Speaker 1: The emperor's new clothes. Many years ago, there was an
Speaker 1: emperor who was so excessively fond of new clothes that
Speaker 1: he spent all his money in dress. He did not
Speaker 1: trouble himself in the least about his soldiers, nor did
Speaker 1: he care to go either to the theater or the chase,
Speaker 1: except for the opportunities then afforded him for displaying his
Speaker 1: new clothes. He had a different suit for each hour
Speaker 1: of the day. And as of any other king or emperor,
Speaker 1: one is accustomed to say he is sitting in council,
Speaker 1: it was always said of him, the Emperor is sitting
Speaker 1: in his wardrobe. Time passed merrily in the large town
Speaker 1: which was his capital. Strangers arrived every day at the court.
Speaker 1: One day, two rogues, calling themselves weavers, made their appearance.
Speaker 1: They gave out that they knew how to weave stuffs
Speaker 1: of the most beautiful colors and elaborate patterns, the clothes
Speaker 1: manufactured from which should have the wonderful property of remaining
Speaker 1: invisible to every one who was unfit for the office
Speaker 1: he held, or who was extraordinarily simple in character. These
Speaker 1: must indeed be splendid clothes, thought the emperor had I
Speaker 1: such a suit, I might at once find out what
Speaker 1: men in my realms are unfit for their office, and
Speaker 1: also be able to distinguish the wise from the foolish.
Speaker 1: This stuff must be woven for me immediately, and he
Speaker 1: caused large sums of money to be given to both
Speaker 1: the weavers in order that they might begin their work directly.
Speaker 1: So the two pretended weavers set up two looms and
Speaker 1: affected to work very busily, though in reality they did
Speaker 1: nothing at all. They asked for the most delicate silk
Speaker 1: and the purest gold thread, put both into their own knapsacks,
Speaker 1: and then continued their pretended work at the empty looms
Speaker 1: until late at night. I should like to know how
Speaker 1: the weavers are getting on with my cloth, said the
Speaker 1: emperor to himself, after some little time had elapsed. He was, however,
Speaker 1: rather embarrassed when he remembered that a simpleton, or one
Speaker 1: unfit for his office, would be unable to see the manufacture.
Speaker 1: To be sure, he thought he had nothing to risk
Speaker 1: in his own person, But yet he would prefer sending
Speaker 1: somebody else to bring him intelligence about the weavers and
Speaker 1: their work. Before he troubled himself in the affair. All
Speaker 1: the people throughout the city had heard of the wonderful
Speaker 1: property the cloth was to possess, and all were anxious
Speaker 1: to learn how wise or how ignorant their neighbors might
Speaker 1: prove to be. I will send my faithful old minister
Speaker 1: to the weavers, said the Emperor, at last, after some deliberation,
Speaker 1: he will be best able to see how the cloth looks,
Speaker 1: for he is a man of sense, and no one
Speaker 1: can be more suitable for his office than he is.
Speaker 1: So the faithful old minister went into the hall, where
Speaker 1: the knaves were working with all their might at their
Speaker 1: empty looms. What can be the meaning of this? Thought
Speaker 1: the old man, opening his eyes very wide, I cannot
Speaker 1: discover the least bit of thread on the looms. However,
Speaker 1: he did not express his thoughts aloud. The impostors requested
Speaker 1: him very courteously to be so good as to come
Speaker 1: nearer their looms, and then asked him whether the design
Speaker 1: pleased him, and whether the colors were not very beautiful
Speaker 1: at the same time, pointing to the empty frames. The
Speaker 1: poor old minister looked and looked. He could not discover
Speaker 1: anything on the looms for a very good reason, viz.
Speaker 1: There was nothing there. What thought he again. Is it
Speaker 1: possible that I am a simpleton? I have never thought
Speaker 1: so myself, and no one must know it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: If I am so, can it be that I am
Speaker 1: unfit for my office? No, that must not be said either.
Speaker 1: I will never confess that I could not see the stuff. Well,
Speaker 1: sir minister, said one of the knaves, still pretending to work.
Speaker 1: You do not say whether the stuff pleases you. Oh
Speaker 1: it is excellent, replied the old minister, looking at the
Speaker 1: loom through his spectacles, the pattern and the colors. Yes,
Speaker 1: I will tell the Emperor without delay, how very beautiful
Speaker 1: I think them. We shall be much obliged to you,
Speaker 1: said the impostors, and then they named the different colors
Speaker 1: and described the pattern of the pretended stuff. The old
Speaker 1: minister listened attentively to their words in order that he
Speaker 1: might repeat them to the Emperor. And then the knaves
Speaker 1: asked for more silk and gold, saying that it was
Speaker 1: necessary to complete what they had been gun. However, they
Speaker 1: put all that was given them into their knapsacks and
Speaker 1: continued to work with as much apparent diligence as before
Speaker 1: at their empty looms. The Emperor now sent another officer
Speaker 1: of his court, to see how the men were getting on,
Speaker 1: and to ascertain whether the cloth would soon be ready.
Speaker 1: It was just the same with this gentleman as with
Speaker 1: the minister. He surveyed the looms on all sides, but
Speaker 1: could see nothing at all but the empty frames. Does
Speaker 1: not the stuff appear as beautiful to you as it
Speaker 1: did to my lord? The minister asked, the impostors of
Speaker 1: the Emperor's second ambassador, at the same time, making the
Speaker 1: same gestures as before, and talking of the design and
Speaker 1: colors which were not there. I certainly am not stupid,
Speaker 1: thought the messenger. It must be that I am not
Speaker 1: fit for my good, profitable office. That is very odd. However,
Speaker 1: no one shall know anything about it. And accordingly he
Speaker 1: praised the stuff he could not see, and declared that
Speaker 1: he was delighted with both colors and patterns. Indeed, please,
Speaker 1: your Imperial Majesty, said he to his sovereign, when he returned.
Speaker 1: The cloth which the weavers are preparing is extraordinarily magnificent.
Speaker 1: The whole city was talking of the splendid cloth which
Speaker 1: the Emperor had ordered to be woven at his own expense,
Speaker 1: And now the Emperor himself wished to see the costly manufacture,
Speaker 1: while it was still in the loom, accompanied by a
Speaker 1: select number of officers of the court, among whom were
Speaker 1: the two honest men who had already admired the cloth,
Speaker 1: he went to the crafty impostors, who, as soon as
Speaker 1: they were aware of the Emperor's approach, went on working
Speaker 1: more diligently than ever, although they still did not pass
Speaker 1: a single thread through the looms. Is not the work?
Speaker 1: Absolutely magnificent, said the two officers of the crown already mentioned,
Speaker 1: if your Majesty will only be pleased to look at it?
Speaker 1: What a splendid design, what glorious colors. And at the
Speaker 1: same time they pointed to the empty frames, for they
Speaker 1: imagined that everyone else could see this exquisite piece of workmanship.
Speaker 1: How is this, said the emperor to himself. I can
Speaker 1: see nothing. This is indeed a terrible affair. Am I
Speaker 1: a simpleton? Or am I unfit to be an emperor?
Speaker 1: That would be the worst thing that could happen. Oh,
Speaker 1: the cloth is charming, said he aloud. It has my
Speaker 1: complete approbation. And he smiled most graciously and looked closely
Speaker 1: at the empty looms, for on no account would he
Speaker 1: say that he could not see what two of the
Speaker 1: officers of his court had praised so much. All his
Speaker 1: retinue now strained their eyes, hoping to discover something on
Speaker 1: the looms, but they could see no more than the others. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: they all exclaimed, oh, how beautiful, and advised his Majesty
Speaker 1: to have some new clothes made from this splendid material
Speaker 1: for the approaching procession. Magnificent, charming, excellent resounded on all sides,
Speaker 1: and every one was uncommonly gay. The Emperor shared in
Speaker 1: the general satisfaction, and presented the impostors with the ribband
Speaker 1: of an order of knighthood to be worn in their
Speaker 1: button holes, and the title of gentlemen weavers. The rogues
Speaker 1: sat up the whole of the night before the day
Speaker 1: on which the procession was to take place, and had
Speaker 1: sixteen lights burning so that every one might see how
Speaker 1: anxious they were to finish the Emperor's new suit. They
Speaker 1: pretended to roll the cloth off the looms, cut the
Speaker 1: air with their scissors, and sewed with needles without any
Speaker 1: thread in them. See, cried they. At last, the Emperor's
Speaker 1: new clothes are ready. And now the Emperor, with all
Speaker 1: the grandees of his court, came to the weavers, and
Speaker 1: the rogues raised their arms as if in the act
Speaker 1: of holding something up, saying, here are your Majesty's trousers,
Speaker 1: Here is the scarf, Here is the mantle. The whole
Speaker 1: suit is as light as a cobweb. One might fancy
Speaker 1: one has nothing at all on when dressed in it. That, however,
Speaker 1: is the great virtue of this delicate cloth. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 1: said all the courtiers, although not one of them could
Speaker 1: se see anything of this exquisite manufacture. If your Imperial
Speaker 1: Majesty will be graciously pleased to take off your clothes,
Speaker 1: we will fit on the new suit in front of
Speaker 1: the looking glass. The Emperor was accordingly undressed, and the
Speaker 1: rogues pretended to array him in his new suit. The
Speaker 1: Emperor turning round from side to side before the looking glass.
Speaker 1: How splendid his Majesty looks in his new clothes, and
Speaker 1: how well they fit? Everyone cried out, what a design?
Speaker 1: What colors these are? Indeed royal robes. The canopy, which
Speaker 1: is to be borne over your Majesty in the procession,
Speaker 1: is waiting, announced the chief Master of the ceremonies. I
Speaker 1: am quite ready answered the Emperor. Do my new clothes
Speaker 1: fit well, asked he turning himself round again before the
Speaker 1: looking glass in order that he might appear to be
Speaker 1: examining his handsome suit. The lords of the bed chamber,
Speaker 1: who were to carry his majesty's train, felt about on
Speaker 1: the ground as if they were lifting up the ends
Speaker 1: of the mantel, and pretended to be carrying something, for
Speaker 1: they would, by no means betray anything like simplicity or
Speaker 1: unfitness for their office. So now the Emperor walked under
Speaker 1: his high canopy in the midst of the procession through
Speaker 1: the streets of his capital, and all the people standing
Speaker 1: by and those at the windows cried out, Oh, how
Speaker 1: beautiful are our Emperor's new clothes. What a magnificent train
Speaker 1: there is to the mantle, and how gracefully the scarf hangs.
Speaker 1: In short, no one would allow that he could not
Speaker 1: see these much admired clothes, because in doing so, he
Speaker 1: would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit for
Speaker 1: his office. Certainly, none of the Emperor's various suits had
Speaker 1: ever made so great an impression as these invisible ones.
Speaker 1: But the Emperor has nothing on at all, said a
Speaker 1: little child. Listen to the voice of innocence, exclaimed his father,
Speaker 1: And what the child had said was whispered from one
Speaker 1: to another. But he has nothing on at all. At last,
Speaker 1: cried out all the people. The emperor was vexed, for
Speaker 1: he knew that the people were right, but he thought
Speaker 1: the procession must go on now. And the lords of
Speaker 1: the bedchamber took greater pains than ever to appear holding
Speaker 1: up a train, although in reality there was no train
Speaker 1: to hold, and of the emperor's new clothes the swineherd.
Speaker 3: There was one poor prince who had a kingdom. His
Speaker 3: kingdom was very small, but still quite large enough to
Speaker 3: marry upon, and he wished to marry. It was certainly
Speaker 3: rather cool of him to say to the Emperor's daughter,
Speaker 3: will you have me? But so he did, for his
Speaker 3: name was renowned far and wide, and there were a
Speaker 3: hundred princesses who would have answered yes, and thank you kindly.
Speaker 3: We shall see what this princess said. Listen. It happened
Speaker 3: that where the prince's father lay buried, there grew a
Speaker 3: rose tree, a most beautiful rose tree, which blossomed only
Speaker 3: once in every five years, and even then bore only
Speaker 3: one flower. But that was a rose it smelt so
Speaker 3: sweet that all cares and sorrows were forgotten by him
Speaker 3: who inhaled its fragrance. And furthermore, the prince had a
Speaker 3: nightingale who could sing in such a manner that it
Speaker 3: seemed as though all sweet melodies dwelt in her little throat.
Speaker 3: So the princess was to have the rose and the nightingale,
Speaker 3: and they were accordingly put into large silver caskets and
Speaker 3: sent to her. The Emperor had them brought into the
Speaker 3: large hall where the princess was playing visiting with the
Speaker 3: ladies of the court. And when she saw the caskets
Speaker 3: with the presents, she clapped her hands for joy. Ah,
Speaker 3: if it were but a little pussy cat, said she.
Speaker 3: But the rose tree, with its beautiful rose, came to view.
Speaker 3: Oh how prettily it is made, said all the court ladies.
Speaker 3: It is more than pretty, said the Emperor. It is charming.
Speaker 3: But the princess touched it and was almost ready to cry. Fie, Papa,
Speaker 3: said she, It is not made at all. It is natural.
Speaker 3: Let us see what is in the other casket before
Speaker 3: we get into a bad humor, said the Emperor. So
Speaker 3: the nightingale came forth and sang so delightfully that at
Speaker 3: first no one could say anything. Ill humored of her
Speaker 3: superb charmant, exclaimed the ladies, for they all used to
Speaker 3: chatter French, each one worse than her neighbor. How much
Speaker 3: the bird reminds me of the musical box that belonged
Speaker 3: to our blessed Empress, said an old knight. Oh, yes,
Speaker 3: these are the same tones, the same execution. Yes, yes,
Speaker 3: said the Emperor, and he wept like a child at
Speaker 3: the remembrance. I will still hope that it is not
Speaker 3: a real bird, said the princess. Yes, it is a
Speaker 3: real bird, said those who had brought it. Well, then
Speaker 3: let the bird fly, said the princess, and she positively
Speaker 3: refused to see the prince. However, he was not to
Speaker 3: be discouraged. He daubed his face over brown and black,
Speaker 3: pulled his cap over his ears, and knocked at the door.
Speaker 3: Good day to my lord, the Emperor, said he. Can
Speaker 3: I have employment at the palace? Why, yes, said the Emperor.
Speaker 3: I want some one to take care of the pigs,
Speaker 3: for we have a great many of them. So the
Speaker 3: Prince was appointed Imperial swineherd. He had a dirty little
Speaker 3: room close by the pig stye, and there he sat
Speaker 3: the whole day and worked. By the evening he had
Speaker 3: made a pretty little kitchen pot. Little bells were hung
Speaker 3: all round it, and when the pot was boiling, these
Speaker 3: bells tinkled in the most charming manner and played the
Speaker 3: old melody Ah to liba Augustine, alys is weg weg vec,
Speaker 3: which translates us ah dear Augustine, or lose gone, gone gone.
Speaker 3: But what was still more curious, whoever held his finger
Speaker 3: in the smoke of the kitchen pot immediately smelt all
Speaker 3: the dishes that were cooking on every hearth in the city. This,
Speaker 3: you see, was something quite different from the rose.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: The princess happened to walk that way, and when she
Speaker 3: heard the tune, she stood quite still and seemed pleased,
Speaker 3: for she could play Liba Augustine. It was the only
Speaker 3: piece you knew, and she played it with one finger.
Speaker 3: Why there is my piece, said the princess. That swineherd
Speaker 3: must certainly have been well educated. Go in and ask
Speaker 3: him the price of the instrument. So one of the
Speaker 3: court ladies must run in. However, she drew on wooden slippers. First,
Speaker 3: what will you take for the kitchen pot, said the lady.
Speaker 3: I will have ten kisses from the princess, said the swineherd. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 3: said the lady. I cannot sell it, for less, rejoined
Speaker 3: the swineherd. He is an impudent fellow, said the princess.
Speaker 3: And she walked on. But when she had gone a
Speaker 3: little way, the bells tinkled so prettily. Ah to leave
Speaker 3: Augustin aulis ist tvegvecvec stay, said the princess. Ask him
Speaker 3: if you will have ten kisses from the ladies of
Speaker 3: the court. No, thank you, said the swineherd. Ten kisses
Speaker 3: from the princess. Or I keep the kitchen pot myself.
Speaker 3: That must not be either, said the princess. But do
Speaker 3: you all stand before me that no one may see us?
Speaker 3: And the court ladies placed themselves in front of her
Speaker 3: and spread out their dresses. The swineherd got ten kisses,
Speaker 3: and the princess the kitchen pot. That was delightful. The
Speaker 3: pot was boiling the whole evening and the whole of
Speaker 3: the following day. They knew perfectly well what was cooking
Speaker 3: at every fire throughout the city, from the chamberlains to
Speaker 3: the cobblers, the court ladies danced and clapped their hands.
Speaker 3: We know who has soup, and who has pancakes for
Speaker 3: dinner to day, who has cutlets and who has eggs?
Speaker 3: How interesting, yes, but keep my secret, for I am
Speaker 3: an emperor's daughter, the swineherd, that is to say the prince,
Speaker 3: for no one knew that he was other than an
Speaker 3: ill favored swineherd. Let not day pass without working at something.
Speaker 3: He at last constructed a rattle, which, when it was
Speaker 3: swung around, played all the waltzs and jig tunes which
Speaker 3: have ever been heard since the creation of the world. Ah,
Speaker 3: that is superb, said the princess when she passed by.
Speaker 3: I have never heard prettier compositions. Go in and ask
Speaker 3: him the price of the instrument. But mind he shall
Speaker 3: have no more kisses. He will have a hundred kisses
Speaker 3: from the princess, said the lady who had been to ask.
Speaker 3: I think he is not in his right senses, said
Speaker 3: the princess, and walked on. But when she had gone
Speaker 3: a little way, she stopped again. One must encourage art,
Speaker 3: said she, I am the Emperor's daughter. Tell him you shall,
Speaker 3: as on yesterday, have ten kisses from me. And may
Speaker 3: take the rest from the ladies of the court. Oh
Speaker 3: but we should not like that at all, said they.
Speaker 3: What are you muttering, asked the princess. If I can
Speaker 3: kiss him, surely you can remember that ye owe everything
Speaker 3: to me. So the ladies were obliged to go to
Speaker 3: him again. A hundred kisses from the princess, said he,
Speaker 3: or else, let every one keep his own stand around,
Speaker 3: said she, and the ladies stood round her whilst the
Speaker 3: kissing was going on. What can be the reason for
Speaker 3: such a crowd closed by the pigstye, said the emperor,
Speaker 3: who happened just then to step out on the balcony.
Speaker 3: He rubbed his eyes and put on his spectacles. They
Speaker 3: are the ladies of the court. I must go down
Speaker 3: and see what they are about. So he pulled up
Speaker 3: his slippers at the heel, for he had trodden them
Speaker 3: down as soon as he had got into the courtyard.
Speaker 3: He moved very softly, and the ladies were so much
Speaker 3: engrossed with counting the kisses that all might go on fairly,
Speaker 3: that they did not perceive the emperor. He rose on
Speaker 3: his tiptoes.
Speaker 4: What is all this? Said he?
Speaker 3: When he saw what was going on, and he boxed
Speaker 3: the princess's ear with his slipper. Just as the swineherd
Speaker 3: was taking the eighty sixth kiss. March out, said the emperor,
Speaker 3: for he was very angry, and both princess and swineherd
Speaker 3: were thrust out of the city. The princess now stood
Speaker 3: and wept, the swineherd scolded, and the rain poured down.
Speaker 3: Alas unhappy creature that I am, said the princess. If
Speaker 3: I had but married the handsome young prince, ah, how
Speaker 3: unfortunate I am. And the swineherd went behind a tree,
Speaker 3: washed the black and brown color from his face, threw
Speaker 3: off his dirty clothes, and stepped forth in his princely robes.
Speaker 3: He looked so noble that the princess could not help
Speaker 3: bowing before him. I am come to despise, thee said he.
Speaker 3: Thou wouldst not have an honorable prince. Thou couldst not
Speaker 3: prize the rose and the nightingale. But thou wast ready
Speaker 3: to kiss the swineherd for the sake of a trumpery plaything.
Speaker 3: Thou art rightly served. He then went back to his
Speaker 3: own little kingdom and shut the door of his palace
Speaker 3: in her face. Now she might well sing ach to
Speaker 3: Liba algustin alysstvegvec vec end of the swineherd, the real Princess.
Speaker 5: There was once a prince who wished to marry a princess.
Speaker 5: But then she be a real princess. He traveled all
Speaker 5: over the world in hopes of finding such a lady,
Speaker 5: but there was always something wrong. Princesses he found in plenty,
Speaker 5: but whether they were real princesses it was impossible for
Speaker 5: him to decide. For now, one thing now another seemed
Speaker 5: to him not quite right about the ladies. At last,
Speaker 5: he returned to his palace, quite cast down because he
Speaker 5: wished so much to have a real princess for his wife.
Speaker 5: One evening, a fearful tempest arose. It thundered and lightened,
Speaker 5: and the rain poured down from the sky in torrents. Besides,
Speaker 5: it was as dark as pitch. All at once there
Speaker 5: was heard a violent knocking at the door, and the
Speaker 5: old king, the prince's father, went out himself to open it.
Speaker 5: It was a princess who was standing outside the door.
Speaker 5: What with the rain and the wind, she was a
Speaker 5: sad condition. The water trickled down from her hair and
Speaker 5: her clothes clung to her body. She said she was
Speaker 5: a real princess. Ah, we shall soon see that, thought
Speaker 5: the old queen mother. However, she said not a word
Speaker 5: of what she was going to do, but went quietly
Speaker 5: into the bedroom, took all the bedclothes off the bed,
Speaker 5: and put three little peas on the bedstead. She then
Speaker 5: laid twenty mattresses, one upon another over the three peas,
Speaker 5: and put twenty feather beds.
Speaker 4: Over the mattresses.
Speaker 5: Upon this bed the princess was to pass the night.
Speaker 5: The next morning, she was asked how she had slept, Oh,
Speaker 5: very badly, indeed, she replied, I have scarcely closed my
Speaker 5: eyes the whole night through. I do not know what
Speaker 5: was in my bed, but I had something hard under
Speaker 5: me and am all over black and blue. It has
Speaker 5: hurt me so much. Now it was plain that the
Speaker 5: lady must be a real princess, since she had been
Speaker 5: able to feel the three little peas through twenty mattresses
Speaker 5: and twenty feather beds. None but a real princess could
Speaker 5: have had such a delicate sense of feeling. The prince
Speaker 5: accordingly made her, his wife, being now convinced that he
Speaker 5: had found a real Princess. The three peas were, however,
Speaker 5: put into the cabinet of Curiosities, where they are still
Speaker 5: to be seen, provided they are not lost. Wasn't this
Speaker 5: a lady of real delicacy? End of the real Princess?
Speaker 6: The shoes the fortune one a beginning. Every author has
Speaker 6: some peculiarity in his descriptions or in his style of writing.
Speaker 6: Those who do not like him magnify it, shrug up
Speaker 6: their shoulders and exclaim, there he is again. I, for
Speaker 6: my part, know very well Hi, I can bring about
Speaker 6: this movement in this exclamation. It would happen immediately if
Speaker 6: I were to begin here as I intended to with
Speaker 6: Rome has its Corso, Naples, its Toledo. Ah that Andersen.
Speaker 6: There he is again, they would cry, Yet, I must
Speaker 6: to please my fancy, continue quite quietly and add, but
Speaker 6: Copenhagen has its East Street here. Then we will stay
Speaker 6: for the present. In one of the houses not far
Speaker 6: from the new market, a party was invited, a very
Speaker 6: large party, in order, as is often the case, to
Speaker 6: get a return invitation from the others. One half of
Speaker 6: the company was already seated at the card table. The
Speaker 6: other half awaited the result of the stereotype, preliminary observation
Speaker 6: of the lady of the house. Now let us see
Speaker 6: what we can do to amuse ourselves. They had got
Speaker 6: just so far, and the conversation began to crystallize, as
Speaker 6: it could but do with the scanty stream which the
Speaker 6: commonplace world supplied. Amongst other things, they spoke of the
Speaker 6: Middle Ages, some praise that periate is far more interesting,
Speaker 6: far more poetical than our own, too sober present. Indeed,
Speaker 6: Councilor Knapp defended this opinion so warmly that the hostess
Speaker 6: declared immediately on his side, and both exerted themselves with
Speaker 6: unwearied eloquence. The Councilor boldly declared the time of King
Speaker 6: Hans to be the noblest and most happy period. Footnote
Speaker 6: a d. Fourteen eighty two to fifteen thirteen end a footnote.
Speaker 6: While the conversation turned on this subject, and was only
Speaker 6: for a moment interrupted by the arrival of a journal
Speaker 6: that contained nothing worth reading, we will just step out
Speaker 6: into the antechamber, where cloaks, macintoshes, sticks, umbrellas and shoes
Speaker 6: were deposited. Here sat two female figures, a young and
Speaker 6: an old one. One might have thought at first they
Speaker 6: were servants come to accompany their mistresses home, But on
Speaker 6: looking nearer, one soon saw they could scarcely be mere servants.
Speaker 6: Their forms were too noble for that, their skin too fine,
Speaker 6: the cut of their dresses too striking. Two fairies where
Speaker 6: they The younger, it is true, was not Damn Fortune herself,
Speaker 6: but one of the waiting maids of her hand maidens,
Speaker 6: who carry about the lesser good things that she distributes.
Speaker 6: The other looked extremely gloomy.
Speaker 7: It was care.
Speaker 6: She always attends to her own serious business herself, as
Speaker 6: then she is sure of having it done properly. They
Speaker 6: were telling each other, with a confidential interchange of ideas,
Speaker 6: where they had been during the day. The Messenger of
Speaker 6: Fortune had only executed a few unimportant commissions, such as
Speaker 6: saving a new bonnet from a shower of rain, et cetera.
Speaker 6: But what she had yet to perform was something quite unusual.
Speaker 6: I must tell you, said she that to day is
Speaker 6: my birthday, and in honor of it, a pair of
Speaker 6: walking shoes or goloshes that have been entrusted to me,
Speaker 6: which I am to carry to mankind. These shoes possess
Speaker 6: the property of instantly transporting him who has them on
Speaker 6: to the place or the period in which he most
Speaker 6: wishes to be. Every wish as regards time, or place
Speaker 6: or state of being will be immediately fulfilled, and so
Speaker 6: at last man will be happy here below. Do you
Speaker 6: seriously believe that, replied care in a severe tone of reproach. No,
Speaker 6: he will be very unhappy, and will assuredly less the
Speaker 6: moment when he feels that he has freed himself from
Speaker 6: the fatal shoes. Stupid nonsense, said the other angrily. I
Speaker 6: will put them here by the door. Some one will
Speaker 6: make a mistake, for certain and take the wrong ones.
Speaker 6: He will be a happy man. Such was their conversation.
Speaker 4: Two.
Speaker 6: What happened to the councilor It was late Councilor Knap,
Speaker 6: deeply occupied with the times of King Hans, intended to
Speaker 6: go home, and malicious fate managed matters so that his feet,
Speaker 6: instead of finding their way to his own galoshes, slipped
Speaker 6: into those of fortune. Thus caparisons. The good man walked
Speaker 6: out of the well lighted rooms into East Street. By
Speaker 6: the magic power of the shoes, he was carried back
Speaker 6: to the time of King Hans, on which account his
Speaker 6: foot very naturally sank in the mud and puddles of
Speaker 6: the street, there having been in those days no pavement
Speaker 6: in Copenhagen. Well this is too bad, how dirty it
Speaker 6: is here, sighed the Councilor as to a pavement, I
Speaker 6: can find no traces of one, and all the lamps,
Speaker 6: it seems, have gone to sleep. The moon was not
Speaker 6: yet very high. It was, besides, rather foggy, so that
Speaker 6: in the darkness all objects seemed mingled in chaotic confusion.
Speaker 6: At the next corner hung a vote of lamp before Madonna.
Speaker 6: But the light it gave was little better than none
Speaker 6: at all. Indeed, he did not observe it before he
Speaker 6: was exactly under it, and his eyes fell upon the
Speaker 6: bright colors of the pictures, which represented the well known
Speaker 6: group of the Virgin and the infant Jesus. That is
Speaker 6: probably a waxworks show, thought, He and the people delay
Speaker 6: taking down their sign in hopes of a late visitor
Speaker 6: or two. A few persons in the costume of the
Speaker 6: time of King Hans passed quickly by him. How strange
Speaker 6: they look. The good folks come, probably from a masquerade.
Speaker 6: Suddenly was heard the sound of drums and fifes, the
Speaker 6: bright blaze of a fire shot up from time to time,
Speaker 6: and its ready gleams seemed to contend with the bluish
Speaker 6: light of the torches. The Councilor stood still and watched
Speaker 6: a most strange procession pass by. First came a dozen
Speaker 6: drummers who understood pretty well how to handle their instruments.
Speaker 6: Then came halberdiers and some armed with crossbows. The principal
Speaker 6: person in the procession was a priest. Astonished at what
Speaker 6: he saw, the count's ser asked, what was the meaning
Speaker 6: of all this mummery?
Speaker 1: And who that man was?
Speaker 6: That's the Bishop of Zealand?
Speaker 7: Was the answer?
Speaker 6: Good heavens, what has taken possession of the bishop? Sighed
Speaker 6: the Councilor, shaking his head. It certainly could not be
Speaker 6: the Bishop, even though he was considered the most absent
Speaker 6: man in the whole kingdom, and people told the drollest
Speaker 6: anecdotes about him. Reflecting on the matter, and without looking
Speaker 6: right or left, the Councilor went through East Street and
Speaker 6: across the habroplats, The bridge leading to Palace Square was
Speaker 6: not to be found. Scarcely trusting his senses, the nocturnal
Speaker 6: wanderer discovered a shallow piece of water and here fell
Speaker 6: in with two men who very comfortably were rocking to
Speaker 6: and fro in a boat. Does your honor want to
Speaker 6: cross the ferry to the home?
Speaker 8: Asked?
Speaker 6: They across to the home, said the councilor, who knew
Speaker 6: nothing of the age in which he at the moment,
Speaker 6: was no. I am going to Christianshaffen to Little Market Street.
Speaker 6: Both men stared at him in astonishment. Ohly, just tell
Speaker 6: me where the bridge is, said he. It is really
Speaker 6: unpardonable that there are no lamps here, and it is
Speaker 6: as dirty as if one had to wade through a morass.
Speaker 6: The longer he spoke with the boatmen, the more unintelligible
Speaker 6: did their language become to him. I don't understand your
Speaker 6: bornhomish dialect, said he at last, angrily, and turning his
Speaker 6: back upon them. He was unable to find the bridge.
Speaker 6: There was no railway either. It is really disgraceful what
Speaker 6: a state this place is in, muttered he to himself.
Speaker 6: Never had his age, with which however he was always grumbling,
Speaker 6: seemed so miserable as on this evening. I'll take a
Speaker 6: Hackney coach, thought he. But where were the Hackney coaches?
Speaker 6: Not one was to be seen, I must go back
Speaker 6: to the new Market. There, it is hoped I shall
Speaker 6: find some coaches, for if I don't, I shall never
Speaker 6: get safe to christianshaffen. So off he went in the
Speaker 6: direction of East Street, and had nearly got to the
Speaker 6: end of it when the moon shone forth. God bless me,
Speaker 6: What wooden scaffolding is that which they have set up there?
Speaker 6: Cried he involuntarily, as he looked at Eastgate, which in
Speaker 6: those days was at the end of East Street. He found, however,
Speaker 6: a little side door open, and through this he went
Speaker 6: and stepped into our new market. Of the place time
Speaker 6: it was a huge, desolate plain. Some wild bushes stood
Speaker 6: up here and there, while across the field flowed a
Speaker 6: broad canal or river. Some wretched hovels for the Dutch sailors,
Speaker 6: resembling great boxes, and after which the place was named,
Speaker 6: lay about in confused disorder on the opposite bank. I
Speaker 6: either behold a fata morgana, or I am regularly tipsy,
Speaker 6: whimpered out the Councilor but what's this? He turned round anew,
Speaker 6: firmly convinced that he was seriously ill. He gazed at
Speaker 6: the street, formerly so well known to him and now
Speaker 6: so strange in appearance, and looked at the houses more attentively.
Speaker 6: Most of them were of wood, slightly put together, and
Speaker 6: many had a thatched roof. No, I am far from well,
Speaker 6: sighed he And yet I drank only one glass of punch.
Speaker 6: But I cannot suppose it. It was too really very
Speaker 6: wrong to give us punch and hot salmon for supper.
Speaker 6: I shall speak about it at the first opportunity. I
Speaker 6: have half a mind to go back again and say
Speaker 6: what I suffer. But no, that would be too silly.
Speaker 6: And Heaven only knows if they are up still. He
Speaker 6: looked for the house, but it had vanished. It is
Speaker 6: really dreadful, groaned he, with increasing anxiety. I cannot recognize
Speaker 6: East Street again. There is not a single decent shop
Speaker 6: from one end to the other. Nothing but wretched huts
Speaker 6: can I see anywhere, just as if I were at Ringstead. Oh,
Speaker 6: I am ill, I can scarcely bear myself any longer.
Speaker 6: Where the deuce can the house be? It must be here,
Speaker 6: on this very spot. Yet there is not the slightest
Speaker 6: idea of resemblance. To such a degree has everything changed
Speaker 6: this night at all events? Here are some people up
Speaker 6: and starring. Oh, oh, I am certainly very ill. He
Speaker 6: now hit upon a half open door, through a chink
Speaker 6: of which a faint light shone. It was a sort
Speaker 6: of hostelry of those times, a kind of public house.
Speaker 6: The room had some resemblance to the clay floored halls
Speaker 6: in Holstein. A pretty numerous company, consisting of seamen, Copenhagen,
Speaker 6: burghers and a few scholars sat here in deep converse
Speaker 6: over their pewter cans, and gave little heat to the
Speaker 6: person who entered. By your leave, said the councilor the hostess,
Speaker 6: who came bustling towards him, I felt so queer all
Speaker 6: of a sudden, would you have the goodness to send
Speaker 6: for a hackney coach to take me to Christianshaffen. The
Speaker 6: woman examined him with eyes of astonishment and shook her head.
Speaker 6: She then addressed him in German. The councilor thought she
Speaker 6: did not understand Danish, and therefore repeated his wish in German. This,
Speaker 6: in connection with his costume, strengthened the good woman in
Speaker 6: the belief that he was a foreigner, that he was ill,
Speaker 6: she comprehended directly, so she brought him a pitcher of water,
Speaker 6: which tasted certainly pretty strong of the sea, although it
Speaker 6: had been fetched from the well. The councilor supported his
Speaker 6: head on his hand, drew a long breath, and thought
Speaker 6: over all the wondrous things he saw around him. Is
Speaker 6: this the daily news of the evening? He asked mechanically,
Speaker 6: as he saw the hostess push aside a large sheet
Speaker 6: of paper. The meaning of this councillorship query remained, of
Speaker 6: course a riddle to her, yet she handed him the
Speaker 6: paper without replying. It was a coarse woodcut representing a
Speaker 6: splendid meteor as seen in the town of Cologne, which
Speaker 6: was to be read below, and bright letters. That is
Speaker 6: very old, said the councilor, whom this piece of antiquity
Speaker 6: began to make considerably more cheerful. Pray, how did you
Speaker 6: come into possession of this rare print? It is extremely interesting,
Speaker 6: Although the whole is a mere fable, Such meteorous appearances
Speaker 6: are to be explained in this way that they are
Speaker 6: the reflections of the Aurora borealis, and it is highly
Speaker 6: probable they are caused principally by electricity. Those persons who
Speaker 6: are sitting nearest him and heard his speech stared at
Speaker 6: him in wonderment, and one of them rose took off
Speaker 6: his hat respectfully and said, with a serious countenance, you are,
Speaker 6: no doubt a very learned man. Monsieur oh No, answered
Speaker 6: the councilor. I can only join in conversations on this
Speaker 6: topic and on that as indeed one must do according
Speaker 6: to the demands of the world at present. Mojestia is
Speaker 6: a fine virtue, continued the gentleman. However, as to your speech,
Speaker 6: I must say meeki sekis vititer. Yet I am willing
Speaker 6: to suspend my judicial may I ask with whom I
Speaker 6: have the pleasure of speaking, said the councilor. I am
Speaker 6: a bachelor in theoloe OUI answered the gentleman, with a
Speaker 6: stiff reverence. This reply I fully satisfied the counselor. The
Speaker 6: title suited the dress. He is, certainly, thought he some
Speaker 6: village schoolmaster, some queer old fellow, such as one still
Speaker 6: meets with in Jutland. This is no locust, descendi, it
Speaker 6: is true, began the clerical gentleman. Yet I beg you
Speaker 6: earnestly to let his profit by your learning. Your reading
Speaker 6: in the ancients is signdubiou a vast extent. Oh, yes,
Speaker 6: I've read something, to be sure, replied the Councilor. I
Speaker 6: like reading all useful works, but you do not, on
Speaker 6: that account despise the modern ones. Tis only the unfortunate
Speaker 6: tales of every day life that I cannot bear. We
Speaker 6: have enough and more than enough such in reality tales
Speaker 6: of every day life, said our bachelor inquiringly. I mean
Speaker 6: those new fangled novels twisting and writhing themselves in the
Speaker 6: dust of commonplace, which also expect to find a reading public. Oh,
Speaker 6: exclaimed the clerical gentleman, smiling. There is much wit in them. Besides,
Speaker 6: they are read at court. The king likes the history
Speaker 6: of Sir Ifven and Sir Gaudian, particularly which treats of
Speaker 6: King Arthur and his knights of the round table. He
Speaker 6: has more than once joked about it with his high vassals.
Speaker 6: I have not read that novel, said the councilor. It
Speaker 6: must be quite a new one that Heiberg has published lately. No,
Speaker 6: answered the theologian of the time of King Hans. That
Speaker 6: book is not written by a Heiberg, but was imprinted
Speaker 6: by Godfrey von Geiman. Oh is that the author's name,
Speaker 6: said the Councilor, it is a very old name, and
Speaker 6: as well as I recollect, he was the first printer
Speaker 6: that appeared in Denmark. Yes, he is our first printer,
Speaker 6: replied the clerical gentleman hastily. So far all went on well.
Speaker 6: Some one of the worthy burghers now spoke of the
Speaker 6: dreadful pestilence that had raged in the country a few
Speaker 6: years back, meaning that of fourteen eighty four. The Councilor
Speaker 6: imagined it was the cholera that was meant which people
Speaker 6: made so much fuss about, And the discourse passed off
Speaker 6: satisfactorily enough. The war of the Buccaneers of fourteen ninety
Speaker 6: was so recent that it could not fail being alluded
Speaker 6: to the English pierate, had they said most shamefully taken
Speaker 6: their ships while in the roadstead And the Councilor, before
Speaker 6: whose eyes the herostratic event of eighteen o one still
Speaker 6: floated vividly, agreed entirely with the others in abusing the
Speaker 6: rascally English footnote. Herostratus or Erratostratus, an Ephesian who wantonly
Speaker 6: set fire to the famous Temple of Diana in order
Speaker 6: to commemorate his name by so uncommon an action end
Speaker 6: of footnote with other topics, he was not so fortunate.
Speaker 6: Every moment brought about some new confusion and threatened to
Speaker 6: become a perfect babble. For the worthy bachelor was really
Speaker 6: too ignorant, and the simplest observations of the councilor sounded
Speaker 6: to him too daring and fantastical. They looked at one
Speaker 6: another from the crowd of the head to the soles
Speaker 6: of the feet, And when matters grew to too high
Speaker 6: a pitch, then the bachelor talked Latin, and the hope
Speaker 6: of being better understood. But it was of no use.
Speaker 6: After all, what's the matter? Asked the hostess, plucking the
Speaker 6: councilor by the sleeve. And now his recollection returned, for
Speaker 6: in the course of the conversation he had entirely forgotten
Speaker 6: all that had preceded it. Merciful God, where am I?
Speaker 6: He exclaimed in agony. And while he so thought, all
Speaker 6: his ideas and feelings of overpowering dizziness against which he
Speaker 6: struggled with the utmost power of desperation encompassed him with
Speaker 6: renewed force. Let us drink claret and mead, and bremen
Speaker 6: Beier shouted one of the guests, and you shall drink
Speaker 6: with us. Two maidens approached. One wore a cap of
Speaker 6: two staring colors, denoting the class of persons to which
Speaker 6: she belonged. They poured out the liquor and made the
Speaker 6: most friendly gesticulations, while a cold perspiration trickled down the
Speaker 6: back of the poor Councilor what's to be the end
Speaker 6: of this? What's to become of me? He groaned, But
Speaker 6: he was forced, in spite of his opposition, to drink
Speaker 6: with the rest. They took hold of the worthy man, who,
Speaker 6: hearing on every side that he was intoxicated, did not
Speaker 6: in the least doubt the truth of this, certainly not
Speaker 6: very polite ascertation, But on the contrary, implored the ladies
Speaker 6: and gentlemen present to procure him a hackney coach. They, however,
Speaker 6: imagined he was talking Russian. Never before, he thought, had
Speaker 6: he been in such a coarse and ignorant company, one
Speaker 6: might almost fancy the people had turned heathens against him.
