture in the room; and, in a minute, every +thing began to chatter; and they chattered all together, and about +nothing but themselves. Every thing talked except the old door-mat, +which lay silent, and was vexed that they should be all so full of +vanity as to talk of nothing but themselves, and think only about +themselves, and never have one thought for it which lay so modestly in +a corner and let itself be trodden upon. + +There hung over the chest of drawers a great picture in a gilt frame; +it was a landscape; one could see tall, old trees, flowers in the +grass, and a great river, which ran through great woods, past many +castles out into the wild sea. + +Olé Luckoiè touched the picture with his wand; and with that the birds +in the picture began to sing, the tree-branches began to wave, and the +clouds regularly to move,--one could see them moving along over the +landscape! + +Olé Luckoiè now lifted little Yalmar up into the picture; he put his +little legs right into it, just as if into tall grass, and there he +stood. The sun shone down through the tree-branches upon him. He ran +down to the river, and got into a little boat which lay there. It was +painted red and white, the sails shone like silk, and six swans, each +with a circlet of gold round its neck and a beaming blue star upon its +head, drew the little boat past the green-wood,--where he heard the +trees talking about robbers, and witches, and flowers, and the pretty +little fairies, and all that the summer birds had told them of. + +The loveliest fishes, with scales like silver and gold, swam after the +boat, and leaped up in the water; and birds, some red and some blue, +small and great, flew, in two long rows, behind; gnats danced about, +and cockchafers said hum, hum! They all came following Yalmar, and you +may think what a deal they had to tell him. + +It was a regular voyage! Now the woods were so thick and so dark--now +they were like the most beautiful garden, with sunshine and flowers; +and in the midst of them there stood great castles of glass and of +marble. Upon the balconies of these castles stood princesses, and every +one of them were the little girls whom Yalmar knew very well, and with +whom he had played. They all reached out their hands to him, and held +out the most delicious sticks of barley-sugar which any confectioner +could make; and Yalmar bit off a piece from every stick of barley-sugar +as he sailed past, and Yalmar's piece was always a very large piece! +Before every castle stood little princes as sentinels; they stood with +their golden swords drawn, and showered down almonds and raisins. They +were perfect princes! + +Yalmar soon sailed through the wood, then through a great hall, or into +the midst of a city; and at last he came to that in which his nurse +lived, she who had nursed him when he was a very little child, and +had been so very fond of him. And there he saw her, and she nodded +and waved her hand to him, and sang the pretty little verse which she +herself had made about Yalmar-- + + Full many a time I thee have missed, + My Yalmar, my delight! + I, who thy cherry-mouth have kissed, + Thy rosy cheeks, thy forehead white! + I saw thy earliest infant mirth-- + I now must say farewell! + May our dear Lord bless thee on earth, + Then take thee to his heaven to dwell! + +And all the birds sang, too, the flowers danced upon their stems, and +the old trees nodded like as Olé Luckoiè did while he told his tales. + + +WEDNESDAY. + +How the rain did pour down! Yalmar could hear it in his sleep! and +when Olé Luckoiè opened the casement, the water stood up to the very +window-sill. There was a regular sea outside; but the most splendid +ship lay close up to the house. + +"If thou wilt sail with me, little Yalmar," said Olé Luckoiè, "thou +canst reach foreign countries in the night, and be here again by +to-morrow morning!" + +And with this Yalmar stood in his Sunday clothes in the ship, and +immediately the weather became fine, and they sailed through the +streets, tacked about round the church, and then came out into a great, +desolate lake. They sailed so far, that at last they could see no more +land, and then they saw a flock of storks, which were coming from home, +on their way to the warm countries; one stork after another flew on, +and they had already flown such a long, long way. One of the storks was +so very much tired that it seemed as if his wings could not support him +any longer; he was the very last of all the flock, and got farther and +farther behind them; and, at last, he sank lower and lower, with his +outspread wings: he still flapped his wings, now and then, but that +did not help him; now his feet touched the cordage of the ship; now he +glided down the sail, and, bounce! down he came on the deck. + +A sailor-boy then took him up, and set him in the hencoop among hens, +and ducks, and turkeys. The poor stork stood quite confounded among +them all. + +"Here's a thing!" said all the hens. + +And the turkey-cock blew himself up as much as ever he could, and asked +the stork who he was; and the ducks they went on jostling one against +the other, saying, "Do thou ask! do thou ask!" + +The stork told them all about the warm Africa, about the pyramids, and +about the simoom, which sped like a horse over the desert: but the +ducks understood not a word about what he said, and so they whispered +one to the other, "We are all agreed, he is silly!" + +"Yes, to be sure, he is silly," said the turkey-cock aloud. The poor +stork stood quite still, and thought about Africa. + +"What a pair of beautiful thin legs you have got!" said the +turkey-cock; "what is the price by the yard?" + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed all the ducks; but the stork pretended that he +did not hear. + +"I cannot help laughing," said the turkey-cock, "it was so very witty; +or, perhaps, it was too low for him!--ha! ha! he can't take in many +ideas! Let us only be interesting to ourselves!" And with that they +began to gobble, and the ducks chattered, "Gik, gak! gik, gak!" It was +amazing to see how entertaining they were to themselves. + +Yalmar, however, went up to the hencoop, opened the door, and called +to the stork, which hopped out to him on the deck. It had now rested +itself; and it seemed as if it nodded to Yalmar to thank him. With this +it spread out its wings and flew away to its warm countries; but the +hens clucked, the ducks chattered, and the turkey-cocks grew quite red +in the head. + +"To-morrow we shall have you for dinner!" said Yalmar; and so he awoke, +and was lying in his little bed. + +It was, however, a wonderful voyage that Olé Luckoiè had taken him that +night. + + +THURSDAY. + +"Dost thou know what?" said Olé Luckoiè. "Now do not be afraid, and +thou shalt see a little mouse!" and with that he held out his hand with +the pretty little creature in it. + +"It is come to invite thee to a wedding," said he. "There are two +little mice who are going to be married to-night; they live down +under the floor of thy mother's store-closet; it will be such a nice +opportunity for thee." + +"But how can I get through the little mouse-hole in the floor?" asked +Yalmar. + +"Leave that to me," said Olé Luckoiè; "I shall make thee little +enough!" And with that he touched Yalmar with his wand, and immediately +he grew less and less, until at last he was no bigger than my finger. + +"Now thou canst borrow the tin soldier's clothes," said Olé Luckoiè; "I +think they would fit thee, and it looks so proper to have uniform on +when people go into company." + +"Yes, to be sure!" said Yalmar; and in a moment he was dressed up like +the most beautiful new tin soldier. + +"Will you be so good as to seat yourself in your mother's thimble," +said the little mouse; "and then I shall have the honor of driving you!" + +"Goodness!" said Yalmar; "will the young lady herself take the +trouble?" and with that they drove to the mouse's wedding. + +First of all, after going under the floor, they came into a long +passage, which was so low that they could hardly drive in the thimble, +and the whole passage was illuminated with touchwood. + +"Does it not smell delicious?" said the mouse as they drove along; "the +whole passage has been rubbed with bacon-sward; nothing can be more +delicious!" + +They now came into the wedding-hall. On the right hand stood the little +she-mice, and they all whispered and tittered as if they were making +fun of one another; on the left hand all the he-mice, and stroked their +mustachios with their paws. In the middle of the floor were to be seen +the bridal pair, who stood in a hollow cheese-paring; and they kept +kissing one another before everybody, for they were desperately in +love, and were going to be married directly. + +And all this time there kept coming in more and more strangers, till +one mouse was ready to trample another to death; and the bridal pair +had placed themselves in a doorway, so that people could neither go in +nor come out. The whole room, like the passage, had been smeared with +sward of bacon; that was all the entertainment: but as a dessert a pea +was produced, on which a little mouse of family had bitten the name of +the bridal pair,--that is to say, the first letters of their name; that +was something quite out of the common way. + +All the mice said that it was a charming wedding, and that the +conversation had been so good! + +Yalmar drove home again; he had really been in very grand society, but +he must have been regularly squeezed together to make himself small +enough for a tin soldier's uniform. + + +FRIDAY. + +"It is incredible how many elderly people there are who would be so +glad of me," said Olé Luckoiè, "especially those who have done any +thing wrong. 'Good little Olé,' say they to me, 'we cannot close our +eyes; and so we lie all night long awake, and see all our bad deeds, +which sit, like ugly little imps, on the bed's head, and squirt hot +water on us. Wilt thou only just come and drive them away, that we may +have a good sleep!' and with that they heave such deep sighs--'we would +so gladly pay thee; good-night, Olé!' Silver pennies lie for me in the +window," said Olé Luckoiè, "but I do not give sleep for money!" + +"Now what shall we have to-night?" inquired Yalmar. + +"I do not know whether thou hast any desire to go again to-night to a +wedding," said Olé Luckoiè; "but it is of a different kind to that of +last night. Thy sister's great doll, which is dressed like a gentleman, +and is called Herman, is going to be married to the doll Bertha; +besides, it is the doll's birthday, and therefore there will be a great +many presents made." + +"Yes, I know," said Yalmar; "always, whenever the dolls have new +clothes, my sister entreats that they have a birthday or a wedding; +that has happened certainly a hundred times!" + +"Yes, but to-night it is the hundred and first wedding, and when +a hundred and one is done then all is over! Therefore it will be +incomparably grand. Only look!" + +Yalmar looked at the table; there stood the little doll's house +with lights in the windows, and all the tin soldiers presented arms +outside. The bridal couple sat upon the floor, and leaned against the +table-legs, and looked very pensive, and there might be reason for it. +But Olé Luckoiè, dressed in the grandmother's black petticoat, married +them, and when they were married, all the furniture in the room joined +in the following song, which was written in pencil, and which was sung +to the tune of the drum:-- + + Our song like a wind comes flitting + Into the room where the bride-folks are sitting; + They are partly of wood, as is befitting: + Their skin is the skin of a glove well fitting! + Hurrah, hurrah! for sitting and fitting! + Thus sing we aloud as the wind comes flitting! + +And now the presents were brought, but they had forbidden any kind of +eatables, for their love was sufficient for them. + +"Shall we stay in the country, or shall we travel into foreign parts?" +asked the bridegroom; and with that they begged the advice of the +breeze, which had travelled a great deal, and of the old hen, which +had had five broods of chickens. The breeze told them about the +beautiful, warm countries where the bunches of grapes hung so large and +so heavy; where the air was so mild, and the mountains had colors of +which one could have no idea "in this country." + +"But there they have not our green cabbage!" said the hen. "I lived +for one summer with all my chickens in the country; there was a dry, +dusty ditch in which we could go and scuttle, and we had admittance to +a garden where there was green cabbage! O, how green it was! I cannot +fancy any thing more beautiful!" + +"But one cabbage-stalk looks just like another," said the breeze; "and +then there is such wretched weather here." + +"Yes, but one gets used to it," said the hen. + +"But it is cold--it freezes!" + +"That is good for the cabbage!" said the hen. "Besides, we also have +it warm. Had not we four years ago a summer which lasted five weeks, +and it was so hot that people did not know how to bear it? And then we +have not all the poisonous creatures which they have there! and we are +far from robbers. He is a good-for-nothing fellow who does not think +our country the most beautiful in the world! and he does not deserve to +be here!" and with that the hen cried.--"And I also have travelled," +continued she; "I have gone in a boat above twelve miles; there is no +pleasure in travelling." + +"The hen is a sensible body!" said the doll Bertha; "I would rather not +travel to the mountains, for it is only going up to come down again. +No! we will go down into the ditch, and walk in the cabbage-garden." + +And so they did. + + +SATURDAY. + +"Shall I have any stories?" said little Yalmar, as soon as Olé Luckoiè +had put him to sleep. + +"In the evening we have no time for any," said Olé, and spread out +his most beautiful umbrella above his head. "Look now at this Chinese +scene!" and with that the whole inside of the umbrella looked like a +great china saucer, with blue trees and pointed bridges, on which +stood little Chinese, who stood and nodded with their heads. "We shall +have all the world dressed up beautifully this morning," said Olé, "for +it is really a holiday; it is Sunday. I shall go up into the church +towers to see whether the little church-elves polish the bells, because +they sound so sweetly. I shall go out into the market, and see whether +the wind blows the dust, and grass, and leaves, and what is the hardest +work there. I shall have all the stars down to polish them; I shall put +them into my apron, but first of all I must have them all numbered, and +the holes where they fit up there numbered also; else we shall never +put them into their proper places again, and then they will not be +firm, and we shall have so many falling stars, one dropping down after +another!" + +"Hear, you Mr. Luckoiè, there!" said an old portrait that hung on the +wall of the room where Yalmar slept: "I am Yalmar's grandfather. We are +obliged to you for telling the boy pretty stories, but you must not go +and confuse his ideas. The stars cannot be taken down and polished! The +stars are globes like our earth, and they want nothing doing at them!" + +"Thou shalt have thanks, thou old grandfather," said Olé Luckoiè; +"thanks thou shalt have! Thou art, to be sure, the head of the family; +thou art the old head of the family; but for all that, I am older than +thou! I am an old heathen; the Greeks and the Romans called me the god +of dreams. I go into great folks' houses, and I shall go there still. I +know how to manage both with young and old. But now thou mayst take thy +turn." And with this Olé Luckoiè went away, and took his umbrella with +him. + +"Now, one cannot tell what he means!" said the old Portrait. + +And Yalmar awoke. + + +SUNDAY. + +"Good-evening!" said Olé Luckoiè, and Yalmar nodded; but he jumped up +and turned the grandfather's portrait to the wall, that it might not +chatter as it had done the night before. + +"Now thou shalt tell me a story," said Yalmar, "about the five peas +that live in one pea-pod, and about Hanebeen who cured Honebeen; and +about the darning-needle, that was so fine that it fancied itself a +sewing-needle." + +"One might do a deal of good by so doing," said Olé Luckoiè; "but, dost +thou know, I would rather show thee something. I will show thee my +brother; he also is called Olé Luckoiè. He never comes more than once +to anybody,--and when he comes he takes the person away with him on his +horse, and tells him a great and wonderful history. But he only knows +two, one of them is the most incomparably beautiful story, so beautiful +that nobody in the world can imagine it; and the other is so dismal and +sad--oh, it is impossible to describe how sad!" + +Having said this, Olé Luckoiè lifted little Yalmar up to the window +and said, "There thou mayst see my brother, the other Olé Luckoiè! +They call him Death! Dost thou see, he does not look horrible as they +have painted him in picture-books, like a skeleton; no, his coat is +embroidered with silver; he wears a handsome Hussar uniform! A cloak of +black velvet flies behind, over his horse. See how he gallops!" + +Yalmar looked, and saw how the other Olé Luckoiè rode along, and took +both young and old people with him on his horse. Some he set before +him, and some he set behind; but his first question always was, "How +does it stand in your character-book?" + +Everybody said, "Good!" + +"Yes! let me see myself," said he; and they were obliged to show him +their books: and all those in whose books were written, "Very good!" or +"Remarkably good!" he placed before him on his horse; and they listened +to the beautiful story that he could tell. But they in whose books was +written, "Not very good," or "Only middling," they had to sit behind +and listen to the dismal tale. These wept bitterly, and would have been +glad to have got away, that they might have amended their characters; +but it was then too late. + +"Death is, after all, the most beautiful Olé Luckoiè," said Yalmar; "I +shall not be afraid of him." + +"Thou need not fear him," said Olé Luckoiè, "if thou only take care and +have a good character-book." + +"There is instruction in that," mumbled the old grandfather's +portrait; "that is better: one sees his meaning!" and he was pleased. + + * * * * * + +See, this is the story about Olé Luckoiè. This night, perhaps, he may +tell thee some others. + + + + +THE DAISY. + + +Now thou shalt hear!