neighbor's house, and close by the fresh yellow flowers were growing, shining like gold in the warm sun rays. An old grandmother was sitting in the air. Her granddaughter, the poor and lovely servant, just come for a short visit. She knows her grandmother. There was gold, pure virgin gold in that blessed kiss. There, that is my little story, said the renunculus. My poor old grandmother, sighed Gerda. Yes, she is longing for me, no doubt. She is sorrowing for me as she did for little Kay. But I will soon come home, and then I will bring Kay with me. It is of no use asking the flowers. They only know their own old rhymes, and can tell me nothing. And she tucked up her frock to enable her to run quicker. But the narcissist gave her a knock on the leg, just as she was going to jump over it. She stood still, looked at the long yellow flower, and asked, You perhaps know something? And she bent down to the narcissist, and what did it say? I can see myself. I can see myself. Oh, how odorous I am. Up in the little garret there stands, half dressed, a little dancer. She stands now on one leg, now on both. She despises the whole world, yet she lives only in imagination. She pours water out of the teapot over a piece of stuff, which she holds in her hand. It is the bodice. Cleanliness is a fine thing. The white dress is hanging on the hook. It was washed in the teapot, and dried on the roof. She puts it on. Ties a saffron-colored kerchief round her neck. And then the gown looks whiter. I can see myself. I can see myself. That's nothing to me, said little Gerda. That does not concern me. And then off she ran to the further end of the garden. The gate was locked, but she shook the rusted bolt, till it was loosened. And the gate opened, and little Gerda ran off barefooted into the wide world. She looked round her thrice, but no one followed her. At last she could run no longer. She sat down on a large stone, and when she looked about her, she saw that the summer had passed. It was late in the autumn. But that one could not remark in the beautiful garden, where there was always sunshine, and where there were flowers the whole year round. Dear me, how long I have stayed, said Gerda. Autumn has come. I must not rest any longer. And she got up to go further. Oh, how tender and weary her little feet were. All around it looked so cold and raw. The long willow leaves were quite yellow, and the fog dripped from them like water. One leaf fell after the other. The sloes only stood full of fruit, which set one's teeth on edge. Oh, how dark and comfortless it was in the dreary world. Fourth story. The Prince and Princess.  He had long been looking at Gerda and shaking his head. And now he said, Ca, ca. Good day, good day. He could not say it better, but he felt a sympathy for the little girl and asked her where she was going all alone. The word alone Gerda understood quite well, and felt how much was expressed by it. So she told the raven her whole history, and asked if he had not seen Kay. The raven nodded very gravely and said, It may be, it may be. What, do you really think so? Cried the little girl, and she nearly squeezed the raven to death. So much did she kiss him. Gently, gently, said the raven. I think I know. I think that it may be little Kay. But now he has forgotten you for the princess. Does he live with a princess, asked Gerda? Yes, listen, said the raven. But it will be difficult for me to speak your language. If you understand the raven language, I can tell you better. No, I have not learned it, said Gerda. But my grandmother understands it, and she can speak gibberish too. I wish I had learned it. No matter, said the raven, I will tell you as well as I can. However, it will be bad enough. And then he told all he knew. In the kingdom, where we now are, there lives a princess, who is extraordinarily clever, for she has read all the newspapers in the whole world and has forgotten them again. So clever is she. She was lately, it is said, sitting on her throne, which is not very amusing, after all, when she began humming an old tune. And it was just, oh, why should I not be married? That song is not without its meaning, said she. And so then she was determined to marry, but she would have a husband who knew how to give an answer when he was spoken to. Not one who looked only as if he were a great personage. For that is so tiresome. She then had all the ladies of the court drummed together. And when they heard her intention, all were very pleased and said, we are very glad to hear it. It is the very thing we were thinking of. You may believe every word I say, said the raven, for I have a tame sweetheart that hops about in the palace quite free. And it was she who told me all this. The newspapers appeared forthwith, with a border of hearts and the initials of the princess. And therein you might read that every good-looking young man was at liberty to come to the palace and speak to the princess. And he who spoke in such wise as showed he felt himself at home there. That one the princess would choose for her husband. Yes, yes, said the raven. You may believe it. It is as true as I am sitting here. People came in crowds. There was a crush and a hurry, but no one was successful either on the first or second day. They could all talk well enough when they were out in the street. But as soon as they came inside the palace gates and saw the guard richly dressed in silver and the lackeys in gold on the staircase and the large illuminated saloons, then they were abashed. And when they stood before the throne on which the princess was sitting, all they could do was to repeat the last word they had uttered. And to hear it again did not interest her very much. It was just as if the people within were under a charm and had fallen into a trance until they had came out again into the street. For then, oh then, they could chatter enough. There was a whole row of them standing from the town gates to the palace. I was there myself to look, said the raven. They grew hungry and thirsty, but from the palace they got nothing, whatever, not even a glass of water. Some of the cleverest, it is true, had taken bread and butter with them, but none shared it with his neighbor. For each thought, let him look hungry, and then the princess won't have him. But Kay, little Kay, said Gerda, when did he come? Was he among the number? Patience, patience, we are just come to him. It was on the third day when a little personage without horse or equipage came marching right boldly up to the palace. His eyes shone like yours. He had beautiful long hair, but his clothes were very shabby. That was Kay, cried Gerda, with a voice of delight. Oh, now I found him, and she clapped her hands for joy. He had a little knapsack at his back, said the raven. No, that was certainly his sledge, said Gerda, for when he went away he took his sledge with him. That may be, said the raven. I did not examine him so minutely. But I know from my tame sweetheart that when he came into the courtyard of the palace and saw the bodyguard in silver, the lackeys on the staircase, he was not the least abashed. He nodded and said to them, it must be very tiresome to stand on the stairs. For my part I shall go in. The saloons were gleaming with lusters, privy counselors and excellencies were walking about barefooted, and wore gold keys. It was enough to make anyone feel uncomfortable. His boots creaked, too, so loudly, but still he was not at all afraid. That's Kay for certain, said Gerda, I know he had on new boots. I have heard them creaking in Grandma Ma's room. Yes, they creaked, said the raven, and on he went boldly up to the princess, who was sitting on a pearl as large as a spinning wheel. All the ladies of the court, with their attendants and attendants, and all the cavaliers with their gentleman and gentleman's gentleman, stood round, and the nearer they stood to the door, the prouder they looked. It was hardly possible to look at the gentleman's gentleman, so very hotly did he stand in the doorway.  And did Kay get the princess? Were I not a raven, I should have taken the princess myself, although I am promised. It is said he spoke as well as I speak when I talk raven language. This I learned from my tame sweetheart. He was bold and nicely behaved, he had not come to woo the princess, but only to hear her wisdom. She pleased him, and he pleased her. Yes, yes, for certain that was Kay, said Gerda, he was so clever he could reckon fractions in his head. Oh, won't you take me to the palace? That is very easily said, answered the raven. But how are we to manage it? I'll speak to my tame sweetheart about it. She must advise us. For so much I must tell you, such a little girl as you are will never get permission to enter. Oh, yes I shall, said Gerda. When Kay hears that I am here, he will come out directly to fetch me. Wait for me here on these steps, said the raven. He moved his head backwards and forwards and flew away. The evening was closing in when the raven returned. Ca, ca, said he. She sends you her compliments. And here is a roll for you. She took it out of the kitchen where there is bread enough. You are hungry, no doubt. It is not possible for you to enter the palace, for you are barefooted. The guards in silver and the lackeys in gold would not allow it. But do not cry, you shall come in still. My sweetheart knows a little back stair that leads to the bed chamber. And she knows where she can get the key of it. And they went into the garden in the large avenue where one leaf was falling after the other. And when the lights in the palace had all gradually disappeared, the raven led little Gerda to the back door, which stood half open. Oh, how Gerda's heart beat with anxiety and longing, it was just as if she had been about to do something wrong. And yet she only wanted to know if little Kay was there. Yes, he must be there. She called to mind his intelligent eyes and his long hair so vividly. She could quite see him as he used to laugh when they were sitting under the roses at home. He will no doubt be glad to see you, to hear what a long way you have come for his sake, to know how unhappy all at home were when he did not come back. Oh, what a fright and joy it was! They were now on the stairs, a single lamp was burning there, and on the floor stood the tame raven, turning her head on every side and looking at Gerda, who bowed as her grandmother had taught her to do. My intended has told me so much good of you, my dear young lady, said the tame raven. Your tale is very affecting. If you will take the lamp, I will go before. We will go straight on, for we shall meet no one. I think there is somebody just behind us, said Gerda, and something rushed past. It was like shadowy figures on the wall, horses with flowing mains and thin legs, huntsmen, ladies, and gentlemen on horseback. They are only dreams, said the raven. They come to fetch the thoughts of the high personages to the chase, to swell, for now you can observe them in bed all the better.  Tch, that's not worth talking about, said the raven of the woods. They now entered the first saloon, which was of rose-colored satin, with artificial flowers on the wall. Here the dreams were rushing past, but they hastened by so quickly that Gerda could not see the high personages. One hall was more magnificent than the other. One might indeed well be abashed, and at last they came into the bed-chamber. The ceiling of the room resembled a large palm-tree with leaves of glass, of costly glass, and in the middle, from a thick golden stem, hung two beds, each of which resembled a lily. One was white, and in this lay the princess. The other was red, and it was here that Gerda was to look for a little K. She bent back one of the red leaves, and saw a brown neck. Oh, that was K! She called him quite loud by name, held the lamp towards him. The dreams rushed back again into the chambers. He awoke, turned his head, and it was not little K. The prince was only like him about the neck, but he was young and handsome, and out of the white lily leaves the princess peeped, too, and asked what was the matter. Then little Gerda cried and told her her whole story, and all that the raven had done for her. Poor little thing, said the prince and the princess. They praised the ravens very much and told them they were not at all angry with them, but they were not to do so again. However, they should have a reward. Will you fly about here at Liberty, asked the princess, or would you like to have a fixed appointment as court ravens, with all the broken bits from the kitchen? And both the ravens nodded and begged for a fixed appointment, for they thought of their old age and said, it's a good thing to have a provision for our old days. And the prince got up and let Gerda sleep in his bed, and more than this he could not do. She folded her little hands and thought, how good men and animals are, and she then fell asleep and slept soundly. All the dreams flew in again, and they now looked like the angels. They drew a little sledge in which little Kay sat and nodded his head, but the whole was only a dream, and therefore all vanished as soon as she awoke. The next day she was dressed from head to foot in silk and velvet. They offered to let her stay at the palace, and lead a happy life, but she begged to have a little carriage with a horse in front, and for a small pair of shoes. Then she said she would again go forth in the wide world and look for Kay. Shoes and a muff were given her. She was too, dressed very nicely, and when she was about to set off, a new carriage stopped before the door. It was a pure gold, and the arms of the prince and princess shone like a star upon it. The coachmen, the footmen, and the outriders, for outriders were there too, all wore golden crowns. The prince and the princess assisted her in the carriage themselves, and wished her all success. The raven of the woods, who was now married, accompanied her for the first three miles. He sat beside Gerda, for he could not bear riding backwards. The other raven stood in the doorway and flapped her wings. She could not accompany Gerda because she suffered from headaches since she had had a fixed appointment and ate so much. The carriage was lined inside with sugar plums, and in the seats were fruits and gingerbread. Farewell, farewell, cried prince and princess, and Gerda wept, and the raven wept. Thus passed the first miles. And then the raven bade her farewell. And this was the most painful separation of all. He flew into a tree and beat his black wings as long as he could see the carriage that shone from afar like a sunbeam. Fifth story, the little robber maiden. They drove through the dark wood, but the carriage shone like a torch, and it dazzled the eyes of the robbers so that they could not bear to look at it. Tis gold, tis gold, they cried, and they rushed forward, seized the horses, knocked down the little pastelion, the coachman, and the servants, and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage.  She is as good as a fatted lamb, how nice she will be. And then she drew out a knife, the blade of which shone so that it was quite dreadful to behold. Oh, cried the woman at the same moment, she had been bitten in the ear by her own little daughter, who hung at her back, and who was so wild and unmanageable, that it was quite amusing to see her.  And now she had not time to kill Gerda. She shall play with me, said the little robber child. She shall give me her muff, and her pretty frock. She shall sleep in my bed. And then she gave her mother another bite, so that she jumped, and ran round with the pain, and the robbers laughed, and said, look how she is dancing with the little one. I will go into the carriage, said the little robber maiden. And she would have her will, for she was very spoiled and very headstrong. She and Gerda got in, and then away they drove over the stumps of fell trees, deeper and deeper into the woods. The little robber maiden was tall as Gerda, but stronger, broader shouldered, and of dark complexion. Her eyes were quite black, they looked almost melancholy.  