In the most fashionable street in the city stood a fine old house ; the wall around it had bits of glass worked into it , so that when the sun or the moon shone it looked as if it were covered with diamonds . That was a sign of wealth , and there was great wealth inside . It was said that the merchant was a man rich enough to put two barrels of gold into his best parlor and could even put a barrel of gold pieces , as a savings bank against the future , outside the door of the room where his little son was born . When the baby arrived in the rich house , there was great joy from the cellar up to the garret ; and up there , there was still greater joy an hour or two later . The warehouseman and his wife lived in the garret , and there , too , at the same time , a little son arrived , given by our Lord , brought by the stork , and exhibited by the mother . And there , too , was a barrel outside the door , quite accidentally ; but it was not a barrel of gold - it was a barrel of sweepings . The rich merchant was a very kind , fine man . His wife , delicate and always dressed in clothes of high quality , was pious and , besides , was kind and good to the poor . Everybody rejoiced with these two people on now having a little son who would grow up and be rich and happy , like his father . When the little boy was baptized he was called Felix , which in Latin means " lucky , " and this he was , and his parents were even more so . The boy on the first floor and the boy in the garret each received the same amount of kisses from his parents and just as much sunshine from our Lord ; but still they were placed a little differently - one downstairs , and one up . Peer sat the highest , way up in the garret , and he had his own mother for a nurse ; little Felix had a stranger for his nurse , but she was good and honest - that was written in her service book . The rich child had a pretty baby carriage , which was pushed about by his elegantly dressed nurse ; the child from the garret was carried in the arms of his own mother , both when she was in her Sunday clothes and when she had her everyday things on , and he was just as happy . Both children soon began to observe things ; they were growing , and both could show with their hands how tall they were , and say single words in their mother tongue . The were equally handsome , petted , and equally fond of sweets . As they grew up , they both got an equal amount of pleasure out of the merchant 's horses and carriages . Felix was allowed to sit by the coachman , along with his nurse , and look at the horses ; he would fancy himself driving . Peer was allowed to sit at the garret window and look down into the yard when the master and mistress went out to drive ; and when they had left , he would place two chairs , one in front of the other , up there in the room , and so he would drive himself ; he was the real coachman - that was a little more than fancying himself to be the coachman . They got along splendidly , these two ; yet it was not until they were two years old that they spoke to each other . Felix was always elegantly dressed in silk and velvet , with bare knees , after the English style . " The poor child will freeze ! " said the family in the garret . Peer had trousers that came down to his ankles , but one day his clothes were torn right across his knees , so that he got as much of a draft and was just as much undressed as the merchant 's delicate little boy . Felix came along with his mother and was about to go out through the gate when Peer came along with his and wanted to go in . " The sweet child , " she said , " is surely going to get on in the world . He was born with a gold apple in his hand ; I can see it even with my poor sight . Why , there is the shining apple ! " And she kissed the child 's little hand . His parents could see nothing , and neither could Peer ; but as he grew to have more understanding , he liked to believe it . Yes , Grandmother could tell stories , and Peer was never tired of hearing always the same ones . She taught him a psalm and the Lord 's Prayer as well , and he could say it , not as gabble but as words that meant something ; she explained every single sentence in it to him . He gave particular thought to what Grandmother said about the words , " Give us this day our daily bread " ; he was to understand that it was necessary for one to get wheat bread , for another to get black bread ; one must have a great house when he had many people in his employ ; another , in small circumstances , could live quite as happily in a little room in the garret . " So each person has what he calls ' daily bread . ' Peer , of course , had his good daily bread - and the most delightful days , too , but they were not to last forever . The sad years of war began ; the young men were to go away , and the older men as well . Peer 's father was among those who were called in ; and soon afterward it was heard that he had been one of the first to fall in battle against the superior enemy . There was bitter grief in the little room in the garret . The mother cried ; the grandmother and little Peer cried ; and every time one of the neighbors came up to see them , they talked about " Pappa , " and then they cried all together . The window , meanwhile , was given permission to stay in her garret flat , rentfree , during the first year , and afterward she was to pay only a small rent . The grandmother stayed with the mother , who supported herself by washing for several " single , elegant gentlemen , " as she called them . Peer had neither sorrow nor want . He had plenty of food and drink , and Grandmother told him stories , such strange and wonderful ones about the wide world , that he asked her , one day , if the two of them might not go to foreign lands some Sunday and return home as prince and princess , wearing gold crowns . Peer rode around the room on hobbyhorses ; he had two such horses . But the merchant 's son had a real live horse ; it was so small that it might well have been called a baby horse , which , in fact , Peer called it , and it never could become any bigger . Felix rode it in the yard ; yes , and he even rode it outside the gate , when his father and a riding master from the king 's stable were with him . For the first half - hour , Peer had not liked his horses and hadn 't ridden them , for they were not real ; and then he had asked his mother why he could not have a real horse like little Felix had , and his mother had said , " Felix lives down on the first floor , close by the stables , but you live high up under the roof . One cannot have horses up in the garret except like those you have . You should ride on them . " Peer had a godfather who usually came there every Sunday during the winter and got a good warm meal . Things had gone wrong for him , said the mother and the grandmother . He had begun as a coachman . He had been drinking and had fallen asleep at his post , and that neither a soldier nor a coachman should do . He then had become a cabman and driven a cab , or sometimes a carriage , and often for very elegant people . But now he drove a garbage wagon and went from door to door , swinging his rattle , " snurre - rurre - ud ! " and from all the houses came the servantgirls and housewives with their buckets full , and turned these into the wagon ; rubbish and junk , ashes and sweepings , were all thrown in . One day Peer came down from the garret after his mother had gone to town . He stood at the open gate , and there outside was Godfather with his wagon . " Would you like to take a drive ? " he asked . Yes , Peer was willing to indeed , but only as far as the corner . His eyes shone as he sat on the seat with Godfather and was allowed to hold the whip . Peer drove with real live horses , drove right to the corner . Then his mother came along ; she looked rather dubious , for it was not very nice to see her own little son riding on a garbage wagon . She told him to get down at once . Still , she thanked Godfather ; but at home she forbade Peer to drive with him again . One day he again went down to the gate . There was no Godfather there to tempt him with a drive , but there were other temptations . Three or four small street urchins were down in the gutter , poking about to see what they could find that had been lost or had hidden itself there . Frequently they had found a button or a copper coin , but frequently , too , they had cut themselves on a broken bottle , or pricked themselves with a pin , which just now was the case . Peer simply had to join them , and when he got down among the gutter stones he found a silver coin . Back of the merchant 's yard there was some low ground that was to be filled up for building lots ; gravel and ashes were carted and dumped out there , great heaps of it . Godfather helped deliver it in his wagon , but Peer was not allowed to drive with him . The street urchins dug in the heaps , dug with a stick and with their bare hands ; they always found one thing