--Out in the country, close by the high road, there +stood a pleasure-house,--thou hast, no doubt, seen it thyself. In the +front is a little garden full of flowers, and this is fenced in with +painted palisades. Close beside these, in a hollow, there grew, all +among the loveliest green grass, a little tuft of daisies. The sun +shone upon it just as warmly and as sweetly as upon the large and rich +splendid flowers within the garden, and, therefore, it grew hour by +hour. One morning it opened its little shining white flower-leaves, +which looked just like rays of light all round the little yellow sun +in the inside. It never once thought that nobody saw it down there in +the grass, and that it was a poor, despised flower! No, nothing of the +kind! It was so very happy; turned itself round towards the warm sun, +looked up, and listened to the lark which sang in the blue air. + +The little daisy was as happy as if it had been some great holiday, and +yet it was only a Monday. All the children were in school, and while +they sat upon the benches learning their lessons, it also sat upon its +little green stalk, and learned from the warm sun and from every thing +around it, how good God is. And it seemed to it quite right that the +little lark sang so intelligibly and so beautifully every thing which +it felt in stillness; and it looked up with a sort of reverence to +the happy bird, which could sing and fly, but it was not at all vexed +because it could not do the same. + +"I see it and hear it," thought the daisy; "the sun shines upon me, and +the winds kiss me! O, what a many gifts I enjoy!" + +Inside the garden paling there were such a great many stiff, grand +flowers; and all the less fragrance they had the more they seemed to +swell themselves out. The pionies blew themselves out that they might +be bigger than the roses; but it is not size which does every thing. +The tulips had the most splendid colors, and they knew it too, and +held themselves so upright on purpose that people should see them all +the better. They never paid the least attention to the little daisy +outside, but it looked at them all the more, and thought, "How rich +they are, and how beautiful! Yes, to be sure, the charming bird up +there must fly down and pay them a visit. Thank God! that I am so +near that I can see all the glory!" And while she was thinking these +thoughts--"Quirrevit!" down came the lark flying,--but not down to the +pionies and the tulips: no! but down into the grass to the poor little +daisy; which was so astonished by pure joy, that it did not know what +it should think. + +The little bird danced round about, and sang, "Nay, but the grass is in +flower! and see, what a sweet little blossom, with a golden heart and a +silver jerkin on!"--for the yellow middle of the daisy looked as if it +were of gold, and the little leaves round about were shining and silver +white. + +So happy as the little daisy was it is quite impossible to describe! +The bird kissed it with its beak, sang before it, and then flew up +again into the blue air. It required a whole quarter of an hour before +the daisy could come to itself again. Half bashfully, and yet with +inward delight, it looked into the garden to the other flowers; they +had actually seen the honor and the felicity which she had enjoyed; +they could certainly understand, she thought, what a happiness it was. +But the tulips stood yet just as stiffly as before, and their faces +were so peaked and so red!--for they were quite vexed. The pionies were +quite thick-headed, too! it was a good thing that they could not talk, +or else the daisy would have been regularly scolded. The poor little +flower, however, could see very plainly that they were not in a good +humor, and that really distressed her. At that very moment there came +a girl into the garden with a great knife in her hand, which was very +sharp and shining, and she went all among the tulips, and she cut off +first one and then another. + +"Ah!" sighed the little daisy, "that was very horrible; now all is over +with them!" + +So the girl went away with the tulips. The daisy was glad that it grew +in the grass, and was a little mean flower; it felt full of gratitude, +and when the sun set, it folded its leaves, slept, and dreamed the +whole night long about the sun and the little bird. + +Next morning, the flower again, full of joy, spread out all its white +leaves, like small arms, towards the air and the light; it recognised +the bird's voice; but the song of the bird was very sorrowful. Yes, +the poor little bird had good reason for being sad! it had been taken +prisoner, and now sat in a cage close by the open window of the +pleasure-house. It sang about flying wherever it would in freedom and +bliss; it sang about the young green corn in the fields, and about the +charming journeys which it used to make up in the blue air upon its +hovering wings. The poor bird was heavy at heart, and was captive in a +cage. + +The little daisy wished so sincerely that it could be of any service; +but it was difficult to tell how. In sympathizing with the lark, the +daisy quite forgot how beautiful was every thing around it--how warmly +the sun shone, and how beautifully white were its own flower-leaves. +Ah! it could think of nothing but of the captive bird, for which it +was not able to do any thing. + +Just then came two little boys out of the garden; one of them had a +knife in his hand, large and sharp, like that which the girl had, and +with which she cut off the tulips. They went straight up to the little +daisy, which could not think what they wanted. + +"Here we can get a beautiful grass turf for the lark," said one of the +boys; and began deeply to cut out a square around the daisy-root, so +that it was just in the middle of the turf. + +"Break off the flower!" said the other boy; and the daisy trembled for +very fear of being broken off, and thus losing its life; when it would +so gladly live and go with the turf into the cage of the captive lark. + +"Nay, let it be where it is!" said the other boy; "it makes it look so +pretty!" + +And so it was left there, and was taken into the cage to the lark. + +But the poor bird made loud lamentations over its lost freedom, and +struck the wires of the cage with its wings. The little daisy could +not speak, could not say one consoling word, however gladly it would +have done so. Thus passed the forenoon. + +"There is no water here," said the captive lark; "they are all gone +out, and have forgotten to give me a drop to drink! my throat is dry +and burning! it is fire and ice within me, and the air is so heavy! Ah! +I shall die away from the warm sunshine, from the fresh green leaves, +from all the glorious things which God has created!" and with that +it bored its little beak down into the cool turf to refresh itself a +little. At that moment it caught sight of the daisy, nodded to it, +kissed it with its beak, and said, "Thou also must wither here, thou +poor little flower! Thou and the little plot of grass, which they have +given me for the whole world which I had out there! Every little blade +of grass may be to me a green tree, every one of thy little white +leaves a fragrant flower! Ah! you only tell me how much I have lost!" + +"Ah! who can comfort him!" thought the daisy, but could not move a +leaf; and yet the fragrance which was given forth from its delicate +petals was much sweeter than is usual in such flowers. The bird +remarked this, and when, overcome by the agony of thirst and misery, it +tore up every green blade of grass, it touched not the little flower. + +Evening came, and yet no one brought a single drop of water to the +poor bird. It stretched out its beautiful wings, fluttered them +convulsively, and its song was a melancholy wailing; its little head +bowed down towards the flower, and its heart broke from thirst and +longing. The little flower knew this not; before the evening was ended, +it had folded its petals together and slept upon the earth, overcome +with sickness and sorrow. + +Not until the next morning came the boys, and when they saw that the +bird was dead they wept, wept many tears, and dug for it a handsome +grave, which they adorned with leaves of flowers. The corpse of the +bird was laid in a beautiful red box. It was to be buried royally, the +poor bird! which, when full of life and singing its glorious song, they +forgot, and let it pine in a cage, and suffer thirst--and now they did +him honor, and shed many tears over him! + +But the sod of grass with the daisy, that they threw out into the dust +of the highway; no one thought about it, though it had felt more than +any of them for the little bird, and would so gladly have comforted it. + + + + +THE NAUGHTY BOY. + + +There was once upon a time an old poet, such a really good old poet! +One evening, he sat at home--it was dreadful weather out of doors--the +rain poured down; but the old poet sat so comfortably, and in such a +good humor, beside his stove, where the fire was burning brightly, and +his apples were merrily roasting. + +"There will not be a dry thread on the poor souls who are out in this +weather!" said he; for he was such a good old poet. + +"O let me in! I am freezing, and I am so wet!" cried the voice of a +little child outside. It cried and knocked at the door, while the rain +kept pouring down, and the wind rattled at all the windows. + +"Poor little soul!" said the old poet, and got up to open the door. +There stood a little boy; he had not any clothes on, and the rain ran +off from his long yellow hair. He shook with the cold; if he had not +been taken in, he would most surely have died of that bad weather. + +"Thou poor little soul!" said the kind old poet, and took him by the +hand; "come in, and I will warm thee! and thou shalt have some wine, +and a nice roasted apple, for thou art a pretty little boy!" + +And so he was. His eyes were like two bright stars, and, although the +water ran down from his yellow hair, yet it curled so beautifully. He +looked just like a little angel; but he was pale with the cold, and his +little body trembled all over. In his hand he carried a pretty little +bow; but it was quite spoiled with the rain, and all the colors of his +beautiful little arrows ran one into another with the wet. + +The good old poet seated himself by the stove, and took the little boy +upon his knee; he wrung the rain out of his hair, warmed his little +hands in his, and made some sweet wine warm for him; by this means the +rosy color came back into his cheeks, he jumped down upon the floor, +and danced round and round the old poet. + +"Thou art a merry lad," said the poet; "what is thy name?" + +"They call me Love," replied the boy; "dost thou not know me? There +lies my bow; I shoot with it, thou mayst believe! See, now, the weather +clears up; the moon shines!" + +"But thy bow is spoiled," said the old poet. + +"That would be sad!" said the little boy, and took it up to see if +it were. "Oh, it is quite dry," said he; "it is not hurt at all! The +string is quite firm: now I will try it!" + +And with that he strung it, laid an arrow upon it, took his aim, and +shot the good old poet right through the heart! + +"Thou canst now see that my bow is not spoiled!" said he; and laughing +as loud as he could, ran away. What a naughty boy! to shoot the good +old poet who had taken him into the warm room; who had been so kind to +him, and given him nice wine to drink, and the very best of his roasted +apples! + +The poor poet lay upon the floor and wept, for he was actually shot +through the heart, and he said, "Fy! what a naughty boy that Love is! I +will tell all good little children about him, that they may drive him +away before he makes them some bad return!" + +All good children, boys and girls, to whom he told this, drove away +that naughty little lad; but for all that he has made fools of them +all, for he is so artful! When students go from their lectures, he +walks by their side with a book under his arm, and they fancy that he +too is a student, and so he runs an arrow into their breasts. When +young girls go to church, and when they stand in the aisle of the +church, he too has followed them. Yes, he is always following people! + +He sits in the great chandelier in the theatre, and burns with a +bright flame, and so people think he is a lamp, but afterwards they +find something else! He runs about the king's garden, and on the +bowling-green! Yes! he once shot thy father and mother through the +heart! Ask them about it, and then thou wilt hear what they say. Yes, +indeed, he is a bad boy, that Love; do thou never have any thing to do +with him!--he is always running after people! Only think! once upon a +time, he even shot an arrow at thy good old grandmother!--but that is a +long time ago, and it is past. But thus it is, he never forgets anybody! + +Fy, for shame, naughty Love! But now thou knowest him, and knowest what +a bad boy he is! + + + + +TOMMELISE. + + +Once upon a time, a beggar woman went to the house of a poor peasant, +and asked for something to eat. The peasant's wife gave her some bread +and milk. When she had eaten it, she took a barley-corn out of her +pocket, and said--"This will I give thee; set it in a flower-pot, and +see what will come out of it." + +The woman set the barley-corn in an old flower-pot, and the next day +the most beautiful plant had shot up, which looked just like a tulip, +but the leaves were shut close together, as if it still were in bud. + +"What a pretty flower it is!" said the woman, and kissed the small +red and yellow leaves; and just as she had kissed them, the flower +gave a great crack, and opened itself. It was a real tulip, only one +could see that in the middle of the flower there sat upon the pintail +a little tiny girl, so delicate and lovely, and not half so big as my +thumb, and, therefore, woman called her Tommelise. + +A pretty polished walnut-shell was her cradle, blue violet leaves +were her mattress, and a rose leaf was her coverlet; here she slept +at night, but in the day she played upon the table, where the woman +had set a plate, around which she placed quite a garland of flowers, +the stalks of which were put in water. A large tulip-leaf floated on +the water. Tommelise seated herself on this, and sailed from one end +of the plate to the other; she had two white horse-hairs to row her +little boat with. It looked quite lovely; and then she sang--Oh! so +beautifully, as nobody ever had heard! + +One night, as she lay in her nice little bed, there came a fat, yellow +frog hopping in at the window, in which there was a broken pane. The +frog was very large and heavy, but it hopped easily on the table where +Tommelise lay and slept under the red rose leaf. + +"This would be a beautiful wife for my son!" said the frog; and so she +took up the walnut-shell in which Tommelise lay, and hopped away with +it, through the broken pane, down into the garden. + +Here there ran a large, broad river; but just at its banks it was +marshy and muddy: the frog lived here, with her son. Uh! he also was +all spotted with green and yellow, and was very like his mother. "Koax, +koax, brekke-ke-kex!" that was all that he could say when he saw the +pretty little maiden in the walnut-shell. + +"Don't make such a noise, or else you will waken her," said the old +frog; "and if you frighten her, she may run away from us, for she is as +light as swan's down! We will take her out on the river, and set her on +a waterlily leaf; to her who is so light, it will be like an island; +she cannot get away from us there, and we will then go and get ready +the house in the mud, where you two shall live together." + +There grew a great many waterlilies in the river, with their broad +green leaves, which seemed to float upon the water. The old frog swam +to the leaf which was the farthest