You are doubtless a princess? No, said little Gerda, who then related all that had happened to her, and how much she cared about little Kay.  And she dried Gerda's eyes, and put both hands in the handsome muff, which was so soft and warm. At length the carriage stopped. They were in the midst of the courtyard of a robber's castle. It was full of cracks from top to bottom, and out of the openings, magpies and rooks were flying. And the great bulldogs, each of which looked as if he could swallow a man, jumped up, but they did not bark, for that was forbidden. In the midst of the large old smoking hall, burnt a great fire on the stone floor. The smoke disappeared under the stones, and had to seek its own egress. In an immense cauldron, soup was boiling, and rabbits and hares were being roasted on a spit.  They had something to eat and drink, and then went into a corner, where straw and carpets were lying. Beside them, unlazed in perches, sat nearly a hundred pigeons all asleep, seemingly, but yet they moved a little when the robber maiden came. They are all mine, said she, at the same time seizing one that was next to her by the legs, and shaking it so that its wings fluttered. Kiss it, cried the little girl, and flung the pigeon and gird his face. Up there is the rabble of the wood, continued she, pointing to several laths, which were fastened before a hole, high up in the wall. That's the rabble. They would all fly away immediately if they were not well fastened in. And here is my dear old bach. And she laid hold of the horns of a reindeer that had a bright copper ring around its neck, and was tethered to the spot. We are obliged to lock this fellow in, too, or he would make his escape. Every evening I tickle his neck with my sharp knife. He is so frightened at it. And the little girl drew forth a long knife from a crack in the wall, and let it glide over the reindeer's neck. The poor animal kicked. The girl laughed, and pulled Girda into bed with her. Do you intend to keep your knife while you sleep, asked Girda looking at it rather fearfully? I always sleep with the knife, said the little robbermaiden. There is no knowing what may happen. But tell me now, once more, all about little Kay, and why you have started off in the wide world alone. And Girda related all from the very beginning. The wood pigeons coot above in their cage, and the others slept. The little robbermaiden wound her arm around Girda's neck, held the knife in the other hand, and snored so loudly that everybody could hear her. But Girda could not close her eyes, for she did not know whether she was to live or die. The robber sat around the fire, sang and drank, and the old female robber jumped about so that it was quite dreadful for Girda to see her. Then the wood pigeon said, coo, coo. We have seen little Kay, a white hen carries his sledge. He himself sat in the carriage of the Snow Queen, who passed here, down just over the wood, as we lay in our nest. She blew upon us young ones, and all died except we too. Coo, coo.  Where did the Snow Queen go to? Do you know anything about it? She has no doubt gone to Lapland, for there is always snow and ice there. Only ask the reindeer who is tethered there. Ice and snow is there. There it is glorious and beautiful, said the reindeer. One can spring about in the large, shining valleys. The Snow Queen has her summer tent there, but her fixed abode is high up towards the North Pole, on the island called Spitzbergen. Okay, poor little Kay, sighed Girda. Do you choose to be quiet, said the rubber maiden? If you don't, I shall make you. In the morning Girda told her all that the wood pigeons had said, and the little maiden looked very serious. But she nodded her head and said, That's no matter. That's no matter. Do you know where Lapland lies? She asked of the reindeer.  I was born and bred there. There I leapt about on the fields of snow. Listen, said the rubber maiden to Girda. You see that the men are gone, but my mother is still here, and will remain. However, towards morning she takes a draft out of the large flask, and then she sleeps a little. Then I will do something for you. She now jumped out of bed, flew to her mother with her arms round her neck, and pulling her by the beard said, Good morrow, my own sweet nanny goat of a mother! And her mother took hold of her nose, and pinched it till it was red and blue. But this was all done out of pure love. When the mother had taken us up at her flask, and was having a nap, the little rubber maiden went to the reindeer and said, I should very much like to give you still many a tickling with the sharp knife, for then you are so amusing. However, I will untether you, and help you out, so that you may go back to Lapland. But you must make good use of your legs, and take this little girl for me to the place of the Snow Queen, where her playfellow is. You have heard, I suppose, all she has said, for she spoke loud enough, and you were listening. The reindeer gave a bound for joy. The rubber maiden lifted up little Girda, and took the precaution to bind her fast on the reindeer's back.  Here are your worsted leggings, for it will be cold. But the muff I shall keep for myself, for it is so very pretty. But I do not wish you to be cold. Here is a pair of lying gloves of my mothers. They just reach up to your elbow. On with them. Now you look about the hands, just like my ugly old mother, and Girda wept for joy. I can't bear to see you fretting, said the little rubber maiden. This is just the time when you ought to look pleased. Here are two loaves and a ham for you, so that you won't starve. The bread and the meat were fastened to the reindeer's back. The little maiden opened the door, called in all the dogs, and then, with her knife, cut the rope that fastened the animal, and said to him, Now off with you, but take good care of the little girl. And Girda stretched out her hands with the large wadded gloves towards the rubber maiden, and said, Farewell. And the reindeer flew on over the brush and bramble through the great wood, over more and heath, as fast as he could go. Ja, ja, was heard in the sky. It was just as if somebody was sneezing. These are my old northern lights, said the reindeer. Look how they gleam. And on he now sped, still quicker. Day and night, on he went. The loaves were consumed, and the ham too. And now they were in Lapland. Sixth story. The Lapland woman and the Finland woman. Suddenly they stopped before a little house, which looked very miserable. The roof reached to the ground, and the door was so low that the family were obliged to creep upon their stomachs when they went in or out. Nobody was at home, except an old Lapland woman, who was dressing fish by the light of an oil lamp. And the reindeer told her the whole of Gerda's history, but first of all his own, for that seemed to him of much greater importance. Gerda was so chilled that she could not speak. Poor thing, said the Lapland woman. You have far to run still. You have more than a hundred miles to go before you get to Finland. There the Snow Queen has her country house, and burns blue lights every evening. I will give you a few words for me, which I will write on a dried haberdine, for paper I have none. This you can take with you to the Finland woman, and she will be able to give you more information than I can. When Gerda had warned herself and had eaten and drunk, the Lapland woman wrote a few words on a dried haberdine, begged Gerda to take care of them, put her on the reindeer, bound her fast, and away sprang the animal. Ja, ja, was again heard in the air, the most charming blue lights burned the whole night in the sky, and at last they came to Finland. They knocked at the chimney of the Finland woman, for as to adore she had none. There was such a heat inside that the Finland woman herself went about almost naked. She was diminutive and dirty.  And after laying a piece of ice on the reindeer's head, read what was written on the fish skin. She read it three times. She then knew it by heart, so she put the fish into the cupboard, for it might very well be eaten, and she never threw anything away. Then the reindeer related his own story first, and afterwards that of little Gerda. And the Finland woman winked her eyes, but said nothing. You are so clever, said the reindeer. You can, I know, twist all the winds of the world together in a knot. If the seaman loosens one knot, then he has a good wind. If a second, then it blows pretty stiffly. If he undoes the third and fourth, then it rages so that the forests are upturned. Will you give the little maiden a potion that she may possess the strength of twelve men and vanquish the snow queen? The strength of twelve men, said the Finland woman. Much good that would be. Then she went to the cupboard, and drew out a large skin rolled up. When she had unrolled it, strange characters would be seen written thereon, and the Finland woman read at such a rate that the perspiration trickled down her forehead. But the reindeer begged so hard for little Gerda, and Gerda looked so imploringly with tearful eyes at the Finland woman that she winked and drew the reindeer aside into a corner, where they whispered together, while the animal got some fresh ice put on his head. To his true little K is at the snow queens, and finds everything there quite to his taste, and he thinks it the very best place in the world. But the reason of that is, he has a splinter of glass in his eye, and in his heart. These must be got out first, otherwise he will never go back to mankind, and the snow queen will retain her power over him. But can you give little Gerda nothing to take which will induce her with power over the whole? I could give her no more power than what she has already. Don't you see how great it is? Don't you see how men and animals are forced to serve her? How well she gets through the world barefooted? She must not hear of her power from us.  If she cannot get to the snow queen by herself, and rid little K of the glass, we cannot help her. Two miles hence the garden of the snow queen begins. Thither you may carry the little girl. Set her down by the large bush with red berries, standing in the snow. Don't stay talking, but hasten back as fast as possible.  Oh, I have not got my boots. I have not brought my gloves, cried little Gerda. She remarked she was without them for the cutting frost, but the reindeer dared not stand still. On he ran till he came to the great bush with the red berries, and there he set Gerda down, kissed her mouth. While large bright tears flowed from the animals' eyes, and then back he went as fast as possible. There stood poor Gerda now, without shoes or gloves, in the very middle of dreadful icy Finland. She ran on as fast as she could. There then came a whole regimen of snowflakes, but they did not fall from above, and they were quite bright and shining from the aurora borealis. The flakes ran along the ground, and the nearer they came, the larger they grew. Gerda well remembered how large and strange this… Gerda remembered how large and strange the snowflakes appeared when she once saw them through a magnifying glass. But now they were large and terrific in another manner. They were all alive. They were the outposts of the Snow Queen. They had the most wondrous shapes.  All were of dazzling whiteness. All were living snowflakes. Little Gerda repeated the Lord's Prayer. The cold was so intense that she could see her own breath, which came like smoke out of her mouth. It grew thicker and thicker, and took the form of little angels that grew more and more when they touched the earth. All had helms on their heads, and lances, and shields in their hands. They increased in numbers, and when Gerda had finished the Lord's Prayer, she was surrounded by a whole legion. They thrust at the horrid snowflakes with their spears so that they flew into a thousand pieces, and Little Gerda walked on bravely at insecurity. The angels patted her hands and feet, and then she felt the cold less, and went on quickly towards the palace of the Snow Queen. But now we shall see how Kay fared. He never thought of Gerda, and least of all, that she was standing before the palace. Seventh story. What took place in the palace of the Snow Queen, and what happened afterward? The walls of the palace were of driving snow, and the windows and doors of cutting winds. There were more than a hundred halls there, according as the snow was driven by the winds. The largest was many miles in extent. All were lighted up by the powerful aurora borealis, and all were so large, so empty, so icy cold, and so resplendent. Murth never rained there.  Never a little tea party of white young lady foxes, vast, cold, and empty were the halls of the Snow Queen. The northern lights shone with such precision that one could tell exactly when they were at their highest or lowest degree of brightness. In the middle of the empty, endless hall of snow was a frozen lake. It was cracked in a thousand pieces, but each piece was so like the other that it seemed the work of a cunning artificer. In the middle of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home, and then she said she was sitting in the mirror of understanding, and that this was the only one and the best thing in the world. Little Kay was quite blue, yes nearly black with cold, but he did not observe it, for she had kissed away all feeling of cold from his body, and his heart was a lump of ice. He was dragging along some pointed flat pieces of ice, which he laid together in all possible ways, for he wanted to make something with them, just as we have little flat pieces of wood to make geometrical figures with, called the Chinese puzzle. Kay made all sorts of figures, the most complicated, for it was an ice puzzle for the understanding. In his eyes the figures were extraordinarily beautiful, and of the utmost importance, for the bit of glass which was in his eye caused this. He found whole figures which represented a written word, but he never could manage to represent just the word he wanted. That word was eternity. And the Snow Queen had said, If you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master, and I will make you a present of the whole world, and a pair of new skates. But he could not find it out. I am going now to warm lands, said the Snow Queen. I must have a look down into the black cauldrons. It was the volcanoes, Vesuvius and Etna that she meant. I will just give them a coating of white, for that is as it ought to be. Besides, it is good for the oranges and the grapes, and then away she flew, and Kay sat quite alone in the empty halls of ice that were miles long, and looked at the blocks of ice, and thought and thought, till his skull was almost cracked. There he sat, quite benumbed and motionless. One would have imagined he was frozen to death. Suddenly Little Gerta stepped through the great portal into the palace. The gate was formed of cutting winds. But Gerta repeated her evening prayer, and the winds were laid as though they slept, and the Little Maiden entered the vast empty cold halls. There she beheld Kay. She recognized him, flew to embrace him, and cried out, her arms firmly holding him the while. Kay, sweet little Kay, have I then found you at last? But he sat quite still, benumbed and cold. Then Little Gerta shed burning tears, and they fell on his bosom. They penetrated to his heart. They thawed the lumps of ice, and consumed the splinters of the looking glass. He looked at her, and she sang the hymn. The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet, and