Speaker 6: It is the most dreadful moment of my life. The
Speaker 6: whole world is leagued against me. But suddenly it occurred
Speaker 6: to him that he might stoop down under the table,
Speaker 6: and then creep unobserved out of the door. He did so,
Speaker 6: but just as he was going the others remarked what
Speaker 6: he was about. They laid hold of him by the legs,
Speaker 6: and now, happily for him, off fell his fatal shoes,
Speaker 6: and with them the charm was at an end. The
Speaker 6: councilor saw quite distinctly before him a lantern burning, and
Speaker 6: behind this a large, handsome house. All seemed to him
Speaker 6: in proper order as usual. It was East Street, splendid
Speaker 6: and elegant as we now see it. He lay with
Speaker 6: his feet towards a doorway, and exactly opposite sat the
Speaker 6: watchman asleep. Gracious Heaven, said he have I lain here
Speaker 6: in the street, and dreamed, Yes, tis East Street, how
Speaker 6: splendid and light it is. But really it is terrible,
Speaker 6: what an effect that one glass of punch must have
Speaker 6: had on me. Two minutes later he was sitting in
Speaker 6: a hackney coat and driving to Frederick Soften. He thought
Speaker 6: of the distress and agony he had endured, and praised
Speaker 6: from the very bottom of his heart the happy reality
Speaker 6: our own time, which, with all its deficiencies, is yet
Speaker 6: much better than that in which, so much against his
Speaker 6: inclination he had lately been three the Watchman's adventure. Why
Speaker 6: there is a pair of galoshes, as sure as I
Speaker 6: am alive, said the watchman, awaking from a gentle slumber.
Speaker 6: They belong no doubt to the lieutenant who lives over
Speaker 6: the way. They lie close to the door. The worthy
Speaker 6: man was inclined to ring and deliver them at the house,
Speaker 6: for there was still a light in the window. But
Speaker 6: he did not like disturbing the other people in their beds,
Speaker 6: and so very considerately he left the matter alone. Such
Speaker 6: a pair of shoes must be very warm and comfortable,
Speaker 6: said he. The leather is so soft and supple. They
Speaker 6: fitted his feet as though they had been made for him.
Speaker 6: Tis a curious world we live in, continued he, soliloquizing.
Speaker 6: There's the lieutenant now, who might go quietly to bed
Speaker 6: if he chose where, no doubt, he could stretch himself
Speaker 6: at his ease.
Speaker 2: But does he do it.
Speaker 6: No, His saunters up and down his room, because probably
Speaker 6: he has enjoyed too many of the good things of
Speaker 6: this world at his dinner. That's a happy fellow. He
Speaker 6: is neither an infirm mother, nor a whole troop of
Speaker 6: Everlastingly hungry children to torment him. Every evening he goes
Speaker 6: to a party, where his nice supper costs him nothing.
Speaker 6: Would to heaven, I could but change with him? How
Speaker 6: happy should I be? While expressing his wish, the charm
Speaker 6: of the shoes which he had put on, began to work.
Speaker 6: The watchman entered into the being and nature of the lieutenant.
Speaker 6: He stood in the handsomely furnished apartment, and held between
Speaker 6: his fingers a small sheet of rose colored paper, on
Speaker 6: which some verses were written, written indeed by the officer himself,
Speaker 6: for who has not at least once in his life
Speaker 6: had a lyrical moment. And if one then marks down
Speaker 6: one's thoughts, poetry is produced. But here it was written,
Speaker 6: Oh were I rich?
Speaker 2: Oh were I rich?
Speaker 6: Such was my wish? Yea such when hardly three feet high,
Speaker 6: I longed for much?
Speaker 5: Oh were I rich?
Speaker 6: An officer?
Speaker 9: Were I?
Speaker 6: With sword and uniform and plumes so high? And the
Speaker 6: time came and officer was I? But yet I grew
Speaker 6: not rich, alas poor me have pity thou, who all
Speaker 6: man's wants dost see. I sat one evening, sunk in
Speaker 6: dreams of bliss. A maid of seven years old gave
Speaker 6: me a kiss. I at that time was rich in
Speaker 6: poesy and tales of old, though poor as poor can be.
Speaker 6: But all she asked for was this poesy. Then was
Speaker 6: I rich but not in gold? Poor me, as thou
Speaker 6: dost know who all men's hearts canst see?
Speaker 10: Oh?
Speaker 6: Were I rich oft? Asked I for this boon? The
Speaker 6: child grew up to womanhood full soon. She is so pretty,
Speaker 6: clever and so kind. Oh did she know what's hidden
Speaker 6: in my mind? A tale of old which she to
Speaker 6: me were kind, But I am condemned to silence? Oh,
Speaker 6: poor me, as thou dost know who all men's heart
Speaker 6: canst see?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 6: Were I rich in calm and peace of mind? My grief?
Speaker 6: You then would not here written? Find o thou to
Speaker 6: whom I do my heart devote? Oh, read this page
Speaker 6: of glad days now remote, a dark, dark tale which
Speaker 6: I to night devote. Dark is the future now alas
Speaker 6: poor me have pity thou, who all men's pains dost
Speaker 6: see such verses as these people write when they are
Speaker 6: in love. But no man in his senses ever thinks
Speaker 6: of printing them. Hear one of the sorrows of life
Speaker 6: in which there is real poetry gave itself vent, not
Speaker 6: that barren grief which the poet may only hint at
Speaker 6: but never depict in its detail. Misery and want, that
Speaker 6: animal necessity, in short, to snatch at least at a
Speaker 6: fallen leaf of the bread fruit tree, if not at
Speaker 6: the fruit itself. The higher the position in which one
Speaker 6: finds one self transplanted, the greater is the suffering. Every
Speaker 6: day necessity is the stagnant pool of life. No lovely
Speaker 6: picture reflects itself there in Lieutenant, love and lack of money.
Speaker 6: That is a symbolic triangle, or much the same as
Speaker 6: the half of the shattered die of fortune. This the
Speaker 6: Lieutenant felt most poignantly, and this was the reason he
Speaker 6: leant his head against the window and sighed so deeply.
Speaker 6: The poor watchman out there in the street is far
Speaker 6: happier than I. He knows not what I term privation.
Speaker 6: He has a home, a wife, and children who weep
Speaker 6: with him over his sorrows, who rejoice with him when
Speaker 6: he is glad. Oh, far happier.
Speaker 7: Where I could I.
Speaker 6: Exchange with him my being, with his desires and with
Speaker 6: his hopes, performed the weary pilgrimage of life. Oh, he
Speaker 6: is a hundred times happier than I. In the same moment,
Speaker 6: the Watchman was again watchman. It was the shoes that
Speaker 6: caused the metamorphosis, by means of which, unknown to himself,
Speaker 6: he took upon him the thoughts and feelings of the officer.
Speaker 6: But as we have just seen, he felt himself in
Speaker 6: his new situation much less contented, and now preferred the
Speaker 6: very thing which but someone is before he had rejected.
Speaker 6: So then the Watchman was again watchman. That was an
Speaker 6: unpleasant dream.
Speaker 4: Said he.
Speaker 6: But twas droll enough altogether. I fancy that I was
Speaker 6: the lieutenant over there, And yet the thing was not
Speaker 6: very much to my taste. After all, I missed my
Speaker 6: good old mother and the dear little ones who almost
Speaker 6: tear me to pieces for sheer love. He seated himself
Speaker 6: once more and nodded. The dream continued to haunt him,
Speaker 6: for he still had the shoes on his feet. A
Speaker 6: falling star shone in the dark firmament. There falls another star,
Speaker 6: said he, But what does it matter? There are always
Speaker 6: enough left. I should not much mind examining the little
Speaker 6: glimmering things somewhat nearer, especially the moon, for that would
Speaker 6: not slip so easily through a man's fingers. When we die,
Speaker 6: so at least as the student for whom my wife
Speaker 6: does the washing, we shall fly about as light as
Speaker 6: a feather, from one such a star to the other. That's,
Speaker 6: of course not true, but twould be pretty enough if
Speaker 6: it were so. If I could but once take a
Speaker 6: leap up there, my body might stay here on the
Speaker 6: steps for what I care.
Speaker 4: Behold.
Speaker 6: There are certain things in the world to which one
Speaker 6: ought never to give utterance, except with the greatest caution.
Speaker 6: But doubly careful must one be when we have the
Speaker 6: shoes of fortune on our feet. Now, just listen to
Speaker 6: what happened to the watchmen as to ourselves. We all
Speaker 6: know the speed produced by the employment of steam. We
Speaker 6: have experienced it, either on railroads or in boats when
Speaker 6: crossing the sea. But such a flight is like the
Speaker 6: traveling of a sloth in comparison with the velocity with
Speaker 6: which light moves. It flies nineteen million times faster than
Speaker 6: the best race horse. And yet electricity is quicker.
Speaker 7: Still.
Speaker 6: Death is an electric shock which our heart receives. The
Speaker 6: freed's soul soars upwards on the wings of electricity. The
Speaker 6: sun's light wants eight minutes and some seconds to perform
Speaker 6: a journey of more than twenty million of our Danish
Speaker 6: miles borne by electricity. The soul wants even some minutes
Speaker 6: less to accomplish the same flight. Footnote. A Danish mile
Speaker 6: is nearly four and three quarters English end of footnote
Speaker 6: to it, the space between the heavenly bodies is not
Speaker 6: greater than the distance between the homes of our friends
Speaker 6: in town is for us, even if they live a
Speaker 6: short way from each other. Such an electric shock in
Speaker 6: the heart or river costs us the use of the
Speaker 6: body here below, unless, like the watchmen of East Street,
Speaker 6: we happen to have on the shoes of fortune. In
Speaker 6: a few seconds, the watchman had done the fifty two
Speaker 6: thousand of our miles up to that moon, which, as
Speaker 6: everyone knows, was formed out of matter much lighter than
Speaker 6: our earth, and is so we should say, as soft
Speaker 6: as nearly fallen snow. We found himself on one of
Speaker 6: the many circumjacent mountain ridges with which we are acquainted
Speaker 6: by means of doctor Madler's map of the moon. Within
Speaker 6: down it sunk perpendicularly into a cauldron about a Danish
Speaker 6: mile and depth, while below lay a town whose appearance
Speaker 6: we can, in some measure realized to ourselves by beating
Speaker 6: the white of an egg in a glass of water.
Speaker 6: The matter of which it was built was just as
Speaker 6: soft and formed similar towers and domes and pillars, transparent
Speaker 6: and rocking in the thin air. While above his head
Speaker 6: our earth was rolling like a large fiery ball. He
Speaker 6: perceived immediately a quantity of beings who were certainly what
Speaker 6: we call men, Yet they looked different to us, a
Speaker 6: far more correct imagination than that of the pseudo. Herschel
Speaker 6: had created them. And if they had been placed in
Speaker 6: rank and file and copied by some skillful painter's hand,
Speaker 6: one would without doubt have exclaimed, involuntarily, what a beautiful
Speaker 6: Arabesque footnote. This relates to a book published some years
Speaker 6: ago in Germany and said to be by Herschel, which
Speaker 6: contained a description of the moon and its inhabitants, written
Speaker 6: with such a semblance of truth that many were deceived
Speaker 6: by the imposture, and a footnote probably a translation of
Speaker 6: the celebrated Moon Hoax, written by Richard A. Locke and
Speaker 6: originally published in New York. They had a language too,
Speaker 6: But surely nobody can expect that the soul of the
Speaker 6: watchman should understand it be that as it may, it
Speaker 6: did comprehend it, For in our souls their germanate far
Speaker 6: greater powers than we poor mortals. Despite all our cleverness,
Speaker 6: have any notion of to do? Not show us she
Speaker 6: the queen in the land of Enchantment, her astounding dramatic talent.
Speaker 7: In all our dreams.
Speaker 6: There every acquaintance appears and speaks upon the stage so
Speaker 6: entirely in character and with the same tone of voice,
Speaker 6: that none of us, when awake, were able to imitate it.
Speaker 6: How well can she recall persons to our mind of
Speaker 6: whom we have not thought for years, when suddenly they
Speaker 6: step forth every inch a man resembling the real personages,
Speaker 6: even to the finest features, and become the heroes or
Speaker 6: heroines of our world of dreams. In reality, such remembrances
Speaker 6: are rather unpleasant. Every sin, every evil thought, may, like
Speaker 6: a clock with alarm or chimes, be repeated at pleasure.
Speaker 6: Then the question is if we can trust ourselves to
Speaker 6: give an account of every unbecoming word in our heart
Speaker 6: and on our lips. The Watchman's spirit understood the language
Speaker 6: of the inhabitants of the moon pretty well. The Sulenites,
Speaker 6: dwellers in the Moon, disputed variously about our Earth, and
Speaker 6: expressed their doubts if it could be inhabited. The err
Speaker 6: they said, must certainly be too dense to allow any
Speaker 6: rational dweller in the Moon the necessary free respiration. They
Speaker 6: considered the Moon alone to be inhabited. They imagined it
Speaker 6: was the real heart of the universe or planetary system,
Speaker 6: on which the genuine cosmopolites or citizens of the world dwelt.
Speaker 6: What strange things men, no, what strange things Zelenites sometimes
Speaker 6: take into their heads about politics. They had a good
Speaker 6: deal to say. But little Denmark must take care what
Speaker 6: it is about, and not run counter to the Moon,
Speaker 6: that great realm that might, in an ill humor, bestir
Speaker 6: itself and dash down a hail storm in our faces,
Speaker 6: or force the Baltic to overflow the sides of its
Speaker 6: gigantic basin. We will therefore not listen to what was spoken,
Speaker 6: and on no condition run in the possibility of telling
Speaker 6: tales out of school. But we will rather proceed, like
Speaker 6: good quiet citizens, to East Street and observe what happened. Meanwhile,
Speaker 6: to the body of the watchman. He sat lifeless on
Speaker 6: the steps. The morning star, that is to say, the
Speaker 6: heavy wooden staff, headed with iron spikes, and which had
Speaker 6: nothing else in common with its sparkling brother in the sky,
Speaker 6: had glided from his hand, while his eyes were fixed
Speaker 6: with glassy stare on the moon, looking for the good
Speaker 6: old fellow of a spirit which still haunted it. Footnote.
Speaker 6: The watchmen in Germany had formerly, and in some places
Speaker 6: they still carry with them on their rounds at night,
Speaker 6: a sort of mace or club, known in ancient times
Speaker 6: by the above denomination and a footnote what's the hour? Watchman?
Speaker 6: Asked a passer by, But when the watchman gave no reply,
Speaker 6: the merry roysterer, who was now returning home from a
Speaker 6: noisy drinking bout, took it into his head to try
Speaker 6: what a tweak of the nose would do, on which
Speaker 6: the supposed sleeper lost his balance. The body lay motionless,
Speaker 6: stretched out on the pavement.
Speaker 8: The man was dead.
Speaker 6: When the patrol came. All his comrades, who comprehended nothing
Speaker 6: of the whole affair, were seized with a dreadful fright.
Speaker 6: For dead he was, and he remained so. The proper
Speaker 6: authorities were informed of the circumstance, people talked a good
Speaker 6: deal about it, and in the morning the body was
Speaker 6: carried to the hostilepital. Now that would be a very
Speaker 6: pretty joke if the spirit, when it came back and
Speaker 6: looked for the body in East Street, were not to
Speaker 6: find one. No doubt, it would, in its anxiety, run
Speaker 6: off to the police, and then to the Hue and
Speaker 6: Cry office to announce that the finder will be handsomely rewarded,
Speaker 6: and at last away to the hospital. Yet we may
Speaker 6: boldly assert that the soul is shrewdest when it shakes
Speaker 6: off every fetter and every sort of leading string, the
Speaker 6: body only makes it stupid. The seemingly dead body of
Speaker 6: the Watchman wandered, as we have said, to the hospital,
Speaker 6: where it was brought into the general viewing room. And
Speaker 6: the first thing that was done here was naturally to
Speaker 6: pull off the galoshes. When the spirit, that was merely
Speaker 6: gone out on adventures must have returned with the quickness
Speaker 6: of lightning to its earthly tenement. It took its direction
Speaker 6: towards the body in a straight line, and a few
Speaker 6: seconds after life began to show itself from the man.
Speaker 6: He asserted that the preceding night had been the worst
Speaker 6: that ever the malice of fate had allotted him. He
Speaker 6: would not for two silver marks again go through what
Speaker 6: he had endured while moon stricken. But now, however, it
Speaker 6: was over. The same day he was discharged from the
Speaker 6: hospital as perfectly cured. But the shoes meanwhile remained behind.
Speaker 5: Four.
Speaker 6: A moment of head importance an Evening's dramatic readings, A
Speaker 6: most strange journey. Every inhabitant of Copenhagen knows from personal
Speaker 6: inspection how the entrance to Frederick's hospital looks. But as
Speaker 6: it is possible that others who are not Copenhagen people
Speaker 6: may also read this little work, we will beforehand give
Speaker 6: a short description of it. The extensive building is separated
Speaker 6: from the street by a pretty high railing, the thick
Speaker 6: iron bars of which are so far apart that, in
Speaker 6: all seriousness, it is said some very thin fellow had
Speaker 6: of a knight, occasionally squeezed himself through to go and
Speaker 6: pay his little visits in the town. The part of
Speaker 6: the body most difficult to manage on such occasions was,
Speaker 6: no doubt, the head. Here, as is so often the
Speaker 6: case in the world, longheaded people get through best. So
Speaker 6: much then for the introduction. One of the young men,
Speaker 6: whose head in a physical sense only might be said
Speaker 6: to be of the thickest, had the watch that evening
Speaker 6: the rain poured down in Torrents. Yet despite these two obstacles,
Speaker 6: the young man was obliged to go out, if it
Speaker 6: were but for a quarter of an hour, And as
Speaker 6: to telling the doorkeeper about it, that he thought was
Speaker 6: quite unnecessary. If with a whole skin he were able
Speaker 6: to slip through the railing. There on the floor lay
Speaker 6: the galoshes, which the watchman had forgotten. He never dreamed
Speaker 6: for a moment that they were those of fortune, and
Speaker 6: they promised to do him good service in the wet
Speaker 6: so he put them on. The question now was if
Speaker 6: he could squeeze himself through the grating, for he had
Speaker 6: never tried before. Well, there he stood, would to heaven.
Speaker 6: I had got my head through, said he involuntarily, and
Speaker 6: instantly through it slipped easily and without pain. Notwithstanding it
Speaker 6: was pretty large and thick. But now the rest of
Speaker 6: the body was to be got through.
Speaker 7: Ah, I am much.
Speaker 6: Too stout, groaned he aloud, while fixed as in a vice.
Speaker 6: I had thought the head was the most difficult part
Speaker 6: of the matter. Oh, oh, I really cannot see myself through.
Speaker 6: He now wanted to pull his over hasty head back again,
Speaker 6: but he could not. For his neck there was room enough,
Speaker 6: but for nothing more. His first feeling was of anger,
Speaker 6: his next that his temper fell to zero. The shoes
Speaker 6: of fortune had placed him in the most dreadful situation,
Speaker 6: and unfortunately it never occurred to him to wish himself free.
Speaker 6: The pitch black clouds poured down their contents in still
Speaker 6: heavier torrents. Not a creature was to be seen in
Speaker 6: the streets. To reach up to the bell was what
Speaker 6: he did not like. To cry aloud for help would
Speaker 6: have availed him little. Besides, how ashamed would he have
Speaker 6: been to be found caught in a trap like an
Speaker 6: outwitted fox. How was he to twist himself through? He
Speaker 6: saw clearly that it was his irrevocable destiny to remain
Speaker 6: a prisoner till dawn, or perhaps even late in the morning.
Speaker 6: Then the smith must be fetched to file away the bars.
Speaker 6: But all that would not be done so quickly as
Speaker 6: he could think about it. The whole charity school just
Speaker 6: opposite would be in motion, all the new booths with
Speaker 6: their not very courtier eyes like swarm of seamen would
Speaker 6: join them out of curiosity, and would greet him with
Speaker 6: the wild Hurrah. While he was standing in his pillory,
Speaker 6: there would be a mob, a hissing and rejoicing and jeering,
Speaker 6: ten times worse than in the rows about the Jews
Speaker 6: some years ago. Oh my blood is mounting to my
Speaker 6: brain tis enough to drive one mad.
Speaker 10: I shall go wild.
Speaker 12: I know not what to do.
Speaker 6: Oh were I but loose, my dizziness would then cease? Oh,
Speaker 6: were my head but loose?
Speaker 13: You see?
Speaker 6: He Oto said that sooner for the moment he expressed
Speaker 6: the wish his head was free and cured of all
Speaker 6: his paroxysms of love. He hastened off to his room,
Speaker 6: where the pains consequent on the fright of the shoes
Speaker 6: had prepared for him. Did not so soon take their leave.
Speaker 6: But you must not think that the affair is over.
Speaker 6: Now it grows much worse. The night passed the next
Speaker 6: day also, but nobody came to fetch the shoes. In
Speaker 6: the evening, dramatic readings were to be given at the
Speaker 6: little theater in King Street. The house was filled to suffocation,
Speaker 6: and among other pieces to be recited was a new
Speaker 6: poem by H. C. Andersen, called My Aunt's Spectacles, the
Speaker 6: contents of which were pretty nearly as follows. A certain
Speaker 6: person had an aunt who boasted of particular skill in
Speaker 6: fortune telling with cards, and who was constantly being stormed
Speaker 6: by persons that wanted to have a peep into futurity.
Speaker 6: But she was full of mystery about her art, in
Speaker 6: which a certain pair of magic spectacles did her essential service.
Speaker 6: Her nephew, a merry boy who was his aunt's darling,
Speaker 6: begged so long for these spectacles that at last she
Speaker 6: lent him the treasure, after having informed him with many
Speaker 6: exhortations that in order to execute the interesting trick, he
Speaker 6: need only repair it to some place where a great
Speaker 6: many persons were assembled, and then from a higher position,
Speaker 6: whence he could overlook the crowd passed the company in
Speaker 6: review before him through his spectacles. Immediately the inner man
Speaker 6: of each individual would be displayed before him, like a
Speaker 6: game of cards, in which he unerringly might read what
Speaker 6: the future of every person presented was to be. Well please,
Speaker 6: the little magician hastened away to prove the powers of
Speaker 6: the spectacles in the theater, no place seeming to him
Speaker 6: more fitted for such a trial, He begged the permission
Speaker 6: of the worthy audience, and set his spectacles on his nose.
Speaker 6: A motley phantasmagoria presented itself before him, which he describes
Speaker 6: in a few satirical touches, Yet without expressing his opinion openly,
Speaker 6: He tells the people enough to set them all thinking
Speaker 6: and guessing, But in order to hurt nobody, he wraps
Speaker 6: his witty oracular judgments in a transparent veil, or rather
Speaker 6: in a lurid thundercloud, shooting forth bright sparks of wit
Speaker 6: that they may fall in the powder magazine of the
Speaker 6: expectant audience. The humorous poem was admirably recited, and the
Speaker 6: speaker much applauded. Among the audience was the young man
Speaker 6: of the hospital, who seemed to have forgotten his adventure
Speaker 6: of the preceding night. He had on the shoes, for
Speaker 6: as yet no lawful owner had appeared to claim them,
Speaker 6: and besides it was so very dirty out of doors,
Speaker 6: they were just the thing for him, he thought. The
Speaker 6: beginning of the poem he praised with great generosity. He
Speaker 6: even found the idea original and effective, but that the
Speaker 6: end of it, like the rhine, was very insignificant. Proved,
Speaker 6: in his opinion, the author's want of invention. He was
Speaker 6: without genius, et cetera. This was an excellent opportunity to
Speaker 6: have said something clever. Meanwhile, he was haunted by the
Speaker 6: idea he should like to possess such a pair of
Speaker 6: spectacles himself. Then, perhaps by using them circumspectedly, one would
Speaker 6: be able to look into people's hearts, which he thought
Speaker 6: would be far more interesting than merely to see what
Speaker 6: was to happen next year. For that we should all
Speaker 6: know in proper time.
Speaker 7: But the other never.
Speaker 6: I can now, said he to himself. Fancy the whole
Speaker 6: row of ladies and gentlemen sitting there in the front row,
Speaker 6: if one could but see into their hearts. Yes, that
Speaker 6: would be a revelation, a.
Speaker 8: Sort of bazaar.
Speaker 6: And that lady Yonder so strangely dressed. I should find
Speaker 6: for certain a large milliner's shop, and that one. The
Speaker 6: shop is empty, but it wants cleaning, plain enough. But
Speaker 6: there would also be some good stately shops among them.
Speaker 6: Alas sighed he, I know one in which all is stately,
Speaker 6: But there sits already a spruce young shopman, which is
Speaker 6: the only thing that's amiss in the whole shop. All
Speaker 6: would be splendidly decked out, and we should hear. Walk in, gentlemen,
Speaker 6: pray walk in. Here you will find all you please
Speaker 6: to want. Ah I wish to heaven. I could walk
Speaker 6: in and take a trip right through the hearts of
Speaker 6: those present, and behold to the shoes of fortune.
Speaker 7: This was the cue.
Speaker 6: The whole man shrunk together, and a most uncommon journey
Speaker 6: through the hearts of the front rowe the spectators now began.
Speaker 6: The first heart through which he came was that of
Speaker 6: a middle aged lady. But he instantly fancied himself in
Speaker 6: the room of the Institution for the Cure of the
Speaker 6: Crooked and Deformed, where casts of misshapen limbs are displayed
Speaker 6: in naked reality on the wall. Yet there was this
Speaker 6: difference and the institution the casts were taken at the
Speaker 6: entry of the patient, but here they were retained and
Speaker 6: guarded in the heart while the sound persons went away.
Speaker 6: They were, namely casts of female friends whose bodily or
Speaker 6: mental deformities were here most faithfully preserved. With the snakelike
Speaker 6: writhings of an idea, he glided into another female heart,
Speaker 6: but this seemed to him like a large holy fane temple,
Speaker 6: the white dove of innocence fluttered above the altar. How
Speaker 6: gladly would he have sunk upon his knees, But he
Speaker 6: must away to the next heart. Yet he still heard
Speaker 6: the pealing tones of the organ, and he himself seemed
Speaker 6: to have become a newer and a better man. He
Speaker 6: felt unworthy to tread the neighboring sanctuary, which poor Garret
Speaker 6: with the sick, bedridden mother revealed. But God's warm sun
Speaker 6: streamed through the open window. Lovely roses nodded from the
Speaker 6: wooden flower boxes on the roof, and two sky blue
Speaker 6: birds sang rejoicingly, while the sick mother implored God's richest
Speaker 6: blessings on her pious daughter. He now crept on hands
Speaker 6: and feet through a butcher's shop. At least on every side,
Speaker 6: and above and below there was not but flesh, who
Speaker 6: was the heart of a most respectable rich man, whose
Speaker 6: name is certain to be found in the directory. He
Speaker 6: was now in the heart of the wife of the
Speaker 6: worthy gentleman, who was an old, dilapidated, moldering dovecot. The
Speaker 6: husband's portrait was used as a weathercock, which was connected
Speaker 6: in some way or other with the doors, and so
Speaker 6: they opened and shut of their own accord whenever the
Speaker 6: stern old husband turned around. Hereupon he wandered into a
Speaker 6: boudoir formed entirely of mirrors, like the one in Castle Rosenberg.
Speaker 6: But here the glasses magnified to an astonishing degree. On
Speaker 6: the floor in the middle of the room sat like
Speaker 6: a dalai lama, the insignificant self of the person. Quite
Speaker 6: confounded at his own greatness, he then imagined he had
Speaker 6: got into a needle case full of pointed needles of
Speaker 6: every size. This is certainly the heart of an old maid,
Speaker 6: thought he. But he was mistaken. It was the heart
Speaker 6: of a young military man, a man, as people said,
Speaker 6: of talent and feeling. In the greatest perplexity, he now
Speaker 6: came out of the last heart in the row. He
Speaker 6: was unable to put his thoughts in order, and fancied
Speaker 6: that his too lively imagination had run away with him.
Speaker 6: Good heavens sighed he, I have surely a disposition to
Speaker 6: madness tis dreadfully high. Here my blood boils my veins,
Speaker 6: and my head is burning like a coal. And he
Speaker 6: now remembered the important event of the evening before, how
Speaker 6: his head had got jammed in between the iron railings
Speaker 6: of the hospital. That's what it is, no doubt, said he.
Speaker 6: I must do something in time. Under such circumstances, A
Speaker 6: Russian bath might do me good. I only wish I
Speaker 6: were already in the upper bank footnote. In these Russian
Speaker 6: vapor baths, the purson extends himself on a bank or form,
Speaker 6: and as he gets accustomed to the heat, moves to
Speaker 6: another higher up towards the ceiling, where, of course the
Speaker 6: vapor is warmest. In this manner he ascends gradually to
Speaker 6: the highest and a footnote. And so there he lay
Speaker 6: on the uppermost bank in the vapor bath, but with
Speaker 6: all his clothes on, in his boots and galoshes, while
Speaker 6: the hot drops fell, scalding from the ceiling on his face.
Speaker 6: Hullo cried, he leaping down. The bathing attendant on his
Speaker 6: side uttered a loud cry of astonishment when he beheld
Speaker 6: in the bath a man completely dressed. The other, however,
Speaker 6: retained sufficient presence of mind to whisper to him, tis
Speaker 6: a bet, and I have won it. But the first
Speaker 6: thing he did as soon as he got home was
Speaker 6: to have a large blister put on his chest and
Speaker 6: back to draw out his madness. Next morning he had
Speaker 6: a sore chest and a bleeding back, and accepting the fright,
Speaker 6: that was all that he had gained by the shoes
Speaker 6: of fortune. Five metamorphosis of the copying clerk. The watchman,
Speaker 6: whom we have certainly not forgotten, thought meanwhile, of the
Speaker 6: gloshes he had found and taken with him to the hospital.
Speaker 6: He now went to fetch them, and as neither the
Speaker 6: lieutenant nor anybody else in the street claimed them as
Speaker 6: his property, they were delivered over to the police office. Footnote.
Speaker 6: As on the continent, in all law and police practices,
Speaker 6: nothing is verbal but any circumstance. However, trifling is reduced
Speaker 6: to writing. The labor, as well as the number of
Speaker 6: papers that thus accumulate, is enormous. In a police office, consequently,
Speaker 6: we find copying clerks, among many other scribes of various denominations,
Speaker 6: of which it seems our hero was one. End of footnote.
Speaker 6: Why I declare the shoes looked just like my own,
Speaker 6: said one of the clerks, eyeing the newly found treasure,
Speaker 6: whose hidden powers, even he sharp as he was, was
Speaker 6: not able to discover. One must have more than the
Speaker 6: eye of a shoemaker to know one pair from the other,
Speaker 6: said he soliloquizing and putting at the same time, the
Speaker 6: gloshes in search of an owner beside his own in
Speaker 6: the corner here, sir, said one of the men, who, panting,
Speaker 6: brought him a tremendous pile of papers. The copying clerk
Speaker 6: turned round and spoke awhile with the man about the
Speaker 6: reports and legal documents in question. But when he had finished,
Speaker 6: and his eye fell again on the shoes, he was
Speaker 6: unable to say whether those to the left or those
Speaker 6: to the right belonged to him. At all events, it
Speaker 6: must be those which are wet, thought he. But this time,
Speaker 6: in spite of his cleverness, he guessed quite wrong, for
Speaker 6: it was just those of fortune which played, as it were,
Speaker 6: into his hands, or rather on his feet. And why
Speaker 6: I should like to know, are the police never to
Speaker 6: be wrong? So he put them on quickly, stuck his
Speaker 6: papers in his pocket, and took besides a few under
Speaker 6: his arm, intending to look them through at home to
Speaker 6: make them necessary notes. It was noon, and the weather
Speaker 6: that had threatened to rain began to clear up. While
Speaker 6: gaily dressed holiday folks filled the streets a little trip
Speaker 6: to Fredericksburg would do me no great harm, thought he,
Speaker 6: For I, poor beast of burden that I am, have
Speaker 6: so much to annoy me that I don't know what
Speaker 6: a good appetite is. Tis a bitter crust alas at
Speaker 6: which I am condemned to gnaw. Nobody could be more
Speaker 6: steady or quiet than this young man. We therefore wish
Speaker 6: him joy of the excursion with all our heart, and
Speaker 6: it will certainly be beneficial for a person who leads
Speaker 6: so sedentary a life. In the park, he met a friend,
Speaker 6: one of our young poets, who told him that the
Speaker 6: following day he should set out on his long intended tour.
Speaker 6: So you are going away again, said the clerk. You
Speaker 6: are a very free and happy being. We others are
Speaker 6: chained by the leg and held fast to our desk. Yes,
Speaker 6: but it is a chain, friend, which ensures you the
Speaker 6: blessed bread of existence, answered the poet. You need feel
Speaker 6: no care for the coming morrow. When you are old,
Speaker 6: you receive a pension, true, said the clerk, shrugging his should.
Speaker 6: And yet you are the better off to sit at
Speaker 6: one's ease and poetise. That is a pleasure. Everybody has
Speaker 6: something agreeable to say to you, and you are always
Speaker 6: your own master. No friend, you should but try what
Speaker 6: it is to sit from one year's end to the other,
Speaker 6: occupied with and judging the most trivial matters. The poet
Speaker 6: shook his head. The copying clerk did the same. Each
Speaker 6: one kept to his own opinion, and so they separated.
Speaker 6: It's a strange race, those poets, said the clerk, who
Speaker 6: is very fond of soliloquizing. I should like, some day,
Speaker 6: just for a trial, to take such nature upon me
Speaker 6: and be a poet myself. I am very sure I
Speaker 6: should make no such miserable verses as the others. To day, methinks,
Speaker 6: is a most delicious day for a poet. Nature seems
Speaker 6: anew to celebrate her awakening into life. The air is
Speaker 6: so unusually clear, the clouds sail on so buoyantly, and
Speaker 6: from the green herbage, a fragrance is exhaled that fills
Speaker 6: me with delight. For many a year have I not
Speaker 6: felt as at this moment we see already by the
Speaker 6: foregoing effusion, that he is become a poet. To give
Speaker 6: further proof of it, however, would in most cases be insipid,
Speaker 6: For it is a most foolish notion to fancy a
Speaker 6: poet different from other men. Among the latter, there may
Speaker 6: be far more poetical natures than many. An acknowledged poet,
Speaker 6: when examined more closely, could boast of the difference only
Speaker 6: is that the poet possesses a better mental memory, on
Speaker 6: which account he is able to retain the feeling and
Speaker 6: the thought till they can be embodied by means of words,
Speaker 6: a faculty which the others do not possess. But the
Speaker 6: transition from a commonplace nature to one that is richly
Speaker 6: endowed demands always a more or less breakneck leap over
Speaker 6: certain abyss which yawns threateningly below. And thus must the
Speaker 6: sudden change with the clerk strike the reader the sweet air,
Speaker 6: continued he of the police office in his dreamy imaginings,
Speaker 6: how it reminds me of the violets in the garden
Speaker 6: of my aunt Magdalena. Yes, then I was a little
Speaker 6: wild boy who did not go to school very regularly. Oh, heavens,
Speaker 6: tis a long time since I have thought on those times.
Speaker 6: The good old soul she lived behind the exchange. She
Speaker 6: always had a few twigs or green shoots and water
Speaker 6: let the winter rage without as it might. The violets
Speaker 6: exhaled their sweet breath, whilst I pressed against the window
Speaker 6: panes covered with fantastic frost work the copper coin I
Speaker 6: had heated on the stove and so made peep holes.
Speaker 6: What splendid vistas were there then opened to my view?
Speaker 6: What change, what magnificence? Yonder in the canal lay the
Speaker 6: ships frozen up and deserted by their whole crews, with
Speaker 6: a screaming crow for the sole occupant. But when the spring,
Speaker 6: with a gentle stirring motion, announced her arrival, a new
Speaker 6: and busy life arose with songs and hurrahs. The ice
Speaker 6: was sawn asunder. The ships were fresh, tarred and rigged
Speaker 6: that they might sail away to distant lands. But I
Speaker 6: have remained here, must always remain here, sitting at my
Speaker 6: desk in the office, and patiently see other people fetch
Speaker 6: their passports to go abroad. Such is my fate. Alas
Speaker 6: sighed he again, and was again silent, Great Heaven, what
Speaker 6: is come to me? Never have I thought or felt
Speaker 6: like this before. It must be the summer air that
Speaker 6: affects me with feelings almost as disquieting as they are refreshing.
Speaker 6: He felt in his pockets for the papers. These police
Speaker 6: reports will soon stem the torrent of my ideas and
Speaker 6: effectually hinder any rebellious overflowing of the time worn banks
Speaker 6: of official duties. He said to himself consolingly, while his
Speaker 6: eye ran over the first page, Dame Tigbreath, Tragedy in
Speaker 6: five acts?
Speaker 4: What is that?
Speaker 6: And yet it is undeniably my own handwriting? Have I written?
Speaker 7: The tragedy?
Speaker 6: Wonderful? Very wonderful?
Speaker 4: And this what have I here?
Speaker 6: Intrigue on the ramparts? Or the day of repentance vaudeville
Speaker 6: with new songs to the most favorite airs the deuce?
Speaker 6: Where did I get all this rubbish? Some one must
Speaker 6: have slipped it slyly into my pocket for a joke.
Speaker 6: There is too a letter to me, a crumpled letter,
Speaker 6: and the seal broken. Yes, it was not a very
Speaker 6: polite epistle from the manager of a theater, in which
Speaker 6: both pieces were flatly refused. Hem ahem, said the clerk breathlessly,
Speaker 6: and quite exhausted, He seated himself on a bank. His
Speaker 6: thoughts were so elastic, his heart so tender, and involuntarily
Speaker 6: he picked one of the nearest flowers. It is a
Speaker 6: simple daisy, just bursting out of the bud. What the
Speaker 6: botanist tells us. After a number of imperfect lectures, the
Speaker 6: flower proclaimed in a minute it related the mythis of
Speaker 6: its birth, told of the power of the sunlight that
Speaker 6: spread out its delicate leaves and forced them to impregnate
Speaker 6: the air with their incense. And then he thought of
Speaker 6: the manifold struggles of life, which in like manner awakened
Speaker 6: the budding flowers of feeling in our bosom. Light and
Speaker 6: air contended with chivalric emulation for the love of the
Speaker 6: fair flower that bestowed her chief favors. On the latter.
Speaker 6: Full of longing, she turned towards the light, and as
Speaker 6: soon as it vanished, rolled her tender leaves together and
Speaker 6: slept in the embraces of the air. It is the
Speaker 6: light which adorns me, said the flower. But tis the
Speaker 6: air which enables thee to breathe said the poet's voice.
Speaker 6: Close spy stood a boy who dashed his stick into
Speaker 6: a wet ditch. The drops of water splashed up to
Speaker 6: the green leafy roof, and the clerk thought of the
Speaker 6: million of ephemera which in a single drop were thrown
Speaker 6: up to a height that was as great, doubtless for
Speaker 6: their size as for us, if we were to be
Speaker 6: hurled above the clouds. While he thought of this, and
Speaker 6: of the whole metamorphosis he had undergone, he smiled and said,
Speaker 6: I sleep and dream. But it is wonderful how one
Speaker 6: can dream so naturally, and know besides so exactly that
Speaker 6: it is but a dream. If only tomorrow, on a
Speaker 6: waking I could again call all to mind, so vividly
Speaker 6: I seem in unusually good spirits. My perception of things
Speaker 6: is clear. I feel as light and cheerful as though
Speaker 6: I were in heaven. But I know for a certainty
Speaker 6: that if tomorrow a dimmer remembrance of it should swim
Speaker 6: before my mind, it will then seem nothing but stupid nonsense,
Speaker 6: as I have often experienced already, especially before I enlisted
Speaker 6: under the banner of the police. For that dispels like
Speaker 6: a whirl when all the visions of unfettered imagination. All
Speaker 6: we hear or say in a dream that is fair
Speaker 6: and beautiful is like the gold of the subterranean spirits.
Speaker 10: It is rich and.
Speaker 6: Splendid when it is given us, but viewed by daylight
Speaker 6: we find only withered leaves. Alas he sighed quite sorrowful,
Speaker 6: and gazed at the chirping birds that hopped contentedly from
Speaker 6: branch to branch. They are much better off than I
Speaker 6: to fly, I must be a heavenly art and happy.
Speaker 6: Do I prize that creature in which it is innate?
Speaker 11: Yes?