out in the river, and which was the +largest also, and there she set the walnut-shell, with little Tommelise. + +The poor little tiny thing awoke quite early in the morning, and when +she saw where she was she began to cry bitterly, for there was water on +every side of the large green leaf, and she could not get to land. + +The old frog sat down in the mud, and decked her house with sedge and +yellow water-reeds, that it might be regularly beautiful when her new +daughter-in-law came. After this was done, she and her fat son swam +away to the lily leaf, where Tommelise stood, that they might fetch her +pretty little bed, and so have every thing ready before she herself +came to the house. + +The old frog courtesied to her in the water, and said,--"Allow me to +introduce my son to you, who is to be your husband, and you shall live +together, so charmingly, down in the mud!" + +"Koax, koax, brekke-ke-kex!" that was all that the son could say. + +So they took the pretty little bed, and swam away with it; but +Tommelise sat, quite alone, and wept, upon the green leaf, for she did +not wish to live with the queer-looking, yellow frog, nor to have her +ugly son for her husband. The little fishes which swam down in the +water had seen the frog, and had heard what she said; they put up, +therefore, their heads, to look at the little girl. The moment they +saw her they thought her very pretty; and they felt very sorry that +she should have to go down into the mud and live with the frog. No, +never should it be! They therefore went down into the water in a great +shoal, and gathered round the green stalk of the leaf upon which she +stood; they gnawed the stalk in two with their teeth, and thus the leaf +floated down the river. Slowly and quietly it floated away, a long way +off, where the frog could not come to it. + +Tommelise sailed past a great many places, and the little birds sat in +the bushes, looked at her, and sang,--"What a pretty little maiden!" +The leaf on which she stood floated away farther and farther, and, at +last, she came to a foreign land. + +A pretty little white butterfly stayed with her, and flew round about +her, and, at length, seated itself upon the leaf; for it knew little +Tommelise so well and she was so pleased, for she knew that now the +frog could not come near her, and the land to which she had come was +very beautiful. The sun shone upon the water, and it was like the most +lovely gold. She took off her girdle, therefore, and bound one end of +it to the butterfly, and the other end of it to the leaf, and thus she +glided on more swiftly than ever, and she stood upon the leaf as it +went. + +As she was thus sailing on charmingly, a large stag-beetle came flying +towards her; it paused for a moment to look at her, then clasped its +claws around her slender waist, and flew up into a tree with her, but +the green lily leaf floated down the stream, and the white butterfly +with it, because it was fastened to it, and could not get loose. + +Poor Tommelise! how frightened she was when the stag-beetle flew away +with her up into the tree! but she was most of all distressed for the +lovely white butterfly which she had fastened to the leaf. But that did +not trouble the stag-beetle at all. It seated itself upon one of the +largest green leaves of the tree, gave her the honey of the flowers +to eat, and said that she was very pretty, although she was not at +all like a stag-beetle. Before long, all the other stag-beetles that +lived in the tree came to pay her a visit; they looked at Tommelise; +and the misses stag-beetle, they examined her with their antennæ, and +said,--"Why, she has only two legs, that is very extraordinary!" "She +has no antennæ!" said the others. "She has such a thin body! Why she +looks just like a human being!" "How ugly she is!" said all the lady +stag-beetles; and yet Tommelise was exceedingly pretty. + +The stag-beetle which had carried her away had thought so himself, at +first; but now, as all the others said that she was ugly, he fancied, +at last, that she was so, and would not have her, and she could now +go where she would. They flew down with her out of the tree, and set +her upon a daisy. Here she wept, because she was so ugly, and the +stag-beetles would have nothing to do with her; and yet she really was +so very lovely as nobody could imagine, as delicate and bright as the +most beautiful rose leaf! + +Poor Tommelise lived all that long summer, though quite alone, in +the great wood. She wove herself a bed of grass, and hung it under a +large plantain leaf, so that the rain could not come to her; she fed +from the honey of the flowers, and drank of the dew which stood in +glittering drops every morning on the grass. Thus passed the summer +and the autumn; but now came winter, the cold, long winter. All the +birds which had sung so sweetly to her were flown away; the trees and +the flowers withered; the large plantain leaf under which she had +dwelt shrunk together, and became nothing but a dry, yellow stalk; and +she was so cold, for her clothes were in rags; and she herself was so +delicate and small!--poor Tommelise, she was almost frozen to death! It +began to snow, and every snow-flake which fell upon her was just as if +a whole drawer-full had been thrown upon us, for we are strong, and she +was so very, very small! She crept, therefore, into a withered leaf, +but that could not keep her warm; she shook with the cold. + +Close beside the wood in which she now was, lay a large cornfield; +but the corn had long been carried; nothing remained but dry stubble, +which stood up on the frozen ground. It was, to her, like going into +a bare wood--Oh! how she shivered with cold! Before long she came to +the fieldmouse's door. The fieldmouse had a little cave down below the +roots of the corn-stubble, and here she dwelt warm and comfortable, +and had whole rooms full of corn, and a beautiful kitchen and a +store-closet. Poor Tommelise stood before the door, like any other +little beggar-child, and prayed for a little bit of a barley-corn, for +she had now been two whole days without having eaten the least morsel. + +"Thou poor little thing!" said the fieldmouse, for she was at heart +a good old fieldmouse; "come into my warm parlor, and have a bit of +dinner with me." + +How kind that seemed to Tommelise! + +"Thou canst stop with me the whole winter," said the old fieldmouse; +"but then thou must be my little maid, and keep my parlor neat and +clean, and tell me tales to amuse me, for I am very fond of them!" And +Tommelise did all that the good old fieldmouse desired of her, and was +very comfortable. + +"Before long we shall have a visitor," said the fieldmouse, soon after +Tommelise was settled in her place; "my neighbor is accustomed to +visit me once a week. He is much better off in the world than I am; he +has a large house, and always wears such a splendid velvet dress! If +thou couldst only manage to get him for thy husband, thou wouldst be +lucky,--but then he is blind. Thou canst tell him the very prettiest +story thou knowest." + +But Tommelise gave herself no trouble about him; she did not wish to +have the neighbor, for he was only a mole. He came and paid his visits +in his black velvet dress; he was very rich and learned, the fieldmouse +said, and his dwelling-house was twenty times larger than hers; and he +had such a deal of earning, although he made but little of the sum and +the beautiful flowers; he laughed at them; but then he had never seen +them! + +The fieldmouse insisted on Tommelise singing, so she sang. She sang +both "Fly, stag-beetle, fly!" and "The green moss grows by the water +side;" and the mole fell deeply in love with her, for the sake of her +sweet voice, but he did not say any thing, for he was a very discreet +gentleman. + +He had lately dug a long passage through the earth, between his house +and theirs; and in this he gave Tommelise and the fieldmouse leave +to walk whenever they liked. But he told them not to be afraid of a +dead bird which lay in the passage, for it was an entire bird, with +feathers and a beak; which certainly was dead just lately, at the +beginning of winter, and had been buried exactly where he began his +passage. + +The mole took a piece of touchwood in his mouth, for it shines just +like fire in the dark, and went before them, to light them in the long, +dark passage. When they were come where the dead bird lay, the mole +set his broad nose to the ground, and ploughed up the earth, so that +there was a large hole, through which the daylight could shine. In +the middle of the floor lay a dead swallow, with its beautiful wings +pressed close to its sides. Its legs and head were drawn up under the +feathers; the poor bird had certainly died of cold. Tommelise was very +sorry for it, for she was so fond of little birds; they had, through +the whole summer, sung and twittered so beautifully to her; but the +mole stood beside it, with his short legs, and said,--"Now it will +tweedle no more! It must be a shocking thing to be born a little bird; +thank goodness that none of my children have been such; for a bird +has nothing at all but its singing; and it may be starved to death in +winter!" + +"Yes, that you, who are a sensible man, may well say," said the +fieldmouse; "what has the bird, with all its piping and singing, when +winter comes? It may be famished or frozen!" + +Tommelise said nothing; but when the two others had turned their backs, +she bent over it, stroked aside the feathers which lay over its head, +and kissed its closed eyes. + +"Perhaps it was that same swallow which sang so sweetly to me in +summer," thought she; "what a deal of pleasure it caused me, the dear, +beautiful bird!" + +The mole stopped up the opening which it had made for the daylight +to come in, and accompanied the ladies home. Tommelise, however, +could not sleep in the night; so she got up out of bed, and wove a +small, beautiful mat of hay; and that she carried down and spread +over the dead bird; laid soft cotton-wool, which she had found in the +fieldmouse's parlor, around the bird, that it might lie warm in the +cold earth. + +"Farewell, thou pretty little bird," said she; "farewell, and thanks +for thy beautiful song, in summer, when all the trees were green, and +the sun shone so warmly upon us!" + +With this she laid her head upon the bird's breast, and the same moment +was quite amazed, for it seemed to her as if there were a slight +movement within it. It was the bird's heart. The bird was not dead; it +lay in a swoon, and now being warmed, it was reanimated. + +In the autumn all the swallows fly away to the warm countries; but if +there be one which tarries behind, it becomes stiff with cold, so that +it falls down as if dead, and the winter's snow covers it. + +Tommelise was quite terrified, for in comparison with her the bird +was a very large creature; but she took courage, however, laid the +cotton-wool closer around the poor swallow, and fetched a coverlet of +chrysanthemum leaves, which she had for her bed, and laid it over its +head. + +Next night she listened again, and it was quite living, but so weak +that it could only open its eyes a very little, and see Tommelise, who +stood with a piece of touchwood in her hand, for other light she had +none. + +"Thanks thou shalt have, thou pretty little child!" said the sick +swallow to her; "I have been beautifully revived! I shall soon recover +my strength, and be able to fly again out into the warm sunshine!" + +"O," said she, "it is so cold out-of-doors! it snows and freezes! stop +in thy warm bed, and I will nurse thee!" + +She brought the swallow water, in a flower-leaf, and it drank it, and +related to her how it had torn one of its wings upon a thorn-bush, and, +therefore, had not been able to fly so well as the other swallows, who +had flown far, far away, into the warm countries. It had, at last, +fallen down upon the ground; but more than that it knew not, nor how it +had come there. + +During the whole winter it continued down here, and Tommelise was very +kind to it, and became very fond of it; but neither the mole nor the +fieldmouse knew any thing about it, for they could not endure swallows. + +As soon as ever spring came, and the sun shone warm into the earth, +the swallow bade farewell to Tommelise, who opened the hole which the +mole had covered up. The sun shone so delightfully down into it, and +the swallow asked whether she would not go with him; she might sit upon +his back, and he would fly out with her far into the green-wood. But +Tommelise knew that it would distress the old fieldmouse if she thus +left her. + +"No, I cannot," said Tommelise. + +"Farewell, farewell, thou good, sweet little maiden!" said the swallow, +and flew out into the sunshine. Tommelise looked after it, and the +tears came into her eyes, for she was very fond of the swallow, and she +felt quite forlorn now it was gone. + +"Quivit! quivit!" sung the bird, and flew into the green-wood. + +Tommelise was very sorrowful. She could not obtain leave to go out into +the warm sunshine. The corn which had been sown in the field above the +mouse's dwelling, had grown so high that it was now like a thick wood +to her. + +"Now, during this summer, thou shalt get thy wedding clothes ready," +said the fieldmouse to her; for the old neighbor, the wealthy mole, had +presented himself as a wooer. + +"Thou shalt have both woollen and linen clothes; thou shalt have both +table and body linen, if thou wilt be the mole's wife," said the old +fieldmouse. + +Tommelise was obliged to sit down and spin; and the fieldmouse hired +six spiders to spin and weave both night and day. Every evening the +mole came to pay a visit, and always said that when the summer was +ended, and the sun did not shine so hotly as to bake the earth to a +stone,--yes, when the summer was over, then he and Tommelise would have +a grand wedding; but this never gave her any pleasure, for she did not +like the wealthy old gentleman. Every morning, when the sun rose, and +every evening, when it set, she stole out to the door; and if the wind +blew the ears of corn aside so that she could see the blue sky, she +thought how bright and beautiful it was out there, and she wished so +much that she could, just once more, see the dear swallow. But he never +came; he certainly had flown far, far away from the lovely green-wood. + +It was now autumn, and all Tommelise's wedding things were ready. + +"In four weeks thou shalt be married," said the old fieldmouse to her. +But Tommelise cried, and said that she would not have the rich mole. + +"Snick, snack!" said the fieldmouse; "do not go and be obstinate, else +I shall bite thee with my white teeth! He is, indeed, a very fine +gentleman! The queen herself has not got a dress equal to his black +velvet! He has riches both in kitchen and coffer. Be thankful that thou +canst get such a one!" + +So the wedding was fixed. The bridegroom was already come, in his best +black velvet suit, to fetch away Tommelise. She was to live with him +deep under ground, never to come out into the warm sunshine, for that +he could not bear. The poor child was full of sorrow; she must once +more say farewell to the beautiful sun; and she begged so hard, that +the fieldmouse gave her leave to go to the door to do so. + +"Farewell, thou bright sun!" said she, and stretched forth her arms, +and went a few paces from the fieldmouse's door, for the corn was now +cut, and again there was nothing but the dry stubble. + +"Farewell! farewell!" said she, and threw her small arms around a +little red flower which grew there; "greet the little swallow for me, +if thou chance to see him!" + +"Quivit! quivit!" said the swallow, that very moment, above her head; +she looked up, there was the little swallow, which had just come by. As +soon as Tommelise saw it, she was very glad; she told it how unwilling +she was to marry the rich old mole, and live so deep underground, where +the sun never shone. She could not help weeping as she told him. + +"The cold winter is just at hand," said the little swallow; "I am +going far away to the warm countries, wilt thou go with me? Thou canst +sit upon my back; bind thyself fast with thy girdle, and so we will +fly away from the rich mole and his dark parlor, far away over the +mountains, to the warm countries, where the sun shines more beautifully +than here, and where there always is summer, and where the beautiful +flowers are always in bloom. Only fly away with me, thou sweet little +Tommelise, who didst save my life when I lay frozen in the dark prison +of the earth!" + +"Yes, I will go with thee!" said Tommelise, and seated herself upon +the bird's back, with her feet upon one of his outspread wings. She +bound her girdle to one of the strongest of his feathers, and thus +the swallow flew aloft into the air, over wood and over sea, high up +above the great mountains, where lies the perpetual snow, and Tommelise +shivered with the intensely cold air; but she then crept among the +bird's warm feathers, and only put out her little head, that she might +look at all the magnificent prospect that lay below her. + +Thus they came to the warm countries. There