angels descend there, the children to greet. Hereupon Kay burst into tears. He wept so much that the splinter rolled out of his eye, and he recognized her, and shouted, Gerta, sweet little Gerta, where have you been so long? And where have I been? He looked round. How cold it is here, said he. How empty and cold! And he held fast by Gerta, who laughed and wept for joy. It was so beautiful that even the blocks of ice danced about for joy. And when they retired and laid themselves down, they formed exactly the letters which the Snow Queen had told them to find out. So now he was his own master, and he would have the whole world in a pair of new skates into the bargain. Gerta kissed his cheeks, and they grew quite blooming. She kissed his eyes, and they shone like her own. She kissed his hands and feet, and he was again well in merry. The Snow Queen might come back as soon as she liked. There stood his discharge, written in resplendent masses of ice. They took each other by the hand, and wandered forth out of the large hall. They talked of their old grandmother, and of the roses upon the roof, and wherever they went the wind ceased raging, and the sun burst forth, and when they reached the bush with the red berries, they found the reindeer waiting for them. He had brought another, a young one, with him, whose udder was filled with milk, which he gave to the little ones, and kissed their lips. They then carried Kay and Gerta first to the Finland woman, where they warmed themselves in the warm room, and learned what they were to do on their journey home. And they went to the Lapland woman, who made some new clothes for them, and repaired their sledges. The reindeer and the young hind leaped along beside them, and accompanied them to the boundary of the country. Here the first vegetation peep forth. Here Kay and Gerta took leave of the Lapland woman. Farewell, farewell, they all said, and the first green buds appeared. The first little birds began to chirp, and out of the wood came riding on a magnificent horse, which Gerta knew. It was one of the leaders in the golden carriage, a young damsel with a bright red cap on her head, and armed with pistols. It was the little robber maiden, who tired of being at home, and determined to make a journey to the north, and afterwards in another direction, if that did not please her. She recognized Gerta immediately, and Gerta knew her too. It was a joyful meeting.  I should like to know, Faith, if you deserve that one, should run from one end of the world to the other for your sake. But Gerta patted her cheeks and inquired for the prince and princess. They are gone abroad, said the other. But the raven, asked little Gerta, Oh, the raven is dead, she answered. His tame sweetheart is a widow, and wears a bit of black worsted round her leg. She laments most piteously, but it's all mere talk and stuff. Now tell me what you've been doing and how you managed to catch him. And Gerta and Kay both told their story. And schnip schnap schner, Baszler, said the robber maiden, and she took the hands of each and promised that she should someday pass through their town where they lived. She would come and visit them, and then away she rode. Kay and Gerta took each other's hand. It was lovely spring weather, with abundance of flowers and a verger. The church bells rang and the children recognized the high towers and the large town. It was that in which they dwelt. They entered and hastened up to their grandmother's room where everything was standing as formerly. The clock said tick-tack, and the fingers moved round, but as they entered they remarked that they were now grown up. The roses on the leads hung blooming at the open window. There stood the little children's chairs, and Kay and Gerta sat down on them holding each other by the hand. They both had forgotten the cold empty splendor of the snow queen, as though it had been a dream. The grandmother sat in the bright sunshine and read aloud from the Bible. Unless ye become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And Kay and Gerta looked in each other's eyes, and all at once they understood the old hymn. The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet, and angels descend there the children to greet. There sat the two grown up persons, grown up and yet children, children at least in heart. And it was summertime. Summer. Glorious summer. End of The Snow Queen. Grasshopper and Elite Frog once wanted to see which could jump highest, and they invited the whole world and everybody else besides who chose to come to see the festival. Three famous jumpers were they, as everyone would say, when they all meant together in the room. I will give my daughter to him who jumps highest, exclaimed the king, for it is not so amusing when there is no prize to jump for. The flea was the first to step forward. He had exquisite manners and bowed to the company on all sides, for he had noble blood and was, moreover, accustomed to the society of man alone, and that makes a great difference. Then came the grasshopper. He was considerably heavier, but he was well mannered and wore a green uniform, which he had by right of birth. He said, moreover, that he belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family, and that in the house where he then was, he was thought much of. The fact was, he had been just brought out of the fields and put in a pace board house, three stories high, all made of court cards, with the color side inwards, and doors and windows cut out of the body of the queen of hearts. I sing so well, said he, that sixteen native grasshoppers who have chirped from infancy and yet got no house built of cards to live in grew thinner than they were before for sheer vexation when they heard me. It was thus that the flea and the grasshopper gave an account of themselves and thought they were quite good enough to marry a princess. The leapfrog said nothing, but people gave it as their opinion that he therefore thought the more, and when the house-dugs snuffed at him with the snows, he confessed the leapfrog was of good family. The old counselor, who had had three orders given him to make him hold his tongue, asserted that the leapfrog was a prophet, for that one could see on his back, if there would be a severe or mild winter, and that was what one could not see even on the back of the man who writes the almanac. I say nothing, it is true, exclaimed the king, but I have my own opinion, not withstanding. Now the trial was to take place. The flea jumped so high that nobody could see where he went to, so they all asserted he had not jumped at all, and that was dishonorable. The grasshopper jumped only half as high, but he leaped into the king's face, who said that was ill-mannered. The leapfrog stood still for a long time, lost in thought. It was believed at last he would not jump at all. I only hope he is not unwell, said the house dog, when pop! He made a jump all on one side into the lap of the princess, who was sitting on a little golden stool close by. Hereupon the king said, there is nothing above my daughter, therefore, to bound up to her is the highest jump that can be made, but for this one must possess understanding, and the leapfrog has shown that he has understanding. He is brave and intellectual, and so he won the princess. It's all the same to me, said the flea. She may have the old leapfrog for all I care. I jumped the highest, but in this world merit seldom meets its reward. A fine exterior is what people look at nowadays. The flea then went into foreign service, where it is said he was killed. The grasshopper sat without on a green bank, and reflected on worldly things. And he said too, yes, a fine exterior is everything. A fine exterior is what people care about. And then he began chirping his peculiar melancholy song, from which we have taken this history, and which may, very possibly, be all untrue. Although it does stand here printed in black and white, and of Chapter 7, recording by Kathleen Larberg. Chapter 8 of Anderson's Fairy Tales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Anderson's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson. Chapter 8 The Elder Bush Once upon a time, there was a little boy who had taken cold. He had gone out and got his feet wet, though nobody could imagine how it had happened, for it was quite dry weather. So his mother undressed him, put him to bed, and had the teapot brought in to make him a good cup of elderflower tea. Just at that moment, the merry old man came in who lived up atop of the house, all alone. For he neither had wife nor children, but he liked children very much and knew so many fairy tales that it was delightful. Now, drink your tea, said the boy's mother, then perhaps you may hear a fairy tale. If I had but something new to tell, said the old man, but how did the child get his feet wet? That is the very thing that nobody can make out, said his mother. Am I to hear a fairy tale, asked the little boy. Yes, if you can tell me exactly, for I must know that first, how deep the gutter is in the little street opposite that you pass through in going to school. Just up to the middle of my boot, said the child, but then I must go into the deep hole. Aha, that's where the wet feet came from, said the old man. I ought now to tell you a story, but I don't know anymore. You can make one in a moment, said the little boy. My mother says that all you look at can be turned into a fairy tale, and that you can find a story in everything. Yes, but such tales and stories are good for nothing. The right sort come of themselves. They tap at my forehead and say, here we are. Won't there be a tap soon, asked the little boy, and his mother laughed, put some elder flowers in the teapot and poured boiling water upon them. Do tell me something, pray do. Yes, if a fairy tale would come of its own accord, but they are proud and haughty and come only when they choose. Stop, he said all of a sudden. I have it. Pay attention. There is one in the teapot. And the little boy looked at the teapot. The cover rose more and more and the elder flowers came forth so fresh and white and shot up long branches out of the spout. Even did they spread themselves on all sides and grew larger and larger. It was a splendid elder bush, a whole tree, and it reached into the very bed and pushed the curtains aside. How it bloomed. And what an odor in the middle of the bush sat a friendly looking old woman in a most strange dress. It was quite green, like the leaves of the elder and was trimmed with large white elder flowers so that at first one could not tell whether it was a stuff or a natural green and real flowers. What's that woman's name? asked the boy. The Greeks and the Romans said the old man called her a dry-eyed. But that we do not understand. The people who live in the new booths have a much better name for her. They called her old granny and she it is to whom you are to pay attention. Now listen and look at the beautiful elder bush. Just another large blooming elder tree stands near the new booths. It grew there in the corner of a little miserable courtyard and under it sat of an afternoon in the most splendid sunshine to old people and old old semen and his old old wife. They had great grandchildren and were soon to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their marriage. But they could not exactly recollect the date and old granny sat in the tree and looked as pleased as now. I know the date, said she, but those below did not hear her for they were talking about old times. Yes, can't you remember when we were very little? said the old semen and ran and played about. It was the very same courtyard where we are now and we stuck slips in the ground and made a garden. I remember it well, said the old woman. I remember it quite well. We watered the slips and one of them was an elder bush. It took root, put forth green shoots and grew up to be the large tree under which we old folks are now sitting. To be sure, said he. And there in the corner stood a water pail where I used to swim my boats. True, but first we went to school to learn somewhat, said she, and then we were confirmed. We both cried, but in the afternoon we went up the round tower and looked down on Copenhagen and far, far away over the water. Then we went to Fredericksburg where the King and Queen were sailing about in their splendid barges. But I had a different sort of sailing to that later and that too for many a year, a long way off on great voyages. Yes, many a time have I wept for your sake, said she. I thought you were dead and gone and lying down in the deep waters. Many a night have I gone up to see if the wind had not changed and changed it had, sure enough, but you never came. I remember so well one day when the rain was pouring down in torrents. The scavengers were before the house where I was in service and I had come up with the dust and remained standing at the door. It was dreadful weather. When just as I was there the postman came and gave me a letter. It was from you. What a tour that letter had made. I opened it instantly and read. I laughed and wept. I was so happy. In it I read that you were in warm lands where the coffee tree grows.   At the same moment came someone who embraced me. Yes, but you gave him a good box on his ear that made it tingle. But I did not know it was you.  And had a long yellow silk handkerchief around your neck and a brand new hat on. Oh, you were so dashing. Good heavens. What weather it was and what a state the street was in. And then we married, said he. Don't you remember?  Yes, and how they all grew up to be honest people and were beloved by everybody. And their children also have children, said the old sailor. Yes, those were our grandchildren full of strength and vigor. It was me thinks about this season that we had our wedding. Yes, this very day is the 50th anniversary of the marriage, said old granny, sticking her head between the two old people who thought it was their neighbor who nodded to them. They looked at each other and held one another by the hand. Soon after came their children and their grandchildren for they knew well enough that it was the day of their 50th anniversary and had come with their congratulations that very morning. But the old people had forgotten it. Although they were able to remember all that had happened many years ago. And the elder Bush sent forth a strong odor in the sun that was just about to set and shown right in the old people's faces. They both looked so rosy-cheeked and the youngest of the grandchildren danced around them and called out quite delighted that there was to be something very splendid that evening. They were all to have hot potatoes. An old nanny nodded in the bush and shouted hurrah with the rest. But that is no fairy tale, said the little boy who was listening to the story. The thing is, you must understand it, said the narrator. Let us ask old nanny. That was no fairy tale. It is true, said old nanny. But now it is coming. The most wonderful fairy tales grow out of that which is reality. Were that not the case, you know, my magnificent elder Bush could not have grown out of the teapot.  They sat in an aerial dwelling and it flew with them through the air. Oh, it was a wondrous beautiful. Old nanny had grown all of a sudden a young and pretty maiden, but her robe was still the same green stiff with white flowers, which she had worn before. On her bosom she had a real elder flower and in her yellow waving hair a wreath of the flowers. Her hair was so large and blue that it was a pleasure to look at them. She kissed the boy and now they were of the same age and felt alike. Hand in hand they went out of the bower and they were standing in the beautiful garden of their home. Near the green lawn Papa's walking stick was tied and for the little ones it seemed to be endowed with life. For as soon as they got astride it the round polished knob was turned into a magnificent neighing head. A loud black mane fluttered in the breeze and four slender yet strong legs shot out. The animal was strong and handsome and the way they went at full gallop round the lawn. Huzzah! Now we are riding miles off, said the boy. We are riding away to the castle where we were last year. And they rode around the grass plot and the little maiden who we know was no one else but old nanny kept on crying out now we are in the country. Don't you see the farmhouse yonder?  