Speaker 6: Could I exchange my nature with any other creature? I
Speaker 6: feign would be such a happy little lark. He had
Speaker 6: hardly uttered these hasty words when the skirts and sleeves
Speaker 6: of his coat folded themselves together into wings. The clothes
Speaker 6: became feathers, and the gloshos claws. He observed it perfectly
Speaker 6: and laughed in his heart. Now, then there is no
Speaker 6: doubt that I am dreaming. But I never before was
Speaker 6: aware of such mad freaks as these. And up he
Speaker 6: flew into the green roof and sang. But in the
Speaker 6: song there was no poetry, for the spirit of the
Speaker 6: poet was gone the shoes. As is the case with
Speaker 6: anybody who does what he has to do properly, could
Speaker 6: only attend to one thing at a time. He wanted
Speaker 6: to be a poet, and he was one. He now
Speaker 6: wished to be a marriage bird. But when he was
Speaker 6: metamorphs into one, the former peculiarities ceased immediately. It is
Speaker 6: really pleasant enough, said he. The whole day long, I
Speaker 6: sit in the office amid the driest law papers, and
Speaker 6: at night I fly in my dream as a lark
Speaker 6: in the gardens of Fredericksburg. One might really write a
Speaker 6: very pretty comedy upon it. He now fluttered down into
Speaker 6: the grass, turned, said gracefully, on every side, and with
Speaker 6: his bill pecked the pliant blades of grass, which, in
Speaker 6: comparison to its present size, seemed as majestic as the
Speaker 6: palm branches of northern Africa. Unfortunately, the pleasure lasted but
Speaker 6: a moment. Presently, a black knight overshattered our enthusiast, who
Speaker 6: had so entirely missed his part of copying clerk at
Speaker 6: a police office. Some vast objects seemed to be thrown
Speaker 6: over him. It was a large oil skin cap which
Speaker 6: a sailor boy of the quay had thrown over the
Speaker 6: struggling bird. A coarse hand sought its way carefully and
Speaker 6: under the broad rim, and seized the clerk over the
Speaker 6: back and wings. And the first moment of fear he called, indeed,
Speaker 6: as loud as he could, you impudent, little blackguard. I
Speaker 6: am a copying clerk at the police office, and you
Speaker 6: know you cannot insult any belonging to the constabulary force
Speaker 6: without a chastisement. Besides, you good for nothing. Rascal is
Speaker 6: strictly forbidden to catch birds in the royal gardens of Fredericksburg.
Speaker 6: But your blue uniform betrays where you come from. This
Speaker 6: fine tirade sounded, however, to the ungodly sailor boy like
Speaker 6: a mere Pippi pi. He gave the noisy bird a
Speaker 6: knock on its beak and walked on. He was soon
Speaker 6: met by two schoolboys of the upper class, that is
Speaker 6: to say, as individuals, for with regard to learning, they
Speaker 6: were in the lowest class in the school, and they
Speaker 6: bought the stupid bird. So the copying clerk came to
Speaker 6: Copenhagen ass guest, or rather as prisoner in a family
Speaker 6: living in gother street. Tis well that I am dreaming,
Speaker 6: said the clerk. I really should get angry. First. I
Speaker 6: was a poet, now sold for a few pences a lark.
Speaker 6: No doubt it was that a cursed poetical nature which
Speaker 6: has metamorphsed me into such a poor, harmless little creature.
Speaker 6: It is really pitiable, particularly when one gets into the
Speaker 6: hands of a little blackguard perfect in all sorts of
Speaker 6: cruelty to animals. All I should like to know is
Speaker 6: how the story will end. The two schoolboys, the proprietors,
Speaker 6: now of the transformed clerk, carried him into an elegant room.
Speaker 6: A stout, stately dame received him with a smile, but
Speaker 6: she expressed much dissatisfaction that a common field bird, as
Speaker 6: she called the lark, should appear in such high society.
Speaker 6: For to day, however, she would allow it, and they
Speaker 6: must shut him in the empty cage that was standing
Speaker 6: in the window. Perhaps he will amuse my good Polly,
Speaker 6: added the lady, looking with a benignant smile at the
Speaker 6: large green parrot that swung himself backwards and forwards most
Speaker 6: comfortably in his ring inside a magnificent brass wired cage.
Speaker 6: To day is Polly's birthday, said she, with stupid simplicity,
Speaker 6: and the little brown field bird must wish him joy.
Speaker 6: Mister Polly uttered not a syllable in reply, but swung
Speaker 6: to and fro with dignified condescension. While a pretty canary
Speaker 6: as Yellow's gold, that had lately been brought from his
Speaker 6: sunny fragrant home began to sing aloud. Noisy creature, Will
Speaker 6: you be quiet, screamed the lady of the house, covering
Speaker 6: the cage with an embroidered white pocket handkerchief. Chirp, chirp,
Speaker 6: sighed He that was a dreadful snowstorm. And he sighed
Speaker 6: again and was silent. The copying clerk, or as thoughlady said,
Speaker 6: the brown field bird was put into a small cage
Speaker 6: close to the canary, but not far from my good Polly.
Speaker 6: The only human sounds that the parrot could ball out
Speaker 6: were come, let us be men. Everything else that he
Speaker 6: said was as unintelligible to everybody as the chirping of
Speaker 6: the canary, except to the clerk, who was now a
Speaker 6: bird too, He understood his companion perfectly. I flew about
Speaker 6: beneath the green palms and the blossoming almond trees, sang
Speaker 6: the canary. I flew around my brothers and sisters, over
Speaker 6: the beautiful flowers, and over the glassy lakes with the
Speaker 6: bright water plants nodded to me from below. There too,
Speaker 6: I saw many splendidly dressed paroquets that told the drollest
Speaker 6: stories and the wildest fairy tales.
Speaker 8: Without end.
Speaker 6: Oh, those were uncouth birds, answered the parrot. They had
Speaker 6: no education and talked of whatever came into their head.
Speaker 6: If my mistress and all her friends can laugh at
Speaker 6: what I say, so may you too. I should think
Speaker 6: it is a great fault to have no taste for
Speaker 6: what is witty or amusing. Come let us be men. Ah,
Speaker 6: have you no remembrance of love for the charming maidens
Speaker 6: that danced beneath the outspread tents beside the bright, fragrant flowers.
Speaker 6: Do you no longer remember the sweet fruits and the
Speaker 6: cooling juice in the wild plants of our never to
Speaker 6: be forgotten home, said the former inhabitant of the Canary Isles,
Speaker 6: continuing his dithrambic. Oh, yes, said the parrot. But I
Speaker 6: am far better off here. I am well fed and
Speaker 6: get friendly treatment.
Speaker 10: I know.
Speaker 6: I am a clever fellow, and that is all I
Speaker 6: care about. Come let us be men. You are of
Speaker 6: a poetical nature, as it is called. I, on the contrary,
Speaker 6: possess profound knowledge and inexhaustible wit. You have genius, but
Speaker 6: clear sighted, calm discretion does not take such lofty flights
Speaker 6: and utter such high natural tones. For this, they have
Speaker 6: covered you over. They never do the like to me,
Speaker 6: for I cost more. Besides, they are afraid of my beak,
Speaker 6: and I have always a witty answer at hand. Come
Speaker 6: let us be men, O warm spicy land of my birth,
Speaker 6: sang the canary bird. I will sing of thy dark
Speaker 6: green bowers, of the calm bays, where the pendant boughs
Speaker 6: kiss the surface of the water. I will sing of
Speaker 6: the rejoicing of all my brothers and sisters, where the
Speaker 6: cactus grows in wanton luxuriance. Sparris your elegiac tones, said
Speaker 6: the parrot, giggling. Rather speak of something at which one
Speaker 6: may laugh heartily. Laughing is an infallible sign of the
Speaker 6: highest degree of mental development. Can a dog or a
Speaker 6: horse laugh? No, but they can cry. The gift of
Speaker 6: laughing was given to man alone. Ha ha ha, screamed Polly,
Speaker 6: and added his stereotype witticism. Come let us be men,
Speaker 6: or a little Danish gray bird, said the canary. You
Speaker 6: have been caught too. It is no doubt cold enough
Speaker 6: in your woods, but there at least is the breath
Speaker 6: of liberty. Therefore fly away in the hurry. They have
Speaker 6: forgotten to shut your cage, and the upper window is open.
Speaker 6: Fly my friend, fly away, farewell. Instinctively, the clerk obeyed.
Speaker 6: With a few strokes of his wings. He was out
Speaker 6: of the cage. But at the same moment the door,
Speaker 6: which was only ajar and which led to the next room,
Speaker 6: began to creak and supple and creaking. Came the large
Speaker 6: tom cat into the room and began to pursue him.
Speaker 6: The frightened canary fluttered about in his cage. The parrot
Speaker 6: flapped his wings and cried, come, let us be men.
Speaker 6: The clerk felt a mortal fright and flew through the window,
Speaker 6: far away over the houses in streets. At last he
Speaker 6: was forced to rest a little. The neighboring house had
Speaker 6: a something familiar about it. Window stood open.
Speaker 8: He flew in.
Speaker 6: It was his own room. He perched upon the table.
Speaker 6: Come let us be men, said he involuntarily imitating the
Speaker 6: chatter of the parrot. And at the same moment he
Speaker 6: was again a copying clerk, but he was sitting in
Speaker 6: the middle of the table. Heaven help me, cried he
Speaker 6: How did I get up here? And so buried in
Speaker 6: sleep too? After all, that was a very unpleasant, disagreeable
Speaker 6: dream that haunted me. The whole story is nothing but silly,
Speaker 6: stupid nonsense. Six the best the goloshes gave. The following day,
Speaker 6: early in the morning, while the clerk was still in bed,
Speaker 6: some one knocked at his door. It was his neighbor,
Speaker 6: a young divine who lived on the same floor.
Speaker 8: He walked in.
Speaker 6: Lend me your goloshes, said he. It is so wet
Speaker 6: in the garden, though the sun is shining most invitingly,
Speaker 6: I should like to go out a little. He got
Speaker 6: the goloshes, and he was soon below in a little
Speaker 6: duodecimo garden, where between two immense walls, a plum tree
Speaker 6: and an apple tree were standing. Even such a little
Speaker 6: garden as this was considered in the metropolis of Copenhagen
Speaker 6: as a great luxury. The young man wandered up and
Speaker 6: down the narrow paths, as well as the prescribe, whom
Speaker 6: its would allow. The clock struck six without was heard
Speaker 6: the horn of a postboy. To travel to travel, exclaimed
Speaker 6: he overcome by most painful and passionate remembrances. That is
Speaker 6: the happiest thing in the world. That is the highest
Speaker 6: aim of all my wishes. Then at last would the
Speaker 6: agonizing restlessness be allayed, which destroys my existence. But it
Speaker 6: must be far far away. I would behold magnificent Switzerland.
Speaker 6: I would travel to Italy. And it was a good
Speaker 6: thing that the power of the gloishes worked as instantaneously
Speaker 6: as lightning in a powder magazine would. Otherwise the poor man,
Speaker 6: with his over strained wishes would have traveled about the
Speaker 6: world too much for himself as well as for us.
Speaker 6: In short, he was traveling. He was in the middle
Speaker 6: of Switzerland, but packed up with eight other passengers in
Speaker 6: the inside of an eternally creaky diligence. His head ached
Speaker 6: till it almost split, His weary neck could hardly bear
Speaker 6: the heavy load, and his feet, pinched by his torturing boots,
Speaker 6: were terribly swollen. He was in an intermediate state between
Speaker 6: sleeping and waking, at variance with his self and with
Speaker 6: his company within the country, and with the government. In
Speaker 6: his right pocket, he had his letter of credit in
Speaker 6: the left, his passport, and in a small love and purse,
Speaker 6: some double Louis d'Or carefully sewn up in the bosom
Speaker 6: of his waistcoat. Every dream proclaimed that one or the
Speaker 6: other of these valuables was lost wherefore he started up
Speaker 6: as in a fever, and the first movement which his
Speaker 6: handmade described magic tryump angle from the right pocket to
Speaker 6: the left and then upwards to the bosom, to feel
Speaker 6: if he had all of them safe or not. From
Speaker 6: the roof inside the carriage, umbrellas, walking sticks, hats, and sundry.
Speaker 6: Other articles were depending and hindered the view, which was
Speaker 6: particularly imposing. He now endeavored as well as he was
Speaker 6: able to dispel his gloom, which was caused by outward
Speaker 6: chance circumstances. Merely and on the bosom of nature, imbibed
Speaker 6: the milk of purest human enjoyment. Grand, solemn and dark
Speaker 6: was the whole landscape around the gigantic pine forests on
Speaker 6: the pointed crags seemed almost like little tufts of heather,
Speaker 6: colored by the surrounding clouds. It began to snow a
Speaker 6: cold wind, blue and roared as though it were seeking
Speaker 6: a bride. Ah sighed he where we only on the
Speaker 6: other side of the Alps, then we should have summer
Speaker 6: and I could get my letters of credit cash. The
Speaker 6: anxietydy I feel about them prevents me enjoying Switzerland. Were
Speaker 6: I but on the other side, and so saying he
Speaker 6: was on the other side in Italy. Between Florence and Rome.
Speaker 6: Lake Thrasimene, illumined by the evening sun, lay like flaming gold,
Speaker 6: between the dark blue mountain ridges. Here where Hannibal defeated Flaminius.
Speaker 6: The rivers now held each other in their green embraces.
Speaker 6: Lovely half naked children tended a herd of black swine
Speaker 6: beneath a group of fragrant laurel trees hard by the roadside.
Speaker 6: Could we render this inimitable picture properly? Then, would everybody
Speaker 6: exclaim beautiful, unparalleled Italy. But neither the young divine said so,
Speaker 6: nor any of his grumbling companions. In the coach of
Speaker 6: the veder Reino, the poisonous flies and gnats swarmed around
Speaker 6: by thousands in vain. One waved myrtle branches about like mad.
Speaker 6: The audacious insect population did not cease to sting, nor
Speaker 6: was there a single person in the well crammed carriage
Speaker 6: whose face was not swollen and sore from their ravenous bites.
Speaker 6: The poor horses, tortured almost to death, suffered most from
Speaker 6: this truly Egyptian plague. The flies alighted upon them in
Speaker 6: large disgusting swarms, and if the coachman got down and
Speaker 6: scraped them off, hardly a minute elapsed before they were
Speaker 6: there again. The sun night set, A freezing cold, though
Speaker 6: of short duration, pervaded the whole creation. It was like
Speaker 6: a horrid dust coming from a burial vault on a
Speaker 6: warm summer's day. But all around the mountains retained that
Speaker 6: wonderful green tone which we see in some old pictures,
Speaker 6: and which should we not have seen a similar play
Speaker 6: of color in the south, we declare at once to
Speaker 6: be unnatural. It was a glorious prospect, but the stomach
Speaker 6: was empty, the body tired. All that the heart cared
Speaker 6: and longed for was a good night quarters. Yet how
Speaker 6: would they be?
Speaker 4: For these?
Speaker 6: One looked much more anxiously than for the charms of nature,
Speaker 6: which every which wear were so profusely displayed. The road
Speaker 6: let through an olive grove, and here the solitary inn
Speaker 6: was situated. Ten or twelve crippled beggars had encamped outside.
Speaker 6: The healthiest thumb resembled, to use an expression of Mariat's
Speaker 6: Hunger's oldest son when he had come of age. The
Speaker 6: others were either blind, had withered legs, and crept about
Speaker 6: on their hands or withered arms in fingerler's hands. It
Speaker 6: was the most wretched misery dragged from amongst the filthiest rags. Excellenza, miserabili, sighed,
Speaker 6: they thrusting forth their deformed limbs to view. Even the hostess,
Speaker 6: with bare feet, uncombed hair, and dressed in a garment
Speaker 6: of doubtful color, received the guests grumblingly. The doors were
Speaker 6: fastened with a loop of string. The floor of the
Speaker 6: rooms presented a stone paving, half torn up. Bats fluttered
Speaker 6: wildly about the ceiling and asked the smell therein? No,
Speaker 6: that was beyond description. You had better lay the cloth
Speaker 6: below in the stable, said one of the travelers. There
Speaker 6: at all offens one knows what one is breathing. The
Speaker 6: windows were quickly opened to let in a little fresh air,
Speaker 6: quicker however, than the breeze. The withered, sallow arms of
Speaker 6: the beggars were thrust in, accompanied by the eternal whine
Speaker 6: of miserabili, miserabili, excellenza. On the walls were displayed innumerable
Speaker 6: inscriptions written in nearly every language of Europe, some in verse,
Speaker 6: some in prose, most of them not a very laudatory
Speaker 6: of Bella, Italia. The meal was served. It consisted of
Speaker 6: a suit of salted water seasoned with pepper and rancid oil.
Speaker 6: The last ingredient played a very prominent part in the salad.
Speaker 6: Stale eggs and roasted cockscombs furnished the grand dish of
Speaker 6: the repast. The wine even was not without a disgusting taste.
Speaker 6: It was like a medicinal draft. At night, the boxes
Speaker 6: and other effects of the passengers were placed against the
Speaker 6: rickety doors. One of the travelers kept watch while the
Speaker 6: others slept. The sentry was our young divine, how close
Speaker 6: it was in the chamber, the heat oppressive to suffocation.
Speaker 6: The gnats hummed and stung unceasingly. The miserability without whined
Speaker 6: and moaned in their sleep. Traveling would be agreeable enough,
Speaker 6: said he groaning, if one only had no body or
Speaker 6: could send it to rest. While the spirit went on
Speaker 6: its pilgrimage unhindered, whether the voice within might call out
Speaker 6: wherever I go. I am pursued by a longing that
Speaker 6: is insatiable that I cannot explain to myself, and that
Speaker 6: tear is my very heart. I want something better than
Speaker 6: what is fled in an instant. But what is it
Speaker 6: and where is it to be found? Yet I know
Speaker 6: in reality what it is I wish for, Oh, most
Speaker 6: happy were I? Could I but reach one aim, could
Speaker 6: but reach the happiest of all. And as he spoke
Speaker 6: the word, he was again in his home. The long
Speaker 6: white curtains hung down from the windows, and in the
Speaker 6: middle of the floor stood the black coffin. In it
Speaker 6: he lay in the sleep of death. His wish was fulfilled.
Speaker 6: The body rested, while the spirit went unhindered on its pilgrimage.
Speaker 6: Let no one deem himself happy before his end were
Speaker 6: the words of Saloon. And here was a new and
Speaker 6: brilliant proof of the wisdom of the old apothegm Every
Speaker 6: corpse is a sphinx of immortality. Here too, on the
Speaker 6: black coffin, the sphinx gave us no answer to what
Speaker 6: he who lay within had written two days before, O
Speaker 6: mighty death, Thy silence teaches not thou leadest only to
Speaker 6: the near Greeve's brink is broken. Now the latter of
Speaker 6: my thoughts do I instead mounting only sink our heaviest
Speaker 6: grief the world oft seeth not our sorest pain. We
Speaker 6: hide from stranger eyes. And for the sufferer there is
Speaker 6: nothing left but the green mound that over the coffin lies.
Speaker 6: Two figures were moving in the chamber. We know them both.
Speaker 6: It was the fairy of care and the emissary of fortune.
Speaker 6: They both bent over the corpse. Do you now see,
Speaker 6: said Caer, what happiness your galoshes have brought to mankind?
Speaker 6: To him at least two slumbers. Here they have brought
Speaker 6: an imperishable blessing, answered the other. Ah No, replied Ker.
Speaker 6: He took his departure himself. He was not called away.
Speaker 6: His mental powers here below were not strong enough to
Speaker 6: reach the treasures lying beyond this life, and which his
Speaker 6: destiny ordained he should obtain. I will now confer a
Speaker 6: benefit on him. And she took the goloshes from his feet.
Speaker 6: His sleep of death was ended, and he who had
Speaker 6: been thus called back again to life, arose from his
Speaker 6: dread couch, and all the vigor of youth care vanished,
Speaker 6: and with her the geboshes. She had no doubt taking
Speaker 6: them for herself, to keep them to all eternity, and
Speaker 6: of the shoes of fortune.
Speaker 14: The fir tree.
Speaker 4: Out in the woods stood a nice little fir tree
Speaker 4: The place he had was a very good one. The
Speaker 4: sun shone on him. As to fresh air, there was
Speaker 4: enough of that, and round him grew many large sized comrades,
Speaker 4: pines as well as furs. But the little fir wanted
Speaker 4: so very much to be a grown up tree. He
Speaker 4: did not think of the warm sun and of the
Speaker 4: fresh air. He did not care for the little cottage
Speaker 4: children that ran about and prattled when they were in
Speaker 4: the woods looking for wild strawberries. The children often came
Speaker 4: with a whole pitcher full of berries, or a long
Speaker 4: row of them threaded on a straw, and so down
Speaker 4: near the young tree, and said, oh, how pretty he is,
Speaker 4: what a nice little fur. But this was what the
Speaker 4: tree could not bear to hear. At the end of
Speaker 4: a year he had shot up a good deal, and
Speaker 4: after another year he was another long bit taller. For
Speaker 4: with fir trees one can always tell by the shoots
Speaker 4: how many.
Speaker 14: Years old they are.
Speaker 4: Oh, were I but such a high tree as the
Speaker 4: others are?
Speaker 14: Sighed?
Speaker 4: He then I should be able to spread out my
Speaker 4: branches and with the tops to look into the wide world.
Speaker 4: Then would the birds build nests among my branches? And
Speaker 4: when there was a breeze I could bend with as
Speaker 4: much stateliness as the others. Neither the sunbeam, nor the birds,
Speaker 4: nor the red clouds which morning and evening sailed above him,
Speaker 4: gave the little tree any pleasure.
Speaker 14: In winter, when the snow.
Speaker 4: Lay glittering on the ground, a hare would often come
Speaker 4: leaping along and jump right over the little tree.
Speaker 14: Oh, that made him so angry.
Speaker 4: But two winters were past, and in the third the
Speaker 4: tree was so large that the hare was obliged to
Speaker 4: go round it, to grow and grow, to get older
Speaker 4: and be tall, thought the tree, that, after all, is
Speaker 4: the most delightful.
Speaker 14: Thing in the world.
Speaker 4: In autumn, the woodcutters always came and felled some of
Speaker 4: the largest trees. This happened every year, and the young
Speaker 4: fir tree, that had now grown to a very comely
Speaker 4: siyhes trembled at the sight. For the magnificent great trees
Speaker 4: fell to the earth with noise and cracking. The branches
Speaker 4: were lopped off, and the trees looked long and bare.
Speaker 4: They were hardly to be recognized. And then they were
Speaker 4: laden carts, and the horses dragged them out of the wood.
Speaker 14: Where did they go to? What became of them? In spring?
Speaker 4: When the swallows and storks came, the tree asked them,
Speaker 4: don't you know where they have been taken?
Speaker 14: Have you not met them anywhere?
Speaker 4: The swallows did not know anything about it, but the
Speaker 4: stork looked musing, nodded his head, and said, yes, I
Speaker 4: think I know.
Speaker 12: I met many ships as I was flying hither from
Speaker 12: Egypt on. The ships were magnificent masts, and I venture
Speaker 12: to assert that it was they that smelt so of fur.
Speaker 12: I may congratulate you, for they lifted themselves on the
Speaker 12: high most majestically.
Speaker 4: Ho were I but old enough to fly across the sea.
Speaker 4: But how does the sea look in reality? What is
Speaker 4: it like? That would take a long time to explain,
Speaker 4: said the stork, and with these words off he went.
Speaker 4: Rejoice in thy growth, said the sunbeams. Rejoice in thy
Speaker 4: vigorous growth, and in the fresh life that moveth within
Speaker 4: thee And the wind kiss'd the tree, and the dew
Speaker 4: wept tears over him. But the fir understood it not.
Speaker 4: When Christmas came, quite young trees were cut down, trees
Speaker 4: which often were not even as large or as of
Speaker 4: the same age as this fir tree, who could never rest,
Speaker 4: but always wanted to be off these young trees, and
Speaker 4: they were always the finest looking, retained their branches. They
Speaker 4: were laid on carts, and the horses drew.
Speaker 14: Them out of the wood.
Speaker 4: Where are they going to, asked the fir. They are
Speaker 4: not taller than I. There was one, indeed that was
Speaker 4: considerably shorter. And why do they retain all their branches?
Speaker 4: Whither are they taken?
Speaker 14: We know, we know, chirped the sparrows.
Speaker 8: We have peeped in at the windows in the town below.
Speaker 8: We know whither they are taken. The greatest splendor and
Speaker 8: the greatest magnificence one can imagine await them. We peeped
Speaker 8: through the windows and saw them planted in the middle
Speaker 8: of the warm room, and ornamented with the most splendid things,
Speaker 8: with gilded apples, with gingerbread, with toys and many hundred lights.
Speaker 4: And then asked the fir, tree trembling in every bough,
Speaker 4: and then what happens? Then? We did not see anything more.
Speaker 4: It was incomparably beautiful. I would fain know if I
Speaker 4: am destined for so glorious a career, cried the tree, rejoicing,
Speaker 4: that is still better than to cross the sea. What
Speaker 4: a longing? Do I suffer?
Speaker 14: Were Christmas? But come?
Speaker 4: I am now tall, and my branches spread like the
Speaker 4: others that were carried off last year?
Speaker 10: Oh?
Speaker 4: Were I but all read on the cart? Were I
Speaker 4: in the warm room with all the splendor and magnificence? Yes,
Speaker 4: and something better, something still grander, will surely follow? Or
Speaker 4: wherefore should they thus ornament me? Something better, something still
Speaker 4: grander must follow? But what, oh, how I long? How
Speaker 4: I suffer? I do not know myself?
Speaker 14: What is the matter with me?
Speaker 4: Rejoice in our presence, said the air in the sunlight.
Speaker 4: Rejoice in thy own fresh youth. But the tree did
Speaker 4: not rejoice at all. He grew and grew, and was
Speaker 4: green both winter and summer. People that saw him said,
Speaker 4: what a fine tree. And towards Christmas he was one
Speaker 4: of the first that was cut down. The axe struck
Speaker 4: deep into the very pith.
Speaker 14: The tree tree fell to the earth with a sigh.
Speaker 14: He felt a pang. It was like a swoon.
Speaker 4: He could not think of happiness, for he was sorrowful
Speaker 4: at being separated from his home, from the place where
Speaker 4: he had sprung up. He well knew that he should
Speaker 4: never see his dear old comrades the little bushes and
Speaker 4: flowers around him any more, perhaps not even the birds.
Speaker 4: The departure was not at all agreeable. The tree only
Speaker 4: came to himself when he was unloaded in a courtyard
Speaker 4: with the other trees, and heard a man say that
Speaker 4: one is splendid. We don't want the others. Then two
Speaker 4: servants came in rich livery and carried the fir tree
Speaker 4: into a large and splendid drawing room. Portraits were hanging
Speaker 4: on the walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood
Speaker 4: two large Chinese vases with lions on the covers. There
Speaker 4: too were large easy chairs, silken sofas, large tables full
Speaker 4: of picture books, and full of toys worth hundreds and
Speaker 4: hundreds of crowns at least, the children said so. And
Speaker 4: the fir tree was stuck upright in a cask that
Speaker 4: was filled with sand, but no one could see that
Speaker 4: it was a cask, for green cloth was hung all
Speaker 4: round it, and it stood on a large gaily colored carpet. Oh,
Speaker 4: how the tree quivered.
Speaker 14: What was to happen?
Speaker 4: The servants as well as the young ladies, decorated it.
Speaker 4: On one branch there hung little nets cut out of
Speaker 4: colored paper and each net was filled with sugar plums.
Speaker 14: And among the other.
Speaker 4: Boughs, gilded apples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though
Speaker 4: they had grown there, And little blue and white tapers
Speaker 4: were placed among the leaves.
Speaker 14: Dolls that looked for the world like men.
Speaker 4: The tree had never beheld such before were seen among
Speaker 4: the foliage, and at the very top a large star
Speaker 4: of gold tinsel was fixed. It was really splendid, beyond description, splendid.
Speaker 14: This evening.
Speaker 4: They all said, how it will shine this evening, Oh,
Speaker 4: thought the tree. If the evening were but come, if
Speaker 4: the tapers were but lighted, and then I wonder what
Speaker 4: will happen. Perhaps the other trees from the forest will
Speaker 4: come to look at me. Perhaps the sparrows will beat
Speaker 4: against the window panes. I wonder if I shall take
Speaker 4: root here, and winter and summer stand covered with ornaments.
Speaker 4: He knew very much about the matter, for he was
Speaker 4: so impatient that for sheer longing he got a pain
Speaker 4: in his back. And this with trees is the same
Speaker 4: thing as a headache with us. The candles were now lighted.
Speaker 4: What brightness, what splendor. The tree trembled so in every
Speaker 4: bough that one of the tapers set fire to the foliage.
Speaker 14: It blazed up famously.
Speaker 4: Help, Help, cried the young ladies, and they quickly put
Speaker 4: out the fire. Now the tree did not even dare
Speaker 4: tremble what a state he was in. He was so
Speaker 4: uneasy lest he should lose something of his splendor, that
Speaker 4: he was quite bewildered amidst the glare and brightness. When
Speaker 4: suddenly both folding doors opened, and a troop of children
Speaker 4: rushed in as if they would upset the tree. The
Speaker 4: older persons followed quietly. The little one stood quite still,
Speaker 4: but it was only for a moment. Then they shouted
Speaker 4: that the whole place re echoed with their rejoicing. They
Speaker 4: danced round the tree, and one present after the other
Speaker 4: was pulled off. What are they about?
Speaker 14: Thought the tree? What is to happen now?
Speaker 4: And the lights burned down to the very branches. And
Speaker 4: as they burned down, they were put out, one after
Speaker 4: the other. And that the children had permission to plunder
Speaker 4: the tree. So they fell upon it with such violence
Speaker 4: that all its branches cracked. If it had not been
Speaker 4: firmly fixed in the ground, it would certainly have tumbled down.
Speaker 4: The children danced about with their beautiful playthings. No one
Speaker 4: looked at the tree except the old nurse, who peeped
Speaker 4: between the branches, But it was only to see if
Speaker 4: there was a fig or an apple left that had
Speaker 4: been forgotten. A story, a story, cried the children, drawing
Speaker 4: a little fat man towards the tree.
Speaker 14: He seated himself.
Speaker 4: Under it and said, now we are in the shade,
Speaker 4: and the tree can listen too. But I shall tell
Speaker 4: only one story now, which will you have? That about
Speaker 4: ivany Avidy, or about Humpty Dumpty who tumbled downstairs, and
Speaker 4: yet after all came to the throne and married the
Speaker 4: princess ivety Avney cried some Humpty Dumpty, cried the others.
Speaker 4: There was such a bawling in screaming. The fir tree
Speaker 4: alone was silent. And he thought to himself, am I
Speaker 4: not to ball with the rest? Am I to do
Speaker 4: nothing whatever? For he was one of the company and
Speaker 4: had done what he had to do. And the old
Speaker 4: man told about Humpty Dumpty that tumbled down, who notwithstanding,
Speaker 4: came to the throne and at last married the princess.
Speaker 4: And the children clapped their hands and cried, oh, go
Speaker 4: on to go on. They wanted to hear about Ivey
Speaker 4: Aftey too, But the little man only told them about
Speaker 4: Humpty Dumpty. The fir tree stood quite still and absorbed
Speaker 4: in thought. The birds in the wood had never related
Speaker 4: the like of this. Humpy Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet
Speaker 4: he married the princess. Yes, yes, that's the way of
Speaker 4: the world, thought the fir tree, and believed it all
Speaker 4: because the man who told the story.
Speaker 14: Was so good looking.
Speaker 4: Well, well, who knows, Perhaps I may fall downstairs too
Speaker 4: and get a princess his wife. And he looked forward
Speaker 4: with joy to the morrow, when he hoped to be
Speaker 4: decked out again with lights, playthings, fruits and tinsel. I
Speaker 4: won't tremble to morrow, thought the fir tree. I will
Speaker 4: enjoy to the full all my splendor. Tomorrow I shall
Speaker 4: hear again the story of Humpty Dumpty, and perhaps that
Speaker 4: of ive de Avdey too, And the whole night the
Speaker 4: tree stood still and in deep thought. In the morning,
Speaker 4: the servant and the housemaid came in. Now the splendor
Speaker 4: will begin again, thought the fir But they dragged him
Speaker 4: out of the room and up the stairs into the loft,
Speaker 4: and here, in a dark corner where no daylight could enter.
Speaker 14: They left him.
Speaker 4: What's the meaning of this?
Speaker 14: Thought the tree?
Speaker 8: What am I to do here?
Speaker 4: What shall I hear? Now? I wonder? And he leaned
Speaker 4: against the wall, lost in reverie. Time enough had he
Speaker 4: too for his reflections. For days and nights passed on,
Speaker 4: and nobody came up. And when at last somebody did come,
Speaker 4: it was only to put some great trunks.
Speaker 14: In a corner out of the way.
Speaker 4: There stood the tree, quite hidden. It seemed as if
Speaker 4: he had been entirely forgotten. Tis now winter out of doors,
Speaker 4: thought the tree. The earth is hard and covered with snow.
Speaker 4: Men cannot plant me now, and therefore I have been
Speaker 4: put up here under shelter till the springtime comes. How
Speaker 4: thoughtful that is, how kind man is after all? If
Speaker 4: it only were not so dark here and so terribly lonely,
Speaker 4: not even a hare, And out in the woods it
Speaker 4: was so pleasant, and the snow was on the ground,
Speaker 4: and the hare leaped by, yes, even when he jumped
Speaker 4: over me. But I did not like it. Then, it
Speaker 4: really is terribly lonely here. Squeak, squeak, said little mouse
Speaker 4: at the same moment, peeping out of his hole. And
Speaker 4: then another little one came, They snuffed about the fir
Speaker 4: tree and rustled among the branches. It is dreadfully cold,
Speaker 4: said the mouse. But for that it would be delightful here,
Speaker 4: old fir, wouldn't it. I am by no means old,
Speaker 4: said the fir tree. There's many a one considerably older
Speaker 4: than I am.
Speaker 8: Where do you come from?
Speaker 4: Asked the mice, And what can you do? They were
Speaker 4: so extremely curious.
Speaker 8: Tell us about the most beautiful spot on the earth.
Speaker 8: Have you ever been there? Were you never in the
Speaker 8: larder where cheeses.
Speaker 2: Lie on the shelves, and hams hang from a pove,
Speaker 2: where one dances about on tallow candles, that place where
Speaker 2: one enters lean and comes out again fat and portly.
Speaker 4: I know no such place, said the tree, But I
Speaker 4: know the wood where the sun shines, and where the
Speaker 4: little birds sing. And then he told all about his youth,
Speaker 4: and the little mice had never heard the like before,
Speaker 4: and they listened and said, well.
Speaker 8: To be sure, how much you have seen?
Speaker 4: How happy you must have been, Aye, said the fir tree,
Speaker 4: thinking over what he had himself related, Yes, in reality,
Speaker 4: those were happy times. And then he told them about
Speaker 4: Christmas Eve, when he was decked out with cakes and candles.
Speaker 14: Oh oh, said the little mice.
Speaker 8: How fortunate you have been, old fir Tree.
Speaker 4: I am by no means old, said he. I came
Speaker 4: from the wood this winter. I am in my prime,
Speaker 4: and am only rather short for my age.
Speaker 8: What delightful stories you know.
Speaker 14: Said the mice.
Speaker 4: And the next night they came with four other little
Speaker 4: mice who were to hear what the tree recounted. And
Speaker 4: the more he related, the more he remembered himself. And
Speaker 4: it appeared as if those times had been happy times.
Speaker 4: But they may still come. They may still come. Humpy
Speaker 4: Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he got a princess. And
Speaker 4: he thought, at the moments of a nice little birch
Speaker 4: tree growing out in the woods, to that fir that
Speaker 4: would be a really charming princess. Who is Humpy Dumpy,
Speaker 4: asked the mice. So then the fir tree told the
Speaker 4: whole fairy tale, for he could remember every single word
Speaker 4: of it, and the little mice jumped for joy up
Speaker 4: to the very top of the tree. Next night two
Speaker 4: more mice came, and on Sunday two rats even, but
Speaker 4: they said the stories were not interesting, which vexed the
Speaker 4: little mice and they too, now began to think them
Speaker 4: not so very amusing either. Do you know only one story,
Speaker 4: asked the rats, Only that one, answered the tree. I
Speaker 4: heard it on my happiest evening, but I did not
Speaker 4: then know how happy I was. It is a very
Speaker 4: stupid story, don't you know? One about bacon and fallow candles?
Speaker 4: Can't you tell any ladder stories?
Speaker 14: No, said the tree.
Speaker 4: Then good bye, said the.
Speaker 14: Rats, and they went home. At last the.
Speaker 4: Little mice stayed away also, and the tree sighed. After all,
Speaker 4: it was very pleasant when the sleek little mice sat
Speaker 4: round me and listened to what I told them. Now
Speaker 4: that too is over. But I will take good care
Speaker 4: to enjoy myself when I am brought out again.
Speaker 14: But when was that to be?
Speaker 12: Why?
Speaker 4: One morning there came a quantity of people and set
Speaker 4: to work in the loft. The trunks were moved, The
Speaker 4: tree was pulled out and thrown rather hard, it is true,
Speaker 4: down on the floor. But a man drew him towards
Speaker 4: the stairs, where the daylight shone. Now a merry life
Speaker 4: will begin again, thought the tree. He felt the fresh air,
Speaker 4: the first sunbeam, and now he was out in the courtyard.
Speaker 4: All passed so quickly. There was so much going on
Speaker 4: around him, the tree quite forgot to look to himself.
Speaker 4: The court had joined a garden, and all was in flower.
Speaker 4: The roses hung so fresh and odorous over the balustrade.
Speaker 4: The lindens were in blossom. The swallows flew by and said,
Speaker 4: Kiri it, my husband is come.
Speaker 14: But it was not the fir tree that they meant.
Speaker 4: Now, then I shall really enjoy life, he said exultingly,
Speaker 4: and spread out his branches. But alas they were all
Speaker 4: withered and yellow. It was in a corner that he
Speaker 4: lay among weeds and nettles. The golden star of Tinsel
Speaker 4: was still on the top of the tree and glittered
Speaker 4: in the sunshine. In the court yard, some of the
Speaker 4: merry children were playing, who had danced at Christmas round
Speaker 4: the fir tree, and were so glad at the sight
Speaker 4: of him. One of the youngest ran and tore off
Speaker 4: the golden star. Only luckwood is still on the ugly
Speaker 4: old Christmas tree, said He trampling on the branches so
Speaker 4: that they all cracked beneath his feet, and the tree
Speaker 4: beheld all the beauty of the flowers and the freshness
Speaker 4: in the garden. He beheld himself, and wished he had
Speaker 4: remained in his dark corner in the loft. He thought
Speaker 4: of his first youth in the wood of the merry
Speaker 4: Christmas eve, and at the little mice who had listened
Speaker 4: with so much pleasure to the story of Humpty Dumpty.
Speaker 4: Tis over, tis past, said the poor tree. Had I
Speaker 4: but rejoiced when I had reason to do so. But
Speaker 4: now tis past, tis past. And the gardener's boy chopped
Speaker 4: the tree into small pieces.
Speaker 14: There was a whole heap lying there.
Speaker 4: The wood flamed up splendidly under the large brewing copper, and.
Speaker 14: It sighed so deeply.
Speaker 4: Each sigh was like a shot. The boys played about
Speaker 4: in the court, and the youngest wore the gold star
Speaker 4: on his breast, which the tree had had on the
Speaker 4: happiest evening of his life.
Speaker 14: However, that was over.
Speaker 4: Now the tree gone, the story at an end.
Speaker 14: All all was over. Every tale must end, and at last.
Speaker 11: End of the fir tree the snow queen first story,
Speaker 11: which treats of a mirror and of the splinters. Now,
Speaker 11: then let us begin. When we are at the end
Speaker 11: of the story, we shall know more than we know now.
Speaker 11: But to begin, once upon a time there was a
Speaker 11: wicked sprite. Indeed, he was the most mischievous of all sprites.
Speaker 11: One day he was in a very good humor, for
Speaker 11: he had made a mirror with the power of causing
Speaker 11: all that was good and beautiful when it was reflected therein,
Speaker 11: to look poor and mean. But that which was good
Speaker 11: for nothing and looked ugly was shown magnified and increased
Speaker 11: in ugliness.
Speaker 14: In this mirror.
Speaker 11: The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the
Speaker 11: best persons were turned into frights or appeared to stand
Speaker 11: on their heads. Their face were so distorted that they
Speaker 11: were not to be recognized. And if anyone had a mole,
Speaker 11: you might be sure that it would be magnified and
Speaker 11: spread over both nose and mouth. That's glorious, fan said
Speaker 11: the sprite, For if a good thought passed through a
Speaker 11: man's mind, then a grin was seen in the mirror.
Speaker 11: And the sprite laughed heartily at his clever discovery. All
Speaker 11: the little sprites who went to his school, for he
Speaker 11: kept a sprite school, told each other that a miracle
Speaker 11: had happened, and that now only as they thought, it
Speaker 11: would be possible to see how the world really looked,
Speaker 11: they ran about with the mirror, and at last there
Speaker 11: was not a land or a person who was not
Speaker 11: represented distorted in the mirror. So then they thought they
Speaker 11: would fly up into the sky and have a joke there.
Speaker 11: The higher they flew with the mirror, the more terribly
Speaker 11: it grinned. They could hardly hold it fast. Higher and
Speaker 11: higher still they flew nearer and nearer to the stars,
Speaker 11: when suddenly the mirror shook so terribly with grinning that
Speaker 11: it flew out of their hands and fell to the earth,
Speaker 11: where it was dashed in a hundred million and more pieces.
Speaker 11: And now it worked much more evil than before. For
Speaker 11: some of these pieces were hardly so large as a
Speaker 11: grain of sand, and they flew about in the wide world,
Speaker 11: and when they got into people's eyes, there they stayed.