the sun shone much brighter +than it does here; the heavens were twice as high, and upon trellis +and hedge grew the most splendid purple and green grapes. Oranges and +lemons hung golden in the woods, and myrtle and wild thyme sent forth +their fragrance; the most beautiful children, on the highways, ran +after and played with large, brilliantly-colored butterflies. But the +swallow still flew onward, and it became more and more beautiful. Among +lovely green trees, and beside a beautiful blue lake, stood a palace, +built of the shining white marble of antiquity. Vines clambered up the +tall pillars; on the topmost of these were many swallow nests, and in +one of these dwelt the very swallow which carried Tommelise. + +"Here is my home!" said the swallow; "but wilt thou now seek out for +thyself one of the lovely flowers which grow below, and then I will +place thee there, and thou shalt make thyself as comfortable as thou +pleasest?" + +"That is charming!" said she, and clapped her small hands. + +Just by there lay a large white marble pillar, which had fallen down, +and broken into three pieces, but amongst these grew the most exquisite +large white flowers. + +The swallow flew down with Tommelise, and seated her upon one of the +broad leaves,--but how amazed she was! There sat a little man in the +middle of the flower, as white and transparent as if he were of glass; +the most lovely crown of gold was upon his head, and the most beautiful +bright wings upon his shoulders; and he, too, was no larger than +Tommelise. He was the angel of the flower. In every flower lived such a +little man or woman, but this was the king of them all. + +"Good heavens! how small he is!" whispered Tommelise to the swallow. +The little prince was as much frightened at the swallow, for it was, +indeed, a great, gigantic bird in comparison of him, who was so very +small and delicate; but when he saw Tommelise he was very glad, for +she was the prettiest little maiden that ever he had seen. He took, +therefore, the golden crown from off his head, and set it upon hers, +and asked her what was her name, and whether she would be his wife, and +be the queen of all the flowers? Yes, he was really and truly a little +man, quite different to the frog's son, and to the mole, with his black +velvet dress; she therefore said, Yes, to the pretty prince; and so +there came out of every flower a lady or a gentleman, so lovely that +it was quite a pleasure to see them, and brought, every one of them, +a present to Tommelise; but the best of all was a pair of beautiful +wings, of fine white pearl, and these were fastened on Tommelise's +shoulders, and thus she also could fly from flower to flower,--that was +such a delight! And the little swallow sat up in its nest and sang to +them as well as it could, but still it was a little bit sad at heart, +for it was very fond of Tommelise, and wished never to have parted +from her. + +"Thou shalt not be called Tommelise!" said the angel of the flowers to +her; "it is an ugly name, and thou art so beautiful. We will call thee +Maia!" + +"Farewell, farewell!" said the little swallow, and flew again forth +from the warm countries, far, far away, to Denmark. There it had a +little nest above the window of a room in which dwelt a poet, who can +tell beautiful tales; for him it sang,--"Quivit, quivit!" and from the +swallow, therefore, have we this history. + + + + +THE ROSE-ELF. + + +There grew a rose-tree in the middle of a garden; it was quite full of +roses; and in one of these, the prettiest of them all, dwelt an elf. He +was so very, very small, that no human eye could see him; behind every +leaf in the rose he had a sleeping-room; he was as well-formed and as +pretty as any child could be, and had wings, which reached from his +shoulders down to his feet. O, how fragrant were his chambers, and how +bright and beautiful the walls were! They were, indeed, the pale pink, +delicate rose leaves. + +All day long he enjoyed himself in the warm sunshine, flew from flower +to flower, danced upon the wings of the fluttering butterfly, or +counted how many paces it was from one footpath to another, upon one +single lime leaf. What he considered as footpaths, were what we call +veins in the leaf; yes, it was an immense way for him! Before he had +finished, the sun had set; thus, he had begun too late. + +It became very cold; the dew fell, and the wind blew; the best thing he +could do was to get home as fast as he could. He made as much haste as +was possible, but all the roses had closed--he could not get in; there +was not one single rose open; the poor little elf was quite terrified, +he had never been out in the night before; he always had slept in the +snug little rose leaf. Now, he certainly would get his death of cold! + +At the other end of the garden he knew that there was an arbor, all +covered with beautiful honeysuckle. The flowers looked like exquisitely +painted horns; he determined to creep down into one of these, and sleep +there till morning. + +He flew thither. Listen! There are two people within the bower; the +one, a handsome young man, and the other, the loveliest young lady that +ever was seen; they sat side by side, and wished that they never might +be parted, through all eternity. They loved each other very dearly, +more dearly than the best child can love either its father or mother. + +They kissed each other; and the young lady wept, and gave him a rose; +but before she gave it to him she pressed it to her lips, and that with +such a deep tenderness, that the rose opened, and the little elf flew +into it, and nestled down into its fragrant chamber. As he lay there, +he could very plainly hear that they said,--Farewell! farewell! to each +other; and then he felt that the rose had its place on the young man's +breast. Oh! how his heart beat!--the little elf could not go to sleep +because the young man's heart beat so much. + +The rose lay there; the young man took it forth whilst he went through +a dark wood, and kissed it with such vehemence that the little elf was +almost crushed to death; he could feel, through the leaves, how warm +were the young man's lips, and the rose gave forth its odor, as if to +the noon-day's sun. + +Then came another man through the wood; he was dark and wrathful, and +was the handsome young lady's cruel brother. He drew forth from its +sheath a long and sharp dagger, and whilst the young man kissed the +rose, the wicked man stabbed him to death, and then buried him in the +bloody earth, under a lime tree. + +"Now he is gone and forgotten!" thought the wicked man; "he will never +come back again. He is gone a long journey over mountains and seas; it +would be an easy thing for him to lose his life,--and he has done so! +He will never come back again, and I fancy my sister will never ask +after him." + +He covered the troubled earth, in which he had laid the dead body, with +withered leaves, and then set off home again, through the dark night; +but he went not alone, as he fancied; the little elf went with him; it +sat in a withered, curled-up lime leaf, which had fallen upon the hair +of the cruel man as he dug the grave. He had now put his hat on, and, +within, it was very dark; and the little elf trembled with horror and +anger over the wicked deed. + +In the early hour of morning he came home; he took off his hat, and +went into his sister's chamber; there lay the beautiful, blooming +maiden, and dreamed about the handsome young man. She loved him very +dearly, and thought that now he went over mountains and through woods. +The cruel brother bent over her; what were his thoughts we know not, +but they must have been evil. The withered lime leaf fell from his hair +down upon the bed cover, but he did not notice it; and so he went out, +that he, too, might sleep a little in the morning hour. + +But the elf crept out of the withered leaf, crept to the ear of the +sleeping maiden, and told her, as if in a dream, of the fearful murder; +described to her the very place where he had been stabbed, and where +his body lay; it told about the blossoming lime tree close beside, and +said,--"And that thou mayest not fancy that this is a dream which I +tell thee, thou wilt find a withered lime leaf upon thy bed!" + +And she found it when she woke. + +Oh! what salt tears she wept, and she did not dare to tell her sorrow +to any one. The window stood open all day, and the little elf could +easily go out into the garden, to the roses and all the other flowers; +but for all that, he resolved not to leave the sorrowful maiden. + +In the window there stood a monthly rose, and he placed himself in one +of its flowers, and there could be near the poor young lady who was so +unhappy. Her brother came often into her room, but she could not say +one word about the great sorrow of her heart. + +As soon as it was night she stole out of the house, went to the wood, +and to the very place where the lime tree stood; tore away the dead +leaves from the sod, dug down, and found him who was dead! Oh! how she +wept and prayed our Lord, that she, too, might soon die! + +Gladly would she have taken the body home with her,--but that she could +not; so she cut away a beautiful lock of his hair, and laid it near her +heart! + +Not a word she said; and when she had laid earth and leaves again upon +the dead body, she went home; and took with her a little jasmine tree, +which grew, full of blossoms, in the wood where he had met with his +death. + +As soon as she returned to her chamber, she took a very pretty +flower-pot, and, filling it with mould, laid in it the beautiful +curling hair, and planted in it the jasmine tree. + +"Farewell, farewell!" whispered the little elf; he could no longer bear +to see her grief, so he flew out into the garden, to his rose; but its +leaves had fallen; nothing remained of it but the four green calix +leaves. + +"Ah! how soon it is over with all that is good and beautiful!" sighed +he. At last he found a rose,--which became his house; he crept among +its fragrant leaves, and dwelt there. + +Every morning he flew to the poor young lady's window, and there she +always stood by the flower-pot, and wept. Her salt tears fell upon the +jasmine twigs, and every day, as she grew paler and paler, they became +more fresh and green; one cluster of flower-buds grew after another; +and then the small white buds opened into flowers, and she kissed them. +Her cruel brother scolded her, and asked her whether she had lost her +senses. He could not imagine why she always wept over that flower-pot, +but he did not know what secret lay within its dark mould. But she knew +it; she bowed her head over the jasmine bloom, and sank exhausted on +her couch. The little rose-elf found her thus, and, stealing to her +ear he whispered to her about the evening in the honeysuckle arbor, +about the rose's fragrance, and the love which he, the little elf, had +for her. She dreamed so sweetly, and while she dreamed, the beautiful +angel of death conveyed her spirit away from this world, and she was in +heaven with him who was so dear to her. + +The jasmine buds opened their large white flowers; their fragrance was +wondrously sweet. + +When the cruel brother saw the beautiful blossoming tree, he took it, +as an heir-loom of his sister, and set it in his sleeping-room, just +beside his bed, for it was pleasant to look at, and the fragrance was +so rich and uncommon. The little rose-elf went with it, and flew from +blossom to blossom. In every blossom there dwelt a little spirit, and +to it he told about the murdered young man, whose beautiful curling +locks lay under their roots; told about the cruel brother, and the +heart-broken sister. + +"We know all about it," said the little spirit of each flower; "we know +it! we know it! we know it!" and with that they nodded very knowingly. + +The rose-elf could not understand them, nor why they seemed so merry, +so he flew out to the bees which collected honey, and told them all the +story. The bees told it to their queen, who gave orders that, the next +morning, they should all go and stab the murderer to death with their +sharp little daggers; for that seemed the right thing to the queen-bee. + +But that very night, which was the first night after the sister's +death, as the brother slept in his bed, beside the fragrant jasmine +tree, every little flower opened itself, and all invisibly came forth +the spirits of the flower, each with a poisoned arrow; first of all +they seated themselves by his ear, and sent such awful dreams to his +brain as made him, for the first time, tremble at the deed he had done. +They then shot at him with their invisible poisoned arrows. + +"Now we have avenged the dead!" said they, and flew back to the white +cups of the jasmine-flowers. + +As soon as it was morning, the window of the chamber was opened, and in +came the rose-elf, with the queen of the bees and all her swarm. + +But he was already dead; there stood the people round about his bed, +and they said--"That the strong-scented jasmine had been the death of +him!" + +Then did the rose-elf understand the revenge which the flowers had +taken, and he told it to the queen-bee, and she came buzzing, with all +her swarm, around the jasmine-pot. + +The bees were not to be driven away; so one of the servants took up the +pot to carry it out, and one of the bees stung him, and he let the pot +fall, and it was broken in two. + +Then they all saw the beautiful hair of the murdered young man; and so +they knew that he who lay in the bed was the murderer. + +The queen-bee went out humming into the sunshine, and she sung about +how the flowers had avenged the young man's death; and that behind +every little flower-leaf is an eye which can see every wicked deed. + +Old and young, think on this! and so, Fare ye well. + + + + +THE GARDEN OF PARADISE. + + +There was a king's son: nobody had so many, or such beautiful books +as he had. Every thing which had been done in this world he could +read about, and see represented in splendid pictures. He could give +a description of every people and every country; but--where was the +Garden of Paradise?--of that he could not learn one word; and that it +was of which he thought most. + +His grandmother had told him, when he was quite a little boy, and first +began to go to school, that every flower in the Garden of Paradise +was the most delicious cake; one was history, another geography, a +third, tables, and it was only needful to eat one of these cakes, and +so the lesson was learned; and the more was eaten of them, the better +acquainted they were with history, geography, and tables. + +At that time he believed all this; but when he grew a bigger boy, and +had learned more, and was wiser, he was quite sure that there must be +some other very different delight in this Garden of Paradise. + +"Oh! why did Eve gather of the tree of knowledge? why did Adam eat the +forbidden fruit? If it had been me, I never would have done so! If it +had been me, sin should never have entered into the world!" + +So said he, many a time, when he was young; so said he when he was much +older! The Garden of Paradise filled his whole thoughts. + +One day he went into the wood; he went alone, for that was his greatest +delight. + +The evening came. The clouds drew together; it began to rain as if +the whole heavens were one single sluice, of which the gate was open; +it was quite dark, or like night in the deepest well. Now, he slipped +in the wet grass; now, he tumbled over the bare stones, which were +scattered over the rocky ground. Every thing streamed with water; not a +dry thread remained upon the prince. He was obliged to crawl up over +the great blocks of stone, where the water poured out of the wet moss. +He was ready to faint. At that moment he heard a remarkable sound, and +before him he saw a large, illuminated cave. In the middle of it burned +a fire, so large that a stag might have been roasted at it,--and so it +was; the most magnificent stag, with his tall antlers, was placed upon +a spit, and was slowly turning round between two fir trees, which had +been hewn down. A very ancient woman, tall and strong, as if she had +been a man dressed up in woman's clothes, sat by the fire, and threw +one stick after another upon it. + +"Come nearer!" said she, seeing the prince; "sit down by the fire, and +dry thy clothes." + +"It is bad travelling to-night," said the prince; and seated himself on +the floor of the cave. + +"It will be worse yet, when my sons come home!" replied the woman. +"Thou art in the cave of the winds; my sons are the four winds of the +earth; canst thou understand?" + +"Where are thy sons?" asked the prince. + +"Yes, it is not well to ask questions, when the questions are +foolish," said the woman. "My sons are queer fellows; they play at +bowls with the clouds, up in the big room there;" and with that she +pointed up into the air. + +"Indeed!" said the prince, "and you talk somewhat gruffly, and are not +as gentle as the ladies whom I am accustomed to see around me." + +"Yes, yes, they have nothing else to do!" said she; "I must be gruff +if I would keep my lads in order! But I can do it, although they have +stiff necks. Dost thou see the four sacks which hang on the wall; they +are just as much afraid of them, as thou art of the birch-rod behind +the looking-glass! I can double up the lads, as I shall, perhaps, have +to show thee, and so put them into the bags; I make no difficulties +about that; and so I fasten them in, and don't let them go running +about, for I do not find that desirable. But here we have one of them." + +With that in came the northwind; he came tramping in with an icy +coldness; great, round hail-stones hopped upon the floor, and +snow-flakes flew round about. He was dressed in a bear's-skin jerkin +and hose; a hat of seal's-skin was pulled over his ears; long icicles +hung from his beard, and one hail-stone after another fell down upon +his jerkin-collar. + +"Do not directly go to the fire!" said the prince, "else thou wilt have +the frost in thy hands and face!" + +"Frost!" said the northwind, and laughed aloud. "Frost! that is +precisely my greatest delight! What sort of a little dandified chap art +thou? What made thee come into the winds' cave?" + +"He is my guest!" said the old woman; "and if that explanation does not +please thee, thou canst get into the bag!