Look how he struts and now we are close to the church. It lies high upon the hill between the large oak trees one of which is half decayed. And now we are by the smithy where the fire is blazing and where the half-naked men are banging with their hammers to the sparks flying about. Away away to the beautiful country seat. And all that the little maiden who sat behind on the stick spoke of flew by in reality. The boy saw it all and yet they were only going around the grass plot. Then they played in a side avenue and marked out a little garden on the earth and they took elder blossoms from their own hair, planted them and they grew just like those the old people planted when they were children as related before. They went hand in hand as the old people had done when they were children. But not to the round tower or to Frederickburg. No, the little damsel wound her arms round the boy and then they flew far away through all Denmark. And spring came and summer and then it was autumn and then winter. And a thousand pictures were reflected in the eye and in the heart of the boy. And the little girl always sang to him this you will never forget. And during their whole flight the elder tree smelled so sweet and odorous. He remarked the roses and the fresh beaches but the elder tree had a more wondrous fragrance for its flowers hung on the breast of the little maiden and there too did he often lay his head during the flight. It is lovely here in spring said the young maiden and they stood in a beech wood that had just put on its first green where the woodroof at their feet sent forth its fragrance and the pale red anemone looked so pretty among the verger. Oh, would it were always spring in the sweetly smelling Danish beech forests. It is lovely here in summer since she and she flew past old castles of bygone days of chivalry where the red walls and the embattled gables were mirrored in the canal where the swans were swimming and peered up into the old cool avenues. In the fields the corn was waving like the sea in the ditches red and yellow flowers were growing well wild drone flowers and blooming convolutions were creeping in the hedges and towards evening the moon rose round and large and the hay cocks and the meadows smelled so sweetly. This one never forgets. It is lovely here in autumn, said the little maiden, and suddenly the atmosphere grew as blue again as before. The forest grew red and green and yellow colored. The dogs came leaping along and whole flocks of wildfowl flew over the cairn where blackberry bushes were hanging round the old stones. The sea was dark blue covered with ships full of white sails and in the barn old women, maidens and children were sitting picking hops into a large cask the young sang songs but the old told fairy tales of mountain sprites and soothsayers nothing could be more charming. It is delightful here in winter, said the old maiden, and all the trees were covered with whore frost. They looked like white corals. The snow crackled underfoot as if one had new boots on and one falling star after the other was seen in the sky. The Christmas tree was lighted in the room, presents were there and good humor reigned. In the country the violins sounded in the room of the peasant. The newly baked cakes were attacked. Even the poorest child said it is really delightful here in winter. Yes it was delightful and the little maiden showed the boy everything and the elder tree still was fragrant and the red flag with the white cross was still waving the flag under which the old seamen in the new boots had sailed. And the boy grew up to be a lad and was to go forth in a wide world far. Far away to warm lands where the coffee tree grows but at his departure the little maiden took an elder blossom from her bosom and gave it to him to keep. And it was placed between the leaves of his prayer book and when in four lands he opened the book. It was always at the place where the keepsake flower lay and the more he looked at it the fresher it became. He felt as if it were the fragrance of the Danish groves and from among the leaves of the flowers he could distinctly see the little maiden peeping forth with her bright little blue eyes. And then she whispered it is delightful here in spring, summer, autumn and winter and a hundred visions glided before his mind. Thus passed many years and he was now an old man and sat with his old wife under the blooming tree. They held each other by the hand as the old grandfather and grandmother Yonder in the new booths did and they talked exactly like them of old times and of the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. The little maiden with the blue eyes and the elder blossoms in her hair sat in the tree nodded to both of them and said today is the fiftieth anniversary and then she took two flowers out of her hair and kissed them. First they shone like silver then like gold and when they laid them on the heads of the old people each flower became a golden crown. So there they both sat like a king and a queen under the fragrant tree that looked exactly like an elder. The old man told his wife the story of old nanny as it had been told to him when a boy and it seemed to both of them it contained much that resembled their own history and those parts that were like it pleased them both. Thus it is said the old maiden in the tree. Some call me old nanny others a dryad but in reality my name is Remembrance. To I who sit in the tree that grows and grows I can remember I can tell things. Let me see if you have my flower still. And the old man opened his prayer book. There lay the elder blossom as fresh as if it had been placed there but a short time before and Remembrance nodded and the old people decked with crowns of gold sat in the flush of the evening sun. They closed their eyes and and yes that's the end of the story. The little boy lay in his bed. He did not know if he had dreamed or not or if he had been listening while someone told him the story. The teapot was standing on the table but no elder tree was growing out of it. And the old man who had been talking was just on the point of going out the door and he did go.  Mother I have been to warm countries. So I should think said the mother when one has drunk two good cupfuls of elder flower tea to his likely enough one goes into warm climates and she tucked him up nicely lest he should take cold. You have had a good sleep while I have been sitting here and arguing with him whether it was a story or a fairytale. And where's old Danny asked the little boy in the teapots at his mother and there she may remain. End of chapter 8 recording by Dave Shaw in beautiful Bellevue, Nebraska. Chapter 9 The Belle People said the evening bell is sounding the sun is setting for a strange wondrous tone was heard in the narrow streets of a large town. It was like the sound of a church bell but it was only heard for a moment for the rolling of the carriages and the voices of the multitude made too great a noise. Those persons who were walking outside the town where the houses were farther apart with gardens or little fields between them could see the evening sky still better and heard the sound of the bell much more distinctly. It was as if the tones came from a church in the still forest. People looked with a ward and felt their minds attuned most solemnly. A long time passed and people said to each other I wonder if there is a church out in the wood? The bell has a tone that is wondrous sweet let us stroll thither and examine the mater nearer and the rich people drove out and the poor walked but the way seemed strangely long to them and when they came to a clump of willows which grew on the skirts of the forest they sat down and looked up at the long branches and fancy they were now in the depth of the green wood. The confectioner of the town came out and set up his booth there and soon after came another confectioner who hung a bell over his stand as a sign or ornament but it had no clapper and it was tarred over to preserve it from the rain. When all the people returned home they said it had been very romantic and that it was quite a different sort of thing to a picnic or tea party. There were three persons who asserted they had penetrated to the end of the forest and that they had always heard the wonderful sounds of the bell but it had seen to them as if it had come from the town. One wrote a whole poem about it and said the bell sounded like the voice of a mother to a good dear child and that no melody was sweeter than the tones of the bell. The king of the country was also observant of it and vowed that he who could discover when the sound proceeded should have the title of universal bell-ringer even if it were not really a bell. Many persons now went to the wood for the sake of getting the place but one only returned with a sort of explanation for nobody went far enough that one not further than the others. However, he said that the sound proceeded from a very large owl in a hollow tree a sort of learned owl that continually knocked its head against the branches but whether the sound came from his head or from the hollow tree that no one could say with certainty. So now he got the place of universal bell-ringer and wrote yearly a short treatise on the owl but everybody was just as wise as before. It was the day of confirmation the clergymen had spoken so touchingly the children who were confirmed had been greatly moved it was an eventful day for them from children they become all at once grown-up persons it was as if their infant souls were now to fly all at once into persons with more understanding. The sun was shining gloriously the children that had been confirmed went out of the town and from the wood was borne towards them the sounds of the unknown bell with wonderful distinctness they all immediately felt a wish to go thither all except three one of them had to go home to try on a bald dress for it was just the dress and the ball which had caused her to be confirmed this time for otherwise she would not have come. The other was a poor boy who had borrowed his coat and boots to be confirmed in from the innkeeper's son and he was to give them back by a certain hour the third said that he never went to a strange place if his parents were not with him that he had always been a good boy hitherto and would still be so now that he was confirmed and that one ought not to laugh at him for it the others however did make fun of him after all there were three therefore that did not go the others hastened on the sun shone the birds sang and the children sang too and each held the other by the hand for as yet they had none of them any high office and were all of equal rank in the eye of God but two of the youngest soon grew tired and both returned to town two little girls sat down and twined garlands so they did not go either and when the others reached the willow tree where the confectioner was they said now we are there in reality the bell does not exist it is only a fancy that people have taken into their heads at the same moment the bell sounded deep in the wood so clear and solemnly that five or six determined to penetrate somewhat further it was so thick and the foliage so dense that it was quite fatiguing to proceed woodroof and anemones grew almost too high blooming convolvuluses and blackberry bushes hung in long garlands from tree to tree where the nightingale sang and the sunbeams were playing it was very beautiful but it was no place for girls to go their clothes would get so torn large blocks of stone lay there overgrown with moss of every color the fresh spring buckled forth and made a strange gurgling sound the head surely cannot be the bell said one of the children lying down and listening this must be looked to so he remained and let the others go on without him they afterwards came to a little house made of branches and the bark of trees a large wild apple tree bent over it as if it would shower down all its blessings on the roof where roses were blooming the long stems twined round the gable on which there hung a small bell was it that which people had heard yes everybody was unanimous on the subject except one who said that the bell was too small and too fine to be heard at so great a distance and besides it was very different tones to those that could move a human heart in such a manner it was a king's son who spoke where on the other said such people always want to be wiser than everybody else they now let him go on alone and as he went his breasts was filled more and more with a forest solitude but he still heard the little bell with which the others were so satisfied and now and then when the wind blew he could also hear the people singing who were sitting at tea where the confectioner had his tent but the deep sound of the bell rose louder it was almost as if an organ were accompanying it and the tones came from the left hand the side where the heart is placed a rustling was heard in the bushes and a little boy stood before the king's son a boy in wooden shoes and with so short a jacket that one could see what long wrists he had both knew each other the boy was that one among the children who could not come because he had to go home and return his jacket and boots to the innkeeper's son this he had done and was now going on in wooden shoes and in his humble dress for the bell sounded with so deep a tone and with such strange power that proceed he must why then we can go together said the king's son but the poor child that had been confirmed was quite ashamed he looked at his wooden shoes pulled at the short sleeves of his jacket and said that he was afraid he could not walk so fast besides he thought that the bell must be looked for to the right for that was the place where all sorts of beautiful things were to be found but there we shall not meet said the king's son nodding at the same time to the poor boy who went into the darkest thickest part of the wood where thorns tore his humble dress and scratched his face and hands and feet till they bled the king's son got some scratches too but the son shone on his path and it is him that we will follow for he was an excellent and resolute youth I must and will find the bell said he even if I'm obliged to go to the end of the world the ugly apes sat upon the trees and grinned shall we thresh him said they shall we thresh him he is the son of a king but on he went without being disheartened deeper and deeper into the wood where the most wonderful flowers were growing there stood white lilies with blood red stamina sky blue tulips which shone as they waved in the winds and apple trees the apples of which looked exactly like large soap bubbles so only think how the trees must have sparkled in the sunshine around the nicest green meads where the deer were playing in the grass grew magnificent oaks and beaches and if the bark of one of the trees was cracked their grass and long creeping plants grew in the crevices and there were large calm lakes there too in which white swans were swimming and beat the air with their wings the king's son often stood still and listened he thought the bell sounded from the depth of these still lakes but then he remarked again that the tone proceeded not from there but farther off from out the depth of the forest the sun now set the atmosphere glowed like fire it was still in the woods so very still and he fell on his knees sung his evening hymn and said I cannot find what I seek the sun is going down and night is coming the dark dark night yet perhaps I may be able once more to see the round great sun before he entirely disappears I will climb up yonder rock and he seized hold of the creeping plants and the roots of trees climbed up the moist stones where the water snakes were writhing and the totes were croaking and he gained this summit before the sun had quite gone down how magnificent was the sight from this height the sea the great the glorious sea that dashed its long waves against the coast was stretched out before him and yonder where sea and sky meet stood the sun like a large shining altar all melted together in the most glowing colors and the wood in the sea sang a song of rejoicing and his heart sang with the rest all nature was a vast holy church in which the trees and the buoyant clouds were the pillars flowers and grass the velvet carpeting and heaven itself the large cupola the red colors above faded away as the sun vanished but a million stars were lighted a million lamps shone and the king's son spread out his arms towards heaven and wood and sea when at the same moment coming by a path to the right appeared in his wooden shoes and jacket the poor boy who had been confirmed with him he had followed his own path and had reached the spot just as soon as the son of the king had done they ran towards each other and stood together hand in hand in the vast church of nature and of poetry while over them sounded the invisible holy bell blessed spirits floated around them and lifted up their voices in a rejoicing hallelujah end of section nine the bell chapter 10 of anderson's fairy tales this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org anderson's fairy tales by hans christian anderson chapter 10 the old house in the street up there was an old a very old house it was almost 300 years old for that might be known by reading the great beam on which the date of the year was carved together with tulips and hotbines there were whole verses spelt as in former times and over every window was a distorted face cut out of the beam the one story stood forward a great way over the other and directly under the eaves was a leadened spout with a dragon's head the rainwater should have run out of the mouth but it ran out of the belly for there was a hole in the spout all the other houses in the street were so new and so neat with large window panes and smooth walls one could easily see that they would have nothing to do with the old house they certainly thought how long is that old decayed thing to stand that there is a spectacle in the street and then the projecting window stands so far out that no one could see from our windows what happens in that direction the steps are as broad as those of a palace and as high as to a church tower the iron railings looked just like the door to an old family vault and then they have brass tops that's so stupid on the other side of the street were also new and neat houses and they thought just as the others did but at the window opposite the old house there sat a little boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes he certainly liked the old house best and that both in sunshine and moonshine and when he looked across at the wall where the water had fallen out he could sit and find out there the strangest figures imaginable exactly as the street had imagined before with steps projecting windows and pointed gables he could see soldiers with halberds and spouts where the water ran like dragons and serpents that was a house to look at and there lived an old man who wore plush breeches and he had a coat with large brass buttons and a wig that won't he was a real wig every morning there came an old fellow to him who put his rooms in order and went on errands otherwise the old man in the plush breeches was quite alone in the old house now and then he came to the window and looked out and the little boy nodded to him and the old man nodded again and so they became acquaintances and then they were friends although they had never spoken to each other but that made no difference the little boy heard his parents say the old man opposite is very well off but he is so very very lonely the Sunday following the little boy took something and wrapped it up in a piece of paper went downstairs and stood in the doorway and when the man who went on errands came past he said to him I say master will you give this to the old man over the way from me I have two pewter soldiers this is one of them and he shall have it for I know he is so very very lonely and the old errand man looked quite pleased nodded and took the pewter soldier over to the old house afterwards there came a message it was to ask if the little boy himself had not a wish to come over and pay a visit and so he got the permission of his parents and then went over to the old house and the brass balls of the iron railings so much brighter than ever one would have thought they were polished on account of the visit and it was as if the carved out trumpeters for there were trumpeters who stood in tulips carved out on the door blew with all their might their cheeks appeared so much rounder than before yes they blew tratter atrah the little boy comes tratter atrah and then the door opened the whole passage was hung with portraits of knights in armor and ladies in silken gowns and the armor rattled and the silken gowns rustled and then there was a flight of stairs which went a good way upwards and a little way downwards and then one came on a balcony which was in a very dilapidated state sure enough with large holes and long crevices but grass grew there and leaves grew out of them altogether for the whole balcony outside the yard and the walls were overgrown with so much green stuff that it looked like a garden only a balcony here stood old flower pots with faces and asses ears and the flowers grew just as they liked one of the pots was quite overrun on all sides with pinks that is to say with the green part shoot stood by shoot and it said quite distinctly the air has cherished me the sun has kissed me and promised me a little flower on sunday a little flower on sunday and then they entered a chamber where the walls were covered with hogs leather and printed with gold flowers the gilding decays but hogs leather stays said the walls and there stood easy chairs with such high backs and so carved out and with arms on both sides sit down sit down said they ugh how I creak now I shall certainly get the gout like the old clothes press ugh and then the little boy came into the room where the projecting windows were and where the old man sat I thank you for the pewter soldier my little friend said the old man and I thank you because you came over to me thanky thanky or cranky cranky sounded from all the furniture there's so much of it that each article stood in the other's way to get a look at the little boy in the middle of the wall hung a picture representing a beautiful lady so young so glad but dressed quite as in former times with clothes that stood quite stiff and with powder in her hair she neither said thanky thanky nor cranky cranky but looked with her mild eyes at the little boy who directly asked the old man where did he get her yonder at the brokers said the old man where there are so many pictures hanging no one knows or cares about them for they are all of them buried but I knew her in bygone days and now she has been dead and gone these 50 years under the picture in a glazed frame there hung a bouquet of withered flowers they were almost 50 years old they looked so very old the pendulum of the great clock went to and fro and the hands turned and everything in the room became still older but they did not observe it they say at home said the little boy that you were so very very lonely oh said he the old thoughts with what they may bring with them come and visit me and now you also come I am very well off then he took a book with pictures it down from the shelf there were whole long processions and pageants with the strangest characters which one never sees nowadays soldiers like the name of clubs and citizens waving flags the tailors had theirs with a pair of shears held by two lions and the shoemakers theirs without boots but with an eagle that had two heads for the shoemakers must have everything so that they can say it is a pair yes that was a picture book the old man now went into the other room to fetch preserves apples and nuts yes it was delightful over there in the old house I cannot bear it any longer said the pewter soldier who sat on the drawers it is so lonely and melancholy here but when one has been in a family circle one cannot accustom oneself to this life I cannot bear it any longer the whole day is so long and the evenings are still longer here it is not at all as it is over the way at your home where your father and mother spoke so pleasantly and where you and all your sweet children made such a delightful noise nay how lonely the old man is do you think that he gets kisses do you think he gets mild eyes or a christmas tree he will get nothing but a grave I can bear it no longer you must not let it grieve you so much said the little boy I find it so very delightful here and then all the old thoughts with what they may bring with them they come and visit here yes it's all very well but I see nothing of them and I don't know them said the pewter soldier I cannot bear it but you must say the little boy then it came the old man with the most pleased and happy face the most delicious preserves apples and nuts and so the little boy thought no more about the pewter soldier the little boy returned home happy and pleased and weeks and days passed away and nods were made to the old house and from the old house and then the little boy went over there again the carved crumpeters blew trotter atrah there is the little boy trotter atrah and the swords and the armor on the knight's portrait rattled and the silk gowns rustled the hog's leather spoke and the old chairs had the gout in their legs and the rheumatism in their backs look it was exactly like the first time for over there one day and one hour were just like another I cannot bear it said the pewter soldier I have shed pewter tears it is too melancholy rather let me go to the wars and lose arms and legs it would at least be a change I cannot bear it longer now I know what it is to have a visit from one's old thoughts with what they may bring with them I have had a visit from mine and you may be sure it was no pleasant thing in the end I wasn't last about to jump down from the drawers I saw you all over there at home so distinctly as if you really were here it was again that Sunday morning all you children stood before the table and sung your psalms as you do every morning you stood devotely with folded hands and father and mother were just as pious and then the door was opened and little sister Mary who is not two years old yet and who always dances when she hears music or singing of whatever kind it may be was put into the room though she ought not to have been there and then she began to dance but could not keep time because the tones were so long and then she stood first on one leg and bent her head forwards and then on the other leg and bent her head forwards but all would not do you stood very seriously all together although it was difficult enough but I laughed to myself and then I fell off the table and got a bump which I have still for it was not right of me to laugh but the hole now passes before me again in thought and everything that I have lived to see and these are the old thoughts with what they may bring with them tell me if you still sing on Sundays tell me something about little Mary and how my comrade the other pewter soldier lives yes he is happy enough that's sure I cannot bear it any longer you were given away as a present said the little boy you must remain can you not understand that the old man now came with a draw in which there was so much to be seen both tin boxes and balsam boxes old cards so large and so gilded such as one never sees them now and several drawers were opened and the piano was opened it had landscapes on the inside of the lid and it was so hoarse when the old man played on it and then he hummed a song yes she could sing that said he and nodded to the portrait which he had brought at the brokers and the old man's eyes shone so bright I will go to the wars I will go to the wars shout to the pewter soldier as loud as he could and threw himself off the drawers right down onto the floor what became of him the old man sought and the little boy sought he was away and stayed away I shall find him said the old man but he never found him the floor was too open the pewter soldier had fallen through a crevice and there he lay as in an open tomb that day passed and the little boy went home and that week passed and several weeks too the windows were quite frozen the little boy was obliged to sit and breathe on them to get a peephole to the old house and there the snow had blown into all the carved work and inscriptions it lay quite up over the steps just as if there was no one at home nor was there anyone at home the old man was dead in the evening there was a hearse seen before the door and he was born into it in his coffin he was now to go out into the country to lie in his grave he was driven out there but no one followed all his friends were dead and the little boy kissed his hand to the coffin as it was driven away some days afterwards there was an auction at the old house and the little boy saw from his window how they carried the old knights and the old ladies away the flowerpots of the long years the old chairs and the old clothes presses something came here and something came there the portrait of her who had been found at the brokers came to the brokers again and there it hung for no one knew her more no one cared about the old picture in the spring they pulled the house down for as people said it was a ruin one could see from the street right into the room with the hog's leather hanging which was slashed and torn and the green grass and leaves about the balcony hung quite wild about the falling beams and then it was put to rights that was a relief said the neighbouring houses a fine house was built there with large windows and smooth white walls but before it where the old house had in fact stood was a little garden laid out and a wild grapevine ran up the wall of the neighbouring house before the garden there was a large iron railing with an iron door it looked quite splendid and people stood still and peeped in and the sparrows hung by scores in the vine and chatted away at each other as well as they could but it was not about the old house for they could not remember it so many years had passed so many that the little boy had grown up to be a whole man yet a clever man and a pleasure to his parents and he had just been married and together with his little wife had come to live in the house here where the garden was and he stood by her while she planted a fieldflower that she found so pretty she planted it with her little hand and pressed the earth around it with her fingers how what was that she had stuck herself there sat something pointed straight out of the soft mould it was yes guess it was the pewter soldier he that was lost up in the old man's and had tumbled and turned about amongst the timber and the rubbish and had at last laid for many years in the ground the young wife wiped the dirt off the soldier first with a green leaf and then with her fine handkerchief it had such a delightful smell that it was to the pewter soldier just as if he had awakened from a trance let me see him said the young man he laughed and then shook his head may it cannot be he but it reminds me of a story about a pewter soldier which i had when i was a little boy and then he told his wife about the old house and the old man and about the pewter soldier that he sent over to him because he was so very very lonely and he told it as correctly as it had really been so that the tears came into the eyes of his young wife on account of the old house and the old man it may possibly be however that it is the same pewter soldier said she i will take care of it and remember all that you have told me but you must show me the old man's grave but i do not know it said he and no one knows it all his friends were dead no one took care of it and i was then a little boy how very very lonely he must have been said she very very lonely said the pewter soldier but it is delightful not to be forgotten delightful shouted something close by but no one except the pewter soldier saw that it was a piece of the hog's leather hangings it had lost all its gilding it looked like a piece of wet clay but it had an opinion and it gave it the gilding decays but hog's leather stays this the pewter soldier did not believe end of chapter 10 chapter 11 of anderson's fairy tales this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Paul Michael 1084 anderson's fairy tales by hands christian anderson the happy family really the largest green leaf in this country is a duck leaf if one holds it before one it is like a whole apron and if one holds it over one's head in rainy weather it is almost as good as an umbrella for it is so immensely large the bird up never grows alone but where that grows one there always grows several it is great delight and all this delightfulness is snails food great white snails which persons of quality in former times may fricassees of ate and said how delicious before they thought it tasted so delicate lived on duck leaves and therefore bird ox seems to have sown now there was an old manor house where they no longer ate snails they were quite extinct but the bird ox were not extinct they grew and grew all over the walls and all the beds they could not get mastery over them it was the whole forest of bird ox here and there stood an apple and a plum tree or else no one would ever have thought it was a garden all was bird ox and there lived the last two venerable old snails they themselves knew not how old they were but they could remember very well that there have been many more that they were of a family from foreign lands and that for them and theirs the whole forest was planted they had never been outside it but they knew that there was still something more in the world which was called the manor house and that there they were boiled and then they came back and they were placed on a silver dish but what happened further they knew not or in fact what it was to be boiled and lay on a silver dish they could not possibly imagine but it was said to be delightful and particularly genteel neither the chafers the toads nor the earthworms who they asked about it could give them any information none of them had ever been boiled or laid on a silver dish the old white snails were the first persons of distinction in the world that they knew the forest was planted for their sake and the manor house was there so that they might be boiled and laid upon a silver dish now they had lived a very lonely and happy life and as they had no children themselves they had adopted a little common snail which they brought up as their own but the little one would not grow for he was of a common family but the old ones especially dame mother snail thought they could observe how he increased inside and she begged father if he could not see it that he would at least feel the little snail's shell and then he felt it and he found the good dame was right one day there was a heavy storm of rain here how it beats down like a drum upon the dock weaves so father snail there are also raindrops said mother snail and now the rain pours right down the stalk you will see that it will be wet here i am very happy to think that we have our good house and the little one has his also there is more done for us and for all of the creatures sure enough but can you not see that we are folks of quality in the world we are provided with a house from our birth and the bird of forest is planted for our sakes i should like to know how far it extends and what there is outside there is nothing at all so father snail no place can be better than ours and i have nothing to wish for yes said the dame i would willingly go to the manor house and be boiled and laid on a silver dish all our forefathers have been treated so there is something extraordinary in it you may be sure the manor house has most likely fallen into ruin so father snail all the bird oaks have grown up over it so that they cannot come out they do not however be in any haste about that but you are always in a tremendous hurry and the little one is beginning to be the same has he not been creeping up the stalk these three days he gives me a headache when i look up at him he must not scold him said mother snail he creeps so carefully he will afford as much pleasure and we have nothing but him to live for but have you not thought of it where shall we get a wife do you not think that there are some of our species at a great distance in the interior of the bird oaks forest black snails i dare say there are enough of said the old one black snails without a house but they are so common and so conceited but we might give the ants a commission to look for us i know one sure enough the most charming one said one of the ants but i am afraid we shall hardly succeed for she is a queen that is nothing said the old folks has she a house she has a palace said the ants the finest ants palace with 700 passengers i thank you said mother snail our sun shall not go into an anthill if you know nothing better than that we shall give the commission to the white gnats they fly far and wide in rain and sunshine they know the whole forest here both within and without we have a wife for him said the gnats at 100 human paces from here there sits a little snail in her house on a gooseberry bush she's quite lonely and old enough to be married she's only a hundred human paces well then let her come to him said the old ones he has a whole forest of bird oaks she only has a bush and so they went and fetched little miss snail it was a whole week before she arrived but therein was just the very best of it for one could thus see that she was of the same species and then the marriage was celebrated six earthworms shana as well as they could in other respects the hole went off very quietly for the old folks could not bear the noise and merriment but old dame snail made a brilliant speech father snail could not speak he was too much effective and so they gave them as a dowry and inheritance the whole forest of bird oaks and said what they had always said that it was the best in the world and if they lit honestly and decently and increased and multiplied they and their children would once in the course of time come to the manor house be boiled black and laid on silver dishes after this speech was made the old ones crapped into their shells and never more came out they slept the young couple governed the forest and had numerous progeny but they were never boiled and never came onto the silver dishes so from this they concluded that the manor house had fallen into ruins and at all the men in their world were extinct and there's no one contradicts them so of course it was so and the rain beat down on the bird oaks leaves to make drum music for their sake and the sun shone in order to get the bird oaks forest a colour for their sakes and they were very happy and the whole family was happy for they indeed were so end of the happy family recording by paul michael 1084 chapter 12 of anderson's fairy tales this is a librae vox recording our librae vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librae vox.org recording by claudia zalto anderson's fairy tales by hands christian anderson chapter 12 the story of a mother a mother said there with her little child she was so downcast so afraid that it should die it was so pale the small eyes had closed themselves and it drew its breath so softly now and then with a deep respiration as if it sighed and the mother looked still more sorrowfully on the little creature then in knocking was heard at the door and in came a poor old man wrapped up as in a large horse clothed for its warmth one and he needed it as it was the cold winter season everything out of doors was covered with ice and snow and the wind blew so that it cut the face as the old man trembled with cold and the little child slept a moment the mother went and poured some ale into a pot and set it on the stove that it might be warm for him the old man sat and rocked the cradle and the mother sat down on a chair close by him and looked at her little sick child that drew its breath so deep and raised its little hand do you not think that I shall save him said she our lord will not take him from me and the old man it was death himself he nodded so strangely it could just as well signify yes as no and the mother looked down in her lap and the tears ran down over her cheeks her head became so heavy she had not closed her eyes for three days and nights and now she slept but only for a minute when she started up and trembled with cold what is that said she and looked on all sides but the old man was gone and her little child was gone he had taken it with him and the old clock in the corner bird and bird the great laden weight ran down to the floor and then the clock also stood still but the poor mother ran out of the house and cried aloud for her child out there in the midst of the snow there said a woman in long black clothes and she said death has been in thy chamber and I saw him hasten away with thy little child he goes faster than the wind and he never brings back what he takes oh only tell me which way he went said the mother tell me the way and I shall find him I know it said the woman in the black clothes but before I tell it thou must first sing for me all the songs thou hast sung for thy child I am fond of them I have heard them before I am night I saw thy tears while thou sangst them I will sing them all all said the mother but do not stop me now I may overtake him I may find my child but night stood still and mute then the mother wrung her hands sang and wept and there were many songs but yet many more tears and then night said go to the right into the dark pine forest thither I saw death take his way with thy little child their roads crossed each other in the depth of the forest and she no longer knew whether she should go then there stood a thorn bush there was neither leaf nor flower on it it was also in the cold winter season and ice flakes hung on the branches has thou not seen death go past with my little child said the mother yes said the thorn bush but I will not tell thee which way he took unless thou will first warm me up at thy heart I am freezing to death I shall become a lump of ice and she pressed the thorn bush to her rest so firmly that it might be thoroughly warmed and the thorns went right into her flesh and her blood flowed in large drops but the thorn bush shot forth fresh green leaves and there came flowers on it in the cold winter night the heart of the afflicted mother was so warm and the thorn bush told her the way she should go she then came to enlarge lake where there was neither ship nor boat the lake was not frozen sufficiently to bear her neither was it open nor low enough that she could wade through it and across it she must go if she would find her child then she lay down to drink up the lake and that was an impossibility for a human being but the afflicted mother thought that a miracle might happen nevertheless oh what would I not give to come to my child said the weeping mother and she wept still more and her eyes sunk down in the depth of the waters and became two precious pearls but the water bore her up as if she sat in a swing and she flew in the rocking waves to the shore on the opposite side where there stood a mile broad strange house one knew not if it were a mountain with forests and caverns or if it were built up but the poor mother could not see it she had wept her eyes out where shall I find death who took away my little child said he he has not come here yet said the old grave woman who was appointed to look after death great greenhouse how have you been able to find the way hither and who has helped you our lord has helped me said she he is merciful and you will also be so where shall I find my little child may I know not said the woman and you cannot see many flowers and trees have withered this night death will soon come and plant them over again you certainly know that every person has his or her life's tree or flower just as everyone happens to be settled they look like other plants but they have pulsations of the heart children's hearts can also beat go after yours perhaps you may know your child's but what will you give me if I tell you what you shall do more I have nothing to give said the afflicted mother but I will go to the world's end for you nay I have nothing to do there said the woman but you can give me your long black hair you know yourself that it is fine and that I like you shall have my white hair instead and that's always something do you demand nothing else said she that I will gladly give you and she gave her her fine black hair and got the old woman's snow white hair instead so they went into death's great greenhouse where flowers and trees grew strangely into one another there stood fine higher synths under glass bells and there stood strong stemped peonies they grew water plants some so fresh others half sick the water snakes laid down on them and black crabs pinched their stalks there stood beautiful palm trees oaks and plantings there stood parsley and flowering time every tree and every flower had its name each of them was a human life the human frame still lived one in china and another in greenland round about in the world there were large trees in small pots so that they stood so stunted in growth and ready to burst the pots in other places there was a little dull flower in rich mold with moss round about it and it was so petted and nursed but the distressed mother bent down over all the smallest plants and heard within them how the human heart beat and amongst millions she knew her little child's there it is cried she and stretched her hands out over a little blue crocus that hung quite sickly on one side don't touch the flower said the old woman but place yourself here and when death comes i expect him every moment do not let him pluck the flower up but threaten him that you will do the same with the others then he will be afraid he is responsible for them to our lord and no one dares to pluck them up before he gives leave all at once an icy cold rushed through the great hall and the blind mother could feel that it was death that came how has thou been able to find their way hither he asked how could thou come quicker than i i am a mother said she and death stretched out his long hand towards the fine little flower but she held her hands fast around his so tight and yet afraid that she should touch one of the leaves then death blew on her hands and she felt that it was colder than the cold wind and her hands fell down powerless thou can't not do anything against me said death but our lord can said she i only do his bidding said death i am his gardener i take all his flowers and trees and plant them out in the great garden of paradise in the unknown land but how they grow there and how it is there i dare not tell thee give me back my child said the mother and she wept and prayed at once she seized hold of two beautiful flowers close by with each hand and cried out to death i will tear all thy flowers off for i am in despair touch them not said death thou says that thou art so unhappy and now thou wilt make another mother equally unhappy another mother said the poor woman and directly let go her hold of both the flowers there thou hast thine eyes said death i fished them up from the lake they shone so bright i knew not they were thine take them again they are now brighter than before now look down into the deep well close by i shall tell thee the names of the two flowers thou wouldst have torn up and thou wilt see their whole future life their whole human existence and see what thou was about to disturb and destroy and she looked down into the well and it was a happiness to see how the one became a blessing to the world to see how much happiness and joy were felt everywhere and she saw the other's life and it was sorrow and distress horror and wretchedness both of them are god's will said death which of them is misfortune's flower and which is that of happiness asked she that i will not tell thee said death but this thou shalt know from me that the one flower was thy own child it was thy child's fate thou sourced thy own child's future life then the mother screamed with terror which of them was my child tell it me save the innocent save my child from all that misery rather take it away take it into god's kingdom forget my tears forget my prayers and all that i have done i do not understand thee said death will thou have thy child again or shall i go with it there where thou dost not know then the mother wrung her hands fell on her knees and prayed to our lord oh hear me not when i pray against thy will which is the best hear me not hear me not and she bowed her head down in her lap and death took her child and went with it into the unknown land end of section 12 the story of a mother chapter 13 of anderson's fairy tales this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by claudia salto anderson's fairy tales by hands christian anderson chapter 13 the false color there was once a fine gentleman all of whose movables were a boot jack and a hair comb but he had the finest false colors in the world and it is about one of these colors that we are now to hear a story it was so old that it began to think of marriage and it happened that it came to be washed in company with a garter nay said the color i never did see anything so slender and so fine so soft and so neat may i not ask your name that i shall not tell you said the garter where do you live asked the color but the garter was so bashful so modest and thought it was a strange question to answer you are certainly a girl said the color that is to say an inside girl i see well that you are both for use and ornament my dear young lady i will thank you not to speak to me said the garter i think i have not given the least occasion for it yes when one is as handsome as you said the color that is occasion enough don't come so near me i beg of you said the garter you look so much like those men folks i am also a fine gentleman said the color i have a boot jack and a hair comb but that was not true for it was his master who had them but he boasted don't come so near me said the garter i am not accustomed to it prude exclaimed the color and then it was taken out of the washing tub it was starched hung over the back of a chair in the sunshine and was then laid on the ironing blanket then came the warm box iron dear lady said the color dear widow lady i feel quite hot i am quite changed i begin to unfold myself you will burn a hole in me oh i offer you my hand rag said the box iron and went proudly over the collar for she fenced it she was a steam engine that would go on the railroad and draw the wagons rag said the box iron the collar was a little jagged at the edge and so came the long scissors to cut off the jagged part oh said the collar you are certainly the first opera dancer how well you can stretch your legs out it is the most graceful performance i have ever seen no one can imitate you i know it said the scissors you deserve to be a baroness said the collar all that i have is a fine gentleman a bujak and a hair comb if i only had the barony do you seek my hand said the scissors for she was angry and without moridu she cut him and then he was condemned i shall now be obliged to ask the hair comb it is surprisingly how well you preserve your teeth miss said the collar have you never thought of being betrothed yes of course you may be sure of that said the hair comb i am betrothed to the bujak betrothed exclaimed the collar now there was no other to court and so he despised it a long time passed away then the collar came into the reg chest at the paper mill there was a large company of regs defined by themselves and the course by themselves just as it should be they all had much to say but the collar the most for he was a real boaster i have had such an immense number of sweethearts said the collar i could not be in peace it is true i was always a fine starched up gentleman i had both a bujak and a hair comb which i never used you should have seen me then you should have seen me when i lay down i shall never forget my first love she was a girdle so fine so soft and so charming she threw herself into a tub of water for my sake there was also a widow who became glowing hot but i left her standing till she got black again there was also the first opera dancer she gave me that cut which i now go with she was so ferocious my own hair comb was in love with me she lost all her teeth from the heartache yes i have lived to see much of that sort of thing but i am extremely sorry for the garter i mean the girl that went into the water tub i have much on my conscience i want to become white paper and it became so all the rags were turned into white paper but the collar came to be just this very piece of white paper we here see and on which the story is printed and that was because it boasted so terribly afterwards of what had never happened to it it would be well for us to be aware that we may not act in a similar manner for we can never know if we may not in the course of time also come into the rag chest and be made into white paper and then have our whole life's history printed on it even the most secret and be obliged to run about and tell it ourselves just like this collar end of section 13 the false collar chapter 14 of anderson's fairy tales this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by ena schumacher the shadow it is in the hot lands that the sun burns sure enough there are people become quite a mahogany brown a and in the hottest lands they are burnt to negroes but now it was only into the hot lands that a lonely man had come from the cold there he thought that he could run about just as well at home but he soon found out his mistake he and all sensible folks were obliged to stay within doors the window shutters and doors were closed the whole day it looked as if the whole house slept or there was no one at home the narrow street with the high houses was built so that the sunshine must fall there from morning till evening it was really not to be born the learned man from the cold lands he was a young man and seemed to be a clever man sat in a glowing oven it took a fix on him he became quite meager even a shadow shrunken for the sun had also an effect on it it was first towards evening when the sun was down that they began to freshen up again in the warm lands every window has a balcony and the people came out on all the balconies in the street for one must have a even if one be accustomed to mahogany note the word mahogany can be understood in danish as having two meanings in general it means the reddish brown wood itself but in jest it signifies excessively fine which arose from an anecdote of neyberdor in cope and hargan the seamen's quarter a sailor's wife who was always proud and fine in her way came to her neighbor and complained that she had got a splinter in her finger what of asked the neighbor's wife because the mahogany splinter said the other the hogany it cannot be less with you exclaimed the woman and then said the proverb it is so mahogany that is so excessively fine is derived end note it was lively both up and down the street tailors and shoemakers and all the folks moved out into the street chairs and tables were brought forth and candles burnt yes above a thousand lights were burning and the one talked and the other sung and people walked and church bells rang and asses went along with a dingle dingle dong for they too had bells on the street boys were screaming and hooting and shouting and shooting with devils and detonating balls and they came corksbearers and hood wearers for there were funerals with some and him and then the den of carriage is driving and company arriving yes it wasn't truth lively enough down in the street only in that single house which stood opposite that in which the learned foreigner lived it was quite still and yet someone lived there for there stood flowers at the balcony they grew so well in the sun's heat and that they could not do unless they were watered and someone must water them there must be somebody there the door opposite was also opened late in the evening but it was dark within at least in the front room further in there was heard the sound of music the learned foreigner thought it quite marvellous but now it might be that he only imagined it for he found everything marvellous out there in the warm lands if they had only been no sun the stranger's landlord said that he didn't know who had taken the house opposite one saw no person about and as to the music it appeared to him to be extremely tiresome it is as if someone sat there and practiced a piece that he could not master always the same piece how shall master it says he but yet he cannot master it however long he plays one night the stranger woke he slept with the doors of the balcony open the curtain before it was raised by the wind and he thought that a strange luster came from the opposite neighbor's house all the flowers shun like flames in the most beautiful colors and in the midst of the flowers stood a slender graceful maiden it was as if she also shone the light really hurt his eyes he now opened them quite wide yes he was quite awake with one spring he was on the floor he crept gently behind the curtain but the maiden was gone the flowers shun no longer but there they stood fresh and blooming as ever the door was a jar and far within the music sounded so soft and delightful one could really melt away in sweet thoughts from it yet it was like a piece of enchantment and who lived there where was the actual entrance the whole of the ground floor was a row of shops and their people could not always be running through one evening the stranger sat out on the balcony a light burned to the room behind him and thus it was quite natural that his shadow should fall on his opposite neighbor's wall yes there it sat directly opposite between the flowers on the balcony and when the stranger moved the shadow also moved for that it always does i think my shadow is the only living thing one sees over there says the learned man see how nicely it sits between the flowers the door stands half open now the shadow should be coming and go into the room look about and then come and tell me what it had seen come now be useful and do me a service said he ingest have the kindness to step in now i thought going and then he nodded to the shadow and the shadow nodded again well then go but don't stay away the stranger rose and his shadow on the opposite neighbor's balcony rose also the stranger turned around and the shadow also turned around yes if anyone had paid particular attention to it they would have seen quite distinctly that the shadow went in through the half open balcony door of the opposite neighbor just as the stranger went into his own room let the long curtain fall down after him next morning the learned man went out to drink coffee and read the newspapers what is that said he as he came into the sunshine i have no shadow so then it has actually gone last night and not come again it is really tiresome this annoyed him not so much because the shadow was gone but because he knew there was a story about a man without a shadow note pete schlemel the shadowless man and note it was known to everybody at home and in the cold lands and if the learned man now came there and told his story they would say that he was imitating it and that he had no need to do he would therefore not talk about it at all and that was wisely thought in the evening he went out again on the balcony he had placed the light directly behind them for he knew that the shadow would always have its master full screen but he could not entice it he made himself little he made himself great but no shadow came again he said him him but it was of no use it was vexatious but in the warm lands everything grows so quickly and after the lapse of eight days he observed to his great joy that a new shadow came in the sunshine in the course of three weeks he had a very fair shadow which when he set out was home in the northern lands grew more and more in the journey so that had lasted so long it's so large that it was more than sufficient the learned man then came home and he wrote books about what was true of the world and about what was good and what was beautiful and they passed days and years yes many years passed away one evening as he was sitting in his room there was a gentle knocking at the door come in said he but no one came in so he opened the door and there stood before him such an extremely lean man that he felt quite strange as to the rest the man was very finely dressed he must be a gentleman whom have I the honor of speaking asked the learned man yes I thought as much said the fine man I thought you would not know me I have got so much body I have even got flesh and clothes you certainly never thought of seeing me so well off do you not know your old shadow you certainly thought I should never more return things have gone on well with me since I last with you I have in all respects become very well off shall I purchase my freedom from service if so I can do it and then he rattled a whole bunch of valuable seals that hung to his watch and he stuck his hand in the thick gold chain he wore around his neck may how all his fingers glittered with diamond rings and then all were pure gems may I cannot recover from my surprise said the learned man what is the meaning of all this something common is it not said the shadow but you yourself do not belong to the common order and I as you know well have from a child followed in your footsteps as soon as you found I was capable to go out alone in the world I went more and way I am in the most brilliant circumstances but there came a sort of desire over me to see you once more before you die you will die I suppose I also wish to see this land again for you know we always love our native land I know you have got another shadow again have I anything to pay to it or you if so you will oblige me by saying what it is nay is it really thou said the learned man it is most remarkable I never imagined that one's old shadow could come again as a man tell me what I have to pay said the shadow for I don't like to be in any sort of debt how can't thou talk so said the learned man what debt is there to talk about make that self as free as anyone else I am extremely glad to hear of thy good fortune sit down old friend and tell me a little how it has gone with thee and what thou has seen in our opposite neighbors there in the warm lands yes I will tell you all about it said the shadow and sat down but then you must also promise me that wherever you may meet me you will never say to anyone here in the town that I have been your shadow I intend to get betrothed for I can provide for more than one family be quiet at thy ease about that said the learned man I shall not say to anyone who thou actually art here's my hand I promise it and a man's bond is his word a word is his shadow said the shadow and as such it must speak it was really quite astonishing how much of a man it was it was dressed entirely in black and of the very finest cloth it had patent leather boots and a hat that could be folded together so that it was bare crown and brim not to speak of what we already know it had seals gold neck chain and diamond rings yes the shadow was well-dressed and it was just that which made quite a man now I shall tell you of my adventures said the shadow and then he sat with the polished boots as heavily as he could on the arm of the learned man's new shadow which lay like a poodle-dog at his feet now this was perhaps from arrogance and the shadow on the ground kept itself so still and quiet that it might hear all that past it wished to know how it could get free and work its way up so as to become its own master do you know who lived in our opposite neighbor's house said the shadow it was the most charming of all beings it was pussy I lived there for three weeks and that has as much effect as if one had lived 3 000 years and read all that was composed and written that is what I say and it is right I have seen everything and I know everything pussy cried the learned man yes yes she often dwells recluse in large cities pussy yes I've seen her a single short moment but sleep came to my eyes she stood on the balcony and shone as the aurora borealis shines go on go on that word on the balcony and went through the doorway and then I was in the antechamber said the shadow you always sat and looked over to the antechamber there was no light there was a sort of twilight but the one door stood open directly opposite the other through a long row of rooms and saloons and there it was lighted up I should have been completely killed if I had gone over to the maiden but I was circumspect I took time to think and that one must always do and what did star then see asked the learned man I saw everything and I shall tell all to you but it is no pride on my part as a free man and with the knowledge I have not to speak of my position in life my excellent circumstances I certainly wish that you would say you to me note it is the custom in Denmark for intimate acquaintances to use the second person singular do thou when speaking to each other when a friendship is formed between men they generally affirm it when occasion offers either in public or private by drinking to each other and exclaiming thy health at the same time striking their glasses together this is called drinking do's they are then do's broadre thou brothers and ever afterwards use the pronoun thou to each other it being regarded as more familiar than dare you father mother system brother say vow to one another without regard to age or rank master and mistresses say vow to their servants the superior to the inferior but servants and inferiors do not use the same term to their masters or superiors nor is it ever used when speaking to a stranger or anyone with whom they are but slightly acquainted then they say as in English you end note I beg your pardon said the learned man just an old habit with me you are perfectly right and I shall remember it but now you must tell me all that you saw everything said the shadow for I saw everything and I know everything how did it look in the furthest saloon asked the learned man was it there as in the fresh woods was it there as in a holy church with a saloons like the starlit fernament when we stand on the high mountains everything was there said the shadow I did not go quite in I remained in the foremost room in the twilight but I stood there quite well I saw everything and I know everything I have been in the antechamber at the court of pussy but what did you see did all the guards of the olden times pass through the large saloons did the old heroes combat there did sweet children play there and relate their dreams I tell you I was there and you can conceive what I saw everything there was to be seen had you come over there you would not have been a man but I became so and besides I learned to know my inward nature my innate qualities the relationship I had with pussy at the time I was with you I thought not with that but always you know it well when the sun rose and the sun went down I became so strangely great in the moonlight I was very near being more distinct than yourself at that time I did not understand my nature it was revealed to me in the antechamber I became a man I came out matured but you were no longer in the warm lands as a man I was ashamed to go as I did I was in want of boots of clothes of the whole human varnish that makes a man perceptible I took my way I tell it to you but you will not put it in any book I took my way to the cake woman I hid myself behind her the woman didn't think how much she concealed I went out first in the evening I ran about the streets in the moonlight I made myself long up the walls it tickles the back so delightfully I ran up and ran down peeped into the highest windows into the saloons and on the roofs I peeped in where no one could peep and I saw what no one else saw what no one else should see that is in fact a base world I would not be a man if it were not now once accepted and regarded as something to be so I saw the most unimaginable things with the woman with the men with parents and with the sweet matchless children I saw said the shadow but no human being must know but what they would all so willingly know what is bad in their neighbor had I written a newspaper it would have been read but I wrote direct to the persons themselves and there was consternation in all the times where I came they were so afraid of me and yet they were so excessively fond of me the professors made a professor of me the tailors gave me new clothes I am well furnished the master of the mint struck new coin for me and the woman said I was so handsome and so I became the man I am and I now bid you farewell here's my card I live on the sunny side of the street and I'm always at home in rainy weather and so away went the shadow that was most extraordinary said the learned man years and days passed away then the shadow came again how goes it said the shadow alas said the learned man I write about the true and the good and the beautiful but no one cares to hear such things I'm quite desperate for I take it so much to heart but I don't said the shadow I become fat and it is that one wants to become you do not understand the world you will become ill by it you must travel I shall make a tour the summer will you go with me I should like to have a traveling companion will you go with me as shadow it will be a great pleasure for me to have you with me I shall pay the traveling expenses no this is too much said the learned man it is just as one takes it said the shadow it will do you much good to travel will you be my shadow you shall have everything free on the journey nay that is too bad said the learned man but it is just so with the world said the shadow and so it will be in a way it went again the learned man was not at all in the most enviable state grief and torment followed him and what he said about the true and the good and the beautiful was to most persons like roses for Kyle he was quite ill at last you really look like a shadow said his friends to him and the learned man trembled for he thought of it you must go to a watering place said the shadow he came and visited him there is nothing else for it I will take you with me for all the quaints and sake I will pay the traveling expenses and you write the descriptions and if they are a little amusing for me on the way I will go to a watering place my beard does not grow out as it ought and that is also a sickness and one must have a beard now you be wise and accept the offer we shall travel as comrades and so they traveled the shadow was master and the master was the shadow they drove with each other they rode and walked together side by side before and behind just as the sun was the shadow always took care to keep itself in the master's place now the learned man didn't think much about that he was a very kind-hearted man and particularly mild and friendly and so he said one day to the shadow as we have now become companions and in this way have grown up together from childhood shall we not drink thou together it is more familiar you are right said the shadow who was now the proper master he just said in a very straightforward and well-meant manner you as a learned man certainly know how strange nature's some persons cannot bear to touch grey paper or they become ill others shiver in every limb if one rub a pane of glass with a nail I have just such a feeling on hearing you say thou to me I feel myself as if pressed into the earth in my first situation with you you see that it is a feeling that it is not pride I cannot allow you to say thou to me but I will willingly say thou to you so it is half done so the shadow said thou to its former master this is rather too bad thought he that I must say you and he say thou but he was obliged to put up with it so they came to a watering place where there were many strangers and amongst them was a princess who was troubled with seeing too well and that was so alarming she directly observed that stranger who had just come was quite a different sort of person to all the others he has come here in order to get his beard to grow they say but I see the real cause he cannot cast a shadow she had become inquisitive and so she entered into conversation directly with strange gentlemen on their promenades as the daughter of a king she needed not to stand upon trifles so she said your complaint is that you cannot cast a shadow your royal highness must be improving considerably said the shadow I know your complaint is that you see too clearly but it has decreased you are cured I just happen to have a very unusual shadow do you not see that person who always goes with me other persons have a common shadow but I do not like what is common to all we give our servants finer cloth for their livery than we ourselves use and so I had my shadow trimmed up into a man yes you see I have even given him a shadow it is somewhat expensive but I like to have something for myself what thought the princess should I really be cured these baths are the first in the world in our time water has wonderful powers but I shall not leave the place what now begins to be amusing here I'm extremely fond of that stranger would not his beard should not grow for that case he will leave us in the evening the princess in the shadow danced together in a large ballroom she was light but he was still lighter she had never had such a partner in the dance she told him from what land she came and he knew that land he had been there but then she was not at home he had peeped in at the window above and below he had seen both the one and the other and so he could answer the princess and make insinuations so that she was quite astonished he must be the wisest man in the whole world she felt such respect for what he knew so that when they again danced together she fell in love with him and that the shadow could remark for she almost pierced him through with her eyes so they danced once more together and she was about to declare herself but she was discreet the thought of her country and kingdom and of the many persons she would have to reign over he is a wise man she said to herself it is well and he dances delightfully that is also good but has he solid knowledge that is just as important he must be examined so she began by degrees to question him about the most difficult things she could think of in which she herself could not have answered so that the shadow made a strange face you cannot answer these questions said the princess they belonged to my childhoods learning said the shadow i really believe my shadow but the door there can answer them your shadow said the princess that would indeed be marvellous i will not say for certainty that he can set the shadow but i think so he has now followed me for so many years and listened to my conversation i should think it possible but your well highness will permit me to observe that he is so proud of passing himself off for man that when he is to be in a proper humor and he must be so to answer well he must be treated quite like a man oh i like that said the princess so she went to the learned man by the door and she spoke to him about the sun and the moon and about persons out of and in the world and he answered with wisdom and prudence what a man that must be who has so wise a shadow thought she it will be a real blessing to my people in kingdom if i choose him for my consort i will do it they were soon agreed but the princess and the shadow but no one was to know about it before she arrived in her own kingdom no one not even my shadow said the shadow and he had his own thoughts about it now they were in the country where the princess reigned when she was at home listen my good friend said the shadow to the learned man have now become as happy and mighty as anyone can be i will therefore do something particular for thee thou shalt always live with me in the palace drive with me in my world carriage and have ten thousand pounds a year but then i must submit to be called shadow by all and everyone thou must not say that thou has ever been a man and once a year when i sit on the balcony in the sunshine i must lie at my feet as the shadow shall do i must tell thee i'm going to marry the king's daughter and the nuptials are to take place this evening nay this is going too far said the learned man i will not have it i will not do it it is to deceive the whole country and the princess too i will tell everything that i am a man and that thou art a shadow that art only dressed up there is no one who will believe it said the shadow be reasonable or i will call the god i will go directly to the princess said the learned man but i will go first said the shadow and i will go to prison and that he was obliged to do for the sentinels obeyed him whom they knew the king's daughter was to marry you tremble said the princess as the shadow came into her chamber has anything happened he must not be unwell this evening now that we are to have our nuptials celebrated i have lived to see the most cruel thing that anyone can live to see said the shadow only imagine yes it is true such a poor shadow skull cannot bear much only think my shadow has become mad he thinks that he is a man and that i now only think that i am his shadow it is terrible said the princess but he has confined is he not that he is i am afraid that he will never recover oh a shadow said the princess he is very unfortunate it would be a real work of charity to deliver him from the little life he has and when i think properly over the matter i am of opinion that it will be necessary to do away with him in all stillness it is certainly hard said the shadow for he was a faithful servant and then he gave a sort of sigh you are a noble character said the princess the whole city was illuminated in the evening and the cannons went off with a boom boom and the soldiers presented arms that was a marriage a princess in the shadow went out on the balcony to show themselves and get another hurrah the lonely man heard nothing of all this for they had deprived him of life end of chapter 14 chapter 15 of anderson's fairy tales this is a librivox recording all libri