or another that seemed worth picking up . Then little Peer came along . They saw him and cried , " Get away from here , Lucky Peer ! And when , despite this , he came closer , they threw lumps of dirt at him . One of these struck against his wooden shoe and crumbled to pieces . Something shining rolled out , and Peer picked it up ; it was a little heart made of amber . He ran home with it . The other boys did not notice that even when they threw dirt at him he was a child of luck . How the eyes of the merchant 's wife shone on seeing the ring ! It was her own engagement ring , one that she had lost three years before ! That 's how long it had lain in the gutter . Peer was well rewarded , and the money rattled in his little box . The amber heart was a cheap thing , the lady said ; Peer might just as well keep that . At night the amber heart lay on the bureau , and the grandmother lay in bed . " My , what is it that burns so ! " she said . " It looks as if a small candle is lighted there . " She got up to see , and it was the little heart of amber - yes , Grandmother , with her weak sight , frequently saw more than anyone else could see . She had her own thoughts about it . The next morning she took a narrow , strong ribbon , drew it through the opening at the top of the heart , and put it around her little grandson 's neck . " You must never take it off , except to put a new ribbon into it , and you must not show it to the other boys , either , for then they would take it from you , and you would get a stomach - ache ! " That was the only painful sickness little Peer had known so far . There was a strange power , too , in that heart . Grandmother showed him that when she rubbed it with her hand , and a little straw was put next to it , the straw seemed to be alive and was drawn to the heart of amber and would not a let go . The merchant 's son had a private tutor who taught him his lessons and who took walks with him , too . Peer was also to have an education , so he went to public school with a great number of other boys . They played together , and that was much more fun than going along with a tutor . Peer would not have changed places with him . He was a lucky Peer , but Godfather was also a lucky peer , although his name was not Peer . He won a prize in the lottery , of two hundred dollars , on a ticket he shared with eleven others . He immediately bought some better clothes , and he looked very well in them . Luck never comes alone ; it always has company , and so it did this time . Godfather gave up the garbage wagon and joined the theater . As a machinist . That was an advancement . He became quite another person ; and he enjoyed the plays very much , although he always saw them from the top or from the side . Most wonderful was the ballet , but that gave him the hardest work , and there was always danger of fire . They danced both in heaven and on earth . That was something for little Peer to see ; and one evening when there was to be a dress rehearsal of a new ballet , in which everyone was dressed and made up as on the opening night when people pay to see all the magnificence , he had permission to bring Peer with him and put him in a place where he could see the whole show . Peer had never seen a stage play , not to mention a ballet . He put on his Sunday clothes and went with Godfather to the theater . It was just like a great drying loft , with many curtains and screens , big openings in the floor , lamps , and lights . There were so many tricky nooks and corners everywhere , from which people appeared , just as in a great church with its gallery pews . Peer was seated down where the floor slanted steeply and was told to stay there until it was all finished and he was sent for . He had three sandwiches in his pocket , so that he need not starve . Soon it grew lighter and lighter ; then up in front , just as if straight out of the earth , there came a number of musicians with both flutes and violins . In the seats next to Peer sat people dressed in street clothes ; but there also appeared knights with gold helmets , beautiful maidens in gauze and flowers , even angels all in white , with wings on their backs . They seated themselves upstairs and downstairs , on the floor and in the balcony seats , to watch what was going on . They were all members of the ballet , but Peer did not know that . He thought they belonged in the fairy tales his grandmother had told him about . There then appeared a woman , and she was the most beautiful of all , with a gold helmet and spear ; she seemed to be above all the others , and sat between an angel and a troll . Ah , how much there was to see ! And yet the ballet had not even begun . Suddenly everything became quiet . A man dressed in black moved a little fairy wand over all the musicians , and then they began to play ; the music made a whistling sound through the theater , and the whole wall in front began to rise . One looked into a flower garden , where the sun shone and all the people danced and leaped . Such a wonderful sight Peer had never imagined . There were soldiers marching , and there was war , and there was a banquet , and there were the mighty Samson and his lover . But she was as wicked as she was beautiful ; she betrayed him . The Philistines plucked his eyes out ; he was forced to grind in the mill and to be mocked and insulted in the great banquet hall ; but then he took hold of the heavy stone pillars that held up the roof and shook them and the whole house ; it fell , and there burst forth wonderful flames of red and green fire . Now here was something to tell about , when he got home . It was impossible to get him to go to bed . He stood on one leg and laid the other on the table - that was what Samson 's lover and all the other ladies had done . He made a treadmill out of Grandmother 's chair and upset two chairs and a pillow over himself to show how the banquet hall had come down . He showed this - yes , and he even presented it with the music that belonged to it ; there was no talking in the ballet . He sang high and low , with words and without words , and it was quite incoherent . It was like a whole opera . The most noticeable thing of all , meanwhile , was his beautiful , bell - clear voice , but no one spoke of that . Peer previously had wanted to be a grocer 's boy , to be in charge of prunes and powdered sugar . Now he found there was something much more wonderful , and that was to get into the Samson story and dance in the ballet . A great many poor children had taken that road , said the grandmother , and had become had taken that road , said the grandmother , and had become fine and honored people ; yet no little girl of her family would ever be permitted to do so ; but a boy - well , he stood more firmly . Peer had not seen a single one of the little girls fall down before the whole house fell , and then they all fell together , he said . " He gives me no rest ! " said his mother . At last , his grandmother promised to take him to the ballet master , who was a fine gentleman and had his own house , like the merchant . Would Peer ever be that rich ? Nothing is impossible for our Lord . Peer had been born with a gold apple ; luck had been laid in his hands - perhaps it was also in his legs . Peer went to the ballet master and knew him at once ; it was Samson himself . His eyes had not suffered at all at the hands of the Philistines . That was only acting in the play , he was told . And Samson looked kindly and pleasantly at him , and told him to stand up straight , look right at him , and show him his ankle . Peer showed his whole foot and leg , too . " So it goes ! " said Miss Frandsen . " The theater road is a delightful one to travel , but it is full of thorns . Jealousy grows there ! Jealousy ! " He had to stand up , stick his legs out , and hold on to a post so as not to fall , while he leaned to kick , first with his right leg , then with his left . It was not nearly so difficult for him as it was for most of the others . The ballet master patted him and said that he would soon be in the ballet ; he was to play the child of a king who was carried on shields and wore a gold crown . This was practiced at the dancing school and rehearsed at the theater itself . The mother and grandmother had to see little Peer in all his glory , and when they saw this , they both cried , although it was such a happy occasion . Peer , in all his pomp and glory , did not see them at all ; but he did see the merchant 's family , who sat in the loge nearest the stage . Little Felix was with them , in his best clothes . He wore buttoned gloves , just like a grown - up gentleman , and although he could see perfectly well , he looked through an opera glass the whole evening , just like a grown - up gentleman . He looked at Peer , and Peer looked at him ; Peer was a king 's child with a crown of gold . This evening brought the two children into closer relationship with one another . A few days later , when they met