--now thou knowest my mind!" + +This had the desired effect; and the northwind sat down, and began to +tell where he was come from, and where he had been for the greater part +of the last month. + +"I come from the Arctic Sea; I have been upon Bear Island with the +Russian walrus-hunters. I lay and slept whilst they sailed up to the +North Cape. When I now and then woke up a little, how the storm-birds +flew about my legs! They are ridiculous birds! they make a quick stroke +with their wings, and then keep them immoveably expanded, and yet they +get on." + +"Don't be so diffuse!" said the winds' mother; "and so you came to Bear +Island." + +"That is a charming place; that is a floor to dance upon!" roared the +northwind, "as flat as a pan-cake! Half covered with snow and dwarfish +mosses, sharp stones and leg-bones of walruses and ice-bears lie +scattered about, looking like the arms and legs of giants. One would +think that the sun never had shone upon them. I blew the mist aside a +little, that one might see the erection there; it was a house, built +of pieces of wrecks, covered with the skin of the walrus, the fleshy +side turned outward; upon the roof sat a living ice-bear, and growled. +I went down to the shore, and looked at the birds' nests, in which were +the unfledged young ones, which screamed, and held up their gaping +beaks; with that I blew down a thousand throats, and they learned to +shut their mouths. Down below tumbled about the walruses, like gigantic +ascarides, with pigs' heads and teeth an ell long!" + +"Thou tell'st it very well, my lad!" said the mother; "it makes my +mouth water to hear thee!" + +"So the hunting began," continued the northwind. "The harpoons were +struck into the breast of the walrus, so that the smoking blood started +like a fountain over the iron. I then thought of having some fun! I +blew, and let my great ships, the mountain-like fields of ice, shut in +the boats. How the people shrieked and cried; but I cried louder than +they! The dead bodies of their fish, their chests and cordage, were +they obliged to throw out upon the ice! I showered snow-flakes upon +them, and left them, in their imprisoned ship, to drive southward with +their prey, there to taste salt-water. They will never again come to +Bear Island!" + +"It was very wrong of thee!" said the winds' mother. + +"The others can tell what good I have done!" said he! "And there we +have my brother from the west; I like him the best of them all; he +smacks of the sea, and has a blessed coldness about him!" + +"Is it the little zephyr?" inquired the prince. + +"Yes, certainly, it is the zephyr!" said the old woman; "but he is not +so little now. In old times he was a very pretty lad, but that is all +over now." + +He looked like a wild man, but he had one of those pads round his +head, which children used to wear formerly, to prevent them from being +hurt. He held in his hand a mahogany club, which had been cut in the +mahogany woods of America. + +"Where dost thou come from?" asked the mother. + +"From the forest-wilderness," said he, "where the prickly lianas makes +a fence around every tree; where the water-snakes lie in the wet grass, +and man seems superfluous!" + +"What didst thou do there?" + +"I looked at the vast river, saw how it was hurled from the cliffs, +became mist, and was thrown back into the clouds, to become rainbows. I +saw the wild buffalo swim in the river; but the stream bore him along +with it; madly did it bear him onward, faster and faster, to where the +river was hurled down the cliffs--down, also, must he go! I bethought +myself, and blew a hurricane, so the old trees of the forest were torn +up, and carried down, too, and became splinters!" + +"And didst thou do any thing else?" asked the old woman. + +"I tumbled head-over-heels in the Savannas; I have patted the wild +horses, and shook down cocoa-nuts! Yes, yes, I could tell tales, if +I would! But one must not tell all one knows, that thou know'st, old +lady!" said he, and kissed his mother so roughly that he nearly knocked +her backward from her chair; he was a regularly wild fellow. + +Now came in the southwind, with a turban on his head, and a flying +Bedouin-cloak. + +"It is dreadfully cold out here!" said he, and threw more wood on the +fire; "one can very well tell that the northwind has come first!" + +"Here it is so hot, that one might roast an ice-bear!" said the +northwind. + +"You are an ice-bear, yourself!" replied the southwind. + +"Do you want to go in the bags?" asked the old woman; "sit down on the +stone, and tell us where thou hast been." + +"In Africa, mother," said he; "I have been lion-hunting, with the +Hottentots, in Caffreland. What grass grows in the fields there, as +green as the olive! There dances the gnu; and the ostrich ran races +with me, but my legs were the nimblest. I came to the deserts of yellow +sand, which look like the surface of the ocean. There I met a caravan! +They had killed their last camel to get water to drink, but they only +found a little. The sun burned above them, and the sand beneath their +feet. There was no limit to the vast desert. I then rolled myself in +the fine, loose sand, and whirled it up in great pillars--that was a +dance! You should have seen how close the dromedaries stood together, +and the merchants pulled their kaftans over their heads. They threw +themselves down before me, as if before Allah, their god. They are now +buried; a pyramid of sand lies heaped above them; I shall, some day, +blow it away, and then the sun will bleach their white bones, and so +travellers can see that there have been human beings before them in the +desert; without this it were hard to believe it!" + +"Thou, also, hast done badly!" said the mother. "March into the bag!" +and before the southwind knew what she would be at, she had seized him +by the body, and thrust him into the bag. The bag, with him in it, +rolled about on the floor; but she seized it, held it fast, and sat +down upon it; so he was forced to lie still. + +"They are rough fellows!" said the prince. + +"So they are!" returned she; "but I can chastise them! But here we have +the fourth!" + +This was the eastwind, and he was dressed like a Chinese. + +"Indeed! so thou comest from that corner, dost thou?" asked the mother; +"I fancied that thou hadst been to the Garden of Paradise." + +"I shall go there to-morrow," said the eastwind. "It will be a hundred +years, to-morrow, since I was there. I am now come from China, where +I have been dancing around the porcelain tower, till all the bells +have rung. Down in the street the royal officers were beating people; +bamboos were busy with their shoulders, and from the first, down to the +ninth rank, they cried out--'Thanks, my fatherly benefactor!' but they +did not mean any thing by it; and I rung the bells, and sang--'Tsing, +tsang, tsu! Tsing, tsang, tsu!'" + +"Thou art merry about it," said the old woman; "it is a good thing that +to-morrow morning thou art going to the Garden of Paradise; that always +mends thy manners! Drink deeply of wisdom's well, and bring a little +bottleful home with thee, for me!" + +"That I will!" said the eastwind; "but why hast thou put my brother +from the south down in the bag? Let him come out! I want him to tell +me about the phoenix; the princess of the Garden of Paradise always +likes to hear about it, when I go, every hundred years, to see her. +Open the bag! and so thou shalt be my sweetest mother, and I will give +thee a pocketful of tea, very fresh and green, which I myself gathered, +on the spot!" + +"Nay, for the sake of the tea, and because thou art my darling, I will +open the bag!" + +She did so, and the southwind crept out, and looked so ashamed, because +the foreign prince had seen him. + +"There hast thou a palm leaf for the princess," said the southwind; +"that leaf was given to me by the phoenix bird, the only one in the +whole world. He has written upon it, with his beak, the whole history +of his life during the hundred years that he lived; now she can read it +herself. I saw how the phoenix himself set fire to his nest, and sat +in it and burned like a Hindoo widow. How the dry branches crackled! +There was a smoke and an odor. At length it flamed up into a blaze; the +old phoenix was burned to ashes, but its egg lay glowingly red in the +fire; then it burst open with a great report, and the young one flew +out; now it is the regent of all birds, and the only phoenix in the +whole world. He has bitten a hole in the palm leaf which I gave thee; +it is his greeting to the princess." + +"Let us now have something to strengthen us!" said the mother of the +winds; and with that they all seated themselves, and ate of the roasted +stag; and the prince sat at the side of the eastwind, and therefore +they soon became good friends. + +"Listen, and tell me," said the prince, "what sort of a princess is +that of which thou hast said so much, and who lives in the Garden of +Paradise?" + +"Ho! ho!" said the eastwind, "if you wish to go there, you can fly with +me there to-morrow morning. This, however, I must tell you, there has +been no human being there since Adam and Eve's time. You have heard of +them, no doubt, in the Bible." + +"Yes, to be sure!" said the prince. + +"At the time when they were driven out," said the eastwind, "the +Garden of Paradise sank down into the earth; but it still preserved its +warm sunshine, its gentle air, and its wonderful beauty. The queen of +the fairies lives there; there lies the Island of Bliss, where sorrow +never comes, and where it is felicity to be. Seat thyself on my back +to-morrow morning, and so I will take thee with me. I think that will +be permitted. But now thou must not talk any more, for I want to go to +sleep!" + +And so they all slept together. + +Early the next morning the prince awoke, and was not a little amazed to +find himself already high above the clouds. He sat upon the back of the +eastwind, which kept firm hold of him. They were so high in the air, +that the woods and fields, the rivers and sea, showed themselves as if +upon a large illustrated map. + +"Good-morning," said the eastwind; "thou mightest have slept a little +bit longer, for there is not much to see upon the flat country below +us, unless thou hast any pleasure in counting the churches, which stand +like dots of chalk upon the green board." + +They were the fields and meadows which he called the green board. + +"It was very ill-mannered that I did not say good-by to thy mother and +brothers," said the prince. + +"There is no blame when people are asleep!" said the eastwind; and with +that flew away faster than ever. One could have heard, as they went +over the woods, how the trees shook their leaves and branches; one +could have heard, on lakes and seas that they were passing over, for +the billows heaved up more loftily, and the great ships bowed down into +the water like sailing swans. + +Towards evening, when it grew dusk, it was curious to look down to +the great cities; the lights burned within them, now here, now there; +it was exactly like the piece of paper which children burn to see the +multitude of little stars in it, which they call people coming out of +church. The prince clapped his hands, but the eastwind told him not +to do so, but much better to keep fast hold; or else he might let him +fall, and then, perhaps, he would pitch upon a church spire. + +The eagle flew lightly through the dark wood, but the eastwind flew +still lighter; the Cossack on his little horse sped away over the +plain, but the prince sped on more rapidly by another mode. + +"Now thou canst see the Himalaya," said the eastwind; "they are the +highest mountains in Asia; we shall not be long before we come to the +Garden of Paradise!" + +With that they turned more southward, and perceived the fragrance of +spice and flowers. Figs and pomegranates grew wild, and the wild vine +hung with its clusters of blue and red grapes. There they both of them +alighted, stretched themselves on the tender grass, where the flowers +nodded, as if they would say,--"Welcome back again!" + +"Are we now in the Garden of Paradise?" asked the prince. + +"No, certainly not," replied the eastwind; "but we shall soon come +there. Dost thou see the winding field-path there, and the great cavern +where the vine leaves hang like rich green curtains? We shall go +through there. Wrap thee in thy cloak; here the sun burns, but one step +more and it is icy cold! The birds which fly past the cavern have the +one, outer wing, in the warm summer, and the other, inner one, in the +cold winter!" + +"Really! And that is the way to the Garden of Paradise!" said the +prince. + +They now went into the cave. Ha! how ice-cold it was; but that did +not last long, for the southwind spread out his wings, and they gave +the warmth of the brightest fire. Nay, what a cavern it was! The huge +masses of stone, from which the water dripped, hung above them in the +most extraordinary shapes; before long it grew so narrow that they were +obliged to creep upon hands and feet; again, and it expanded itself +high and wide, like the free air. It looked like a chapel of the dead, +with its silent organ pipes and organ turned to stone! + +"Then we go the way of the dead to the Garden of Paradise," said the +prince; but the eastwind replied not a word, but pointed onward, and +the most lovely blue light beamed towards them. The masses of stone +above them became more and more like a chiselled ceiling, and at last +were bright, like a white cloud in the moonshine. They now breathed the +most deliciously mild atmosphere, as if fresh from the mountains, and +as fragrant as the roses of the valley. + +A river flowed on as clear as the air itself, and the fishes were of +gold and silver; crimson eels, whose every movement seemed to emit blue +sparks of fire, played down in the water, and the broad leaf of the +waterlily had all the colors of the rainbow; the flower itself was an +orange-colored burning flame, to which the water gave nourishment, in +the same manner as the oil keeps the lamp continually burning. A firm +bridge of marble, as artistically and as exquisitely built as if it had +been of pearl and glass, led across the water to the Island of Bliss, +where the Garden of Paradise bloomed. + +The eastwind took the prince in his arms and carried him over. The +flowers and the leaves began the most exquisite song about his youth, +so incomparably beautiful as no human voice could sing. + +Were they palm trees or gigantic water plants which grew there? Trees +so large and succulent the prince had never seen. Long garlands of the +most wondrously formed twining plants, such as one only sees painted +in rich colors and gold upon the margins of old missals, or which +twined themselves through their initial letters, were thrown from tree +to tree. It was altogether the most lovely and fantastic assemblage of +birds, flowers, and graceful sweeping branches. In the grass just by +them was a flock of peacocks, with outspread glittering tails. Yes, it +was really so!