Speaker 11: And then the people saw everything perverted, or only had
Speaker 11: an eye for that which was evil. This happened because
Speaker 11: the very smallest bit had the same power which the
Speaker 11: whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got a splinter
Speaker 11: in their heart, and then it made one shudder, for
Speaker 11: their heart became like a lump of ice. Some of
Speaker 11: the broken pieces were so large that they were used
Speaker 11: for window panes through which one could not see one's friends.
Speaker 11: Other pieces were put into spectacles, and that was a
Speaker 11: sad thing when people put on their glasses to see
Speaker 11: well and rightly. Then the wicked sprite laughed till he
Speaker 11: almost choked, for all this tickled his fancy. The fine
Speaker 11: splinters still flew about.
Speaker 7: In the air.
Speaker 11: And now we shall hear what happened next. Second story.
Speaker 11: A little boy and a little girl. In a large town,
Speaker 11: where there are so many houses and so many people,
Speaker 11: that there is no room left for everybody to have
Speaker 11: a little garden, and where on this account most persons
Speaker 11: are obliged to content themselves with flowers and pots. There
Speaker 11: lived two little children who had a garden somewhat larger
Speaker 11: than a flower pot. They were no brother and sister,
Speaker 11: but they cared for each other as much as if
Speaker 11: they were. Their parents lived exactly opposite. They inhabited two garrets,
Speaker 11: and where the roof of the one house joined to
Speaker 11: that of the other, and the gutter ran along the
Speaker 11: extreme end of it, there was to each house a
Speaker 11: small window. Needed only to step over the gutter to
Speaker 11: get from one window to the other. The children's parents
Speaker 11: had large wooden boxes there in which vegetables for the
Speaker 11: garden were planted, and little rose trees. Besides, there was
Speaker 11: a rose in each box, and they grew splendidly. They
Speaker 11: now thought of placing the boxes across the gutter, so
Speaker 11: that they nearly reached from one window to the other,
Speaker 11: and looked just like two walls of flowers. The tendrils
Speaker 11: of the peas hung down over the boxes, and the
Speaker 11: rose trees shot up long branches twined round the windows,
Speaker 11: and then bent towards each other. It was almost like
Speaker 11: a triumphant arch of foliage and flowers. The boxes were
Speaker 11: very high, and the children knew that they must not
Speaker 11: creep over them, so that they often obtained permission to
Speaker 11: get out of the windows to each other and to
Speaker 11: sit on their little stools among the roses, where they
Speaker 11: could play delightfully. In the winter, there was an end
Speaker 11: of this pleasure. The windows were often frozen out. But
Speaker 11: then they heated copper farthings on the stove and laid
Speaker 11: the hot farthings on the window pane, And then they
Speaker 11: had a capital people quite nicely rounded, and out of
Speaker 11: each peeped a gentle, friendly eye. It was the little
Speaker 11: boy and the little girl who were looking at His
Speaker 11: name was Kay, hers was Gerda. In summer, with one
Speaker 11: jump they could get to each other. But in the
Speaker 11: winter they were obliged first to go down the long stairs,
Speaker 11: and then up the long stairs again, and out of doors.
Speaker 11: There was quite a snow storm. It is the white
Speaker 11: bees that are swarming, said Kay's old grandmother. Do the
Speaker 11: white bees choose a queen, asked the little boy, for
Speaker 11: he knew that the honey bees always have one. Yes,
Speaker 11: said the grandmother. She flies where the swarm hangs, in
Speaker 11: the thickest clusters. She is the largest of all, and
Speaker 11: she can never remain quietly on the earth, but goes
Speaker 11: up again into the black clouds. Many a winter's night
Speaker 11: she flies through the streets of the town and peeps
Speaker 11: in at the windows, and then they phraze in so
Speaker 11: wondrous a manner that they look like flowers. Yes, I
Speaker 11: have seen it, said both the children, and so they
Speaker 11: knew that it was true. Can the snow queen come in,
Speaker 11: asked the little girl. Only let her come in, said
Speaker 11: the little boy. Then I'd put on the stove and
Speaker 11: she'd knelt. And then his grandmother patted his head and
Speaker 11: told him other stories. In the evening, when little Kay
Speaker 11: was at home and half undressed, he climbed up on
Speaker 11: the chair by the window and peeped out of the
Speaker 11: little hole. A few snow flakes were falling, and one,
Speaker 11: the largest of all, remained lying on the edge of
Speaker 11: a flower pot. The flake of snow grew larger and larger,
Speaker 11: and at last it was like a young lady dressed
Speaker 11: in the finest white gauze, made of a million little flakes,
Speaker 11: like stars. She was so beautiful and so delicate, but
Speaker 11: she was of vice, with dazzling, sparkling eyes. Yet she lived.
Speaker 11: Her eyes gazed fixedly like two stars, but there was
Speaker 11: neither quiet nor repose in them. She nodded towards the
Speaker 11: window and beckoned with her hand. The little boy was
Speaker 11: frightened and jumped down from the chair. It seemed to
Speaker 11: him as if at the same moment a large bird
Speaker 11: flew past the window. The next day, it was a
Speaker 11: sharp frost, and then the spring came. The sun shone,
Speaker 11: the green leaves appeared, the swallows built their nests, The
Speaker 11: windows were opened, and the little children again sat in
Speaker 11: their pretty garden, high up on the LEDs at the
Speaker 11: top of the house. That summer, the roses flowered in
Speaker 11: unwonted beauty. The little girl had learned a hymn in
Speaker 11: which there was something about roses, and then she thought
Speaker 11: of her own flowers, and she sang the verse to
Speaker 11: the little boy, who then sang it with her.
Speaker 8: The rose in the.
Speaker 11: Valley is blooming so sweet. The angels descend there the
Speaker 11: children to greet, and the children held each other by
Speaker 11: the hand, kissed the roses, looked up at the clear
Speaker 11: sunshine and spoke as though they really saw angels there.
Speaker 11: What lovely summer days those were, How delightful to be
Speaker 11: out in the air near the fresh rose bushes that
Speaker 11: seemed as if they would never finish blooming. Kay and
Speaker 11: Gerda looked at the picture book full of beasts and
Speaker 11: of birds, and it was then the clock in the
Speaker 11: church tower was just striking five that Kay said, Oh, oh,
Speaker 11: I feel such a sharp pain in my heart. And
Speaker 11: now something has gotten into my eye. The little girl
Speaker 11: put her arms around his neck. He winked his eyes.
Speaker 11: Now there was nothing to be seen. I think it's
Speaker 11: out now, said he. But it was not. It was
Speaker 11: just one of those pieces of glass from the magic
Speaker 11: mirror that had got into his eye, and poor Kay
Speaker 11: had got another piece right in his heart. It will
Speaker 11: soon become like ice. It did not hurt any longer,
Speaker 11: but there it was. What are you crying for? Asked
Speaker 11: he You look so ugly. There's nothing the matter with me. Ah,
Speaker 11: he said at once That rose is cankered. And look
Speaker 11: this one's quite crooked. After all, these roses are very ugly.
Speaker 11: They're just like the box they're planted in. And then
Speaker 11: he gave the box a good kick with his foot
Speaker 11: and pulled both the roses up. What are you doing,
Speaker 11: cried the little girl, And as he perceived her fright,
Speaker 11: he pulled up another rose, got in at the window,
Speaker 11: and hastened off from dear little Gerda. Afterwards, when she
Speaker 11: had brought her picture book, he asked, what horrid beasts
Speaker 11: have you there? And if his grandmother told them stories,
Speaker 11: he always interrupted her. Besides, if he could manage it,
Speaker 11: he would get behind her, put on her spectacles, and
Speaker 11: imitate a way of speaking. He copied all her ways,
Speaker 11: and then everybody laughed at him. He was soon able
Speaker 11: to imitate the gait and manner of every one in
Speaker 11: the street. Everything that was peculiar and displeasing, in them
Speaker 11: that Kay knew how to imitate. And at such times
Speaker 11: all the people had said, the boy is certainly very clever.
Speaker 11: But it was the glass he had got in his eye,
Speaker 11: the glass that was sticking in his heart, which made
Speaker 11: him tease even little Gerda, whose whole soul was devoted
Speaker 11: to him. His games now were quite different to what
Speaker 11: they had formerly been. There were so very knowing. One
Speaker 11: winter's day, when the flakes of snow were flying about,
Speaker 11: he spread the skirts of his blue coat and caught
Speaker 11: the snow as it fell. Look through this glass, Gerda
Speaker 11: said he, and every flake seemed larger and appeared like
Speaker 11: a magnificent flower or a beautiful star. It was splendid
Speaker 11: to look at. Look how clever, said Kay. That's much
Speaker 11: more interesting than real flowers. They are as exact as possible.
Speaker 11: There's not a fault in them if they did not melt.
Speaker 11: It was not long after this that Kay came one
Speaker 11: day with large gloves on and his little sledge at
Speaker 11: his back, and bawled right into Gerda's ears. I have
Speaker 11: permission to go out into the square where the others
Speaker 11: are playing, and off he was. In a moment there
Speaker 11: in the market place, some of the boldest of the
Speaker 11: boys used to tie their sledges to the carts as
Speaker 11: they passed by, and so they were pulled along and
Speaker 11: got a good ride.
Speaker 8: It was so capital.
Speaker 11: Just as they were in the very height of their amusement,
Speaker 11: a large sledge passed by. It was painted quite white,
Speaker 11: and there was someone in it, wrapped up in a
Speaker 11: rough white mantle of fur, with a rough white fur
Speaker 11: cap on his head. The sledge drove round the square twice,
Speaker 11: and Kay tied on his sledge as quickly as he could,
Speaker 11: and off he drove with it. On they went quicker
Speaker 11: and quicker in to the next street, and the person
Speaker 11: who drove turned round to Kay and nodded to him
Speaker 11: in a friendly manner, just as if they knew each other.
Speaker 11: Every time he was going to untie his sledge, the
Speaker 11: person nodded to him, and then Kay sat quiet, and
Speaker 11: so on they went till they came outside the gates
Speaker 11: of the town. Then the snow began to fall so
Speaker 11: thickly that the little boy could not see an arm's
Speaker 11: length before him, But still on he went, when suddenly
Speaker 11: he let go of the string he held in his
Speaker 11: hand in order to get loose from the sledge, but
Speaker 11: it was of no use. Still, the little vehicle rushed
Speaker 11: on with the quickness of the wind. He then cried
Speaker 11: as loud as he could, but no one heard him.
Speaker 11: The snow drifted, and the sledge flew on, and sometimes
Speaker 11: it gave a jerk, as though they were driving over
Speaker 11: hedges and ditches. He was quite frightened, and he tried
Speaker 11: to repeat the Lord's prayer, but all he could do
Speaker 11: he was only able to remember the multiplication table. The
Speaker 11: snowflakes grew larger and larger, till at last they looked
Speaker 11: just like great white fowls. Suddenly they flew on one side.
Speaker 11: The large sledge stopped, and the person who drove rose up.
Speaker 8: It was a lady.
Speaker 11: Her cloak and cap were a snow. She was tall
Speaker 11: and of slender figure, and of a dazzling whiteness. It
Speaker 11: was the snow Queen. We have traveled fast, said she,
Speaker 11: but it is freezingly cold. Come under my bear skin.
Speaker 11: And she put him in the sledge beside her, wrapped
Speaker 11: the fur round him, and he felt as though he
Speaker 11: were sinking in a snow wreath. Are you still cold?
Speaker 8: Asked she?
Speaker 11: And then she kissed his forehead ah, it was colder
Speaker 11: than ice. It penetrated to his very heart, which was
Speaker 11: already almost a frozen lump. It seemed to him as
Speaker 11: if he were about to die but a moment more,
Speaker 11: and was quite congenial to him, and he did not
Speaker 11: remark on the cold that was around him. My sledge,
Speaker 11: don't forget my sledge. It was the first thing he
Speaker 11: thought of. It was there, tied to one of the
Speaker 11: white chickens, who flew along with it on his back
Speaker 11: behind the large sledge. The snow queen kissed Kay once more,
Speaker 11: and then he forgot little Gerda, grandmother, and all whom
Speaker 11: he left at his home. Now you will have no
Speaker 11: more kisses, said she, or else I should kiss you
Speaker 11: to death. Kay looked at her. She was very beautiful,
Speaker 11: a more clever, or a more lovely countenance he could
Speaker 11: not fancy to himself, and she no longer appeared of
Speaker 11: ice as before when she sat outside the window and
Speaker 11: beckoned to him. In his eyes, she was perfect. He
Speaker 11: did not fear her at all, and told her that
Speaker 11: he could calculate in his head and with fractions, even
Speaker 11: that he knew the number of square miles there were
Speaker 11: in the different countries. And how many inhabitants they contained,
Speaker 11: and she smiled while he spoke. It then seemed to
Speaker 11: him as if what he knew was not enough, and
Speaker 11: he looked upwards in the large, huge, empty space above him. Him,
Speaker 11: and on she flew with him, flew high over the
Speaker 11: black clouds, while the storm moaned and whistled as though
Speaker 11: it were singing some old tune. On they flew over
Speaker 11: the woods and lakes, over seas and many lands, and
Speaker 11: beneath them the chilling storms rushed fast, The wolves howled,
Speaker 11: the snow crackled. Above them flew large screaming crows. But
Speaker 11: higher up appeared the moon, quite large and bright. And
Speaker 11: it was on that that Kay gazed during the long
Speaker 11: long winter's night, while by day he slept at the
Speaker 11: feet of the snow queen, third story of the flower garden,
Speaker 11: at the old Woman's who understood witchcraft? But what became
Speaker 11: of Little Gerda when Kay did not return home? Where
Speaker 11: could he be? Nobody knew, nobody could give any intelligence.
Speaker 11: All the boys knew was that they had seen him
Speaker 11: tie his sledge to another, large and splendid one, which
Speaker 11: drove down the street and out of the town. Nobody
Speaker 11: knew where he was. Many sad tears were shed, and
Speaker 11: little Gerda wept long and bitterly. At last she said
Speaker 11: he must be dead, that he'd been drowned in the
Speaker 11: river which flowed close to the town. Oh, those were
Speaker 11: very long and dismal winter evenings. At last the spring
Speaker 11: came with its warm sunshine. Kay is dead and gone,
Speaker 11: said little Gerda. That I don't believe, said the sunshine.
Speaker 11: Kay is dead and gone. She said to the swallows
Speaker 11: that I don't believe, they said, And at last Little
Speaker 11: Gerda did not think so any longer. I'll put on
Speaker 11: my red shoes, said she. One morning Kay has never
Speaker 11: seen them, And then I'll go down to the river
Speaker 11: and ask there. It was quite early. She kissed her
Speaker 11: old grandmother, who was still asleep, put on her red shoes,
Speaker 11: and went alone to the river. Is it true that
Speaker 11: you have taken my little playfellow. I will make you
Speaker 11: a present of my red shoes if he will give
Speaker 11: him back to me. And as it seemed to her,
Speaker 11: the blue waves nodded in a strange manner. Then she
Speaker 11: took off her red shoes, the most precious thing she possessed,
Speaker 11: and threw them into the river. But they fell close
Speaker 11: to the bank, and the little waves bore them immediately
Speaker 11: to land. It was as if the stream would not
Speaker 11: take what was dearest to her, for in reality it
Speaker 11: had not got little Kay. But Gerda thought that she
Speaker 11: must not have thrown the shoes out far enough, so
Speaker 11: she clambered into a boat which lay among the rushes,
Speaker 11: went to the farthest end and threw out the shoes.
Speaker 11: But the boat was not fastened, and the motion which
Speaker 11: she had occasioned made it drift from the shore. She
Speaker 11: observed this and hastened to get back, but before she
Speaker 11: could do so, the boat was more than a yard
Speaker 11: from the land and was gliding quickly onward. Little Gerda
Speaker 11: was very frightened and began to cry. But no one
Speaker 11: heard her except the sparrows, and they could not her
Speaker 11: to land. But they flew along the bank and sang,
Speaker 11: as if to comfort her, here we are, here we are.
Speaker 11: The boat drifted with the stream. Little Gerda sat quite
Speaker 11: still without shoes, for they were swimming behind the boat,
Speaker 11: but she could not reach them because the boat went
Speaker 11: much faster than they did.
Speaker 8: The bank.
Speaker 11: On both sides were beautiful, lovely flowers, venerable trees, and
Speaker 11: slopes with sheep and cows, when not a human being
Speaker 11: was to be seen. Perhaps the river will carry me
Speaker 11: to Little Kay, said she, and then she grew less sad.
Speaker 11: She rose and looked for many hours at the beautiful
Speaker 11: green banks. Presently she sailed by a large cherry orchard,
Speaker 11: where there was a little cottage with curious red and
Speaker 11: blue windows. It was thatched, and before it two wooden
Speaker 11: soldiers stood sentry and presented arms. When anyone went past.
Speaker 11: Gerda called to them, for she thought they were alive,
Speaker 11: but they, of course did not answer. She came close
Speaker 11: to them, for the stream drifted the boat quite near
Speaker 11: the land. Gerda called still louder, and an old woman
Speaker 11: then came out of the cottage, leaning upon a crooked stick.
Speaker 11: She had a large, broad brimmed hat on painted with
Speaker 11: the most splendid flowers. Poor little child, said the old woman,
Speaker 11: How did you get upon the large rapid river to
Speaker 11: be driven about so in the wide world? And then
Speaker 11: the old woman went into the river, caught hold of
Speaker 11: the boat with her crooked stick, drew it to the bank,
Speaker 11: and lifted little Gerda out. And Gerda was so glad
Speaker 11: to be on dry land again, which was rather afraid
Speaker 11: of the strange old woman. But come, tell me who
Speaker 11: you are and how you came to be here, said she,
Speaker 11: and Gerda told her all. The old woman shook her
Speaker 11: head and said ahem, ahem. And when Gerda had told
Speaker 11: her everything, and asked her if she had not seen
Speaker 11: little Kay, the woman answered that he had not passed there,
Speaker 11: but he, no doubt would come. And she told her
Speaker 11: not to be cast down, but taste her cherries and
Speaker 11: look at her flowers, which were finer than any in
Speaker 11: a picture book, each of which could tell a whole story.
Speaker 11: She then took Gerda by the hand, led her into
Speaker 11: the little cottage, and locked the door. The windows were
Speaker 11: very high up, the glass was red, blue and green,
Speaker 11: and the sunlight shone through quite wondrously in all sorts
Speaker 11: of colors. On the table stood the most exquisite cherries,
Speaker 11: and Gerda ate as many as she chose, for she
Speaker 11: had permission to do so. While she was eating, the
Speaker 11: old woman combed her hair with a golden comb, and
Speaker 11: her hair curled and shone with a lovely golden color.
Speaker 11: Round that sweet little face, which was so round and
Speaker 11: so like a rose. I have often longed for such
Speaker 11: a dear little girl, said the old woman. Now you
Speaker 11: shall see how well we agreed together. And while she
Speaker 11: combed little Gerda's hair, the child forgot her foster brother
Speaker 11: Kay more and more. For the old woman understood magic,
Speaker 11: but she was no evil being. She only practiced witchcraft
Speaker 11: a little for her own private amusement, and now she
Speaker 11: wanted very much to keep little Gerda. She therefore went
Speaker 11: out into the garden, stretched out her crooked stick towards
Speaker 11: the rose bushes, which beautifully as they were blowing, all
Speaker 11: sank into the earth, and no one could tell where
Speaker 11: they had stood. The old woman feared that if Gerda
Speaker 11: should see the roses, she would then think of her
Speaker 11: own and would remember little Kay and run away from her.
Speaker 11: She now led Gerda into the flower garden. Oh what
Speaker 11: odor and what loveliness was there? Every flower that one
Speaker 11: could think of and of every season stood there in
Speaker 11: fullest bloom. No picture book could be gayer or more beautiful.
Speaker 11: Gerda jumped for joy and played till the sun set
Speaker 11: behind the tall cherry tree. She then had a pretty
Speaker 11: bed with the red silken coverlet filled with blue violets.
Speaker 11: She fell asleep and had as pleasant dreams as ever
Speaker 11: a queen on her wedding day. The next morning she
Speaker 11: went to play with the flowers in the warm sunshine,
Speaker 11: and thus passed away a day. Gerda knew every flower,
Speaker 11: and numerous as they were, it still seemed to Gerda
Speaker 11: that one was wanting, though she did not know which.
Speaker 11: One day, while she was looking at the hat of
Speaker 11: the old woman painted with flowers, the most beautiful of
Speaker 11: them all seemed to her to be a rose. The
Speaker 11: old woman had forgotten to take it from her hat
Speaker 11: when she made the others vanish in the earth. But
Speaker 11: so it is when one's thoughts are not collected, what
Speaker 11: said Gerda, are there no roses here? And she ran
Speaker 11: about amongst the flower beds and looked and looked, but
Speaker 11: there was not one to be found. She then sat
Speaker 11: down and wept, But her hot tears fell just where
Speaker 11: rose bush had sunk, And when her warm tears watered
Speaker 11: the ground, the tree shot up suddenly as fresh and
Speaker 11: blooming as when it had been swallowed up. Gerda kissed
Speaker 11: the roses, thought of her own dear roses at home,
Speaker 11: and with them of little Kay. Oh, how long I
Speaker 11: have stayed, said the little girl. I intended to look
Speaker 11: for Kay. Don't you know where he is? She asked
Speaker 11: of the roses, do you think he is dead and
Speaker 11: gone dead? He is certainly not, said the roses. We
Speaker 11: have been in the earth where all the dead are,
Speaker 11: but Kay was not there. Many thanks, said little Gerda,
Speaker 11: And she went to the other flowers, looked into their cups,
Speaker 11: and asked, don't you know where little Kay is? But
Speaker 11: every flower stood in the sunshine and dreamed its own
Speaker 11: fairy tale or its own story. And they all told
Speaker 11: her very many things, but not one knew anything of Kay. Well,
Speaker 11: what did the tiger lily say? Hearest thou not the
Speaker 11: drum bum bum? Those are the only two tones, always bomb, bomb,
Speaker 11: hark to the plaintive song of the old woman, to
Speaker 11: the call of the priests. The Hindu woman, in her
Speaker 11: long robe stands upon the funeral pile. The flames rise
Speaker 11: around her and her dead husband. But the Hindu woman
Speaker 11: thinks on the living one in the surrounding circle, on
Speaker 11: him whose eyes burn hotter than the flames on him,
Speaker 11: the fire whose eyes pierces her heart more than the
Speaker 11: flames which will soon burn her body to ashes. Can
Speaker 11: the hearts flame die in the flame of the funeral pile.
Speaker 11: I don't understand that at all, said little Gerda. That
Speaker 11: is my story, said the lily, What did the convolvers say?
Speaker 11: Projecting over a narrow mountain path, there hangs an old
Speaker 11: feudal castle. Thick evergreens grow on the dilapidated walls and
Speaker 11: round the altar, where a lovely maiden is standing. She
Speaker 11: bends over the railing and looks out upon the rose.
Speaker 11: No fresher rose hangs on the branches than she. No
Speaker 11: apple blossom carried away by the wind is more buoyant.
Speaker 11: How her silken robe is rustling? Is he not yet come?
Speaker 11: Is it kay that you mean? Asked little Gerda. I
Speaker 11: am speaking about my story, about my dream, answered the convulvers.
Speaker 11: What do the snowdrops say? Between the trees, a long
Speaker 11: board is hanging. It is a swing. Two little girls
Speaker 11: are sitting in it and swing themselves backwards and forwards.
Speaker 11: Their frocks are as white as snow, and long green
Speaker 11: silk ribbons flutter from their bonnets. Their brother, who is
Speaker 11: older than they are, stands up in the swing. He
Speaker 11: twines his arms round the cords to hold himself fast,
Speaker 11: for in one hand he has a little cup and
Speaker 11: in the other a clay pipe. He is blowing soap bubbles.
Speaker 11: The swing moves, and the bubbles float in charming changing colors.
Speaker 11: The last is still hanging to the end of the
Speaker 11: pipe and rocks in the breeze. The swing moves. The
Speaker 11: little black dog, as light as a soap bubble, jumps
Speaker 11: up on his hind legs to try and get into
Speaker 11: the swing. It moves. The dog falls down, barks, and
Speaker 11: is angry. They tease him. The bubble bursts a swing,
Speaker 11: a bursting bubble. Such is my song. What you relate
Speaker 11: may be very pretty, but you tell it in so
Speaker 11: melancholy a manner, and do not mention. Kay, What do
Speaker 11: the hyacinths say? There were once upon a time three sisters,
Speaker 11: quite transparent and very beautiful. The robe of the one
Speaker 11: was red, and that of the second blue, and that
Speaker 11: of the third white. They danced hand in hand beside
Speaker 11: the calm lake, in the clear moonshine. They were not
Speaker 11: elfin maidens, but mortal children. A sweet fragrance was smelt,
Speaker 11: and the maidens vanished in the wood. The fragrance grew
Speaker 11: stronger three coffins, and in them three lovely maidens glided
Speaker 11: out of the forest and across the lake. The shining
Speaker 11: glow worms flew around like little floating lights. Do the
Speaker 11: dancing maidens sleep or are they dead? The odor of
Speaker 11: the flowers says they are corpses. The evening bell tolls
Speaker 11: for the dead. You make me quite sad, said little Gerda.
Speaker 11: I can't help thinking of the dead maidens. Oh, it
Speaker 11: is little Kay really dead. The roses have been in
Speaker 11: the earth and they say no.
Speaker 8: Ding dong.
Speaker 11: Sounded the hyacinth bells. We do not toll for little Kay.
Speaker 4: We do not know him.
Speaker 11: That is our way of singing, the only one we have.
Speaker 11: And Gerda went to the vernunculuses that looked forth from
Speaker 11: among the shining green leaves. You are a little bright sun,
Speaker 11: said Gerda. Tell me if you know where I can
Speaker 11: find my playfellow. And the vernunculuses shone brightly and looked
Speaker 11: again at Gerda. What song could the vernuculus sing? It
Speaker 11: was one that said nothing about Kay either. In a
Speaker 11: small court, the bright sun was shining in the first
Speaker 11: days of spring. The beams glided down the white walls
Speaker 11: of a neighbor's house, and close by, the fresh yellow
Speaker 11: flowers were growing, shining like gold in the warm sun rays.
Speaker 11: An old grandmother was sitting in the air. Her granddaughter,
Speaker 11: the poorly servant, was just coming for a short visit.
Speaker 11: She knows her grandmother. There was gold, pure virgin gold,
Speaker 11: in that blessed kiss there. That is my little story,
Speaker 11: said the vernaculus. My poor old grandmother sighed Gerda. Yes,
Speaker 11: she is longing for me, no doubt she is sorrowing
Speaker 11: for me as she did for little Kay. But I
Speaker 11: will soon come home, and then I will bring Kay
Speaker 11: with me. It is of no use asking the flowers.
Speaker 11: They only know their own old rhymes and can tell
Speaker 11: me nothing.
Speaker 8: And then she tucked up.
Speaker 11: Her frock to enable her to run quicker, But the
Speaker 11: narcissus gave her a knock on the leg just as
Speaker 11: she was going to jump over it. So she stood still,
Speaker 11: looked at a long yellow flower and asked, you perhaps
Speaker 11: know something? And she bent down to the narcissus, And
Speaker 11: what did it say? I can see myself. I can
Speaker 11: see myself. Oh how odorous I.
Speaker 15: Am up in the little gowert there stands half dressed,
Speaker 15: a little dancer. She stands now on one leg, now
Speaker 15: on both. She despises the whole world, Yet she lives
Speaker 15: only in imagination. She pours water out of the teapot
Speaker 15: over a piece of stuff which she holds in her hand.
Speaker 11: It is the bodice. Cleanliness is a fine thing. The
Speaker 11: white dress is hanging on the hook. It was washed
Speaker 11: in the teapot and dried on the roof. She puts
Speaker 11: it on, ties a safron colored kerchief round her neck,
Speaker 11: and then the gown looks whiter. I can see myself.
Speaker 11: I can see myself. That's nothing to me, said little Gerda.
Speaker 11: That does not concern me, And then off she ran
Speaker 11: to the further end of the garden. The gate was locked,
Speaker 11: but she shook the rusted bolt till it was loose,
Speaker 11: and the gate opened, and little Gerda ran off, barefooted
Speaker 11: into the wide world. She looked around her thrice, but
Speaker 11: no one followed her. At last, she could run no longer.
Speaker 11: She sat down on a large stone, and when she
Speaker 11: looked about her, she saw that the summer had passed.
Speaker 11: It was late in the autumn. But that one could
Speaker 11: not remark in the beautiful garden, where there was always sunshine,
Speaker 11: and where there were flowers the whole year round. Dear me,
Speaker 11: how long I've stayed said Gerda, autumn has come. I
Speaker 11: must not rest any longer, and she got up to
Speaker 11: go further. Oh, how tender and wearied her little feet were.
Speaker 11: All around it looked so cold and raw. The long
Speaker 11: willowlies were quite yellow, and the fog dripped from them
Speaker 11: like water. One leaf fell after the other, and the
Speaker 11: sloes only stood full of fruit, which set one's teeth
Speaker 11: on edge. Oh, how dark and comfortless it was in
Speaker 11: the dreary world. Fourth story, The Prince and Princess Gerda
Speaker 11: was obliged to rest herself again when exactly opposite to her,
Speaker 11: a large raven came hopping over the white snow. He
Speaker 11: had long been looking at Gerda and shaking his head,
Speaker 11: and now he said, gow caw, good day, good day.
Speaker 11: He could not say it better, but he felt a
Speaker 11: sympathy for the little girl, and asked her where she
Speaker 11: was going all alone.
Speaker 4: The word alone.
Speaker 11: Gerda understood quite well, and felt how much was expressed
Speaker 11: by it. So she told the raven her whole history
Speaker 11: and asked if he had not seen kay. The raven
Speaker 11: nodded very gravely and said, it may be, it may be.
Speaker 11: What do you really think? So cried the little girl
Speaker 11: and she nearly squeezed the raven to death so much
Speaker 11: did she kiss him gently?
Speaker 16: Gently, said the rain I think I know. I think
Speaker 16: that it may be little Kay, but he has forgotten
Speaker 16: you for the princess. Does he live with the princess,
Speaker 16: asked Gerda. Yes, listen, said the raven.
Speaker 11: But it will be difficult for me to speak your language.
Speaker 11: If you understand the raven language, I can tell you better. No,
Speaker 11: I have not learnt it, said Gerda. But my grandmother
Speaker 11: understands it, and she can speak Gibberish too. I wish
Speaker 11: I had learnt it.
Speaker 16: No matter, said the raven. I will tell you as
Speaker 16: well as I can. However it will be bad enough.
Speaker 11: And then he told all he knew. In the kingdom
Speaker 11: where we are now, there lives a princess who is
Speaker 11: extraordinarily clever. For she has read all the newspapers in
Speaker 11: the whole world and has forgotten them again. So clever
Speaker 11: is she. She was lately, it is said, sitting on
Speaker 11: her throne, which is not very musing after all. But
Speaker 11: she began humming an old tune, and it was just, oh,
Speaker 11: why should I not be married? That song is not
Speaker 11: without its meaning, said she, And so then she was
Speaker 11: determined to marry, but she would have a husband who
Speaker 11: knew how to give an answer when he was spoken to,
Speaker 11: not one who looked only as if he were a
Speaker 11: great personage, for that is so tiresome. Then she had
Speaker 11: all the ladies of the court drummed together, and when
Speaker 11: they heard her intention, all were very pleased, and said,
Speaker 11: we are very glad to hear of it. It is
Speaker 11: the very thing we were thinking of. You may believe
Speaker 11: every word I say, said the raven, for I have
Speaker 11: a tame sweetheart that hops about in the palace quite free,
Speaker 11: And it was she who told me all this. The
Speaker 11: newspapers appeared forthwith with a border of hearts and the
Speaker 11: initials of the princess, And therein you might read that
Speaker 11: every good looking young man who was at liberty to
Speaker 11: come to the palace and speak to the princess, and
Speaker 11: he who spoke in such ways as showed he felt
Speaker 11: himself at home there, that one the princess would choose
Speaker 11: for her husband. Yes, yes, said the raven. You may
Speaker 11: believe it. It is as true as I am sitting here.
Speaker 11: People came in crowds. There was a crush and a hurry,
Speaker 11: but no one was successful, either on the first or
Speaker 11: the second day. They could all talk well enough when
Speaker 11: they were out in the street, but as soon as
Speaker 11: they came in sight the palace gates and saw the
Speaker 11: guard richly dressed in silver, and the lackey and gold
Speaker 11: on the staircase, and the large illuminated saloons, then they
Speaker 11: were abashed. And when they stood before the throne on
Speaker 11: which the princess was sitting, all they could do was
Speaker 11: to repeat the last word they had uttered, And to
Speaker 11: hear it again did not interest her very much. It
Speaker 11: was just as if the people within were under a
Speaker 11: charm and had fallen into a trance, till they came
Speaker 11: out again into the street. For then, oh, then they
Speaker 11: could chatter enough. There was a whole row of them
Speaker 11: standing from the town gates to the palace. I was
Speaker 11: there myself to look, said the raven. Then they grew
Speaker 11: hungry and thirsty. But from the palace they got nothing whatever,
Speaker 11: not even a glass of water. Some of the cleverest,
Speaker 11: it is true, had taken bread and butter with them,
Speaker 11: but none shared it with his neighbor. Each thought, let
Speaker 11: him look hungry, and then the princess won't have him.
Speaker 11: But Kay, little kay, said Gerda. When did he come?
Speaker 11: Was he among the lumber? Patience, patience, We are just
Speaker 11: coming to him. It was on the third day when
Speaker 11: a little personage, without horse or equipage, came, marching right
Speaker 11: boldly up to the palace. His eyes shone like yours.
Speaker 11: He had beautiful long hair, but his clothes were very shabby.
Speaker 11: That was Kay, cried Gerda, with a voice of delight.
Speaker 11: Oh no, I found him, and she clapped her hands
Speaker 11: for joy. He had a little knapsack at his back,
Speaker 11: said the raven. No, that was certainly his sledge, said Gerda.
Speaker 11: For when he went away he took a sledge with him.
Speaker 11: That maybe, said the raven.
Speaker 2: I did not.
Speaker 11: Examine him so minutely. But I know from my tame sweetheart,
Speaker 11: that when he came into the courtyard of the palace
Speaker 11: and saw the bodyguard in silver, the lackey's on the staircase,
Speaker 11: he was not the least abashed. He nodded and said
Speaker 11: to them, it must be very tiresome to stand on
Speaker 11: the stairs. For my part, I shall go in. The
Speaker 11: saloons were gleaming with lusters. Privy counselors and excellencies were
Speaker 11: walking about barefooted and wore gold keys, who was enough
Speaker 11: to make anyone feel uncomfortable. His boots creaked too, so loudly,
Speaker 11: but still he was not at all afraid. That's Kate
Speaker 11: for certain, said Gerda. I know he had a new boots.
Speaker 11: I heard them creaking in Grandmamma's room. Yes, they creaked,
Speaker 11: said the raven. And on he went boldly up to
Speaker 11: the princess, who was sitting on a pearl as large
Speaker 11: as a spinning wheel. All the ladies of the court,
Speaker 11: with their attendants and attendants attendants, and all the cavaliers
Speaker 11: with their gentlemen and gentlemen's gentlemen, stood round, And the
Speaker 11: nearer they stood to the door, the prouder they looked.
Speaker 11: It was hardly possible to look at the gentlemen's gentlemen
Speaker 11: so heartily did he stand in the doorway. Oh, it
Speaker 11: must have been terrible, said little Gerda. And did KA
Speaker 11: get the princess? Were I not a raven? I should
Speaker 11: have taken the princess myself, although I am promised.
Speaker 4: It is said.
Speaker 11: He spoke as well as I speak when I talk
Speaker 11: raven language. This I learned from my tame sweetheart. He
Speaker 11: was bold and nicely behaved. He had not come to
Speaker 11: woo the princess, but only to hear her wisdom. She
Speaker 11: pleased him, and he pleased her. Yes, yes, we certain
Speaker 11: that was Kay, said Gerda. He was so clever he
Speaker 11: could our confractions.
Speaker 1: In his head.
Speaker 11: Oh won't you take me to the palace. That is
Speaker 11: very easily, said answered the raven. But how are we
Speaker 11: to manage it? I'll speak to my tame sweetheart about it.
Speaker 11: She must advise us for so much. I must tell you,
Speaker 11: such a little girl as you are will never get
Speaker 11: permission to enter. Oh yes I shall, said Gerda. When
Speaker 11: Kay hears that I'm here, he will come out directly
Speaker 11: to fetch me. Wait for me on these steps, said
Speaker 11: the raven. He moved his head backwards and forwards, and
Speaker 11: flew away. The evening was closing in when the raven returned.
Speaker 11: Caw Caw said he she sends you her compliments, and
Speaker 11: here is.
Speaker 4: A role for you.
Speaker 11: She took it out of the kitchen. Why there is
Speaker 11: bread enough. You are hungry, no doubt. It is not
Speaker 11: possible for you to enter the palace, for you are
Speaker 11: bare footed. The guides in silver and the lackeys in
Speaker 11: gold would not allow it, but do not cry, and
Speaker 11: she'll come in. Still, my sweetheart knows a little back
Speaker 11: stair that leads to the bedchamber, and she knows where
Speaker 11: she can get the key of it. And then they
Speaker 11: went into the garden in the large avenue, where one
Speaker 11: leaf was falling after the other, And when the lights
Speaker 11: in the palace had all gradually disappeared, the Raven led
Speaker 11: little Gerda to the back door, which stood half open.
Speaker 11: Oh how Gerda's heart beat with anxiety and longing. It
Speaker 11: was just as if she had been about to do
Speaker 11: something wrong. And yet she only wanted to find out
Speaker 11: if little Kay was there. Yes, he must be there,
Speaker 11: she called, to mind, his intelligent ways and his long hair,
Speaker 11: so vividly she could quite see him, as he used
Speaker 11: to laugh when they were sitting under the roses at home.
Speaker 16: He will no doubt be glad to see you, to
Speaker 16: hear what a lo long way you have come for
Speaker 16: his sake, to know how unhappy all at home, Or
Speaker 16: when he did not come back, Oh, what a fright
Speaker 16: and a joy it was.
Speaker 11: They were now on the stairs. A single lamp was
Speaker 11: burning there, and on the floor stood the tame Raven,
Speaker 11: turning her head on every side, and looking at Gerda,
Speaker 11: who bowed as her grandmother had taught her to do.
Speaker 11: I intended has told me so much good.
Speaker 17: Of you, my dear young lady, said the tame raven.
Speaker 17: Your tale is very affecting. If you will take the lamp,
Speaker 17: I will go before. We will go straight on, for
Speaker 17: we shall meet no one.
Speaker 11: I think there is somebody just behind us, said Gerda,
Speaker 11: and something rushed past. It was like shadowy figures on
Speaker 11: the wall, Horses with flowing manes and thin legs, huntsmen, ladies,
Speaker 11: and gentlemen on horseback. They really dreams, said the raven.
Speaker 11: They come to fetch the thoughts and the high personages
Speaker 11: to the chase. Tis well, for now you can observe
Speaker 11: them in bed, all the better. But let me find
Speaker 11: when you enjoy honor and distinction, that you possess a
Speaker 11: grateful heart. Tat that's not worth talking about, said the
Speaker 11: raven of the woods. Now they entered the first saloon,
Speaker 11: which was of rose colored satin, with artificial flowers on
Speaker 11: the wall. Here the dreams were rushing past, but they
Speaker 11: hastened by so quickly that Gerda could not see the
Speaker 11: high personages. One hole was more magnificent than the other.
Speaker 11: One might indeed be well abashed. And at last they
Speaker 11: came into the bedchamber. The ceiling of the room resembled
Speaker 11: a large palm tree with leaves of glass of costly glass,
Speaker 11: and in the middle, from a thick golden stem hung
Speaker 11: two beds, each of which resembled a lily. One was white,
Speaker 11: and in this lay the princess. The other was red.
Speaker 11: And it was here that Gerda was to look for
Speaker 11: little Kay. She bent back one of the red leaves
Speaker 11: and saw a brown neck. Oh, that was Kay. She
Speaker 11: called him quite loud by the name, held the lamp
Speaker 11: towards him. The dreams rushed back again into the chamber.
Speaker 11: He awoke, turned his head, and it was not little Kay.
Speaker 11: The prince was only like him about the neck, but
Speaker 11: he was young and handsome, and out of the white
Speaker 11: lily leaves. The princess peeped too, and asked what was
Speaker 11: the matter. Then little Gerda cried and told her her
Speaker 11: whole history and all that the ravens had done for her.
