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Little Match Girl - Hans Christian Andersen · Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology

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  Speaker 1: The Little match Girl. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 1: not a volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Phil Chinaver. The Little match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen.
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  Speaker 1: Most terribly cold it was. It snowed, and was nearly
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  Speaker 1: quite dark and evening, the last evening of the year.
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  Speaker 1: In this cold and darkness, there went along the street
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  Speaker 1: a poor little girl, bare headed and with naked feet.
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  Speaker 1: When she left home. She had slippers on, it is true,
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  Speaker 1: but what was the good of that? They were very
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  Speaker 1: large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn. So large
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  Speaker 1: were they, and the poor little thing lost them as
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  Speaker 1: she scuffled away across the street. Because of two carriages
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  Speaker 1: that rolled by dreadfully fast. One slipper was nowhere to
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  Speaker 1: be found. The other had been laid hold of by
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  Speaker 1: an urchin, and off he ran with it. He thought
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  Speaker 1: it would do capitally for a cradle when he, some
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  Speaker 1: day or other, should have children himself. So the little
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  Speaker 1: maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet that were
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  Speaker 1: quite red and blue from cold. She carried a quantity
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  Speaker 1: of matches in an old apron, and she held a
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  Speaker 1: bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought anything
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  Speaker 1: of her the whole livelong day. No one had given
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  Speaker 1: her a single farthing. She crept along, trembling with cold
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  Speaker 1: and hunger. Hey very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing.
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  Speaker 1: The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which
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  Speaker 1: fell in beautiful curls around her neck. But of that,
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  Speaker 1: of course, she never once now thought. From all the
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  Speaker 1: windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously
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  Speaker 1: of roast goose, For you know, it was New Year's eve. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: of that, she thought. In a corner formed by two houses,
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  Speaker 1: of which one advanced more than the other, she seated
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  Speaker 1: herself down and cowered together her little feet she had
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  Speaker 1: drawn close up to her. But she grew colder and colder,
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  Speaker 1: and to go home she did not venture, for she
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  Speaker 1: had not sold any matches, and could not bring a
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  Speaker 1: farthing of money from her father. She would certainly yet
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  Speaker 1: blowse and at home it was cold too, for above
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  Speaker 1: her she had only the roof through which the wind whistled,
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  Speaker 1: Even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw
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  Speaker 1: and rags. Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: a match might afford her a world of comfort, if
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  Speaker 1: she only dared take a single one out of the bundle,
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  Speaker 1: draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it.
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  Speaker 1: She drew one out. How it blazed, how it burnt.
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  Speaker 1: It was a warm, bright flame like a candle as
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  Speaker 1: she held her hands over it, and it was wonderfully light.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed, really to the little maiden, as though she
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  Speaker 1: were sitting before a large iron stove with burnished brass
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  Speaker 1: feet and a brass ornament atop. The fire burned with
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  Speaker 1: such blessed influence. It warmed so delightfully. The little girl
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  Speaker 1: had already stretched out her feet to warm them too,
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  Speaker 1: But the small flame went out, the stove vanished. She
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  Speaker 1: had only the remains of the burnt out match in
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  Speaker 1: her hand. She rubbed another against the wall. It burned brightly,
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  Speaker 1: and where the light fell on the wall, there the
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  Speaker 1: wall became transparent like a veil, so that she could
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  Speaker 1: see into the room. On the table was spread a
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  Speaker 1: snow white tablecloth. Upon it was a splendid porcelain surface,
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  Speaker 1: and the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing
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  Speaker 1: of apple and dried plums. And what was still more
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  Speaker 1: capital to behold was the goose, hopped down from the dish,
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  Speaker 1: reeled about on the floor with knife and fork in
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  Speaker 1: its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl.
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  Speaker 1: When the match went out, and nothing but the thick,
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  Speaker 1: cold damp wall was left behind, she lighted another match.
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  Speaker 1: Now there she was sitting under the most magnificent Crispas tree.
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  Speaker 1: It was still larger and more decorated than the one
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  Speaker 1: which she had seen through the glass door in the
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  Speaker 1: rich merchant's house. Thousands of lights were burning on the
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  Speaker 1: green branches, and gaily colored pictures, such as she had
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  Speaker 1: seen in the shop windows, looked down upon her. The
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  Speaker 1: little maiden stretched out her hands toward them. When the
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  Speaker 1: match went out, the lights of the Crispas tree rose
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  Speaker 1: higher and higher. She saw them now as stars in heaven.
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  Speaker 1: One fell down and formed a long trail of fire.
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  Speaker 1: Some one is just dead, said the little girl, For
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  Speaker 1: her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her
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  Speaker 1: and who was now no more, had told her that
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  Speaker 1: when a star falls, a soul ascends to God. She
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  Speaker 1: drew another match against the wall. It was again light,
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  Speaker 1: and in the luster there stood the old grandmother, so
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  Speaker 1: bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression
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  Speaker 1: of love. Grand Mother cried the little one, Oh, take
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  Speaker 1: me with you. You go away. When the match burns out,
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  Speaker 1: You vanished like the warm stove, like the delicious roast goose,
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  Speaker 1: and like the magnificent Christmas tree. And she rubbed the
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  Speaker 1: whole bundle of matches quickly against the wall, for she
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  Speaker 1: wanted to be quite sure of keeping her grandmother nearer.
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  Speaker 1: And the matches gave such a brilliant light that it
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  Speaker 1: was brighter than at noonday. Never formerly had the grandmother
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  Speaker 1: been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little
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  Speaker 1: maiden on her arm, and both flew in brightness and
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  Speaker 1: in joy, so high, so very high. And then above
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  Speaker 1: was neither cold, nor hunger nor anxiety. They were with God.
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  Speaker 1: But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn,
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  Speaker 1: sat the poor girl, with rosy cheeks and with a
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  Speaker 1: smiling mouth, against the wall, frozen to death. On the
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  Speaker 1: last evening of the old year, stiff and stark sat
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  Speaker 1: the child there with her matches, of which one bundle
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  Speaker 1: had been burnt. She wanted to warm herself. People said
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  Speaker 1: no one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things
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  Speaker 1: she had seen. No one even dreamed of the splendor
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  Speaker 1: in which, with her grandmother she had entered on the
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  Speaker 1: joys of a new year. End of the Little match Girl.
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  Speaker 1: The Swine heard by Hans Christian Andersen. This LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The Swineherd. There was once
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  Speaker 1: a poor prince who had a kingdom. His kingdom was
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  Speaker 1: very small, but still quite large enough to marry upon,
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  Speaker 1: and he wished to marry. It was certainly rather cool
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  Speaker 1: of him to say to the Emperor's daughter, will you
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  Speaker 1: have me? But so he did, for his name was
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  Speaker 1: renowned far and wide, and there were a hundred princesses
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  Speaker 1: who would have answered yes, and thank you kindly. We
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  Speaker 1: shall see what this princess said. Listen. It happened that
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  Speaker 1: where the prince's father lay buried, there grew a rose tree,
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  Speaker 1: a most beautiful rose tree, which blossomed only once in
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  Speaker 1: every five years, and even then bore only one flower.
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  Speaker 1: But that was a rose. It smelt so sweet that
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  Speaker 1: all cares and sorrows were forgotten by him, who inhaled
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  Speaker 1: its fragrance. And furthermore, the prince had a nightingale, who
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  Speaker 1: could sing in such a manner that it seemed as
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  Speaker 1: though all sweet melody dwelt in her little throat. So
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  Speaker 1: the princess was to have the rose and the nightingale,
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  Speaker 1: and they were accordingly put into large silver caskets and
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  Speaker 1: sent to her. The Emperor had them brought into a
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  Speaker 1: large hall where the princess was playing at visiting with
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  Speaker 1: the ladies of the court. And when she saw the
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  Speaker 1: caskets with the presents, she clapped her hands for joy. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: if it were but a little pussy cat, said she.