--No, when the prince touched them he observed that they +were not animals, but plants; it was the large plantain, which has the +dazzling hues of the peacock's tail! Lions and tigers gambolled about, +like playful cats, between the green hedges, which sent forth an odor +like the blossom of the olive; and the lions and tigers were tame; the +wild wood-dove glittered like the most beautiful pearl, and with its +wings playfully struck the lion on the cheek; and the antelope, which +usually is so timid, stood and nodded with its head, as if it too +should like to join in the sport. + +Now came the Fairy of Paradise; her garments shone like the sun, +and her countenance was as gentle as that of a glad mother when she +rejoices over her child. She was youthful; and the most beautiful +girls attended her, each of whom had a beaming star in her hair. + +The eastwind gave her a written leaf from the phoenix, and her eyes +sparkled with joy; she took the prince by the hand, and led him into +her castle, the walls of which were colored like the most splendid leaf +of the tulip when held against the sun. The ceiling itself was a large +glittering flower, and the longer one gazed into it the deeper seemed +its cup. The prince stepped up to the window and looked through one of +the panes; there he saw the Tree of Knowledge, with the snake and Adam +and Eve standing close beside it. + +"Are they not driven out?" asked he; and the Fairy smiled, and +explained to him that upon every pane of glass had time burned in its +picture, but not as we are accustomed to see it,--no, here all was +living; the trees moved their leaves, and people came and went as in +reality. He looked through another pane, and there was Jacob's dream, +where the ladder reached up to heaven, and the angels with their large +wings ascended and descended upon it. Yes, every thing which had been +done in this world lived and moved in these panes of glass. Such +pictures as these could only be burnt in by time. + +The Fairy smiled, and led him into a large and lofty hall, the walls +of which seemed transparent, and were covered with pictures, the one +more lovely than the other. These were the millions of the blessed, +and they smiled and sang so that all flowed together into one melody. +The uppermost were so small that they seemed less than the smallest +rosebud, when it looks like a pin-prick on paper. In the middle of +the hall stood a great tree with drooping luxuriant branches; golden +apples, large and small, hung like oranges among the green leaves. +It was the Tree of Knowledge; of the fruit of which Adam and Eve had +eaten. On every leaf hung a crimson drop of dew; it was as if the tree +wept tears of blood. + +"Let us now go into the boat," said the Fairy; "it will be refreshing +to us out upon the heaving water. The boat rocks, but does not move +from the place, and all the regions of the world pass before our eyes." + +And it was wonderful to see how the coast moved! There came the lofty, +snow-covered Alps, with clouds and dark pine trees; horns resounded +with such a deep melancholy, and peasants _jodelled_ sweetly in the +valleys. Now the banyan tree bowed its long depending branches over the +boat; black swans swam upon the water, and the strangest animals and +flowers showed themselves along the shores: this was Australia, the +fifth quarter of the world, which glided past, with its horizon bounded +by blue mountains. They heard the song of the priests, and saw the +savages dancing to the sound of the drum and bone-tubes. The pyramids +of Egypt now rose into the clouds; overturned pillars and sphinxes, +half buried in sand, sailed past them. The northern lights flamed above +the Hecla of the north; they were such magnificent fireworks as no one +could imitate. The prince was delighted, and in fact, he saw a hundred +times more than what we have related. + +"And may I always remain here?" asked he. + +"That depends upon thyself," replied the Fairy. "If thou do not, like +Adam, take of the forbidden thing, then thou mayest always remain here." + +"I shall not touch the apples upon the Tree of Knowledge," said the +prince; "here are a thousand fruits more beautiful than that. I should +never do as Adam did!" + +"Prove thyself, and if thou be not strong enough, then return with the +eastwind which brought thee; he is about to go back again, and will +not return here for a whole century. That time will pass to thee in +this place as if it were only a hundred minutes, but it is time enough +for temptation and sin. Every evening when I am about to leave thee, +I shall say to thee, 'Follow me!' and beckon to thee. But follow me +not, for with every step would the temptation become stronger, and thou +wouldst come into the hall where grows the Tree of Knowledge. I sleep +beneath its fragrant depending branches; if thou follow me, if thou +impress a kiss upon me, then will Paradise sink deep in the earth, and +it will be lost to thee. The sharp winds of the desert will howl around +thee, cold rain will fall upon thy hair, and sorrow and remorse will be +thy punishment!" + +"I will remain here!" said the prince; so the eastwind kissed his brow, +and said, "Be strong! and then we shall meet again here in a hundred +years!" + +The eastwind spread out his large wings, which shone like the harvest +moon in autumn, or the northern lights in the cold winter. + +"Farewell! farewell!" resounded from the flowers and the trees. The +storks and the pelicans flew after, in a line like a waving riband, and +accompanied him to the boundary of the Garden. + +"Now we begin our dance!" said the Fairy; "at the conclusion, when I +have danced with thee, thou wilt see that when the sun sets I shall +beckon to thee, and thou wilt hear me say, 'Follow me!' But do it not! +That is thy temptation--that is sin to thee! During a hundred years +I shall every evening repeat it. Every time that thou resistest the +temptation wilt thou gain more strength, till at length it will cease +to tempt thee. This evening is the first trial! Remember that I have +warned thee!" + +The Fairy led him into a great hall of white transparent lilies; in +each one the yellow stamina was a little golden harp, which rung with +clear and flute-like tones. The most beautiful maidens floated in the +dance, and sung how glorious was the gift of life; that they who were +purified by trial should never die, and that the Garden of Paradise +for them should bloom forever! + +The sun went down, the whole heaven became of gold, which gave to +the lilies the splendor of the most beautiful roses. The prince felt +a bliss within his heart such as he had never experienced before. +He looked, and the background of the hall opened, and the Tree of +Knowledge stood there with a splendor which dazzled his eyes. A song +resounded from it, low and delicious as the voice of his mother, and it +seemed as if she sung, "My child! my beloved child!" + +Then beckoned the Fairy, and said, "Follow, follow me!" + +He started towards her--he forgot his promise--forgot it all the first +evening! "Follow, follow me!" alone sounded in his heart. He paused +not--he hastened after her. + +"I will," said he; "there is really no sin in it! Why should I not do +so? I will see her! There is nothing lost if I only do not kiss her, +and that I will not do--for I have a firm will!" + +The Fairy put aside the green, depending branches of the Tree of +Knowledge, and the next moment was hidden from sight. + +"I have not sinned," said the prince, "and I will not!" He also put +aside the green, depending branches of the Tree of Knowledge, and +there sat the Fairy with her hands clasped, and the tears on her dark +eyelashes! + +"Weep not for me!" said he passionately. "There can be no sin in what +I have done; weep not!" and he kissed away her tears, and his lips +touched hers! + +At once a thunder crash was heard--a loud and deep thunder crash, and +all seemed hurled together! The beautiful, weeping Fairy, the Garden of +Paradise, sunk--sunk so deep--so deep!--and the prince saw it sink in +the deep night! Like a little gleaming star he saw it shining a long +way off! The coldness of death went through his limbs; he closed his +eyes, and lay long as if dead! + +The cold rain fell upon his face; the keen wind blew around his head; +his thoughts turned to the past. + +"What have I done!" sighed he; "I have sinned like Adam! Sinned, and I +have forfeited Paradise!" + +He opened his eyes; the star so far off, which had shone to him like +the sunken Paradise, he now saw was the morning star in heaven. + +He raised himself up, and was in the great wood near to the cave of the +winds; the old woman sat by his side, she looked angrily at him, and +lifted up her arm. + +"Already! the first time of trial!" said she: "I expected as much! Yes, +if thou wast a lad of mine, I would punish thee!" + +"Punishment will come!" said a strong old man, with a scythe in his +hand, and with large, black wings!--"I shall lay him in his coffin, but +not now. Let him return to the world, atone for his sin, and become +good in deed, and not alone in word. I shall come again; if he be then +good and pious, I will take him above the stars, where blooms the +Garden of Paradise; and he shall enter in at its beautiful pearl gates, +and be a dweller in it forever and ever; but if then his thoughts are +evil, and his heart full of sin, he will sink deeper than Paradise +seemed to sink--sink deeper, and that forever!--Farewell!" + +The prince arose--the old woman was gone--the cave of the winds was +nothing now but a hollow in the rock; he wondered how it had seemed so +large the night before; the morning star had set, and the sun shone +with a clear and cheerful light upon the little flowers and blades of +grass, which were heavy with the last night's rain; the birds sang, and +the bees hummed in the blossoms of the lime tree. The prince walked +home to his castle. He told his grandmother how he had been to the +Garden of Paradise, and what had happened to him there, and what the +old man with the black wings had said. + +"This will do thee more good than many book-lessons," said the old +grandmother; "never let it go out of thy memory!"--and the prince never +did. + + + + +A NIGHT IN THE KITCHEN. + + +Once upon a time, there was a bunch of brimstone matches, which were +exceedingly proud, because they were of high descent; their ancestral +tree, that is to say, the great fir tree, of which they were little +bits of chips, had been a great, old tree in the forest. The brimstone +matches now lay beside the kitchen fender, together with the tinder and +an old iron pot, and were speaking of their youth. + +"Yes, we were then on the green branch," said they; "then we were +really and truly on a green branch; every morning and evening we +drank diamond tea, that was the dew; every day we had sunshine, if +the sun shone, and all the little birds told us tales. We could very +well observe also, that we were rich; for the common trees were only +dressed in summer, but our family had a good stock of green clothing +both winter and summer. But then came the wood-cutters--that was a +great revolution, and our family was cut up root and branch; the main +head of the family, he took a place as mainmast in a magnificent ship, +which sailed round the world wherever it would; the other branches, +some took one place, and some took another; and we have now the post of +giving light to the common herd; and, therefore, high-born as we are, +are we now in the kitchen." + +"Yes, it was different with me," said the iron pot, when the matches +were silent; "as soon as ever I came into the world I was cleaned and +boiled many a time! I care for the solid, and am properly spoken of as +first in the house. My only pleasure is, as soon as dinner is over, to +lie clean and bright upon the shelf, and head a long row of comrades. +If I except the water-bucket, which now and then goes down in the yard, +we always live in-doors. Our only newsmonger is the coal-box; but it +talks so violently about government and the people!--yes, lately there +was an old pot, which, out of horror of it, fell down and broke to +pieces!" + +"Thou chatterest too much!" interrupted the tinder, and the steel +struck the flint until sparks came out. "Should we not have a merry +evening?" + +"Yes; let us talk about who is the most well-bred among us," said the +brimstone matches. + +"No, I don't think it right to talk about ourselves," said an earthen +jug; "let us have an evening's entertainment. I will begin; I will +tell something which everybody has experienced; people can do that so +seldom, and it is so pleasant. By the Baltic sea--" + +"That is a beautiful beginning!" said all the talkers; "it will +certainly be a history which we shall like." + +"Yes, then I passed my youth in a quiet family; the furniture was of +wood; the floors were scoured; they had clean curtains every fortnight." + +"How interestingly you tell it!" said the dusting-brush; "one can +immediately tell that the narrator is a lady, such a thread of purity +always runs through their relations." + +"Yes, that one can feel!" said the water-bucket, and made a little skip +of pleasure on the floor. + +And the earthen jug continued her story, and the end of it was like the +beginning. + +All the talkers shook for pleasure; and the dusting-brush took green +parsley leaves from the dust-heap, and crowned the jug; for he knew +that it would vex the others; and thinks he to himself, "If I crown her +to-day, she will crown me to-morrow!" + +"Now we will dance," said the fire-tongs; and began dancing. Yes, +indeed! and it is wonderful how he set one leg before the other; the +old shoehorn, which hung on a hook, jumped up to see it. "Perhaps I, +too, may get crowned," said the fire-tongs; and it was crowned. + +"They are only the rabble!" thought the brimstone matches. + +The tea-urn was then asked to sing; but it said it had got a cold, +and it could not sing unless it was boiling; but it was nothing but +an excuse, because it did not like to sing, unless it stood upon the +table, in grand company. + +In the window there sat an old pen, which the servant-girl was +accustomed to write with: there was nothing remarkable about it; it was +dipped deep into the ink-stand. "If the tea-urn will not sing," said +the pen, "then she can let it alone! Outside there hangs a nightingale +in a cage, which can sing, and which has not regularly learned any +thing; but we will not talk scandal this evening!" + +"I think it highly unbecoming," said the tea-kettle, which was the +kitchen singer, and half-sister to the tea-urn, "that such a foreign +bird should be listened to! Is it patriotic? I will let the coal-box +judge." + +"It only vexes me," said the coal-box; "it vexes me so much, that no +one can think! Is this a proper way to spend an evening? Would it not +be much better to put the house to rights? Every one go to his place, +and I will rule; that will produce a change!" + +"Yes, let us do something out of the common way!" said all the things +together. + +At that very moment the door opened. It was the servant-girl, and so +they all stood stock still; not a sound was heard; but there was not a +pot among them that did not know what they might have done, and how +genteel they were. + +"If I might have had my way," thought they, "then it would have been a +regularly merry evening!" + +The servant-girl took the brimstone matches, and put fire to them. +Bless us! how they sputtered and burst into a flame! + +"Now every one can see," thought they, "that we take the first rank! +What splendor we have! what brilliancy!"--and with that they were burnt +out. + + + + +LITTLE IDA'S FLOWERS. + + +"My poor flowers are quite dead," said little Ida. "They were so +beautiful last evening, and now all their leaves hang withered. How can +that be?" asked she from the student who sat on the sofa. She was very +fond of him, for he knew the most beautiful tales, and could cut out +such wonderful pictures; he could cut out hearts with little dancing +ladies in them; flowers he could cut out, and castles with doors that +would open. He was a very charming student. + +"Why do the flowers look so miserably to-day?" again asked she, and +showed him a whole bouquet of withered flowers. + +"Dost thou not know what ails them?" said the student; "the flowers +have been to a ball last night, and therefore they droop so." + +"But flowers cannot dance," said little Ida. + +"Yes, when it is dark, and we are all asleep, then they dance about +merrily; nearly every night they have a ball!" said the student. + +"Can no child go to the ball?" inquired Ida. + +"Yes," said the student, "little tiny daisies and lilies of the valley." + +"Where do the prettiest flowers dance?" asked little Ida. + +"Hast thou not," said the student, "gone out of the city gate to the +great castle where the king lives in summer, where there is a beautiful +garden, with a great many flowers in it? Thou hast certainly seen the +swans which come sailing to thee for little bits of bread. There is a +regular ball, thou mayst believe!" + +"I was in the garden yesterday with my mother," said Ida, "but all the +leaves were off the trees, and there were hardly any flowers at all! +Where are they? In summer I saw such a many." + +"They are gone into the castle," said the student. "Thou seest, as +soon as the king and all his court go away to the city, the flowers go +directly out of the garden into the castle, and are very merry. Thou +shouldst see them! The two most beautiful roses sit upon the throne, +and are king and queen; all the red cockscombs place themselves on +each side, and stand and bow, they are the chamberlains. Then all the +prettiest flowers come, and so there is a great ball; the blue violets +represent young midshipmen and cadets, they dance with hyacinths and +crocuses, which they call young ladies. The tulips and the great yellow +lilies, they are old ladies who look on, and see that the dancing goes +on properly, and that every thing is beautiful." + +"But is there nobody who gives the flowers any thing while they dance +in the king's castle?" asked little Ida. + +"There is nobody who rightly knows about it," said the student. "In the +summer season at night the old castle-steward goes regularly through +the castle; he has a great bunch of keys with him, but as soon as +ever the flowers hear the jingling of his keys, they are quite still, +hide themselves behind the long curtains, and peep out with their +little heads. 