each other at home in the yard , Felix went up to Peer and told him he had seen him when he was a prince . He knew very well that he was not a prince any longer , but then he had worn a prince 's clothes and a gold crown . " I shall wear them again on Sunday , " said Peer . His young companions , the dancing children , were not at all so good as they ought to be , although they often played angels and had wings on them . There was a little girl , Malle Knallerup , who always - when she was dressed as a page , and Peer was a page - stepped maliciously on the side of his foot , so as to dirty his stockings . There was a wicked boy who always was sticking pins in his back ; and one day he ate Peer 's sandwiches - by mistake ; but that was impossible , for Peer had meat balls on his sandwiches , and the other boy had only bread without butter ; he could not have made a mistake . There was a ballet performed called The Vampire . In it the smallest dancing children were dressed as bats , wore gray , knitted tights that fitted snugly to their bodies ; black gauze wings were stretched from their shoulders . They were to run on tiptoe , as if they were light enough to fly , and then they were to whirl around on the floor . Peer could do this especially well ; but his trousers and jacket , all of one piece , were old and worn and could not stand the strain . So just as he whirled around before the eyes of all the people , there was a rip right down his back , straight from his neck down to where the legs are fastened in , and all of his short , white shirt could be seen . All the people laughed . Peer felt it and knew what had happened ; he whirled and whirled , but it grew worse and worse . People laughed louder and louder ; the other vampires laughed with them , and whirled into him , and all the more dreadfully when the people clapped and shouted , " Bravo ! " Besides the dancing school , they had a regular school at the theater where the children were taught arithmetic and writing , history and geography - yes , and they even had a teacher in religion , for it is not enough to know how to dance ; there is something more important in the world than wearing out dancing shoes . Here , too , Peer was quick , the very quickest of all , and got plenty of good marks ; but his fellow students still called him Rippy . They were only teasing him ; but at last he could not stand it any longer , and he swung and hit one of the boys , so that he was black and blue under the left eye and had to have grease paint on it in the evening when he appeared in the ballet . Peer got a scolding from the dancing master , and a worse one from the sweeping woman , for it was her son he had " given a sweeping . " A good many thoughts went through little Peer 's head . And one Sunday , when he was dressed in his best clothes , he went out without saying a word about it to his mother or his grandmother , not even to Miss Frandsen , who always gave him good advice ; he went straight to the orchestra conductor ; he thought this man was the most important one there was outside the ballet . Cheerfully he stepped in and said , " I am at the dancing school , but there is so much jealousy there , and so I would rather be a player or a singer , if you would help me , please . " " Have you a voice ? " asked the conductor , and looked quite pleasantly at him . " Seems to me I know you . Where have I seen you before ? Wasn 't it you who was ripped down the back ? " And now he laughed . But Peer grew red ; he was surely no longer Lucky Peer , as his grandmother had called him . He looked down at his feet and wished he were far away . " That is a difficult song , but you did it pretty well , " said the conductor . " You have an excellent voice - as long as it doesn 't rip in the back ! " and he laughed and called his wife . She also had to hear Peer sing , and she nodded her head and said something in a foreign tongue . Just at that moment the singing master of the theater came in ; it was really to him Peer should have gone if he wanted to be a singer ; now the singing master came to him , quite accidentally , as it were ; he also heard him sing " Mercy for Me , " but he id not laugh , and he did not look so kindly at him as the conductor and his wife ; still it was decided that Peer should have singing lessons . " Now he is on the right track , " said Miss Frandsen . " One gets much farther with a voice than with legs . If I had had a voice , I would have been a great songstress and would perhaps have been a baroness by now . " Peer had to sing for her and sing for the merchant 's family , when they heard of his new career . He was called in one evening when they had company downstairs , and he sang several songs , among them " Mercy for Me . " All the company clapped their hands , and Felix did , too ; he had heard him sing before ; in the stable Peer had sung the entire ballet of Samson , and that was the most delightful of all . " Yes , Peer can , " said Felix , and so they asked him to do it . He sang , and he talked ; he drummed and he hummed ; it was child 's play , but fragments of well - known melodies came forth which really illustrated what the ballet was about . All the company found it very entertaining ; they laughed and praised it , one louder than another . The merchant 's wife gave Peer a huge piece of cake and a silver dollar . " What was the matter with you yesterday ! " he said . " Could you not understand that they were making a fool of you ? Never do that again , and don 't you go running about and singing at doors , either inside or outside . Now you can go . I won 't give you any singing lesson today . " When Peer left , he was dreadfully downcast ; he had fallen out of the master 's good graces . On the contrary , the master was really more satisfied with him than ever before . In all the absurdity which he had seen him perform , there was really some meaning , something quite unusual . The boy had an ear for music , and a voice as clear as a bell and of great compass ; if it continued like that , then the little fellow 's fortune was made . Now began the singing lessons . Peer was industrious and Peer was clever . How much there was to learn , how much to know ! The mother toiled and slaved to make an honest living , so that her son might be well dressed and neat and not look too shabby among the people to whom he now was invited . He was always singing and jubilant ; they had no need at all of a canary bird , the mother said . Every Sunday he had to sing a psalm with his grandmother . It was delightful to hear his fresh voice lift itself up with hers . " It is much more beautiful than to hear him sing wildly ! " That 's what she called his singing when , like a little bird , his voice jubilantly gave forth with tones that seemed to come of themselves and make such music as they pleased . What tones there were in his little throat , what wonderful sounds in his little breast ! Indeed , he could imitate a whole orchestra . There were both flute and bassoon in his His voice was changing , the singing master said . Peer must not sing at all now . How long would it be ? A year , perhaps two ; perhaps the voice would never come again . that was a great grief . " You are a poet , too , little Peer , " said the merchant 's wife , to whom he carried his text and music . The merchant received a piece of music dedicated to him , a piece without words . Felix got one , too ; and , yes , Miss Frandsen also did , and that went into her scrapbook , in which were verses and music by two who were once young lieutenants but now were old majors on half pay ; the book had been given by " a friend , " who had bound it himself . And Peer was confirmed at Easter . Felix presented him with a silver watch . It was the first watch Peer had owned ; he felt that this made him a man , for now he did not have to ask others what time it was . Felix came up to the garret , congratulated him , and handed him the watch ; he himself was not to be confirmed until the autumn . They took each other by the hand , these two children of the house , both the same age , born the same day and in the same house . And Felix ate a piece of the cake that had been baked in the garret for the occasion of the confirmation . The following Sunday all three of them went to Communion . When they came home from church they found a message from the singing master , asking Peer to come to see him ; and Peer went . Some good news awaited him , and yet it was serious , too . While he must give up singing for a year , and his voice must lie fallow like a field , as a peasant might say , during that time he was to further his education , not in the capital , where every evening he would be running to the theater , from which he could not keep away , but he was to go one hundred and twenty miles from home , to board with a schoolmaster who boarded a couple of other young men . There he was to learn language and science , which someday would be useful to him . The charge for a year 's course was three hundred dollars , and that was paid by a " benefactor who does not wish his name to be known . " The day of departure came . A good many tears were shed , and kisses and blessings given ; and then Peer rode the hundred and twenty miles on the railway , out into the wide world . It was Whitsuntide . The sun shone , and the woods were fresh and green ; the train went rushing through them ; new fields and villages were continually coming into view ; country manors peeped out ; the cattle stood in the pastures . Now they passed a station , then another , and market town after market town . At each stopping place there was a crowd of people , welcoming or saying good - by ; there was noisy talking , outside and in the carriages . Where Peer sat there was a lot of entertainment and chattering by a widow dressed in black . She talked about his grave , his coffin , and his corpse - meaning her child 's . It had been such a poor little thing that there could have been no happiness for it had it lived . It had been a great relief for her and the little lamb when it had fallen asleep . " I spared no expense on flowers on that occasion ! " she said ; " and you must remember that it died at a very expensive time , when the flowers had to be cut from potted plants ! Every Sunday I went to my grave and laid a wreath on it with great white silk bows ; the silk bows were immediately stolen by some little girls and used for dancing bows ; they were so tempting ! One Sunday I went there , and I knew that my grave was on the left of the main path , but when I got there , there was my grave on the right . ' How is this ? ' says I to the gravedigger . ' Isn 't my grave on the left ? ' " ' But I want my corpse in my grave , ' says I , ' and I have a perfect right to say so . Shall I go and decorate a false mound , when my corpse lies without any sign on the other side ? Indeed I won 't ! ' " He is such a good man , that dean ! He gave me permission to have my corpse on the right . It would cost five dollars . I gave that with a kiss of my hand and walked back to my old grave . ' Can I now be very sure that it is my own coffin and my corpse that is moved ? ' " ' That Madam can ! ' And so I gave each of the men a coin for the moving . But now , since it had cost so much , I thought I should spend something to make it beautiful , and so I ordered a monument with an inscription . But - will you believe it - when I got it , there was a gilded butterfly painted at the top . ' Why , that means Frivolity , ' said I . ' I won 't have that on my grave . ' " ' I never heard that , ' said I . Now , have any of you here in the carriage ever heard of a butterfly as a sign for anything but Frivolity ? I kept quiet . I don 't like long conversations . I composed myself , and put the monument away in my pantry . There it stood till my lodger came home . He Herr Gabriel , the honorable man of learning with whom Peer was to live as a boarding scholar , was at the railway station , to call for him . Herr Gabriel was a man as thin as s skeleton , with great , shiny eyes that stuck out so very far that one was almost afraid that when he sneezed they would pop out of his head entirely . He was accompanied by three of his own little boys ; one of them stumbled over his own legs , and the other two stepped all over Peer 's feet in their eagerness to get a close view of him . Two larger boys were with them , the older about fourteen years , fair - skinned , freckled , and full of pimples . " Young Madsen , who will be a student in about three years , if he studies ! Primus , son of a dean . " That was the younger , who looked like a head of wheat . " Both are boarders , studying with me , " said Herr Gabriel . " Our small stuff , " he called his own boys . And they walked into town and then out of it . There stood a great half - tumbled - down timber house , with a jasmine - covered summerhouse , facing the road . Here Madam Gabriel waited with more " small stuff , " two little girls . " Good heavens , how grown - up you are ! " she said to Peer . " Why , you are a fully developed gentleman already . I thought that you were like Primus or young Madsen . Angel Gabriel , it 's a good thing the inner door is nailed . You know what I think . " " Nonsense ! " said Herr Gabriel . And they stepped into the room . There " Here you can live just as if you were at your parents ' . We have a theater , too , in the town . The pharmacist is the director of a private company , and we have traveling players . But now you are going to have your turkey . " And so she showed Peer into the dining room , where the wash was drying on a line . So Peer sat down to eat the roast turkey while the children of the house , but not the two boarders , who had withdrawn , gave a dramatic show for the entertainment of themselves and the stranger . There had lately been a traveling company of actors in town , which had played Schiller 's The Robbers . The two oldest boys had been immensely taken with it . And they now performed the whole play at home - all the parts , notwithstanding that they remembered only these words : " Dreams come from the stomach . " But they were spoken by all the characters in different tones of voice . There stood Amelia , with heavenly eyes and a dreamy look . " Dreams come from the stomach ! " she said , and covered her face with both her hands . Carl Moor came forward with a heroic stride and manly voice , " Dreams come from the stomach , " and at that the whole flock of children , boys and girls , rushed in ; they were all robbers , and murdered one another , crying out , " Dreams come from the stomach . " That was Schiller 's The Robbers . This performance and stuffed turkey were Peer 's first introduction into Herr Gabriel 's house . He then went to his little chamber , where through the window , into which the sun shone warmly , he could see the garden . He sat down and looked out . Herr Gabriel was walking there , absorbed in reading a book . He came closer and looked in ; his eyes seemed fixed upon Peer , who bowed respectfully . Herr Gabriel opened his mouth as wide as he would , stuck out his tongue , and let it wag from one side to the other right in the face of the astonished Peer , who could not understand why he was treated in Then Madam 's voice sank deeper , but was distinctly heard . " What will the young man in there think of our house when he hears all this vulgarity ! " At that the quarrel subsided , but then again rose louder and louder . " Young man , now you have some idea of what it is to be a housewife . You should thank heaven that you don 't have to bother with girls . I want to have peace , so I give them punch . I would gladly give you a glass - one sleeps so well after it - but no one dares go through the hallway door after ten o ' clock ; my Gabriel will not permit it . But you shall have some punch , nevertheless . There is a big hole in the door , stopped up with putty ; I will push the putty out and put a funnel through the hole ; you hold your waterglass under it , and I shall pour you some punch . Keep it a secret , even from my Gabriel . You must not worry him with household affairs . " And so Peer got his punch , and there was peace in Madam Gabriel 's room , peace and quiet in the whole house . Peer went to bed , thought of his mother and grandmother , said his evening prayer , and fell asleep . What one dreams the first night one sleeps in a strange house has special significance , Grandmother had said . Peer dreamed that he took the amber heart , which he still constantly wore , laid it in a flowerpot , and it grew into a great tree , up through the ceiling and the roof ; it bore thousands of hearts of silver and gold , so heavy that the flowerpot broke , and it was no longer an amber heart - it had become mold , earth to earth - gone , gone forever ! Then Peer awoke ; he still had the amber heart , and it was warm , warm against his own warm heart . Early in the morning the first study hours began at Herr Gabriel 's . They studied French . At lunch the only ones present were the boarders , the children , and Madam . She drank her second cup of coffee here ; her first she always took in bed . " It is so healthy when one is liable to spasms . " She asked Peer what he had studied that day . " It is an expensive language ! " she said . " It is the language of diplomats and one used by distinguished people . I did not study it in my childhood , but when one is married to a learned man one gains from his knowledge , as one gains from his mother 's milk . Thus , I have all the necessary words . I am quite sure I would know how to express myself in whatever company I happened to be . " Madam had acquired a foreign name by her marriage with a learned man . She had been baptized Mette after a rich aunt , whose heir she was to have been . She had got the name , but not the inheritance . Herr Gabriel rebaptized Mette as Meta , the Latin word for measure . At