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  Speaker 1: But the rose tree, with its beautiful rose, came to view.
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  Speaker 1: Oh how prettily it is made, said all the court ladies.
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  Speaker 1: It is more than pretty, said the Emperor. It is charming.
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  Speaker 1: But the princess touched it and was almost ready to cry. Fie, Papa,
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  Speaker 1: said she. It is not made at all. It is natural.
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  Speaker 1: Let us see what is in the other casket, before
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  Speaker 1: we get into a bad humor, said the Emperor. So
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  Speaker 1: the nightingale came forth and sang so delightfully that at
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  Speaker 1: first no one could say anything ill humored of her.
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  Speaker 1: Sir pab Charmond, exclaimed the ladies, for they all used
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  Speaker 1: to chatter French, each one worse than her neighbor. How
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  Speaker 1: much the bird reminds me of a musical box that
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  Speaker 1: belonged to our blessed Empress, said an old knight. Oh, yes,
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  Speaker 1: these are the same tones, the same execution. Yes, yes,
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  Speaker 1: said the Emperor, and he wept like a child at
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  Speaker 1: the remembrance. I will still hope that it is not
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  Speaker 1: a real bird, said the princess. Yes, it is a
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  Speaker 1: real bird, said those who had brought it. Well, then
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  Speaker 1: let the bird fly, said the princess, and she positively
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  Speaker 1: refused to see the prince. However, he was not be discouraged.
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  Speaker 1: He daubed his face over brown and black, pulled his
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  Speaker 1: cap over his ears, and knocked at the door. Good
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  Speaker 1: day to my lord, the Emperor, said he. Can I
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  Speaker 1: have employment at the palace. Why, yes, said the Emperor.
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  Speaker 1: I want some one to take care of the pigs,
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  Speaker 1: for we have a great many of them. So the
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  Speaker 1: Prince was appointed Imperial swineherd. He had a dirty little
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  Speaker 1: room close by the pigstye, and there he sat the
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  Speaker 1: whole day and worked. By the evening he had made
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  Speaker 1: a pretty little kitchen pot. Little bells were hung all
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  Speaker 1: round it, And when the pot was boiling, these bells
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  Speaker 1: tinkled in the most charming manner and played.
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  Speaker 2: The old melody, Ah, Dear Augustine, all is gone.
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  Speaker 1: Gone gone. But what was still more curious? Whoever held
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  Speaker 1: his finger in the smoke of the kitchen pot immediately
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  Speaker 1: smelt all the dishes that were cooking on every hearth
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  Speaker 1: in the city. This, you see, was something quite different
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  Speaker 1: from the rose. Now. The princess happened to walk that way,
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  Speaker 1: and when she heard the tune, she stood quite still
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  Speaker 1: and seemed pleased, for she could play liber Augustine. It
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  Speaker 1: was the only piece she knew, and she played it
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  Speaker 1: with one finger. Why there is my piece, said the princess.
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  Speaker 1: That swineherd must certainly have been well educated. Go in
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  Speaker 1: and ask him the price of the instrument. So one
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  Speaker 1: of the court ladies must run in. However, she drew
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  Speaker 1: on wooden slippers first. What will you take for the
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  Speaker 1: kitchen pot, said the lady. I will have ten kisses
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  Speaker 1: from the princess, said the swineherd. Yes, indeed, said they.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot sell it, for less rejoined the swineherd. He
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  Speaker 1: is an impudent fellow, said the princess, and she walked on,
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  Speaker 1: But when she had gone a little way, the bells
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  Speaker 1: tinkled so prettily.
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  Speaker 2: Ah, Dear Augustine, all is gone, gone, gone, Stay, said
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  Speaker 2: the princess. Ask him if he will have ten kisses
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  Speaker 2: from the ladies of my court. No, thank you, said
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  Speaker 2: the swineherd. Ten kisses from the princess. All I keep
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  Speaker 2: the kitchen pot myself. That must not be either, said
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  Speaker 2: the princess. But do you all stand before me that
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  Speaker 2: no one may see us? And the court ladies placed
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  Speaker 2: themselves in front of her and spread out their dresses.
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  Speaker 2: The swineherd got ten kisses, and the princess the kitchen pot.
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  Speaker 2: That was delightful. The pot was boiling the whole evening
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  Speaker 2: and the whole of the following day. They knew perfectly
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  Speaker 2: well what was cooking at every fire throughout the city,
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  Speaker 2: from the chamberlains to the cowlers. The court ladies danced
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  Speaker 2: and clapped their hands. We know who has soup and
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  Speaker 2: who has pancakes for dinner today, who has cutlets and
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  Speaker 2: who has eggs? How interesting, yes, but keep my secret,
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  Speaker 2: for I am an emperor's daughter. The swineherd, that is
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  Speaker 2: to say the prince, for no one knew that he
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  Speaker 2: was other than an ill favored swineherd. Let not a
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  Speaker 2: day pass without working at something. He at last constructed
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  Speaker 2: a rattle, which, when it was swung round, played all
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  Speaker 2: the waltzes and jig tunes which have ever been heard
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  Speaker 2: since the creation of the world. Ah, that is superbe,
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  Speaker 2: said the princess when she passed. Spy, I have never
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  Speaker 2: heard pretty your compositions. Go in and ask him the
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  Speaker 2: price of the instrument. But mind, he shall have no
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  Speaker 2: more kisses. He will have a hundred kisses from the princess,
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  Speaker 2: said the lady who had been to ask. I think
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  Speaker 2: he is not in his right senses, said the princess,
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  Speaker 2: and walked on. But when she had gone a little way,
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  Speaker 2: she stopped again. One must encourage art, said she, I
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  Speaker 2: am the Emperor's daughter. Tell him he shall, as on yesterday,
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  Speaker 2: have ten kisses from me, and may take the rest
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  Speaker 2: from the ladies of the court. Oh but we should
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  Speaker 2: not like that at all, said they. What are you muttering,
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  Speaker 2: asked the princess. If I can kiss him, surely you
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  Speaker 2: can remember that you owe everything to me. So the
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  Speaker 2: ladies were obliged to go to him again. A hundred
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  Speaker 2: kisses from the princess, said he, or else let everyone
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  Speaker 2: keep his own stand round, said she, and all the
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  Speaker 2: ladies stood round her while the kissing was going on.
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  Speaker 2: What can be the reason for such a crowd close
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  Speaker 2: by the pigstye, said the Emperor, who happened just then
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  Speaker 2: to step out on the balcony. He rubbed his eyes
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  Speaker 2: and put on his spectacles. There are the ladies of
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  Speaker 2: the court. I must go down and see what they
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  Speaker 2: are about. So he pulled up his slippers at the heel,
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  Speaker 2: for he had trodden them down as soon as he
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  Speaker 2: had got into the courtyard. He moved very softly, and
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  Speaker 2: the ladies were so much engrossed with counting the kisses
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  Speaker 2: that all might go fairly, that they did not perceive
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  Speaker 2: the emperor. He rose on his tiptoes.
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  Speaker 1: What is all this? Said he when he saw what
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  Speaker 1: was going on, and he boxed the princess's ears with
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  Speaker 1: his slipper. Just as the swineherd was taking his eighty
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  Speaker 1: sixth kiss. March out, said the emperor, for he was
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  Speaker 1: very angry, and both the princess and swineherd were thrust
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  Speaker 1: out of the city. The princess now stood and wept.