Speaker 11: Poor little thing, said the Prince and princess. They praised
Speaker 11: the ravens very much, and told them they were not
Speaker 11: at all angry with them, but they were not to
Speaker 11: do so again. However, they should have a reward. Will
Speaker 11: you fly about here at liberty, asked the princess, or
Speaker 11: would you like to have a fixed appointment? As caught
Speaker 11: ravens with all the broken bits from the kitchen, and
Speaker 11: both the ravens nodded and begged for a fixed appointment,
Speaker 11: for they thought of their old age, and said, it
Speaker 11: is a very good thing to have a provision for
Speaker 11: our old days. And the Prince got up and let
Speaker 11: Gerda sleep in his bed. And more than this he
Speaker 11: could not do. She folded her little hands and thought
Speaker 11: how good men and animals are, and then fell asleep
Speaker 11: and slept soundly. All the dreams flew in again, and
Speaker 11: they now looked like the angels, and they drew a
Speaker 11: little sledge in which little Kay sat and nodded his head.
Speaker 11: But the whole was only a dream, and therefore it
Speaker 11: all vanished. As soon as she awoke the next day,
Speaker 11: she was dressed from head to foot in silken velvet.
Speaker 11: They offered to let her stay at the palace and
Speaker 11: lead a happy life, but she begged to have a
Speaker 11: little carriage with the horse in front, and for a
Speaker 11: small pair of shoes. Then she said she would again
Speaker 11: go forth in the wide world and look for quay.
Speaker 11: Shoes and a muff were given her, and she was
Speaker 11: too dressed very nicely. And when she was about to
Speaker 11: set off, a new carriage stopped before the door. It
Speaker 11: was of pure gold, and the arms of the Prince
Speaker 11: and Princess shone like a star upon it. The coachman,
Speaker 11: the footmen, and the outriders, for outriders there were too,
Speaker 11: all wore golden crowns. The Prince and Princess assisted her
Speaker 11: into the carriage themselves and wished her all success. The
Speaker 11: Raven of the Woods, who was now married, accompanied her
Speaker 11: for the first three miles. He sat beside Gerda, for
Speaker 11: he could not bear riding backwards. The other ravens stood
Speaker 11: in the doorway and flapped her wings. She could not
Speaker 11: accompany Gerda because she suffered from headache since she had
Speaker 11: had a fixed appointment and ate so much. The carriage
Speaker 11: was lined inside with sugar plums, and in the seats
Speaker 11: were fruits and gingerbread. Farewell, farewell, cried the prince and princess,
Speaker 11: and Gerda wept, and the raven wept. Thus passed the
Speaker 11: first miles and then the raven bade her farewell, and
Speaker 11: this was the most painful separation of all. He flew
Speaker 11: into a tree and beat his black wings as long
Speaker 11: as he could see the carriage that shone from afar
Speaker 11: like a sunbeam. Fifth story, the little robber maiden. They
Speaker 11: drove through the dark wood, but the carriage shone like
Speaker 11: a torch and dazzled the eyes of the robbers so
Speaker 11: that they could not bear to look at it. Tis gold,
Speaker 11: Tis gold, they cried, and they rushed forward, seized the horses,
Speaker 11: knocked down the little postilion, the coachman and the servants,
Speaker 11: and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage. Ow plump.
Speaker 11: How beautiful she is. She must have been fed on
Speaker 11: no colonels, said the old female robber, who had long
Speaker 11: scrubby beard and bush eyebrows that hung down over her eyes.
Speaker 11: She's as good as a fatted lamb. How nice she
Speaker 11: will be. And then she drew out a knife, the
Speaker 11: blade of which shone so that it was quite dreadful
Speaker 11: to behold. Oh, cried the woman. At the same moment
Speaker 11: she had been bitten in the ear by her own
Speaker 11: little daughter, who hung at her back and was so
Speaker 11: wild and unmanageable that it was quite amusing to see her,
Speaker 11: You naughty child, said the mother, And now she had
Speaker 11: not time to kill Gerda. She shall play with me,
Speaker 11: said the little robber child. She shall give me her
Speaker 11: muff and her pretty frock, and she shall sleep in
Speaker 11: my bed. And then she gave her mother another bite,
Speaker 11: so that she jumped and ran around with the pain.
Speaker 11: And the robbers laughed and said, look out his dancing
Speaker 11: with the little one. I will go into the carriage,
Speaker 11: said the little robber maiden, and she would have her will,
Speaker 11: for she was very spoilt and very headstrong. She and
Speaker 11: Gerda got in, and then away they drove over the
Speaker 11: stumps of the felled trees, deeper and deeper into the woods.
Speaker 11: The little robber Maiden was as tall as Gerda, but stronger,
Speaker 11: broader shouldered, and of dark complexion. Her eyes were quite black,
Speaker 11: though looked almost melancholy. She embraced little Gerda and said,
Speaker 11: they shall not kill you, as long as I am
Speaker 11: not displeased with you. You are doubtless a princess. No,
Speaker 11: said little Gerda, who then related all that had happened
Speaker 11: to her and how much she cared about little Kay.
Speaker 11: The little robber maiden looked at her with a serious air,
Speaker 11: nodded her head slightly, and said, they shall not kill you.
Speaker 11: Even if I am angry with you, then I will
Speaker 11: do it myself. And she dried Gerda's eyes and put
Speaker 11: both her hands in the handsome muff, which was so
Speaker 11: soft and warm. At length, the carriage stopped. They were
Speaker 11: in the midst of the courtyard of a robber's castle.
Speaker 11: It was full of cracks from top to bottom, and
Speaker 11: out of the openings. Magpies and rooks were flying, and
Speaker 11: the great bulldogs, each of which looked as if he
Speaker 11: could swallow a man, jumped up, but they did not bark,
Speaker 11: for that was forbidden. In the midst of the large
Speaker 11: old smoking hole, burnt a great fire on the stone floor.
Speaker 11: The smoke disappeared under the stones and had to seek
Speaker 11: its own negress. In an immense caldron, soup was boiling,
Speaker 11: and rabbits and hares were being roasted on a spit.
Speaker 11: You shall sleep with me to night, with all my animals,
Speaker 11: said the little robber maiden. They had something to eat
Speaker 11: and drink, and then went into a corner where straw
Speaker 11: and carpets were lying beside them, and lads and perches
Speaker 11: sat nearly a hundred pigeons, all asleep seemingly, but yet
Speaker 11: they moved a little when the robber maiden came. They
Speaker 11: are all mine, said she, at the same time, seizing
Speaker 11: one that was next to her by the legs in
Speaker 11: shaking it so that its wings fluttered. Kiss it, cried
Speaker 11: the little girl, and flung the pigeon into Gerda's face.
Speaker 11: Up there is the rabble of the wood, continued she,
Speaker 11: pointing to several laughs which were fastened before a hole
Speaker 11: high up in the wall. That's the rabble. They would
Speaker 11: all fly away immediately if they were not well fastened in.
Speaker 11: And here's my dear old back. And she laid hold
Speaker 11: of the horns of a reindeer that had a bright
Speaker 11: copper ring round its neck and was tethered to the spot.
Speaker 11: We are obliged to lock this fellow in too, or
Speaker 11: he would make his escape every evening. I tickle his
Speaker 11: neck with my sharp knife. He is so frightened at it.
Speaker 11: And the little girl drew forth a long knife from
Speaker 11: a crack in the wall and let a glide over
Speaker 11: the reindeer's neck. The poor animal kicked, The girl laughed,
Speaker 11: and pulled Gerda into bed with her. Do you and
Speaker 11: tell and to keep your knife while you sleep, asked Gerda,
Speaker 11: looking at it rather fearfully. I always sleep with the knife,
Speaker 11: said the little robber Maiden. There is no knowing what
Speaker 11: may happen. But tell me now once more all about
Speaker 11: little Kay and why you started off in the wide
Speaker 11: world alone. And Gerda related all from the very beginning.
Speaker 11: The woodpigeons cooed above in their cage, and the others slept.
Speaker 11: The little robber Maiden wound her arm around Gerda's neck,
Speaker 11: held a knife in the other hand, and snored so
Speaker 11: loud that everybody could hear her. But Gerda could not
Speaker 11: close her eyes, for she did not know whether she
Speaker 11: was to live or die. The robbers sat round the fire,
Speaker 11: sang and drank, and the old female robber jumped about,
Speaker 11: so that it was quite dreadful for Gerda to see her.
Speaker 11: Then the woodpigeons said, coo, coo, they have seen little Kay.
Speaker 11: A white hen carries his sledge, and he himself sat
Speaker 11: in the carriage of the snow Queen who passed here
Speaker 11: down just over the wood. As we lay on our nest,
Speaker 11: she blew upon us young ones, and all died except.
Speaker 4: We two cow.
Speaker 2: Cow.
Speaker 13: What is it that you say?
Speaker 18: Up there?
Speaker 11: Cried little Gerda. Where did the snow Queen go to?
Speaker 11: Do you know anything about it? She has no doubt.
Speaker 19: Conte Lapland, for there is always snow and ice there.
Speaker 19: Only ask the reindeer who's tethered there? Ice and snow
Speaker 19: is there there? It is glorious and beautiful, said the reindeer.
Speaker 19: One can spring about in the large shining valleys. The
Speaker 19: snow Queen has her summer tent there, but her fixed
Speaker 19: abode is high up towards the north pole, on the
Speaker 19: island called Spezbergen. O Kay, poor little Kay, sighed Gerda.
Speaker 19: Do you choose to be quiet? Said the robber maiden.
Speaker 11: If you don't, I shall make you in the morning.
Speaker 11: Gerda told her all that the woodpigeons had said, and
Speaker 11: the little maiden looked very serious. But she nodded her
Speaker 11: head and said, that's no matter. That's no matter. Do
Speaker 11: you know where Lapland lies? She asked of the reindeer,
Speaker 11: who should know better than I? Said the animal, His
Speaker 11: eyes rolled in his head. I was born and bred
Speaker 11: there there. I leapt about on the fields of snow. Listen,
Speaker 11: said the robber maiden to Gerda. You see that the
Speaker 11: men are gone, but my mother is still here and
Speaker 11: will remain. However, towards the morning she takes a draft
Speaker 11: out of the large flask, and then she sleeps a little.
Speaker 11: Then I will do something for you. She now jumped
Speaker 11: out of bed flew to her mother, with her arms
Speaker 11: round her neck and pulling her by. The beard said,
Speaker 11: good morrow, my own sweet nanny goat of a mother,
Speaker 11: And her mother took hold of her nose and pinched
Speaker 11: it till it was red and blue. But this was
Speaker 11: all done out of pure love. When the mother had
Speaker 11: taken a sup at her flask and was having a nap,
Speaker 11: the little robber maiden went to the reindeer and said,
Speaker 11: I should very much like to give you still many
Speaker 11: a tickling with the sharp knife, for then you are
Speaker 11: so amusing. However, I will untether you and help you
Speaker 11: out so that you may go back to Lapland. But
Speaker 11: you must make good use of your legs and take
Speaker 11: this little girl for me to the palace of the
Speaker 11: snow Queen, where her playfellow is. You have heard, I
Speaker 11: suppose all she said, for she spoke loud enough, and
Speaker 11: you were listening. The reindeer gave a bound for joy.
Speaker 11: The robber maiden lifted up little Gerda and took the
Speaker 11: precaution to bind her fast on the reindeer's back. She
Speaker 11: even gave her a small cushion to sit on. Here
Speaker 11: are your worsted leggings, for will be cold. But the
Speaker 11: muff I shall keep from myself, for it is so
Speaker 11: very pretty. But I do not wish you to be cold.
Speaker 11: Here is a pair of lying gloves of my mother's.
Speaker 11: They just reach up to your elbow.
Speaker 10: On with them.
Speaker 11: Now you look about the hands just like my ugly
Speaker 11: old mother, and Gerda wept for joy. I can't bear
Speaker 11: to see you fretting, said the little robber maiden. This
Speaker 11: is just the time when you ought to look pleased.
Speaker 11: Here are two loves and a ham for you, so
Speaker 11: that you won't starve. The bread and the meat were
Speaker 11: fastened to the rengeer's back. The little maiden opened the door,
Speaker 11: called in all the dogs, and then with her knife,
Speaker 11: cut the rope that fastened the animal, and said to him,
Speaker 11: now off with you, but take good care of the
Speaker 11: little girl. And Gerda stretched out her hands in the
Speaker 11: large wadded gloves towards the robber maiden and said farewell.
Speaker 11: And the reindeer flew on over a bush and bramble
Speaker 11: through the great wood, over moor and heath, as fast
Speaker 11: as he could go. Che tea was heard in the sky.
Speaker 11: It was just as if somebody was sneezing. These are
Speaker 11: my old northern lights, said the reindeer. Look how they gleam.
Speaker 11: And on he now sped still quicker day and night.
Speaker 4: On he went.
Speaker 11: The loaves were consumed, and the ham too, and now
Speaker 11: they were in Lapland sixth story. The Lapland woman and
Speaker 11: the Finland woman. Suddenly they stopped before a little house
Speaker 11: which looked very miserable. The roof reached to the ground,
Speaker 11: and the door was so low that the family were
Speaker 11: obliged to creep upon their stomachs when they went in
Speaker 11: or out. Nobody was at home except an old Lapland
Speaker 11: woman who was dressing fish by the light of an
Speaker 11: oil lamp. And the reindeer told her the whole of
Speaker 11: Gerda's history, but first of all his own, for that
Speaker 11: seemed to him of greater importance. Gerda was so chill
Speaker 11: that she could not speak. Poor thing, said the Lapland woman,
Speaker 11: you have far to run. Still, you have more than
Speaker 11: a hundred miles to go before you get to Finland.
Speaker 11: There the snow Queen has her country house and burns
Speaker 11: blue lights every evening. I will give you a few
Speaker 11: words from me, which I will write on a dried
Speaker 11: aberdine for paper.
Speaker 4: I have none.
Speaker 11: This you can take with you to the Finland Woman,
Speaker 11: and she will be able to give you more information
Speaker 11: than I can. When Gerda had warmed herself and had
Speaker 11: eaten and drunk, the Lapland Woman wrote a few words
Speaker 11: on a dry haberdine, begged Gerda to take care of them,
Speaker 11: put her on the reindeer bound her fast, and a
Speaker 11: waste from the animal te cha was again heard in
Speaker 11: the air. The most charming blue lights burned the whole
Speaker 11: night in the sky, and at last they came to Finland.
Speaker 11: They knocked at the chimney of the Finland Woman, for
Speaker 11: as to a door, she had none. There was such
Speaker 11: a heat inside that the Finland Woman herself went about
Speaker 11: almost naked. She was diminutive and dirty. She immediately loosened
Speaker 11: little Gerda's clothes, pulled off her thick gloves and boots,
Speaker 11: for otherwise the heat would have been too great, And
Speaker 11: after laying a piece of ice on the reindeer's head,
Speaker 11: read what was written on the fish skin. She read
Speaker 11: it three times. She then knew it by heart. So
Speaker 11: she put the fish into the cupboard, for it might
Speaker 11: very well be eaten, and she never threw anything away.
Speaker 11: Then the reindeer related his own story first, and afterwards
Speaker 11: that of little Gerda, and the Finland woman winked her
Speaker 11: eyes but said nothing. You are so clever, said the reindeer.
Speaker 11: You can, I know, twist all the winds of the
Speaker 11: world together in a knot. If the seaman looses one knot,
Speaker 11: then he has a good wind. Second, then it blows
Speaker 11: pretty stiffly. But if he undoes the third and fourth,
Speaker 11: then it rages, so that the forests are upturned. Will
Speaker 11: you give the little maiden a potion so that she
Speaker 11: may possess the strength of twelve men and vanquish the
Speaker 11: snow queen the strength of twelve men, said the Finland woman.
Speaker 11: Much good that would be. Then she went to a
Speaker 11: cupboard and drew out a large skin, rolled up. When
Speaker 11: she had unrolled it, strange characters were to be seen
Speaker 11: written thereon, and the Finland woman read at such a
Speaker 11: rate that the perspiration trickled down her forehead. But the
Speaker 11: reindeer begged so hard for little Gerda, and Gerda looked
Speaker 11: so imploringly with tearful eyes at the Finland woman that
Speaker 11: she winked and drew the reindeer aside into a corner
Speaker 11: where the whisper together, while the animal got some fresh
Speaker 11: eyes put on his head. Tis true. Little Kay is
Speaker 11: at the snow Queen's and finds everything there quite to
Speaker 11: his taste, and he thinks is the very best place
Speaker 11: in the world. But the reason of that is he
Speaker 11: has a splinter of glass in his eye and in
Speaker 11: his heart. These must be got out first, otherwise he
Speaker 11: will never go back to mankind, and the snow Queen
Speaker 11: will retain her power over him. But can you give
Speaker 11: little Gerdon nothing to take which will endure her with
Speaker 11: power over the whole? I can give her no more
Speaker 11: power than what she has already. Don't you see how
Speaker 11: great it is? Don't you see how men and animals
Speaker 11: are forced to serve her, how well she gets through
Speaker 11: the world barefooted. She must not hear of her power
Speaker 11: from us. That power lies in her heart, because she
Speaker 11: is a sweet and innocent child. If she cannot get
Speaker 11: the snow Queen by herself and rid little kay of
Speaker 11: the glass, we cannot help her two miles. Hence the
Speaker 11: garden of the snow Queen begins. Thither you may carry
Speaker 11: the little girl, set her down by the large bush
Speaker 11: with red berries standing in the snow. Don't stay talking,
Speaker 11: but hastened back as fast as possible. And now the
Speaker 11: Finland woman placed little Gerda on the ranger's back, and
Speaker 11: off he ran with all imaginable speed. Oh, I have
Speaker 11: not got my boots. I have not brought my gloves,
Speaker 11: cried little Gerda. She marked she was without them from
Speaker 11: the cutting frost. But the ranger dared not stand still.
Speaker 11: On he ran till he came to the great bush
Speaker 11: with red berries, and there he set Gerda down, kissed
Speaker 11: her mouth while large bright tears flowed from the animal's eyes,
Speaker 11: and then back he went as fast as possible. There
Speaker 11: stood poor Gerda, now without shoes or gloves, in the
Speaker 11: very middle of dreadful icy Finland. She ran on as
Speaker 11: fast as she could. There then came a whole regiment
Speaker 11: of snowflakes, but they did not fall from above, and
Speaker 11: they were quite bright and shining from the Aurora borealis.
Speaker 11: The flakes ran along then, and the nearer they came,
Speaker 11: the larger they grew. Gerda well remembered how large and
Speaker 11: strange the snowflakes appeared when she once saw them through
Speaker 11: a magnifying glass. But now they were large and terrific.
Speaker 11: In another manner, they were all alive. They were the
Speaker 11: outposts of the snow Queen. They had the most wondrous shapes.
Speaker 11: Some looked like large, ugly porcupines, others like snakes noted
Speaker 11: together with their heads sticking out, and others again like
Speaker 11: small fat bears with the hair standing on end. All
Speaker 11: were of dazzling whiteness. All were living snowflakes. Little Gerda
Speaker 11: repeated the Lord's prayer. The cold was so intense that
Speaker 11: she could not see her own breath, which came like
Speaker 11: smoke out of her mouth. It grew thicker and thicker,
Speaker 11: and took the form of little angels that grew more
Speaker 11: and more when they touched the earth. All had helms
Speaker 11: on their heads, and lances and shields in their hands,
Speaker 11: and they increas eastern numbers. And when Gerda had finished
Speaker 11: the Lord's prayer, she was surrounded by a whole legion.
Speaker 11: They thrust at the horrid snowflakes with their spears, so
Speaker 11: that they flew away into a thousand pieces. And little
Speaker 11: Gerda walked on bravely and in security. The angels patted
Speaker 11: her hands and feet, and then she felt the cold less,
Speaker 11: and went on quickly towards the Palace of the Snow Queen.
Speaker 11: But now we shall see how Kay fared. He never
Speaker 11: thought of Gerda, and least of all that she was
Speaker 11: standing before the palace. Seventh story. What took place in
Speaker 11: the Palace of the Snow Queen, and what happened afterward.
Speaker 11: The walls of the palace were of driving snow, and
Speaker 11: the windows and doors of cutting winds. There were more
Speaker 11: than a hundred holes there, according as the snow was
Speaker 11: driven by the winds. The largest was many miles in extent.
Speaker 11: All were lighted up by the powerful Aurora borealis. And
Speaker 11: all were so large, so empty, so icy, cold, and
Speaker 11: so resplendent. Mirth never rained there. There was never even
Speaker 11: a little bare ball with the storm from music. While
Speaker 11: the polar bears went on their hind legs and showed
Speaker 11: off their steps, never a little tea party of white
Speaker 11: young lady foxes vast, cold and empty with holes of
Speaker 11: the snow Queen. The northern lights shone with such precision
Speaker 11: that one could tell exactly when they were at their
Speaker 11: highest or low's degree of brightness. In the middle of
Speaker 11: the empty, endless hole of snow was a frozen lake.
Speaker 11: It was cracked in a thousand pieces, but each piece
Speaker 11: was so like the other that it seemed the work
Speaker 11: of a cunning artificer. In the middle of this lake
Speaker 11: sat the snow Queen when she was at home. And
Speaker 11: then she said she was sitting in the mirror of understanding,
Speaker 11: and that this was the only one and the best
Speaker 11: thing in the world. Little Kay was quite blue, yes,
Speaker 11: nearly black with cold, but he did not observe it,
Speaker 11: for she had kissed away all feelings of cold from
Speaker 11: his body, and his heart was a lump of ice.
Speaker 11: He was dragging along some pointed, flat pieces of ice,
Speaker 11: which he lay together in all possible ways, for he
Speaker 11: wanted to make something with them, just as we have
Speaker 11: little flat pieces of wood to make geometrical figures with,
Speaker 11: called the Chinese puzzle. Kay made all sorts of figures,
Speaker 11: the most complicated, for it was an ice puzzle. For
Speaker 11: the understanding. In his eyes the figures were extraordinarily beautiful
Speaker 11: and of the utmost importance, for the bit of glass
Speaker 11: which was in his eye caused this. He found whole
Speaker 11: figures which represented a written word, but he never could
Speaker 11: manage to represent just the word he wanted. That word
Speaker 11: was eternity, and the snow Queen had said, if you
Speaker 11: can discover that figure, you shall be your own master,
Speaker 11: and I shall make you a present of the whole
Speaker 11: world and a pair of new skates. But he could
Speaker 11: not find it out. I am going now to warm lands,
Speaker 11: said the snow Queen. I must have a look down
Speaker 11: into the black cauldrons. It was the volcanoes Vesuvius and
Speaker 11: Etna that she meant. I will give them just a
Speaker 11: coating of white, for that is as it ought to be. Besides,
Speaker 11: it is good for the oranges and the grapes. And
Speaker 11: then away she flew, and Kay sat quite alone in
Speaker 11: the empty halls of ice that were miles long, and
Speaker 11: looked at the blocks of ice, and thought and thought
Speaker 11: till his skull was almost cracked. There he sat quite
Speaker 11: benumbed and motionless. One would have imagined he was frozen
Speaker 11: to death. Suddenly, little Gerda stepped through the great portal
Speaker 11: into the palace. The gate was formed of cutting winds,
Speaker 11: but Gerda repeated her evening prayer, and the winds were
Speaker 11: laid as though they slept, and the little maiden entered
Speaker 11: the vast, empty, cold halls. There she beheld Kay. She
Speaker 11: recognized him, flew to embrace him, and cried out her
Speaker 11: arms firmly holding him the while, Kay, sweet, little Kay,
Speaker 11: have I found you at last? But he sat quite still,
Speaker 11: benumbed and cold. Then little Gerda shed burning tears, and
Speaker 11: they fell on his bosom. They penetrated to his heart.
Speaker 11: They thawed the lumps of ice and consumed the splinters
Speaker 11: of the looking glass. He looked at her, and she
Speaker 11: sang the hymn The rose in the valley is blooming
Speaker 11: so sweet, And the angels descend there the children to greet.
Speaker 11: Hereupon Kay burst into tears. He wept so much that
Speaker 11: the splinter rolled out of his eye. And he recognized
Speaker 11: her and shouted, Gerda, sweet, little Gerda, where have you
Speaker 11: been so long? And where have I been? He looked
Speaker 11: round him, How cold it is here, said he, how
Speaker 11: empty and cold? And he held fast by Gerda, who
Speaker 11: laughed and wept for joy. It was so beautiful that
Speaker 11: even the blocks of ice danced about for joy. And
Speaker 11: when they were tired and laid themselves down, they formed
Speaker 11: exactly the letters which the snow Queen had told him
Speaker 11: to find out. So now he was his own master.
Speaker 11: He would have the whole world and a pair of
Speaker 11: new skates into the bargain. Gerda kissed his cheeks, and
Speaker 11: they grew quite blooming. She kissed his eyes, and they
Speaker 11: shone like her own. She kissed his hands and feet,
Speaker 11: and he was again well and merry. The snow Queen
Speaker 11: might come back as soon as she liked. There stood
Speaker 11: his discharge written in resplendent masses of ice. They took
Speaker 11: each other by the hand and wandered forth out of
Speaker 11: the large hall. They talked of their old grandmother, and
Speaker 11: of the roses upon the roof, And wherever they went
Speaker 11: the wind ceased raging, and the sun burst forth. And
Speaker 11: when they reached the bush with the red berries, they
Speaker 11: found the reindeer waiting for them. He had brought another,
Speaker 11: a young one with him, whose utter was filled with milk,
Speaker 11: which he gave to the little ones and kissed their lips.
Speaker 11: They then carried Kay and Gerda first to the Finland woman,
Speaker 11: where they warmed themselves in the warm room and learned
Speaker 11: what they were to do on their journey home. And
Speaker 11: then they went to the Lapland woman, who made some
Speaker 11: new clothes for them and repaired their sledges. The reindeer
Speaker 11: and the young hind leaped along beside them and accompanied
Speaker 11: them to the boundary of the country. Here the first
Speaker 11: vegetation peeped forth. Here Kay and Gerda took leave of
Speaker 11: the Lapland woman. Farewell, farewell, they all said, and the
Speaker 11: first green buds appeared, The first little birds began to chirp,
Speaker 11: and out of the wood came riding on a magnificent horse,
Speaker 11: which Gerda knew. It was one of the leaders in
Speaker 11: the Golden carriage, a young damsel with a bright red
Speaker 11: cap on her head and armed with pistols. It was
Speaker 11: the little robber maiden, who tired of being at home,
Speaker 11: had determined to make a journey to the north and
Speaker 11: afterwards in another direction if that did not please her.
Speaker 11: She recognized Gerda immediately, and Gerda knew her too. It
Speaker 11: was a joyful meeting. You are a fine fellow for
Speaker 11: tramping about, she said to little Kay, I should like
Speaker 11: to know faith. If you deserve that, one should run
Speaker 11: from one end of the world to the other for
Speaker 11: your sake. But Gerda patted her cheeks and inquired for
Speaker 11: the prince and princess. They are gone abroad, said the other.
Speaker 11: But the raven asked little Gerda. Oh, the raven is dead,
Speaker 11: She answered, His tame sweetheart is a widow and wears
Speaker 11: a bit of black worstood round her leg. She laments
Speaker 11: most piteously. But it's all mere talk and stuff. Now
Speaker 11: tell me what have you been doing and how you
Speaker 11: managed to catch him? And Gerda and Kay both told
Speaker 11: their story, and schnip schnap schner bassloor, said the robber maiden,
Speaker 11: And she took the hands of each and promised that
Speaker 11: if she should some day pass through the town where
Speaker 11: they lived, she would come and visit them, And then
Speaker 11: away she rode. Kay and Gerda took each other's hand.
Speaker 11: It was lovely spring weather, with abundance of flowers and
Speaker 11: of burdure. The church bells rang, and the children recognized
Speaker 11: the high towers and the large town. It was that
Speaker 11: in which they dwelt. They entered and hastened up to
Speaker 11: their grandmother's room, where everything was standing as formerly. The
Speaker 11: clocks said tick tack, and the finger moved round. But
Speaker 11: as they entered, they remarked that they were now grown up.
Speaker 11: The roses on the leads hung blooming in at the
Speaker 11: open window. There stood the little children's chairs, and Kay
Speaker 11: and Gerda sat down on them, holding each other by
Speaker 11: the hand. They had both forgotten the cold, empty splendor
Speaker 11: of the snow Queen, as though it had been a dream.
Speaker 11: The grandmother sat in the bright sunshine and read aloud
Speaker 11: from the Bible. Unless ye become as little children, ye
Speaker 11: cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And Kay and Gerda
Speaker 11: looked in each other's eyes, and all at once they
Speaker 11: understood the old hymn, The rose in the valley is
Speaker 11: blooming so sweet, and the angels descend there the children
Speaker 11: to greet. There sat the two grown up persons, grown
Speaker 11: up and yet children, children at least in heart. And
Speaker 11: it was summertime, summer, glorious summer, end of the snow Queen.
Speaker 1: The leap frog, a flea, a grasshopper and a leap
Speaker 1: frog once wanted to see which could jump highest, And
Speaker 1: they invited the whole world and everybody else besides, who
Speaker 1: chose to come to see the festival. Three famous jumpers
Speaker 1: were they, As everyone would say when they all met
Speaker 1: together in the room. I will give my daughter to
Speaker 1: him who jumps highest, exclaimed the king. For it is
Speaker 1: not so amusing where there is no prize to jump.
Speaker 1: For the flea was the first to step forward. He
Speaker 1: had exquisite manners and bowed to the company on all sides,
Speaker 1: for he had noble blood, and was moreover accustomed to
Speaker 1: the society of man alone. And that makes a great difference.
Speaker 1: Then came the grasshopper. He was considerably heavier, but he
Speaker 1: was well mannered, and wore a green uniform, which he
Speaker 1: had by right of birth. He said moreover that he
Speaker 1: belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family, and that in
Speaker 1: the house where he then was, he was thought much
Speaker 1: of the fact was he had been just brought out
Speaker 1: of the fields and put in a pasteboard house three
Speaker 1: stories high, all made of court cards, with the colored
Speaker 1: side inwards, and doors and windows cut out of the
Speaker 1: body of the Queen of hearts. I sing so well,
Speaker 1: said he that sixteen native grasshoppers who have chirped from
Speaker 1: infancy and yet got no house built of cards to
Speaker 1: live in, grew thinner than they were before, for sheer
Speaker 1: vexation when they heard me. It was thus that the
Speaker 1: flea and the grasshopper gave an account of themselves, and
Speaker 1: thought they were quite good enough to marry a princess.
Speaker 1: The leap frog said nothing, but people gave it as
Speaker 1: their opinion that he therefore thought the more. And when
Speaker 1: the house dog snuffed at him with his nose, he
Speaker 1: confessed the leap frog was of good family. The old counselor,
Speaker 1: who had had three orders given him to make him
Speaker 1: hold his tongue, asserted that the leap frog was a prophet,
Speaker 1: for that one could see on his back if there
Speaker 1: would be a severe or mild winter, And that was
Speaker 1: what one could not see even on the back of
Speaker 1: the man who writes the almanac. I say nothing, it
Speaker 1: is true, exclaimed the king. But I have my own opinion. Notwithstanding,
Speaker 1: now the trial was to take place. The flea jumped
Speaker 1: so high that nobody could see where he went to,
Speaker 1: so they all asserted he had not jumped at all,
Speaker 1: and that was dishonorable. The grasshopper jumped only half as high,
Speaker 1: but he leaped into the king's face, who said that
Speaker 1: was ill mannered. The leap frog stood still for a
Speaker 1: long time, lost in thought. It was believed at last
Speaker 1: he would not jump at all. I only hope he
Speaker 1: is not unwell, said the house dog. When pop he
Speaker 1: made a jump, all on one side, into the lap
Speaker 1: of the princess, who was sitting on a little golden
Speaker 1: stool close by. Hereupon, the king said, there is nothing
Speaker 1: above my daughter. Therefore to bound up to her is
Speaker 1: the highest jump that can be made. But for this
Speaker 1: one must possess understanding. And the leap frog has shown
Speaker 1: that he has understanding. He is brave and intellectual, and
Speaker 1: so he won the princess. It's all the same to me,
Speaker 1: said the fleet. She may have the old leap frog
Speaker 1: for all I care. I jumped the highest. But in
Speaker 1: this world merit seldom meets its reward. A fine exterior
Speaker 1: is what people look at nowadays. The flea then went
Speaker 1: into foreign service, where it is said he was killed.
Speaker 1: The grasshopper sat without on a green bank and reflected
Speaker 1: on worldly things, and he said, to yes, a fine
Speaker 1: exterior is everything. A fine exterior is what people care about.
Speaker 1: And then he began chirping his peculiar, melancholy song from
Speaker 1: which we have taken this history, and which may very
Speaker 1: possibly be all untrue, although it does stand here printed
Speaker 1: in black and white, and of the leap frog the elderbush.
Speaker 20: Once upon a time there was a little boy who
Speaker 20: had taken cold. He had gone out and got his
Speaker 20: feet wet, though nobody could imagine how it had happened,
Speaker 20: for it was quite dry weather. So his mother undressed him,
Speaker 20: put him to bed, and had the tea pot brought
Speaker 20: in to make him a good cup of elder flower tea.
Speaker 20: Just at that moment, the merry old man came in,
Speaker 20: who lived up a top of the house, all alone,
Speaker 20: for he had neither wife nor children, but he liked
Speaker 20: children very much, and knew so many fairy tales that
Speaker 20: it was quite delightful. Now, drink your tea, said the
Speaker 20: boy's mother. Then perhaps you may hear a fairy tale
Speaker 20: if I had but something new to tell, said the
Speaker 20: old man. But how did the child get his feet wet?
Speaker 20: That is the very thing that nobody can make out,
Speaker 20: said his mother. Am I to hear a fairy tale?
Speaker 20: Asked the little boy. Yes, if you can tell me exactly,
Speaker 20: for I must know that first, how deep the gutter
Speaker 20: is in the little street opposite that you must pass
Speaker 20: through and going to school? Just up to the middle
Speaker 20: of my boots, said the child. But then I must
Speaker 20: go into the deep hole. Aha, that's where the wet
Speaker 20: feet came from, said the old man. I ought now
Speaker 20: to tell you a story, but I don't know any more.
Speaker 20: You can make one a moment, said the little boy.
Speaker 20: My mother says that all you look at can be
Speaker 20: turned into a fairy tale, and that you can find
Speaker 20: a story in everything. Yes, but such tales and stories
Speaker 20: are good for nothing. The right sort come of themselves.
Speaker 20: They tap at my forehead and say, here we are.
Speaker 20: Won't there be a tap soon? Asked the little boy,
Speaker 20: and his mother laughed, put some elder flowers in the
Speaker 20: teapot and poured boiling water on them. Do tell me something,
Speaker 20: pray do, yes, if a fairy tale would come of
Speaker 20: its own accord. But they are proud and haughty, and
Speaker 20: come only when they choose stop, he said, all on
Speaker 20: a sudden, I have it. Pay attention, there is one
Speaker 20: in the teapot, And the little boy looked at the teapot.
Speaker 20: The cover rose more and more, and the elder flowers
Speaker 20: came forth so fresh and white, and shot up long
Speaker 20: branches out of the spout. Even did they spread themselves
Speaker 20: on all sides, and grew larger and larger.
Speaker 4: It was a.
Speaker 20: Splendid elder bush, a whole tree, and it reached into
Speaker 20: the very bed and pushed the curtain aside. How it bloomed,
Speaker 20: and what an odor. In the middle of the bush
Speaker 20: sat a friendly looking old woman in a most strange dress.
Speaker 20: It was quite green, like the leaves of the elder,
Speaker 20: and was trimmed with large white elder flowers, so that
Speaker 20: at first one could not tell whether it is a
Speaker 20: stuff or a natural green in real flowers. What's that
Speaker 20: woman's name, asked the little boy. The Greeks and Romans
Speaker 20: said the old man called her a dryad, but that
Speaker 20: we do not understand. The people who live in the
Speaker 20: New Booths have a much better name for her. They
Speaker 20: call her old Granny, and she it is to whom
Speaker 20: you are to pay attention. Now listen and look at
Speaker 20: the beautiful elder bush. Just such, another large blooming elder
Speaker 20: tree stands near the New Booths. It grew there in
Speaker 20: the corner of a little miserable courtyard and under it
Speaker 20: sat of an afternoon in the most splendid sunshine. Two
Speaker 20: old people, an old old seaman and his old old wife.
Speaker 20: They had great grandchildren and were soon to celebrate the
Speaker 20: fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, but they could not exactly
Speaker 20: recollect the date. And old granny sat in the tree
Speaker 20: and looked as pleased as now I know the date,
Speaker 20: said she, But those below her did not hear her,
Speaker 20: for they were talking about old times. Yes, can't you
Speaker 20: remember when we were very little, said the old seaman,
Speaker 20: and ran and played about. It was the very same
Speaker 20: courtyard where we now are, and we stuck slips in
Speaker 20: the ground and made a garden. I remember it well,
Speaker 20: said the old woman. I remember it quite well. We
Speaker 20: watered the slips, and one of them was an elderbush.
Speaker 20: It took root, put forth green shoots, and grew up
Speaker 20: to be the large tree under which we old folks
Speaker 20: are now sitting. To be sure, said he. And there
Speaker 20: in the corner stood a water pail where I used
Speaker 20: to swim my boats. True, but first we went to
Speaker 20: school to learn somewhat, said she. And then we were confirmed.
Speaker 20: We both cried. But in the afternoon we went up
Speaker 20: the round tower and looked down on Copenhagen and far
Speaker 20: far away over the water. Then we went to Friedericksburg,
Speaker 20: where the King and the Queen were sailing about in
Speaker 20: their splendid barges. But I had a different sort of
Speaker 20: sailing to that later, and that too for many a year,
Speaker 20: a long way off on great voyages. Yes, many a
Speaker 20: time I have wept for your sake, said she. I
Speaker 20: thought you were dead and gone and lying in the
Speaker 20: deep waters. Many a night have I got up to
Speaker 20: see if the wind had not changed, And changed it had,
Speaker 20: sure enough, But you never came. I remember so well.
Speaker 20: One day when the rain was pouring down in Torrents.
Speaker 20: The scavengers were before the house where I was in service,
Speaker 20: and I had come up with the dust and remained
Speaker 20: standing at the door. It was dreadful weather, when just
Speaker 20: as I was there, the postman came and gave me
Speaker 20: a letter.
Speaker 4: It was from you.
Speaker 20: What a tour that letter had made. I opened it
Speaker 20: instantly and read.
Speaker 11: I laughed and wept. I was so happy in it.
Speaker 20: I read that you were in a warm lands where
Speaker 20: the coffee tree grows. What a blessed land that must be.
Speaker 20: You related so much, and I saw it all the
Speaker 20: while the rain was pouring down, and I standing there
Speaker 20: with a dust box. At the same moment came someone
Speaker 20: who embraced me. Yes, but you gave him a good
Speaker 20: box on his ear that made it tingle. But I
Speaker 20: did not know it was you. You arrived as soon
Speaker 20: as your letter, and you were so handsome that you
Speaker 20: still are, and had a long yellow silk handkerchief round
Speaker 20: your neck and a brand new hat on. Oh, you
Speaker 20: were so dashing. Good heavens, what weather it was, and
Speaker 20: what a state the street was in. And then we married,
Speaker 20: said he, don't you remember? And then we had our
Speaker 20: first little boy, and then Mary and Nicholas and Peter
Speaker 20: and Christian. Yes, and how they grew all grew up
Speaker 20: to be honest people and were beloved by everybody. And
Speaker 20: their children also have children, said the old sailor. Yes,
Speaker 20: those are our grandchildren, full of strength and vigor. It
Speaker 20: was methinks about this season that we had our wedding. Yes,
Speaker 20: this very day is the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage,
Speaker 20: said old Granny, sticking her head between the two old
Speaker 20: people who thought it was their neighbor who nodded to them.
Speaker 20: They looked at each other and held one another by
Speaker 20: the hand. Soon after came their children and their grandchildren,
Speaker 20: for they knew well enough that it was the day
Speaker 20: of the fiftieth anniversary, and had come with their gratulations
Speaker 20: that very morning. But the old people had forgotten it,
Speaker 20: although they were able to remember all that had happened
Speaker 20: many years ago. And the elderbush sent forth a strong
Speaker 20: odor in the sun that it was just about to set,
Speaker 20: and shone right in the old people's faces. They both
Speaker 20: looked so rosy cheeked, and the youngest of the grandchildren
Speaker 20: danced around them and called out, quite delighted that there
Speaker 20: was to be something very splendid that evening, that they
Speaker 20: were all to have hot potatoes. And Old Nanny nodded
Speaker 20: in the bush and shouted hurrah with the rest. But
Speaker 20: that is no fairy tale, said the little boy who
Speaker 20: was listening to the story. The thing is, you must
Speaker 20: understand it, said the Let us ask old Nanny. That
Speaker 20: was no fairy tale, tis true, said old Nanny, But
Speaker 20: now it's coming. The most wonderful fairy tales grow out
Speaker 20: of that which is reality. Were that not the case,
Speaker 20: you know, my magnificent elderbush could not have grown out
Speaker 20: of the teapot, and then she took the little boy
Speaker 20: out of bed, laid herm on her bosom, and the
Speaker 20: branches of the elder tree full of flowers closed around her.
