Latest / Classic Fiction Book Collection / Andersen's Fairy Tales - Hans Christian Andersen
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The emperor's new clothes. Many years ago, there was an
- 0:06Speaker 1: emperor who was so excessively fond of new clothes that
- 0:10Speaker 1: he spent all his money in dress. He did not
- 0:13Speaker 1: trouble himself in the least about his soldiers, nor did
- 0:16Speaker 1: he care to go either to the theater or the chase,
- 0:19Speaker 1: except for the opportunities then afforded him for displaying his
- 0:23Speaker 1: new clothes. He had a different suit for each hour
- 0:27Speaker 1: of the day. And as of any other king or emperor,
- 0:30Speaker 1: one is accustomed to say he is sitting in council,
- 0:34Speaker 1: it was always said of him, the Emperor is sitting
- 0:37Speaker 1: in his wardrobe. Time passed merrily in the large town
- 0:43Speaker 1: which was his capital. Strangers arrived every day at the court.
- 0:47Speaker 1: One day, two rogues, calling themselves weavers, made their appearance.
- 0:52Speaker 1: They gave out that they knew how to weave stuffs
- 0:55Speaker 1: of the most beautiful colors and elaborate patterns, the clothes
- 1:00Speaker 1: manufactured from which should have the wonderful property of remaining
- 1:03Speaker 1: invisible to every one who was unfit for the office
- 1:07Speaker 1: he held, or who was extraordinarily simple in character. These
- 1:12Speaker 1: must indeed be splendid clothes, thought the emperor had I
- 1:17Speaker 1: such a suit, I might at once find out what
- 1:20Speaker 1: men in my realms are unfit for their office, and
- 1:23Speaker 1: also be able to distinguish the wise from the foolish.
- 1:27Speaker 1: This stuff must be woven for me immediately, and he
- 1:30Speaker 1: caused large sums of money to be given to both
- 1:33Speaker 1: the weavers in order that they might begin their work directly.
- 1:38Speaker 1: So the two pretended weavers set up two looms and
- 1:42Speaker 1: affected to work very busily, though in reality they did
- 1:45Speaker 1: nothing at all. They asked for the most delicate silk
- 1:49Speaker 1: and the purest gold thread, put both into their own knapsacks,
- 1:54Speaker 1: and then continued their pretended work at the empty looms
- 1:58Speaker 1: until late at night. I should like to know how
- 2:01Speaker 1: the weavers are getting on with my cloth, said the
- 2:04Speaker 1: emperor to himself, after some little time had elapsed. He was, however,
- 2:09Speaker 1: rather embarrassed when he remembered that a simpleton, or one
- 2:13Speaker 1: unfit for his office, would be unable to see the manufacture.
- 2:17Speaker 1: To be sure, he thought he had nothing to risk
- 2:20Speaker 1: in his own person, But yet he would prefer sending
- 2:24Speaker 1: somebody else to bring him intelligence about the weavers and
- 2:27Speaker 1: their work. Before he troubled himself in the affair. All
- 2:32Speaker 1: the people throughout the city had heard of the wonderful
- 2:34Speaker 1: property the cloth was to possess, and all were anxious
- 2:38Speaker 1: to learn how wise or how ignorant their neighbors might
- 2:42Speaker 1: prove to be. I will send my faithful old minister
- 2:47Speaker 1: to the weavers, said the Emperor, at last, after some deliberation,
- 2:51Speaker 1: he will be best able to see how the cloth looks,
- 2:55Speaker 1: for he is a man of sense, and no one
- 2:57Speaker 1: can be more suitable for his office than he is.
- 3:02Speaker 1: So the faithful old minister went into the hall, where
- 3:05Speaker 1: the knaves were working with all their might at their
- 3:07Speaker 1: empty looms. What can be the meaning of this? Thought
- 3:12Speaker 1: the old man, opening his eyes very wide, I cannot
- 3:17Speaker 1: discover the least bit of thread on the looms. However,
- 3:21Speaker 1: he did not express his thoughts aloud. The impostors requested
- 3:27Speaker 1: him very courteously to be so good as to come
- 3:29Speaker 1: nearer their looms, and then asked him whether the design
- 3:33Speaker 1: pleased him, and whether the colors were not very beautiful
- 3:37Speaker 1: at the same time, pointing to the empty frames. The
- 3:41Speaker 1: poor old minister looked and looked. He could not discover
- 3:44Speaker 1: anything on the looms for a very good reason, viz.
- 3:48Speaker 1: There was nothing there. What thought he again. Is it
- 3:54Speaker 1: possible that I am a simpleton? I have never thought
- 3:58Speaker 1: so myself, and no one must know it.
- 4:01Speaker 2: Now.
- 4:01Speaker 1: If I am so, can it be that I am
- 4:04Speaker 1: unfit for my office? No, that must not be said either.
- 4:08Speaker 1: I will never confess that I could not see the stuff. Well,
- 4:13Speaker 1: sir minister, said one of the knaves, still pretending to work.
- 4:17Speaker 1: You do not say whether the stuff pleases you. Oh
- 4:22Speaker 1: it is excellent, replied the old minister, looking at the
- 4:25Speaker 1: loom through his spectacles, the pattern and the colors. Yes,
- 4:30Speaker 1: I will tell the Emperor without delay, how very beautiful
- 4:34Speaker 1: I think them. We shall be much obliged to you,
- 4:38Speaker 1: said the impostors, and then they named the different colors
- 4:43Speaker 1: and described the pattern of the pretended stuff. The old
- 4:48Speaker 1: minister listened attentively to their words in order that he
- 4:51Speaker 1: might repeat them to the Emperor. And then the knaves
- 4:54Speaker 1: asked for more silk and gold, saying that it was
- 4:58Speaker 1: necessary to complete what they had been gun. However, they
- 5:02Speaker 1: put all that was given them into their knapsacks and
- 5:05Speaker 1: continued to work with as much apparent diligence as before
- 5:09Speaker 1: at their empty looms. The Emperor now sent another officer
- 5:15Speaker 1: of his court, to see how the men were getting on,
- 5:17Speaker 1: and to ascertain whether the cloth would soon be ready.
- 5:21Speaker 1: It was just the same with this gentleman as with
- 5:24Speaker 1: the minister. He surveyed the looms on all sides, but
- 5:28Speaker 1: could see nothing at all but the empty frames. Does
- 5:33Speaker 1: not the stuff appear as beautiful to you as it
- 5:35Speaker 1: did to my lord? The minister asked, the impostors of
- 5:39Speaker 1: the Emperor's second ambassador, at the same time, making the
- 5:43Speaker 1: same gestures as before, and talking of the design and
- 5:47Speaker 1: colors which were not there. I certainly am not stupid,
- 5:53Speaker 1: thought the messenger. It must be that I am not
- 5:56Speaker 1: fit for my good, profitable office. That is very odd. However,
- 6:01Speaker 1: no one shall know anything about it. And accordingly he
- 6:05Speaker 1: praised the stuff he could not see, and declared that
- 6:09Speaker 1: he was delighted with both colors and patterns. Indeed, please,
- 6:15Speaker 1: your Imperial Majesty, said he to his sovereign, when he returned.
- 6:20Speaker 1: The cloth which the weavers are preparing is extraordinarily magnificent.
- 6:26Speaker 1: The whole city was talking of the splendid cloth which
- 6:29Speaker 1: the Emperor had ordered to be woven at his own expense,
- 6:34Speaker 1: And now the Emperor himself wished to see the costly manufacture,
- 6:39Speaker 1: while it was still in the loom, accompanied by a
- 6:42Speaker 1: select number of officers of the court, among whom were
- 6:46Speaker 1: the two honest men who had already admired the cloth,
- 6:49Speaker 1: he went to the crafty impostors, who, as soon as
- 6:52Speaker 1: they were aware of the Emperor's approach, went on working
- 6:56Speaker 1: more diligently than ever, although they still did not pass
- 7:00Speaker 1: a single thread through the looms. Is not the work?
- 7:05Speaker 1: Absolutely magnificent, said the two officers of the crown already mentioned,
- 7:11Speaker 1: if your Majesty will only be pleased to look at it?
- 7:14Speaker 1: What a splendid design, what glorious colors. And at the
- 7:18Speaker 1: same time they pointed to the empty frames, for they
- 7:22Speaker 1: imagined that everyone else could see this exquisite piece of workmanship.
- 7:28Speaker 1: How is this, said the emperor to himself. I can
- 7:32Speaker 1: see nothing. This is indeed a terrible affair. Am I
- 7:37Speaker 1: a simpleton? Or am I unfit to be an emperor?
- 7:41Speaker 1: That would be the worst thing that could happen. Oh,
- 7:45Speaker 1: the cloth is charming, said he aloud. It has my
- 7:49Speaker 1: complete approbation. And he smiled most graciously and looked closely
- 7:56Speaker 1: at the empty looms, for on no account would he
- 7:59Speaker 1: say that he could not see what two of the
- 8:01Speaker 1: officers of his court had praised so much. All his
- 8:05Speaker 1: retinue now strained their eyes, hoping to discover something on
- 8:09Speaker 1: the looms, but they could see no more than the others. Nevertheless,
- 8:14Speaker 1: they all exclaimed, oh, how beautiful, and advised his Majesty
- 8:21Speaker 1: to have some new clothes made from this splendid material
- 8:24Speaker 1: for the approaching procession. Magnificent, charming, excellent resounded on all sides,
- 8:33Speaker 1: and every one was uncommonly gay. The Emperor shared in
- 8:38Speaker 1: the general satisfaction, and presented the impostors with the ribband
- 8:43Speaker 1: of an order of knighthood to be worn in their
- 8:46Speaker 1: button holes, and the title of gentlemen weavers. The rogues
- 8:52Speaker 1: sat up the whole of the night before the day
- 8:55Speaker 1: on which the procession was to take place, and had
- 8:58Speaker 1: sixteen lights burning so that every one might see how
- 9:01Speaker 1: anxious they were to finish the Emperor's new suit. They
- 9:06Speaker 1: pretended to roll the cloth off the looms, cut the
- 9:09Speaker 1: air with their scissors, and sewed with needles without any
- 9:13Speaker 1: thread in them. See, cried they. At last, the Emperor's
- 9:18Speaker 1: new clothes are ready. And now the Emperor, with all
- 9:24Speaker 1: the grandees of his court, came to the weavers, and
- 9:28Speaker 1: the rogues raised their arms as if in the act
- 9:31Speaker 1: of holding something up, saying, here are your Majesty's trousers,
- 9:37Speaker 1: Here is the scarf, Here is the mantle. The whole
- 9:41Speaker 1: suit is as light as a cobweb. One might fancy
- 9:45Speaker 1: one has nothing at all on when dressed in it. That, however,
- 9:50Speaker 1: is the great virtue of this delicate cloth. Yes, indeed,
- 9:56Speaker 1: said all the courtiers, although not one of them could
- 9:59Speaker 1: se see anything of this exquisite manufacture. If your Imperial
- 10:06Speaker 1: Majesty will be graciously pleased to take off your clothes,
- 10:10Speaker 1: we will fit on the new suit in front of
- 10:12Speaker 1: the looking glass. The Emperor was accordingly undressed, and the
- 10:17Speaker 1: rogues pretended to array him in his new suit. The
- 10:21Speaker 1: Emperor turning round from side to side before the looking glass.
- 10:26Speaker 1: How splendid his Majesty looks in his new clothes, and
- 10:30Speaker 1: how well they fit? Everyone cried out, what a design?
- 10:36Speaker 1: What colors these are? Indeed royal robes. The canopy, which
- 10:43Speaker 1: is to be borne over your Majesty in the procession,
- 10:45Speaker 1: is waiting, announced the chief Master of the ceremonies. I
- 10:50Speaker 1: am quite ready answered the Emperor. Do my new clothes
- 10:55Speaker 1: fit well, asked he turning himself round again before the
- 10:59Speaker 1: looking glass in order that he might appear to be
- 11:02Speaker 1: examining his handsome suit. The lords of the bed chamber,
- 11:07Speaker 1: who were to carry his majesty's train, felt about on
- 11:10Speaker 1: the ground as if they were lifting up the ends
- 11:13Speaker 1: of the mantel, and pretended to be carrying something, for
- 11:17Speaker 1: they would, by no means betray anything like simplicity or
- 11:21Speaker 1: unfitness for their office. So now the Emperor walked under
- 11:26Speaker 1: his high canopy in the midst of the procession through
- 11:30Speaker 1: the streets of his capital, and all the people standing
- 11:33Speaker 1: by and those at the windows cried out, Oh, how
- 11:37Speaker 1: beautiful are our Emperor's new clothes. What a magnificent train
- 11:43Speaker 1: there is to the mantle, and how gracefully the scarf hangs.
- 11:47Speaker 1: In short, no one would allow that he could not
- 11:51Speaker 1: see these much admired clothes, because in doing so, he
- 11:54Speaker 1: would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit for
- 11:58Speaker 1: his office. Certainly, none of the Emperor's various suits had
- 12:03Speaker 1: ever made so great an impression as these invisible ones.
- 12:09Speaker 1: But the Emperor has nothing on at all, said a
- 12:13Speaker 1: little child. Listen to the voice of innocence, exclaimed his father,
- 12:19Speaker 1: And what the child had said was whispered from one
- 12:22Speaker 1: to another. But he has nothing on at all. At last,
- 12:28Speaker 1: cried out all the people. The emperor was vexed, for
- 12:33Speaker 1: he knew that the people were right, but he thought
- 12:36Speaker 1: the procession must go on now. And the lords of
- 12:40Speaker 1: the bedchamber took greater pains than ever to appear holding
- 12:43Speaker 1: up a train, although in reality there was no train
- 12:48Speaker 1: to hold, and of the emperor's new clothes the swineherd.
- 12:59Speaker 3: There was one poor prince who had a kingdom. His
- 13:04Speaker 3: kingdom was very small, but still quite large enough to
- 13:07Speaker 3: marry upon, and he wished to marry. It was certainly
- 13:13Speaker 3: rather cool of him to say to the Emperor's daughter,
- 13:15Speaker 3: will you have me? But so he did, for his
- 13:18Speaker 3: name was renowned far and wide, and there were a
- 13:21Speaker 3: hundred princesses who would have answered yes, and thank you kindly.
- 13:27Speaker 3: We shall see what this princess said. Listen. It happened
- 13:34Speaker 3: that where the prince's father lay buried, there grew a
- 13:38Speaker 3: rose tree, a most beautiful rose tree, which blossomed only
- 13:42Speaker 3: once in every five years, and even then bore only
- 13:45Speaker 3: one flower. But that was a rose it smelt so
- 13:50Speaker 3: sweet that all cares and sorrows were forgotten by him
- 13:53Speaker 3: who inhaled its fragrance. And furthermore, the prince had a
- 13:59Speaker 3: nightingale who could sing in such a manner that it
- 14:02Speaker 3: seemed as though all sweet melodies dwelt in her little throat.
- 14:08Speaker 3: So the princess was to have the rose and the nightingale,
- 14:12Speaker 3: and they were accordingly put into large silver caskets and
- 14:16Speaker 3: sent to her. The Emperor had them brought into the
- 14:21Speaker 3: large hall where the princess was playing visiting with the
- 14:25Speaker 3: ladies of the court. And when she saw the caskets
- 14:29Speaker 3: with the presents, she clapped her hands for joy. Ah,
- 14:33Speaker 3: if it were but a little pussy cat, said she.
- 14:37Speaker 3: But the rose tree, with its beautiful rose, came to view.
- 14:42Speaker 3: Oh how prettily it is made, said all the court ladies.
- 14:47Speaker 3: It is more than pretty, said the Emperor. It is charming.
- 14:53Speaker 3: But the princess touched it and was almost ready to cry. Fie, Papa,
- 14:59Speaker 3: said she, It is not made at all. It is natural.
- 15:06Speaker 3: Let us see what is in the other casket before
- 15:08Speaker 3: we get into a bad humor, said the Emperor. So
- 15:13Speaker 3: the nightingale came forth and sang so delightfully that at
- 15:17Speaker 3: first no one could say anything. Ill humored of her
- 15:21Speaker 3: superb charmant, exclaimed the ladies, for they all used to
- 15:27Speaker 3: chatter French, each one worse than her neighbor. How much
- 15:32Speaker 3: the bird reminds me of the musical box that belonged
- 15:35Speaker 3: to our blessed Empress, said an old knight. Oh, yes,
- 15:41Speaker 3: these are the same tones, the same execution. Yes, yes,
- 15:47Speaker 3: said the Emperor, and he wept like a child at
- 15:50Speaker 3: the remembrance. I will still hope that it is not
- 15:55Speaker 3: a real bird, said the princess. Yes, it is a
- 16:00Speaker 3: real bird, said those who had brought it. Well, then
- 16:05Speaker 3: let the bird fly, said the princess, and she positively
- 16:09Speaker 3: refused to see the prince. However, he was not to
- 16:14Speaker 3: be discouraged. He daubed his face over brown and black,
- 16:19Speaker 3: pulled his cap over his ears, and knocked at the door.
- 16:24Speaker 3: Good day to my lord, the Emperor, said he. Can
- 16:28Speaker 3: I have employment at the palace? Why, yes, said the Emperor.
- 16:33Speaker 3: I want some one to take care of the pigs,
- 16:36Speaker 3: for we have a great many of them. So the
- 16:39Speaker 3: Prince was appointed Imperial swineherd. He had a dirty little
- 16:45Speaker 3: room close by the pig stye, and there he sat
- 16:49Speaker 3: the whole day and worked. By the evening he had
- 16:53Speaker 3: made a pretty little kitchen pot. Little bells were hung
- 16:57Speaker 3: all round it, and when the pot was boiling, these
- 17:01Speaker 3: bells tinkled in the most charming manner and played the
- 17:04Speaker 3: old melody Ah to liba Augustine, alys is weg weg vec,
- 17:11Speaker 3: which translates us ah dear Augustine, or lose gone, gone gone.
- 17:19Speaker 3: But what was still more curious, whoever held his finger
- 17:23Speaker 3: in the smoke of the kitchen pot immediately smelt all
- 17:27Speaker 3: the dishes that were cooking on every hearth in the city. This,
- 17:31Speaker 3: you see, was something quite different from the rose.
- 17:35Speaker 4: Now.
- 17:35Speaker 3: The princess happened to walk that way, and when she
- 17:38Speaker 3: heard the tune, she stood quite still and seemed pleased,
- 17:43Speaker 3: for she could play Liba Augustine. It was the only
- 17:47Speaker 3: piece you knew, and she played it with one finger.
- 17:51Speaker 3: Why there is my piece, said the princess. That swineherd
- 17:56Speaker 3: must certainly have been well educated. Go in and ask
- 18:00Speaker 3: him the price of the instrument. So one of the
- 18:03Speaker 3: court ladies must run in. However, she drew on wooden slippers. First,
- 18:10Speaker 3: what will you take for the kitchen pot, said the lady.
- 18:14Speaker 3: I will have ten kisses from the princess, said the swineherd. Yes, indeed,
- 18:21Speaker 3: said the lady. I cannot sell it, for less, rejoined
- 18:26Speaker 3: the swineherd. He is an impudent fellow, said the princess.
- 18:31Speaker 3: And she walked on. But when she had gone a
- 18:35Speaker 3: little way, the bells tinkled so prettily. Ah to leave
- 18:39Speaker 3: Augustin aulis ist tvegvecvec stay, said the princess. Ask him
- 18:46Speaker 3: if you will have ten kisses from the ladies of
- 18:48Speaker 3: the court. No, thank you, said the swineherd. Ten kisses
- 18:54Speaker 3: from the princess. Or I keep the kitchen pot myself.
- 19:00Speaker 3: That must not be either, said the princess. But do
- 19:03Speaker 3: you all stand before me that no one may see us?
- 19:08Speaker 3: And the court ladies placed themselves in front of her
- 19:11Speaker 3: and spread out their dresses. The swineherd got ten kisses,
- 19:16Speaker 3: and the princess the kitchen pot. That was delightful. The
- 19:22Speaker 3: pot was boiling the whole evening and the whole of
- 19:25Speaker 3: the following day. They knew perfectly well what was cooking
- 19:28Speaker 3: at every fire throughout the city, from the chamberlains to
- 19:32Speaker 3: the cobblers, the court ladies danced and clapped their hands.
- 19:37Speaker 3: We know who has soup, and who has pancakes for
- 19:39Speaker 3: dinner to day, who has cutlets and who has eggs?
- 19:43Speaker 3: How interesting, yes, but keep my secret, for I am
- 19:48Speaker 3: an emperor's daughter, the swineherd, that is to say the prince,
- 19:54Speaker 3: for no one knew that he was other than an
- 19:57Speaker 3: ill favored swineherd. Let not day pass without working at something.
- 20:03Speaker 3: He at last constructed a rattle, which, when it was
- 20:06Speaker 3: swung around, played all the waltzs and jig tunes which
- 20:10Speaker 3: have ever been heard since the creation of the world. Ah,
- 20:15Speaker 3: that is superb, said the princess when she passed by.
- 20:20Speaker 3: I have never heard prettier compositions. Go in and ask
- 20:24Speaker 3: him the price of the instrument. But mind he shall
- 20:27Speaker 3: have no more kisses. He will have a hundred kisses
- 20:31Speaker 3: from the princess, said the lady who had been to ask.
- 20:36Speaker 3: I think he is not in his right senses, said
- 20:39Speaker 3: the princess, and walked on. But when she had gone
- 20:42Speaker 3: a little way, she stopped again. One must encourage art,
- 20:48Speaker 3: said she, I am the Emperor's daughter. Tell him you shall,
- 20:52Speaker 3: as on yesterday, have ten kisses from me. And may
- 20:56Speaker 3: take the rest from the ladies of the court. Oh
- 21:00Speaker 3: but we should not like that at all, said they.
- 21:04Speaker 3: What are you muttering, asked the princess. If I can
- 21:08Speaker 3: kiss him, surely you can remember that ye owe everything
- 21:12Speaker 3: to me. So the ladies were obliged to go to
- 21:16Speaker 3: him again. A hundred kisses from the princess, said he,
- 21:22Speaker 3: or else, let every one keep his own stand around,
- 21:27Speaker 3: said she, and the ladies stood round her whilst the
- 21:31Speaker 3: kissing was going on. What can be the reason for
- 21:35Speaker 3: such a crowd closed by the pigstye, said the emperor,
- 21:40Speaker 3: who happened just then to step out on the balcony.