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  Speaker 1: The swineherd scolded, and the rain poured down. Alas unhappy
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  Speaker 1: creature that I am, said the princess. If I had
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  Speaker 1: but married the handsome young prince, Ah, how unfortunate I am.
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  Speaker 1: And the swineherd went behind a tree, washed the black
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  Speaker 1: and brown color from his face, threw off his dirty clothes,
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  Speaker 1: and stepped forth in his princely robes. He looked so
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  Speaker 1: noble that the princess could not help bowing before him.
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  Speaker 1: I am come to despise thee, said he. Thou wouldst
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  Speaker 1: not have an honorable prince. Thou couldst not prize the
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  Speaker 1: rose and the nightingale, But thoust ready to kiss the
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  Speaker 1: swineherd for the sake of a trumpery plaything. Thou art
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  Speaker 1: rightly served. He then went back to his own little kingdom,
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  Speaker 1: shut the door of his palace in her face. Now
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  Speaker 1: she might well sing, ah, Dear Augustine, all is gone, gone, gone,
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  Speaker 1: end of the Swineherd. The Real Princess by Hans Christian Andersen.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Real Princess.
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  Speaker 1: There was once a prince who wished to marry a princess,
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  Speaker 1: But then she must be a real prince. He traveled
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  Speaker 1: all over the world in hopes of finding such a lady,
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  Speaker 1: but there was always something wrong. Princesses he found in plenty,
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  Speaker 1: but whether they were real princesses, it was impossible for
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  Speaker 1: him to decide. For now one thing, now another seemed
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  Speaker 1: to him not quite right about the ladies. At last,
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  Speaker 1: he returned to his palace, quite cast down because he
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  Speaker 1: wished so much to have a real princess for his wife.
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  Speaker 1: One evening, a fearful tempest arose. It thundered, enlightened, and
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  Speaker 1: the rain poured down from the sky in torrents. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: it was as dark as pitch. All at once there
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  Speaker 1: was heard a violent knocking at the door, and the
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  Speaker 1: old King, the prince's father, went out himself to open it.
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  Speaker 1: It was a princess who was standing outside the door.
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  Speaker 1: What with the rain and the wind, she was in
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  Speaker 1: a sad condition. The water trickled down from her hair,
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  Speaker 1: and her clothes clung to her body. She said she
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  Speaker 1: was a real princess. Ah, we shall soon see that,
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  Speaker 1: thought the old queen mother. However, she said not a
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  Speaker 1: word of what she was going to do, but went
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  Speaker 1: quietly into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off
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  Speaker 1: the beds, and put three little peas on the bedstead.
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  Speaker 1: She then laid twenty mattresses, one upon another over the
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  Speaker 1: three peas, and put twenty feather beds over the mattresses.
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  Speaker 1: Upon this bed the princess was to pass the night.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning, she was asked how she had slept. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: very badly, indeed, she replied, I have skined far closed
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  Speaker 1: my eyes the whole night through. I do not know
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  Speaker 1: what was in my bed, but I had something hard
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  Speaker 1: under me, and am all over black and blue. It
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  Speaker 1: has hurt me so much. Now it was plain that
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  Speaker 1: the lady must be a real princess, since she had
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  Speaker 1: been able to feel the three little peas through the
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  Speaker 1: twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. None but a real
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  Speaker 1: princess could have had such a delicate sense of feeling.
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  Speaker 1: The prince accordingly made her, his wife, being now convinced
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  Speaker 1: that he had found a real princess. The three peas were, however,
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  Speaker 1: put into the cabinet of Curiosities, where they are still
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  Speaker 1: to be seen, provided they are not lost. Wasn't this
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  Speaker 1: a lady of real delicacy and of the real princess.
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  Speaker 1: The leap Frog by Hans Christian Andersen. This LibriVox recarding
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The leap Frog, a flea,
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  Speaker 1: a grasshopper and a leap frog once wanted to see
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  Speaker 1: which could jump highest, And they invited the whole world
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  Speaker 1: and everybody else besides who chose to come to see
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  Speaker 1: the festival. Three famous jumpers were they, as everybody would
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  Speaker 1: say when they all met together in the room. I
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  Speaker 1: will give my daughter to him who jumps highest, exclaimed
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  Speaker 1: the king. For it is not so amusing where there
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  Speaker 1: is no prize to jump. For the flea was the
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  Speaker 1: first to step forward. He had exquisite manners and bowed
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  Speaker 1: to the company on all sides, for he had noble blood,
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  Speaker 1: and was moreover accustomed to the society of man alone.
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  Speaker 1: And that makes a great difference. Then came the grasshopper.
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  Speaker 1: He was considerably heavier, but he was well mannered, and
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  Speaker 1: wore a green uniform, which he had by right of birth.
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  Speaker 1: He said moreover that he belonged to a very ancient
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  Speaker 1: Egyptian family, and that in the house where he then was,
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  Speaker 1: he was thought much of the fact was. He had
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  Speaker 1: been just brought out of the fields and put in
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  Speaker 1: a pasteboard box three stories high, all made of court cards,
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  Speaker 1: with the colored signs inwards, and doors and windows cut
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  Speaker 1: out of the body of the Queen of hearts. I
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: sing so well, said he that sixteen native grasshoppers, who
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: have chirped from infancy and yet got no house built
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: of cards to live in, grew thinner than they were before,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: for sheer vexation when they heard me. It was thus
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: that the flea and the grasshopper gave an account of themselves,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: and thought they were quite good enough to marry a princess.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: The leap frog said nothing, but people gave it as
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: their opinion that he therefore thought the more. And when
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: the house dog snuffed at him with his nose, he
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: confessed the leapfrog was of good family. The old counselor,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: who had had three orders given him to make him
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: hold his tongue, asserted that the leapfrog was a prophet,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: for that one could see on his back if there
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: would be a severe or mild winter, And that was
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: what one could not see even on the back of
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the man who writes the almanac. I say nothing, it
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: is true, exclaimed the king. But I have my own opinion. Notwithstanding,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: now the trial was to take place. The flea jumped
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: so high that nobody could see where he went to,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: so they all asserted he had not jumped at all,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and that was honorable. The grasshopper jumped only half as high,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: but he leaped into the King's face, who said that
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: was ill mannered. The leap frog stood still for a
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: long time, lost in thought. It was believed at last
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: he would not jump at all. I only hope he
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: is not unwell, said the house dog. When pop he
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: made a jump, all on one side, into the lap
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: of the princess, who was sitting on a little golden
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: stool close by. Hereupon, the king said, there is nothing
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: above my daughter. Therefore to bound up to her is
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the highest jump that can be made. But for this
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: one must possess understanding. And the leap frog has shown
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: that he has understanding. He is brave and intellectual, and
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: so he won the princess. It's all the same to me,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: said the flea. She may have the old leap frog
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: for all I care. I jumped the highest, But in
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: this world merit seldom meets this reward. A fine exterior
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: is what people look at nowadays. The flea went into
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: foreign service, where it is said he was killed. The
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: grasshopper sat without on a green bank and reflected on
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: worldly things, and he said, too, yes, a fine exterior
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: is everything. A fine exterior is what people care about.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: And then he began chirping his peculiar, melancholy song from
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: which we have taken this history, and which may very
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: possibly be all untrue, although it does stand here printed
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: in black and white, end of the Leap Frog. The
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Elder Bush by Hans Christian Unders. This LibriVox recording is
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. The Elder Bush. Once upon a
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: time there was a little boy who had taken cold.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: He had gone out and got his feet wet, though
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: nobody could imagine how it had happened, for it was
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: quite dry weather. So his mother undressed him, put him
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: to bed, and had a teapot brought in to make
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: him a good cup of elder flower tea. Just at
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: that moment, the merry old man came in, who lived
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: up the top of the house all alone, for he
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: had neither wife nor children, but he liked children very
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: much and knew so many fairy tales that it was