the time of her wedding , all her clothes , woolen and linen , were marked with the letters M . G . , Meta Gabriel ; but young Madsen , who was a witty boy , interpreted the letters M . G . to be a mark meaning " most good , " and he added a big question mark in ink , on the tablecloths , the towels , and the sheets . " She is a bag of lies ! " said young Madsen ; " and Herr Gabriel is a scoundrel . If I were only a corporal , and he a recruit , oh , how I would discipline him ! " And a bloodthirsty expression came to young Madsen 's face ; his lips grew narrower than usual , and his whole face seemed one great freckle . There were terrible words to hear , and they gave Peer a shock ; yet young Madsen had the clearest right to think that way . It was a cruel thing on the part of parents and teachers that a fellow had to waste his best time , delightful youth , on learning grammar , names , and dates , which nobody cares anything about , instead of enjoying his liberty relaxing , and wandering about with a gun over his shoulder like a good hunter . " No , one has to be shut in and sit on a bench and look sleepily at a book ; Herr Gabriel wants that . And then one is called lazy and gets the mark ' passable ' ; yes , one 's parents get letters about it ; that 's why Herr Gabriel is a scoundrel . " " He gives lickings , too , " added little Primus , who agreed with young Madsen . This was not very pleasant for Peer to hear . But Peer got no lickings ; he was too grown - up , as Madam had said . He was not called lazy , either , for that he was not . He had his lessons alone . He was soon well ahead of Madsen and Primus . The pharmacist 's daughter - " great dramatic talent , " said the father ; " true beauty , " said the mother - was to be Juliet ; Madam Gabriel had to be the nurse , and the pharmacist , who was both director and stage manager , would take the role of the apothecary , which was small but of great importance . Everything depended on Herr Gabriel 's permission for Peer to play Romeo . This had to be worked through Madam Gabriel ; one had to know how to win her over - and this the pharmacist knew . " You were born to be the nurse , " he said , and thought that he was flattering her exceedingly . " That is actually the most important part in the play , " he continued . " It is the comedy role ; without it , the play would be too sad to sit through . No one but you , Madam Gabriel , has the quickness and life that should sparkle here . " All very true , she agreed , but her husband would surely never permit the young student to contribute whatever time would be required to play the part of Romeo . She promised , however , to " pump " him , as she called it . The pharmacist immediately began to study his part , and especially to think about his make - up . He wanted to look almost like a skeleton , a poor , miserable fellow , and yet a clever man - a rather difficult problem . But Madam Gabriel had a much harder one in " pumping " her husband to give his permission . He could not , he said , answer for it to Peer 's guardians , who paid for his schooling and board , if he permitted the young man to play in tragedy . We cannot conceal the fact , however , that Peer had the greatest desire to do it . " But it won 't work , " he said . " It 's working , " said Madam ; " only let me keep on pumping . " She would have given him punch , but Herr Gabriel did not like to drink it . Married people are often different ; this is said without any offense to Madam . Peer was to be Romeo ; that was pumped through by Madam . The rehearsals were held at the pharmacist 's . They had chocolate and " genii " - that is to say , small biscuits . These were sold at the bakery , twelve for a penny , and they were so exceedingly small , and there were so many , that it was considered witty to call them genii . " It is an easy matter to make fun , " said Herr Gabriel , although he himself often gave nicknames to one thing and another . He called the pharmacist 's house " Noah 's ark , with its clean and unclean beasts , " and that was only because of the affection which was shown by that family toward their pet animals . The young lady had her own cat , Graciosa , which was pretty and soft - skinned ; it would lie in the window , in her lap , on her sewing work , or run over the table spread for dinner . The wife had a poultry yard , a duck yard , a parrot , and canary birds - and Polly could outcry them all together . Two dogs , Flick and Flock , walked about in the living room ; they were by no means perfume bottles , and they lay on the sofa and on the family bed . The rehearsal began , and it was only interrupted a moment by the dogs slobbering over Madam Gabriel 's new gown , but that was out of pure friendship and it did not spot it . The cat also caused a slight disturbance ; it insisted on giving its paw to Juliet and sitting on her head and wagging its tail . Juliet 's tender speeches were divided equally between cat and Romeo . Every word that Peer had to say was exactly what he wished to say to the pharmacist 's daughter . How lovely and charming she was , a child of nature , who , as Madam Gabriel expressed it , was perfect for the role . Peer began to fall in love with her . There surely was instinct or something even higher in the cat . It perched on Peer 's shoulders as if to symbolize the sympathy between Romeo and Juliet . With each successive rehearsal Peer 's fervor became stronger , more apparent ; the cat became more confidential , the parrot and the canary birds noisier ; Flick and Flock ran in and out . The evening of the performance came , and Peer was a perfect Romeo ; he kissed Juliet right on her mouth . " Disgraceful ! " said the Councilor , Herr Svendsen , the richest citizen and fattest man in the town . The perspiration poured from him ; it was warm in the house , and warm within him as well . Peer found no favor in his eyes . " Such a puppy ! " he said ; " a puppy so long that one could break him in half and make two puppies of him . " Great applause - and one enemy ! That was having good luck . Yes , Peer was a Lucky Peer . Tired and overcome by the exertions of the evening and the flattery shown him , he went home to his little room . It was past midnight ; Madam Gabriel knocked on the wall . But Peer could not sleep . Everything he had said , and particularly what Juliet had said , buzzed through his head , and when he finally fell asleep he dreamed of a wedding - a wedding with Miss Frandsen ! What strange things one can dream ! Peer had come near to thinking like young Madsen , that a fellow was wasting his delightful youth being shut in and sitting with a book in his hand . But when he sat with his book , there shone from it so many noble and good thoughts that Peer found himself quite absorbed in it . He learned of the world 's great men and their achievements ; so many had been the children of poor people : Themistocles , the hero , son of a potter ; Shakespeare , a poor weaver 's boy , who as a young man held horses outside the door of the theater , where later he was the mightiest man in poetic art of all countries and all time . He learned of the singing contest at Wartburg , where the poets competed to see who would produce the most beautiful poem - a contest like the old trial of the Grecian poets at the great public feasts . Herr Gabriel talked of these with especial delight . Sophocles in his old age had written one of his best tragedies and won the award over all the others . In this honor and fortune his heart broke with joy . Oh , how blessed to die in the midst of one 's joy of victory ! What could be more fortunate ! Thoughts and dreams filled our little friend , but he had no one to whom he could tell them . They would not be understood by young Madsen or by Primus - nor by Madam Gabriel , either she was either in a very god humor , or was the sorrowing mother , in which case she was dissolved in tears . " The poor children ! " she said . " A mother is always thinking of their future . The boys can take care of themselves . Caesar falls , but he gets up again ; the two older ones splash in the water tub ; they ought to be in the navy , and would surely marry well . But my two little girls ! What will their future be ? They will reach the age when the heart feels , and then I am sure that whoever each of them falls in love with will not be at all after Gabriel 's liking ; he will choose someone they 'll despise , and that will make them so unhappy . As a mother , I have to think about these things , and that is my sorrow and grief . You poor children ! You will be so unhappy ! " She wept . In the early morning he went to his studies with a clear mind and performed his duties , for someone was paying for his schooling . He was a conscientious , right - minded fellow . In his diary he recorded each day what he had read and studied , and how late he had sat up playing the piano - always mutely , so that he wouldn 't awaken Madam Gabriel . It never