Speaker 20: They sat in an aerial dwelling, and it flew with
Speaker 20: them through the air. Oh, it was wondrous, beautiful. Old
Speaker 20: Nanny had grown all of a sudden a young and
Speaker 20: pretty maiden. But her robe was still the same green
Speaker 20: stuff with white flowers which she had worn before. On
Speaker 20: her bosom she had a real elderflower, and in her
Speaker 20: yellow waving hair a wreath of the flowers. Her eyes
Speaker 20: were so large and blue that it was a pleasure
Speaker 20: to look at them. She kissed the boy, and now
Speaker 20: they were of the same age and felt alike. Hand
Speaker 20: in hand, they went out of the bower, and they
Speaker 20: were standing in the beautiful garden of their home, near
Speaker 20: the green lawn. Papa's walking stick was tied, and for
Speaker 20: the little ones it seemed to be endowed with life,
Speaker 20: for as soon as they got astride it, the round
Speaker 20: polished knob was turned into a magnificent neighing head, A
Speaker 20: long black mane fluttered in the breeze, and four slender
Speaker 20: yet strong legs shot out. The animal was strong and handsome,
Speaker 20: and away they went at full gallop round the lawn.
Speaker 21: Huzza, Now we.
Speaker 20: Are riding miles off, said the boy. We are riding
Speaker 20: away to the castle where we were last year. And
Speaker 20: on they rode round the grass plot, and the little maiden,
Speaker 20: who we know was no one else but old Nanny,
Speaker 20: kept on crying out. Now we are in the country.
Speaker 20: Don't you see the farm house yonder? And there is
Speaker 20: the elder tree standing beside it, and the cock is
Speaker 20: scraping away the earth for the hens. Look how he struts.
Speaker 20: And now we are close to the church. It lies
Speaker 20: high upon the hill, between the large oak trees, one
Speaker 20: of which is half decayed. And now we are by
Speaker 20: the smithy, where the fire is blazing, and where the
Speaker 20: half naked men are banging with their hammers till the
Speaker 20: sparks fly about away away to the beautiful country seat.
Speaker 20: And all that the little maiden, who sat behind on
Speaker 20: the stick spoke of, flew by. In reality, the boy
Speaker 20: saw it all, and yet they were only going round
Speaker 20: the grass plot. Then they played in a side avenue
Speaker 20: and marked out a little garden on the earth, and
Speaker 20: they took elder blossoms from their hair planted them, and
Speaker 20: they grew just like those the old people planted when
Speaker 20: they were children, as related before. They went hand in hand,
Speaker 20: as the old people had done when they were children,
Speaker 20: but not to the round Tower or to Friedericksburg.
Speaker 11: No.
Speaker 20: The little damsel wound her arms around the boy, and
Speaker 20: then they flew far away through all Denmark, and spring came,
Speaker 20: and summer, and then it was autumn, and then winter,
Speaker 20: and a thousand pictures were reflected in the eye and
Speaker 20: in the heart of the boy, and the little girl
Speaker 20: always sang to him, this you will never forget. And
Speaker 20: during their whole flight the old tree smelt so sweet
Speaker 20: and odorous. Here marked the roses and fresh beeches, But
Speaker 20: the elder tree had a more wondrous fragrance, for its
Speaker 20: flowers hung on the breast of the little maiden, and
Speaker 20: there too did he often lay his head during the flight.
Speaker 20: It is lovely here in spring, said the maiden. And
Speaker 20: they stood in a beech wood that had just put
Speaker 20: on its first green, where the woodroof at their feet
Speaker 20: sent forth its fragrance, and the pale red anemone looked
Speaker 20: so pretty among the verdier oh would that it were
Speaker 20: always spring in the sweetly smelling Danish beech forests. It
Speaker 20: is lovely here in summer, said she, And she flew
Speaker 20: past old castles of by gone days of chivalry, where
Speaker 20: the red walls and the embattled gables were mirrored in
Speaker 20: the canal, where the swans were swimming, and peered up
Speaker 20: into the old cool avenues. In the fields, the corn
Speaker 20: was waving like the sea, and the ditches redd and
Speaker 20: yellow flowers were growing wild drone flowers, and the blooming
Speaker 20: convolvuses were creeping in the hedges. Towards evening, the moon
Speaker 20: rose round and large, and the haycocks in the meadows
Speaker 20: smelt so sweetly. This one never forgets. It is lovely
Speaker 20: here in autumn, said the little maiden. And suddenly the
Speaker 20: atmosphere grew as blue again as before. The forest grew
Speaker 20: red and green and yellow colored. The dogs came leaping along,
Speaker 20: and whole flocks of wild flower flew over the cairn,
Speaker 20: where BlackBerry bushes were hanging round the old stones. The
Speaker 20: sea was dark blue, covered with ships full of white sails.
Speaker 20: And in the barn, old women, maidens and children were
Speaker 20: sitting picking hops into a large cask. The young sang songs,
Speaker 20: but the old told fairy tales of mountain sprites and soothsayers.
Speaker 20: Nothing could be more charming. It is delightful here in winter,
Speaker 20: said the little maiden, And all the trees were covered
Speaker 20: with hoar frost. They looked like white corals. The snow
Speaker 20: crackled under foot as if one had new boots on,
Speaker 20: and one falling star after the other was seen in
Speaker 20: the sky. The Christmas tree was lighted in the room,
Speaker 20: presents were there, and good humor reigned in the country.
Speaker 20: The violin sounded in the room of the peasant, the
Speaker 20: newly baked cakes were attacked. Even the poorest child said,
Speaker 20: it is really delightful here in winter. Yes, it was delightful.
Speaker 20: And the little Maiden showed the boy everything, And the
Speaker 20: elder tree still was fragrant, and the red flag and
Speaker 20: the white cross was still waving, the flag under which
Speaker 20: the old seaman in the New Booths had sailed. And
Speaker 20: the boy grew up to be a lad and was
Speaker 20: to go forth in the wide world, far far away,
Speaker 20: to warm lands where the coffee tree grows. But at
Speaker 20: his departure, the little Maiden took an elder blossom from
Speaker 20: her bosom and gave it to him to keep, and
Speaker 20: it was placed between the leaves of his prayer book,
Speaker 20: And when in foreign lands he opened the book, it
Speaker 20: was always at the place where the keepsake flower lay.
Speaker 20: And the more he looked at it, the fresher it became.
Speaker 20: He felt as if it were the fragrance of the
Speaker 20: Danish groves. And from among the leaves of the flowers,
Speaker 20: he could distinctly see the little maiden peeping forth with
Speaker 20: her bright blue eyes. And then she whispered, it is
Speaker 20: delightful here in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and a
Speaker 20: hundred visions glided before his mind. Thus passed many years,
Speaker 20: and he was now an old man and sat with
Speaker 20: his old wife under the blooming tree. They held each
Speaker 20: other by the hand, as the old grandfather and grandmother
Speaker 20: Yonder and the new Booths did, and they talked exactly
Speaker 20: like them, of old times and of the fiftieth anniversary
Speaker 20: of their wedding. The little maiden, with the blue eyes
Speaker 20: and her elder blossoms in her hair, sat in the tree,
Speaker 20: nodded to both of them and said, today is the
Speaker 20: fiftieth anniversary. And then she took two flowers out of
Speaker 20: her hair and kissed them. First they shone like silver,
Speaker 20: then like gold, And when they were laid them on
Speaker 20: the heads of the old people, each flower became a
Speaker 20: gold crown. So there they both sat like a king
Speaker 20: and a queen, under the fragrant tree that looked exactly
Speaker 20: like an elder. The old man told his wife the
Speaker 20: story of Old Nanny as it had been told to
Speaker 20: him when a boy, and it seemed to both of
Speaker 20: them it contained much that resembled their own history, and
Speaker 20: those parts that were like it pleased them best. Thus
Speaker 20: it is said the little maiden in the tree. Some
Speaker 20: call me Old Nanny, others a dryad. But in reality
Speaker 20: my name is Remembrance. Tis I who sit in the
Speaker 20: tree that grows and grows. I can remember, I can
Speaker 20: tell things. Let me see if you have my flower still,
Speaker 20: And the old man opened his prayer book. There lay
Speaker 20: the elder blossom, as fresh as if it had been
Speaker 20: placed there but a short time before. And Remembrance nodded,
Speaker 20: and the old people, decked with crowns of gold, sat
Speaker 20: in the flush of the evening sun. They closed their eyes,
Speaker 20: and and yes, that's the end of the story. The
Speaker 20: little boy lay in his bed. He did not know
Speaker 20: if he had dreamed or not, or if he had
Speaker 20: been listening while someone told him the story. The teapot
Speaker 20: was standing on the table, but no elder tree was
Speaker 20: growing out of it, and the old man who had
Speaker 20: been talking was just on the point of going out
Speaker 20: of the door, and he did go. How splendid that was,
Speaker 20: said the little boy mother. I have been to warm countries,
Speaker 20: so I should think, said his mother. When one has
Speaker 20: drunk two good cupfuls of elder flower tea, tis likely
Speaker 20: enough one goes into warm climates. And she tucked him
Speaker 20: up nicely. Least he should take cold. You have had
Speaker 20: a good sleep while I have been sitting here and
Speaker 20: arguing with him whether it was a story or a
Speaker 20: fairy tale. And where is old nanny? Asked the little
Speaker 20: boy in the teapot, said his mother. And there she
Speaker 20: may remain. End of the elder bush.
Speaker 14: The bell.
Speaker 9: People said, the evening bell is sounding, the sun is setting.
Speaker 9: For a strange, wondrous tone was heard in the narrow
Speaker 9: streets of a large town. It was like the sound
Speaker 9: of a church bell, but it was only heard for
Speaker 9: a moment, for the rolling of the carriages and the
Speaker 9: voices of the multitude made too great a noise. Those
Speaker 9: persons who were walking outside the town, where the houses
Speaker 9: were farther apart, with gardens or little fields between them,
Speaker 9: could see the evening sky still better and heard the
Speaker 9: sound of the bell much more distinctly. It was as
Speaker 9: if the tones came from a church in the still forest.
Speaker 9: People looked thitherward and felt their minds attuned most solemnly.
Speaker 9: A long time passed, and people said to each other,
Speaker 9: I wonder if there is a church out in the wood.
Speaker 9: The bell has a tone that is wondrous.
Speaker 11: Sweet.
Speaker 9: Let us stroll thither and examine the matter nearer. And
Speaker 9: the rich people drove out, and the poor walked, But
Speaker 9: the way seemed strangely long to them. And when they
Speaker 9: came to a clump of willows which grew on the
Speaker 9: skirts of the forest, they sat down and looked up
Speaker 9: at the long branches, and fancied they were now in
Speaker 9: the depth of the green wood. The confectioner of the
Speaker 9: town came out and set up his booth there, and
Speaker 9: soon after came another confectioner, who hung a bell over
Speaker 9: his stand as a sign or ornament, but it had
Speaker 9: no clapper and it was tarred over to preserve it
Speaker 9: from the rain. When all the people returned home, they
Speaker 9: said it had been a very romantic and that it
Speaker 9: was quite a different sort of thing to a picnic
Speaker 9: or tea party. There were three persons who asserted they
Speaker 9: had penetrated to the end of the forest, and that
Speaker 9: they had always heard the wondrous sounds of the bell,
Speaker 9: but it seemed to them as if it had come
Speaker 9: from the town. One wrote a poem about it, and
Speaker 9: said the bell sounded like the voice of a mother
Speaker 9: to a good dear child, and that no melody was
Speaker 9: sweeter than the tones of the bell. The king of
Speaker 9: the country was also observant of it, and vowed that
Speaker 9: he who could discover whence the sounds proceeded, should have
Speaker 9: the title of universal bell ringer, even if it were
Speaker 9: not really a bell. Many persons now went to the
Speaker 9: wood for the sake of getting the place, but only
Speaker 9: one returned with a sort of explanation, for nobody went
Speaker 9: far enough that one not further than the others. However,
Speaker 9: he said that the sound proceeded from a very large
Speaker 9: owl in a hollow tree, a sort of learned owl
Speaker 9: that continually knocked its head against the branches. But whether
Speaker 9: the sound came from his head or from the hollow tree,
Speaker 9: that no one could say with certainty. So now he
Speaker 9: got the place of universal bell ringer, and wrote yearly
Speaker 9: a short treatise on the owl. But everybody was just
Speaker 9: as wise as before. It was the day of confirmation.
Speaker 9: The clergy man had spoken so touchingly that children who
Speaker 9: were confirmed had been greatly moved. It was an eventful
Speaker 9: day for them. From children, they became all at once
Speaker 9: grown up persons. It was as if their infant souls
Speaker 9: were now to fly all at once into persons with
Speaker 9: more understanding. The sun was shining gloriously. The children that
Speaker 9: had been confirmed went out of the town, and from
Speaker 9: the wood was borne towards them the sounds of the
Speaker 9: unknown bell with wonderful distinctness. They all immediately felt a
Speaker 9: wish to go thither, all except three. One of them
Speaker 9: had to go home to try on a ball dress,
Speaker 9: for it was just the dress and the ball which
Speaker 9: had caused her to be confirmed this time, for otherwise
Speaker 9: she would not have come. The other was a poor
Speaker 9: boy who had borrowed his coat and boots to be
Speaker 9: confirmed in from the innkeeper's son, and he was to
Speaker 9: give them back by a certain hour. The third said
Speaker 9: that he never went to strange places if his parents
Speaker 9: were not with him, that he had always been a
Speaker 9: good boy hitherto, and would still be so now that
Speaker 9: he was confirmed, and that one ought not to laugh
Speaker 9: at him for it. The others, however, did make fun
Speaker 9: of him. After all, there were three therefore, that did
Speaker 9: not go. The others hastened on the sun shone. The
Speaker 9: birds sang, and the children sang two, and each held
Speaker 9: the other by the hand, for as yet they had
Speaker 9: none of them any high office, and were all of
Speaker 9: equal rank in the eye of God. But two of
Speaker 9: the youngest soon grew tired, and both returned to town.
Speaker 9: Two little girls sat down and twined garlands. So they
Speaker 9: did not go either, And when the others reached the
Speaker 9: willow tree where the confectioner was, they said, now we
Speaker 9: are there. In reality, the bell does not exist. It
Speaker 9: is only a fancy that people have taken into their heads.
Speaker 9: At the same moment, the bell sounded deep in the wood,
Speaker 9: so clear and solemnly, that five or six determined to
Speaker 9: penetrate somewhat further. It was so thick, and the foliage
Speaker 9: so dense that it was quite fatiguing to proceed. Woodruff
Speaker 9: and anemonies grew almost too high. Blooming convovoluses and BlackBerry
Speaker 9: bushes hung in long garlands from tree to tree, where
Speaker 9: the nightingale sang and the sunbeams were playing. It was
Speaker 9: very beautiful, but it was no place for girls to go.
Speaker 9: Their clothes would get so torn. Large blocks of stone
Speaker 9: lay there, overgrown with moss of every color. The fresh
Speaker 9: spring bubbled forth and made a strange gurgling sound that
Speaker 9: surely cannot be the bell, said one of the children,
Speaker 9: lying down and listening. This must be looked to, so
Speaker 9: he remained and let the others go on without him.
Speaker 9: They afterwards came to a little house made of branches
Speaker 9: and the bark of trees. A large wild apple tree
Speaker 9: bent over it, as if it would shower down all
Speaker 9: its blessings. On the roof, where roses were blooming, the
Speaker 9: long stems twined round the gable, on which there hung
Speaker 9: a small bell. Was it that which people had heard? Yes,
Speaker 9: everybody was unanimous on the subject, except one who said
Speaker 9: that the bell was too small and too fine to
Speaker 9: be heard at so great a distance. And besides, it
Speaker 9: was very different tones to those that could move a
Speaker 9: human heart in such a manner. It was a king's
Speaker 9: son who spoke whereon the others said, such people always
Speaker 9: want to be wiser than everybody else. They now let
Speaker 9: him go on alone, And as he went his breast
Speaker 9: was filled more and more with the forest solitude. But
Speaker 9: he still he heard the little bell with which the
Speaker 9: others were so satisfied. And now and then, when the
Speaker 9: wind blew, he could also hear the people singing who
Speaker 9: were sitting at tea where the confectioner had his tent.
Speaker 9: But the deep sound of the bell rose louder. It
Speaker 9: was almost as if an organ were accompanying it, and
Speaker 9: the tones came from the left hand, the side where
Speaker 9: the heart is placed. A rustling was heard in the bushes,
Speaker 9: and a little boy stood before the king's son, a
Speaker 9: boy in wooden shoes and with so short a jacket
Speaker 9: that one could see what long wrists he had. Both
Speaker 9: knew each other. The boy was that one among the
Speaker 9: children who could not come, because he had to go
Speaker 9: home and return his jacket and boots to the innkeeper's son.
Speaker 9: This he had done, and was now going on in
Speaker 9: wooden shoes and in his humble dress. For the bell
Speaker 9: sounded with so deep a tone and with such strange
Speaker 9: power that proceed he must Why then, can we go together,
Speaker 9: said the king's son. But the poor child that had
Speaker 9: been confirmed, was quite ashamed. He looked at his wooden shoes,
Speaker 9: pulled at the short sleeves of his jacket, and said
Speaker 9: that he was afraid he could not walk so fast. Besides,
Speaker 9: he thought that the bell must be looked for to
Speaker 9: the right, for that was the place where all sorts
Speaker 9: of beautiful things were to be found. But there we
Speaker 9: shall not meet, said the king's son, nodding at the
Speaker 9: same time to the poor boy, who went into the darkest,
Speaker 9: thickest part of the wood, where thorns tore his humble
Speaker 9: dress and scratched his face and hands and feet till
Speaker 9: they bled. The king's son got some scratches too, But
Speaker 9: the sun shone on his path, and it was him
Speaker 9: that we will follow, for he was an excellent and
Speaker 9: resolute youth. I must and will find the bell, he said,
Speaker 9: even if I am obliged to go to the end
Speaker 9: of the world. The ugly apes sat upon the trees
Speaker 9: and grinned. Shall we thrash him, they said, shall we
Speaker 9: thrash him? He is the son of a king. But
Speaker 9: on he went, without being disheartened, deeper and deeper into
Speaker 9: the wood where the most wonderful flowers were growing. There
Speaker 9: stood white lilies with blood red stamina, sky blue tulips,
Speaker 9: which shone as they waved in the winds, and apple trees,
Speaker 9: the apples of which looked exactly like large soap bubbles.
Speaker 9: So only think how the trees must have sparkled in
Speaker 9: that sunshine. Around the nicest green meads, where the deer
Speaker 9: were playing in the grass grew magnificent oaks and beeches,
Speaker 9: And if the bark of one of the trees was cracked,
Speaker 9: there grass and long creeping plants grew in the crevices.
Speaker 9: And there were large calm lakes there too, in which
Speaker 9: white swans were swimming and beat the air with their wings.
Speaker 9: The king's son often stood still and listened. He thought
Speaker 9: the bell sounded from the depths of these still lakes.
Speaker 9: But then he remarked again that the tone proceeded not
Speaker 9: from there, but farther off, from out the depths of
Speaker 9: the forest. The sun now set, the atmosphere glowed like fire.
Speaker 9: It was still in the woods, so very still, And
Speaker 9: he fell on his knees, sung his evening hymn, and said,
Speaker 9: I cannot find what I seek.
Speaker 14: The sun is going.
Speaker 9: Down, and night is coming, the dark, dark night. Yet
Speaker 9: perhaps I may be able once more to see the
Speaker 9: round red Sun before he entirely disappears. I will climb
Speaker 9: up yonder rock. And he seized hold of the creeping
Speaker 9: plants and the roots of trees, climbed up the moist stones,
Speaker 9: where the water snakes were writhing and the toads were croaking,
Speaker 9: And he gained the summit before the sun had gone
Speaker 9: quite down. How magnificent was the sight From this height.
Speaker 14: The sea, the.
Speaker 9: Great, the glorious sea, that dashed its long waves against
Speaker 9: the coast, was stretched out before him, and yonder where
Speaker 9: sea and sky meet, stood the Sun like a large
Speaker 9: shining altar, all melted together in the most glowing colors.
Speaker 9: And the wood and the sea sang a song of rejoicing,
Speaker 9: and his heart sang with all the rest. All nature
Speaker 9: was a vast holy church, in which the trees and
Speaker 9: the buoyant clouds were the pillars, flowers and grass, the
Speaker 9: velvet carpeting, and heaven itself the large cupola. The red
Speaker 9: colors above faded away as the sun vanished, but a
Speaker 9: million stars were lighted, a million lamps shone, and the
Speaker 9: King's son spread out his arms towards heaven and wood
Speaker 9: and sea, when at the same moment, coming by a
Speaker 9: path to the right, appeared in his wooden shoes and jacket,
Speaker 9: the poor boy, who had been confirmed with him. He
Speaker 9: had followed his own path and had reached the spot
Speaker 9: just as soon as the sun of the king had done.
Speaker 9: They ran towards each other and stood together hand in
Speaker 9: hand in the vast church of nature and of poetry.
Speaker 9: While over them sounded the invisible holy bell. Blessed spirits
Speaker 9: floated around them and lifted up their voices in a
Speaker 9: rejoicing Hallelujah.
Speaker 4: End of the bell.
Speaker 14: The old house.
Speaker 21: In the street up there was an old, fairy old house.
Speaker 21: It was almost three hundred years old, for that might
Speaker 21: be known by reading the great beam on which the
Speaker 21: date of the year was carved, together with tulips and
Speaker 21: hot vines. There were whole verses spelled as in former times,
Speaker 21: and over every window was a distorted face cut out
Speaker 21: in the beam. The one story stood forward a great
Speaker 21: way over the other, and directly under the eaves with
Speaker 21: a leaden spout with a dragon's head. The rain water
Speaker 21: should have run out of the mouse, but it ran
Speaker 21: out of the belly, for there was a hole in
Speaker 21: the spout. All the other houses in the street were
Speaker 21: so new and so neat, with large window panes and
Speaker 21: smooth walls, one could easily see that they would have
Speaker 21: nothing to do with the old house. They certainly thought,
Speaker 21: how long is that old, decayed thing to stand here
Speaker 21: as a spectacle in the street. And then the projecting
Speaker 21: windows stand so far out that no one can see
Speaker 21: from our windows what happens in that direction. The steps
Speaker 21: are as broad as those of a palace, and as
Speaker 21: high as to a church tower. The iron railings looked
Speaker 21: just like the door to an old family vault. And
Speaker 21: then they have brass tops. That's so stupid. On the
Speaker 21: other side of the street were also new and neat houses,
Speaker 21: and they thought just as the others did. But at
Speaker 21: the window opposite the old house there sat a little
Speaker 21: boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes. He
Speaker 21: certainly liked the old house best, and that both in
Speaker 21: sunshine and moonshine, and when he looked across at the
Speaker 21: wall where the mortar had fallen out. He could sit
Speaker 21: and find out there the strangest figures imaginable, exactly as
Speaker 21: the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows and
Speaker 21: pointed gables. He could see soldiers with halbirds and spouts
Speaker 21: where the water ran like dragons and serpents. That was
Speaker 21: a house to look at. And there lived an old
Speaker 21: man who wore plush breeches and had a coat with
Speaker 21: large brass buttons, and a wig that one could see
Speaker 21: was a real wig. Every morning there came an old
Speaker 21: fellow to him, who put his rooms in order and
Speaker 21: went on Errand's. Otherwise, the old man in the plush
Speaker 21: breeches was quite alone in the old house now. And
Speaker 21: then he came to the window and looked out, and
Speaker 21: the little boy nodded to him, and the old man
Speaker 21: nodded again, and so they became acquaintances, and then they
Speaker 21: were friends, although they had never spoken to each other,
Speaker 21: but that made no difference. The little boy heard his
Speaker 21: parents say, the old man opposite is very well off,
Speaker 21: but he is so very very lonely. The Sunday following,
Speaker 21: the little boy took something and wrapped it up in
Speaker 21: a piece of paper, went downstairs and stood in the doorway,
Speaker 21: And when the man who went on errands came past,
Speaker 21: he said to him, I say, master, will you give
Speaker 21: this to the old man over the way from me?
Speaker 21: I have two pewter soldiers. This is one of them,
Speaker 21: and he shall have it, for I know he is
Speaker 21: so very very lonely. And the old errand man looked
Speaker 21: quite pleased, nodded, and took the pewter soldier over to
Speaker 21: the old house. Afterwards there came a message. It was
Speaker 21: to ask if the little boy himself had not a
Speaker 21: wish to come over and pay a visit. And so
Speaker 21: he got permission of his parents, and then went over
Speaker 21: to the old house. And the brass balls on the
Speaker 21: iron railings shone much brighter than ever one would have thought.
Speaker 21: They were polished on account of the visit. And it
Speaker 21: was as if the carved out trumpeters, for there were
Speaker 21: trumpeters who stood in tulips carved out on the door,
Speaker 21: blew with all their might. Their cheeks appeared so much
Speaker 21: rounder than before. Yes, they blew trettera traw. The little
Speaker 21: boy comes, tritera traw. And then the door opened. The
Speaker 21: whole passage was hung with portraits of knights in armor
Speaker 21: and ladies in silken gowns, and the armor rattled and
Speaker 21: the silken gowns rustled. And then there was a flight
Speaker 21: of stairs which went a good way upwards and a
Speaker 21: little way downwards. And then one came on a balcony
Speaker 21: which was in a very dilapidated state, sure enough, with
Speaker 21: large holes and long crevices. But grass grew there, and
Speaker 21: leaves out of them altogether. For the whole balcony outside
Speaker 21: the yard, and the walls were overgrown with so much
Speaker 21: green stuff that it looked like a garden, only a balcony.
Speaker 21: Here stood old saw pots with faces and asses ears,
Speaker 21: and the flowers grew just as they liked. One of
Speaker 21: the pots was quite overrun on all sides with pinks,
Speaker 21: that is to say, with the green parts. Shoot stood
Speaker 21: by shoot, and it said, quite distinctly, the air has
Speaker 21: cherished me, the sun has kissed me, and promised me
Speaker 21: a little flower on Sunday, a little flower on Sunday.
Speaker 21: And then they entered a chamber where the walls were
Speaker 21: covered with hog's leather and printed with gold flowers. The
Speaker 21: gilding decays, but hog's leather stays, said the walls. And
Speaker 21: there stood easy chairs with such high backs and so
Speaker 21: carved out, and with arms on both sides. Sit down,
Speaker 21: Sit down, said they. Oh, how I creak? Now, I
Speaker 21: shall certainly get the gout like the old clothes press.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 21: And then the little boy came into the room where
Speaker 21: the projecting windows were and where the old man sat.
Speaker 21: I thank you for the pewter soldier, my little friend,
Speaker 21: said the old man. And I thank you because you
Speaker 21: come over to me. Thankee thankee or cranky cranky sounded
Speaker 21: from all the furniture. There was so much of it
Speaker 21: that each article stood in the other's way to get
Speaker 21: a look at the little boy. In the middle of
Speaker 21: the wall hung a picture representing a beautiful lady, so young,
Speaker 21: so glad, but dressed quite as in former times, with
Speaker 21: clothes that stood quite stiff, and with powder in her hair.
Speaker 21: She neither said thankee thankee nor cranky cranky, but looked
Speaker 21: with her mild eyes at the little boy, who directly
Speaker 21: asked the old man, where did you get her? Yonder
Speaker 21: at the broker's, said the old man. Where there are
Speaker 21: so many pictures hanging, no one knows or cares about them,
Speaker 21: for they are all of them buried. But I knew her,
Speaker 21: and bygone days, and now she has been dead and
Speaker 21: gone these fifty years. Under the picture, in a glazed frame,
Speaker 21: there hung a bouquet of withered flowers. They were almost
Speaker 21: fifty years old. They looked so very old. The pendulum
Speaker 21: of the great clock went to and fro, and the
Speaker 21: hands turned, and everything in the room became still older.
Speaker 21: But they did not observe it. They say at home,
Speaker 21: said the little boy, that you are so very very lonely. Oh,
Speaker 21: said he, the old thoughts, with what they may bring
Speaker 21: with them, come and visit me. And now you also come.
Speaker 21: I am very well off. Then he took a book
Speaker 21: with pictures in it. Down from the shelf. There were
Speaker 21: whole long processions and pageants with the strangest characters which
Speaker 21: one never sees nowadays, soldiers like the knave of clubs,
Speaker 21: and citizens with waving flags. The tailors had theirs with
Speaker 21: a pair of shears held by two lions, and the
Speaker 21: shoemakers theirs without boots, but with an eagle that had
Speaker 21: two heads. For the shoemakers must have everything so that
Speaker 21: they can say it is a pair. Yes, that was
Speaker 21: a picture book. The old man now went into the
Speaker 21: other room to fetch preserves, apples and nuts. Yes, it
Speaker 21: was delightful over there in the old house. I cannot
Speaker 21: bear it any longer, said the pewter soldier, who sat
Speaker 21: on the drawers. It is so lonely, a melancholy here.
Speaker 21: But when one has been in a family circle, one
Speaker 21: cannot accustom oneself to this life. I cannot bear it
Speaker 21: any longer. The whole day is so long in the
Speaker 21: evenings are still longer.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 21: It is not at all as it is over the
Speaker 21: way at your home, where your father and mother spoke
Speaker 21: so pleasantly, and where you and all your sweet children
Speaker 21: made such delightful noise. Nay, how lonely the old man is.
Speaker 21: Do you think that he gets kisses? Do you think
Speaker 21: he gets mild eyes? Or a Christmas tree? He will
Speaker 21: get nothing but a grave. I can bear it no longer.
Speaker 21: You must not let it grieve you so much, said
Speaker 21: the little boy. I find it so delightful here. And
Speaker 21: then all the old thoughts, with what they may bring
Speaker 21: with them, they come and visit here. Yes, it is
Speaker 21: all very well, but I see nothing of them, and
Speaker 21: I don't know them, said the pewter soldier. I cannot
Speaker 21: bear it, but you must, said the little boy. Then
Speaker 21: in came the old man with the most pleased and
Speaker 21: happy face, the most delicious preserves apple and nuts, And
Speaker 21: so the little boy thought no more about the pewter soldier.
Speaker 21: The little boy returned home, happy and pleased. And weeks
Speaker 21: and days passed by, and nods were made to the
Speaker 21: old house and from the old house, and then the
Speaker 21: little boy went over there again. The carved trumpeters blew
Speaker 21: tritera traw. There is the little boy trettera traw, And
Speaker 21: the swords and armor on the knight's portraits rattled, and
Speaker 21: the silk gowns rustled, the hog's leather spoke, and the
Speaker 21: old chairs had the gout in their legs and rheumatism
Speaker 21: in their backs. Oh, it was exactly like the first time.
Speaker 21: For over there, one day and hour was just like another.
Speaker 21: I cannot bear it, said the pewter soldier. I have
Speaker 21: shed pewter tears. It is too melancholy. Rather, let me
Speaker 21: go to the wars and lose arms and legs. It
Speaker 21: would at least be a change. I cannot bear it longer.
Speaker 21: Now I know what it is to have a visit
Speaker 21: from one's old thoughts, with what they may bring with them.
Speaker 21: I have had a visit from mine, and you may
Speaker 21: be sure it is no pleasant thing. In the end,
Speaker 21: I was at last about to jump down from the drawers.
Speaker 21: I saw you all over there at home, so distinctly
Speaker 21: as if you really were here. It was again that
Speaker 21: Sunday morning. All you children stood before the table and
Speaker 21: sung your psalms, as you do every morning. You stood
Speaker 21: devoutly with folded hands, and father and mother were just
Speaker 21: as pious. And then the door was opened, and little
Speaker 21: sister Mary, who is not two years old yet, and
Speaker 21: who always dances when she hears music, her singing of
Speaker 21: whatever kind it may be, was put into the room,
Speaker 21: though she ought not to have been there. And then
Speaker 21: she began to dance, but could not keep time because
Speaker 21: the tones were so long. And then she stood first
Speaker 21: on one leg and bent her head forwards, and then
Speaker 21: on the other leg and bent her head forwards. But
Speaker 21: all would not do. You stood very seriously all together,
Speaker 21: although it was difficult enough. But I I laughed to myself,
Speaker 21: and then I fell off the table and got a bump,
Speaker 21: which I still have, for it was not right of
Speaker 21: me to laugh. But the hole now passes before me
Speaker 21: again in thought and everything that I have lived to see.
Speaker 21: And these are the old thoughts, with what they may
Speaker 21: bring with them. Tell me, if you still sing on Sundays,
Speaker 21: tell me something about little Mary, and how my comrade,
Speaker 21: the other pewter soldier lives. Yes, he is happy enough,
Speaker 21: that's sure. I cannot bear it any longer. You are
Speaker 21: given away as a present, said the little boy. You
Speaker 21: must remain. Can you not understand that? The old man
Speaker 21: now came with a drawer in which there was much
Speaker 21: to be seen, both tin boxes and balsam boxes, old cards,
Speaker 21: so large and so gilded, such as one never sees
Speaker 21: them now. And several drawers were opened, and the piano
Speaker 21: was opened. It had unescapes on the inside of the lid,
Speaker 21: and it was so hoarse when the old man played
Speaker 21: on it. And then he hummed the song. Yes she
Speaker 21: could sing, that, said he, and nodded to the portrait
Speaker 21: which he had bought at the broker's. And the old
Speaker 21: man's eyes shone so bright.
Speaker 14: I will go to the wars.
Speaker 21: I will go to the wars, shouted the pewter soldier
Speaker 21: as loud as he could. And threw himself off the drawers,
Speaker 21: right down on the floor. What became of him? The
Speaker 21: old man sought, and the little boy saw it. He
Speaker 21: was away, and he stayed away. I shall find him,
Speaker 21: said the old man, But he never found him. The
Speaker 21: floor was too open. The pewter soldier had fallen through
Speaker 21: a crevice, and there he lay as in an open tomb.
Speaker 21: That day passed, and the little boy went home, And
Speaker 21: that week passed, and several weeks too. The windows were
Speaker 21: quite frozen. The little boy was obliged to sit and
Speaker 21: breathe on them to get a peep hole over to
Speaker 21: the old house, and there the snow had been blown
Speaker 21: into all the carved work and inscriptions. It lay quite
Speaker 21: up over the steps, just as if there was no
Speaker 21: one at home. Nor was there any one at home.
Speaker 21: The old man was dead.
Speaker 14: In the evening.
Speaker 21: There was a hearst scene before the door, and he
Speaker 21: was borne into it in his coffin. He was now
Speaker 21: to go into the country to lie in his grave.
Speaker 21: He was driven out there, but no one followed. All
Speaker 21: his friends were dead, and the little boy kissed his
Speaker 21: hand to the coffin as it was driven away. Some
Speaker 21: days afterwards there was an auction at the old house,
Speaker 21: and the little boy saw from his window how they
Speaker 21: carried the old knights and the old ladies away, the
Speaker 21: flower pots with the long ears, the old chairs, and
Speaker 21: the old clothes presses. Something came here, and something came there.
Speaker 21: The portrait of her who had been found that the
Speaker 21: brokers came to the brokers again, and there it hung,
Speaker 21: for no one knew her more, no one cared about
Speaker 21: the old picture. In the spring they pulled the house down,
Speaker 21: for as people said, it was a ruin. One could
Speaker 21: see from the street right into the room with the
Speaker 21: hog's leather hanging, which was slashed and torn, and the
Speaker 21: green grass and leaves about the balcony hung quite wild
Speaker 21: about the falling beams. And then it was put to rights.
Speaker 21: That was a relief, said the neighboring houses. A fine
Speaker 21: house was built there, with large windows and smooth white walls.
Speaker 21: But before it, where the old house had in fact stood,
Speaker 21: was a little garden laid out, and a wild grapevine
Speaker 21: ran up the wall of the neighboring house. Before the
Speaker 21: garden there was a large iron railing with an iron door.
Speaker 21: It looked quite splendid, and the people stood still and
Speaker 21: peeped in, and the sparrows hung by scores in the
Speaker 21: vine and chattered away at each other as well as
Speaker 21: they could. But it was not about the old house,
Speaker 21: for they could not remember it. So many years had passed,
Speaker 21: so many that the little boy had grown to a
Speaker 21: whole man, yes, a clever man, and a pleasure to
Speaker 21: his parents. And he had just been married, and together
Speaker 21: with his little wife, had come to live in the
Speaker 21: house here where the garden was. And he stood by
Speaker 21: her whilst she planted a field flower that she found
Speaker 21: so pretty. She planted it with her little hand and
Speaker 21: pressed the ears around it with her fingers. Oh what
Speaker 21: was that she had stuck herself? There sat something pointed
Speaker 21: straight out of the soft mold. It was, yes, guess
Speaker 21: it was the pewter soldier. He that was lost up
Speaker 21: at the old man, and had tumbled and turned about
Speaker 21: amongst the timber and the rubbish, and had at last
Speaker 21: laid for many years in the ground. The young wife
Speaker 21: wiped the dirt off the soldier, first with a green leaf,
Speaker 21: and then with her fine handkerchief. It had such a
Speaker 21: delightful smell that it was to the pewter soldier just
Speaker 21: as if he had awakened from a trance. Let me
Speaker 21: see him, said the young man. He laughed, and then
Speaker 21: shook his head. Nay, it cannot be. He but he
Speaker 21: reminds me of a story about a pewter soldier, which
Speaker 21: I had when I was a little boy. And then
Speaker 21: he told his wife about the old house and the
Speaker 21: old man, and about the pewter soldier that he sent
Speaker 21: over to him because he was so very very lonely,
Speaker 21: And he told it as correctly as it had really been,
Speaker 21: so that the tears came into the eyes of his
Speaker 21: young wife on account of the old house and the
Speaker 21: old man. It may possibly be, however, that it is
Speaker 21: the same pewter soldier, said she. I will take care
Speaker 21: of it and remember all that you have told me.
Speaker 21: But you must show me the old man's grave. But
Speaker 21: I do not know it, said he. And no one
Speaker 21: knows it. All its friends were dead, no one took
Speaker 21: care of it. And I was then a little boy.
Speaker 21: How very very lonely he must have been, said she,
Speaker 21: Very very lonely, said the pewter soldier. But it is
Speaker 21: delightful not to be forgotten. Delightful shouted something close by.
Speaker 21: But no one except the pewter soldier saw that it
Speaker 21: was a piece of the hog's leather hangings. It had
Speaker 21: lost all its gilding. It looked like a piece of
Speaker 21: wet clay. But it had an opinion, and it gave
Speaker 21: it The guilding decays. But Hogg's leave.
Speaker 14: This.
Speaker 21: The pewter soldier did not believe.
Speaker 3: The happy family. Really, the largest green leaf in this
Speaker 3: country is a dock leaf. If one held it before one,
Speaker 3: it is like a whole apron. And if one holds
Speaker 3: it over one's head in rainy weather, it is almost
Speaker 3: as good as an umbrella, for it is so immensely large.
Speaker 3: The burdock never grows alone, but where there grows one,
Speaker 3: there always grow several. It is a great delight. And
Speaker 3: all this delightfulness is snail's food. The great white snails,
Speaker 3: which passons of quality in former times, made prickses of
Speaker 3: ate and said, hum, hum, how delicious, For they thought
Speaker 3: it tasted so delicate. Lived on dock leaves, and therefore
Speaker 3: burdocks seeds were sown. Now there was an old manor
Speaker 3: house where they no longer at snails they were quite extinct,
Speaker 3: But the burdocks were not extinct. They grew and grew
Speaker 3: all over the walks and all the beds. They could
Speaker 3: not get the mastery over them. It was a whole
Speaker 3: forest of burdocks here and there stood an apple and
Speaker 3: a plant tree or else. One never would have thought
Speaker 3: that it was a garden. All was burdocks. And there
Speaker 3: lived the two last venerable old snails. They themselves knew
Speaker 3: not how old they were, but they could remember very
Speaker 3: well that there had been many more. That they were
Speaker 3: of a family from foreign lands, and that for them
Speaker 3: and theirs, the whole forest was planted. They had never
Speaker 3: been outside it. But they knew that there was still
Speaker 3: something more in the world, which was called the manor house,
Speaker 3: and that they were boiled, and then they became black,
Speaker 3: and were then placed on a silver dish. But what
Speaker 3: happened further they knew not, or in fact, what it
Speaker 3: was to be boiled and to lie on a silver
Speaker 3: dish they could not possibly imagine. But it was said
Speaker 3: to be delightful and particularly genteel. Neither the chafers, the toads,
Speaker 3: nor the earth worms whom they asked about it, could
Speaker 3: give them any information. None of them had been boiled
Speaker 3: or laid on a silver dish. The old white snails
Speaker 3: were the first persons of distinction in the world that
Speaker 3: they knew. The forest was planted for their sake, and
Speaker 3: the manor house was there that they might be boiled
Speaker 3: and laid on a silver dish. Now they lived a
Speaker 3: very lonely and happy life, And as they had no
Speaker 3: children themselves, they had adopted a little common snail, which
Speaker 3: they brought up as their own. But the little one
Speaker 3: would not grow, for he was of a common family.
Speaker 3: But the old ones, especially Dame Mother Snail, thought they
Speaker 3: could observe how he increased in size, and she begged father,
Speaker 3: if he could not see it, that he would at
Speaker 3: least feel the little snail's shell. And then he felt
Speaker 3: it and found the good Dame was right. One day
Speaker 3: there was a heavy storm of rain. Hear how it
Speaker 3: beats like a drum on the dock leaves, said father snail.