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: quite delightful. Now, drink your tea, said the boy's mother.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Then perhaps you may hear a fairy tale if I
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: but had something new to tell, said the old man.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: But how did the child get his feet wet? That
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: is the very thing that nobody can make out, said
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: his mother. Am I to hear a fairy tale? Asked
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: the little boy. Yes, if you can tell me exactly,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: for I must know that first how deep the gutter
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: is in the little street opposite that you pass through
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: in going to school. Just up to the middle of
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: my boot, said the child. But then I must go
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: into the deep hole. Aha, that's where the wet feet
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: came from, said the old man. I ought now to
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: tell you a story, but I don't know any more.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: You can make one in a moment, said the little boy.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: My mother says that all you look at can be
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: turned into a fairy tale, and that you can find
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: a story in everything. Yes, but such tales and stories
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: are good for nothing. The right sort come of themselves.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: They tap at my forehead and say here we are.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Won't there be a tap soon? Asked the little boy,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: and his mother laughed. Put some elder flowers in the
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: teapot and poured boiling water upon them. Do tell me something, pray,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: do yes, if a fairy tale would come of its
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: own accord. But they are proud and haughty, and come
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: only when they choose. Stop, said he, all on a sudden,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I have it. Pay attention. There is one in the teapot.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: And the little boy looked at the teapot. The cover
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: rose more and more, and the elder flowers came forth
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: so fresh and white, and shot up long branches out
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: of the spout. Even did they spread themselves on all sides,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: and grew larger and larger. It was a splendid elderbush,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: a whole tree, and it reached into the very bed
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: and pushed the curtains aside. How it bloomed, and what
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: an odor. In the middle of the bush sat a
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: friendly looking old woman in a most strange dress. It
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: was quite green, like the leaves of the elder, and
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: was trimmed with large white elder flowers, so that at
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: first one could not tell whether it was a stuff
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: or a natural green and real flowers. What's that woman's name,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: asked the little boy. The Greeks and Romans, said the
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: old man called her a dryad, but that we do
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: not understand. The people who live in the New Booths
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: have a much better name for her. They call her
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Old Grannie, and she it is to whom you are
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: to pay attention. Now, listen and look at the beautiful
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: elder bush. Just such, another large blooming elder tree stands
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: near the New Booths. He grew there in the corner
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: of a little miserable courtyard, and under it sat of
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: an afternoon in the most splendid sunshine, two old people,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: an old old seaman and his old old wife. They
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: had great grandchildren and were soon to celebrate the fiftieth
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: anniversary of their marriage. But they could not exactly recall
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the date. And Old Grannie sat in the tree and
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: looked as pleased as now I know the date, said she.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: But those below did not hear her, for they were
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: talking about old times. Yes, can't you remember when we
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: were very little, said the old seaman, and ran and
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: played about. It was the very same courtyard where we
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: are now, and we stuck slips in the ground and
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: made a garden. I remember it well, said the old woman.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: I remember it quite well. We watered the slips, and
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: one of them was an elder bush. It took root,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: put forth green shoots, and grew up to be the
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: large tree under which we o folks are now sitting.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: To be sure, said he, And there in the corner
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: stood a water pail where I used to swim my boats. True,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: but first we went to school to learn something, said she,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: And then we were confirmed. We both cried. But in
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the afternoon we went up to round tower and looked
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: down on Copenhagen and far far away over the water.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Then we went to Fredericksburg, where the King and the
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Queen were sailing about in their splendid barges. But I
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: had a different sort of sailing to that later, and
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: that too for many a year, a long way off
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: on great voyages. Yes, many a time have I wept
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: for your sake, said she. I thought you were dead
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: and gone, and lying down in the deep waters. Many
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: a night have I got up to see if the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: wind had not changed, And changed it had, sure enough,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: But you never came. I remember so well. One day
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: when the rain was pouring down in Torrents. The scavengers
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: were before the house where I was in service, and
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: I had come up with the dust and remained standing
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: at the door. It was dreadful weather. When just as
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I was there, the postman came and gave me a letter.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: It was from you. What a tour that letter had made.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: I opened it instantly and read. I laughed and wept.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: I was so happy in it. I read that you
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: were in warm lands where the coffee tree grows. What
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: a blessed land that must be. You related so much,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: and I saw it all while the rain was pouring down,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: and I standing there with the dust box. At the
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: same moment came some one who embraced me. Yes, but
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: you gave him a good box on his ear that
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: made it tingle. But I did not know it was you. You
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: arrived as soon as your letter, and you were so
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: handsome that you still are, and had a long yellow
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: silk handkerchief round your neck and a brand new hat on. Oh,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: you were so dashing. Good heavens, what weather it was,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: and what a state the street was in. And then
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: we were married, said he don't you remember? And then
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: we had our first little boy, and then Mary and
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Nicholas and Peter and Christian. Yes, and how they all
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: grew up to be honest people and were loved by everybody,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: and their children also have children, said the old sailor. Yes,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: those are our grandchildren, full of strength and vigor. It
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: was methinks about this season that we had our wedding. Yes,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: this very day is the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: said old Granny, sticking her head between the two old people,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: who thought it was their neighbor who nodded to them.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: They looked at each other and held one another by
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: the hand. Soon after came their children and their grandchildren,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: for they knew well enough that it was the day
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: of the fiftieth anniversary, and had come with their gratulations
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: that very morning. But the old people had forgotten it,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: although they were able to remember all that had happened
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: many years ago. And then the elder bush sent forth
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: a strong odor in the sun that was just about
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: to set, and right in the old people's faces. They
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: both looked so rosy cheeked, and the youngest of the
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: grandchildren danced around them and called out quite delightedly that
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: there was to be something very splendid that evening. They
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: were all to have hot potatoes, And old Nanny nodded
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: in the bush and shouted hooray with the rest But
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: that is no fairy tale, said the little boy, who
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: was listening to the story. The thing is, you must
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: understand it, said the narrator. Let us ask Old Nanny.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: That was no fairy tale, tis true, said Old Nanny.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: But now it's coming. The most wonderful fairy tales grow
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: out of that which is reality. Were that not the case,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: you know, my magnificent elder bush could not have grown
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: out of the teapot. And then she took the little
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: boy out of bed, laid him on her bosom, and
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: the branches of the elder tree, full of flowers, closed
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: around her. They sat in an aerial dwelling, and it
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: flew with them through the air. Oh, it was wondrous beautiful.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Old Nanny had grown all of a sudden a young,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: pretty maiden. But her robe was still the same green,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: stuffed with white flowers, which she had worn before. On
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: her bosom she had a real elderflower, and in her
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: yellow waving hair a wreath of the flowers. Her eyes
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: were so large and blue that it was a pleasure
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: to look at them. She kissed the boy, and now
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: they were of the same age and felt alike. Hand
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: in hand, they went out of the bower, and they
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: were standing in the beautiful garden of their home, near
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: the green lawn. Papa's walking stick was tied, and for