said in his diary , except on Sunday , the day of rest , " Thought of Juliet , " " Was at the pharmacist 's , " " Wrote a letter to Mother and Grandmother . " Peer was still Romeo and a good son . " That man will die a bishop " said Madam Gabriel . " He has good connections at the court , and the Deaness is a lady of noble birth . She knows all about heraldry - that means coats of arms . " It was Whitsuntide . A year had passed since Peer came to Herr Gabriel 's house . He had gained much knowledge , but his voice had not come back ; would it ever come ? The Gabriel household was invited to the Dean 's to a great dinner and a ball later in the evening . A good many guests came from the town and from the manor houses about . the pharmacist 's family was invited ; Romeo would see his Juliet , perhaps dance the first dance with her . The deanery was a well - kept place , whitewashed , and without any manure heaps in the yard , and it had a dovecot painted green , around which twined an ivy vine . The Deaness was a tall , corpulent woman ; " Athene , Glaucopis , " Herr Gabriel called her ; " the blue - eyed , " not " the ox - eyed , " as Juno was called , thought Peer . There was a certain distinguished kindness about her , and an effort to have an invalid look ; she probably had sleeping sickness just like Primus . She was in a light - blue silk dress and wore great curls ; the one on the right side was fastened with a large medallion portrait of her great - grandmother , a general 's wife , and the one on the left with an equally large bunch of grapes made of white porcelain . The Dean had a ruddy , plump face , with shining white teeth , well suited to biting into a roast fillet . His conversation always consisted of anecdotes . He could converse with everybody , but no ever succeeded in carrying on a conversation with him . The dancing began . The pharmacist 's daughter was to dance the first dance with the Councilor ; that was a promise she had made at home to her mother and to the Councilor . The second dance had been promised to Peer ; but Felix came and took her with a good - natured nod . " You surely will not take my partner from me ? " said Felix , who stood close by . " That 's not being very friendly . We two old friends from town ! You say that you are so glad to see me . Then you must allow me the pleasure of taking the lady to supper ! " And he put his arm around Peer and laid his forehead jestingly against him . " Granted , isn 't it ? Granted ! " Felix gaily raised his arms and set his elbows akimbo , as if he were trying to look like a frog ready to leap . " You are perfectly right , young man ! I would say the same if the supper dance were promised me , sir ! " He drew back with a graceful bow to the young lady . But shortly after , when Peer stood in a corner and adjusted his necktie , Felix returned , put his arms around his neck , and , with the most coaxing look , said , " Be bighearted ! My mother and your mother and old grandmother will all say that is is just like you . I am leaving tomorrow , and I will be terribly bored if I do not take the young lady to supper . My own friend , my only friend ! " She talked about the young merchant , the rich man 's son , who was really Peer 's friend ; she had heard him say , Skaal , my friend ! To Mother and Grandmother ! " There was something so " uninhibited , gallant in him , " she said ; " one saw at once that he is the son of rich people , or a count 's child . That , the rest of us can 't acquire . One must bow to that ! " Peer said nothing . He was depressed all day . At night , when bedtime had come and he lay in bed , sleep was chased away , and he said to himself , " One has to bow ; one has to please ! " That 's what he had done ; he had obeyed the rich young fellow ; " because one is born poor , he is placed under obligation and subjection to these richly born people . Are they then better than we ? And why were they created better than we ? " There was something vicious rearing up in him , something that his grandmother would be grieved at . He thought of her . " Poor Grandmother ! You have also known what poverty is . Why has God permitted that ? " And he felt anger in his heart , and yet at the same time he was conscious of having sinned in thoughts and words against the good God . He was grieved to think he had lost his child 's mind ; and his faith returned , as wholesome and rich as before . Happy Peer ! I am thinking of you ; I am longing for you , and so is your mother . She is getting along well ; she takes washing . And the merchant 's Felix came up to see us yesterday , with a greeting from you . You had both been at the Dean 's ball , and you had been such a gentleman ; but that you will always be , and make your old grandmother and your hardworking mother happy . She has something to tell you about Miss Frandsen . Miss Frandsen is going to be married , the old thing . The bookbinder , Herr Hof , has been appointed court bookbinder , in accordance with his petition . He has a great new sign , " Court Bookbinder Hof . " And she will become Madam Hof . It is an old love that does not rust , my sweet boy . Second Postscript : Grandmother has knitted you six pairs of woolen socks ; you will get them at the first opportunity . I am also sending you a pork pie , your favorite dish . I know that you never get pork at Herr Gabriel 's , since his wife is so afraid of what I have difficulty in spelling - " trichines . " You must not believe in these , but just go ahead and eat . Peer read the letter , and it made him happy . Felix was so good ; what a great injustice he had done him ! They had separated at the Dean 's without saying good - by to each other . Peer received from the singing master , who monthly paid the stipend for his instruction and support , a serious reminder not to think of the stage as long as he was placed there . And he obeyed ; but his thoughts frequently traveled to the theater at the capital - they carried him , as if by magic , onto the stage there , where he was to have appeared as a great singer . Now his voice was gone , and it did not return , which often deeply grieved him . Who could comfort him ? Neither Herr Gabriel nor Madam , but our Lord surely could . Consolation comes to us in many ways . Peer found it in sleep ; he was indeed a Lucky Peer . One night he dreamed that it was Whitsunday , and he was out in the beautiful green forest , where the sun shone through the branches and where all the ground was covered with anemones and primrose . Then the cuckoo began , " Cuckoo ! " " How many years shall I live ? " asked Peer , for one always asks the cuckoo that , the first time in the year one hears it cuckoo ; and the cuckoo answered , " Cuckoo ! " but no more ; it was silent . " Shall I live only one more year ? " asked Peer . " That is really too little . Be so good as to cuckoo again ! " Then the bird began again , " Cuckoo ! Cuckoo ! " Yes , and it went on without stopping , and Peer cuckooed with it , as realistically as if he , too , were a cuckoo ; but his notes were stronger and clearer . All the songbirds joined in the warbling . Peer sang their songs , but far more beautifully . He had all the clear voice of his childhood , and rejoiced in song ; he was so happy at heart . And then he awoke , but with the assurance that the " soundboard " was still in him , that his voice still lived and , some bright Whitsun morning , would burst forth in all its freshness ; and so he slept , happy in this assurance . " I will tell you that , " she said . " I shall give you the whole play . I was there twice . The first evening it was a talking play . Out came the princess - ' Ahbe , dahbe ! Abe , dabe ! ' - how she could talk ! Next came a man - ' Ahbe , dahbe ! Abe , dabe ! ' And then down fell Madam . Now they began again . The prince - ' Ahbe , dahbe ! Abe , dabe ! ' Then down fell Madam . She fell down five times that evening . The second time I was there , it was all singing - ' Ahbe , dahbe ! Abe , dabe ! ' And then down fell Madam again . It so happened that a countrywoman was sitting next to me ; she had never been in the theater , and thought the show was all over ; but I , who now knew all about it , said that when I was there last , Madam fell down five times . The singing evening she only did it three times . Yes , there you have both the plays , as true to life as I saw them . " Was it tragedy she had seen , since she said that Madam always fell down ? Then it dawned on Peer what she meant . The great theater curtain that fell between the acts had a large female figure painted on it , a Muse with the comic and the tragic masks . This was the Madam who fell down . That had been the real comedy ; what they had said and sung had been only " Ahbe , dahbe ! Abe , dabe ! " to the flax dealer 's wife ; but it had been a great pleasure , and so it had been to Peer , too , and not less to Madam Gabriel , who had heard this recital of the plays . She had sat with an