Speaker 3: There are also rain drops, said mother snail. And now
Speaker 3: the rain pours right down the stalk. He will see
Speaker 3: that it will be wet here. I am very happy
Speaker 3: to think that we have our good house, and the
Speaker 3: little one has his also. There is more done for
Speaker 3: us than for all the other creatures, sure enough, But
Speaker 3: can you not see that we are folks of quality
Speaker 3: in the world. We are provided with a house from
Speaker 3: our berth, and the burdock forest is planted for our sakes.
Speaker 3: I should like to know how far it extends, and
Speaker 3: what there is outside. There is nothing at all, said
Speaker 3: father Snail. No place can be better than ours, and
Speaker 3: I have nothing to wish for, yes, said the Dame,
Speaker 3: I would willingly go to the manor house, be boiled
Speaker 3: and laid on a silver dish. All our forefathers have
Speaker 3: been treated, so there is something extraordinary in it. You
Speaker 3: may be sure the manor house has most likely fall
Speaker 3: into ruin, said father Snail. All the burdocks have grown
Speaker 3: up over it so that they cannot come out. There
Speaker 3: need not, however, be any haste about that. But you
Speaker 3: are always in such a tremendous hurry, and the little
Speaker 3: one is beginning to be the same. Has he not
Speaker 3: been creeping up that stalk these three days? It gives
Speaker 3: me a headache when I look up to him. You
Speaker 3: must not scold him, said mother Snail. He creeps so
Speaker 3: carefully he will afford us much pleasure, and we have
Speaker 3: nothing but him to live for. But had he not
Speaker 3: thought of it, where shall we get a wife for him?
Speaker 3: Do you not think that there are some of our
Speaker 3: species in the great distance in the interior of the
Speaker 3: Burdock Forest black snails, I dare say there are enough
Speaker 3: of said the old one, black snails without a house.
Speaker 3: But they are so common and so conceited. But we
Speaker 3: might have the ants the commission to look out for us.
Speaker 3: They run to and fro as if they had something
Speaker 3: to do. And they certainly know of a wife for
Speaker 3: our little snail. I know one, sure enough, the most
Speaker 3: charming one, said one of the ants. But I am
Speaker 3: afraid we shall hardly succeed, for she is a queen.
Speaker 3: That is nothing, said the old folks. Has she a house?
Speaker 3: She has a palace, said the ant, the finest ant's palace,
Speaker 3: with seven hundred passages. I thank you, said mother snail.
Speaker 3: Our son shall not go into an ant hill. If
Speaker 3: you know nothing better than that. We shall give the
Speaker 3: commission to the white gnats. They fly far and wide
Speaker 3: in rain and sunshine. They know the whole forest here,
Speaker 3: both within and without. We have a wife for him,
Speaker 3: said the gnats. At a hundred human paces from here,
Speaker 3: there sits a little snaw in her house on a
Speaker 3: gooseberry bush. She is quite lonely and old enough to
Speaker 3: be married. It is only a hundred human paces. Well,
Speaker 3: then let her come to him, said the old ones.
Speaker 3: He has a whole forest of burdocks, she has only
Speaker 3: a bush. And so they went and fetched little missus Snail.
Speaker 3: It was a whole week before she arrived, but therein
Speaker 3: was just the very best of it, for one could
Speaker 3: thus see that she was of the same species. And
Speaker 3: then the marriage was celebrated. Six earthworms shone as well
Speaker 3: as they could in other respects. The whole went off
Speaker 3: very quietly, for the old folks could not bear noise
Speaker 3: and merriment. But old Dame Snail made a brilliant speech.
Speaker 3: Father Snail could not speak, he was too much affected.
Speaker 3: And so they gave them as a dowry and inheritance
Speaker 3: the whole forest of burdocks, and said what they had
Speaker 3: always said, that it was the best in the world,
Speaker 3: and if they lived honestly and decently, and increased and multiplied,
Speaker 3: they and their children would, once in the course of time,
Speaker 3: come to the manor house, be boiled black and laid
Speaker 3: on silver dishes. After this speech was made, the old
Speaker 3: ones crept into their shells, and never more came out.
Speaker 3: They slept. The young couple governed in the forest and
Speaker 3: had a numerous progeny, but they were never boiled, and
Speaker 3: never came on the silver dishes. So from this they
Speaker 3: concluded that the manor house had fallen to ruins, and
Speaker 3: that all the men in the world were extinct, And
Speaker 3: as no one contradicted them, so of course it was so.
Speaker 3: And the rain beat on the dock leaves to make
Speaker 3: drum music for their sake, and the sun shone in
Speaker 3: order to give the Burdock forest a color for their sakes.
Speaker 3: And they were very happy, and the whole family was happy,
Speaker 3: for they indeed were so end of the happy family.
Speaker 22: The story of a mother. Her mother sat there with
Speaker 22: her little child. She was so downcast, so fraid that
Speaker 22: it should die. It was so pale, the small eyes
Speaker 22: had closed themselves, and it drew its breath so softly
Speaker 22: now and then with a deep respiration, as if it sighed.
Speaker 22: And the mother looked still more sorrowfully on the little creature.
Speaker 22: Then a knocking was heard at the door, and in
Speaker 22: came a poor old man, wrapped up as in a
Speaker 22: large horse cloth, for it warms one and he needed it.
Speaker 22: As it was the cold winter season. Everything out of
Speaker 22: doors was carved with ies in snow, and the wind
Speaker 22: blew so that it cut the face. As the old
Speaker 22: man trembled with cold, and the little child slept a moment,
Speaker 22: the mother went and poured some alley into a pot
Speaker 22: and set it on the stove, that it might be
Speaker 22: warm for him. The old man sat and rocked the cradle,
Speaker 22: and the mother sat down and chair closed by him,
Speaker 22: and looked at her little sick child that drew its
Speaker 22: breath so deep, and raised its little hand. Do you
Speaker 22: not think that I shall save him?
Speaker 4: Said she?
Speaker 22: Our Lord will not take him from me. The old
Speaker 22: man it was death himself. He nodded so strangely it
Speaker 22: could just as well signify yes as no. And the
Speaker 22: mother looked down in her lap, and the tears ran
Speaker 22: down over her cheeks. Her head became so heavy. She
Speaker 22: had not closed her eyes for three days and nights,
Speaker 22: and now she slept, but only for a minute, when
Speaker 22: she started up and trembled with cold.
Speaker 10: What is that?
Speaker 22: Said she, and looked down on all slide. But the
Speaker 22: old man was gone, and her little child was gone.
Speaker 22: He had taken it with him, and the old clock
Speaker 22: in the corner bird and burd the great leaden weight
Speaker 22: ran down to the floor bump, and then the clock
Speaker 22: also stood still. But the poor mother ran out of
Speaker 22: the house and cried aloud for her child. Out there
Speaker 22: in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman
Speaker 22: in long black clothes, and she said, death has been
Speaker 22: in thy chamber. And I saw him hasten away with
Speaker 22: thy little child. He goes faster than the wind, and
Speaker 22: he never brings back what he takes. Oh, only tell
Speaker 22: me which way he went, said the mother. Tell me
Speaker 22: the way, and I shall find him. I know it,
Speaker 22: said the woman in the black clothes. But before I
Speaker 22: tell it, thou, thou must first sing for me all
Speaker 22: the songs thou hast sung for thy child. I am
Speaker 22: fond of them. I have heard them before. I am Knight.
Speaker 22: I saw thy tears whilst thou sangst them. I will
Speaker 22: sing them all all, said the mother. But do not
Speaker 22: stop me now I may overtake him. I may find
Speaker 22: my child. But Knight stood still and mute. Then the
Speaker 22: mother wrung her hands, sang and wept, and theou were
Speaker 22: many songs, but yet many more tears. And then Knight said,
Speaker 22: go to the right, into the dark pine forest. Thither
Speaker 22: I saw Death take his way with thy little child.
Speaker 22: The roads crossed each other in the depths of the forest,
Speaker 22: and she no longer knew whether she should go. Then
Speaker 22: there stood a thorn bush. There was neither leaf nor
Speaker 22: flower on it. It was also in the cool inter season,
Speaker 22: and ice flakes hung on the branches. Hast thou not
Speaker 22: seen Death go past with my little child? Said the mother. Yes,
Speaker 22: said the thorn bush. But I will not tell thee
Speaker 22: which way he took, unless thou wilt first warm me
Speaker 22: up at thy heart. I am freezing to death. I
Speaker 22: shall become a lump of ice. And she passed the
Speaker 22: thorn bush to her breast so firmly that it might
Speaker 22: be thoroughly warmed. And the thorns went right into her flesh,
Speaker 22: and her blood flowed in large drops. But the thorn
Speaker 22: bush shot forth fresh green leaves, and there came flowers
Speaker 22: on it in the cool winter night. The heart of
Speaker 22: the afflicted mother was so warm, and the thorn bush
Speaker 22: told her the way she should go. She then came
Speaker 22: to a large lake, where there was neither ship nor boat.
Speaker 22: The lake was not frozen sufficiently to bear her. Neither
Speaker 22: was it open nor law enough that she could wade
Speaker 22: through it and across it. She must go if she
Speaker 22: would find her child. Then she lay down to drink
Speaker 22: up the lake. And that was an impossibility for a
Speaker 22: human being, But the afflicted mother thought that a miracle
Speaker 22: might happen. Nevertheless, Oh what should I not give to
Speaker 22: come to my child? Said the weeping mother, And she
Speaker 22: wept still more, and her eyes sunk down at the
Speaker 22: depths of the waters, and became two precious parlse But
Speaker 22: the water bore her up as if she sat in
Speaker 22: a swing, and she flung in the rocking waves to
Speaker 22: the shore on the opposite sides, and where there stood
Speaker 22: a mild, broad, strange house. One knew not if it
Speaker 22: were a mountain with forests and caverns, or if it
Speaker 22: were built up, But the poor mother could not see it.
Speaker 22: She had wept her eyes out. Where shall I find Death,
Speaker 22: who took away my little child? Said she. He has
Speaker 22: not come here yet, said the old grave woman, who
Speaker 22: was appointed to look after Death's great green house. How
Speaker 22: have you been able to find the way hither? And
Speaker 22: who has helped you? Our Lord has helped me, said she.
Speaker 22: He's merciful, and you will also be so where shall
Speaker 22: I find my little child? Nay I know not, said
Speaker 22: the woman, And you cannot see many flowers and trees
Speaker 22: are withered this night. Death will soon come and plant
Speaker 22: them over again. You certainly know that every person has
Speaker 22: he saw her life's tree or flower, just as everyone
Speaker 22: happens to be settled. They look like other plants, but
Speaker 22: they have pulsations of the heart. Children's hearts can also
Speaker 22: beat go after yours. Perhaps you may know our childs.
Speaker 22: But what will you give if I tell you what
Speaker 22: you shall do more? I have nothing to give, said
Speaker 22: the afflicted mother, But I will go to the world's
Speaker 22: end for you. Nay, I have nothing to do there,
Speaker 22: said the woman. But you can give me your long
Speaker 22: black hair. You know yourself that it is fine, and
Speaker 22: that I like you shall have my white hair instead,
Speaker 22: And that's always something. Do demand nothing else, said she,
Speaker 22: that I will gladly give you. And she gave her
Speaker 22: fine black hair and got the old woman's snow white
Speaker 22: hair instead. So they went into Death's great greenhouse, where
Speaker 22: flowers and trees grew strangely into one another. There stood
Speaker 22: fine hyacins under glass bells, and there stood strong stemmed peonies.
Speaker 22: There grew water plants, some so fresh, others half sick.
Speaker 22: The water snakes lay down on them, and black crabs
Speaker 22: pinched their stalks. There stood beautiful palm trees, oaks and planterns.
Speaker 22: There stood parsley and flowering thyme. Every tree and every
Speaker 22: flower had its name. Each of them was a human life.
Speaker 22: The human frame still lived, one in China, and another
Speaker 22: in greenland. Round about in the world there were large
Speaker 22: trees in small pots, so that they stood so stunted
Speaker 22: in growth and ready to burst the pots. In other
Speaker 22: places there was a little dull flower in rich mold,
Speaker 22: with moss round about it, and it was so petted
Speaker 22: and nursed. But the distressed mother bent down o'er all
Speaker 22: the smallest plants and heard within them how the human
Speaker 22: heart beat. And amongst millions she knew her childs. There
Speaker 22: I tease, cried she, and stretched her hands out over
Speaker 22: a little blue crocud, hung quite sickly on one side.
Speaker 22: Don't touch the flower, said the old woman, But place
Speaker 22: yourself here. And when death comes, I expect him every moment.
Speaker 22: Do not let him pluck the flower up, but threaten
Speaker 22: him that you will do the same with the others.
Speaker 22: Then he will be afraid. He is responsible for them
Speaker 22: to our Lord, and no one dares to pluck them
Speaker 22: up before he gives leap. All at once, an icy
Speaker 22: cold rushed through the great hall, and the blind mother
Speaker 22: could feel that it was Death that came. How hast
Speaker 22: thou been able to find thy way hither?
Speaker 14: He asked?
Speaker 22: How couldst thou come quicker than I? I am a mother,
Speaker 22: said she. And Death stretched out his long hand towards
Speaker 22: the fine little flower, but she held her hands fast
Speaker 22: around his, so tight and yet afraid that she should
Speaker 22: touch one of the leaves. Then Death blew on her hands,
Speaker 22: and she felt that it was colder than the cold wind,
Speaker 22: and her hands fell down powerless. Thou canst not do
Speaker 22: anything against me, said Death, But our Lord can, said she.
Speaker 22: I ow to do his biddings, said Death, Um his gardener.
Speaker 22: I take all his flowers and trees and plant them
Speaker 22: out in the great garden of Paradise, in the unknown land.
Speaker 22: But how they grow there, and how it is there,
Speaker 22: I dare not tell. THEE Give him back my child,
Speaker 22: said the mother, and she wept and prayed. At once
Speaker 22: she seized hold of two beautiful flowers close by with
Speaker 22: each hand, and cried out to Death, I will tear
Speaker 22: all thy flowers off, for I am in despair. Touch
Speaker 22: them not, said Death. Thou sayest that thou art so unhappy,
Speaker 22: and now thou wilt make another mother equally unhappy another mother,
Speaker 22: said the poor woman, and directly let go her hold
Speaker 22: above the flowers. There thou hast thine eyes, said Death.
Speaker 22: I fished them up from the lake. They shone so
Speaker 22: bright I knew not they were thine. Take them again.
Speaker 22: They are now brighter than before. Now look down into
Speaker 22: the deep well close by. I shall tell thee the
Speaker 22: names of the two flowers thou wouldst have torn up,
Speaker 22: And thou wilt see their whole future life, their whole
Speaker 22: human existence, and see what thou wast about to disturb
Speaker 22: and destroy. And she looked down into the well, and
Speaker 22: it was a happiness to see how the one became
Speaker 22: a blessing to the world, to see how much happiness
Speaker 22: and joy were felt everywhere. And she saw the other's life,
Speaker 22: and it was sorrow and distress, horror and wretchedness. Both
Speaker 22: of them are God's will, said Death. Which of them
Speaker 22: is Misfortune's flower, and which is that of happiness?
Speaker 4: Asked she.
Speaker 22: That I will not tell THEE said death, But this
Speaker 22: thou shalt know from me, that the one flower was
Speaker 22: thy own child. It was thy child's fate. Thou sawest
Speaker 22: thy own child's future life. Then the mother screamed with terror,
Speaker 22: which of them was my child? Tell it me, save
Speaker 22: the innocent, Save my child from all that misery. Rather
Speaker 22: take it away, take it into God's kingdom. Forget my tears,
Speaker 22: forget my prayers, and all that I have done. I
Speaker 22: do not understand THEE said death. Wilt thou have thy
Speaker 22: child again? Or shall I go with it there where
Speaker 22: thou dost not know? Then the mother wrung her hands,
Speaker 22: fell on her knees and prayed to our Lord. Oh
Speaker 22: hear me not when I pray against thy will, which
Speaker 22: is the best?
Speaker 11: Hear me not?
Speaker 21: Hear me not.
Speaker 22: And she bowed her head down in her lap, and
Speaker 22: death took her child and went with it to the
Speaker 22: unknown land.
Speaker 13: The fall collar. There was once a fine gentleman, all
Speaker 13: of whose movables were a boot jack and a hair comb.
Speaker 13: But he had the finest false collars in the world.
Speaker 13: And it is about one of these collars that we
Speaker 13: are now to hear a story. It was so old
Speaker 13: that it began to think of marriage. And it happened
Speaker 13: that it came to be washed in company with a garter. Nay,
Speaker 13: said the collar. I never see anything so slender and
Speaker 13: so fine, so soft and so neat. May I not
Speaker 13: ask your name, that I shall not tell you, said
Speaker 13: the garter. Where do you leave? Asked the collar. But
Speaker 13: the garter was so bashful, so modest, and thought it
Speaker 13: was a strange question to answer. You are certainly a girdle,
Speaker 13: said the collar, that is to say, an inside girdle.
Speaker 13: I see well that you are both for use and ormond,
Speaker 13: my dear young lady, I will thank you not to
Speaker 13: speak to me, said the garter. I think I have
Speaker 13: not given the least occasion for it. Yes, when one
Speaker 13: is as handsome as you, said the collar, that is
Speaker 13: occasion enough. Don't come so near me. I beg of you,
Speaker 13: said the garter. You look so much like those men folks.
Speaker 13: I am also a fine gentleman, said the collar. I
Speaker 13: have a boot jack and a hair comb. But that
Speaker 13: was not true, for it was his master who had them.
Speaker 13: But he boasted, don't come so near me, said the garter,
Speaker 13: I'm not accustomed to eat prude, exclaimed the collar. And
Speaker 13: then it was taken out of the washing tub. It
Speaker 13: was started hung over the back of a chair in
Speaker 13: the sunshine, and was then laid on the ironing blanket.
Speaker 13: Then came the worm box iron. Dear lady, said the collar.
Speaker 13: Dear widow lady, I feel quite hot, I am quite changed.
Speaker 13: I begin to unfold myself. You will burn a hole
Speaker 13: in me. O. I offer you my hand, rag said
Speaker 13: the box iron, and went proudly over the collar. For
Speaker 13: she fancied she was a steam engine that will go
Speaker 13: on the railroad and draw the wagons, rag, said the
Speaker 13: box iron. The collar was a little jack at the edge,
Speaker 13: and so came the long scissors to cut off the
Speaker 13: jack part. Huh, said the collar. You are certainly the
Speaker 13: first opera dancer. How well you can stretch your legs out.
Speaker 13: It is the most graceful performance I have ever seen.
Speaker 13: No one can imitate you, I know it, said the scissors.
Speaker 13: You deserve to be a baroness, said the collar. All
Speaker 13: that I have is a fine gentleman, a boot jack
Speaker 13: and a hair comb. If I only had the barony,
Speaker 13: do you seek my hand? Said the scissors, for she
Speaker 13: was angry, and without more aid of she cut him,
Speaker 13: and then he was condemned. I shall now be obliged
Speaker 13: to ask the hair comb. It is surprising how well
Speaker 13: you preserve your teeth, miss, said the collar. Have you
Speaker 13: never thought of being be throwed? Yes, of course you
Speaker 13: may be sure of that, said the hair comb. I
Speaker 13: am the throat to the boot jack be throwed, exclaimed
Speaker 13: the collar. Now there was no other court, and so
Speaker 13: he despised it. A long time passed away. Then the
Speaker 13: collar came into the rag chest at the paper mill.
Speaker 13: There was a large company of rags, the fine by themselves,
Speaker 13: and the course by themselves, just as it should be.
Speaker 13: They all had much to say, but the collar the most,
Speaker 13: for he was a real boaster. I have had such
Speaker 13: an immense number of sweethearts, said the collar, I could
Speaker 13: not be in peace. It is true. I was always
Speaker 13: a fine, starch up gentleman. I had both a boot
Speaker 13: jack and a hair comb, which I have never used.
Speaker 13: You should have seen me, then, you should have seen
Speaker 13: me when I lay down. I shall never forget my
Speaker 13: first love. She was a girdle, so fine, so soft,
Speaker 13: and so charming. She threw herself into a tub of
Speaker 13: water for my sake. There was also a widow who
Speaker 13: became glowing hot, but I left her standing till she
Speaker 13: got black again. There was also the first opera dancer.
Speaker 13: She gave me that cup which I now go with.
Speaker 13: She was so ferocious, my own hair comb was in
Speaker 13: love with me. She lost all her teeth from that
Speaker 13: heart ache. Yes, I have leave to see much of
Speaker 13: that sort of thing, but I am extremely sorry for
Speaker 13: the garter. I mean the girdle that went into the watertop.
Speaker 13: I have much of my conscience. I want to become
Speaker 13: white paper, and it became so. All the rags were
Speaker 13: turned into white paper. But the collar came to be
Speaker 13: just this very piece of white paper we hear see
Speaker 13: and on which the story is printed. And that was
Speaker 13: because it boasted so terribly afterwards of what had never
Speaker 13: happened to eat. It would be well for us to
Speaker 13: beware that we may not act in a similar manner,
Speaker 13: for we can never know if we may not, in
Speaker 13: the course of time, also come into the rag chest
Speaker 13: and be made into white paper, and then have our
Speaker 13: whole life's history printed on it, even the most secret,
Speaker 13: and be obliged to run about and tell it ourselves,
Speaker 13: just like this collar, and of the false collar.
Speaker 18: The shadow. It is in the hot lands that the
Speaker 18: sun burns sure enough. There the people become quite a
Speaker 18: mahogany brown a, and in the hottest lands they are
Speaker 18: burnt to negroes. But now it was only to the
Speaker 18: hot lands that a learned man had come from the cold.
Speaker 18: There he thought that he could run about just as
Speaker 18: when at home, But he soon found out his mistake.
Speaker 18: He and all sensible folks were obliged to stay within doors.
Speaker 18: The window shutters and doors were closed the whole day.
Speaker 18: It looked as if the whole house slept, or there
Speaker 18: was no one at home. The narrow street with the
Speaker 18: high houses was built so that the sunshine must fall
Speaker 18: there from morning till evening. It was really not to
Speaker 18: be borne the learned man from the cold lands. He
Speaker 18: was a young man and seemed to be a clever man.
Speaker 18: Sat in a glowing oven. It took effect on him.
Speaker 18: He became quite meager. Even his shadow shrunk in, for
Speaker 18: the sun had also an effect on it. It was
Speaker 18: first towards evening, when the sun was down, that they
Speaker 18: began to freshen up again. In the warm lands, every
Speaker 18: window has a balcony, and the people came out on
Speaker 18: all the balconies in the street, for one must have air,
Speaker 18: even if one be accustomed to be mahogany. It was
Speaker 18: lively both up and down the street. Tailors and shoemakers,
Speaker 18: and all the folks moved out into the street. Chairs
Speaker 18: and tables were brought forth, and candles burnt. Yes, above
Speaker 18: a thousand lights were burning, and the one talked and
Speaker 18: the other sung, and people walked, and church bells rang,
Speaker 18: and asses went along with a dingle, dingle dong, for
Speaker 18: they too had bells. On the street, boys were screaming
Speaker 18: and hooting, and shouting and shooting with devils and detonating balls.
Speaker 18: And there came corpse bearers and hood wearers, for there
Speaker 18: were funerals with Psalm and him, and then the din
Speaker 18: of carriages driving and com arriving. Yes, it was in
Speaker 18: truth lively enough down in the street.
Speaker 7: Only in that.
Speaker 18: Single house which stood opposite that in which the learned
Speaker 18: foreigner lived, it was quite still, And yet some one
Speaker 18: lived there. For there stood flowers in the balcony. They
Speaker 18: grew so well in the sun's heat, and that they
Speaker 18: could not do unless they were watered and someone must
Speaker 18: water them. There must be somebody there. The door opposite
Speaker 18: was also opened late in the evening, but it was
Speaker 18: dark within, at least in the front room. Further in
Speaker 18: there was heard the sound of music. The learned foreigner
Speaker 18: thought it quite marvelous. But now it might be that
Speaker 18: he only imagined it, for he found everything marvelous out
Speaker 18: there in the warm lands, if there had only been
Speaker 18: no sun. The strange's landlord said that he didn't know
Speaker 18: who had taken the house opposite. One saw no person about,
Speaker 18: and as to the music, it appeared to him to
Speaker 18: be extremely tiresome. It is as if someone sat there
Speaker 18: and practiced a piece that he could not master. Always
Speaker 18: the same piece. I shall master, it, says he, But
Speaker 18: yet he cannot master it, however long he plays. One
Speaker 18: night the stranger awoke. He slept with the doors of
Speaker 18: the balcony open, the curtain before it was raised by
Speaker 18: the wind, and he thought that a strange luster came
Speaker 18: from the opposite neighbor's house. All the flowers shone like
Speaker 18: flames in the most beautiful colors, and in the midst
Speaker 18: of the flowers stood a slender, graceful maiden. It was
Speaker 18: as if she also shone. The light really hurt his eyes.
Speaker 18: He now opened them quite wide. Yes, he was quite awake.
Speaker 18: With one spring, he was on the floor. He crept
Speaker 18: gently behind the curtain. But the maiden was gone. The
Speaker 18: flowers shone no longer, but there they stood, fresh and
Speaker 18: blooming as ever. The door was ajar and far within.
Speaker 18: The music sounded so soft and delightful one could really
Speaker 18: melt away in sweet thoughts from it. Yet it was
Speaker 18: like a piece of enchantment. And who lived there? Where
Speaker 18: was the actual entrance? The whole of the ground floor
Speaker 18: was a row of shops, and there people could not
Speaker 18: always be running through. One evening, the stranger sat out
Speaker 18: on the balcony. The light burnt in the room behind him,
Speaker 18: and thus it was quite natural that his shadow should
Speaker 18: fall on his opposite neighbor's wall. Yes, there it sat
Speaker 18: directly opposite between the flowers on the balcony. And when
Speaker 18: the stranger moved, the shadow also moved, For that it
Speaker 18: always does. I think my shadow is the only living
Speaker 18: thing one sees over there, said the learned man. See
Speaker 18: how nicely it sits between the flowers. The door stands
Speaker 18: half open. Now the shadow should be cunning and go
Speaker 18: into the room, look about, and then come and tell
Speaker 18: me what it has seen. Come now, be useful and
Speaker 18: do me a service, said he, in jest, have the
Speaker 18: kindness to step in. Now art thou going? And then
Speaker 18: he nodded to the shadow, and the shadow nodded again. Well,
Speaker 18: then go, but don't stay away. The stranger rose, and
Speaker 18: his shadow on the opposite neighbor's balcony rose also. The
Speaker 18: stranger turned around, and the shadow also turned around. Yes,
Speaker 18: if any one had paid particular attention to it, they
Speaker 18: would have seen quite distinctly that the shadow went in
Speaker 18: through the half open balcony door of their opposite neighbor,
Speaker 18: just as the stranger went into his own room and
Speaker 18: let the long curtain fall down after him. Next morning,
Speaker 18: the learned man went out to drink coffee and read
Speaker 18: the newspapers. What is that, said he as he came
Speaker 18: out into the sunshine. I have no shadow, So then
Speaker 18: it has actually gone last night and not come again.
Speaker 18: It is really tiresome. This annoyed him, not so much
Speaker 18: because the shadow was gone, but because he knew there
Speaker 18: was a story about a man without a shadow. It
Speaker 18: was known to everybody at home in the cold lands,
Speaker 18: and if the learned man now came there and told
Speaker 18: his story, they would say that he was imitating it,
Speaker 18: and that he had no need to do. He would
Speaker 18: therefore not talk about it at all, and that was
Speaker 18: wisely thought. In the evening he went out again on
Speaker 18: the balcony. He had placed the light directly behind him,
Speaker 18: for he knew that the shadow would always have its
Speaker 18: master for a screen. But he could not entice it.
Speaker 18: He made himself little, he made himself great, But no
Speaker 18: shadow came again. He said, hemp, hemp, But it was
Speaker 18: of no use. It was vexatious. But in the warm
Speaker 18: lands everything grows so quickly. And after the lapse of
Speaker 18: eight days, he observed, to his great joy that a
Speaker 18: new shadow came in the sunshine. In the course of
Speaker 18: three weeks he had a very fair shadow, which, when
Speaker 18: he set out for his home in the northern lands,
Speaker 18: grew more and more in the journey, so that at
Speaker 18: last it was so long and so large that it
Speaker 18: was more than sufficient. The learned man then came home,
Speaker 18: and he wrote books about what was true in the world,
Speaker 18: and about what was good and what was beautiful. And
Speaker 18: there passed days and years, yes, many years passed by
Speaker 18: one evening, as he was sitting in his room, there
Speaker 18: was a gentle knocking at the door. Come in, said he,
Speaker 18: But no one came in. So he opened the door,
Speaker 18: and there stood before him such an extremely lean man
Speaker 18: that he felt quite strange. As to the rest. The
Speaker 18: man was very finely dressed. He must be a gentleman.
Speaker 18: Whom have I the honor of speaking, asked the learned man. Yes,
Speaker 18: I thought as much, said the fine man. I thought
Speaker 18: you would not know me. I have got so much body.
Speaker 18: I have even got flesh and clothes. You certainly never
Speaker 18: thought of seeing me so well off? Do you not
Speaker 18: know your old shadow? You certainly thought I should never
Speaker 18: more return. Things have gone on well with me since
Speaker 18: I was last with you. I have, in all respects
Speaker 18: become very well off. Shall I purchase my freedom from service?
Speaker 18: If so I can do it? And then he rattled
Speaker 18: a whole bunch of valuable seals that hung to his watch,
Speaker 18: and he stuck his hand in the thick gold chain
Speaker 18: he wore around his neck. Nay, how all his fingers
Speaker 18: glittered with diamond rings, and then all were pure gems. Nay,
Speaker 18: I cannot recover from my surprise, said the learned man,
Speaker 18: What is the meaning of all this? Something common? It
Speaker 18: is not, said the shadow, But you yourself do not
Speaker 18: belong to the common order. And I, as you know well,
Speaker 18: have from a child, followed in your footsteps. As soon
Speaker 18: as you found I was capable to go out alone
Speaker 18: in the world, I went my own way. I am
Speaker 18: in the most brilliant circumstances. But there came a sort
Speaker 18: of desire over me to see you once more before
Speaker 18: you die. You will die, I suppose. I also wished
Speaker 18: to see this land again, for you know we always
Speaker 18: love our native land. I know you have got another
Speaker 18: shadow again. Have I anything to pay to it?
Speaker 4: Or you?
Speaker 18: If so, you will oblige me by saying what it is? Nay,
Speaker 18: is it really thou? Said the learned man. It is
Speaker 18: most remarkable. I never imagined that one old shadow could
Speaker 18: come again as a man. Tell me what I have
Speaker 18: to pay, said the shadow, For I don't like to
Speaker 18: be in any sort of debt. How canst thou talk,
Speaker 18: so said the learned man. What debt is there to
Speaker 18: talk about? Make thyself as free as any one else.
Speaker 18: I am extremely glad to hear of thy good fortune.
Speaker 18: Sit down, old friend, and tell me a little how
Speaker 18: it has gone with thee, and what thou hast seen
Speaker 18: at our opposite neighbors there in the warm lands. Yes,
Speaker 18: I will tell you all about it, said the shadow,
Speaker 18: and sat down. But then you must also promise me
Speaker 18: that wherever you may meet me, you will never say
Speaker 18: to any one here in the town that I have
Speaker 18: been your shadow. I intend to get betrothed, for I
Speaker 18: can provide for more than one family. Be quite at
Speaker 18: thy ease about that, said the learned man. I shall
Speaker 18: not say to anyone who thou actually art. Here is
Speaker 18: my hand, I promise it, And a man's bond is
Speaker 18: his word. A word is the shadow, said the shadow,
Speaker 18: and as such it must speak. It was really quite
Speaker 18: astonishing how much of a man it was. It was
Speaker 18: dressed entirely in black and of the very finest cloth.
Speaker 18: It had patent leather boots and a hat that could
Speaker 18: be folded together so that it was bare, crown and brim.
Speaker 18: Not to speak of what we already know. It had seals,
Speaker 18: gold neck chain, and diamond rings. Yes, the shadow was
Speaker 18: well dressed, and it was just that which made it
Speaker 18: quite a man. Now I shall tell you of my adventures,
Speaker 18: said the shadow, and then he sat with the polished
Speaker 18: boots as heavily as he could on the arm of
Speaker 18: the learned Man's new shadow, which lay like a poodle
Speaker 18: dog at his feet. Now this was perhaps from arrogance,
Speaker 18: and the shadow on the ground kept itself so still
Speaker 18: and quiet that I might hear all that passed. It
Speaker 18: wished to know how it could get free and work
Speaker 18: its way up so as to become its own master.
Speaker 18: Do you know who lived in our opposite neighbor's house,
Speaker 18: said the shadow. It was the most charming of all beings.
Speaker 8: It was Poesy.
Speaker 18: I was there for three weeks, and that has as
Speaker 18: much effect as if one had lived three thousand years
Speaker 18: and read all that was composed and written. That is
Speaker 18: what I say, and that is right. I have seen everything,
Speaker 18: and I know everything, Poesy, cried the learned man. Yes, yes,
Speaker 18: she often dwells, a recluse in large cities. Poesy, Yes,
Speaker 18: I have seen her a single short moment, but sleep
Speaker 18: came into my eyes. She stood on the balcony and
Speaker 18: shone as the Aurora borealis shines, go on, go on,
Speaker 18: thou wert on the balcony and went through the doorway
Speaker 18: and then then I was in the antechamber, said the shadow.
Speaker 18: You always sat and looked over to the antechamber. There
Speaker 18: was no light. There was a sort of twilight, but
Speaker 18: the one door stood open directly opposite the other, through
Speaker 18: a long row of rooms and saloons, and there it
Speaker 18: was lighted up. I should have been completely killed if
Speaker 18: I had gone over to the maiden, but I was circumspect.
Speaker 18: I took time to think, and that one must always do.
Speaker 18: And what didst thou then see? Asked the learned man.
Speaker 18: I saw everything, and I shall tell all to you.
Speaker 18: But it is no price on my part as a
Speaker 18: free man, and with the knowledge I have not to
Speaker 18: speak of my position in life, my excellent circumstances. I
Speaker 18: certainly wish that you would say you to me. I
Speaker 18: beg your pardon, said the learned man. It is an
Speaker 18: old habit with me. You are perfectly right, and I
Speaker 18: shall remember it. But now you must tell me all.
Speaker 18: You saw everything, said the shadow, For I saw everything,
Speaker 18: and I know everything. How did it look in the
Speaker 18: furthest saloon, asked the learned man. Was it there as
Speaker 18: in the fresh woods? Was it there as in a
Speaker 18: holy church? Were the saloons like the Starlit firmament when
Speaker 18: we stand on the high mountains. Everything was there, said
Speaker 18: the shadow. I did not go quite in. I remained
Speaker 18: in the foremost room in the twilight. But I stood
Speaker 18: there quite well. I saw everything, and I know everything.
Speaker 18: I have been in the ante chamber at the court
Speaker 18: of Poesy. But what did you see? Did all the
Speaker 18: gods of the olden times pass through the large saloons,
Speaker 18: that the old heroes come bat there? Did sweet children
Speaker 18: play there and relate their dreams? I tell you I
Speaker 18: was there, and you can conceive that I saw everything
Speaker 18: there was to be seen. Had you come over there,
Speaker 18: you would not have been a man. But I became so.
Speaker 18: And besides, I learned to know my inward nature, my
Speaker 18: innate qualities, the relationship I had with Poesy. At the
Speaker 18: time I was with you, I thought not of that,
Speaker 18: But always you know it well. When the sun rose
Speaker 18: and when the sun went down, I became so strangely
Speaker 18: great in the moonlight. I was very near being more
Speaker 18: distinct than yourself. At that time I did not understand
Speaker 18: my nature. It was revealed to be in the antechamber,
Speaker 18: I became a man. I came out matured, but you
Speaker 18: were no longer in the warm lands as a man.
Speaker 18: I was ashamed to go as I did. I was
Speaker 18: in want of boots, of clothes, of the whole human
Speaker 18: varnish that makes a man perceptible. I took my way.
Speaker 18: I tell it to you, but you will not put
Speaker 18: it in any book. I took my way to the
Speaker 18: cake woman. I hid myself behind her. The woman didn't
Speaker 18: think how much she concealed. I went out first in
Speaker 18: the evening. I ran about the streets in the moonlight.
Speaker 18: I made myself long up the walls. It tickles the
Speaker 18: back so delightfully. I ran up and ran down. Peeped
Speaker 18: into the highest windows, into the saloons, and on the roofs.
Speaker 18: I peeped in where no one could peep. And I
Speaker 18: saw what no one else saw, what no one else
Speaker 18: should see. This is, in fact a base world. I
Speaker 18: would not be a man if it were not now
Speaker 18: once accepted and regarded as something to be.
Speaker 10: So.
Speaker 18: I saw the most unimaginable things with the women, with
Speaker 18: the men, with parents, and with the sweet matchless children.
Speaker 18: I saw, said the shadow, what no human being must know,
Speaker 18: but what they would all so willingly know, What is
Speaker 18: bad in their neighbor. Had I written a newspaper, it
Speaker 18: would have been read. But I wrote directly to the
Speaker 18: persons themselves, and there was consternation in all the towns
Speaker 18: where I came. They were so afraid of me, and
Speaker 18: yet they were so excessively fond of me. The professors
Speaker 18: made a professor of me, and the tailors gave me
Speaker 18: new clothes. I am well furnished. The master of the
Speaker 18: mint struck new coin for me, and the women said
Speaker 18: I was so handsome, and so I became the man
Speaker 18: I am. And now I bid you farewell. Here is
Speaker 18: my card. I live on the sunny side of the street,
Speaker 18: and am always at home at rainy weather. And so
Speaker 18: away went the shadow. That was most extraordinary, said the
Speaker 18: learned man. Years and days passed by, then the shadow
Speaker 18: came again.
Speaker 13: How goes it?
Speaker 18: Said the shadow? Alas said the learned man, I write
Speaker 18: about the true and the good and the beautiful, but
Speaker 18: no one cares to hear such things. I am quite desperate,
Speaker 18: for I take it so much to heart. But I don't,
Speaker 18: said the shadow. I become fat, and it is that
Speaker 18: one wants to become. You do not understand the world.
Speaker 18: You will become ill by it. You must travel. I
Speaker 18: shall make a tour this summer. Will you go with me.
Speaker 18: I should like to have a traveling companion. Will you
Speaker 18: go with me as shadow. It will be a great
Speaker 18: pleasure for me to have you with me. I shall
Speaker 18: pay the traveling expenses. Nay, this is too much, said
Speaker 18: the learned man. It is just as one takes it,
Speaker 18: said the shadow. It will do you much good to travel.
Speaker 18: Will you be my shadow? You shall have everything free
Speaker 18: on the journey. Nay, that is too bad, said the
Speaker 18: learned man. But it is just so with the world,
Speaker 18: said the shadow, And so it will be, and away
Speaker 18: it went again. The learned man was not at all
Speaker 18: in the most enviable state. Grief and torment followed him,
Speaker 18: and what he said about the true and the good
Speaker 18: and the beautiful was to most persons like roses for
Speaker 18: a cow. He was quite ill. At last, you really
Speaker 18: look like a shadow, said his friends to him, and
Speaker 18: the learned man trembled for he thought of it. You
Speaker 18: must go to a watering place, said the shadow, who
Speaker 18: came and visited him. There is nothing else for it.
Speaker 18: I will take you with me for old acquaintance sake.
Speaker 18: I will pay the traveling expenses, and you write the descriptions,
Speaker 18: and if they are a little musing for me, on
Speaker 18: the way, I will go to a watering place. My
Speaker 18: beard does not grow out as it ought. That is
Speaker 18: also a sickness, and one must have a beard. Now
Speaker 18: you be wise and accept the offer. We shall travel
Speaker 18: as comrades. And so they traveled. The shadow was master
Speaker 18: and the master was the shadow. They drove with each other.
Speaker 18: They rode and walked together, side by side, before and behind.
Speaker 18: Just as the sun was, the shadow always took care
Speaker 18: to keep itself in the master's place. Now the learned
Speaker 18: man didn't think much about that. He was a very
Speaker 18: kind hearted man, and particularly mild and friendly. And so
Speaker 18: he said one day to the shadow, as we have
Speaker 18: now become companions, and in this way have grown up
Speaker 18: together from childhood. Shall we not drink thou together? It
Speaker 18: is more familiar. You are right, said the shadow, who
Speaker 18: was now the proper master. It is said in a
Speaker 18: very straightforward and well meant manner. You, as a learned man,
Speaker 18: certainly know how strange nature is. Some persons cannot bear
Speaker 18: to touch gray paper, or they become ill. Others shiver
Speaker 18: in every limb if one rub the pane of glass
Speaker 18: with a nail. I have just such a feeling on
Speaker 18: hearing you say thou to me. I feel myself as
Speaker 18: if pressed to the earth in my first situation with you.