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: the little ones it seemed to be endowed with life.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: For as soon as they got strid it, the round
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: polished knob was turned into a magnificent neighing head. A
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: long black mane fluttered in the breeze, and four slender
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: yet strong legs shot out. The animal was strong and handsome,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: and away they went at full gallop round the lawn. Huzzah,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: Now we are riding miles off, said the boy. We
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: are riding away to the castle where we were last year.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: And on they rode round the grass plot, and the
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: little maiden, who we know was no one else but
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: old Nanny, kept on crying out. Now we are in
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: the country. Don't you see the farmhouse yonder? And there
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: is an elder tree standing beside it, and the cock
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: is scraping away the earth for the hens. Look how
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: he struts. And now we are close to the church.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: It lies high upon the hill between the low joke trees,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: one of which is half decayed. And now we are
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: by the smithy where the fire is blazing, and where
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: the half naked men are banging with their hammers, till
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: the sparks fly about away away to the beautiful country seat.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: And all that the little maiden, who sat behind on
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: the stick, spoke of and flew by. In reality, the
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: boy saw it all, and yet they were only going
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: round the grass plot. Then they played in a side
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: avenue and marked out a little garden on the earth,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: and they took elder blossoms from their hair planted them,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: and they grew just like those the old people planted
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: when they were children. As related before. They went hand
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: in hand as the old people had done when they
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: were children, but not to the round tower or to Friedericksburg. No,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: the little damsel wound her arms around the boy, and
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: then they flew far away through all Denmark, and spring
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: came and summer, and then it was autumn, and then winter,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: and a thousand pictures were reflected in the eye and
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: in the heart of the boy, and the little girl
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: always sang to him, this you will never forget. And
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: during their whole flight, the elder tree smelt so sweet
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: and odorous. He remarked, the roses and the fresh beeches.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: But the elder tree had a more wondrous fragrance, for
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: its flowers hung on the breast of the little maiden,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: and there too did he often lay his head during
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: the flight. It is lovely here in spring, said the
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: young maiden, And they stood in a beech wood that
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: had just put on its first green, where the wood
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: roof at their feet sent forth its fragrance, and the
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: pale red anemone looked so pretty among the verdure. Oh,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: but it were always spring in the sweetly smelling Danish
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: beech forests. It is lovely here in summer, said she.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: And she flew past old castles of by gone days
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: of chivalry, where the red walls and the embattled gables
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: were mirrored in the canal, where the swans were swimming,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: and peered up into the old cool avenues. In the fields,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: the corn was waving like the sea. In the ditches,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: red and yellow flowers were growing, while wild drone flowers
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: and blooming convolvuluses were creeping in the hedges. And towards
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: evening the moon rose round and large, and the haycocks
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: in the meadows smelt so sweetly. This one never forgets.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: It is lovely here in autumn, said the little Maiden,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: and suddenly the atmosphere grew as blue again as before.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: The forest grew red and green and yellow colored. The
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: dogs came leaping along, and whole flocks of wild fowl
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: flew over the corn, where BlackBerry bushes were hanging round
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: the old stones. The sea was dark blue, covered with
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: ships full of white sails. And in the barn, old women,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: maidens and children were sitting picking hops into a large cask.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: The young sang songs, but the old tall fairy tales
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: of mountain sprites and soothsayers. Nothing could be more charming.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: It is delightful here in winter, said the little Maiden.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: And all the trees were covered with hoar frost. They
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: looked like white corals. The snow crackled underfoot as if
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: one had new boots on, and one falling star after
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: the other was seen in the sky. The Christmas tree
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: was lighted in the room, presents were there, and good
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: humor reigned in the country. The violin sounded in the
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: room of the peasant, the newly baked cakes were attacked.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: Even the poorest child said, it is really delightful here
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: in winter. Yes, it was delightful, and the little maiden
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: showed the boy everything, and the elder tree still was fragrant,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: and the red flag with the white cross was still waving,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the flag under which the old seaman in the New
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Booths had sailed. And the boy grew up to be
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: a lad and was to go forth in the wide world,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: far far away, to warm lands where the coffee tree grows.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: But at his departure, the little Maiden took an elder
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: blossom from her bosom and gave it to him to keep,
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: and it was placed between the leaves of his prayer book,
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: And when in foreign lands he opened the book, it
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: was always at the place where the keepsake flower lay.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: And the more he looked at it, the fresher it became.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: He felt as if it were the fragrance of the
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Danish groves. And from among the leaves of the flowers,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: he could distinctly see the little Maiden peeping forth with
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: her bright blue eyes. And then she whispered, it is
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: delightful here in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and a
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: hundred visions glided before his mind. Thus passed many years,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: and he was now an old man, and sat with
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: his old wife under the blooming tree they held each
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: other by the hand, as the old grandfather and grandmother
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: Yonder in the new booths did, and they talked exactly
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: like them of old times and of the fiftieth anniversary
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: of their wedding. The little maiden, with the blue eyes
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: and the elder blossoms in her hair, sat in the tree,
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: nodded to both of them, and said, today is the
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: fish the anniversary. And then she took two flowers out
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: of her hair and kissed them. First they shone like silver,
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: then like gold, And when they laid them on the
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: heads of the old people, each flower became a golden crown.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: So there they both sat like a king and a queen,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: under the fragrant tree that looked exactly like an elder.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: The old man told his wife the story of Old
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: Nanny as it had been told him when a boy,
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: and it seemed to both of them it contained much
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: that resembled their own history, and those parts that were
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: like it pleased them best. Thus it is said the
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: little maiden in the tree. Some call me Old Nanny,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: others a dryad, But in reality my name is Remembrance.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Tis I who sit in the tree. They grows and
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: grows I can remember, I I can tell things. Let
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: me see if you have my flower still, And the
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: old man opened his prayer book. There lay the elder blossom,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: as fresh as if it had been placed there but
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: a short time before. And remembrance nodded, and the old people,
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: decked with crowns of gold, sat in the flush of
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: the evening sun. They closed their eyes, and yes, that's
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: the end of the story. The little boy lay in
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: his bed. He did not know if he had dreamed
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: or not, or if he had been listening while someone
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: told him the story. The teapot was standing on the table,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: but no elder tree was growing out of it, And
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: the old man who had been talking was just on
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: the point of going out at the door. And he
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: did go. How splendid that was, said the little boy mother.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: I have been to warm countries, so I should think,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: said his mother. When one has drunk two good cupfuls
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: of elder flower tea, tis likely enough one goes into
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: warm climates. And she tucked him up nicely. Least he
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: should take hold, you have had a good sleep while
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: I have been sitting here and arguing with him whether
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: it was a story or a fairy tale, And where
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: is old Nannie asked the little boy in the teapot,
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: said his mother, And there she may remain end of
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: the elder bush. The Bell by Hans Christian Andersen. This
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The bell, people said,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: the evening bell is sounding. The sun is setting. For
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: a strange, wondrous tone was heard in the narrow streets
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: of a large town. It was like the sound of