expression of astonishment and a consciousness of mental superiority , for the pharmacist had said that she , as the nurse , had " carried " Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet . " Down fell the Madam , " as explained by Peer , afterward became a witty byword in the house every time a child , a cup , or one or another piece of furniture fell on the floor in the house . New Year 's Eve , at the stroke of twelve , the Gabriels and their boarders stood , each with a glass of punch , the only one Herr Gabriel drank the whole year , because punch is bad for a weak stomach . They drank a toast , " Skaal , " to the new year , and counted the strokes of the clock , " One , two - " to the twelfth stroke . " Down fell the Madam ! " they said . " Be a teacher ! " said Madam Gabriel ; " a schoolmaster ! Then you 'll be the most boring individual on earth , just like my Gabriel . No , you were born for the theater . Be the greatest actor in the world ; that is something more than being a teacher . " He mentioned this in a letter to the singing master ; he told of his longing and his hope . He longed most eagerly for the great city , where his mother and grandmother lived ; he had not seen them for two long years . The distance was only one hundred and twenty miles ; by fast train , he could be there in six hours . Why had they not seen one another ? That is easily explained . On his departure , Peer had given his promise to stay where he was being sent and not to think of a visit . His mother was busy enough with her washing and ironing ; yet she had often thought of making the great journey , even if it would cost a good deal of money , but this never materialized . Grandmother had a horror of railways ; to travel by rail was to tempt the Lord . Nothing could induce her to travel by steam ; she was an old woman , and she was not going to travel until she traveled up to our Lord . The cuckoo had said " Cuckoo ! " without end when Peer had asked it the second time , " How many years shall I live ? " His health and spirits were good , and the future looked bright . He had received a delightful letter from his fatherly friend , the singing master . Peer was to go home , and they would see what could be done for him - what course he should take now that his voice was still gone . " Appear as Romeo ! " said Madam Gabriel . " Now you are old enough for the lover 's part and have some flesh on your bones . You don 't need to use make - up . " fire ; the air brought a delightful coolness . Over the moor hung a mist that rose and sank and made him think of the dance of the elfin maidens . Then into his mind came the old ballad about Knight Olaf , who rode out to ask the guests to his wedding , but was stopped by the elfin maidens , who drew him into their dance and play and thereby caused his death . It was a piece of folklore , an old poem . The moonlight and the mist over the moor formed pictures of it this evening . Peer was soon in a state of half dreaming , looking out upon it all . The bushes seemed to have shapes of both humans and beasts ; they stood motionless , while the mist rose like a great waving veil . Peer had seen something like this in a ballet at the theater , when elfin maidens were represented whirling and waying with veils of gauze ; but here it was far more charming and more wonderful . A stage as large as this , no theater could have ; none had so clear an air , so shining a moonlight . Right in front in the mist , there distinctly appeared a female shape ; the one became three , and the three became many ; hand in hand they danced ; they were floating girls . The air bore them along to the hedge where Peer stood . They nodded to him ; they spoke ; it was like the sound of silver bells . They danced into the garden about him ; they enclosed him in their circle . Without thought , he danced with them , but not their dance . He whirled about , as in the unforgettable vampire dance , but he didn 't think of that ; he really didn 't think at all ; he was completely overwhelmed by all the magnificent beauty he saw about him . The moor was a sea , so deep and dark blue , with water lilies that were bright with all conceivable colors . Dancing over the waves , they carried him upon their veil to the opposite shore , where the old viking burial mound had thrown aside its grassy turf and risen into a castle of clouds , but the clouds were of marble . Flowering trees of gold and costly stones twined about the mighty blocks of marble ; each flower was a brilliantly colored bird that sang with a human voice . It was like a choir of thousands and thousands of happy children . Was it heaven , or was it Elfin Hill ? The castle walls moved ; they glided toward each other . They closed about him . He was inside , and the world of man was outside . He then felt anguish , a strange fear , as never before . There was no exit to be found , but from the floor way up to the roof , and from all the walls , there smiled at him lovely young girls ; they were so lifelike to look at , and yet he thought : Are they but paintings ? He wanted to speak to them , but his tongue found no words ; his speech was completely gone ; not a sound came from his lips . Then he threw himself upon the earth , more miserable than he had ever been . " One hour here is a hundred years outside , " she said . " You have already been here a whole hour . Everyone you know and love outside these walls is dead . Stay with us ! Yes , stay you must , or the walls will squeeze you until the blood flows from your brow ! " My own sweet little one ! " she said . " Our Lord will not forsake you ; He forsakes none of us , not even the greatest sinner . God be praised and honored for all eternity ! " And she brought forth her psalmbook , the same one from which she and Peer had sung on many a Sunday . How her voice rang ! How full were her tones ! All the elfin maidens laid their heads down for a well - needed rest . Peer sang with Grandmother , as before he had sung every Sunday ; how strange and powerful , yet how soft , his voice was all at once ! The walls of the castle moved ; they became clouds and mist . Grandmother walked with him out of the hill into the tall grass , where the glowworms gleamed and the moon shone . But his feet were so tired now he could not move them ; he sank down on the turf ; it was the softest bed ; there he rested well and awoke to the sound of a psalm . Grandmother sat beside him , sat by his bed in the little chamber in Herr Gabriel 's house . The fever was over ; health and life had returned . He had been deathly ill . They had found him in a faint on that evening down in the garden ; a violent fever had followed . The doctor had thought that he would not get up from it , but would die , and they had written to his mother about it . She and Grandmother had wanted to , and felt they must , go to him ; both had not been able to leave , and so the old grandmother had gone , and gone by the railway . " That I would only do for Peer , " she said . " I did it in God 's name ; otherwise I would have had to believe that I flew with the evil ones on a broomstick on Midsummer Eve ! " The journey home was made with a glad and light heart . Grandmother deeply thanked our Lord that Peer was to outlive her . She had delightful traveling companions in the railway carriage - the pharmacist and his daughter ; they talked about Peer , and loved Peer as if they were of the same family . He was to become a great actor , said the pharmacist . His voice had now returned , too , and there was a fortune in such a throat as his . What a pleasure it was to the grandmother to hear such words ! She lived on them ; she believed them thoroughly . And then they arrived at the station in the capital , where the mother met her . " God be praised for the railway ! " said Grandmother , " and be praised , too , that I quite forgot I was on it ! I owe that to these splendid people . " And she pressed the hands of the pharmacist and his daughter . " The railway is a blessed discovery when one is through with it ! One is in God 's hands ! " And then she talked of her sweet boy , who was out of all danger , and who lived with well - to - do people , who kept two servant girls and a manservant . Peer was like a son in the house , and on the same footing with two children of distinguished families , one of whom was a dean 's son . The grandmother had lodged at the post inn ; it was terribly expensive , but then she had been invited to Madam Gabriel 's ; there she had stayed five days , and they were simply wonderful people , particularly the wife ; she had urged her to drink punch , splendidly made but strong . " Don 't say those words to Peer ! " said Grandmother . " You don 't understand him as I do . " " But he must have food and drink , no matter how fine he has grown , and he shall not go hungry so long as I can move my hands . Madam Hof has told me that he can eat his dinner twice a week with her , now that she is well