'I can smell flowers somewhere about,' says the old +castle-steward, 'but I cannot see them!'" + +"That is charming!" said little Ida, and clapped her hands; "but could +not I see the flowers?" + +"Yes," said the student, "only remember the next time thou art there to +peep in at the window, and then thou wilt see them. I did so one day; +there lay a tall yellow Turk's-cap lily on a sofa; that was a court +lady." + +"And can the flowers in the botanic garden go out there? Can they come +such a long way?" asked Ida. + +"Yes, that thou mayst believe," said the student; "for if they like +they can fly. Hast thou not seen the pretty butterflies, the red, and +yellow, and white ones, they look almost like flowers,--and so they +have been; they have grown on stalks high up in the air, and have shot +out leaves as if they were small wings, and so they fly, and when they +can support them well, then they have leave given them to fly about by +day. That thou must have seen thyself! But it is very possible that the +flowers in the botanic garden never have been into the king's castle, +nor know how merry they are there at night. And now, therefore, I will +tell thee something that will put the professor of botany who lives +beside the garden into a perplexity. Thou knowest him, dost thou not? +Next time thou goest into his garden, do thou tell one of the flowers +that there will be a great ball at the castle; it will tell it to its +neighbor, and it to the next, and so on till they all know, and then +they will all fly away. Then the professor will come into the garden, +and will not find a single flower, and he will not be able to imagine +what can have become of them." + +"But how can one flower tell another? flowers cannot talk," said little +Ida. + +"No, they cannot properly talk," replied the student, "and so they have +pantomime. Hast not thou seen when it blows a little the flowers nod +and move all their green leaves; that is just as intelligible as if +they talked." + +"Can the professor understand pantomime?" inquired Ida. + +"Yes, that thou mayst believe! He came one morning down into his +garden, and saw a tall yellow nettle pantomiming to a beautiful red +carnation, and it was all the same as if it had said, 'Thou art +so handsome, that I am very fond of thee!' The professor was not +pleased with that, and struck the nettle upon its leaves, which are +its fingers; but they stung him so, that from that time he has never +meddled with a nettle again." + +"That is delightful!" said little Ida, and laughed. + +"Is that the stuff to fill a child's mind with!" exclaimed the tiresome +chancellor, who was come in on a visit, and now sat on the sofa. He +could not bear the student, and always grumbled when he saw him cutting +out the beautiful and funny pictures,--now a man hanging on a gallows, +with a heart in his hand, because he had stolen hearts; and now an +old lady riding on a horse, with her husband sitting on her nose. The +cross old chancellor could not bear any of these, and always said as he +did now, "Is that the stuff to cram a child's head with! It is stupid +fancy!" + +But for all that, little Ida thought that what the student had told her +about the flowers was so charming, that she could not help thinking +of it. The flowers hung down their heads, because they had been at the +ball, and were quite worn out. So she took them away with her, to her +other playthings, which lay upon a pretty little table, the drawers of +which were all full of her fine things. In the doll's bed lay her doll, +Sophie, asleep; but for all that little Ida said to her, "Thou must +actually get up, Sophie, and be thankful to lie in the drawer to-night, +for the poor flowers are ill, and so they must lie in thy bed, and, +perhaps, they will then get well." + +With this she took up the doll, but it looked so cross, and did not say +a single word; for it was angry that it must be turned out of its bed. + +So Ida laid the flowers in the doll's bed, tucked them in very nicely, +and said, that now they must lie quite still, and she would go and get +tea ready for them, and they should get quite well again by to-morrow +morning; and then she drew the little curtains close round the bed, +that the sun might not blind them. + +All the evening long she could not help thinking about what the +student had told her; and then when she went to bed herself, she drew +back the curtains from the windows where her mother's beautiful flowers +stood, both hyacinths and tulips, and she whispered quite softly to +them, "I know that you will go to the ball to-night!" but the flowers +looked as if they did not understand a word which she said, and did not +move a leaf--but little Ida knew what she knew. + +When she was in bed, she lay for a long time thinking how delightful it +would be to see the beautiful flowers dancing in the king's castle. + +"Can my flowers actually have been there?" and with these words she +fell asleep. In the night she woke; she had been dreaming about the +flowers, and the student, who the chancellor said stuffed her head +with nonsense. It was quite silent in the chamber where Ida lay; the +night lamp was burning on the table, and her father and her mother were +asleep. + +"Are my flowers now lying in Sophie's bed?" said she to herself; "how +I should like to know!" She lifted herself up a little in bed, and +looked through the door, which stood ajar, and in that room lay the +flowers, and all her playthings. She listened, and it seemed to her as +if some one was playing on the piano, which stood in that room, but so +softly and so sweetly as she had never heard before. + +"Now, certainly, all the flowers are dancing in there," said she; "O, +how I should like to go and see!" but she did not dare to get up, lest +she should wake her father and mother. "If they would only just come in +here!" said she; but the flowers did not come, and the music continued +to play so sweetly. She could not resist it any longer, for it was so +delightful; so she crept out of her little bed, and went, quite softly, +to the door, and peeped into the room. Nay! what a charming sight she +beheld! + +There was not any night lamp in that room, and yet it was quite light; +the moon shone through the window into the middle of the floor, and +it was almost as light as day. All the hyacinths and tulips stood +in two long rows along the floor; they were not any longer in the +window, where stood the empty pots. All the flowers were dancing so +beautifully, one round another, on the floor; they made a regular +chain, and took hold of one another's green leaves when they swung +round. But there sat at the piano a great yellow lily, which little Ida +had certainly seen in the summer, for she remembered very well that the +student had said, "Nay, how like Miss Lina it is!" and they had all +laughed at him. But now it seemed really to Ida as if the tall yellow +lily resembled the young lady, and that she, also, really did just as +if she were playing; now she laid her long yellow face on one side, now +on the other, and nodded the time to the charming music. Not one of +them observed little Ida. + +She now saw a large blue crocus spring upon the middle of the table +where the playthings lay, go straight to the doll's bed, and draw aside +the curtains, where lay the sick flowers; but they raised themselves up +immediately, and nodded one to another, as much as to say, that they +also would go with them and dance. The old snapdragon, whose under lip +was broken off, stood up and bowed to the pretty flowers, which did not +look poorly at all, and they hopped down among the others, and were +very merry. + +All at once it seemed as if something had fallen down from the table. +Ida looked towards it; it was the Easter-wand, which had heard the +flowers. It was also very pretty; upon the top of it was set a little +wax-doll, which had just such a broad hat upon its head as that which +the chancellor wore. The Easter-wand hopped about upon its three wooden +legs, and stamped quite loud, for it danced the mazurka; and there was +not one of the flowers which could dance that dance, because they were +so light and could not stamp. + +The wax-doll upon the Easter-wand seemed to become taller and stouter, +and whirled itself round above the paper flowers on the wand, and +exclaimed, quite loud, "Is that the nonsense to stuff a child's mind +with! It is stupid fancy!"--And the wax-doll was precisely like the +cross old chancellor with the broad hat, and looked just as yellow +and ill-tempered as he did; but the paper flowers knocked him on the +thin legs, and with that he shrunk together again, and became a little +tiny wax-doll. It was charming to see it! little Ida could hardly help +laughing. The Easter-wand continued to dance, and the chancellor was +obliged to dance too; it mattered not whether he made himself so tall +and big, or whether he were the little yellow wax-doll, with the great +black hat. Then came up the other flowers, especially those which had +lain in Sophie's bed, and so the Easter-rod left off dancing. + +At that very moment a great noise was heard within the drawer where +Ida's doll, Sophie, lay, with so many of her playthings; and with this +the snapdragon ran up to the corner of the table, lay down upon his +stomach, and opened the drawer a little bit. With this Sophie raised +herself up, and looked round her in astonishment. + +"There is a ball here!" said she, "and why has not anybody told me of +it?" + +"Wilt thou dance with me?" said the snapdragon. + +"Yes, thou art a fine one to dance with!" said she, and turned her back +upon him. So she seated herself upon the drawer, and thought that to +be sure some one of the flowers would come and engage her, but not one +came; so she coughed a little, hem! hem! hem! but for all that not one +came. The snapdragon danced alone, and that was not so very bad either! + +As now none of the flowers seemed to see Sophie, she let herself +drop heavily out of the drawer down upon the floor,--and that gave a +great alarum; all the flowers at once came running up and gathered +around her, inquiring if she had hurt herself; and they were all so +exceedingly kind to her, especially those which had lain in her bed. +But she had not hurt herself at all, and all Ida's flowers thanked her +for the beautiful bed, and they paid her so much attention, and took +her into the middle of the floor, where the moon shone, and danced with +her, while all the other flowers made a circle around them. Sophie was +now very much delighted; and she said they would be very welcome to her +bed, for that she had not the least objection to lie in the drawer. + +But the flowers said, "Thou shalt have as many thanks as if we used it, +but we cannot live so long! To-morrow we shall be quite dead; but now +tell little Ida," said they, "that she must bury us down in the garden, +where the canary-bird lies, and so we shall grow up again next summer, +and be much prettier than ever!" + +"No, you shall not die," said Sophie, and the flowers kissed her. At +that very moment the room door opened, and a great crowd of beautiful +flowers came dancing in. Ida could not conceive where they came from; +they must certainly have been all the flowers out of the king's castle. +First of all went two most magnificent roses, and they had little gold +crowns on; they were a king and a queen; then came the most lovely +gilliflowers and carnations, and they bowed first on this side and +then on that. They had brought music with them; great big poppies +and pionies blew upon peapods till they were red in the face. The +blue-bells and the little white convolvuluses rung as if they were +musical bells. It was charming music. Then there came in a many other +flowers, and they danced all together; the blue violets and the red +daisies, the anemones and the lilies of the valley; and all the flowers +kissed one another: it was delightful to see it! + +At last they all bade one another good-night, and little Ida also went +to her bed, where she dreamed about every thing that she had seen. + +The next morning, when she got up, she went as quickly as she could +to her little table, to see whether the flowers were there still; +she drew aside the curtains from the little bed;--yes, there they all +lay together, but they were quite withered, much more than yesterday. +Sophie lay in the drawer, where she had put her; she looked very sleepy. + +"Canst thou remember what thou hast to tell me?" said little Ida; but +Sophie looked quite stupid, and did not say one single word. + +"Thou art not at all good," said Ida, "and yet they all danced with +thee." + +So she took a little paper box, on which were painted beautiful birds, +and this she opened, and laid in it the dead flowers. + +"This shall be your pretty coffin," said she, "and when my Norwegian +cousins come, they shall go with me and bury you, down in the garden, +that next summer you may grow up again, and be lovelier than ever!" + +The Norwegian cousins were two lively boys, who were called Jonas and +Adolph; their father had given them two new cross-bows, and these they +brought with them to show to Ida. She told them about the poor flowers +which were dead, and so they got leave to bury them. The two boys went +first, with their cross-bows on their shoulders; and little Ida came +after, with the dead flowers in the pretty little box. Down in the +garden they dug a little grave. Ida kissed the flowers, and then put +them in their box, down into the earth, and Jonas and Adolph stood with +their cross-bows above the grave, for they had neither arms nor cannon. + + + + +THE CONSTANT TIN SOLDIER. + + +There were, once upon a time, five-and-twenty tin soldiers; they were +all brothers, for they were born of an old tin spoon. They held their +arms in their hands, and their faces were all alike; their uniform was +red and blue, and very beautiful. The very first word which they heard +in this world, when the lid was taken off the box in which they lay, +was, "Tin soldiers!" This was the exclamation of a little boy, who +clapped his hands as he said it. They had been given to him, for it was +his birthday, and he now set them out on the table. The one soldier was +just exactly like another; there was only one of them that was a little +different; he had only one leg, for he had been the last that was made, +and there was not quite tin enough; yet he stood just as firmly upon +his one leg as they did upon their two, and he was exactly the one who +became remarkable. + +Upon the table on which he had set them out, there stood many other +playthings; but that which was most attractive to the eye, was a pretty +little castle of pasteboard. One could look through the little windows +as if into the rooms. Outside stood little trees, and round about it a +little mirror, which was to look like a lake; swans of wax swam upon +this, and were reflected in it. It was altogether very pretty; but the +prettiest thing of all was the little young lady who stood at the open +castle door, for she was a dancer; and she lifted one of her legs so +high in the air, that the tin soldier might almost have fancied that +she had only one leg, like himself. + +"That is a wife for me!" thought he, "but she is a great lady; +she lives in a castle, I in nothing but a box; and then we are +five-and-twenty of us, there is no room for her! Yet I must make her +acquaintance!" + +And so he set himself behind a snuff-box, which stood on the table, and +from thence he could very plainly see the pretty little lady, which +remained standing upon one leg, without ever losing her balance. + +That continued all the evening, and then the other tin soldiers were +put into their box, and the people of the house went to bed. The +playthings now began to amuse themselves; they played at company +coming, at fighting, and at having a ball. The tin soldiers rattled +about in their box, for they wanted to be with the rest of the things, +but they could not get the box lid off. The nutcrackers knocked about +the gingerbread nuts, and the slate-pencil laughed with the slate; it +was so entertaining that the canary-bird awoke, and began to chatter +with them also, but she chattered in verse. The only two which did not +move from their place were the tin soldier and the little dancing lady. +She kept herself so upright, standing on the point of her toe, with +both her arms extended; and he stood just as steadily upon his one leg, +and his eyes did not move from her for one moment. + +It now struck twelve o'clock, and crash! up sprang the lid of the +snuff-box, but there was no snuff in it; no, there was a little black +imp--it was a jack-in-the-box. + +"Tin soldier!" said the imp, "keep thy eyes to thyself!" + +But the tin soldier pretended that he