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: a church bell. But it was only heard for a moment,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: for the rolling of the carriages and the voices of
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: the multitude made too great a noise. Those people who
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: were walking outside the town, where the houses were farther apart,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: with gardens or little fields between them, could see the
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: evening sky still better and heard the sound of the
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: bell much more distinctly. It was as if the tones
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: came from a church in the still forest. People looked
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: thitherward and felt their minds attuned most solemnly. A long
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: time passed, and people said to each other, I wonder
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: if there is a church out in the wood. The
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: bell has a tone that is wondrous. Sweet. Let us
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: stroll thither and examine the matter. Nearer and the rich
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: people drove out and the poor walked, but the way
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: seemed strangely long to them, and when they came to
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: a clump of willows which grew on the skirts of
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: the forest, they sat down and looked up at the
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: long branches, and fancied they were now in the depth
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: of the green wood. The confectioner of the town came
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: out and set up his booth there, and soon after
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: came another confectioner who hung a bell over his stand
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: as a sign or ornament, but it had no clapper,
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: and it was tarred over to preserve it from the rain.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: When all the people returned home, they said it had
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: been very romantic, and that it was quite a different
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: sort of thing to a picnic or tea party. There
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: were three persons who asserted they had penetrated to the
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: end of the forest, and that they had always heard
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: the wonderful sounds of the bell, but it had seemed
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: to them as if it had come from the town.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: One wrote a whole poem about it, and said the
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: bell sounded like the voice of a mother to a
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: good dear child, and that no melody would sweeter than
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: the tones of the bell. The king of the country
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: was also observant of it, and vowed that he who
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: could discover whence the sounds proceeded, should have the title
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: of universal bell ringer, even if it were not really
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: a bell. Many persons now went to the wood for
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: the sake of getting the place, but one only returned
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: with a sort of explanation, for nobody went far enough
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: that one not further than the others. However, he said
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: that the sound proceeded from a very large owl in
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: a hollow tree, a sort of learned owl that continually
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: knocked its head against the branches. But whether the sound
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: came from his head or from the hollow tree, that
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: no one could say with certainty. So now he got
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: the place of a universal bell ringer, and wrote yearly
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: a short treatise on the owl. But everybody was just
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: as wise as before. It was the day of confirmation.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: The clergyman had spoken so touchingly. The children who were
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: confirmed had been greatly moved. It was an eventful day
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: for them. From children, they became all at once grown
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: up persons. It was as if their infant soles were
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: now to fly all at once into persons with more understanding.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: The sun was shining gloriously, the children that had been
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: confirmed went out of the town, and from the wood
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: was borne towards them the sounds of the unknown bell
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: with wonderful distinctness. They had all immediately felt a wish
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: to go thither, all except three. One of them had
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: to go home to try on a ball dress, for
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: it was just the dress and the ball which had
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: caused her to be confirmed this time, for otherwise she
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: would not have come. The other was a poor boy
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: who had borrowed his coat and boots to be confirmed
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: in from the innkeeper's son, and he was to give
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: them back by a certain hour. The third said that
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: he never went to a strange place if his parents
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: were not with him, that he had always been a
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: good boy hitherto and would still be so now that
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: he was confirmed, and that no one ought to laugh
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: at him for it. The others, however, did make fun
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: of him. After all, there were three therefore, that did
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: not go. The others hastened on the sun shone. The
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: birds sang, and the children sang too, and each held
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: the other by the hand, for as yet they had
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: none of them any high office, and were all of
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: equal rank in the eye of God. But two of
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: the youngest soon grew tired, and both returned to town. Two
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: little girls sat down and twined garlands, so they did
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: not go on either, And when the others reached the
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: willow tree where the confectioner was, they said, now we
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: are there. In reality, the bell does not exist. It
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: is only a fancy that people have taken into their heads.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: At the same moment, the bell sounded deep in the wood,
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: so clear and solemnly that five or six determined to
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: penetrate somewhat further. It was so thick, and the foliage
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: so dense that it was quite fatiguing to proceed. Wood
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: roof and anemones grew almost too high. Blooming convolvuluses and
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: BlackBerry bushes hung in long garlands from tree to tree,
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: where the nightingale sang and the sunbeams were playing. It
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: was very beautiful, but it was no place for girls
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: to go. Their clothes would get so torn. Large blocks
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: of stone lay there, overgrown with moss of every color.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: The fresh spring bubbled forth and made a strange gurgling
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: sound that surely cannot be the bell, said one of
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: the children, lying down and listening. This, yes, must be
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: looked to, so he remained and let the others go
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: on without him. They afterwards came to a little house
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: made of branches and the bark of trees. A large
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: wild apple tree bent over it as if it would
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: shower down all its blessings. On the roof, where roses
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: were blooming, the long stems twined round the gable, on
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: which there hung a small bell. Was it that which
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: people had heard? Yes, everybody was unanimous on the subject,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: except one who said that the bell was too small
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: and too fine to be heard at so great a distance,
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: And besides, it was very different tones to those that
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: could move a human heart in such manner. It was
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: a king's son who spoke, whereon the other said, such
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: people always want to be wiser than everybody else. They
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: now let him go on alone, And as he went
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: his breast was filled more and more with the forest solitude.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: But he still heard the little bell with which the
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: others were so satisfied. And now and then, when the
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: wind blew, he could also hear the people singing who
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: were sitting at tea where the confectioner had his tint.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: But the deep sound of the bell rose louder. It
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: was almost as if an organ were accompanying it, and
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: the tones came from the left hand, the side where
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: the heart is placed. A rustling was heard in the bushes,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: and a little boy stood before the king's son, a
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: boy in wooden shoes and with so short a jacket
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: that one could see what long wrists he had. Both
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: knew each other. The boy was that one among the
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: children who could not come, because he had to go
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: home and return his jacket in boots to the innkeeper's son.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: This he had done, and was now going on in
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: wooden shoes and in his home humble dress. For the
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: bell sounded with so deep a tone and with such
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: strange power that proceed he must Why then we can
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: go on together, said the king's son. But the poor
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: child that had been confirmed was quite ashamed. He looked
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: at his wooden shoes, pulled at the short sleeves of
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: his jacket, and said that he was afraid he could
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: not walk so fast. Besides, he thought that the bell
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: must be looked for to the right, for that was
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: the place where all sorts of beautiful things were to
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: be found. But there we shall not meet, said the
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: king's son, nodding at the same time to the poor
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: boy who went into the darkest, thickest part of the wood,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: where thorns tore his humble dress and scratched his face
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: and hands and feet till they bled. The king's son
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: got some scratches too, But the sun shone on his path,
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: and it is him that we will follow, for he
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: was an excellent and resolute youth. I must and will
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: find the bell, said he, even if I am obliged
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: to go to the end of the world. The ugly
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: apes sat upon the trees and grinned. Shall we thrash him?