off . She has known both prosperity and hard times . She has told me herself that one evening , in the box at the theater where the old danseuses have a place , she felt sick . The whole day long she had only had water and a caraway - seed bun , and she was ill from hunger , and very faint . ' Water ! water ! ' cried the others . ' No ! Some food ! ' she begged . ' Food ! ' She needed something nourishing , and had not the least need of water . Now she has her own larder and a wellspread table . " Peer was still one hundred and twenty miles away , but happy in the thought that he would soon be in the city , and at the theater , with all his dear old friends , whom now he would know how to value . Happiness sang and resounded within him and all about him ; there was sunshine everywhere , in this happy time of youth , the time of hope and expectation . Every day he grew stronger ; his good spirits and his color returned . But Madam Gabriel became very moved as the time for departure drew near . " You are on your way to greatness ; and there will be many temptations , for you are handsome - that you have become in our house . You are natural , just as I , and that will help when temptations come . One must not be too sensitive or unruly - sensitive like Queen Dagmar , who on Sunday laced her silk sleeves and then had pangs of conscience over such a minor thing ; it should take more than that to affect one . I would never have grieved as Lucretia did . What did she stab herself for ? She was pure and honest ; she knew that , and everybody in the town knew that . What could she do about the misfortune which I won 't talk about but which you at your age understand perfectly well ? So she gave out a shriek and the dagger ! That wasn 't necessary at all . I would not have done it , and neither would you ; we are both natural people ; one should be natural at all times , and that you will continue to be in your artistic career . How happy I shall be to read about you in the papers ! Perhaps sometime you will come to our little town and appear as Romeo , but I shall not be the nurse then . I shall sit in the parquet and enjoy myself . " From Herr Gabriel he received a French lexicon , the one he had used during his school hours , and it had marginal notes in Herr Gabriel 's own hand . Madam Gabriel gave him roses and quaking grass . The roses would wither , but the grass would keep all winter if it wasn 't put into the water but was kept in a dry place . And she wrote a quotation from Goethe on a kind of album leaf : Umgang mit Frauen ist das Element guter Sitten . She gave a translation of it : " Companionship with women is the foundation of good manners . Goethe . " " He was a great man ! " she said . " If he had only not written Faust , for I don 't understand it . Gabriel says so , too . " Young Madsen presented Peer with a not badly done drawing he had made of Herr Gabriel hanging from the gallows , with a birch rod in his hand , and the inscription , " A great actor 's first conductor on the road of science . " Primus , the Dean 's son , gave him a new pair of slippers , which the Deaness herself had made , but so large that Primus could not fill them for a year or two yet . Upon the soles was written in ink , " A reminder of a sorrowing friend . Primus . " The villages and stations flew by . Were the people in them as happy as Peer ? He thought of that , praised his good fortune , and thought of the invisible golden apple that Grandmother had seen lying in his hand When he was a child . He thought of his lucky find in the gutter and , above all , of his new - found voice and of the knowledge he had now acquired . He had become altogether another person . He sang inwardly with happiness ; it took great self - control for him to keep from singing aloud in the car . Now the towers of the city appeared , and the buildings began to show themselves . The train reached the station . There stood Mother and Grandmother , and someone with them , Madam Hof , well bound , Court Bookbinder Hof 's wife , born Frandsen . Neither in want nor in prosperity did she forget her friends . She had to kiss him as his mother and his grandmother did . " Hof could not come with me , " she said ; " he is home at work , binding a set of collected works for the King 's private library . You have your good luck , and I have mine . I have my Hof and my own fireside corner with a rocking chair . Twice a week you are to eat with us . You will see my life at home ; it is a complete ballet ! " Mother and Grandmother hardly had an opportunity to talk to Peer , but they looked at him , and their eyes shone with delight . Then he had to take a cab to get to his new home at the singing master 's . They laughed and they cried . The cab stopped at the singing master 's door , but the master was out ; his old servant opened the door and showed Peer up to his room , where there were portraits of composers on the walls and a white plaster bust stood gleaming on the stove . The old man , a little dull , but trustworthiness itself , showed him the drawers in the bureau and hooks for him to hang his clothes on , and said he was very willing to shine his boots . Then the singing master arrived and welcomed Peer with a hearty handshake . " This is the apartment ! " he said . " Make yourself at home . You may use my piano in the living room . Tomorrow we will hear how your voice is . This is our castle warden , our housekeeper . " And he nodded to the old servant . " All is in order . Carl Maria von Weber , on the stove there , has been whitened in honor of your coming ; he was terribly dirty . But it isn 't Weber that 's up there , after all ; it is Mozart . Where did he come from ? " " Pardon me , sir , " said the servant ; " it is the old Weber , who has been cleaned . The master does not recognize him now that he has been whitened . " The plasterer could verify that . The first day Peer was not to sing or play , but when our young friend came into the parlor , where the piano stood , and the opera Joseph lay open upon it , he sang " My Fourteenth Spring , " and sang with a voice that was as clear as a bell . There was something so sincere about it , so innocent , and yet so strong and full . The singing master 's eyes were wet with tears . " That 's the way it should be , " he said , " and it will be even better . Now we shall close the piano . You need to rest . " tonight . " And he hurried away . The setting sun shone over the home of his childhood ; the bits of glass in the wall sparkled ; it was like a diamond castle . Mother and Grandmother were waiting for him in the garret , a good many steps up , but he flew up , three stairs at a time , reached the door , and was received with kisses and embraces . It was clean and tidy there in the little room . There stood the stove , the old bear , and the chest of drawers with the hidden treasure from his hobby - horse days ; on the walls hung the three familiar pictures , the King 's portrait , a picture of our Lord , and Father 's silhouette , cut out of black paper . It was an excellent side view of him , said Mother , but it would have been more like him if the paper had been white and red , for that he was . A wonderful man ! And Peer was the very picture of him . " It has been in their thoughts these many years , " said Mother . " You know , of course , that he was married . Well , he did it , they say , to irritate Miss Frandsen , who looked down on him when she was in her high and mighty state . His wife was wealthy , but she was very old , but lively , and on crutches ! She could not die ; he was waiting for it . It would not have surprised me if , like the man in the story , he had every Sunday put the old lady out in the open air , so our Lord could see her and remember to send for her . " " Miss Frandsen sat quietly by and waited , " said Grandmother . " I never believed she would attain this . But last year Madam Hof died , and so Frandsen came to be the wife in the house . " " Yes , " said Madam Hof . " It did not come in my youth , but one is always young enough , when one 's health is good , says my Hof . He has the most charming flashes of wit . We were old , fine works , he says , both in one volume , and with a gilt top . I am so happy with my Hof and my corner by the fireside . A porcelain stove ! There a fire is started in the evening , and it keeps warm all the next day . It is such a joy . It is as in the ballet of Circe 's island . Do you remember me as Circe ? " " Yes , you were charming ! " said Grandmother . " But how a person can change ! " That was not at all said impolitely , and was not so taken . Then The next morning Peer paid a visit to the merchant 's . The lady met him , pressed his hand , and asked him to take a seat by her . During their conversation he expressed his great gratitude ; he knew that the merchant was his secret benefactor . The lady did not know it . " But it is like my husband , " she said . " It is not worth talking about . "