did not hear. + +"Yes, we shall see in the morning!" said the imp. + +And now it was the next morning, and the children got up, and they set +the tin soldier in the window,--and either it was the imp, or else it +was a sudden gust of wind, but the casement burst open, and out went +the tin soldier, head foremost, down from the third story! It was a +horrible fall, he turned head over heels, and remained standing with +his one leg up in the air, and with his bayonet down among the stones +of a sink. + +The maid-servant and the little boy went down directly to seek for him, +but although they almost trod upon him, still they could not see him. +If the tin soldier had only shouted out, "Here I am!" they would have +found him; but he did not think it would be becoming in him to shout +out when he had his uniform on. + +It now began to rain; one drop fell heavier than another; it was a +regular shower. When it was over there came up two street boys. + +"Look here!" said one of them, "here lies a tin soldier. He shall have +a sail!" + +So they made a boat of a newspaper, and set the tin soldier in it, and +now he sailed down the kennel; the two lads ran, one on each side, and +clapped their hands. Dear me! what billows there were in the uneven +kennel, and what a torrent there was, for it had poured down with rain! +The paper boat rocked up and down, and whirled round so fast! The tin +soldier must have trembled, but he showed no fear at all, he never +changed his countenance, and stood holding his weapon in his hand. + +Just then the boat was driven under a large arch of the kennel, and it +was as dark to the tin soldier as if he had been in his box. + +"Where am I now come to?" thought he; "yes, yes, it is all that imp's +doing! Ah! if the little dancing lady were only in the boat, I would +not mind if it were twice as dark!" + +At that moment up came a great big water-rat, which lived under the +kennel's archway. + +"Have you a passport?" asked the rat. "Out with your passport!" + +But the tin soldier said not a word, and stood stock still, shouldering +his arms. The boat shot past, and the rat came after. Ha! how he set +his teeth, and cried to the sticks and the straws,-- + +"Stop him! stop him! he has not paid the toll! He has not shown his +passport!" + +But the stream got stronger and stronger. The tin soldier could already +see daylight at the end of the tunnel, but at the same time he heard a +roaring sound, which might well have made a bolder man than he tremble. +Only think! where the tunnel ended, the water of the kennel was poured +down into a great canal; which would be, for him, just as dangerous as +for us to sail down a great waterfall! + +He was now come so near to it that he could no longer stand upright. +The boat drove on; the tin soldier held himself as stiff as he could; +nobody could have said of him that he winked with an eye. The boat +whirled round three times, and filled with water to the very edge--it +must sink! The tin soldier stood up to his neck in water! Deeper and +deeper sank the boat, the paper grew softer and softer! Now went the +water above the soldier's head!--he thought of the little dancing lady, +whom he should never see more, and it rung in the tin soldier's ear,-- + + "Fare thee well, thou man of war! + Death with thee is dealing!" + +The paper now went in two, and the tin soldier fell through; and at +that moment was swallowed by a large fish! + +Nay, how dark it was now in there! It was darker than in the kennel +archway, and much narrower. But the tin soldier was steadfast to his +duty; and he lay there, shouldering his arms. The fish twisted about, +and made the most horrible sort of movements; at last it became quite +still; a flash of lightning seemed to go through it. Light shone quite +bright, and some one shouted aloud, "Tin soldier!" + +The fish had been caught, taken to market, sold, and brought into the +kitchen, where the servant-girl cut it up with a great knife. She +took the soldier, who was as alive as ever, between her two fingers, +and carried it into the parlor, where she showed them all what a +remarkable little man had been travelling about in the stomach of the +fish! But the tin soldier was not proud. They set him upon the table, +and there--Nay, how wonderfully things happen in this world!--the tin +soldier was in the self-same room he had been in before; he saw the +self-same child, and the self-same playthings on the table; the grand +castle, with the pretty little dancing lady standing at the door. She +was standing still upon one leg, with the other raised; she also was +constant. It quite affected the tin soldier, he was ready to shed tin +tears, only that would not have been becoming in him. He looked at her, +and she looked at him, but neither of them said a word. + +At that very moment one of the little boys took up the tin soldier, and +threw it into the stove. There was no reason for his doing so; it must +certainly have been the jack-in-the-box that was the cause of it. + +The tin soldier stood amid the flames, and felt a great heat, but +whether it was actual fire, or love, he knew not. All color was quite +gone out of him; whether from his long journeying, or whether from +care, there is no saying. He looked at the little dancing lady, and +she looked at him; he felt that he was melting away, but for all that, +he stood shouldering his arms. With that the door of the room suddenly +opened, and a draught of wind carried away the dancer. Like a sylph she +flew into the stove to the tin soldier; became, all at once, flame, +and was gone! The tin soldier melted to a little lump; and when the +servant, the next day, was carrying out the ashes, she found him like +a little tin heart: of the dancing lady, on the contrary, there was +nothing but the ground on which she had stood, and that was burned as +black as a coal. + + + + +THE STORKS. + + +Upon the last house in a little town there stood a stork's nest. The +stork-mother sat in the nest, with her four young ones, which stuck out +their heads, with their little black beaks, for their beaks had not yet +become red. Not far off, upon the ridge of the house roof, stood the +stork-father, as stiffly and proudly as possible; he had tucked up one +leg under him, for though that was rather inconvenient, still he was +standing as sentinel. One might have fancied that he was carved out of +wood, he stood so stock still. + +"It looks, certainly, very consequential," thought he to himself, "that +my wife should have a sentinel to her nest! Nobody need know that I am +her husband; they will think, of course, that I commanded the sentinel +to stand here. It looks so very proper!" And having thus thought, he +continued to stand on one leg. + +A troop of little boys were playing down in the street below, and when +they saw the storks, the boldest lad amongst them began to sing, and +at last they all sang together, that old rhyme about the storks, which +the children in Denmark sing; but they sang it now, because it had just +come into their heads:-- + + "Stork, stork on one leg, + Fly home to thy egg; + Mrs. Stork she sits at home, + With four great, big young ones; + The eldest shall be hung, + The second have its neck wrung; + The third shall be burned to death, + The fourth shall be murdered!" + +"Only hear what those lads sing!" said the little storks; "they sing +that we shall be hanged and burned!" + +"Do not vex yourselves about that," said the stork-mother; "don't +listen to them, and then it does not matter." + +But the boys continued to sing, and they pointed with their fingers +to the stork; there was one boy, however, among them, and his name was +Peter, and he said that it was a sin to make fun of the storks, and he +would not do it. + +The stork-mother consoled her young ones thus: "Don't annoy yourselves +about that. Look how funnily your father stands on one leg!" + +"We are so frightened!" said the young ones, and buried their heads +down in the nest. + +The next day, when the children assembled again to play, they saw the +storks, and they began their verse:-- + + "The second have its neck wrung; + The third shall be burned to death!" + +"Shall we be hanged and burned?" asked the young storks. + +"No, certainly not!" said the mother. "You will learn to fly; I will +exercise you; and so we shall take you out into the meadows, and go a +visiting to the frogs, that make courtesies to us in the water; they +sing--'koax! koax!' and so we eat them up; that is a delight!" + +"And how so?" asked the young storks. + +"All the storks which are in the whole country assemble," said the +mother, "and so the autumn manoeuvres begin; every one must be clever +at flying; that is of great importance, for those that cannot fly are +pecked to death by the general, with his beak; and, therefore, it is +well to learn something before the exercise begins." + +"And so we really may be murdered! as the boys said; and hark! now they +are singing it again." + +"Listen to me, and not to them!" said the stork-mother. "After the +great manoeuvre, we fly away to the warm countries--O, such a long +way off, over mountains and woods! We fly to Egypt, where there are +three-cornered stone houses, which go up in a point above the clouds; +they are called pyramids, and are older than any stork can tell. There +is a river which overflows its banks, and so the country becomes all +mud. One goes in the mud, and eats frogs." + +"O!" said all the young ones. + +"Yes, that is so delightful! One does nothing at all but eat, all day +long; and whilst we are so well off, in this country there is not a +single green leaf upon the trees; here it is, then, so cold; and the +very clouds freeze into pieces, and fall down in little white rags!" + +That was the snow which she meant, but she could not explain it more +intelligibly. + +"Will it freeze the naughty boys into bits?" asked the young ones. + +"No, it will not freeze them into bits, but it will pretty nearly do +so; and they will be obliged to sit in dark rooms and cough. You, on +the contrary, all that time, can be flying about in the warm countries, +where there are flowers and warm sunshine!" + +Some time had now passed, and the young ones were so large that they +could stand up in the nest and look about them, and the stork-father +came flying every day with nice little frogs and snails, and all the +stork-delicacies which he could find. O, it was extraordinary what +delicious morsels he got for them. He stretched out his head, clattered +with his beak, as if it had been a little rattle, and thus he told them +tales about the marshes. + +"Listen to me; now you must learn to fly," said the stork-mother, one +day; and so all the four young ones were obliged to get out of the +nest upon the ridge of the house; and how dizzy they were; how they +balanced themselves with their wings, and for all that were very near +falling! + +"Look at me," said the mother, "you must hold your heads thus! and thus +must you set your wings! Now! one, two! one, two! This it is which must +help you out into the world!" + +With this she flew a little way, and the young ones made a little +clumsy hop--bump!--there lay they, for their bodies were heavy. + +"I cannot fly!" said one of the young ones; "it's no use my trying!" +and crept up to the nest again. + +"Wilt thou be frozen to death here, when winter comes?" asked the +mother. "Shall the boys come and hang thee, and burn thee, and wring +thy neck? Shall I go and call them?" + +"O, no!" said the young stork; and so hopped again on the roof, like +the others. + +On the third day after that it could regularly fly a little, and so +they thought that they could now rest awhile in the air. They tried to +do so, but--bump!--there they tumbled, and so they were obliged to +flutter their wings again. + +The boys were now down in the street once more, and sung their rhyme:-- + + "Stork, stork, fly." + +"Shall not we fly down and peck their eyes out?" said the young ones. + +"No, let them be," said the mother, "and listen to me, that is far +wiser. One, two, three! Now we fly round, higher than ever! One, two, +three! Now to the left of the chimney!--see, that was very well done! +and the last stroke of the wings was so beautiful and correct, that I +will give you leave to go down to the marsh with me, to-morrow! There +will come a great number of pleasant stork-families there, with their +children; let me have the happiness of seeing that mine are the nicest, +and that they can make a bow and courtesy; that looks so well, and +gains respect!" + +"But shall we not have revenge on the naughty boys?" inquired the young +storks. + +"Let them sing what they like!" said the mother; "you will fly amid the +clouds, go to the land of the pyramids, when they must freeze, and +neither have a green leaf left, nor a sweet apple!" + +"Yes, but we will be revenged!" whispered they one to another, and then +went out again to exercise. + +Of all the boys in the street there was not one who sung the jeering +rhymes about the storks so much as he who first began it; and he was a +very little one, and was not more than six years old. The young storks +thought to be sure that he must be a hundred years old, for he was so +much larger than either their mother or their father; and they, poor +things, knew nothing about how old children and great men might be. All +their revenge, they determined, should be taken upon this boy; he was +the first to begin, and he it was who always sang. The young storks +were very much irritated, and the more they were determined on revenge, +the less they said of it to their mother. Their mother, they thought, +would at last grant their wishes, but they would leave it till the last +day they were in the country. + +"We must see how you conduct yourselves in the great manoeuvre," +said the mother; "if you fail in that, then the general will run you +through with his beak, and then the boys will be right in one way, at +least. Now let us see." + +"Yes, thou shalt see!" said the young ones; and so they took great +pains and practised every day, and flew so beautifully and so lightly +that it was charming to see them. + +Now came the autumn; and all the storks began to assemble to fly away +into the warm countries, while we have winter. That was a manoeuvre! +Over wood and town went they, just to see how they could fly. The young +storks performed so expertly that they could discern very well both +frogs and snakes. That was the very best test of skill. "Frogs and +snakes, therefore, they should eat;" and they did so. + +"Now let us have revenge," said they. + +"Leave off talking of revenge," said the mother. "Listen to me, which +is a great deal better. Do not you remember the good little boy who +said, when the others sung, 'that it was a sin to make fun of the +storks?' let us reward him, that is better than having revenge." + +"Yes, let us reward him," said the young storks. + +"He shall have, next summer, a nice little sister, such a beautiful +little sister as never was seen!--Will not that be a reward for him?" +said the mother. + +"It will," said the young ones; "a sweet little sister he shall have!" + +"And as he is called Peter," continued the mother, "so shall you also +be called Peter altogether." + +And that which she said was done. The little boy had the loveliest +of little sisters next year; and, from that time, all the storks in +Denmark were called Peter; and so are they to this day. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +Obvious spelling, typographical and punctuation errors have been +corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the +text and consultation of external sources. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + The oe ligature has been expanded (phoenix; manoeuvre). + + Archaic spelling retained: + Pg 29 et al. 'pionies' for peonies. + Pg 45 et al. 'courtesied' for curtsied. + Pg 88. 'good-by' for goodbye. + Pg 120. 'alarum' for alarm. + Spacing retained in all occurrences of 'any thing', + 'every thing', 'every where' and 'every one'. + + Changes for consistency: + Pg 10. 'green wood' changed to 'green-wood'. + Pg 16 et al. Changed 'tin-soldier' to 'tin soldier'. + Pg 48. 'rose-leaf' changed to 'rose leaf'. + Pg 50. 'field-mouse' changed to 'fieldmouse'. + Pg 116. 'night-lamp' changed to 'night lamp'. + Pg 130. 'servant girl' changed to 'servant-girl'. + + Other notes and changes: + TITLE. Author's name is misspelled 'ANDERSON'; changed to 'ANDERSEN'. + TOC. Accents added for consistency (OLÉ LUCKOIÈ). + TOC. Removed comma, 'AT NIGHT,' to 'AT NIGHT'. + Pg 14. Single quote ' changed to "; 'do thou ask!'' to 'do thou ask!"'. + Pg 25. 'is caled' changed to 'is called'. + Pg 25. 'Huzzar' changed to 'Hussar'. + Pg 54. 'crysanthemum' changed to 'chrysanthemum'. + Pg 95. German form of yodelled 'jodelled' retained. + Pg 95. 'Hecla' retained, but probably meant to be 'Hekla'. + Pg 110. Single quote ' changed to "; ''Thou seest' to '"Thou seest'. + Pg 121. 'anemonies' changed to 'anemones'. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wonderful Stories for Children, by +Hans Christian Andersen + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43600 *** |