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: Said they shall we thrash him? He is the son
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: of a king. But he went on, without being disheartened,
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: deeper and deeper into the wood, where the most wonderful
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: flowers were growing. There stood white lilies with blood red stamina,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: sky blue tulips, which shone as they waved in the winds,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: and apple trees, the apples of which looked exactly like
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: large soap bubbles. So only think how the trees must
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: have sparkled in the sunshine. Around the nicest green meads,
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: where the deer were playing in the grass grew magnificent
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: oaks and beeches, And of the ark of one of
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: the trees was cracked. There grass and long creeping plants
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: grew in the crevices, and there were large calm lakes
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: there too, in which white swans were swimming and beat
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: the air with their wings. The King's son often stood
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: still and listened. He thought the bell sounded from the
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: depths of these still lakes. But then he remarked again
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: that the tone proceeded not from there, but farther off,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: from out the depths of the forest. The sun now set,
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: the atmosphere glowed like fire. It was still in the woods,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: so very still. And he fell on his knees, sung
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: his evening hymn, and said, I cannot find what I seek.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: The sun is going down, and night is coming, the dark,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: dark night. Yet perhaps I may be able once more
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: to see the round red sun before he entirely disappears.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: I will climb up yonder rock. And he seized hold
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: of the creeping plants and the roots of trees, climbed
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: up the moist stones, where the water snakes were writhing
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: and the toads were croaking, and he gained the summit
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: before the sun had quite gone down. How magnificent was
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: the sight from this height the sea, the great, the
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: glorious sea that dashed its long waves against the coast,
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: was stretched out before him, and yonder, where sea and
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: sky meet, stood the sun like a large shining altar,
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: all melted together in the most glowing colors, and the
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: wood and the sea sang a song of rejoicing, and
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: his heart sang with the rest. All nature was a
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: vast holy church, in which the trees and the buoyant
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: clouds were the pillars, flowers in grass, the velvet carpeting,
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: and heaven itself the large cupola. The red colors above
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: faded away as the sun vanished, but a million stars
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: were lighted, a million lamps shone, and the king's son
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: spread out his arms toward the heaven and wood and sea,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: when at the same moment, coming by a path to
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: the right, appeared in his wooden shoes and jacket, the
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: poor boy who had been confirmed with him. He had
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: followed his own path and had reached the spot just
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: as soon as the son of the king had done.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: They ran towards each other and stood together hand in
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: hand in the vast church of nature and of poetry,
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: while over them sounded the invisible holy bell. Blessed spirits
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: floated around them and lifted up their voices, and they rejoicing, Hallelujah.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: End of the bell. The old House Hans Christian Andersen.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recarding is in the public domain. The old
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: house in the street up there was an old a
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: very old house. It was almost three hundred years old,
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: for that might be known by reading the great beam,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: on which the date of the year was carved. Together
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: with tulips and hop vines. There were whole verses spelled
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: as in former times, and over every window was a
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: distorted face cut out in the beam. The one story
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: stood forward a great way over the other, and directly
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: under the eaves was a leaden spout with a dragon's head.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: The rain water should have run out of the mouth,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: but it ran out of the belly, for there was
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: a hole in the spout. All the other houses in
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: the street were so new and so neat, with large
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: window panes and smooth walls, one could easily see that
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: they would have nothing to do with the old house.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: They certainly thought, how long is that old, decayed thing
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: to stand there as a spectacle in the street. And
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: then the projecting windows stand so far out that no
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: one can see from our windows what happens in that direction.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: The steps are as broad as those of a palace
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: and as high as a church tower. The iron railings
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: look just like the door to an old family vault,
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: and then they have brass tops. That's so stupid. On
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: the other side of the street were also new in
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: neat houses, and they thought just as the others did.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: But at the window opposite the old house there sat
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: a little boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: He certainly liked the old house best, and that both
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: in sunshine and moonshine. And when he looked across at
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: the wall where the mortar had fallen out, he could
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: sit and find out there the strangest creatures imaginable, exactly
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: as the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: and pointed gables. He could see soldiers with halberts and
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: spouts where the water ran like dragons and serpents. That
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: was a house to look at. And there lived an
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: old man who wore plush breeches, and he had a
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that one
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: could see was a real wig. Every morning there came
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: an old fellow to him, who put his rooms in
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: order and went on errands. Otherwise, the old man in
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: the plush breeches was quite alone in the old house now,
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: and then he came to the window and looked out,
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: and the little boy nodded to him, and the old
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: man nodded again, and so they became acquaintances, and then
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: they were friends, although they had never spoken to each other,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: but that made no difference. The little boy heard his
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: parents say, the old man opposite is very well off,
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: but he is so very very lonely. The sunday following,
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: the little boy took something and wrapped it up in
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: a piece of paper, went downstairs and stood in the doorway,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: And when the man who went on errands came past,
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: he said to him, I say, master, will you give
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: this to the old man over the way from me?
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: I have two pewter soldiers. This is one of them,
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: and he shall have it, for I know he is
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: so very very lonely. And the old errand man looked
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: quite pleased, nodded, and took the pewter soldier over to
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: the old house. Afterwards there came a message. It was
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: to ask if the little boy himself had not a
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: wish to come over and pay a visit, and so
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: he got permission of his parents, and then went over
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: over to the old house. And the brass balls on
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: the iron railings shone much brighter than ever one would
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: have thought. They were polished on account of the visit.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: And it was as if the carved out trumpeters. For
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: there were trumpeters who stood in tulips carved out on
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: the door, blew with all their might. Their cheeks appeared
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: so much rounder than before. Yes, they blew to rut
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: the to draw. The little boy comes to rut the
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: to draw, And then the door opened. The whole passage
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: was hung with portraits of knights in armor and ladies
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: in silken gowns, and the armor rattled and the silken
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: gowns rustled. And then there was a flight of stairs
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: which went a good way upwards and a little way downwards.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: And then one came on a balcony which was in
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: a very dilapidated state, sure enough, with large holes and
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: long prefaces. But grass grew there and leaves out of
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: them altogether. For the whole balcony outside the yard and
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: the walls were overgrown with so much green stuff that
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: it looked like a garden, only a balcony. Here stood
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: old flower pots with faces and asses ears, and the
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: flowers grew just as they liked. One of the pots
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: was quite overrun on all sides with pinks, that is
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: to say, with the green part. Shoot stood by shoot,
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: and it said, quite distinctly, the air has cherished me.
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: The sun has kissed me, and promised me a little
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: flower on Sunday, a little flower on Sunday. And then
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: they entered a chamber where the walls were covered with
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: hog's leather and printed with gold flowers. The gildening decays,
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: but hog's leather stays, said the walls. And there stood
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: easy chairs with such high backs and so carved out,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: and with arms on both sides. Sit down, Sit down,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: said they, ugh, how I creak? Now, I shall certainly
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: get the gout like the old clothes. Press ah. And
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: then the little boy came into the room where the
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: projecting windows were and where the old man sat. I
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: thank you for the pewter soldier, my little friend, said
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: the old man. And I thank you because you come
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: over to me. Thankee thankee or cranky cranky sounded from
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: all the furniture. There was so much of it that
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: each article stood in the other's way to get a
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: look at the little boy. In the middle of the
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: wall hung a picture representing a beautiful lady, so young,
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: so glad, but dressed quite as in former times, with
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: clothes that stood quite stiff, and with powder in her hair.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: She neither said thankee, thankee, nor cranky, but looked with
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: her mild eyes at the little boy, who directly asked
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: the old man, where did you get her? Yonder at
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: the broker's, said the old man. Where there are so
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: many pictures hanging, No one knows or cares about them,
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: for they are all of them buried. But I knew
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: her in bygone days, and now she has been dead
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: and gone these fifty years. Under the picture, in a
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: glazed frame, there hung a bouquet of withered flowers. They
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: were almost fifty years old. They looked so very old.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: The pendulum of the great clock went to and fro,
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: and the hands turned, and everything in the room became
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: still older. But they did not observe it. They say
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: at home, said the little boy, that you are so very,
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: very lonely. Oh, said he, The old thoughts with what
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: they may bring with them, come and visit me, And
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: now you also come. I am very well off. Then
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: he took a book with pictures in it down from
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: the shelf. There were whole long processions and pageants with
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: the strangest characters which one never sees nowadays, soldiers like
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: the knave of clubs, and citizens with waving flags. The
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: tailors had theirs with a pair of shears held by
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: two lines, and the shoemaker's theirs without boots, but with
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: an eagle that had two heads. For the shoemakers must
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: have everything so that they can say it is a pair. Yes,
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: that was a picture book. The old man now went
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: into the other room to fetch preserves, apples and nuts. Yes,
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: it was delightful over there in the old house. I
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: cannot bear it any longer, said the pewter soldier who
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: sat on the drawers. It is so lonely and melancholy here.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: But when one has been in a family circle, one
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: cannot accustom one's self to this life. I cannot bear
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: it any longer. The whole day is so long, and
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: the evenings are still longer. Here. It is not at
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: all as it is over the way at your house,
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: where your father and mother spoke so pleasantly, and where
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: you and all your sweet children made such delightful noise. Nay,
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: how lonely the old man is. Do you think that
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: he gets kisses? Do you think he gets mild eyes?