- 21:43Speaker 3: He rubbed his eyes and put on his spectacles. They
- 21:48Speaker 3: are the ladies of the court. I must go down
- 21:51Speaker 3: and see what they are about. So he pulled up
- 21:54Speaker 3: his slippers at the heel, for he had trodden them
- 21:57Speaker 3: down as soon as he had got into the courtyard.
- 22:02Speaker 3: He moved very softly, and the ladies were so much
- 22:05Speaker 3: engrossed with counting the kisses that all might go on fairly,
- 22:10Speaker 3: that they did not perceive the emperor. He rose on
- 22:13Speaker 3: his tiptoes.
- 22:16Speaker 4: What is all this? Said he?
- 22:18Speaker 3: When he saw what was going on, and he boxed
- 22:21Speaker 3: the princess's ear with his slipper. Just as the swineherd
- 22:24Speaker 3: was taking the eighty sixth kiss. March out, said the emperor,
- 22:30Speaker 3: for he was very angry, and both princess and swineherd
- 22:33Speaker 3: were thrust out of the city. The princess now stood
- 22:39Speaker 3: and wept, the swineherd scolded, and the rain poured down.
- 22:45Speaker 3: Alas unhappy creature that I am, said the princess. If
- 22:51Speaker 3: I had but married the handsome young prince, ah, how
- 22:55Speaker 3: unfortunate I am. And the swineherd went behind a tree,
- 23:00Speaker 3: washed the black and brown color from his face, threw
- 23:03Speaker 3: off his dirty clothes, and stepped forth in his princely robes.
- 23:08Speaker 3: He looked so noble that the princess could not help
- 23:11Speaker 3: bowing before him. I am come to despise, thee said he.
- 23:18Speaker 3: Thou wouldst not have an honorable prince. Thou couldst not
- 23:21Speaker 3: prize the rose and the nightingale. But thou wast ready
- 23:25Speaker 3: to kiss the swineherd for the sake of a trumpery plaything.
- 23:29Speaker 3: Thou art rightly served. He then went back to his
- 23:33Speaker 3: own little kingdom and shut the door of his palace
- 23:36Speaker 3: in her face. Now she might well sing ach to
- 23:41Speaker 3: Liba algustin alysstvegvec vec end of the swineherd, the real Princess.
- 23:55Speaker 5: There was once a prince who wished to marry a princess.
- 23:58Speaker 5: But then she be a real princess. He traveled all
- 24:03Speaker 5: over the world in hopes of finding such a lady,
- 24:06Speaker 5: but there was always something wrong. Princesses he found in plenty,
- 24:11Speaker 5: but whether they were real princesses it was impossible for
- 24:15Speaker 5: him to decide. For now, one thing now another seemed
- 24:19Speaker 5: to him not quite right about the ladies. At last,
- 24:23Speaker 5: he returned to his palace, quite cast down because he
- 24:26Speaker 5: wished so much to have a real princess for his wife.
- 24:31Speaker 5: One evening, a fearful tempest arose. It thundered and lightened,
- 24:36Speaker 5: and the rain poured down from the sky in torrents. Besides,
- 24:41Speaker 5: it was as dark as pitch. All at once there
- 24:44Speaker 5: was heard a violent knocking at the door, and the
- 24:47Speaker 5: old king, the prince's father, went out himself to open it.
- 24:54Speaker 5: It was a princess who was standing outside the door.
- 24:57Speaker 5: What with the rain and the wind, she was a
- 25:00Speaker 5: sad condition. The water trickled down from her hair and
- 25:04Speaker 5: her clothes clung to her body. She said she was
- 25:08Speaker 5: a real princess. Ah, we shall soon see that, thought
- 25:13Speaker 5: the old queen mother. However, she said not a word
- 25:17Speaker 5: of what she was going to do, but went quietly
- 25:20Speaker 5: into the bedroom, took all the bedclothes off the bed,
- 25:24Speaker 5: and put three little peas on the bedstead. She then
- 25:29Speaker 5: laid twenty mattresses, one upon another over the three peas,
- 25:33Speaker 5: and put twenty feather beds.
- 25:35Speaker 4: Over the mattresses.
- 25:37Speaker 5: Upon this bed the princess was to pass the night.
- 25:43Speaker 5: The next morning, she was asked how she had slept, Oh,
- 25:47Speaker 5: very badly, indeed, she replied, I have scarcely closed my
- 25:51Speaker 5: eyes the whole night through. I do not know what
- 25:54Speaker 5: was in my bed, but I had something hard under
- 25:57Speaker 5: me and am all over black and blue. It has
- 26:01Speaker 5: hurt me so much. Now it was plain that the
- 26:05Speaker 5: lady must be a real princess, since she had been
- 26:09Speaker 5: able to feel the three little peas through twenty mattresses
- 26:13Speaker 5: and twenty feather beds. None but a real princess could
- 26:17Speaker 5: have had such a delicate sense of feeling. The prince
- 26:21Speaker 5: accordingly made her, his wife, being now convinced that he
- 26:24Speaker 5: had found a real Princess. The three peas were, however,
- 26:28Speaker 5: put into the cabinet of Curiosities, where they are still
- 26:32Speaker 5: to be seen, provided they are not lost. Wasn't this
- 26:36Speaker 5: a lady of real delicacy? End of the real Princess?
- 26:46Speaker 6: The shoes the fortune one a beginning. Every author has
- 26:53Speaker 6: some peculiarity in his descriptions or in his style of writing.
- 26:56Speaker 6: Those who do not like him magnify it, shrug up
- 26:59Speaker 6: their shoulders and exclaim, there he is again. I, for
- 27:02Speaker 6: my part, know very well Hi, I can bring about
- 27:05Speaker 6: this movement in this exclamation. It would happen immediately if
- 27:08Speaker 6: I were to begin here as I intended to with
- 27:11Speaker 6: Rome has its Corso, Naples, its Toledo. Ah that Andersen.
- 27:15Speaker 6: There he is again, they would cry, Yet, I must
- 27:18Speaker 6: to please my fancy, continue quite quietly and add, but
- 27:22Speaker 6: Copenhagen has its East Street here. Then we will stay
- 27:26Speaker 6: for the present. In one of the houses not far
- 27:28Speaker 6: from the new market, a party was invited, a very
- 27:31Speaker 6: large party, in order, as is often the case, to
- 27:34Speaker 6: get a return invitation from the others. One half of
- 27:37Speaker 6: the company was already seated at the card table. The
- 27:40Speaker 6: other half awaited the result of the stereotype, preliminary observation
- 27:43Speaker 6: of the lady of the house. Now let us see
- 27:46Speaker 6: what we can do to amuse ourselves. They had got
- 27:49Speaker 6: just so far, and the conversation began to crystallize, as
- 27:52Speaker 6: it could but do with the scanty stream which the
- 27:54Speaker 6: commonplace world supplied. Amongst other things, they spoke of the
- 27:58Speaker 6: Middle Ages, some praise that periate is far more interesting,
- 28:01Speaker 6: far more poetical than our own, too sober present. Indeed,
- 28:04Speaker 6: Councilor Knapp defended this opinion so warmly that the hostess
- 28:08Speaker 6: declared immediately on his side, and both exerted themselves with
- 28:11Speaker 6: unwearied eloquence. The Councilor boldly declared the time of King
- 28:15Speaker 6: Hans to be the noblest and most happy period. Footnote
- 28:19Speaker 6: a d. Fourteen eighty two to fifteen thirteen end a footnote.
- 28:24Speaker 6: While the conversation turned on this subject, and was only
- 28:27Speaker 6: for a moment interrupted by the arrival of a journal
- 28:29Speaker 6: that contained nothing worth reading, we will just step out
- 28:32Speaker 6: into the antechamber, where cloaks, macintoshes, sticks, umbrellas and shoes
- 28:36Speaker 6: were deposited. Here sat two female figures, a young and
- 28:40Speaker 6: an old one. One might have thought at first they
- 28:42Speaker 6: were servants come to accompany their mistresses home, But on
- 28:45Speaker 6: looking nearer, one soon saw they could scarcely be mere servants.
- 28:49Speaker 6: Their forms were too noble for that, their skin too fine,
- 28:52Speaker 6: the cut of their dresses too striking. Two fairies where
- 28:54Speaker 6: they The younger, it is true, was not Damn Fortune herself,
- 28:58Speaker 6: but one of the waiting maids of her hand maidens,
- 29:00Speaker 6: who carry about the lesser good things that she distributes.
- 29:03Speaker 6: The other looked extremely gloomy.
- 29:05Speaker 7: It was care.
- 29:06Speaker 6: She always attends to her own serious business herself, as
- 29:10Speaker 6: then she is sure of having it done properly. They
- 29:12Speaker 6: were telling each other, with a confidential interchange of ideas,
- 29:15Speaker 6: where they had been during the day. The Messenger of
- 29:17Speaker 6: Fortune had only executed a few unimportant commissions, such as
- 29:20Speaker 6: saving a new bonnet from a shower of rain, et cetera.
- 29:23Speaker 6: But what she had yet to perform was something quite unusual.
- 29:27Speaker 6: I must tell you, said she that to day is
- 29:30Speaker 6: my birthday, and in honor of it, a pair of
- 29:32Speaker 6: walking shoes or goloshes that have been entrusted to me,
- 29:35Speaker 6: which I am to carry to mankind. These shoes possess
- 29:38Speaker 6: the property of instantly transporting him who has them on
- 29:41Speaker 6: to the place or the period in which he most
- 29:43Speaker 6: wishes to be. Every wish as regards time, or place
- 29:46Speaker 6: or state of being will be immediately fulfilled, and so
- 29:49Speaker 6: at last man will be happy here below. Do you
- 29:52Speaker 6: seriously believe that, replied care in a severe tone of reproach. No,
- 29:57Speaker 6: he will be very unhappy, and will assuredly less the
- 30:00Speaker 6: moment when he feels that he has freed himself from
- 30:02Speaker 6: the fatal shoes. Stupid nonsense, said the other angrily. I
- 30:06Speaker 6: will put them here by the door. Some one will
- 30:08Speaker 6: make a mistake, for certain and take the wrong ones.
- 30:11Speaker 6: He will be a happy man. Such was their conversation.
- 30:15Speaker 4: Two.
- 30:16Speaker 6: What happened to the councilor It was late Councilor Knap,
- 30:21Speaker 6: deeply occupied with the times of King Hans, intended to
- 30:23Speaker 6: go home, and malicious fate managed matters so that his feet,
- 30:27Speaker 6: instead of finding their way to his own galoshes, slipped
- 30:29Speaker 6: into those of fortune. Thus caparisons. The good man walked
- 30:33Speaker 6: out of the well lighted rooms into East Street. By
- 30:37Speaker 6: the magic power of the shoes, he was carried back
- 30:39Speaker 6: to the time of King Hans, on which account his
- 30:41Speaker 6: foot very naturally sank in the mud and puddles of
- 30:44Speaker 6: the street, there having been in those days no pavement
- 30:46Speaker 6: in Copenhagen. Well this is too bad, how dirty it
- 30:51Speaker 6: is here, sighed the Councilor as to a pavement, I
- 30:54Speaker 6: can find no traces of one, and all the lamps,
- 30:56Speaker 6: it seems, have gone to sleep. The moon was not
- 30:59Speaker 6: yet very high. It was, besides, rather foggy, so that
- 31:02Speaker 6: in the darkness all objects seemed mingled in chaotic confusion.
- 31:05Speaker 6: At the next corner hung a vote of lamp before Madonna.
- 31:08Speaker 6: But the light it gave was little better than none
- 31:10Speaker 6: at all. Indeed, he did not observe it before he
- 31:13Speaker 6: was exactly under it, and his eyes fell upon the
- 31:15Speaker 6: bright colors of the pictures, which represented the well known
- 31:18Speaker 6: group of the Virgin and the infant Jesus. That is
- 31:21Speaker 6: probably a waxworks show, thought, He and the people delay
- 31:24Speaker 6: taking down their sign in hopes of a late visitor
- 31:26Speaker 6: or two. A few persons in the costume of the
- 31:29Speaker 6: time of King Hans passed quickly by him. How strange
- 31:32Speaker 6: they look. The good folks come, probably from a masquerade.
- 31:36Speaker 6: Suddenly was heard the sound of drums and fifes, the
- 31:38Speaker 6: bright blaze of a fire shot up from time to time,
- 31:41Speaker 6: and its ready gleams seemed to contend with the bluish
- 31:43Speaker 6: light of the torches. The Councilor stood still and watched
- 31:46Speaker 6: a most strange procession pass by. First came a dozen
- 31:49Speaker 6: drummers who understood pretty well how to handle their instruments.
- 31:52Speaker 6: Then came halberdiers and some armed with crossbows. The principal
- 31:56Speaker 6: person in the procession was a priest. Astonished at what
- 31:59Speaker 6: he saw, the count's ser asked, what was the meaning
- 32:01Speaker 6: of all this mummery?
- 32:02Speaker 1: And who that man was?
- 32:04Speaker 6: That's the Bishop of Zealand?
- 32:05Speaker 7: Was the answer?
- 32:06Speaker 6: Good heavens, what has taken possession of the bishop? Sighed
- 32:09Speaker 6: the Councilor, shaking his head. It certainly could not be
- 32:12Speaker 6: the Bishop, even though he was considered the most absent
- 32:15Speaker 6: man in the whole kingdom, and people told the drollest
- 32:17Speaker 6: anecdotes about him. Reflecting on the matter, and without looking
- 32:20Speaker 6: right or left, the Councilor went through East Street and
- 32:23Speaker 6: across the habroplats, The bridge leading to Palace Square was
- 32:27Speaker 6: not to be found. Scarcely trusting his senses, the nocturnal
- 32:30Speaker 6: wanderer discovered a shallow piece of water and here fell
- 32:33Speaker 6: in with two men who very comfortably were rocking to
- 32:35Speaker 6: and fro in a boat. Does your honor want to
- 32:38Speaker 6: cross the ferry to the home?
- 32:40Speaker 8: Asked?
- 32:40Speaker 6: They across to the home, said the councilor, who knew
- 32:43Speaker 6: nothing of the age in which he at the moment,
- 32:45Speaker 6: was no. I am going to Christianshaffen to Little Market Street.
- 32:50Speaker 6: Both men stared at him in astonishment. Ohly, just tell
- 32:54Speaker 6: me where the bridge is, said he. It is really
- 32:56Speaker 6: unpardonable that there are no lamps here, and it is
- 32:59Speaker 6: as dirty as if one had to wade through a morass.
- 33:02Speaker 6: The longer he spoke with the boatmen, the more unintelligible
- 33:05Speaker 6: did their language become to him. I don't understand your
- 33:08Speaker 6: bornhomish dialect, said he at last, angrily, and turning his
- 33:12Speaker 6: back upon them. He was unable to find the bridge.
- 33:15Speaker 6: There was no railway either. It is really disgraceful what
- 33:18Speaker 6: a state this place is in, muttered he to himself.
- 33:21Speaker 6: Never had his age, with which however he was always grumbling,
- 33:24Speaker 6: seemed so miserable as on this evening. I'll take a
- 33:27Speaker 6: Hackney coach, thought he. But where were the Hackney coaches?
- 33:31Speaker 6: Not one was to be seen, I must go back
- 33:33Speaker 6: to the new Market. There, it is hoped I shall
- 33:36Speaker 6: find some coaches, for if I don't, I shall never
- 33:38Speaker 6: get safe to christianshaffen. So off he went in the
- 33:41Speaker 6: direction of East Street, and had nearly got to the
- 33:43Speaker 6: end of it when the moon shone forth. God bless me,
- 33:46Speaker 6: What wooden scaffolding is that which they have set up there?
- 33:49Speaker 6: Cried he involuntarily, as he looked at Eastgate, which in
- 33:52Speaker 6: those days was at the end of East Street. He found, however,
- 33:55Speaker 6: a little side door open, and through this he went
- 33:58Speaker 6: and stepped into our new market. Of the place time
- 34:01Speaker 6: it was a huge, desolate plain. Some wild bushes stood
- 34:04Speaker 6: up here and there, while across the field flowed a
- 34:06Speaker 6: broad canal or river. Some wretched hovels for the Dutch sailors,
- 34:10Speaker 6: resembling great boxes, and after which the place was named,
- 34:13Speaker 6: lay about in confused disorder on the opposite bank. I
- 34:17Speaker 6: either behold a fata morgana, or I am regularly tipsy,
- 34:20Speaker 6: whimpered out the Councilor but what's this? He turned round anew,
- 34:24Speaker 6: firmly convinced that he was seriously ill. He gazed at
- 34:27Speaker 6: the street, formerly so well known to him and now
- 34:30Speaker 6: so strange in appearance, and looked at the houses more attentively.
- 34:33Speaker 6: Most of them were of wood, slightly put together, and
- 34:36Speaker 6: many had a thatched roof. No, I am far from well,
- 34:40Speaker 6: sighed he And yet I drank only one glass of punch.
- 34:44Speaker 6: But I cannot suppose it. It was too really very
- 34:48Speaker 6: wrong to give us punch and hot salmon for supper.
- 34:51Speaker 6: I shall speak about it at the first opportunity. I
- 34:54Speaker 6: have half a mind to go back again and say
- 34:55Speaker 6: what I suffer. But no, that would be too silly.
- 34:58Speaker 6: And Heaven only knows if they are up still. He
- 35:01Speaker 6: looked for the house, but it had vanished. It is
- 35:05Speaker 6: really dreadful, groaned he, with increasing anxiety. I cannot recognize
- 35:09Speaker 6: East Street again. There is not a single decent shop
- 35:12Speaker 6: from one end to the other. Nothing but wretched huts
- 35:15Speaker 6: can I see anywhere, just as if I were at Ringstead. Oh,
- 35:18Speaker 6: I am ill, I can scarcely bear myself any longer.
- 35:21Speaker 6: Where the deuce can the house be? It must be here,
- 35:24Speaker 6: on this very spot. Yet there is not the slightest
- 35:26Speaker 6: idea of resemblance. To such a degree has everything changed
- 35:29Speaker 6: this night at all events? Here are some people up
- 35:32Speaker 6: and starring. Oh, oh, I am certainly very ill. He
- 35:36Speaker 6: now hit upon a half open door, through a chink
- 35:38Speaker 6: of which a faint light shone. It was a sort
- 35:41Speaker 6: of hostelry of those times, a kind of public house.
- 35:45Speaker 6: The room had some resemblance to the clay floored halls
- 35:47Speaker 6: in Holstein. A pretty numerous company, consisting of seamen, Copenhagen,
- 35:51Speaker 6: burghers and a few scholars sat here in deep converse
- 35:54Speaker 6: over their pewter cans, and gave little heat to the
- 35:56Speaker 6: person who entered. By your leave, said the councilor the hostess,
- 36:00Speaker 6: who came bustling towards him, I felt so queer all
- 36:03Speaker 6: of a sudden, would you have the goodness to send
- 36:05Speaker 6: for a hackney coach to take me to Christianshaffen. The
- 36:09Speaker 6: woman examined him with eyes of astonishment and shook her head.
- 36:12Speaker 6: She then addressed him in German. The councilor thought she
- 36:15Speaker 6: did not understand Danish, and therefore repeated his wish in German. This,
- 36:19Speaker 6: in connection with his costume, strengthened the good woman in
- 36:21Speaker 6: the belief that he was a foreigner, that he was ill,
- 36:24Speaker 6: she comprehended directly, so she brought him a pitcher of water,
- 36:27Speaker 6: which tasted certainly pretty strong of the sea, although it
- 36:30Speaker 6: had been fetched from the well. The councilor supported his
- 36:33Speaker 6: head on his hand, drew a long breath, and thought
- 36:36Speaker 6: over all the wondrous things he saw around him. Is
- 36:39Speaker 6: this the daily news of the evening? He asked mechanically,
- 36:42Speaker 6: as he saw the hostess push aside a large sheet
- 36:44Speaker 6: of paper. The meaning of this councillorship query remained, of
- 36:49Speaker 6: course a riddle to her, yet she handed him the
- 36:51Speaker 6: paper without replying. It was a coarse woodcut representing a
- 36:55Speaker 6: splendid meteor as seen in the town of Cologne, which
- 36:58Speaker 6: was to be read below, and bright letters. That is
- 37:01Speaker 6: very old, said the councilor, whom this piece of antiquity
- 37:04Speaker 6: began to make considerably more cheerful. Pray, how did you
- 37:07Speaker 6: come into possession of this rare print? It is extremely interesting,
- 37:11Speaker 6: Although the whole is a mere fable, Such meteorous appearances
- 37:14Speaker 6: are to be explained in this way that they are
- 37:17Speaker 6: the reflections of the Aurora borealis, and it is highly
- 37:20Speaker 6: probable they are caused principally by electricity. Those persons who
- 37:24Speaker 6: are sitting nearest him and heard his speech stared at
- 37:26Speaker 6: him in wonderment, and one of them rose took off
- 37:29Speaker 6: his hat respectfully and said, with a serious countenance, you are,
- 37:33Speaker 6: no doubt a very learned man. Monsieur oh No, answered
- 37:37Speaker 6: the councilor. I can only join in conversations on this
- 37:39Speaker 6: topic and on that as indeed one must do according
- 37:42Speaker 6: to the demands of the world at present. Mojestia is
- 37:45Speaker 6: a fine virtue, continued the gentleman. However, as to your speech,
- 37:49Speaker 6: I must say meeki sekis vititer. Yet I am willing
- 37:52Speaker 6: to suspend my judicial may I ask with whom I
- 37:55Speaker 6: have the pleasure of speaking, said the councilor. I am
- 37:59Speaker 6: a bachelor in theoloe OUI answered the gentleman, with a
- 38:01Speaker 6: stiff reverence. This reply I fully satisfied the counselor. The
- 38:05Speaker 6: title suited the dress. He is, certainly, thought he some
- 38:08Speaker 6: village schoolmaster, some queer old fellow, such as one still
- 38:12Speaker 6: meets with in Jutland. This is no locust, descendi, it
- 38:16Speaker 6: is true, began the clerical gentleman. Yet I beg you
- 38:19Speaker 6: earnestly to let his profit by your learning. Your reading
- 38:22Speaker 6: in the ancients is signdubiou a vast extent. Oh, yes,
- 38:26Speaker 6: I've read something, to be sure, replied the Councilor. I
- 38:29Speaker 6: like reading all useful works, but you do not, on
- 38:32Speaker 6: that account despise the modern ones. Tis only the unfortunate
- 38:36Speaker 6: tales of every day life that I cannot bear. We
- 38:39Speaker 6: have enough and more than enough such in reality tales
- 38:42Speaker 6: of every day life, said our bachelor inquiringly. I mean
- 38:46Speaker 6: those new fangled novels twisting and writhing themselves in the
- 38:49Speaker 6: dust of commonplace, which also expect to find a reading public. Oh,
- 38:54Speaker 6: exclaimed the clerical gentleman, smiling. There is much wit in them. Besides,
- 38:58Speaker 6: they are read at court. The king likes the history
- 39:00Speaker 6: of Sir Ifven and Sir Gaudian, particularly which treats of
- 39:04Speaker 6: King Arthur and his knights of the round table. He
- 39:06Speaker 6: has more than once joked about it with his high vassals.
- 39:09Speaker 6: I have not read that novel, said the councilor. It
- 39:12Speaker 6: must be quite a new one that Heiberg has published lately. No,
- 39:16Speaker 6: answered the theologian of the time of King Hans. That
- 39:19Speaker 6: book is not written by a Heiberg, but was imprinted
- 39:21Speaker 6: by Godfrey von Geiman. Oh is that the author's name,
- 39:25Speaker 6: said the Councilor, it is a very old name, and
- 39:28Speaker 6: as well as I recollect, he was the first printer
- 39:30Speaker 6: that appeared in Denmark. Yes, he is our first printer,
- 39:34Speaker 6: replied the clerical gentleman hastily. So far all went on well.
- 39:38Speaker 6: Some one of the worthy burghers now spoke of the
- 39:41Speaker 6: dreadful pestilence that had raged in the country a few
- 39:43Speaker 6: years back, meaning that of fourteen eighty four. The Councilor
- 39:47Speaker 6: imagined it was the cholera that was meant which people
- 39:49Speaker 6: made so much fuss about, And the discourse passed off
- 39:52Speaker 6: satisfactorily enough. The war of the Buccaneers of fourteen ninety
- 39:56Speaker 6: was so recent that it could not fail being alluded
- 39:58Speaker 6: to the English pierate, had they said most shamefully taken
- 40:02Speaker 6: their ships while in the roadstead And the Councilor, before
- 40:05Speaker 6: whose eyes the herostratic event of eighteen o one still
- 40:08Speaker 6: floated vividly, agreed entirely with the others in abusing the
- 40:11Speaker 6: rascally English footnote. Herostratus or Erratostratus, an Ephesian who wantonly
- 40:19Speaker 6: set fire to the famous Temple of Diana in order
- 40:22Speaker 6: to commemorate his name by so uncommon an action end
- 40:25Speaker 6: of footnote with other topics, he was not so fortunate.
- 40:29Speaker 6: Every moment brought about some new confusion and threatened to
- 40:32Speaker 6: become a perfect babble. For the worthy bachelor was really
- 40:35Speaker 6: too ignorant, and the simplest observations of the councilor sounded
- 40:38Speaker 6: to him too daring and fantastical. They looked at one
- 40:41Speaker 6: another from the crowd of the head to the soles
- 40:43Speaker 6: of the feet, And when matters grew to too high
- 40:45Speaker 6: a pitch, then the bachelor talked Latin, and the hope
- 40:48Speaker 6: of being better understood. But it was of no use.
- 40:50Speaker 6: After all, what's the matter? Asked the hostess, plucking the
- 40:53Speaker 6: councilor by the sleeve. And now his recollection returned, for
- 40:57Speaker 6: in the course of the conversation he had entirely forgotten
- 40:59Speaker 6: all that had preceded it. Merciful God, where am I?
- 41:03Speaker 6: He exclaimed in agony. And while he so thought, all
- 41:06Speaker 6: his ideas and feelings of overpowering dizziness against which he
- 41:09Speaker 6: struggled with the utmost power of desperation encompassed him with
- 41:13Speaker 6: renewed force. Let us drink claret and mead, and bremen
- 41:16Speaker 6: Beier shouted one of the guests, and you shall drink
- 41:18Speaker 6: with us. Two maidens approached. One wore a cap of
- 41:22Speaker 6: two staring colors, denoting the class of persons to which
- 41:25Speaker 6: she belonged. They poured out the liquor and made the
- 41:27Speaker 6: most friendly gesticulations, while a cold perspiration trickled down the
- 41:31Speaker 6: back of the poor Councilor what's to be the end
- 41:35Speaker 6: of this? What's to become of me? He groaned, But
- 41:38Speaker 6: he was forced, in spite of his opposition, to drink
- 41:41Speaker 6: with the rest. They took hold of the worthy man, who,
- 41:44Speaker 6: hearing on every side that he was intoxicated, did not
- 41:47Speaker 6: in the least doubt the truth of this, certainly not
- 41:49Speaker 6: very polite ascertation, But on the contrary, implored the ladies
- 41:53Speaker 6: and gentlemen present to procure him a hackney coach. They, however,
- 41:56Speaker 6: imagined he was talking Russian. Never before, he thought, had
- 42:00Speaker 6: he been in such a coarse and ignorant company, one
- 42:03Speaker 6: might almost fancy the people had turned heathens against him.
- 42:07Speaker 6: It is the most dreadful moment of my life. The
- 42:09Speaker 6: whole world is leagued against me. But suddenly it occurred
- 42:12Speaker 6: to him that he might stoop down under the table,
- 42:15Speaker 6: and then creep unobserved out of the door. He did so,
- 42:18Speaker 6: but just as he was going the others remarked what
- 42:20Speaker 6: he was about. They laid hold of him by the legs,
- 42:23Speaker 6: and now, happily for him, off fell his fatal shoes,
- 42:26Speaker 6: and with them the charm was at an end. The
- 42:29Speaker 6: councilor saw quite distinctly before him a lantern burning, and
- 42:32Speaker 6: behind this a large, handsome house. All seemed to him
- 42:35Speaker 6: in proper order as usual. It was East Street, splendid
- 42:38Speaker 6: and elegant as we now see it. He lay with
- 42:41Speaker 6: his feet towards a doorway, and exactly opposite sat the
- 42:43Speaker 6: watchman asleep. Gracious Heaven, said he have I lain here
- 42:47Speaker 6: in the street, and dreamed, Yes, tis East Street, how
- 42:51Speaker 6: splendid and light it is. But really it is terrible,
- 42:54Speaker 6: what an effect that one glass of punch must have
- 42:56Speaker 6: had on me. Two minutes later he was sitting in
- 42:59Speaker 6: a hackney coat and driving to Frederick Soften. He thought
- 43:02Speaker 6: of the distress and agony he had endured, and praised
- 43:05Speaker 6: from the very bottom of his heart the happy reality
- 43:07Speaker 6: our own time, which, with all its deficiencies, is yet
- 43:11Speaker 6: much better than that in which, so much against his
- 43:13Speaker 6: inclination he had lately been three the Watchman's adventure. Why
- 43:21Speaker 6: there is a pair of galoshes, as sure as I
- 43:23Speaker 6: am alive, said the watchman, awaking from a gentle slumber.
- 43:26Speaker 6: They belong no doubt to the lieutenant who lives over
- 43:28Speaker 6: the way. They lie close to the door. The worthy
- 43:32Speaker 6: man was inclined to ring and deliver them at the house,
- 43:34Speaker 6: for there was still a light in the window. But
- 43:36Speaker 6: he did not like disturbing the other people in their beds,
- 43:38Speaker 6: and so very considerately he left the matter alone. Such
- 43:42Speaker 6: a pair of shoes must be very warm and comfortable,
- 43:44Speaker 6: said he. The leather is so soft and supple. They
- 43:48Speaker 6: fitted his feet as though they had been made for him.
- 43:50Speaker 6: Tis a curious world we live in, continued he, soliloquizing.
- 43:54Speaker 6: There's the lieutenant now, who might go quietly to bed
- 43:57Speaker 6: if he chose where, no doubt, he could stretch himself
- 44:00Speaker 6: at his ease.
- 44:01Speaker 2: But does he do it.
- 44:02Speaker 6: No, His saunters up and down his room, because probably
- 44:05Speaker 6: he has enjoyed too many of the good things of
- 44:07Speaker 6: this world at his dinner. That's a happy fellow. He
- 44:10Speaker 6: is neither an infirm mother, nor a whole troop of
- 44:13Speaker 6: Everlastingly hungry children to torment him. Every evening he goes
- 44:16Speaker 6: to a party, where his nice supper costs him nothing.
- 44:19Speaker 6: Would to heaven, I could but change with him? How
- 44:21Speaker 6: happy should I be? While expressing his wish, the charm
- 44:26Speaker 6: of the shoes which he had put on, began to work.
- 44:28Speaker 6: The watchman entered into the being and nature of the lieutenant.
- 44:32Speaker 6: He stood in the handsomely furnished apartment, and held between
- 44:34Speaker 6: his fingers a small sheet of rose colored paper, on
- 44:37Speaker 6: which some verses were written, written indeed by the officer himself,
- 44:41Speaker 6: for who has not at least once in his life
- 44:43Speaker 6: had a lyrical moment. And if one then marks down
- 44:46Speaker 6: one's thoughts, poetry is produced. But here it was written,
- 44:51Speaker 6: Oh were I rich?
- 44:55Speaker 2: Oh were I rich?
- 44:56Speaker 6: Such was my wish? Yea such when hardly three feet high,
- 45:00Speaker 6: I longed for much?
- 45:01Speaker 5: Oh were I rich?
- 45:02Speaker 6: An officer?
- 45:03Speaker 9: Were I?
- 45:04Speaker 6: With sword and uniform and plumes so high? And the
- 45:07Speaker 6: time came and officer was I? But yet I grew
- 45:11Speaker 6: not rich, alas poor me have pity thou, who all
- 45:15Speaker 6: man's wants dost see. I sat one evening, sunk in
- 45:20Speaker 6: dreams of bliss. A maid of seven years old gave
- 45:23Speaker 6: me a kiss. I at that time was rich in
- 45:25Speaker 6: poesy and tales of old, though poor as poor can be.
- 45:29Speaker 6: But all she asked for was this poesy. Then was
- 45:33Speaker 6: I rich but not in gold? Poor me, as thou
- 45:35Speaker 6: dost know who all men's hearts canst see?
- 45:40Speaker 10: Oh?
- 45:40Speaker 6: Were I rich oft? Asked I for this boon? The
- 45:43Speaker 6: child grew up to womanhood full soon. She is so pretty,
- 45:46Speaker 6: clever and so kind. Oh did she know what's hidden
- 45:50Speaker 6: in my mind? A tale of old which she to
- 45:53Speaker 6: me were kind, But I am condemned to silence? Oh,
- 45:56Speaker 6: poor me, as thou dost know who all men's heart
- 46:00Speaker 6: canst see?
- 46:02Speaker 11: Oh?
- 46:02Speaker 6: Were I rich in calm and peace of mind? My grief?
- 46:05Speaker 6: You then would not here written? Find o thou to
- 46:08Speaker 6: whom I do my heart devote? Oh, read this page
- 46:12Speaker 6: of glad days now remote, a dark, dark tale which
- 46:15Speaker 6: I to night devote. Dark is the future now alas
- 46:19Speaker 6: poor me have pity thou, who all men's pains dost
- 46:23Speaker 6: see such verses as these people write when they are
- 46:27Speaker 6: in love. But no man in his senses ever thinks
- 46:30Speaker 6: of printing them. Hear one of the sorrows of life
- 46:33Speaker 6: in which there is real poetry gave itself vent, not
- 46:36Speaker 6: that barren grief which the poet may only hint at
- 46:39Speaker 6: but never depict in its detail. Misery and want, that
- 46:42Speaker 6: animal necessity, in short, to snatch at least at a
- 46:46Speaker 6: fallen leaf of the bread fruit tree, if not at
- 46:48Speaker 6: the fruit itself. The higher the position in which one
- 46:52Speaker 6: finds one self transplanted, the greater is the suffering. Every
- 46:55Speaker 6: day necessity is the stagnant pool of life. No lovely
- 46:58Speaker 6: picture reflects itself there in Lieutenant, love and lack of money.
- 47:03Speaker 6: That is a symbolic triangle, or much the same as
- 47:06Speaker 6: the half of the shattered die of fortune. This the
- 47:09Speaker 6: Lieutenant felt most poignantly, and this was the reason he
- 47:12Speaker 6: leant his head against the window and sighed so deeply.
- 47:17Speaker 6: The poor watchman out there in the street is far
- 47:20Speaker 6: happier than I. He knows not what I term privation.
- 47:24Speaker 6: He has a home, a wife, and children who weep
- 47:26Speaker 6: with him over his sorrows, who rejoice with him when
- 47:29Speaker 6: he is glad. Oh, far happier.
- 47:31Speaker 7: Where I could I.
- 47:33Speaker 6: Exchange with him my being, with his desires and with
- 47:36Speaker 6: his hopes, performed the weary pilgrimage of life. Oh, he
- 47:39Speaker 6: is a hundred times happier than I. In the same moment,
- 47:44Speaker 6: the Watchman was again watchman. It was the shoes that
- 47:47Speaker 6: caused the metamorphosis, by means of which, unknown to himself,
- 47:50Speaker 6: he took upon him the thoughts and feelings of the officer.
- 47:53Speaker 6: But as we have just seen, he felt himself in
- 47:55Speaker 6: his new situation much less contented, and now preferred the
- 47:58Speaker 6: very thing which but someone is before he had rejected.
- 48:01Speaker 6: So then the Watchman was again watchman. That was an
- 48:05Speaker 6: unpleasant dream.
- 48:06Speaker 4: Said he.
- 48:07Speaker 6: But twas droll enough altogether. I fancy that I was
- 48:10Speaker 6: the lieutenant over there, And yet the thing was not
- 48:12Speaker 6: very much to my taste. After all, I missed my
- 48:15Speaker 6: good old mother and the dear little ones who almost
- 48:17Speaker 6: tear me to pieces for sheer love. He seated himself
- 48:20Speaker 6: once more and nodded. The dream continued to haunt him,
- 48:23Speaker 6: for he still had the shoes on his feet. A
- 48:25Speaker 6: falling star shone in the dark firmament. There falls another star,
- 48:31Speaker 6: said he, But what does it matter? There are always
- 48:34Speaker 6: enough left. I should not much mind examining the little
- 48:36Speaker 6: glimmering things somewhat nearer, especially the moon, for that would
- 48:40Speaker 6: not slip so easily through a man's fingers. When we die,
- 48:43Speaker 6: so at least as the student for whom my wife
- 48:45Speaker 6: does the washing, we shall fly about as light as
- 48:48Speaker 6: a feather, from one such a star to the other. That's,
- 48:52Speaker 6: of course not true, but twould be pretty enough if
- 48:54Speaker 6: it were so. If I could but once take a
- 48:57Speaker 6: leap up there, my body might stay here on the
- 48:59Speaker 6: steps for what I care.
- 49:02Speaker 4: Behold.
- 49:03Speaker 6: There are certain things in the world to which one
- 49:05Speaker 6: ought never to give utterance, except with the greatest caution.
- 49:08Speaker 6: But doubly careful must one be when we have the
- 49:10Speaker 6: shoes of fortune on our feet. Now, just listen to
- 49:13Speaker 6: what happened to the watchmen as to ourselves. We all
- 49:16Speaker 6: know the speed produced by the employment of steam. We
- 49:19Speaker 6: have experienced it, either on railroads or in boats when
- 49:22Speaker 6: crossing the sea. But such a flight is like the
- 49:24Speaker 6: traveling of a sloth in comparison with the velocity with
- 49:27Speaker 6: which light moves. It flies nineteen million times faster than
- 49:31Speaker 6: the best race horse. And yet electricity is quicker.
- 49:34Speaker 7: Still.
- 49:36Speaker 6: Death is an electric shock which our heart receives. The
- 49:39Speaker 6: freed's soul soars upwards on the wings of electricity. The
- 49:43Speaker 6: sun's light wants eight minutes and some seconds to perform
- 49:46Speaker 6: a journey of more than twenty million of our Danish
- 49:48Speaker 6: miles borne by electricity. The soul wants even some minutes
- 49:52Speaker 6: less to accomplish the same flight. Footnote. A Danish mile
- 49:57Speaker 6: is nearly four and three quarters English end of footnote
- 50:02Speaker 6: to it, the space between the heavenly bodies is not
- 50:04Speaker 6: greater than the distance between the homes of our friends
- 50:06Speaker 6: in town is for us, even if they live a
- 50:08Speaker 6: short way from each other. Such an electric shock in
- 50:11Speaker 6: the heart or river costs us the use of the
- 50:13Speaker 6: body here below, unless, like the watchmen of East Street,
- 50:17Speaker 6: we happen to have on the shoes of fortune. In
- 50:21Speaker 6: a few seconds, the watchman had done the fifty two
- 50:23Speaker 6: thousand of our miles up to that moon, which, as
- 50:26Speaker 6: everyone knows, was formed out of matter much lighter than
- 50:28Speaker 6: our earth, and is so we should say, as soft
- 50:31Speaker 6: as nearly fallen snow. We found himself on one of
- 50:34Speaker 6: the many circumjacent mountain ridges with which we are acquainted
- 50:37Speaker 6: by means of doctor Madler's map of the moon. Within
- 50:41Speaker 6: down it sunk perpendicularly into a cauldron about a Danish
- 50:45Speaker 6: mile and depth, while below lay a town whose appearance
- 50:48Speaker 6: we can, in some measure realized to ourselves by beating
- 50:51Speaker 6: the white of an egg in a glass of water.
- 50:53Speaker 6: The matter of which it was built was just as
- 50:55Speaker 6: soft and formed similar towers and domes and pillars, transparent
- 50:59Speaker 6: and rocking in the thin air. While above his head
- 51:01Speaker 6: our earth was rolling like a large fiery ball. He
- 51:05Speaker 6: perceived immediately a quantity of beings who were certainly what
- 51:08Speaker 6: we call men, Yet they looked different to us, a
- 51:12Speaker 6: far more correct imagination than that of the pseudo. Herschel
- 51:14Speaker 6: had created them. And if they had been placed in
- 51:17Speaker 6: rank and file and copied by some skillful painter's hand,
- 51:20Speaker 6: one would without doubt have exclaimed, involuntarily, what a beautiful
- 51:24Speaker 6: Arabesque footnote. This relates to a book published some years
- 51:28Speaker 6: ago in Germany and said to be by Herschel, which
- 51:31Speaker 6: contained a description of the moon and its inhabitants, written
- 51:33Speaker 6: with such a semblance of truth that many were deceived
- 51:36Speaker 6: by the imposture, and a footnote probably a translation of
- 51:40Speaker 6: the celebrated Moon Hoax, written by Richard A. Locke and
- 51:43Speaker 6: originally published in New York. They had a language too,
- 51:47Speaker 6: But surely nobody can expect that the soul of the
- 51:49Speaker 6: watchman should understand it be that as it may, it
- 51:52Speaker 6: did comprehend it, For in our souls their germanate far
- 51:54Speaker 6: greater powers than we poor mortals. Despite all our cleverness,
- 51:58Speaker 6: have any notion of to do? Not show us she
- 52:01Speaker 6: the queen in the land of Enchantment, her astounding dramatic talent.
- 52:04Speaker 7: In all our dreams.
- 52:06Speaker 6: There every acquaintance appears and speaks upon the stage so
- 52:09Speaker 6: entirely in character and with the same tone of voice,
- 52:12Speaker 6: that none of us, when awake, were able to imitate it.
- 52:15Speaker 6: How well can she recall persons to our mind of
- 52:17Speaker 6: whom we have not thought for years, when suddenly they
- 52:20Speaker 6: step forth every inch a man resembling the real personages,
- 52:25Speaker 6: even to the finest features, and become the heroes or
- 52:27Speaker 6: heroines of our world of dreams. In reality, such remembrances
- 52:32Speaker 6: are rather unpleasant. Every sin, every evil thought, may, like
- 52:35Speaker 6: a clock with alarm or chimes, be repeated at pleasure.
- 52:39Speaker 6: Then the question is if we can trust ourselves to
- 52:42Speaker 6: give an account of every unbecoming word in our heart
- 52:44Speaker 6: and on our lips. The Watchman's spirit understood the language
- 52:49Speaker 6: of the inhabitants of the moon pretty well. The Sulenites,
- 52:53Speaker 6: dwellers in the Moon, disputed variously about our Earth, and
- 52:57Speaker 6: expressed their doubts if it could be inhabited. The err
- 52:59Speaker 6: they said, must certainly be too dense to allow any
- 53:02Speaker 6: rational dweller in the Moon the necessary free respiration. They
- 53:06Speaker 6: considered the Moon alone to be inhabited. They imagined it
- 53:09Speaker 6: was the real heart of the universe or planetary system,
- 53:11Speaker 6: on which the genuine cosmopolites or citizens of the world dwelt.
- 53:16Speaker 6: What strange things men, no, what strange things Zelenites sometimes
- 53:20Speaker 6: take into their heads about politics. They had a good
- 53:25Speaker 6: deal to say. But little Denmark must take care what
- 53:28Speaker 6: it is about, and not run counter to the Moon,
- 53:30Speaker 6: that great realm that might, in an ill humor, bestir
- 53:33Speaker 6: itself and dash down a hail storm in our faces,
- 53:36Speaker 6: or force the Baltic to overflow the sides of its
- 53:38Speaker 6: gigantic basin. We will therefore not listen to what was spoken,
- 53:42Speaker 6: and on no condition run in the possibility of telling
- 53:45Speaker 6: tales out of school. But we will rather proceed, like
- 53:48Speaker 6: good quiet citizens, to East Street and observe what happened. Meanwhile,
- 53:52Speaker 6: to the body of the watchman. He sat lifeless on
- 53:55Speaker 6: the steps. The morning star, that is to say, the
- 53:58Speaker 6: heavy wooden staff, headed with iron spikes, and which had
- 54:01Speaker 6: nothing else in common with its sparkling brother in the sky,
- 54:04Speaker 6: had glided from his hand, while his eyes were fixed
- 54:07Speaker 6: with glassy stare on the moon, looking for the good
- 54:09Speaker 6: old fellow of a spirit which still haunted it. Footnote.
- 54:14Speaker 6: The watchmen in Germany had formerly, and in some places
- 54:16Speaker 6: they still carry with them on their rounds at night,
- 54:19Speaker 6: a sort of mace or club, known in ancient times
- 54:21Speaker 6: by the above denomination and a footnote what's the hour? Watchman?
- 54:26Speaker 6: Asked a passer by, But when the watchman gave no reply,
- 54:29Speaker 6: the merry roysterer, who was now returning home from a
- 54:32Speaker 6: noisy drinking bout, took it into his head to try
- 54:35Speaker 6: what a tweak of the nose would do, on which
- 54:37Speaker 6: the supposed sleeper lost his balance. The body lay motionless,
- 54:40Speaker 6: stretched out on the pavement.
- 54:42Speaker 8: The man was dead.
- 54:44Speaker 6: When the patrol came. All his comrades, who comprehended nothing
- 54:47Speaker 6: of the whole affair, were seized with a dreadful fright.
- 54:50Speaker 6: For dead he was, and he remained so. The proper
- 54:54Speaker 6: authorities were informed of the circumstance, people talked a good
- 54:57Speaker 6: deal about it, and in the morning the body was
- 54:59Speaker 6: carried to the hostilepital. Now that would be a very
- 55:02Speaker 6: pretty joke if the spirit, when it came back and
- 55:04Speaker 6: looked for the body in East Street, were not to
- 55:06Speaker 6: find one. No doubt, it would, in its anxiety, run
- 55:10Speaker 6: off to the police, and then to the Hue and
- 55:12Speaker 6: Cry office to announce that the finder will be handsomely rewarded,
- 55:16Speaker 6: and at last away to the hospital. Yet we may
- 55:18Speaker 6: boldly assert that the soul is shrewdest when it shakes
- 55:21Speaker 6: off every fetter and every sort of leading string, the
- 55:24Speaker 6: body only makes it stupid. The seemingly dead body of
- 55:28Speaker 6: the Watchman wandered, as we have said, to the hospital,
- 55:31Speaker 6: where it was brought into the general viewing room. And
- 55:33Speaker 6: the first thing that was done here was naturally to
- 55:35Speaker 6: pull off the galoshes. When the spirit, that was merely
- 55:38Speaker 6: gone out on adventures must have returned with the quickness
- 55:40Speaker 6: of lightning to its earthly tenement. It took its direction
- 55:44Speaker 6: towards the body in a straight line, and a few
- 55:46Speaker 6: seconds after life began to show itself from the man.
- 55:49Speaker 6: He asserted that the preceding night had been the worst
- 55:52Speaker 6: that ever the malice of fate had allotted him. He
- 55:54Speaker 6: would not for two silver marks again go through what
- 55:57Speaker 6: he had endured while moon stricken. But now, however, it
- 56:00Speaker 6: was over. The same day he was discharged from the
- 56:03Speaker 6: hospital as perfectly cured. But the shoes meanwhile remained behind.
- 56:08Speaker 5: Four.
- 56:09Speaker 6: A moment of head importance an Evening's dramatic readings, A
- 56:13Speaker 6: most strange journey. Every inhabitant of Copenhagen knows from personal
- 56:18Speaker 6: inspection how the entrance to Frederick's hospital looks. But as
- 56:22Speaker 6: it is possible that others who are not Copenhagen people
- 56:25Speaker 6: may also read this little work, we will beforehand give
- 56:27Speaker 6: a short description of it. The extensive building is separated
- 56:32Speaker 6: from the street by a pretty high railing, the thick
- 56:34Speaker 6: iron bars of which are so far apart that, in
- 56:37Speaker 6: all seriousness, it is said some very thin fellow had
- 56:40Speaker 6: of a knight, occasionally squeezed himself through to go and
- 56:43Speaker 6: pay his little visits in the town. The part of
- 56:45Speaker 6: the body most difficult to manage on such occasions was,
- 56:48Speaker 6: no doubt, the head. Here, as is so often the
- 56:50Speaker 6: case in the world, longheaded people get through best. So
- 56:54Speaker 6: much then for the introduction. One of the young men,
- 56:57Speaker 6: whose head in a physical sense only might be said
- 56:59Speaker 6: to be of the thickest, had the watch that evening
- 57:03Speaker 6: the rain poured down in Torrents. Yet despite these two obstacles,
- 57:06Speaker 6: the young man was obliged to go out, if it
- 57:08Speaker 6: were but for a quarter of an hour, And as
- 57:11Speaker 6: to telling the doorkeeper about it, that he thought was
- 57:13Speaker 6: quite unnecessary. If with a whole skin he were able
- 57:16Speaker 6: to slip through the railing. There on the floor lay
- 57:20Speaker 6: the galoshes, which the watchman had forgotten. He never dreamed
- 57:23Speaker 6: for a moment that they were those of fortune, and
- 57:26Speaker 6: they promised to do him good service in the wet
- 57:28Speaker 6: so he put them on. The question now was if
- 57:31Speaker 6: he could squeeze himself through the grating, for he had
- 57:33Speaker 6: never tried before. Well, there he stood, would to heaven.
- 57:38Speaker 6: I had got my head through, said he involuntarily, and
- 57:42Speaker 6: instantly through it slipped easily and without pain. Notwithstanding it
- 57:46Speaker 6: was pretty large and thick. But now the rest of
- 57:48Speaker 6: the body was to be got through.
- 57:51Speaker 7: Ah, I am much.
- 57:52Speaker 6: Too stout, groaned he aloud, while fixed as in a vice.
- 57:55Speaker 6: I had thought the head was the most difficult part
- 57:57Speaker 6: of the matter. Oh, oh, I really cannot see myself through.
- 58:02Speaker 6: He now wanted to pull his over hasty head back again,
- 58:04Speaker 6: but he could not. For his neck there was room enough,
- 58:07Speaker 6: but for nothing more. His first feeling was of anger,
- 58:11Speaker 6: his next that his temper fell to zero. The shoes
- 58:14Speaker 6: of fortune had placed him in the most dreadful situation,
- 58:17Speaker 6: and unfortunately it never occurred to him to wish himself free.
- 58:21Speaker 6: The pitch black clouds poured down their contents in still
- 58:24Speaker 6: heavier torrents. Not a creature was to be seen in
- 58:26Speaker 6: the streets. To reach up to the bell was what
- 58:29Speaker 6: he did not like. To cry aloud for help would
- 58:31Speaker 6: have availed him little. Besides, how ashamed would he have
- 58:34Speaker 6: been to be found caught in a trap like an
- 58:36Speaker 6: outwitted fox. How was he to twist himself through? He
- 58:40Speaker 6: saw clearly that it was his irrevocable destiny to remain
- 58:44Speaker 6: a prisoner till dawn, or perhaps even late in the morning.
- 58:47Speaker 6: Then the smith must be fetched to file away the bars.
- 58:50Speaker 6: But all that would not be done so quickly as
- 58:53Speaker 6: he could think about it. The whole charity school just
- 58:55Speaker 6: opposite would be in motion, all the new booths with
- 58:58Speaker 6: their not very courtier eyes like swarm of seamen would
- 59:02Speaker 6: join them out of curiosity, and would greet him with
- 59:04Speaker 6: the wild Hurrah. While he was standing in his pillory,
- 59:08Speaker 6: there would be a mob, a hissing and rejoicing and jeering,
- 59:11Speaker 6: ten times worse than in the rows about the Jews
- 59:13Speaker 6: some years ago. Oh my blood is mounting to my
- 59:17Speaker 6: brain tis enough to drive one mad.
- 59:18Speaker 10: I shall go wild.
- 59:20Speaker 12: I know not what to do.
- 59:21Speaker 6: Oh were I but loose, my dizziness would then cease? Oh,
- 59:25Speaker 6: were my head but loose?
- 59:28Speaker 13: You see?
- 59:28Speaker 6: He Oto said that sooner for the moment he expressed
- 59:31Speaker 6: the wish his head was free and cured of all
- 59:33Speaker 6: his paroxysms of love. He hastened off to his room,
- 59:36Speaker 6: where the pains consequent on the fright of the shoes
- 59:38Speaker 6: had prepared for him. Did not so soon take their leave.
- 59:42Speaker 6: But you must not think that the affair is over.
- 59:44Speaker 6: Now it grows much worse. The night passed the next
- 59:49Speaker 6: day also, but nobody came to fetch the shoes. In
- 59:52Speaker 6: the evening, dramatic readings were to be given at the
- 59:55Speaker 6: little theater in King Street. The house was filled to suffocation,
- 1:00:00Speaker 6: and among other pieces to be recited was a new
- 1:00:02Speaker 6: poem by H. C. Andersen, called My Aunt's Spectacles, the
- 1:00:06Speaker 6: contents of which were pretty nearly as follows. A certain
- 1:00:11Speaker 6: person had an aunt who boasted of particular skill in
- 1:00:14Speaker 6: fortune telling with cards, and who was constantly being stormed
- 1:00:17Speaker 6: by persons that wanted to have a peep into futurity.
- 1:00:20Speaker 6: But she was full of mystery about her art, in
- 1:00:23Speaker 6: which a certain pair of magic spectacles did her essential service.
- 1:00:27Speaker 6: Her nephew, a merry boy who was his aunt's darling,
- 1:00:30Speaker 6: begged so long for these spectacles that at last she
- 1:00:33Speaker 6: lent him the treasure, after having informed him with many
- 1:00:36Speaker 6: exhortations that in order to execute the interesting trick, he
- 1:00:40Speaker 6: need only repair it to some place where a great
- 1:00:42Speaker 6: many persons were assembled, and then from a higher position,
- 1:00:45Speaker 6: whence he could overlook the crowd passed the company in
- 1:00:47Speaker 6: review before him through his spectacles. Immediately the inner man
- 1:00:52Speaker 6: of each individual would be displayed before him, like a
- 1:00:55Speaker 6: game of cards, in which he unerringly might read what
- 1:00:58Speaker 6: the future of every person presented was to be. Well please,
- 1:01:01Speaker 6: the little magician hastened away to prove the powers of
- 1:01:04Speaker 6: the spectacles in the theater, no place seeming to him
- 1:01:07Speaker 6: more fitted for such a trial, He begged the permission
- 1:01:10Speaker 6: of the worthy audience, and set his spectacles on his nose.
- 1:01:14Speaker 6: A motley phantasmagoria presented itself before him, which he describes
- 1:01:18Speaker 6: in a few satirical touches, Yet without expressing his opinion openly,
- 1:01:22Speaker 6: He tells the people enough to set them all thinking
- 1:01:25Speaker 6: and guessing, But in order to hurt nobody, he wraps
- 1:01:28Speaker 6: his witty oracular judgments in a transparent veil, or rather
- 1:01:31Speaker 6: in a lurid thundercloud, shooting forth bright sparks of wit
- 1:01:35Speaker 6: that they may fall in the powder magazine of the
- 1:01:37Speaker 6: expectant audience. The humorous poem was admirably recited, and the
- 1:01:43Speaker 6: speaker much applauded. Among the audience was the young man
- 1:01:46Speaker 6: of the hospital, who seemed to have forgotten his adventure
- 1:01:48Speaker 6: of the preceding night. He had on the shoes, for
- 1:01:51Speaker 6: as yet no lawful owner had appeared to claim them,
- 1:01:53Speaker 6: and besides it was so very dirty out of doors,
- 1:01:56Speaker 6: they were just the thing for him, he thought. The
- 1:01:58Speaker 6: beginning of the poem he praised with great generosity. He
- 1:02:01Speaker 6: even found the idea original and effective, but that the
- 1:02:04Speaker 6: end of it, like the rhine, was very insignificant. Proved,
- 1:02:07Speaker 6: in his opinion, the author's want of invention. He was
- 1:02:10Speaker 6: without genius, et cetera. This was an excellent opportunity to
- 1:02:14Speaker 6: have said something clever. Meanwhile, he was haunted by the
- 1:02:19Speaker 6: idea he should like to possess such a pair of
- 1:02:21Speaker 6: spectacles himself. Then, perhaps by using them circumspectedly, one would
- 1:02:26Speaker 6: be able to look into people's hearts, which he thought
- 1:02:28Speaker 6: would be far more interesting than merely to see what
- 1:02:30Speaker 6: was to happen next year. For that we should all
- 1:02:32Speaker 6: know in proper time.
- 1:02:34Speaker 7: But the other never.
- 1:02:36Speaker 6: I can now, said he to himself. Fancy the whole
- 1:02:40Speaker 6: row of ladies and gentlemen sitting there in the front row,
- 1:02:42Speaker 6: if one could but see into their hearts. Yes, that
- 1:02:45Speaker 6: would be a revelation, a.
- 1:02:46Speaker 8: Sort of bazaar.
- 1:02:48Speaker 6: And that lady Yonder so strangely dressed. I should find
- 1:02:51Speaker 6: for certain a large milliner's shop, and that one. The
- 1:02:54Speaker 6: shop is empty, but it wants cleaning, plain enough. But
- 1:02:57Speaker 6: there would also be some good stately shops among them.
- 1:03:00Speaker 6: Alas sighed he, I know one in which all is stately,
- 1:03:04Speaker 6: But there sits already a spruce young shopman, which is
- 1:03:07Speaker 6: the only thing that's amiss in the whole shop. All
- 1:03:10Speaker 6: would be splendidly decked out, and we should hear. Walk in, gentlemen,
- 1:03:14Speaker 6: pray walk in. Here you will find all you please
- 1:03:16Speaker 6: to want. Ah I wish to heaven. I could walk
- 1:03:19Speaker 6: in and take a trip right through the hearts of
- 1:03:21Speaker 6: those present, and behold to the shoes of fortune.
- 1:03:25Speaker 7: This was the cue.
- 1:03:26Speaker 6: The whole man shrunk together, and a most uncommon journey
- 1:03:30Speaker 6: through the hearts of the front rowe the spectators now began.
- 1:03:33Speaker 6: The first heart through which he came was that of
- 1:03:35Speaker 6: a middle aged lady. But he instantly fancied himself in
- 1:03:38Speaker 6: the room of the Institution for the Cure of the
- 1:03:40Speaker 6: Crooked and Deformed, where casts of misshapen limbs are displayed
- 1:03:44Speaker 6: in naked reality on the wall. Yet there was this
- 1:03:47Speaker 6: difference and the institution the casts were taken at the
- 1:03:50Speaker 6: entry of the patient, but here they were retained and
- 1:03:52Speaker 6: guarded in the heart while the sound persons went away.
- 1:03:55Speaker 6: They were, namely casts of female friends whose bodily or
- 1:03:58Speaker 6: mental deformities were here most faithfully preserved. With the snakelike
- 1:04:03Speaker 6: writhings of an idea, he glided into another female heart,
- 1:04:07Speaker 6: but this seemed to him like a large holy fane temple,
- 1:04:10Speaker 6: the white dove of innocence fluttered above the altar. How
- 1:04:14Speaker 6: gladly would he have sunk upon his knees, But he
- 1:04:16Speaker 6: must away to the next heart. Yet he still heard
- 1:04:19Speaker 6: the pealing tones of the organ, and he himself seemed
- 1:04:21Speaker 6: to have become a newer and a better man. He
- 1:04:24Speaker 6: felt unworthy to tread the neighboring sanctuary, which poor Garret
- 1:04:27Speaker 6: with the sick, bedridden mother revealed. But God's warm sun
- 1:04:32Speaker 6: streamed through the open window. Lovely roses nodded from the
- 1:04:35Speaker 6: wooden flower boxes on the roof, and two sky blue
- 1:04:38Speaker 6: birds sang rejoicingly, while the sick mother implored God's richest
- 1:04:42Speaker 6: blessings on her pious daughter. He now crept on hands
- 1:04:46Speaker 6: and feet through a butcher's shop. At least on every side,
- 1:04:48Speaker 6: and above and below there was not but flesh, who
- 1:04:51Speaker 6: was the heart of a most respectable rich man, whose
- 1:04:54Speaker 6: name is certain to be found in the directory. He
- 1:04:58Speaker 6: was now in the heart of the wife of the
- 1:05:00Speaker 6: worthy gentleman, who was an old, dilapidated, moldering dovecot. The
- 1:05:04Speaker 6: husband's portrait was used as a weathercock, which was connected
- 1:05:07Speaker 6: in some way or other with the doors, and so
- 1:05:10Speaker 6: they opened and shut of their own accord whenever the
- 1:05:12Speaker 6: stern old husband turned around. Hereupon he wandered into a
- 1:05:16Speaker 6: boudoir formed entirely of mirrors, like the one in Castle Rosenberg.
- 1:05:20Speaker 6: But here the glasses magnified to an astonishing degree. On
- 1:05:24Speaker 6: the floor in the middle of the room sat like
- 1:05:26Speaker 6: a dalai lama, the insignificant self of the person. Quite
- 1:05:30Speaker 6: confounded at his own greatness, he then imagined he had
- 1:05:33Speaker 6: got into a needle case full of pointed needles of
- 1:05:35Speaker 6: every size. This is certainly the heart of an old maid,
- 1:05:38Speaker 6: thought he. But he was mistaken. It was the heart
- 1:05:41Speaker 6: of a young military man, a man, as people said,
- 1:05:44Speaker 6: of talent and feeling. In the greatest perplexity, he now
- 1:05:47Speaker 6: came out of the last heart in the row. He
- 1:05:49Speaker 6: was unable to put his thoughts in order, and fancied
- 1:05:51Speaker 6: that his too lively imagination had run away with him.
- 1:05:55Speaker 6: Good heavens sighed he, I have surely a disposition to
- 1:05:58Speaker 6: madness tis dreadfully high. Here my blood boils my veins,
- 1:06:02Speaker 6: and my head is burning like a coal. And he
- 1:06:04Speaker 6: now remembered the important event of the evening before, how
- 1:06:07Speaker 6: his head had got jammed in between the iron railings
- 1:06:09Speaker 6: of the hospital. That's what it is, no doubt, said he.
- 1:06:12Speaker 6: I must do something in time. Under such circumstances, A
- 1:06:15Speaker 6: Russian bath might do me good. I only wish I
- 1:06:17Speaker 6: were already in the upper bank footnote. In these Russian
- 1:06:22Speaker 6: vapor baths, the purson extends himself on a bank or form,
- 1:06:26Speaker 6: and as he gets accustomed to the heat, moves to
- 1:06:28Speaker 6: another higher up towards the ceiling, where, of course the
- 1:06:31Speaker 6: vapor is warmest. In this manner he ascends gradually to
- 1:06:34Speaker 6: the highest and a footnote. And so there he lay
- 1:06:38Speaker 6: on the uppermost bank in the vapor bath, but with
- 1:06:40Speaker 6: all his clothes on, in his boots and galoshes, while
- 1:06:43Speaker 6: the hot drops fell, scalding from the ceiling on his face.
- 1:06:46Speaker 6: Hullo cried, he leaping down. The bathing attendant on his
- 1:06:50Speaker 6: side uttered a loud cry of astonishment when he beheld
- 1:06:53Speaker 6: in the bath a man completely dressed. The other, however,
- 1:06:57Speaker 6: retained sufficient presence of mind to whisper to him, tis
- 1:07:00Speaker 6: a bet, and I have won it. But the first
- 1:07:03Speaker 6: thing he did as soon as he got home was
- 1:07:05Speaker 6: to have a large blister put on his chest and
- 1:07:07Speaker 6: back to draw out his madness. Next morning he had
- 1:07:10Speaker 6: a sore chest and a bleeding back, and accepting the fright,
- 1:07:13Speaker 6: that was all that he had gained by the shoes
- 1:07:15Speaker 6: of fortune. Five metamorphosis of the copying clerk. The watchman,
- 1:07:23Speaker 6: whom we have certainly not forgotten, thought meanwhile, of the
- 1:07:26Speaker 6: gloshes he had found and taken with him to the hospital.
- 1:07:29Speaker 6: He now went to fetch them, and as neither the
- 1:07:31Speaker 6: lieutenant nor anybody else in the street claimed them as
- 1:07:34Speaker 6: his property, they were delivered over to the police office. Footnote.
- 1:07:39Speaker 6: As on the continent, in all law and police practices,
- 1:07:42Speaker 6: nothing is verbal but any circumstance. However, trifling is reduced
- 1:07:45Speaker 6: to writing. The labor, as well as the number of
- 1:07:48Speaker 6: papers that thus accumulate, is enormous. In a police office, consequently,
- 1:07:53Speaker 6: we find copying clerks, among many other scribes of various denominations,
- 1:07:57Speaker 6: of which it seems our hero was one. End of footnote.
- 1:08:01Speaker 6: Why I declare the shoes looked just like my own,
- 1:08:03Speaker 6: said one of the clerks, eyeing the newly found treasure,
- 1:08:06Speaker 6: whose hidden powers, even he sharp as he was, was
- 1:08:09Speaker 6: not able to discover. One must have more than the
- 1:08:12Speaker 6: eye of a shoemaker to know one pair from the other,
- 1:08:14Speaker 6: said he soliloquizing and putting at the same time, the
- 1:08:17Speaker 6: gloshes in search of an owner beside his own in
- 1:08:20Speaker 6: the corner here, sir, said one of the men, who, panting,
- 1:08:24Speaker 6: brought him a tremendous pile of papers. The copying clerk
- 1:08:27Speaker 6: turned round and spoke awhile with the man about the
- 1:08:29Speaker 6: reports and legal documents in question. But when he had finished,
- 1:08:32Speaker 6: and his eye fell again on the shoes, he was
- 1:08:34Speaker 6: unable to say whether those to the left or those
- 1:08:36Speaker 6: to the right belonged to him. At all events, it
- 1:08:39Speaker 6: must be those which are wet, thought he. But this time,
- 1:08:41Speaker 6: in spite of his cleverness, he guessed quite wrong, for
- 1:08:44Speaker 6: it was just those of fortune which played, as it were,
- 1:08:46Speaker 6: into his hands, or rather on his feet. And why
- 1:08:50Speaker 6: I should like to know, are the police never to
- 1:08:51Speaker 6: be wrong? So he put them on quickly, stuck his
- 1:08:55Speaker 6: papers in his pocket, and took besides a few under
- 1:08:57Speaker 6: his arm, intending to look them through at home to
- 1:08:59Speaker 6: make them necessary notes. It was noon, and the weather
- 1:09:03Speaker 6: that had threatened to rain began to clear up. While
- 1:09:05Speaker 6: gaily dressed holiday folks filled the streets a little trip
- 1:09:08Speaker 6: to Fredericksburg would do me no great harm, thought he,
- 1:09:11Speaker 6: For I, poor beast of burden that I am, have
- 1:09:13Speaker 6: so much to annoy me that I don't know what
- 1:09:15Speaker 6: a good appetite is. Tis a bitter crust alas at
- 1:09:18Speaker 6: which I am condemned to gnaw. Nobody could be more
- 1:09:23Speaker 6: steady or quiet than this young man. We therefore wish
- 1:09:25Speaker 6: him joy of the excursion with all our heart, and
- 1:09:28Speaker 6: it will certainly be beneficial for a person who leads
- 1:09:30Speaker 6: so sedentary a life. In the park, he met a friend,
- 1:09:33Speaker 6: one of our young poets, who told him that the
- 1:09:35Speaker 6: following day he should set out on his long intended tour.
- 1:09:39Speaker 6: So you are going away again, said the clerk. You
- 1:09:41Speaker 6: are a very free and happy being. We others are
- 1:09:43Speaker 6: chained by the leg and held fast to our desk. Yes,
- 1:09:47Speaker 6: but it is a chain, friend, which ensures you the
- 1:09:50Speaker 6: blessed bread of existence, answered the poet. You need feel
- 1:09:53Speaker 6: no care for the coming morrow. When you are old,
- 1:09:56Speaker 6: you receive a pension, true, said the clerk, shrugging his should.
- 1:10:00Speaker 6: And yet you are the better off to sit at
- 1:10:03Speaker 6: one's ease and poetise. That is a pleasure. Everybody has
- 1:10:06Speaker 6: something agreeable to say to you, and you are always
- 1:10:08Speaker 6: your own master. No friend, you should but try what
- 1:10:12Speaker 6: it is to sit from one year's end to the other,
- 1:10:14Speaker 6: occupied with and judging the most trivial matters. The poet
- 1:10:18Speaker 6: shook his head. The copying clerk did the same. Each
- 1:10:21Speaker 6: one kept to his own opinion, and so they separated.
- 1:10:25Speaker 6: It's a strange race, those poets, said the clerk, who
- 1:10:27Speaker 6: is very fond of soliloquizing. I should like, some day,
- 1:10:31Speaker 6: just for a trial, to take such nature upon me
- 1:10:33Speaker 6: and be a poet myself. I am very sure I
- 1:10:35Speaker 6: should make no such miserable verses as the others. To day, methinks,
- 1:10:39Speaker 6: is a most delicious day for a poet. Nature seems
- 1:10:42Speaker 6: anew to celebrate her awakening into life. The air is
- 1:10:45Speaker 6: so unusually clear, the clouds sail on so buoyantly, and
- 1:10:49Speaker 6: from the green herbage, a fragrance is exhaled that fills
- 1:10:52Speaker 6: me with delight. For many a year have I not
- 1:10:54Speaker 6: felt as at this moment we see already by the
- 1:10:58Speaker 6: foregoing effusion, that he is become a poet. To give
- 1:11:01Speaker 6: further proof of it, however, would in most cases be insipid,
- 1:11:04Speaker 6: For it is a most foolish notion to fancy a
- 1:11:06Speaker 6: poet different from other men. Among the latter, there may
- 1:11:10Speaker 6: be far more poetical natures than many. An acknowledged poet,
- 1:11:13Speaker 6: when examined more closely, could boast of the difference only
- 1:11:17Speaker 6: is that the poet possesses a better mental memory, on
- 1:11:20Speaker 6: which account he is able to retain the feeling and
- 1:11:22Speaker 6: the thought till they can be embodied by means of words,
- 1:11:25Speaker 6: a faculty which the others do not possess. But the
- 1:11:28Speaker 6: transition from a commonplace nature to one that is richly
- 1:11:32Speaker 6: endowed demands always a more or less breakneck leap over
- 1:11:35Speaker 6: certain abyss which yawns threateningly below. And thus must the
- 1:11:39Speaker 6: sudden change with the clerk strike the reader the sweet air,
- 1:11:43Speaker 6: continued he of the police office in his dreamy imaginings,
- 1:11:47Speaker 6: how it reminds me of the violets in the garden
- 1:11:49Speaker 6: of my aunt Magdalena. Yes, then I was a little
- 1:11:52Speaker 6: wild boy who did not go to school very regularly. Oh, heavens,
- 1:11:56Speaker 6: tis a long time since I have thought on those times.
- 1:11:58Speaker 6: The good old soul she lived behind the exchange. She
- 1:12:02Speaker 6: always had a few twigs or green shoots and water
- 1:12:05Speaker 6: let the winter rage without as it might. The violets
- 1:12:08Speaker 6: exhaled their sweet breath, whilst I pressed against the window
- 1:12:11Speaker 6: panes covered with fantastic frost work the copper coin I
- 1:12:14Speaker 6: had heated on the stove and so made peep holes.
- 1:12:18Speaker 6: What splendid vistas were there then opened to my view?
- 1:12:21Speaker 6: What change, what magnificence? Yonder in the canal lay the
- 1:12:25Speaker 6: ships frozen up and deserted by their whole crews, with
- 1:12:27Speaker 6: a screaming crow for the sole occupant. But when the spring,
- 1:12:31Speaker 6: with a gentle stirring motion, announced her arrival, a new
- 1:12:34Speaker 6: and busy life arose with songs and hurrahs. The ice
- 1:12:38Speaker 6: was sawn asunder. The ships were fresh, tarred and rigged
- 1:12:41Speaker 6: that they might sail away to distant lands. But I
- 1:12:44Speaker 6: have remained here, must always remain here, sitting at my
- 1:12:48Speaker 6: desk in the office, and patiently see other people fetch
- 1:12:51Speaker 6: their passports to go abroad. Such is my fate. Alas
- 1:12:55Speaker 6: sighed he again, and was again silent, Great Heaven, what
- 1:13:02Speaker 6: is come to me? Never have I thought or felt
- 1:13:04Speaker 6: like this before. It must be the summer air that
- 1:13:06Speaker 6: affects me with feelings almost as disquieting as they are refreshing.
- 1:13:11Speaker 6: He felt in his pockets for the papers. These police
- 1:13:14Speaker 6: reports will soon stem the torrent of my ideas and
- 1:13:16Speaker 6: effectually hinder any rebellious overflowing of the time worn banks
- 1:13:20Speaker 6: of official duties. He said to himself consolingly, while his
- 1:13:23Speaker 6: eye ran over the first page, Dame Tigbreath, Tragedy in
- 1:13:27Speaker 6: five acts?
- 1:13:28Speaker 4: What is that?
- 1:13:29Speaker 6: And yet it is undeniably my own handwriting? Have I written?
- 1:13:32Speaker 7: The tragedy?
- 1:13:33Speaker 6: Wonderful? Very wonderful?
- 1:13:34Speaker 4: And this what have I here?
- 1:13:36Speaker 6: Intrigue on the ramparts? Or the day of repentance vaudeville
- 1:13:40Speaker 6: with new songs to the most favorite airs the deuce?
- 1:13:44Speaker 6: Where did I get all this rubbish? Some one must
- 1:13:46Speaker 6: have slipped it slyly into my pocket for a joke.
- 1:13:49Speaker 6: There is too a letter to me, a crumpled letter,
- 1:13:51Speaker 6: and the seal broken. Yes, it was not a very
- 1:13:54Speaker 6: polite epistle from the manager of a theater, in which
- 1:13:57Speaker 6: both pieces were flatly refused. Hem ahem, said the clerk breathlessly,
- 1:14:02Speaker 6: and quite exhausted, He seated himself on a bank. His
- 1:14:06Speaker 6: thoughts were so elastic, his heart so tender, and involuntarily
- 1:14:10Speaker 6: he picked one of the nearest flowers. It is a
- 1:14:12Speaker 6: simple daisy, just bursting out of the bud. What the
- 1:14:15Speaker 6: botanist tells us. After a number of imperfect lectures, the
- 1:14:18Speaker 6: flower proclaimed in a minute it related the mythis of
- 1:14:21Speaker 6: its birth, told of the power of the sunlight that
- 1:14:24Speaker 6: spread out its delicate leaves and forced them to impregnate
- 1:14:27Speaker 6: the air with their incense. And then he thought of
- 1:14:30Speaker 6: the manifold struggles of life, which in like manner awakened
- 1:14:33Speaker 6: the budding flowers of feeling in our bosom. Light and
- 1:14:36Speaker 6: air contended with chivalric emulation for the love of the
- 1:14:39Speaker 6: fair flower that bestowed her chief favors. On the latter.
- 1:14:43Speaker 6: Full of longing, she turned towards the light, and as
- 1:14:45Speaker 6: soon as it vanished, rolled her tender leaves together and
- 1:14:48Speaker 6: slept in the embraces of the air. It is the
- 1:14:51Speaker 6: light which adorns me, said the flower. But tis the
- 1:14:55Speaker 6: air which enables thee to breathe said the poet's voice.
- 1:14:59Speaker 6: Close spy stood a boy who dashed his stick into
- 1:15:02Speaker 6: a wet ditch. The drops of water splashed up to
- 1:15:04Speaker 6: the green leafy roof, and the clerk thought of the
- 1:15:06Speaker 6: million of ephemera which in a single drop were thrown
- 1:15:09Speaker 6: up to a height that was as great, doubtless for
- 1:15:11Speaker 6: their size as for us, if we were to be
- 1:15:13Speaker 6: hurled above the clouds. While he thought of this, and
- 1:15:16Speaker 6: of the whole metamorphosis he had undergone, he smiled and said,
- 1:15:20Speaker 6: I sleep and dream. But it is wonderful how one
- 1:15:22Speaker 6: can dream so naturally, and know besides so exactly that
- 1:15:26Speaker 6: it is but a dream. If only tomorrow, on a
- 1:15:28Speaker 6: waking I could again call all to mind, so vividly
- 1:15:32Speaker 6: I seem in unusually good spirits. My perception of things
- 1:15:35Speaker 6: is clear. I feel as light and cheerful as though
- 1:15:37Speaker 6: I were in heaven. But I know for a certainty
- 1:15:40Speaker 6: that if tomorrow a dimmer remembrance of it should swim
- 1:15:43Speaker 6: before my mind, it will then seem nothing but stupid nonsense,
- 1:15:46Speaker 6: as I have often experienced already, especially before I enlisted
- 1:15:50Speaker 6: under the banner of the police. For that dispels like
- 1:15:52Speaker 6: a whirl when all the visions of unfettered imagination. All
- 1:15:56Speaker 6: we hear or say in a dream that is fair
- 1:15:58Speaker 6: and beautiful is like the gold of the subterranean spirits.
- 1:16:01Speaker 10: It is rich and.
- 1:16:02Speaker 6: Splendid when it is given us, but viewed by daylight
- 1:16:05Speaker 6: we find only withered leaves. Alas he sighed quite sorrowful,
- 1:16:10Speaker 6: and gazed at the chirping birds that hopped contentedly from
- 1:16:12Speaker 6: branch to branch. They are much better off than I
- 1:16:15Speaker 6: to fly, I must be a heavenly art and happy.
- 1:16:18Speaker 6: Do I prize that creature in which it is innate?
- 1:16:20Speaker 11: Yes?
- 1:16:21Speaker 6: Could I exchange my nature with any other creature? I
- 1:16:24Speaker 6: feign would be such a happy little lark. He had
- 1:16:27Speaker 6: hardly uttered these hasty words when the skirts and sleeves
- 1:16:30Speaker 6: of his coat folded themselves together into wings. The clothes
- 1:16:33Speaker 6: became feathers, and the gloshos claws. He observed it perfectly
- 1:16:37Speaker 6: and laughed in his heart. Now, then there is no
- 1:16:40Speaker 6: doubt that I am dreaming. But I never before was
- 1:16:42Speaker 6: aware of such mad freaks as these. And up he
- 1:16:45Speaker 6: flew into the green roof and sang. But in the
- 1:16:47Speaker 6: song there was no poetry, for the spirit of the
- 1:16:49Speaker 6: poet was gone the shoes. As is the case with
- 1:16:52Speaker 6: anybody who does what he has to do properly, could
- 1:16:54Speaker 6: only attend to one thing at a time. He wanted
- 1:16:57Speaker 6: to be a poet, and he was one. He now
- 1:16:59Speaker 6: wished to be a marriage bird. But when he was
- 1:17:01Speaker 6: metamorphs into one, the former peculiarities ceased immediately. It is
- 1:17:06Speaker 6: really pleasant enough, said he. The whole day long, I
- 1:17:09Speaker 6: sit in the office amid the driest law papers, and
- 1:17:11Speaker 6: at night I fly in my dream as a lark
- 1:17:13Speaker 6: in the gardens of Fredericksburg. One might really write a
- 1:17:16Speaker 6: very pretty comedy upon it. He now fluttered down into
- 1:17:19Speaker 6: the grass, turned, said gracefully, on every side, and with
- 1:17:22Speaker 6: his bill pecked the pliant blades of grass, which, in
- 1:17:24Speaker 6: comparison to its present size, seemed as majestic as the
- 1:17:27Speaker 6: palm branches of northern Africa. Unfortunately, the pleasure lasted but
- 1:17:32Speaker 6: a moment. Presently, a black knight overshattered our enthusiast, who
- 1:17:36Speaker 6: had so entirely missed his part of copying clerk at
- 1:17:39Speaker 6: a police office. Some vast objects seemed to be thrown
- 1:17:42Speaker 6: over him. It was a large oil skin cap which
- 1:17:45Speaker 6: a sailor boy of the quay had thrown over the
- 1:17:47Speaker 6: struggling bird. A coarse hand sought its way carefully and
- 1:17:50Speaker 6: under the broad rim, and seized the clerk over the
- 1:17:53Speaker 6: back and wings. And the first moment of fear he called, indeed,
- 1:17:56Speaker 6: as loud as he could, you impudent, little blackguard. I
- 1:17:59Speaker 6: am a copying clerk at the police office, and you
- 1:18:01Speaker 6: know you cannot insult any belonging to the constabulary force
- 1:18:04Speaker 6: without a chastisement. Besides, you good for nothing. Rascal is
- 1:18:08Speaker 6: strictly forbidden to catch birds in the royal gardens of Fredericksburg.
- 1:18:11Speaker 6: But your blue uniform betrays where you come from. This
- 1:18:14Speaker 6: fine tirade sounded, however, to the ungodly sailor boy like
- 1:18:18Speaker 6: a mere Pippi pi. He gave the noisy bird a
- 1:18:21Speaker 6: knock on its beak and walked on. He was soon
- 1:18:24Speaker 6: met by two schoolboys of the upper class, that is
- 1:18:27Speaker 6: to say, as individuals, for with regard to learning, they
- 1:18:30Speaker 6: were in the lowest class in the school, and they
- 1:18:33Speaker 6: bought the stupid bird. So the copying clerk came to
- 1:18:36Speaker 6: Copenhagen ass guest, or rather as prisoner in a family
- 1:18:39Speaker 6: living in gother street. Tis well that I am dreaming,
- 1:18:42Speaker 6: said the clerk. I really should get angry. First. I
- 1:18:45Speaker 6: was a poet, now sold for a few pences a lark.
- 1:18:48Speaker 6: No doubt it was that a cursed poetical nature which
- 1:18:50Speaker 6: has metamorphsed me into such a poor, harmless little creature.
- 1:18:53Speaker 6: It is really pitiable, particularly when one gets into the
- 1:18:56Speaker 6: hands of a little blackguard perfect in all sorts of
- 1:18:58Speaker 6: cruelty to animals. All I should like to know is
- 1:19:01Speaker 6: how the story will end. The two schoolboys, the proprietors,
- 1:19:04Speaker 6: now of the transformed clerk, carried him into an elegant room.
- 1:19:08Speaker 6: A stout, stately dame received him with a smile, but
- 1:19:11Speaker 6: she expressed much dissatisfaction that a common field bird, as
- 1:19:14Speaker 6: she called the lark, should appear in such high society.
- 1:19:18Speaker 6: For to day, however, she would allow it, and they
- 1:19:20Speaker 6: must shut him in the empty cage that was standing
- 1:19:22Speaker 6: in the window. Perhaps he will amuse my good Polly,
- 1:19:25Speaker 6: added the lady, looking with a benignant smile at the
- 1:19:28Speaker 6: large green parrot that swung himself backwards and forwards most
- 1:19:31Speaker 6: comfortably in his ring inside a magnificent brass wired cage.
- 1:19:35Speaker 6: To day is Polly's birthday, said she, with stupid simplicity,
- 1:19:39Speaker 6: and the little brown field bird must wish him joy.
- 1:19:42Speaker 6: Mister Polly uttered not a syllable in reply, but swung
- 1:19:45Speaker 6: to and fro with dignified condescension. While a pretty canary
- 1:19:49Speaker 6: as Yellow's gold, that had lately been brought from his
- 1:19:51Speaker 6: sunny fragrant home began to sing aloud. Noisy creature, Will
- 1:19:55Speaker 6: you be quiet, screamed the lady of the house, covering
- 1:19:57Speaker 6: the cage with an embroidered white pocket handkerchief. Chirp, chirp,
- 1:20:01Speaker 6: sighed He that was a dreadful snowstorm. And he sighed
- 1:20:04Speaker 6: again and was silent. The copying clerk, or as thoughlady said,
- 1:20:09Speaker 6: the brown field bird was put into a small cage
- 1:20:11Speaker 6: close to the canary, but not far from my good Polly.
- 1:20:15Speaker 6: The only human sounds that the parrot could ball out
- 1:20:18Speaker 6: were come, let us be men. Everything else that he
- 1:20:21Speaker 6: said was as unintelligible to everybody as the chirping of
- 1:20:24Speaker 6: the canary, except to the clerk, who was now a
- 1:20:26Speaker 6: bird too, He understood his companion perfectly. I flew about
- 1:20:31Speaker 6: beneath the green palms and the blossoming almond trees, sang
- 1:20:33Speaker 6: the canary. I flew around my brothers and sisters, over
- 1:20:37Speaker 6: the beautiful flowers, and over the glassy lakes with the
- 1:20:39Speaker 6: bright water plants nodded to me from below. There too,
- 1:20:43Speaker 6: I saw many splendidly dressed paroquets that told the drollest
- 1:20:46Speaker 6: stories and the wildest fairy tales.
- 1:20:48Speaker 8: Without end.
- 1:20:50Speaker 6: Oh, those were uncouth birds, answered the parrot. They had
- 1:20:54Speaker 6: no education and talked of whatever came into their head.
- 1:20:57Speaker 6: If my mistress and all her friends can laugh at
- 1:20:59Speaker 6: what I say, so may you too. I should think
- 1:21:01Speaker 6: it is a great fault to have no taste for
- 1:21:03Speaker 6: what is witty or amusing. Come let us be men. Ah,
- 1:21:08Speaker 6: have you no remembrance of love for the charming maidens
- 1:21:10Speaker 6: that danced beneath the outspread tents beside the bright, fragrant flowers.
- 1:21:15Speaker 6: Do you no longer remember the sweet fruits and the
- 1:21:17Speaker 6: cooling juice in the wild plants of our never to
- 1:21:19Speaker 6: be forgotten home, said the former inhabitant of the Canary Isles,
- 1:21:23Speaker 6: continuing his dithrambic. Oh, yes, said the parrot. But I
- 1:21:28Speaker 6: am far better off here. I am well fed and
- 1:21:30Speaker 6: get friendly treatment.
- 1:21:31Speaker 10: I know.
- 1:21:32Speaker 6: I am a clever fellow, and that is all I
- 1:21:34Speaker 6: care about. Come let us be men. You are of
- 1:21:37Speaker 6: a poetical nature, as it is called. I, on the contrary,
- 1:21:40Speaker 6: possess profound knowledge and inexhaustible wit. You have genius, but
- 1:21:45Speaker 6: clear sighted, calm discretion does not take such lofty flights
- 1:21:49Speaker 6: and utter such high natural tones. For this, they have
- 1:21:52Speaker 6: covered you over. They never do the like to me,
- 1:21:55Speaker 6: for I cost more. Besides, they are afraid of my beak,
- 1:21:59Speaker 6: and I have always a witty answer at hand. Come
- 1:22:01Speaker 6: let us be men, O warm spicy land of my birth,
- 1:22:06Speaker 6: sang the canary bird. I will sing of thy dark
- 1:22:08Speaker 6: green bowers, of the calm bays, where the pendant boughs
- 1:22:12Speaker 6: kiss the surface of the water. I will sing of
- 1:22:14Speaker 6: the rejoicing of all my brothers and sisters, where the
- 1:22:17Speaker 6: cactus grows in wanton luxuriance. Sparris your elegiac tones, said
- 1:22:22Speaker 6: the parrot, giggling. Rather speak of something at which one
- 1:22:25Speaker 6: may laugh heartily. Laughing is an infallible sign of the
- 1:22:28Speaker 6: highest degree of mental development. Can a dog or a
- 1:22:32Speaker 6: horse laugh? No, but they can cry. The gift of
- 1:22:35Speaker 6: laughing was given to man alone. Ha ha ha, screamed Polly,
- 1:22:39Speaker 6: and added his stereotype witticism. Come let us be men,
- 1:22:44Speaker 6: or a little Danish gray bird, said the canary. You
- 1:22:46Speaker 6: have been caught too. It is no doubt cold enough
- 1:22:49Speaker 6: in your woods, but there at least is the breath
- 1:22:51Speaker 6: of liberty. Therefore fly away in the hurry. They have
- 1:22:54Speaker 6: forgotten to shut your cage, and the upper window is open.
- 1:22:56Speaker 6: Fly my friend, fly away, farewell. Instinctively, the clerk obeyed.
- 1:23:02Speaker 6: With a few strokes of his wings. He was out
- 1:23:04Speaker 6: of the cage. But at the same moment the door,
- 1:23:06Speaker 6: which was only ajar and which led to the next room,
- 1:23:08Speaker 6: began to creak and supple and creaking. Came the large
- 1:23:11Speaker 6: tom cat into the room and began to pursue him.
- 1:23:15Speaker 6: The frightened canary fluttered about in his cage. The parrot
- 1:23:17Speaker 6: flapped his wings and cried, come, let us be men.
- 1:23:20Speaker 6: The clerk felt a mortal fright and flew through the window,
- 1:23:23Speaker 6: far away over the houses in streets. At last he
- 1:23:26Speaker 6: was forced to rest a little. The neighboring house had
- 1:23:29Speaker 6: a something familiar about it. Window stood open.
- 1:23:31Speaker 8: He flew in.
- 1:23:33Speaker 6: It was his own room. He perched upon the table.
- 1:23:36Speaker 6: Come let us be men, said he involuntarily imitating the
- 1:23:39Speaker 6: chatter of the parrot. And at the same moment he
- 1:23:41Speaker 6: was again a copying clerk, but he was sitting in
- 1:23:43Speaker 6: the middle of the table. Heaven help me, cried he
- 1:23:46Speaker 6: How did I get up here? And so buried in
- 1:23:49Speaker 6: sleep too? After all, that was a very unpleasant, disagreeable
- 1:23:52Speaker 6: dream that haunted me. The whole story is nothing but silly,
- 1:23:55Speaker 6: stupid nonsense. Six the best the goloshes gave. The following day,
- 1:24:04Speaker 6: early in the morning, while the clerk was still in bed,
- 1:24:06Speaker 6: some one knocked at his door. It was his neighbor,
- 1:24:08Speaker 6: a young divine who lived on the same floor.
- 1:24:11Speaker 8: He walked in.
- 1:24:13Speaker 6: Lend me your goloshes, said he. It is so wet
- 1:24:15Speaker 6: in the garden, though the sun is shining most invitingly,
- 1:24:17Speaker 6: I should like to go out a little. He got
- 1:24:20Speaker 6: the goloshes, and he was soon below in a little
- 1:24:22Speaker 6: duodecimo garden, where between two immense walls, a plum tree
- 1:24:25Speaker 6: and an apple tree were standing. Even such a little
- 1:24:28Speaker 6: garden as this was considered in the metropolis of Copenhagen
- 1:24:31Speaker 6: as a great luxury. The young man wandered up and
- 1:24:33Speaker 6: down the narrow paths, as well as the prescribe, whom
- 1:24:36Speaker 6: its would allow. The clock struck six without was heard
- 1:24:39Speaker 6: the horn of a postboy. To travel to travel, exclaimed
- 1:24:43Speaker 6: he overcome by most painful and passionate remembrances. That is
- 1:24:48Speaker 6: the happiest thing in the world. That is the highest
- 1:24:50Speaker 6: aim of all my wishes. Then at last would the
- 1:24:53Speaker 6: agonizing restlessness be allayed, which destroys my existence. But it
- 1:24:57Speaker 6: must be far far away. I would behold magnificent Switzerland.
- 1:25:01Speaker 6: I would travel to Italy. And it was a good
- 1:25:04Speaker 6: thing that the power of the gloishes worked as instantaneously
- 1:25:07Speaker 6: as lightning in a powder magazine would. Otherwise the poor man,
- 1:25:10Speaker 6: with his over strained wishes would have traveled about the
- 1:25:12Speaker 6: world too much for himself as well as for us.
- 1:25:15Speaker 6: In short, he was traveling. He was in the middle
- 1:25:17Speaker 6: of Switzerland, but packed up with eight other passengers in
- 1:25:20Speaker 6: the inside of an eternally creaky diligence. His head ached
- 1:25:24Speaker 6: till it almost split, His weary neck could hardly bear
- 1:25:27Speaker 6: the heavy load, and his feet, pinched by his torturing boots,
- 1:25:30Speaker 6: were terribly swollen. He was in an intermediate state between
- 1:25:34Speaker 6: sleeping and waking, at variance with his self and with
- 1:25:37Speaker 6: his company within the country, and with the government. In
- 1:25:41Speaker 6: his right pocket, he had his letter of credit in
- 1:25:43Speaker 6: the left, his passport, and in a small love and purse,
- 1:25:46Speaker 6: some double Louis d'Or carefully sewn up in the bosom
- 1:25:49Speaker 6: of his waistcoat. Every dream proclaimed that one or the
- 1:25:52Speaker 6: other of these valuables was lost wherefore he started up
- 1:25:55Speaker 6: as in a fever, and the first movement which his
- 1:25:58Speaker 6: handmade described magic tryump angle from the right pocket to
- 1:26:01Speaker 6: the left and then upwards to the bosom, to feel
- 1:26:03Speaker 6: if he had all of them safe or not. From
- 1:26:05Speaker 6: the roof inside the carriage, umbrellas, walking sticks, hats, and sundry.
- 1:26:08Speaker 6: Other articles were depending and hindered the view, which was
- 1:26:11Speaker 6: particularly imposing. He now endeavored as well as he was
- 1:26:15Speaker 6: able to dispel his gloom, which was caused by outward
- 1:26:18Speaker 6: chance circumstances. Merely and on the bosom of nature, imbibed
- 1:26:21Speaker 6: the milk of purest human enjoyment. Grand, solemn and dark
- 1:26:26Speaker 6: was the whole landscape around the gigantic pine forests on
- 1:26:29Speaker 6: the pointed crags seemed almost like little tufts of heather,
- 1:26:33Speaker 6: colored by the surrounding clouds. It began to snow a
- 1:26:36Speaker 6: cold wind, blue and roared as though it were seeking
- 1:26:39Speaker 6: a bride. Ah sighed he where we only on the
- 1:26:43Speaker 6: other side of the Alps, then we should have summer
- 1:26:45Speaker 6: and I could get my letters of credit cash. The
- 1:26:47Speaker 6: anxietydy I feel about them prevents me enjoying Switzerland. Were
- 1:26:51Speaker 6: I but on the other side, and so saying he
- 1:26:53Speaker 6: was on the other side in Italy. Between Florence and Rome.
- 1:26:57Speaker 6: Lake Thrasimene, illumined by the evening sun, lay like flaming gold,
- 1:27:01Speaker 6: between the dark blue mountain ridges. Here where Hannibal defeated Flaminius.
- 1:27:06Speaker 6: The rivers now held each other in their green embraces.
- 1:27:09Speaker 6: Lovely half naked children tended a herd of black swine
- 1:27:12Speaker 6: beneath a group of fragrant laurel trees hard by the roadside.
- 1:27:17Speaker 6: Could we render this inimitable picture properly? Then, would everybody
- 1:27:21Speaker 6: exclaim beautiful, unparalleled Italy. But neither the young divine said so,
- 1:27:26Speaker 6: nor any of his grumbling companions. In the coach of
- 1:27:29Speaker 6: the veder Reino, the poisonous flies and gnats swarmed around
- 1:27:33Speaker 6: by thousands in vain. One waved myrtle branches about like mad.
- 1:27:37Speaker 6: The audacious insect population did not cease to sting, nor
- 1:27:40Speaker 6: was there a single person in the well crammed carriage
- 1:27:42Speaker 6: whose face was not swollen and sore from their ravenous bites.
- 1:27:45Speaker 6: The poor horses, tortured almost to death, suffered most from
- 1:27:48Speaker 6: this truly Egyptian plague. The flies alighted upon them in
- 1:27:51Speaker 6: large disgusting swarms, and if the coachman got down and
- 1:27:54Speaker 6: scraped them off, hardly a minute elapsed before they were
- 1:27:57Speaker 6: there again. The sun night set, A freezing cold, though
- 1:28:02Speaker 6: of short duration, pervaded the whole creation. It was like
- 1:28:05Speaker 6: a horrid dust coming from a burial vault on a
- 1:28:08Speaker 6: warm summer's day. But all around the mountains retained that
- 1:28:11Speaker 6: wonderful green tone which we see in some old pictures,
- 1:28:14Speaker 6: and which should we not have seen a similar play
- 1:28:16Speaker 6: of color in the south, we declare at once to
- 1:28:18Speaker 6: be unnatural. It was a glorious prospect, but the stomach
- 1:28:22Speaker 6: was empty, the body tired. All that the heart cared
- 1:28:25Speaker 6: and longed for was a good night quarters. Yet how
- 1:28:28Speaker 6: would they be?
- 1:28:29Speaker 4: For these?
- 1:28:30Speaker 6: One looked much more anxiously than for the charms of nature,
- 1:28:33Speaker 6: which every which wear were so profusely displayed. The road
- 1:28:37Speaker 6: let through an olive grove, and here the solitary inn
- 1:28:40Speaker 6: was situated. Ten or twelve crippled beggars had encamped outside.
- 1:28:44Speaker 6: The healthiest thumb resembled, to use an expression of Mariat's
- 1:28:47Speaker 6: Hunger's oldest son when he had come of age. The
- 1:28:50Speaker 6: others were either blind, had withered legs, and crept about
- 1:28:53Speaker 6: on their hands or withered arms in fingerler's hands. It
- 1:28:56Speaker 6: was the most wretched misery dragged from amongst the filthiest rags. Excellenza, miserabili, sighed,
- 1:29:03Speaker 6: they thrusting forth their deformed limbs to view. Even the hostess,
- 1:29:08Speaker 6: with bare feet, uncombed hair, and dressed in a garment
- 1:29:10Speaker 6: of doubtful color, received the guests grumblingly. The doors were
- 1:29:14Speaker 6: fastened with a loop of string. The floor of the
- 1:29:16Speaker 6: rooms presented a stone paving, half torn up. Bats fluttered
- 1:29:20Speaker 6: wildly about the ceiling and asked the smell therein? No,
- 1:29:24Speaker 6: that was beyond description. You had better lay the cloth
- 1:29:28Speaker 6: below in the stable, said one of the travelers. There
- 1:29:31Speaker 6: at all offens one knows what one is breathing. The
- 1:29:34Speaker 6: windows were quickly opened to let in a little fresh air,
- 1:29:37Speaker 6: quicker however, than the breeze. The withered, sallow arms of
- 1:29:39Speaker 6: the beggars were thrust in, accompanied by the eternal whine
- 1:29:42Speaker 6: of miserabili, miserabili, excellenza. On the walls were displayed innumerable
- 1:29:48Speaker 6: inscriptions written in nearly every language of Europe, some in verse,
- 1:29:51Speaker 6: some in prose, most of them not a very laudatory
- 1:29:54Speaker 6: of Bella, Italia. The meal was served. It consisted of
- 1:29:59Speaker 6: a suit of salted water seasoned with pepper and rancid oil.
- 1:30:04Speaker 6: The last ingredient played a very prominent part in the salad.
- 1:30:07Speaker 6: Stale eggs and roasted cockscombs furnished the grand dish of
- 1:30:11Speaker 6: the repast. The wine even was not without a disgusting taste.
- 1:30:15Speaker 6: It was like a medicinal draft. At night, the boxes
- 1:30:19Speaker 6: and other effects of the passengers were placed against the
- 1:30:21Speaker 6: rickety doors. One of the travelers kept watch while the
- 1:30:24Speaker 6: others slept. The sentry was our young divine, how close
- 1:30:27Speaker 6: it was in the chamber, the heat oppressive to suffocation.
- 1:30:31Speaker 6: The gnats hummed and stung unceasingly. The miserability without whined
- 1:30:35Speaker 6: and moaned in their sleep. Traveling would be agreeable enough,
- 1:30:41Speaker 6: said he groaning, if one only had no body or
- 1:30:44Speaker 6: could send it to rest. While the spirit went on
- 1:30:46Speaker 6: its pilgrimage unhindered, whether the voice within might call out
- 1:30:50Speaker 6: wherever I go. I am pursued by a longing that
- 1:30:53Speaker 6: is insatiable that I cannot explain to myself, and that
- 1:30:56Speaker 6: tear is my very heart. I want something better than
- 1:30:59Speaker 6: what is fled in an instant. But what is it
- 1:31:02Speaker 6: and where is it to be found? Yet I know
- 1:31:04Speaker 6: in reality what it is I wish for, Oh, most
- 1:31:08Speaker 6: happy were I? Could I but reach one aim, could
- 1:31:10Speaker 6: but reach the happiest of all. And as he spoke
- 1:31:14Speaker 6: the word, he was again in his home. The long
- 1:31:17Speaker 6: white curtains hung down from the windows, and in the
- 1:31:19Speaker 6: middle of the floor stood the black coffin. In it
- 1:31:22Speaker 6: he lay in the sleep of death. His wish was fulfilled.
- 1:31:26Speaker 6: The body rested, while the spirit went unhindered on its pilgrimage.
- 1:31:30Speaker 6: Let no one deem himself happy before his end were
- 1:31:32Speaker 6: the words of Saloon. And here was a new and
- 1:31:35Speaker 6: brilliant proof of the wisdom of the old apothegm Every
- 1:31:39Speaker 6: corpse is a sphinx of immortality. Here too, on the
- 1:31:42Speaker 6: black coffin, the sphinx gave us no answer to what
- 1:31:45Speaker 6: he who lay within had written two days before, O
- 1:31:50Speaker 6: mighty death, Thy silence teaches not thou leadest only to
- 1:31:55Speaker 6: the near Greeve's brink is broken. Now the latter of
- 1:31:58Speaker 6: my thoughts do I instead mounting only sink our heaviest
- 1:32:03Speaker 6: grief the world oft seeth not our sorest pain. We
- 1:32:06Speaker 6: hide from stranger eyes. And for the sufferer there is
- 1:32:09Speaker 6: nothing left but the green mound that over the coffin lies.
- 1:32:14Speaker 6: Two figures were moving in the chamber. We know them both.
- 1:32:17Speaker 6: It was the fairy of care and the emissary of fortune.
- 1:32:20Speaker 6: They both bent over the corpse. Do you now see,
- 1:32:24Speaker 6: said Caer, what happiness your galoshes have brought to mankind?
- 1:32:28Speaker 6: To him at least two slumbers. Here they have brought
- 1:32:31Speaker 6: an imperishable blessing, answered the other. Ah No, replied Ker.
- 1:32:35Speaker 6: He took his departure himself. He was not called away.
- 1:32:38Speaker 6: His mental powers here below were not strong enough to
- 1:32:41Speaker 6: reach the treasures lying beyond this life, and which his
- 1:32:44Speaker 6: destiny ordained he should obtain. I will now confer a
- 1:32:47Speaker 6: benefit on him. And she took the goloshes from his feet.
- 1:32:51Speaker 6: His sleep of death was ended, and he who had
- 1:32:53Speaker 6: been thus called back again to life, arose from his
- 1:32:55Speaker 6: dread couch, and all the vigor of youth care vanished,
- 1:33:00Speaker 6: and with her the geboshes. She had no doubt taking
- 1:33:03Speaker 6: them for herself, to keep them to all eternity, and
- 1:33:07Speaker 6: of the shoes of fortune.
- 1:33:10Speaker 14: The fir tree.
- 1:33:13Speaker 4: Out in the woods stood a nice little fir tree
- 1:33:18Speaker 4: The place he had was a very good one. The
- 1:33:21Speaker 4: sun shone on him. As to fresh air, there was
- 1:33:25Speaker 4: enough of that, and round him grew many large sized comrades,
- 1:33:30Speaker 4: pines as well as furs. But the little fir wanted
- 1:33:34Speaker 4: so very much to be a grown up tree. He
- 1:33:39Speaker 4: did not think of the warm sun and of the
- 1:33:42Speaker 4: fresh air. He did not care for the little cottage
- 1:33:46Speaker 4: children that ran about and prattled when they were in
- 1:33:49Speaker 4: the woods looking for wild strawberries. The children often came
- 1:33:54Speaker 4: with a whole pitcher full of berries, or a long
- 1:33:57Speaker 4: row of them threaded on a straw, and so down
- 1:34:00Speaker 4: near the young tree, and said, oh, how pretty he is,
- 1:34:04Speaker 4: what a nice little fur. But this was what the
- 1:34:08Speaker 4: tree could not bear to hear. At the end of
- 1:34:13Speaker 4: a year he had shot up a good deal, and
- 1:34:15Speaker 4: after another year he was another long bit taller. For
- 1:34:19Speaker 4: with fir trees one can always tell by the shoots
- 1:34:23Speaker 4: how many.
- 1:34:23Speaker 14: Years old they are.
- 1:34:26Speaker 4: Oh, were I but such a high tree as the
- 1:34:31Speaker 4: others are?
- 1:34:33Speaker 14: Sighed?
- 1:34:33Speaker 4: He then I should be able to spread out my
- 1:34:38Speaker 4: branches and with the tops to look into the wide world.
- 1:34:44Speaker 4: Then would the birds build nests among my branches? And
- 1:34:49Speaker 4: when there was a breeze I could bend with as
- 1:34:53Speaker 4: much stateliness as the others. Neither the sunbeam, nor the birds,
- 1:35:02Speaker 4: nor the red clouds which morning and evening sailed above him,
- 1:35:06Speaker 4: gave the little tree any pleasure.
- 1:35:10Speaker 14: In winter, when the snow.
- 1:35:12Speaker 4: Lay glittering on the ground, a hare would often come
- 1:35:16Speaker 4: leaping along and jump right over the little tree.
- 1:35:20Speaker 14: Oh, that made him so angry.
- 1:35:24Speaker 4: But two winters were past, and in the third the
- 1:35:27Speaker 4: tree was so large that the hare was obliged to
- 1:35:31Speaker 4: go round it, to grow and grow, to get older
- 1:35:37Speaker 4: and be tall, thought the tree, that, after all, is
- 1:35:43Speaker 4: the most delightful.
- 1:35:44Speaker 14: Thing in the world.
- 1:35:47Speaker 4: In autumn, the woodcutters always came and felled some of
- 1:35:52Speaker 4: the largest trees. This happened every year, and the young
- 1:35:57Speaker 4: fir tree, that had now grown to a very comely
- 1:36:00Speaker 4: siyhes trembled at the sight. For the magnificent great trees
- 1:36:05Speaker 4: fell to the earth with noise and cracking. The branches
- 1:36:09Speaker 4: were lopped off, and the trees looked long and bare.
- 1:36:15Speaker 4: They were hardly to be recognized. And then they were
- 1:36:19Speaker 4: laden carts, and the horses dragged them out of the wood.
- 1:36:25Speaker 14: Where did they go to? What became of them? In spring?
- 1:36:32Speaker 4: When the swallows and storks came, the tree asked them,
- 1:36:36Speaker 4: don't you know where they have been taken?
- 1:36:40Speaker 14: Have you not met them anywhere?
- 1:36:44Speaker 4: The swallows did not know anything about it, but the
- 1:36:47Speaker 4: stork looked musing, nodded his head, and said, yes, I
- 1:36:54Speaker 4: think I know.
- 1:36:56Speaker 12: I met many ships as I was flying hither from
- 1:37:00Speaker 12: Egypt on. The ships were magnificent masts, and I venture
- 1:37:05Speaker 12: to assert that it was they that smelt so of fur.
- 1:37:10Speaker 12: I may congratulate you, for they lifted themselves on the
- 1:37:14Speaker 12: high most majestically.
- 1:37:19Speaker 4: Ho were I but old enough to fly across the sea.
- 1:37:25Speaker 4: But how does the sea look in reality? What is
- 1:37:29Speaker 4: it like? That would take a long time to explain,
- 1:37:35Speaker 4: said the stork, and with these words off he went.
- 1:37:40Speaker 4: Rejoice in thy growth, said the sunbeams. Rejoice in thy
- 1:37:45Speaker 4: vigorous growth, and in the fresh life that moveth within
- 1:37:50Speaker 4: thee And the wind kiss'd the tree, and the dew
- 1:37:54Speaker 4: wept tears over him. But the fir understood it not.
- 1:38:01Speaker 4: When Christmas came, quite young trees were cut down, trees
- 1:38:06Speaker 4: which often were not even as large or as of
- 1:38:09Speaker 4: the same age as this fir tree, who could never rest,
- 1:38:13Speaker 4: but always wanted to be off these young trees, and
- 1:38:18Speaker 4: they were always the finest looking, retained their branches. They
- 1:38:23Speaker 4: were laid on carts, and the horses drew.
- 1:38:26Speaker 14: Them out of the wood.
- 1:38:29Speaker 4: Where are they going to, asked the fir. They are
- 1:38:34Speaker 4: not taller than I. There was one, indeed that was
- 1:38:37Speaker 4: considerably shorter. And why do they retain all their branches?
- 1:38:44Speaker 4: Whither are they taken?
- 1:38:47Speaker 14: We know, we know, chirped the sparrows.
- 1:38:50Speaker 8: We have peeped in at the windows in the town below.
- 1:38:54Speaker 8: We know whither they are taken. The greatest splendor and
- 1:38:58Speaker 8: the greatest magnificence one can imagine await them. We peeped
- 1:39:03Speaker 8: through the windows and saw them planted in the middle
- 1:39:06Speaker 8: of the warm room, and ornamented with the most splendid things,
- 1:39:11Speaker 8: with gilded apples, with gingerbread, with toys and many hundred lights.
- 1:39:19Speaker 4: And then asked the fir, tree trembling in every bough,
- 1:39:23Speaker 4: and then what happens? Then? We did not see anything more.
- 1:39:29Speaker 4: It was incomparably beautiful. I would fain know if I
- 1:39:35Speaker 4: am destined for so glorious a career, cried the tree, rejoicing,
- 1:39:40Speaker 4: that is still better than to cross the sea. What
- 1:39:44Speaker 4: a longing? Do I suffer?
- 1:39:47Speaker 14: Were Christmas? But come?
- 1:39:50Speaker 4: I am now tall, and my branches spread like the
- 1:39:54Speaker 4: others that were carried off last year?
- 1:39:57Speaker 10: Oh?
- 1:39:58Speaker 4: Were I but all read on the cart? Were I
- 1:40:02Speaker 4: in the warm room with all the splendor and magnificence? Yes,
- 1:40:07Speaker 4: and something better, something still grander, will surely follow? Or
- 1:40:12Speaker 4: wherefore should they thus ornament me? Something better, something still
- 1:40:16Speaker 4: grander must follow? But what, oh, how I long? How
- 1:40:22Speaker 4: I suffer? I do not know myself?
- 1:40:25Speaker 14: What is the matter with me?
- 1:40:28Speaker 4: Rejoice in our presence, said the air in the sunlight.
- 1:40:33Speaker 4: Rejoice in thy own fresh youth. But the tree did
- 1:40:40Speaker 4: not rejoice at all. He grew and grew, and was
- 1:40:44Speaker 4: green both winter and summer. People that saw him said,
- 1:40:49Speaker 4: what a fine tree. And towards Christmas he was one
- 1:40:53Speaker 4: of the first that was cut down. The axe struck
- 1:40:57Speaker 4: deep into the very pith.
- 1:40:59Speaker 14: The tree tree fell to the earth with a sigh.
- 1:41:02Speaker 14: He felt a pang. It was like a swoon.
- 1:41:06Speaker 4: He could not think of happiness, for he was sorrowful
- 1:41:10Speaker 4: at being separated from his home, from the place where
- 1:41:13Speaker 4: he had sprung up. He well knew that he should
- 1:41:16Speaker 4: never see his dear old comrades the little bushes and
- 1:41:19Speaker 4: flowers around him any more, perhaps not even the birds.