Speaker 18: You see that it is a feeling that it is
Speaker 18: not pride. I cannot allow you to say thou to me,
Speaker 18: but I will willingly say thou to you. So it
Speaker 18: is half done. So the shadow said thou to its
Speaker 18: former master. This is rather too bad, thought he that
Speaker 18: I must say you, and he say thou. But he
Speaker 18: was now obliged to put up with it. So they
Speaker 18: came to a watering place where there were many strangers,
Speaker 18: and amongst them was a princess who was troubled with
Speaker 18: seeing too well. And that was so alarming. She directly
Speaker 18: observed that the stranger who had just come was quite
Speaker 18: a different sort of person to all the others. He
Speaker 18: has come here in order to get his beard to grow,
Speaker 18: they say, But I see the real cause he cannot
Speaker 18: cast a shadow. She had become inquisitive, and so she
Speaker 18: entered into conversation directly with the strange gentlemen on their promenades.
Speaker 18: As the daughter of a king, she need not to
Speaker 18: stand upon trifles. So she said, your complaint is that
Speaker 18: you cannot cast a shadow. Your Royal Highness must be
Speaker 18: improving considerably, said the shadow. I know your complaint is
Speaker 18: that you see too clearly, but it has decreased. You
Speaker 18: are cured. I just happen to have a very unusual shadow.
Speaker 18: Do you not see that person who always goes with me?
Speaker 18: Other persons have a common shadow, but I do not
Speaker 18: like what is common to all. We give our servants
Speaker 18: finer cloth for their livery than we ourselves use. So
Speaker 18: I had my shadow trimmed up into a man. Yes,
Speaker 18: you see, I have even given him a shadow. It
Speaker 18: is somewhat expensive, but I like to have something for myself.
Speaker 18: What thought the princess? Should I really be cured? These
Speaker 18: baths are the first in the world, and our time
Speaker 18: water has wonderful powers. But I shall not leave this place,
Speaker 18: for it now begins to be amusing.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 18: I am extremely fond of that stranger. Would that his
Speaker 18: beard should not grow, for in that case he will
Speaker 18: leave us. In the evening, the Princess and the shadow
Speaker 18: danced together in the large ballroom. She was light, but
Speaker 18: he was still lighter. She had never had such a
Speaker 18: partner in the dance. She told him from what land
Speaker 18: she came, and he knew that land, he had been there.
Speaker 18: But then she was not at home. He had peeped
Speaker 18: in at the window above and below. He had seen
Speaker 18: both the one and the other, and so he could
Speaker 18: answer the princess and make insinuations, so that she was
Speaker 18: quite astonished. He must be the wisest man in the
Speaker 18: whole world. She felt such respect for what he knew,
Speaker 18: so that when they again danced together, she fell in
Speaker 18: love with him, and that the shadow could remark, for
Speaker 18: she almost pierced him through with her eyes. So they
Speaker 18: danced once more together, and she was about to declare herself,
Speaker 18: but she was discreet. She thought of her country and kingdom,
Speaker 18: and of the many persons she would have to reign over.
Speaker 18: He is a wise man, she said to herself. It
Speaker 18: is well, and he dances delightfully. That is also good.
Speaker 18: But has he solid knowledge? That is just as important.
Speaker 18: He must be examined. So she began by degrees to
Speaker 18: question him about the most difficult things she could think of,
Speaker 18: and which she herself could not have answered, so that
Speaker 18: the Shadow made a strange face. You cannot answer these questions,
Speaker 18: said the princess. They belonged to my childhood's learning, said
Speaker 18: the shadow. I really believe my shadow by the door
Speaker 18: there can answer them, your shadow, said the princess. That
Speaker 18: would indeed be marvelous. I will not say for a
Speaker 18: certainty that he can, said the shadow. But I think so.
Speaker 18: He has now followed me for so many years and
Speaker 18: listened to my conversation. I should think it possible. But
Speaker 18: your Royal Highness will permit me to observe that he
Speaker 18: is so proud of passing himself off for a man
Speaker 18: that when he is to be in a proper humor,
Speaker 18: and he must be so to answer, well, he must
Speaker 18: be treated quite like a man. Oh I like that,
Speaker 18: said the princess. So she went to the learned man
Speaker 18: by the door, and she spoke to him about the
Speaker 18: sun and the moon, and about persons out of and
Speaker 18: in the world. And he answered with wisdom and prudence.
Speaker 18: What a man that must be, who has so wise
Speaker 18: a shadow, thought she. It will be a real blessing
Speaker 18: to my people and kingdom if I choose him for
Speaker 18: my consort.
Speaker 5: I will do it.
Speaker 18: They were soon agreed, both the princess and the shadow,
Speaker 18: but no one was to know about it before she
Speaker 18: arrived in her own kingdom. No one, not even my shadow,
Speaker 18: said the shadow, and he had his own thoughts about it.
Speaker 18: Now they were in the country where the princess reigned
Speaker 18: when she was at home. Listen, my good friend, said
Speaker 18: the shadow to the learned man. I have now become
Speaker 18: as happy and mighty as any one can be. I
Speaker 18: will therefore do something particular for THEE. Thou shalt always
Speaker 18: live with me in the palace, drive with me in
Speaker 18: my royal carriage, and have ten thousand pounds a year.
Speaker 18: But then thou must submit to be called shadow by
Speaker 18: all and everyone. Thou must not say that thou hast
Speaker 18: ever been a man. And once a year, when I
Speaker 18: sit on the balcony in the sunshine, thou must lie
Speaker 18: at my feet as a shadow shall do. I must
Speaker 18: tell THEE I am going to marry the king's daughter,
Speaker 18: and the nuptials are to take place this evening.
Speaker 11: Nay, this is going too far.
Speaker 18: Said the learned man.
Speaker 21: I will not have it.
Speaker 8: I will not do it.
Speaker 18: It is to deceive the whole country and the princess too.
Speaker 18: I will tell everything that I am a man and
Speaker 18: thou art a shadow, thou art only dressed up. There
Speaker 18: is no one who will believe it, said the shadow.
Speaker 18: Be reasonable, or I will call the guard. I will
Speaker 18: go directly to the princess, said the learned man. But
Speaker 18: I will go first, said the shadow, And thou wilt
Speaker 18: go to prison, and that he was obliged to do
Speaker 18: for the sentinels obeyed him, whom they knew the king's
Speaker 18: daughter was to marry you. Tremble, said the princess, as
Speaker 18: the Shadow came into her chamber. Has anything happened? You
Speaker 18: must not be unwell this evening, now that we are
Speaker 18: to have our nuptials celebrated. I have lived to see
Speaker 18: the most cruel thing that anyone can live to see,
Speaker 18: said the shadow. Only imagine, yes, it is true. Such
Speaker 18: a poor shadow skull cannot bear much. Only think my
Speaker 18: shadow has become mad. He thinks that he is a man,
Speaker 18: and that I now only think that I am his shadow.
Speaker 18: It is terrible, said the princess. But he is confined,
Speaker 18: is he not that he is? I am afraid that
Speaker 18: he will never recover, poor shadow, said the princess. He
Speaker 18: is very unfortunate. It would be a real work of
Speaker 18: charity to deliver him from the little life he has.
Speaker 18: And when I think properly over the matter, I am
Speaker 18: of opinion that it will be necessary to do away
Speaker 18: with him in all stillness. It is certainly hard, said
Speaker 18: the shadow, for he was a faithful servant. And then
Speaker 18: he gave a sort of sigh. You are a noble character,
Speaker 18: said the princess. The whole city was illuminated in the evening,
Speaker 18: and the cannons went off with a bum bum, and
Speaker 18: the soldier's presented arms.
Speaker 21: That was a marriage.
Speaker 18: The princess and the Shadow went out on the balcony
Speaker 18: to show themselves and get another hurrah. The learned man
Speaker 18: heard nothing of all this, for they had deprived him
Speaker 18: of life.
Speaker 13: And of the shadow.
Speaker 7: The little match girl most terribly cold it was. It snowed,
Speaker 7: and was nearly quite dark and evening, the last evening
Speaker 7: of the year. In this cold and darkness, there went
Speaker 7: along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded and with
Speaker 7: naked feet. When she left home. She had slippers on,
Speaker 7: it is true, but what was the good of that?
Speaker 7: They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn.
Speaker 7: So large were they, and the poor little thing lost
Speaker 7: them as she scuffled away. Across the street because of
Speaker 7: two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast. One slipper was
Speaker 7: nowhere to be found. The other had been laid hold
Speaker 7: of by an urchin, and off he ran with it.
Speaker 7: He thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he,
Speaker 7: some day or other, should have children himself. So the
Speaker 7: little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet that
Speaker 7: were quite red and blue from cold. She carried a
Speaker 7: quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held
Speaker 7: a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought
Speaker 7: anything of her the whole livelong day. No one had
Speaker 7: given her a single farthing. She crept along, trembling with
Speaker 7: cold and hunger, a very picture of sorrow, the poor
Speaker 7: little thing. The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair,
Speaker 7: which fell in beautiful curls around her neck. But of that,
Speaker 7: of course, she never once now thought. From all the
Speaker 7: windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously
Speaker 7: of roast goose, For you know, it was New Year's Eve. Yes,
Speaker 7: of that, she thought. In a corner formed by two houses,
Speaker 7: of which one advanced more than the other, she seated
Speaker 7: herself down and cowered together her little feet she had
Speaker 7: drawn close up to her. But she grew colder and colder,
Speaker 7: and to go home she did not venture, for she
Speaker 7: had not sold any matches, and could not bring a
Speaker 7: farthing of money from her father. She would certainly get blows.
Speaker 7: And at home it was cold too, for above her
Speaker 7: she had only the roof through which the wind whistled.
Speaker 7: Even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw
Speaker 7: and rags. Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh,
Speaker 7: a match might afford her a world of comfort, if
Speaker 7: she only dared take a single one out of the bundle,
Speaker 7: draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it.
Speaker 7: She drew one out wrist. How it blazed, how it burnt.
Speaker 7: It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle. As
Speaker 7: she held her hands over it, it was a wonderful light.
Speaker 7: It seemed, really to the little maiden, as though she
Speaker 7: were sitting before a large iron stove with burnished brass
Speaker 7: feet and a brass ornament atop. The fire burned with
Speaker 7: such blessed influence. It warmed so delightfully. The little girl
Speaker 7: had already stretched out her feet to warm them too.
Speaker 7: But the small flame went out the stove vanished. She
Speaker 7: had only the remains of the burnt out match in
Speaker 7: her hand. She rubbed another against the wall. It burned brightly,
Speaker 7: and where the light fell on the wall, there the
Speaker 7: wall became transparent like a veil, so that she could
Speaker 7: see into the room. On the table was spread a
Speaker 7: snow white tablecloth. Upon it was a splendid porcelain service,
Speaker 7: and the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing
Speaker 7: of apple and dried plums. And what was still more
Speaker 7: capital to behold was the goose hopped down from the dish,
Speaker 7: reeled about on the floor with knife and fork in
Speaker 7: its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl.
Speaker 7: When the match went out, and nothing but the thick, cold,
Speaker 7: damp wall was left behind, she lighted another match. Now
Speaker 7: there she was sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree.
Speaker 7: It was still larger and more decorated than the one
Speaker 7: which she had seen through the glass door in the
Speaker 7: rich merchant's house. Thousands of lights were burning on the
Speaker 7: green branches, and gaily colored pictures such as she had
Speaker 7: seen in the shop windows, looked down upon her. The
Speaker 7: little maiden stretched out her hands toward them. When the
Speaker 7: match went out, the lights of the Christmas tree rose
Speaker 7: higher and higher. She saw them now as stars in heaven.
Speaker 7: One fell down and formed a long trail of fire.
Speaker 7: Some one is just dead, said the little girl, for
Speaker 7: her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her
Speaker 7: and who was now no more, had told her that
Speaker 7: when a star falls, a soul ascends to God. She
Speaker 7: drew another match against the wall. It was again light,
Speaker 7: and in the luster there stood the old grandmother, so
Speaker 7: bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression
Speaker 7: of love. Grandmother cried the little one, Oh, take me
Speaker 7: with you.
Speaker 4: You go away.
Speaker 10: When the match burns out, you vanish like the warm stove,
Speaker 10: like the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree.
Speaker 10: And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against
Speaker 10: the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of
Speaker 10: keeping her grandmother near her. And the matches gave such
Speaker 10: a brilliant light that it was brighter than at noonday.
Speaker 10: Never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and so tall.
Speaker 10: She took the little maiden on her arm, and both
Speaker 10: flew in brightness and joy, so high, so very high,
Speaker 10: and then above was neither cold, nor hunger nor anxiety.
Speaker 10: They were with God. But in the corner, at the
Speaker 10: cold hour of dawn sat the poor girl, with rosy
Speaker 10: cheeks and with the smiling mouth, leaning against the wall,
Speaker 10: frozen to death. On the last evening of the old year,
Speaker 10: stiff and stark sat the child there with her matches,
Speaker 10: of which one bundle had been burnt. She wanted to
Speaker 10: warm herself. People said, no one had the slightest suspicion
Speaker 10: of what beautiful things she had seen. No one even
Speaker 10: dreamed of the splendor in which, with her grandma mother
Speaker 10: she had entered on the joys of a new year.
Speaker 10: End of the little match.
Speaker 23: Girl, the dream of little Tuck. Ah, Yes, that was
Speaker 23: little Tuck. In reality, his name was not Tuck, but
Speaker 23: that was what he called himself before he could speak plain.
Speaker 23: He meant it for Charles. And it is all well
Speaker 23: enough if one does but know it. He had now
Speaker 23: to take care of his little sister, Augusta, who was
Speaker 23: much younger than himself, and he was besides to learn
Speaker 23: his lesson at the same time. But these two things
Speaker 23: would not do together at all. There sat the poor
Speaker 23: little fellow with his sister on his lap, and he
Speaker 23: sang to her all the songs he knew, and he
Speaker 23: glanced the while from time to time into the geography
Speaker 23: book that lay open before him. By the next morning
Speaker 23: he was to have learnt all the towns in Zeeland
Speaker 23: by heart, and to know about them all that is
Speaker 23: possible to be known. His mother now came home, for
Speaker 23: she had been out, and took little Augusta on her arm.
Speaker 23: Tuck ran quickly to the window and read so eagerly
Speaker 23: that he pretty nearly read his eyes out, for it
Speaker 23: got darker and darker, But his mother had no money
Speaker 23: to buy a candle. There goes the old washerwoman over
Speaker 23: the way, said his mother, as she looked out of
Speaker 23: the window. The poor woman can hardly drag herself along,
Speaker 23: and she must now drag the pail home from the fountain.
Speaker 23: Be a good boy, Tucky, and run across and help
Speaker 23: the old woman, won't you? So Tuck ran over quickly
Speaker 23: and helped her. But when he came back again into
Speaker 23: the room, it was quite dark, and as to a
Speaker 23: light there was no thought of such a thing. He
Speaker 23: was now to go to bed. That was an old
Speaker 23: turn up bedstead. In it he lay and thought about
Speaker 23: his geography lesson, and of Zeeland, and of all that
Speaker 23: his master had told him. He ought to be sure
Speaker 23: to have read over his lesson again, but that you know,
Speaker 23: he could not do. He therefore put his geography book
Speaker 23: under his pillow, because he had heard that was a
Speaker 23: very good thing to do when one wants to learn
Speaker 23: one's lesson, but one cannot, however, rely upon it entirely. Well,
Speaker 23: there he lay and thought and thought, and all at
Speaker 23: once it was just as if someone kissed his eyes
Speaker 23: and mouth. He slept, And yet he did not sleep.
Speaker 23: It was as though the old washerwoman gazed on him
Speaker 23: with her mild eyes and said, it were a great
Speaker 23: sin if you were not to know your lesson tomorrow morning.
Speaker 23: You have aided me. I therefore will now help you,
Speaker 23: and the loving God will do so at all times.
Speaker 23: And all of a sudden, the book under Tuck's pillow
Speaker 23: began scraping and scratching. Kikheti ki kluck, cluck cluck. That
Speaker 23: was an old hen. That was an old hen who
Speaker 23: came creeping along. And she was from kiyoj I'm a
Speaker 23: keyoder hen, said she, And then she related how many
Speaker 23: inhabitants there were there, and about the battle that had
Speaker 23: taken place, and which after all, was hardly worth talking about. Quibbledy, crabbledy, plump,
Speaker 23: downfell somebody. It was a wooden bird, the poppingjay used
Speaker 23: at the shooting matches at Prostow. Now he said that
Speaker 23: there were just as many inhabitants as he had nails
Speaker 23: in his body, and he was very proud. Thor Waldsen
Speaker 23: lived almost next door to me. Paulump here I lie capitally.
Speaker 23: But little Tuck was no longer lying down. All at
Speaker 23: once he was on horseback. On he went at full gallop,
Speaker 23: still galloping on and on a night with a gleaming plume,
Speaker 23: and most magnificently dressed, held him before him on the horse.
Speaker 23: And thus they rode through the wood to the old
Speaker 23: town of Boordingborg. And that was a large and very
Speaker 23: lively town. High towers rose from the castle of the king,
Speaker 23: and the brightness of many candles streamed from all the windows.
Speaker 23: Within was dance and song, and King Waldemar and the young,
Speaker 23: richly attired maids of honor danced together. The morn now came,
Speaker 23: and as soon as the sun appeared, the whole town
Speaker 23: and the King's palace crumbled together, and one tower after
Speaker 23: the other, and at last only a single one remained
Speaker 23: standing where the castle had been before. And the town
Speaker 23: was so small and poor. And the schoolboys came along
Speaker 23: with their books under their arms, and said two thousand inhabitants.
Speaker 23: But that was not true, for there were not so many.
Speaker 23: And little Tucky lay in his bed. It seemed to
Speaker 23: him as if he dreamed, and yet as if he
Speaker 23: were not dreaming. However, somebody was close beside him, Little Tucky,
Speaker 23: Little Tucky cried, someone near. It was a seaman, quite
Speaker 23: a little personage, so little as if he were a midshipman.
Speaker 23: But a midshipman he was not many remembrances from Corsore.
Speaker 23: That is a town that is just rising into importance,
Speaker 23: a lively town that has steamboats and stage coaches. Formerly
Speaker 23: people called it ugly, but that is no longer true.
Speaker 23: I lie on the sea, said Corsair. I have high
Speaker 23: roads and gardens, and I have given birth to a
Speaker 23: poet who was witty and amusing, which all poets are not.
Speaker 23: I once intended to equip a ship that was to
Speaker 23: sail all around the earth, but I did not do it,
Speaker 23: although I could have done so, And then too, I
Speaker 23: smell so deliciously, for close before the gate bloomed the
Speaker 23: most beautiful roses. Little Tuck looked, and all was red
Speaker 23: and green before his eyes. But as soon as the
Speaker 23: confusion of colors was somewhat over all, of a sudden
Speaker 23: there appeared a wooded slope close to the bay, and
Speaker 23: high up above stood a magnificent old church with two
Speaker 23: high pointed towers. From out the hillside spouted fountains in
Speaker 23: thick streams of water, so that there was a continual splashing.
Speaker 23: And close beside them sat an old king with a
Speaker 23: golden crown upon his white head. That was King Hurrar,
Speaker 23: near the fountains, close to the town of Ralskady, as
Speaker 23: it is now called.
Speaker 14: And up the.
Speaker 23: Slope into the old church went all the kings and
Speaker 23: queens of Denmark, hand in hand, all with their golden crowns,
Speaker 23: and the organ played, and the fountains rustled. Little Tuck
Speaker 23: saw all heard all. Do not forget the diet, said
Speaker 23: King Hurrar. Again, all suddenly disappeared, Yes, and whither it
Speaker 23: seemed to him just as if one turned over a
Speaker 23: leaf in a book, and now stood there an old
Speaker 23: peasant woman who came from Sarol, where grass grows.
Speaker 9: In the marketplace.
Speaker 23: She had an old gray linen apron hanging over her
Speaker 23: head and back. It was so wet it certainly must
Speaker 23: have been raining. Yes, that it was, said she. And
Speaker 23: she now related many pretty things out of Holberg's comedies,
Speaker 23: and about Waldemar and Absalom. But all at once she
Speaker 23: cowered together, and her head began shaking backwards and forwards,
Speaker 23: and she looked as if she were going to make
Speaker 23: a spring kroak kurok, said she. It is wet, it
Speaker 23: is wet. There is such a pleasant deathlike stillness and sorb.
Speaker 23: She was now suddenly a frog croak, and now she
Speaker 23: was an old woman. One must dress according to the weather,
Speaker 23: said she. It is wet, it is wet. My town
Speaker 23: is just like a bottle, and one gets in by
Speaker 23: the neck, and by the neck one must get out again.
Speaker 23: In former times I had the finest fish, and now
Speaker 23: I have fresh, rosy cheeked boys at the bottom of
Speaker 23: the bottle who learn wisdom Hebrew Greek croak. When she spoke,
Speaker 23: it sounded just like the noise of frogs, or as
Speaker 23: if one walked with boots over a moor, always the
Speaker 23: same tone, so uniform and so tiring, that little Tuck
Speaker 23: fell into a good sound sleep, which, by the bye
Speaker 23: could not do him any harm. But even in this
Speaker 23: sleep there came a dream, or whatever else. It was
Speaker 23: his little sister, Augusta, she with the blue eyes and
Speaker 23: the fair curling hair, was suddenly a tall, beautiful girl,
Speaker 23: and without having wings, was yet able to fly. And
Speaker 23: she now flew over Zealand, over the green woods and
Speaker 23: the blue lakes. Do you hear the cock crow? Tucky cock,
Speaker 23: a doodle doo? The cocks are flying up from Judge.
Speaker 23: You will have a farm yard so large, oh so
Speaker 23: very large. You will suffer neither hunger nor thirst. You
Speaker 23: will get on in the world. You will be a
Speaker 23: rich and happy man. Your house will exalt itself like
Speaker 23: King Waldemar's tower, and will be richly decorated with marble
Speaker 23: statues like that at Pristau. You understand what I mean.
Speaker 23: Your name shall circulate with renown all round the earth,
Speaker 23: like unto the ship that was to have sailed from
Speaker 23: course and in rose Kild. Do not forget the diet,
Speaker 23: said King Hurrar. Then you will speak well and wisely.
Speaker 23: Little Tucky, And when at last you sink into your grave,
Speaker 23: you shall sleep as quietly as if I lay in Siroy,
Speaker 23: said Tuck, awaking. It was bright day, and he was
Speaker 23: now quite unable to call to mind his dream. That, however,
Speaker 23: was not at all necessary, for one may not know
Speaker 23: what the future will bring. And out of bed he
Speaker 23: jumped and read in his book, and now all at
Speaker 23: once he knew his whole lesson. And the old washerwoman
Speaker 23: popped her head in at the door, nodded to him friendly,
Speaker 23: and said, thanks, many thanks, my good child, for your help.
Speaker 23: May the good, ever loving God fulfill your loveliest dream.
Speaker 23: Little Tucky did not know at all what he had dreamed,
Speaker 23: but the loving God knew it. End of the dream
Speaker 23: of Little Tuck.
Speaker 24: The naughty Boy. A long time ago there lived an
Speaker 24: old poet, a thoroughly kind old poet. As he was
Speaker 24: sitting one evening in his room, a dreadful storm arose without,
Speaker 24: and the rain streamed down from heaven. But the old
Speaker 24: poet sat warm and comfortable in his chimney corner, where
Speaker 24: the fire blazed and the roasting apple hissed. Those who
Speaker 24: have not a roof over their heads will be wetted
Speaker 24: to the skin, said the good old poet. Oh let
Speaker 24: me in, Let me in. I am cold, and I'm
Speaker 24: so wet, exclaimed suddenly a child that stood crying at
Speaker 24: the door and knocking for admittance, while the rain poured
Speaker 24: down and the wind made all the windows rattle. Poor thing,
Speaker 24: said the old poet, as he went to open the door.
Speaker 24: There stood a little boy, quite naked, and the water
Speaker 24: ran down from his long golden hair. He trembled with cold,
Speaker 24: and had he not come into a warm room, he
Speaker 24: would most certainly have perished in the frightful tempest. Poor child,
Speaker 24: said the old poet, as he took the boy by
Speaker 24: the hand. Come in, Come in, and I will soon
Speaker 24: restore thee Thou shalt have wine and roasted apples, for
Speaker 24: thou art verily a charming child. And the boy was
Speaker 24: so really his eyes were like two bright stars, and
Speaker 24: although the water trickled down his hair, it waved in
Speaker 24: beautiful curls. He looked exactly like a little angel, but
Speaker 24: he was so pale, and his whole body trembled with cold.
Speaker 24: He had a nice little bow in his hand, but
Speaker 24: it was quite spoiled by the rain, and the tints
Speaker 24: of his many colored arrows ran one into the other.
Speaker 24: The old poet seated himself beside his hearth and took
Speaker 24: the little fellow on his lap. He squeezed the water
Speaker 24: out of his dripping hair, warmed his hands between his own,
Speaker 24: and boiled for him some sweet wine. Then the boy
Speaker 24: recovered his cheeks again grew rosy. He jumped down from
Speaker 24: the lap where he was sitting, and danced round the
Speaker 24: kind old poet. You are a merry fellow, said the
Speaker 24: old man. What's your name? My name is Cupid, answered
Speaker 24: the boy.
Speaker 14: Don't you know me?
Speaker 24: There lies my Oh it shoots well, I can assure you. Look,
Speaker 24: the weather is now clearing up, and the moon is
Speaker 24: shining clear again through the window. Why your bow is
Speaker 24: quite spoiled, said the old poet. That were sad, indeed,
Speaker 24: said the boy, And he took the bow in his
Speaker 24: hand and examined it on every side. Oh, it is
Speaker 24: dry again and is not hurt at all. The string
Speaker 24: is quite tight. I will try it directly, and he
Speaker 24: bent his bow, took aim, and shot an arrow at
Speaker 24: the old poet, right into his heart. You see now
Speaker 24: that my bow was not spoiled, said he laughing, and
Speaker 24: away he ran the naughty boy to shoot the old
Speaker 24: poet in that way, he who had taken him into
Speaker 24: his warm room, who had treated him so kindly, and
Speaker 24: who had given him warm wine and the very best apples.
Speaker 24: The poor poet lay on the earth and wept, for
Speaker 24: the arrow had really flown into his heart. Fie said he,
Speaker 24: how naughty a boy cupid is. I will tell all
Speaker 24: children about him, that they may take care and not
Speaker 24: play with him, for he will only cause them sorrow
Speaker 24: and many a heartache. And all good children to whom
Speaker 24: he related this story took great heed of this naughty cupid.
Speaker 24: But he made fools of them still, for he is
Speaker 24: astonishingly cunning. When the university students come from the lectures,
Speaker 24: he runs beside them in a black coat and with
Speaker 24: a book under his arm. It is quite impossible for
Speaker 24: them to know him, and they walk along with him
Speaker 24: arm and arm, as if he too were a student
Speaker 24: like themselves, And then, unperceived, he thrusts an arrow to
Speaker 24: their bosom. When the young maidens come from being examined
Speaker 24: by the clergyman or go to church to be confirmed there,
Speaker 24: he is again close behind them. Yes, he is forever
Speaker 24: following people At the play, he sits in the great
Speaker 24: chandelier and burns in bright flames, so that people think
Speaker 24: it is really a flame, but they soon discover it
Speaker 24: is something else. He roves about in the garden of
Speaker 24: the palace and upon the ramparts. Yes, once he even
Speaker 24: shot your father and mother right in the heart. Ask
Speaker 24: them only and you will hear what they'll tell you. Oh,
Speaker 24: he is a naughty boy, that cupid. You must never
Speaker 24: have anything to do with him. He is forever running
Speaker 24: after everybody. Only think he shot an arrow once at
Speaker 24: your old grandmother. But that is a long time ago,
Speaker 24: and it is all past now. However, a thing of
Speaker 24: that sort she never forgets. Fine, naughty cupid. But now
Speaker 24: you know him, and you know too how ill behaved
Speaker 24: he is. End of the naughty Boy. The red shoes.
Speaker 24: There was once a little girl who was very pretty
Speaker 24: and delicate. But in summer she was forced to run
Speaker 24: about with bare feet. She was so poor, and in
Speaker 24: winter wear very large wooden shoes, which made her little
Speaker 24: insteps quite red, and that looked so dangerous. In the
Speaker 24: middle of the village lived old dom shoemaker. She sat
Speaker 24: and sewed together as well as she could a little
Speaker 24: pair of shoes out of old red strips of cloth.
Speaker 24: They were very clumsy, but it was a kind thought.
Speaker 24: They were meant for the little girl. The little girl
Speaker 24: was called Karen. On the very day her mother was buried,
Speaker 24: Karen received the red shoes and wore them for the
Speaker 24: first time. They were certainly not intended for mourning, but
Speaker 24: she had no others, and with stockingless feet, she followed
Speaker 24: the poor straw coffin in them. Suddenly, a large old
Speaker 24: carriage drove up, and a large old lady sat in it.
Speaker 24: She looked at the little girl, felt compassion for her,
Speaker 24: and then said to the clergyman, here give me the
Speaker 24: little girl. I will adopt her. And Karen believed all
Speaker 24: this happened on account of the red shoes. But the
Speaker 24: old lady thought they were horrible, and they were burnt.
Speaker 24: But Karen herself was cleanly and nicely dressed. She must
Speaker 24: learn to read and sew. And people said she was
Speaker 24: a nice little thing, but the looking glass said, thou
Speaker 24: art more than nice, thou art beautiful. Now the queen
Speaker 24: once traveled through the land, and she had her little
Speaker 24: daughter with her, and this little daughter was a princess,
Speaker 24: and people streamed to the castle, and Karen was there also,
Speaker 24: And the little princess stood in her fine white dress
Speaker 24: in a window and let herself be stared at. She
Speaker 24: had neither a train nor a golden crown, but splendid
Speaker 24: red Morocco shoes. They were certainly far handsomer than those
Speaker 24: domed shoemaker had made for little Karen. Nothing in the
Speaker 24: world can be compared with red shoes. Now Karen was
Speaker 24: old enough to be confirmed. She had new clothes and
Speaker 24: was to have new shoes also. The rich shoemaker in
Speaker 24: the city took the measure of her little foot. This
Speaker 24: took place at his house, in his room, where stood
Speaker 24: large glass cases filled with elegant shoes and brilliant boots.
Speaker 24: All this looked charming, but the old lady could not
Speaker 24: see well, and so had no pleasure in them. In
Speaker 24: the midst of the shoes stood a pair of red ones,
Speaker 24: just like those the princess had worn. How beautiful they were,
Speaker 24: the shoemaker said. Also they had been made for the
Speaker 24: child of a count, but had not fitted. That must
Speaker 24: be patent leather, said the old lady. They shine, so yes,
Speaker 24: they shine, said Karen, And they fitted and were bought,
Speaker 24: but the old lady knew nothing about their being read,
Speaker 24: else she would never have allowed Karen to have gone
Speaker 24: in red shoes to be confirmed. Yet such was the case.
Speaker 24: Everybody looked at her feet, and when she stepped through
Speaker 24: the chancel door on the church pavement, it seemed to
Speaker 24: her as if the old figures on the tombs, those
Speaker 24: portraits of old preachers and preachers wives with stiff ruffs
Speaker 24: and long black dresses, fixed their eyes on her red shoes,
Speaker 24: and she thought only of them. As the clergyman laid
Speaker 24: his hand upon her head and spoke of the holy
Speaker 24: baptism of the Covenant with God, and how she would
Speaker 24: be now a matured Christian, and the organ pealed so solemnly,
Speaker 24: the sweet children's voices sang, and the old music directors sang,
Speaker 24: but Karen only thought of her red shoes. In the afternoon,
Speaker 24: the old lady heard from everyone that the shoes had
Speaker 24: been read, and she said that it was very wrong
Speaker 24: of Karen, that it was not at all becoming, and
Speaker 24: that in future Karen should only go in black shoes
Speaker 24: to church, even when she should be older. The next
Speaker 24: Sunday there was the sacrament, and Karen looked at the
Speaker 24: black shoes, looked at the red ones, looked at them again,
Speaker 24: and put on the red shoes. The sun shone gloriously.
Speaker 24: Karen and the old lady walked along the path through
Speaker 24: the corn.
Speaker 14: It was rather dusty.
Speaker 24: There at the church door stood an old soldier with
Speaker 24: a crutch and with a wonderfully long beard which was
Speaker 24: more red than white. And he bowed to the ground
Speaker 24: and asked the old lady whether he might dust her shoes.
Speaker 24: And Karen stretched out her little foot, See what beautiful
Speaker 24: dancing shoes, said the soldier, sit firm when you dance,
Speaker 24: and he put his hand out towards the soles. And
Speaker 24: the old lady gave the soldier alms and went into
Speaker 24: the church with Karen. And all the people of the
Speaker 24: church looked at Karen's red shoes and all the pictures.
Speaker 24: And as Karen knelt before the altar and raised the
Speaker 24: cup to her lips, she only thought of the red shoes,
Speaker 24: and they seemed to swim in it. And she forgot
Speaker 24: to sing her psalm, and she forgot to pray our
Speaker 24: Father in heaven. Now all the people went out of
Speaker 24: the church, and the old lady got into her carriage.
Speaker 24: Karen raised her foot to get in after her when
Speaker 24: the old soldier said, look what beautiful dancing shoes. And
Speaker 24: Karen could not help dancing a step or two. And
Speaker 24: when she began, her feet continued to dance. It was
Speaker 24: just as though the shoes had power over them. She
Speaker 24: danced round the church corner. She could not leave off.
Speaker 24: The coachman was obliged to run after her and catch
Speaker 24: hold of her, and he lifted her in the carriage,
Speaker 24: but her feet continued to dance, so that she trod
Speaker 24: on the old lady dreadfully. At length, she took the
Speaker 24: shoes off, and then her legs had peace.
Speaker 14: The shoes were.
Speaker 24: Placed in a closet at home, but and could not
Speaker 24: avoid looking at them. Now the old lady was sick,
Speaker 24: and it was said she could not recover. She must
Speaker 24: be nursed and waited upon. And there was no one
Speaker 24: whose duty it was so much as Karen's. But there
Speaker 24: was a great ball in the city to which Karen
Speaker 24: was invited. She looked at the old lady, who could
Speaker 24: not recover. She looked at the red shoes, and she
Speaker 24: thought there could be no sin in it. She put
Speaker 24: on the red shoes. She might do that also, she thought.
Speaker 24: But then she went to the ball and began to dance.
Speaker 24: When she wanted to dance to the right, the shoes
Speaker 24: would dance to the left, And when she wanted to
Speaker 24: dance up the room, the shoes danced back again. Down
Speaker 24: the steps, into the street, and out of the city gate.
Speaker 24: She danced, and was forced to dance straight out into
Speaker 24: the gloomy wood. Then it was suddenly light up among
Speaker 24: the trees, and she fancied it must be the moon,
Speaker 24: for there was a face. But it was the old
Speaker 24: soldier with the red beard. He sat there, nodded his
Speaker 24: head and said, look what beautiful dancing shoes. Then she
Speaker 24: was terrified and wanted to fling off the red shoes,
Speaker 24: but they clung fast, and she pulled down her stockings,
Speaker 24: but the shoes seemed to have grown to her feet.
Speaker 24: And she danced, and must dance over fields and meadows
Speaker 24: in rain and sunshine by night and day. But at
Speaker 24: night it was the most fearful. She danced over the churchyard,
Speaker 24: but the dead did not dance. They had something better
Speaker 24: to do than to dance. She wished to seat herself
Speaker 24: upon a poor man's grave, where the bitter tansy grow.
Speaker 24: But for her there was neither peace nor rest. And
Speaker 24: when she danced towards the open church door, she saw
Speaker 24: an angel see standing there. He wore long white garments.
Speaker 24: He had wings which reached from his shoulders to the earth.
Speaker 24: His countenance was severe and grave, and in his hand
Speaker 24: he held a sword, broad and glittering. Dance. Shalt thou, said,
Speaker 24: he dance in thy red shoes, till thou art pale
Speaker 24: and cold, till thy skin shrivels up, and thou art
Speaker 24: a skeleton. Dance, Shalt thou from door to door, And
Speaker 24: where proud, vain children dwell, thou shalt knock, that they
Speaker 24: may hear thee and tremble.
Speaker 14: Dance.
Speaker 24: Shalt thou mercy, cried Karen, But she did not hear
Speaker 24: the angel's reply, for the shoes carried her through the
Speaker 24: gate into the fields, across roads and bridges, and she
Speaker 24: must keep ever dancing. One morning she danced past a
Speaker 24: door which she well knew within sounded a psalm. A
Speaker 24: coffin decked with flowers was borne forth. Then she knew
Speaker 24: that the old lady was dead, and felt that she
Speaker 24: was abandoned by all, and condemned by the angel of God.
Speaker 24: She danced, and she was forced to dance through the
Speaker 24: gloomy night. The shoes carried her over stack and stone.
Speaker 24: She was torn till she bled. She danced over the
Speaker 24: heath till she came to a little house. Here she
Speaker 24: knew dwelt the executioner, and she tapped with her fingers
Speaker 24: at the window and said, come out, come out. I
Speaker 24: cannot come in, for I am forced to dance. And
Speaker 24: the executioner said, thou dost not know who I am.
Speaker 24: I fancy I strike bad people's heads off, and I
Speaker 24: hear that my axe rings. Don't strike my head off,
Speaker 24: said Karen. Then I can't repent of my sins, but
Speaker 24: strike off my feet in the red shoes. And then
Speaker 24: she confessed her entire sin, and the executioner struck off
Speaker 24: her feet with the red shoes. But the shoes danced
Speaker 24: away with the little feet across the field into the
Speaker 24: deep wood, and he carved out little wooden feet for her,
Speaker 24: and crutches taught her the psalm criminals always sing. And
Speaker 24: she kissed the hand which had wielded the axe, and
Speaker 24: went over the heath. Now I have suffered enough for
Speaker 24: the red shoes, said she, Now, I will go into
Speaker 24: the church that people may see me, And she hastened
Speaker 24: towards the church door, but when she was near it,
Speaker 24: the red shoes danced before her, and she was terrified
Speaker 24: and turned round. The whole week she was unhappy and
Speaker 24: wept many bitter tears. But when Sunday returned, she said, well,
Speaker 24: now I have suffered and struggled enough. I really believe
Speaker 24: I am as good as many a one who sits
Speaker 24: in the church and holds her head so high. And
Speaker 24: away she went boldly. But she had not got farther
Speaker 24: than the churchyard gate before she saw the red shoes
Speaker 24: dancing before her, and she was frightened and turned back
Speaker 24: and repented of her sin from her heart. And she
Speaker 24: went to the parsonage and begged that they would take
Speaker 24: her into service. She would be very industrious, she said,
Speaker 24: and would do everything she could. She did not care
Speaker 24: about the wages, only she wished to have a home
Speaker 24: and be with good people. And the clergyman's wife was
Speaker 24: sorry for her and took her into service, and she
Speaker 24: was industrious and thoughtful. She sat still and listened when
Speaker 24: the clergyman read the Bible in the evenings, all the
Speaker 24: children thought a great deal of her, but when they
Speaker 24: spoke of dress and grandeur and beauty, she shook her head.
Speaker 24: The following Sunday, when the family was going to church,
Speaker 24: they asked her whether she would not go with them,
Speaker 24: but she glanced sorrowfully, with tears in her eyes at
Speaker 24: her crutches. The family went to hear the word of God,
Speaker 24: but she went alone into her little chamber. There was
Speaker 24: only room for a bed and chair to stand in it,
Speaker 24: and here she sat down with her prayer book, And
Speaker 24: whilst she read with a pious mind, the wind bore
Speaker 24: the strains of the organ towards her, and she raised
Speaker 24: her tearful countenance and said, O, God help me. And
Speaker 24: the sun shone so clearly and straight. Before her stood
Speaker 24: the Angel of God in white garments, the same she
Speaker 24: had seen that night at the church door. But he
Speaker 24: no longer carried the sharp sword, but in its stead
Speaker 24: a splendid green spray full of roses. And he touched
Speaker 24: the ceiling with the spray, and the ceiling rose so high,
Speaker 24: and where he had touched it, there gleamed a golden star.
Speaker 24: And he touched the walls, and they widened out and
Speaker 24: she saw the organ which was playing. She saw the
Speaker 24: old pictures of the preachers and the preacher's wives. The
Speaker 24: congregations sat in cushioned seats and sang out of their
Speaker 24: prayer books, for the church itself had come to the
Speaker 24: poor girl in her narrow chamber, or else she had
Speaker 24: come into the church. She sat in the pew at
Speaker 24: the clergyman's family, And when they had ended the psalm
Speaker 24: and looked up, they nodded and said, it is right
Speaker 24: that thou art come. It was through mercy, she said.
Speaker 24: And the organ pealed, and the children's voices in the
Speaker 24: choir sounded so sweet and soft. The clear sunshine streamed
Speaker 24: so warmly through the window into the pew where Karen sat.
Speaker 24: Her heart was so full of sunshine, peace and joy
Speaker 24: that it brought her soul flew on the sunshine to God.
Speaker 24: And there no one asked after the red shoes, End
Speaker 24: of the red shoes.