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: Are a Christmas tree? Emph He will get nothing but
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: a grave. I can bear it no longer. You must
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: not let it grieve you so much, said the little boy.
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: I find it so very delightful here. And then all
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: the old thoughts, with what they may bring with them,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: they come and visit here. Yes, it's all very well,
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: but I see nothing of them, and I don't know them,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: said the pewter soldier. I cannot bear it, but you must,
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: said the little boy. Then in came the old man
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: with the most pleased and happy face, the most delicious
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: preserves apples and nuts, And so the little boy thought
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: no more about the pewter soldier. The little boy returned home,
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: happy and pleased, And weeks and days passed away, and
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: nods were made to the old house and from the
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: old house, and then the little boy went over there again.
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: The carved trumpeters blew to rut a datta. There was
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: a little boy to rut a data, and the swords
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: and armor on the knight's portraits rattled, and the silk
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: gowns rustled, the hog's leather spoke, and the old chairs
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: had the gout in their legs and room at their backs. Oh,
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: it was exactly like the first time. For over there,
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: one day, an hour was just like another. I cannot
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: bear it, said the pewter soldier. I have shed pewter tears.
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: It is too melancholy. Rather, let me go to the
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: wars and lose arms and legs. It would at least
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: be a change. I cannot bear it longer. Now I
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: know what it is to have a visit from one's
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: old thoughts, with what they may bring with them. I
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: have had a visit from mine, and you may be
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: sure it is no pleasant thing. In the end, I
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: was at last about to jump down from the jars.
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: I saw you all over there at home, so distinctly
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: as if you really were here. It was again that
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: Sunday morning. All you children stood before the table and
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: sung your psalms as you do every morning. You stood
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: devoutly with folded hands, and father and mother were just
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: as pious. And when the door was opened, and little
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: sister Mary, who was not two years old yet, and
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: who always dances when she hears music or singing of
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: whatever kind it may be, was put into the room,
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: though she ought not to have been there. And then
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: she began to dance, but could not keep time because
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: the tones were so long. And then she stood ferisht
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: on one leg and bent her head forwards, and then
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: on the other leg and bent her head forwards. But
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: all would not do. You stood very seriously all together,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: although it was difficult enough. But I laughed to myself,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: and then I fell off the table and got a bump,
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: which I still have, for it was not right of
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: me to laugh. But the hole now passes before me
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: again in thought and everything that I have lived to see.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: And these are the old old thoughts, with what they
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: may bring with them. Tell me if you still sing
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: on Sundays, and tell me something about little Mary, and
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: how my comrade, the other puter soldier lives. Yes, he
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: is happy enough, that's sure. I cannot bear it any longer.
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: You are given away as a present, said the little boy.
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: You must remain. Can you not understand that the old
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: man now came with a drawer in which there was
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: much to be seen both tin boxes and balsam boxes,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: old cards so large and so gilded, such as one
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: never sees them now. And several drawers were opened, and
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: the piano was opened. It had landscapes on the inside
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: of the lid, and it was so hoarse when the
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: old man played on it. And then he hummed a song.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: Yes she could sing, that, said he, and nodded to
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: the portrait which he had bought at the brokers. And
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: the old man's eyes shone so bright. I will go
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: to the wars. I will go to the wars, shouted
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: the pewter soldier as loud as he could, and threw
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: himself off the drawers, right down on the floor. What
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: became of him? The old man sought, and the little
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: boy sawt he was away, and he stayed away. I
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: shall find him, said the old man, But he never
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: found him. The floor was to open. The pewter soldier
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: had fallen through a crevice, and there he lay as
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: in an open tomb. That day passed, and the little
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: boy went home, and that week passed, and several weeks too.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: The windows were quite frozen. The little boy was obliged
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: to sit and breathe on them, to get a peep
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: hole over to the old house, and there the snow
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: had been blown into all the carved work and inscriptions.
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: It lay quite up over the steps, just as if
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: there was no one at home. Nor was there anyone
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: at home. The old man was dead. In the evening.
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: There was a hearse scene before the door, and he
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: was born into it in his coffin. He was now
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: to go out into the country to lie in his grave.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: He was driven out there, but no one followed. All
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: his friends were dead, and the little boy kissed his
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: hand to the coffin as it was driven away. Some
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: days afterwards there was an auction at the old house,
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: and the little boy saw from his window how they
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: carried the old knights and the old ladies away, the
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: flower pots with the long ears, the old chairs, and
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: the old clothes presses. Something came here, and something came there.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: The portrait of her, who had been found at the
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: broken came to the brokers again, and there it hung,
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: for no one knew her more. No one cared about
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: the old picture. In the spring they pulled the house down,
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: for as people said, it was a ruin. One could
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: see from the street right into the room with the
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: hog's leather hanging, which was slashed and torn, and the
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: green grass and leaves about the balcony hung quite wild
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: about the falling beams. And then it was put to rights.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: That was our relief, said the neighboring houses. A fine
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: house was built there, with large windows and smooth white walls.
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: But before it, where the old house had in fact stood,
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: was a little garden laid out, and a wild grapevine
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: ran up the wall of the neighboring house. Before the
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: garden there was a large iron railing with an iron door.
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: It looked quite splendid, and people stood still and peeped in,
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: and the sparrows hung by scores in the vine and
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: chattered away at each other as well as they could.
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: But it was not about the old house, for they
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: could not remember it. So many years had passed, so
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: many that the little boy had grown up to a
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: whole man, yes, a clever man, and a pleasure to
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: his parents. And he had just been married, and together
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: with his little wife, had come to live in the
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: house here where the garden was, and he stood by
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: her there whilst she planted a field flower that she
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: found so pretty. She planted it with her little hand
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: and pressed the earth around it with her fingers. Oh
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: what was that she had stuck herself. There sat something
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: pointed straight out of the soft mold. It was, yes, Yes,
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: it was the pewter soldier. He that was lost up
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: at the old man's and had tumbled and turned about
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: amidst the timber and the rubbish, and had at last
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: laid for years in the ground. The young wife wiped
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: the dirt off the soldier, first with a green leaf,
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: and then with her fine handkerchief. It was such a
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: delightful smell that it was to the pewter soldier, just
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: as if he had awakened from a trance. Let me
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: see him, said the young man. He laughed, and then
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: shook his head. Nay, it cannot be he, but he
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: reminds me of a story about a pewter soldier which
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: I had when I was a little boy. And then
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: he told his wife about the old house and the
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: old man, and about the pewter soldier that he sent
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: over to him because he was so very very lonely,
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: And he told it as correctly as it had really been,
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: so that the tears came into the eye of his
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: young wife on account of the old house and the
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: old man. It may possibly be, however, that it is
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: the same. Pewter soldier said she. I will take care
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: of it and remember all that you have told me.
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: But you must show me the old man's grave. But
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: I do not know it, said he, And no one
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: knows it. All his friends were dead, no one took
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: care of it. And then I was a little boy.
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: How very very lonely he must have been, said she.
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: Very very lonely, said the pewter soldier. But it is
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: delightful not to be forgotten. Delightful shouted something close by,
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: But no one except the pewter soldier saw that. It
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: was a piece of the hog's leather hangings. It had
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: lost all its guilding. It looked like a piece of
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: wet clay. But it had an opinion, and it gave it.
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: The guilding decays, but Hogg's leather stays.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 2: This.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: The putre soldier did not believe. End of the Old House.
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: End of the Little match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen.
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: These stories read by Phil Schinever in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening