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At last the little Mice stayed away also; and the Tree said he, trampling on the branches, so that they all cracked
sighed: After all, it was very pleasant when the sleek little beneath his feet.
Mice sat round me, and listened to what I told them. Now And the Tree beheld all the beauty of the flowers, and
that too is over. But I will take good care to enjoy myself the freshness in the garden; he beheld himself, and wished
when I am brought out again. he had remained in his dark corner in the loft; he thought
But when was that to be? Why, one morning there came of his first youth in the wood, of the merry Christmas-eve,
a quantity of people and set to work in the loft. The trunks and of the little Mice who had listened with so much plea-
were moved, the tree was pulled out and thrown rather sure to the story of Humpy-Dumpy.
hard, it is true down on the floor, but a man drew him to- Tis over tis past! said the poor Tree. Had I but re-
wards the stairs, where the daylight shone. joiced when I had reason to do so! But now tis past, tis
Now a merry life will begin again, thought the Tree. He past!
felt the fresh air, the first sunbeam and now he was out in And the gardener s boy chopped the Tree into small piec-
the courtyard. All passed so quickly, there was so much go- es; there was a whole heap lying there. The wood flamed up
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splendidly under the large brewing copper, and it sighed so
THE SNOW QUEEN
deeply! Each sigh was like a shot.
The boys played about in the court, and the youngest
wore the gold star on his breast which the Tree had had
on the happiest evening of his life. However, that was over
now the Tree gone, the story at an end. All, all was over
every tale must end at last.
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he kept a sprite school told each other that a miracle had
First Story. Which
happened; and that now only, as they thought, it would be
possible to see how the world really looked. They ran about
Treats of a Mirror and
with the mirror; and at last there was not a land or a person
who was not represented distorted in the mirror. So then
of the Splinters
they thought they would fly up to the sky, and have a joke
there. The higher they flew with the mirror, the more ter-
ribly it grinned: they could hardly hold it fast. Higher and
higher still they flew, nearer and nearer to the stars, when
ow then, let us begin. When we are at the end of the suddenly the mirror shook so terribly with grinning, that
Nstory, we shall know more than we know now: but to it flew out of their hands and fell to the earth, where it was
begin. dashed in a hundred million and more pieces. And now it
Once upon a time there was a wicked sprite, indeed he worked much more evil than before; for some of these piec-
was the most mischievous of all sprites. One day he was in a es were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and they flew
very good humor, for he had made a mirror with the power about in the wide world, and when they got into people s
of causing all that was good and beautiful when it was re- eyes, there they stayed; and then people saw everything
flected therein, to look poor and mean; but that which was perverted, or only had an eye for that which was evil. This
good-for-nothing and looked ugly was shown magnified happened because the very smallest bit had the same power
and increased in ugliness. In this mirror the most beautiful which the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even
landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best per- got a splinter in their heart, and then it made one shudder,
sons were turned into frights, or appeared to stand on their for their heart became like a lump of ice. Some of the broken
heads; their faces were so distorted that they were not to be pieces were so large that they were used for windowpanes,
recognised; and if anyone had a mole, you might be sure through which one could not see one s friends. Other pieces
that it would be magnified and spread over both nose and were put in spectacles; and that was a sad affair when people
mouth. put on their glasses to see well and rightly. Then the wicked
That s glorious fun! said the sprite. If a good thought sprite laughed till he almost choked, for all this tickled his
passed through a man s mind, then a grin was seen in the fancy. The fine splinters still flew about in the air: and now
mirror, and the sprite laughed heartily at his clever dis- we shall hear what happened next.
covery. All the little sprites who went to his school for
0 Andersen s Fairy Tales Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 1
very high, and the children knew that they must not creep
Second Story. A Little
over them; so they often obtained permission to get out of
the windows to each other, and to sit on their little stools
Boy and a Little Girl
among the roses, where they could play delight fully. In
winter there was an end of this pleasure. The windows were
often frozen over; but then they heated copper farthings on
the stove, and laid the hot farthing on the windowpane, and
n a large town, where there are so many houses, and so then they had a capital peep-hole, quite nicely rounded; and
Imany people, that there is no roof left for everybody to out of each peeped a gentle friendly eye it was the little
have a little garden; and where, on this account, most. per- boy and the little girl who were looking out. His name was
sons are obliged to content themselves with flowers in pots; Kay, hers was Gerda. In summer, with one jump, they could
there lived two little children, who had a garden somewhat get to each other; but in winter they were obliged first to go
larger than a flower-pot. They were not brother and sister; down the long stairs, and then up the long stairs again: and
but they cared for each other as much as if they were. Their out-of-doors there was quite a snow-storm.
parents lived exactly opposite. They inhabited two garrets; It is the white bees that are swarming, said Kay s old
and where the roof of the one house joined that of the other, grandmother.
and the gutter ran along the extreme end of it, there was to Do the white bees choose a queen? asked the little boy;
each house a small window: one needed only to step over for he knew that the honey-bees always have one.
the gutter to get from one window to the other. Yes, said the grandmother, she flies where the swarm
The children s parents had large wooden boxes there, in hangs in the thickest clusters. She is the largest of all; and
which vegetables for the kitchen were planted, and little ro- she can never remain quietly on the earth, but goes up
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