- 1:41:24Speaker 4: The departure was not at all agreeable. The tree only
- 1:41:30Speaker 4: came to himself when he was unloaded in a courtyard
- 1:41:33Speaker 4: with the other trees, and heard a man say that
- 1:41:36Speaker 4: one is splendid. We don't want the others. Then two
- 1:41:41Speaker 4: servants came in rich livery and carried the fir tree
- 1:41:45Speaker 4: into a large and splendid drawing room. Portraits were hanging
- 1:41:50Speaker 4: on the walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood
- 1:41:54Speaker 4: two large Chinese vases with lions on the covers. There
- 1:41:59Speaker 4: too were large easy chairs, silken sofas, large tables full
- 1:42:05Speaker 4: of picture books, and full of toys worth hundreds and
- 1:42:08Speaker 4: hundreds of crowns at least, the children said so. And
- 1:42:13Speaker 4: the fir tree was stuck upright in a cask that
- 1:42:16Speaker 4: was filled with sand, but no one could see that
- 1:42:19Speaker 4: it was a cask, for green cloth was hung all
- 1:42:22Speaker 4: round it, and it stood on a large gaily colored carpet. Oh,
- 1:42:28Speaker 4: how the tree quivered.
- 1:42:31Speaker 14: What was to happen?
- 1:42:33Speaker 4: The servants as well as the young ladies, decorated it.
- 1:42:37Speaker 4: On one branch there hung little nets cut out of
- 1:42:40Speaker 4: colored paper and each net was filled with sugar plums.
- 1:42:45Speaker 14: And among the other.
- 1:42:46Speaker 4: Boughs, gilded apples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though
- 1:42:50Speaker 4: they had grown there, And little blue and white tapers
- 1:42:54Speaker 4: were placed among the leaves.
- 1:42:57Speaker 14: Dolls that looked for the world like men.
- 1:43:00Speaker 4: The tree had never beheld such before were seen among
- 1:43:03Speaker 4: the foliage, and at the very top a large star
- 1:43:07Speaker 4: of gold tinsel was fixed. It was really splendid, beyond description, splendid.
- 1:43:18Speaker 14: This evening.
- 1:43:19Speaker 4: They all said, how it will shine this evening, Oh,
- 1:43:25Speaker 4: thought the tree. If the evening were but come, if
- 1:43:30Speaker 4: the tapers were but lighted, and then I wonder what
- 1:43:33Speaker 4: will happen. Perhaps the other trees from the forest will
- 1:43:37Speaker 4: come to look at me. Perhaps the sparrows will beat
- 1:43:41Speaker 4: against the window panes. I wonder if I shall take
- 1:43:45Speaker 4: root here, and winter and summer stand covered with ornaments.
- 1:43:52Speaker 4: He knew very much about the matter, for he was
- 1:43:56Speaker 4: so impatient that for sheer longing he got a pain
- 1:43:59Speaker 4: in his back. And this with trees is the same
- 1:44:03Speaker 4: thing as a headache with us. The candles were now lighted.
- 1:44:08Speaker 4: What brightness, what splendor. The tree trembled so in every
- 1:44:14Speaker 4: bough that one of the tapers set fire to the foliage.
- 1:44:18Speaker 14: It blazed up famously.
- 1:44:20Speaker 4: Help, Help, cried the young ladies, and they quickly put
- 1:44:24Speaker 4: out the fire. Now the tree did not even dare
- 1:44:28Speaker 4: tremble what a state he was in. He was so
- 1:44:33Speaker 4: uneasy lest he should lose something of his splendor, that
- 1:44:36Speaker 4: he was quite bewildered amidst the glare and brightness. When
- 1:44:40Speaker 4: suddenly both folding doors opened, and a troop of children
- 1:44:45Speaker 4: rushed in as if they would upset the tree. The
- 1:44:49Speaker 4: older persons followed quietly. The little one stood quite still,
- 1:44:54Speaker 4: but it was only for a moment. Then they shouted
- 1:44:58Speaker 4: that the whole place re echoed with their rejoicing. They
- 1:45:02Speaker 4: danced round the tree, and one present after the other
- 1:45:06Speaker 4: was pulled off. What are they about?
- 1:45:10Speaker 14: Thought the tree? What is to happen now?
- 1:45:14Speaker 4: And the lights burned down to the very branches. And
- 1:45:18Speaker 4: as they burned down, they were put out, one after
- 1:45:21Speaker 4: the other. And that the children had permission to plunder
- 1:45:24Speaker 4: the tree. So they fell upon it with such violence
- 1:45:28Speaker 4: that all its branches cracked. If it had not been
- 1:45:32Speaker 4: firmly fixed in the ground, it would certainly have tumbled down.
- 1:45:38Speaker 4: The children danced about with their beautiful playthings. No one
- 1:45:42Speaker 4: looked at the tree except the old nurse, who peeped
- 1:45:46Speaker 4: between the branches, But it was only to see if
- 1:45:49Speaker 4: there was a fig or an apple left that had
- 1:45:51Speaker 4: been forgotten. A story, a story, cried the children, drawing
- 1:45:57Speaker 4: a little fat man towards the tree.
- 1:46:00Speaker 14: He seated himself.
- 1:46:01Speaker 4: Under it and said, now we are in the shade,
- 1:46:05Speaker 4: and the tree can listen too. But I shall tell
- 1:46:08Speaker 4: only one story now, which will you have? That about
- 1:46:12Speaker 4: ivany Avidy, or about Humpty Dumpty who tumbled downstairs, and
- 1:46:17Speaker 4: yet after all came to the throne and married the
- 1:46:19Speaker 4: princess ivety Avney cried some Humpty Dumpty, cried the others.
- 1:46:26Speaker 4: There was such a bawling in screaming. The fir tree
- 1:46:30Speaker 4: alone was silent. And he thought to himself, am I
- 1:46:34Speaker 4: not to ball with the rest? Am I to do
- 1:46:37Speaker 4: nothing whatever? For he was one of the company and
- 1:46:42Speaker 4: had done what he had to do. And the old
- 1:46:45Speaker 4: man told about Humpty Dumpty that tumbled down, who notwithstanding,
- 1:46:50Speaker 4: came to the throne and at last married the princess.
- 1:46:54Speaker 4: And the children clapped their hands and cried, oh, go
- 1:46:58Speaker 4: on to go on. They wanted to hear about Ivey
- 1:47:02Speaker 4: Aftey too, But the little man only told them about
- 1:47:05Speaker 4: Humpty Dumpty. The fir tree stood quite still and absorbed
- 1:47:11Speaker 4: in thought. The birds in the wood had never related
- 1:47:14Speaker 4: the like of this. Humpy Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet
- 1:47:20Speaker 4: he married the princess. Yes, yes, that's the way of
- 1:47:25Speaker 4: the world, thought the fir tree, and believed it all
- 1:47:30Speaker 4: because the man who told the story.
- 1:47:32Speaker 14: Was so good looking.
- 1:47:34Speaker 4: Well, well, who knows, Perhaps I may fall downstairs too
- 1:47:40Speaker 4: and get a princess his wife. And he looked forward
- 1:47:43Speaker 4: with joy to the morrow, when he hoped to be
- 1:47:46Speaker 4: decked out again with lights, playthings, fruits and tinsel. I
- 1:47:52Speaker 4: won't tremble to morrow, thought the fir tree. I will
- 1:47:56Speaker 4: enjoy to the full all my splendor. Tomorrow I shall
- 1:48:01Speaker 4: hear again the story of Humpty Dumpty, and perhaps that
- 1:48:05Speaker 4: of ive de Avdey too, And the whole night the
- 1:48:09Speaker 4: tree stood still and in deep thought. In the morning,
- 1:48:14Speaker 4: the servant and the housemaid came in. Now the splendor
- 1:48:19Speaker 4: will begin again, thought the fir But they dragged him
- 1:48:25Speaker 4: out of the room and up the stairs into the loft,
- 1:48:30Speaker 4: and here, in a dark corner where no daylight could enter.
- 1:48:36Speaker 14: They left him.
- 1:48:39Speaker 4: What's the meaning of this?
- 1:48:41Speaker 14: Thought the tree?
- 1:48:42Speaker 8: What am I to do here?
- 1:48:45Speaker 4: What shall I hear? Now? I wonder? And he leaned
- 1:48:49Speaker 4: against the wall, lost in reverie. Time enough had he
- 1:48:54Speaker 4: too for his reflections. For days and nights passed on,
- 1:48:58Speaker 4: and nobody came up. And when at last somebody did come,
- 1:49:02Speaker 4: it was only to put some great trunks.
- 1:49:04Speaker 14: In a corner out of the way.
- 1:49:07Speaker 4: There stood the tree, quite hidden. It seemed as if
- 1:49:11Speaker 4: he had been entirely forgotten. Tis now winter out of doors,
- 1:49:18Speaker 4: thought the tree. The earth is hard and covered with snow.
- 1:49:24Speaker 4: Men cannot plant me now, and therefore I have been
- 1:49:29Speaker 4: put up here under shelter till the springtime comes. How
- 1:49:34Speaker 4: thoughtful that is, how kind man is after all? If
- 1:49:41Speaker 4: it only were not so dark here and so terribly lonely,
- 1:49:46Speaker 4: not even a hare, And out in the woods it
- 1:49:49Speaker 4: was so pleasant, and the snow was on the ground,
- 1:49:52Speaker 4: and the hare leaped by, yes, even when he jumped
- 1:49:56Speaker 4: over me. But I did not like it. Then, it
- 1:50:01Speaker 4: really is terribly lonely here. Squeak, squeak, said little mouse
- 1:50:08Speaker 4: at the same moment, peeping out of his hole. And
- 1:50:11Speaker 4: then another little one came, They snuffed about the fir
- 1:50:15Speaker 4: tree and rustled among the branches. It is dreadfully cold,
- 1:50:21Speaker 4: said the mouse. But for that it would be delightful here,
- 1:50:26Speaker 4: old fir, wouldn't it. I am by no means old,
- 1:50:31Speaker 4: said the fir tree. There's many a one considerably older
- 1:50:36Speaker 4: than I am.
- 1:50:37Speaker 8: Where do you come from?
- 1:50:39Speaker 4: Asked the mice, And what can you do? They were
- 1:50:43Speaker 4: so extremely curious.
- 1:50:46Speaker 8: Tell us about the most beautiful spot on the earth.
- 1:50:49Speaker 8: Have you ever been there? Were you never in the
- 1:50:53Speaker 8: larder where cheeses.
- 1:50:55Speaker 2: Lie on the shelves, and hams hang from a pove,
- 1:51:00Speaker 2: where one dances about on tallow candles, that place where
- 1:51:05Speaker 2: one enters lean and comes out again fat and portly.
- 1:51:13Speaker 4: I know no such place, said the tree, But I
- 1:51:17Speaker 4: know the wood where the sun shines, and where the
- 1:51:20Speaker 4: little birds sing. And then he told all about his youth,
- 1:51:26Speaker 4: and the little mice had never heard the like before,
- 1:51:29Speaker 4: and they listened and said, well.
- 1:51:32Speaker 8: To be sure, how much you have seen?
- 1:51:36Speaker 4: How happy you must have been, Aye, said the fir tree,
- 1:51:41Speaker 4: thinking over what he had himself related, Yes, in reality,
- 1:51:49Speaker 4: those were happy times. And then he told them about
- 1:51:53Speaker 4: Christmas Eve, when he was decked out with cakes and candles.
- 1:51:59Speaker 14: Oh oh, said the little mice.
- 1:52:01Speaker 8: How fortunate you have been, old fir Tree.
- 1:52:07Speaker 4: I am by no means old, said he. I came
- 1:52:11Speaker 4: from the wood this winter. I am in my prime,
- 1:52:15Speaker 4: and am only rather short for my age.
- 1:52:19Speaker 8: What delightful stories you know.
- 1:52:22Speaker 14: Said the mice.
- 1:52:23Speaker 4: And the next night they came with four other little
- 1:52:26Speaker 4: mice who were to hear what the tree recounted. And
- 1:52:30Speaker 4: the more he related, the more he remembered himself. And
- 1:52:34Speaker 4: it appeared as if those times had been happy times.
- 1:52:41Speaker 4: But they may still come. They may still come. Humpy
- 1:52:47Speaker 4: Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he got a princess. And
- 1:52:52Speaker 4: he thought, at the moments of a nice little birch
- 1:52:55Speaker 4: tree growing out in the woods, to that fir that
- 1:53:00Speaker 4: would be a really charming princess. Who is Humpy Dumpy,
- 1:53:06Speaker 4: asked the mice. So then the fir tree told the
- 1:53:09Speaker 4: whole fairy tale, for he could remember every single word
- 1:53:13Speaker 4: of it, and the little mice jumped for joy up
- 1:53:16Speaker 4: to the very top of the tree. Next night two
- 1:53:20Speaker 4: more mice came, and on Sunday two rats even, but
- 1:53:26Speaker 4: they said the stories were not interesting, which vexed the
- 1:53:30Speaker 4: little mice and they too, now began to think them
- 1:53:34Speaker 4: not so very amusing either. Do you know only one story,
- 1:53:40Speaker 4: asked the rats, Only that one, answered the tree. I
- 1:53:46Speaker 4: heard it on my happiest evening, but I did not
- 1:53:51Speaker 4: then know how happy I was. It is a very
- 1:53:55Speaker 4: stupid story, don't you know? One about bacon and fallow candles?
- 1:54:01Speaker 4: Can't you tell any ladder stories?
- 1:54:05Speaker 14: No, said the tree.
- 1:54:08Speaker 4: Then good bye, said the.
- 1:54:09Speaker 14: Rats, and they went home. At last the.
- 1:54:14Speaker 4: Little mice stayed away also, and the tree sighed. After all,
- 1:54:22Speaker 4: it was very pleasant when the sleek little mice sat
- 1:54:25Speaker 4: round me and listened to what I told them. Now
- 1:54:29Speaker 4: that too is over. But I will take good care
- 1:54:33Speaker 4: to enjoy myself when I am brought out again.
- 1:54:39Speaker 14: But when was that to be?
- 1:54:41Speaker 12: Why?
- 1:54:41Speaker 4: One morning there came a quantity of people and set
- 1:54:44Speaker 4: to work in the loft. The trunks were moved, The
- 1:54:47Speaker 4: tree was pulled out and thrown rather hard, it is true,
- 1:54:52Speaker 4: down on the floor. But a man drew him towards
- 1:54:56Speaker 4: the stairs, where the daylight shone. Now a merry life
- 1:55:01Speaker 4: will begin again, thought the tree. He felt the fresh air,
- 1:55:05Speaker 4: the first sunbeam, and now he was out in the courtyard.
- 1:55:10Speaker 4: All passed so quickly. There was so much going on
- 1:55:14Speaker 4: around him, the tree quite forgot to look to himself.
- 1:55:19Speaker 4: The court had joined a garden, and all was in flower.
- 1:55:23Speaker 4: The roses hung so fresh and odorous over the balustrade.
- 1:55:27Speaker 4: The lindens were in blossom. The swallows flew by and said,
- 1:55:32Speaker 4: Kiri it, my husband is come.
- 1:55:35Speaker 14: But it was not the fir tree that they meant.
- 1:55:40Speaker 4: Now, then I shall really enjoy life, he said exultingly,
- 1:55:45Speaker 4: and spread out his branches. But alas they were all
- 1:55:50Speaker 4: withered and yellow. It was in a corner that he
- 1:55:55Speaker 4: lay among weeds and nettles. The golden star of Tinsel
- 1:56:01Speaker 4: was still on the top of the tree and glittered
- 1:56:03Speaker 4: in the sunshine. In the court yard, some of the
- 1:56:07Speaker 4: merry children were playing, who had danced at Christmas round
- 1:56:11Speaker 4: the fir tree, and were so glad at the sight
- 1:56:13Speaker 4: of him. One of the youngest ran and tore off
- 1:56:17Speaker 4: the golden star. Only luckwood is still on the ugly
- 1:56:22Speaker 4: old Christmas tree, said He trampling on the branches so
- 1:56:27Speaker 4: that they all cracked beneath his feet, and the tree
- 1:56:32Speaker 4: beheld all the beauty of the flowers and the freshness
- 1:56:36Speaker 4: in the garden. He beheld himself, and wished he had
- 1:56:42Speaker 4: remained in his dark corner in the loft. He thought
- 1:56:46Speaker 4: of his first youth in the wood of the merry
- 1:56:49Speaker 4: Christmas eve, and at the little mice who had listened
- 1:56:53Speaker 4: with so much pleasure to the story of Humpty Dumpty.
- 1:56:58Speaker 4: Tis over, tis past, said the poor tree. Had I
- 1:57:05Speaker 4: but rejoiced when I had reason to do so. But
- 1:57:09Speaker 4: now tis past, tis past. And the gardener's boy chopped
- 1:57:16Speaker 4: the tree into small pieces.
- 1:57:19Speaker 14: There was a whole heap lying there.
- 1:57:22Speaker 4: The wood flamed up splendidly under the large brewing copper, and.
- 1:57:27Speaker 14: It sighed so deeply.
- 1:57:30Speaker 4: Each sigh was like a shot. The boys played about
- 1:57:36Speaker 4: in the court, and the youngest wore the gold star
- 1:57:40Speaker 4: on his breast, which the tree had had on the
- 1:57:43Speaker 4: happiest evening of his life.
- 1:57:46Speaker 14: However, that was over.
- 1:57:48Speaker 4: Now the tree gone, the story at an end.
- 1:57:55Speaker 14: All all was over. Every tale must end, and at last.
- 1:58:05Speaker 11: End of the fir tree the snow queen first story,
- 1:58:11Speaker 11: which treats of a mirror and of the splinters. Now,
- 1:58:16Speaker 11: then let us begin. When we are at the end
- 1:58:19Speaker 11: of the story, we shall know more than we know now.
- 1:58:22Speaker 11: But to begin, once upon a time there was a
- 1:58:25Speaker 11: wicked sprite. Indeed, he was the most mischievous of all sprites.
- 1:58:30Speaker 11: One day he was in a very good humor, for
- 1:58:33Speaker 11: he had made a mirror with the power of causing
- 1:58:36Speaker 11: all that was good and beautiful when it was reflected therein,
- 1:58:39Speaker 11: to look poor and mean. But that which was good
- 1:58:42Speaker 11: for nothing and looked ugly was shown magnified and increased
- 1:58:47Speaker 11: in ugliness.
- 1:58:49Speaker 14: In this mirror.
- 1:58:50Speaker 11: The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the
- 1:58:54Speaker 11: best persons were turned into frights or appeared to stand
- 1:58:58Speaker 11: on their heads. Their face were so distorted that they
- 1:59:01Speaker 11: were not to be recognized. And if anyone had a mole,
- 1:59:05Speaker 11: you might be sure that it would be magnified and
- 1:59:08Speaker 11: spread over both nose and mouth. That's glorious, fan said
- 1:59:14Speaker 11: the sprite, For if a good thought passed through a
- 1:59:17Speaker 11: man's mind, then a grin was seen in the mirror.
- 1:59:20Speaker 11: And the sprite laughed heartily at his clever discovery. All
- 1:59:25Speaker 11: the little sprites who went to his school, for he
- 1:59:28Speaker 11: kept a sprite school, told each other that a miracle
- 1:59:31Speaker 11: had happened, and that now only as they thought, it
- 1:59:36Speaker 11: would be possible to see how the world really looked,
- 1:59:40Speaker 11: they ran about with the mirror, and at last there
- 1:59:43Speaker 11: was not a land or a person who was not
- 1:59:45Speaker 11: represented distorted in the mirror. So then they thought they
- 1:59:49Speaker 11: would fly up into the sky and have a joke there.
- 1:59:53Speaker 11: The higher they flew with the mirror, the more terribly
- 1:59:56Speaker 11: it grinned. They could hardly hold it fast. Higher and
- 2:00:00Speaker 11: higher still they flew nearer and nearer to the stars,
- 2:00:04Speaker 11: when suddenly the mirror shook so terribly with grinning that
- 2:00:08Speaker 11: it flew out of their hands and fell to the earth,
- 2:00:11Speaker 11: where it was dashed in a hundred million and more pieces.
- 2:00:15Speaker 11: And now it worked much more evil than before. For
- 2:00:18Speaker 11: some of these pieces were hardly so large as a
- 2:00:21Speaker 11: grain of sand, and they flew about in the wide world,
- 2:00:25Speaker 11: and when they got into people's eyes, there they stayed.
- 2:00:28Speaker 11: And then the people saw everything perverted, or only had
- 2:00:31Speaker 11: an eye for that which was evil. This happened because
- 2:00:35Speaker 11: the very smallest bit had the same power which the
- 2:00:38Speaker 11: whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got a splinter
- 2:00:42Speaker 11: in their heart, and then it made one shudder, for
- 2:00:45Speaker 11: their heart became like a lump of ice. Some of
- 2:00:48Speaker 11: the broken pieces were so large that they were used
- 2:00:51Speaker 11: for window panes through which one could not see one's friends.
- 2:00:56Speaker 11: Other pieces were put into spectacles, and that was a
- 2:00:59Speaker 11: sad thing when people put on their glasses to see
- 2:01:02Speaker 11: well and rightly. Then the wicked sprite laughed till he
- 2:01:06Speaker 11: almost choked, for all this tickled his fancy. The fine
- 2:01:10Speaker 11: splinters still flew about.
- 2:01:12Speaker 7: In the air.
- 2:01:13Speaker 11: And now we shall hear what happened next. Second story.
- 2:01:18Speaker 11: A little boy and a little girl. In a large town,
- 2:01:22Speaker 11: where there are so many houses and so many people,
- 2:01:25Speaker 11: that there is no room left for everybody to have
- 2:01:28Speaker 11: a little garden, and where on this account most persons
- 2:01:31Speaker 11: are obliged to content themselves with flowers and pots. There
- 2:01:34Speaker 11: lived two little children who had a garden somewhat larger
- 2:01:38Speaker 11: than a flower pot. They were no brother and sister,
- 2:01:42Speaker 11: but they cared for each other as much as if
- 2:01:44Speaker 11: they were. Their parents lived exactly opposite. They inhabited two garrets,
- 2:01:50Speaker 11: and where the roof of the one house joined to
- 2:01:53Speaker 11: that of the other, and the gutter ran along the
- 2:01:55Speaker 11: extreme end of it, there was to each house a
- 2:01:58Speaker 11: small window. Needed only to step over the gutter to
- 2:02:02Speaker 11: get from one window to the other. The children's parents
- 2:02:05Speaker 11: had large wooden boxes there in which vegetables for the
- 2:02:09Speaker 11: garden were planted, and little rose trees. Besides, there was
- 2:02:13Speaker 11: a rose in each box, and they grew splendidly. They
- 2:02:16Speaker 11: now thought of placing the boxes across the gutter, so
- 2:02:20Speaker 11: that they nearly reached from one window to the other,
- 2:02:23Speaker 11: and looked just like two walls of flowers. The tendrils
- 2:02:26Speaker 11: of the peas hung down over the boxes, and the
- 2:02:29Speaker 11: rose trees shot up long branches twined round the windows,
- 2:02:34Speaker 11: and then bent towards each other. It was almost like
- 2:02:37Speaker 11: a triumphant arch of foliage and flowers. The boxes were
- 2:02:41Speaker 11: very high, and the children knew that they must not
- 2:02:44Speaker 11: creep over them, so that they often obtained permission to
- 2:02:47Speaker 11: get out of the windows to each other and to
- 2:02:50Speaker 11: sit on their little stools among the roses, where they
- 2:02:53Speaker 11: could play delightfully. In the winter, there was an end
- 2:02:57Speaker 11: of this pleasure. The windows were often frozen out. But
- 2:03:01Speaker 11: then they heated copper farthings on the stove and laid
- 2:03:04Speaker 11: the hot farthings on the window pane, And then they
- 2:03:08Speaker 11: had a capital people quite nicely rounded, and out of
- 2:03:12Speaker 11: each peeped a gentle, friendly eye. It was the little
- 2:03:15Speaker 11: boy and the little girl who were looking at His
- 2:03:18Speaker 11: name was Kay, hers was Gerda. In summer, with one
- 2:03:23Speaker 11: jump they could get to each other. But in the
- 2:03:25Speaker 11: winter they were obliged first to go down the long stairs,
- 2:03:29Speaker 11: and then up the long stairs again, and out of doors.
- 2:03:32Speaker 11: There was quite a snow storm. It is the white
- 2:03:35Speaker 11: bees that are swarming, said Kay's old grandmother. Do the
- 2:03:39Speaker 11: white bees choose a queen, asked the little boy, for
- 2:03:42Speaker 11: he knew that the honey bees always have one. Yes,
- 2:03:46Speaker 11: said the grandmother. She flies where the swarm hangs, in
- 2:03:50Speaker 11: the thickest clusters. She is the largest of all, and
- 2:03:54Speaker 11: she can never remain quietly on the earth, but goes
- 2:03:57Speaker 11: up again into the black clouds. Many a winter's night
- 2:04:01Speaker 11: she flies through the streets of the town and peeps
- 2:04:05Speaker 11: in at the windows, and then they phraze in so
- 2:04:09Speaker 11: wondrous a manner that they look like flowers. Yes, I
- 2:04:14Speaker 11: have seen it, said both the children, and so they
- 2:04:17Speaker 11: knew that it was true. Can the snow queen come in,
- 2:04:21Speaker 11: asked the little girl. Only let her come in, said
- 2:04:25Speaker 11: the little boy. Then I'd put on the stove and
- 2:04:28Speaker 11: she'd knelt. And then his grandmother patted his head and
- 2:04:32Speaker 11: told him other stories. In the evening, when little Kay
- 2:04:36Speaker 11: was at home and half undressed, he climbed up on
- 2:04:39Speaker 11: the chair by the window and peeped out of the
- 2:04:42Speaker 11: little hole. A few snow flakes were falling, and one,
- 2:04:46Speaker 11: the largest of all, remained lying on the edge of
- 2:04:49Speaker 11: a flower pot. The flake of snow grew larger and larger,
- 2:04:53Speaker 11: and at last it was like a young lady dressed
- 2:04:56Speaker 11: in the finest white gauze, made of a million little flakes,
- 2:05:00Speaker 11: like stars. She was so beautiful and so delicate, but
- 2:05:05Speaker 11: she was of vice, with dazzling, sparkling eyes. Yet she lived.
- 2:05:10Speaker 11: Her eyes gazed fixedly like two stars, but there was
- 2:05:14Speaker 11: neither quiet nor repose in them. She nodded towards the
- 2:05:18Speaker 11: window and beckoned with her hand. The little boy was
- 2:05:22Speaker 11: frightened and jumped down from the chair. It seemed to
- 2:05:25Speaker 11: him as if at the same moment a large bird
- 2:05:29Speaker 11: flew past the window. The next day, it was a
- 2:05:32Speaker 11: sharp frost, and then the spring came. The sun shone,
- 2:05:36Speaker 11: the green leaves appeared, the swallows built their nests, The
- 2:05:40Speaker 11: windows were opened, and the little children again sat in
- 2:05:43Speaker 11: their pretty garden, high up on the LEDs at the
- 2:05:46Speaker 11: top of the house. That summer, the roses flowered in
- 2:05:50Speaker 11: unwonted beauty. The little girl had learned a hymn in
- 2:05:54Speaker 11: which there was something about roses, and then she thought
- 2:05:57Speaker 11: of her own flowers, and she sang the verse to
- 2:05:59Speaker 11: the little boy, who then sang it with her.
- 2:06:02Speaker 8: The rose in the.
- 2:06:03Speaker 11: Valley is blooming so sweet. The angels descend there the
- 2:06:07Speaker 11: children to greet, and the children held each other by
- 2:06:10Speaker 11: the hand, kissed the roses, looked up at the clear
- 2:06:14Speaker 11: sunshine and spoke as though they really saw angels there.
- 2:06:18Speaker 11: What lovely summer days those were, How delightful to be
- 2:06:21Speaker 11: out in the air near the fresh rose bushes that
- 2:06:24Speaker 11: seemed as if they would never finish blooming. Kay and
- 2:06:28Speaker 11: Gerda looked at the picture book full of beasts and
- 2:06:30Speaker 11: of birds, and it was then the clock in the
- 2:06:33Speaker 11: church tower was just striking five that Kay said, Oh, oh,
- 2:06:39Speaker 11: I feel such a sharp pain in my heart. And
- 2:06:41Speaker 11: now something has gotten into my eye. The little girl
- 2:06:45Speaker 11: put her arms around his neck. He winked his eyes.
- 2:06:49Speaker 11: Now there was nothing to be seen. I think it's
- 2:06:52Speaker 11: out now, said he. But it was not. It was
- 2:06:55Speaker 11: just one of those pieces of glass from the magic
- 2:06:58Speaker 11: mirror that had got into his eye, and poor Kay
- 2:07:01Speaker 11: had got another piece right in his heart. It will
- 2:07:03Speaker 11: soon become like ice. It did not hurt any longer,
- 2:07:07Speaker 11: but there it was. What are you crying for? Asked
- 2:07:11Speaker 11: he You look so ugly. There's nothing the matter with me. Ah,
- 2:07:18Speaker 11: he said at once That rose is cankered. And look
- 2:07:22Speaker 11: this one's quite crooked. After all, these roses are very ugly.
- 2:07:27Speaker 11: They're just like the box they're planted in. And then
- 2:07:30Speaker 11: he gave the box a good kick with his foot
- 2:07:32Speaker 11: and pulled both the roses up. What are you doing,
- 2:07:36Speaker 11: cried the little girl, And as he perceived her fright,
- 2:07:39Speaker 11: he pulled up another rose, got in at the window,
- 2:07:42Speaker 11: and hastened off from dear little Gerda. Afterwards, when she
- 2:07:46Speaker 11: had brought her picture book, he asked, what horrid beasts
- 2:07:50Speaker 11: have you there? And if his grandmother told them stories,
- 2:07:53Speaker 11: he always interrupted her. Besides, if he could manage it,
- 2:07:58Speaker 11: he would get behind her, put on her spectacles, and
- 2:08:01Speaker 11: imitate a way of speaking. He copied all her ways,
- 2:08:04Speaker 11: and then everybody laughed at him. He was soon able
- 2:08:07Speaker 11: to imitate the gait and manner of every one in
- 2:08:10Speaker 11: the street. Everything that was peculiar and displeasing, in them
- 2:08:14Speaker 11: that Kay knew how to imitate. And at such times
- 2:08:17Speaker 11: all the people had said, the boy is certainly very clever.
- 2:08:22Speaker 11: But it was the glass he had got in his eye,
- 2:08:24Speaker 11: the glass that was sticking in his heart, which made
- 2:08:27Speaker 11: him tease even little Gerda, whose whole soul was devoted
- 2:08:30Speaker 11: to him. His games now were quite different to what
- 2:08:33Speaker 11: they had formerly been. There were so very knowing. One
- 2:08:37Speaker 11: winter's day, when the flakes of snow were flying about,
- 2:08:40Speaker 11: he spread the skirts of his blue coat and caught
- 2:08:43Speaker 11: the snow as it fell. Look through this glass, Gerda
- 2:08:47Speaker 11: said he, and every flake seemed larger and appeared like
- 2:08:51Speaker 11: a magnificent flower or a beautiful star. It was splendid
- 2:08:55Speaker 11: to look at. Look how clever, said Kay. That's much
- 2:09:00Speaker 11: more interesting than real flowers. They are as exact as possible.
- 2:09:04Speaker 11: There's not a fault in them if they did not melt.
- 2:09:08Speaker 11: It was not long after this that Kay came one
- 2:09:11Speaker 11: day with large gloves on and his little sledge at
- 2:09:14Speaker 11: his back, and bawled right into Gerda's ears. I have
- 2:09:18Speaker 11: permission to go out into the square where the others
- 2:09:21Speaker 11: are playing, and off he was. In a moment there
- 2:09:25Speaker 11: in the market place, some of the boldest of the
- 2:09:28Speaker 11: boys used to tie their sledges to the carts as
- 2:09:30Speaker 11: they passed by, and so they were pulled along and
- 2:09:33Speaker 11: got a good ride.
- 2:09:35Speaker 8: It was so capital.
- 2:09:37Speaker 11: Just as they were in the very height of their amusement,
- 2:09:39Speaker 11: a large sledge passed by. It was painted quite white,
- 2:09:44Speaker 11: and there was someone in it, wrapped up in a
- 2:09:46Speaker 11: rough white mantle of fur, with a rough white fur
- 2:09:49Speaker 11: cap on his head. The sledge drove round the square twice,
- 2:09:53Speaker 11: and Kay tied on his sledge as quickly as he could,
- 2:09:56Speaker 11: and off he drove with it. On they went quicker
- 2:09:59Speaker 11: and quicker in to the next street, and the person
- 2:10:01Speaker 11: who drove turned round to Kay and nodded to him
- 2:10:04Speaker 11: in a friendly manner, just as if they knew each other.
- 2:10:08Speaker 11: Every time he was going to untie his sledge, the
- 2:10:10Speaker 11: person nodded to him, and then Kay sat quiet, and
- 2:10:14Speaker 11: so on they went till they came outside the gates
- 2:10:17Speaker 11: of the town. Then the snow began to fall so
- 2:10:20Speaker 11: thickly that the little boy could not see an arm's
- 2:10:23Speaker 11: length before him, But still on he went, when suddenly
- 2:10:28Speaker 11: he let go of the string he held in his
- 2:10:29Speaker 11: hand in order to get loose from the sledge, but
- 2:10:32Speaker 11: it was of no use. Still, the little vehicle rushed
- 2:10:35Speaker 11: on with the quickness of the wind. He then cried
- 2:10:38Speaker 11: as loud as he could, but no one heard him.
- 2:10:41Speaker 11: The snow drifted, and the sledge flew on, and sometimes
- 2:10:44Speaker 11: it gave a jerk, as though they were driving over
- 2:10:47Speaker 11: hedges and ditches. He was quite frightened, and he tried
- 2:10:50Speaker 11: to repeat the Lord's prayer, but all he could do
- 2:10:53Speaker 11: he was only able to remember the multiplication table. The
- 2:10:57Speaker 11: snowflakes grew larger and larger, till at last they looked
- 2:11:00Speaker 11: just like great white fowls. Suddenly they flew on one side.
- 2:11:05Speaker 11: The large sledge stopped, and the person who drove rose up.
- 2:11:09Speaker 8: It was a lady.
- 2:11:10Speaker 11: Her cloak and cap were a snow. She was tall
- 2:11:13Speaker 11: and of slender figure, and of a dazzling whiteness. It
- 2:11:17Speaker 11: was the snow Queen. We have traveled fast, said she,
- 2:11:22Speaker 11: but it is freezingly cold. Come under my bear skin.
- 2:11:26Speaker 11: And she put him in the sledge beside her, wrapped
- 2:11:28Speaker 11: the fur round him, and he felt as though he
- 2:11:30Speaker 11: were sinking in a snow wreath. Are you still cold?
- 2:11:34Speaker 8: Asked she?
- 2:11:35Speaker 11: And then she kissed his forehead ah, it was colder
- 2:11:39Speaker 11: than ice. It penetrated to his very heart, which was
- 2:11:43Speaker 11: already almost a frozen lump. It seemed to him as
- 2:11:46Speaker 11: if he were about to die but a moment more,
- 2:11:50Speaker 11: and was quite congenial to him, and he did not
- 2:11:52Speaker 11: remark on the cold that was around him. My sledge,
- 2:11:56Speaker 11: don't forget my sledge. It was the first thing he
- 2:11:59Speaker 11: thought of. It was there, tied to one of the
- 2:12:01Speaker 11: white chickens, who flew along with it on his back
- 2:12:04Speaker 11: behind the large sledge. The snow queen kissed Kay once more,
- 2:12:09Speaker 11: and then he forgot little Gerda, grandmother, and all whom
- 2:12:12Speaker 11: he left at his home. Now you will have no
- 2:12:15Speaker 11: more kisses, said she, or else I should kiss you
- 2:12:18Speaker 11: to death. Kay looked at her. She was very beautiful,
- 2:12:23Speaker 11: a more clever, or a more lovely countenance he could
- 2:12:26Speaker 11: not fancy to himself, and she no longer appeared of
- 2:12:29Speaker 11: ice as before when she sat outside the window and
- 2:12:33Speaker 11: beckoned to him. In his eyes, she was perfect. He
- 2:12:36Speaker 11: did not fear her at all, and told her that
- 2:12:39Speaker 11: he could calculate in his head and with fractions, even
- 2:12:43Speaker 11: that he knew the number of square miles there were
- 2:12:45Speaker 11: in the different countries. And how many inhabitants they contained,
- 2:12:49Speaker 11: and she smiled while he spoke. It then seemed to
- 2:12:53Speaker 11: him as if what he knew was not enough, and
- 2:12:56Speaker 11: he looked upwards in the large, huge, empty space above him. Him,
- 2:13:00Speaker 11: and on she flew with him, flew high over the
- 2:13:03Speaker 11: black clouds, while the storm moaned and whistled as though
- 2:13:07Speaker 11: it were singing some old tune. On they flew over
- 2:13:10Speaker 11: the woods and lakes, over seas and many lands, and
- 2:13:14Speaker 11: beneath them the chilling storms rushed fast, The wolves howled,
- 2:13:19Speaker 11: the snow crackled. Above them flew large screaming crows. But
- 2:13:24Speaker 11: higher up appeared the moon, quite large and bright. And
- 2:13:28Speaker 11: it was on that that Kay gazed during the long
- 2:13:31Speaker 11: long winter's night, while by day he slept at the
- 2:13:35Speaker 11: feet of the snow queen, third story of the flower garden,
- 2:13:40Speaker 11: at the old Woman's who understood witchcraft? But what became
- 2:13:45Speaker 11: of Little Gerda when Kay did not return home? Where
- 2:13:48Speaker 11: could he be? Nobody knew, nobody could give any intelligence.
- 2:13:53Speaker 11: All the boys knew was that they had seen him
- 2:13:56Speaker 11: tie his sledge to another, large and splendid one, which
- 2:13:59Speaker 11: drove down the street and out of the town. Nobody
- 2:14:02Speaker 11: knew where he was. Many sad tears were shed, and
- 2:14:06Speaker 11: little Gerda wept long and bitterly. At last she said
- 2:14:10Speaker 11: he must be dead, that he'd been drowned in the
- 2:14:12Speaker 11: river which flowed close to the town. Oh, those were
- 2:14:16Speaker 11: very long and dismal winter evenings. At last the spring
- 2:14:20Speaker 11: came with its warm sunshine. Kay is dead and gone,
- 2:14:25Speaker 11: said little Gerda. That I don't believe, said the sunshine.
- 2:14:31Speaker 11: Kay is dead and gone. She said to the swallows
- 2:14:34Speaker 11: that I don't believe, they said, And at last Little
- 2:14:38Speaker 11: Gerda did not think so any longer. I'll put on
- 2:14:41Speaker 11: my red shoes, said she. One morning Kay has never
- 2:14:45Speaker 11: seen them, And then I'll go down to the river
- 2:14:48Speaker 11: and ask there. It was quite early. She kissed her
- 2:14:52Speaker 11: old grandmother, who was still asleep, put on her red shoes,
- 2:14:55Speaker 11: and went alone to the river. Is it true that
- 2:14:59Speaker 11: you have taken my little playfellow. I will make you
- 2:15:02Speaker 11: a present of my red shoes if he will give
- 2:15:04Speaker 11: him back to me. And as it seemed to her,
- 2:15:07Speaker 11: the blue waves nodded in a strange manner. Then she
- 2:15:11Speaker 11: took off her red shoes, the most precious thing she possessed,
- 2:15:15Speaker 11: and threw them into the river. But they fell close
- 2:15:17Speaker 11: to the bank, and the little waves bore them immediately
- 2:15:20Speaker 11: to land. It was as if the stream would not
- 2:15:22Speaker 11: take what was dearest to her, for in reality it
- 2:15:26Speaker 11: had not got little Kay. But Gerda thought that she
- 2:15:29Speaker 11: must not have thrown the shoes out far enough, so
- 2:15:32Speaker 11: she clambered into a boat which lay among the rushes,
- 2:15:35Speaker 11: went to the farthest end and threw out the shoes.
- 2:15:38Speaker 11: But the boat was not fastened, and the motion which
- 2:15:41Speaker 11: she had occasioned made it drift from the shore. She
- 2:15:44Speaker 11: observed this and hastened to get back, but before she
- 2:15:47Speaker 11: could do so, the boat was more than a yard
- 2:15:50Speaker 11: from the land and was gliding quickly onward. Little Gerda
- 2:15:54Speaker 11: was very frightened and began to cry. But no one
- 2:15:57Speaker 11: heard her except the sparrows, and they could not her
- 2:16:00Speaker 11: to land. But they flew along the bank and sang,
- 2:16:03Speaker 11: as if to comfort her, here we are, here we are.
- 2:16:07Speaker 11: The boat drifted with the stream. Little Gerda sat quite
- 2:16:10Speaker 11: still without shoes, for they were swimming behind the boat,
- 2:16:13Speaker 11: but she could not reach them because the boat went
- 2:16:15Speaker 11: much faster than they did.
- 2:16:18Speaker 8: The bank.
- 2:16:18Speaker 11: On both sides were beautiful, lovely flowers, venerable trees, and
- 2:16:23Speaker 11: slopes with sheep and cows, when not a human being
- 2:16:26Speaker 11: was to be seen. Perhaps the river will carry me
- 2:16:29Speaker 11: to Little Kay, said she, and then she grew less sad.
- 2:16:33Speaker 11: She rose and looked for many hours at the beautiful
- 2:16:36Speaker 11: green banks. Presently she sailed by a large cherry orchard,
- 2:16:40Speaker 11: where there was a little cottage with curious red and
- 2:16:42Speaker 11: blue windows. It was thatched, and before it two wooden
- 2:16:46Speaker 11: soldiers stood sentry and presented arms. When anyone went past.
- 2:16:51Speaker 11: Gerda called to them, for she thought they were alive,
- 2:16:55Speaker 11: but they, of course did not answer. She came close
- 2:16:58Speaker 11: to them, for the stream drifted the boat quite near
- 2:17:01Speaker 11: the land. Gerda called still louder, and an old woman
- 2:17:05Speaker 11: then came out of the cottage, leaning upon a crooked stick.
- 2:17:09Speaker 11: She had a large, broad brimmed hat on painted with
- 2:17:12Speaker 11: the most splendid flowers. Poor little child, said the old woman,
- 2:17:18Speaker 11: How did you get upon the large rapid river to
- 2:17:21Speaker 11: be driven about so in the wide world? And then
- 2:17:25Speaker 11: the old woman went into the river, caught hold of
- 2:17:27Speaker 11: the boat with her crooked stick, drew it to the bank,
- 2:17:30Speaker 11: and lifted little Gerda out. And Gerda was so glad
- 2:17:34Speaker 11: to be on dry land again, which was rather afraid
- 2:17:36Speaker 11: of the strange old woman. But come, tell me who
- 2:17:40Speaker 11: you are and how you came to be here, said she,
- 2:17:44Speaker 11: and Gerda told her all. The old woman shook her
- 2:17:47Speaker 11: head and said ahem, ahem. And when Gerda had told
- 2:17:52Speaker 11: her everything, and asked her if she had not seen
- 2:17:54Speaker 11: little Kay, the woman answered that he had not passed there,
- 2:17:58Speaker 11: but he, no doubt would come. And she told her
- 2:18:01Speaker 11: not to be cast down, but taste her cherries and
- 2:18:04Speaker 11: look at her flowers, which were finer than any in
- 2:18:07Speaker 11: a picture book, each of which could tell a whole story.
- 2:18:11Speaker 11: She then took Gerda by the hand, led her into
- 2:18:13Speaker 11: the little cottage, and locked the door. The windows were
- 2:18:17Speaker 11: very high up, the glass was red, blue and green,
- 2:18:21Speaker 11: and the sunlight shone through quite wondrously in all sorts
- 2:18:25Speaker 11: of colors. On the table stood the most exquisite cherries,
- 2:18:29Speaker 11: and Gerda ate as many as she chose, for she
- 2:18:32Speaker 11: had permission to do so. While she was eating, the
- 2:18:36Speaker 11: old woman combed her hair with a golden comb, and
- 2:18:39Speaker 11: her hair curled and shone with a lovely golden color.
- 2:18:42Speaker 11: Round that sweet little face, which was so round and
- 2:18:46Speaker 11: so like a rose. I have often longed for such
- 2:18:49Speaker 11: a dear little girl, said the old woman. Now you
- 2:18:53Speaker 11: shall see how well we agreed together. And while she
- 2:18:57Speaker 11: combed little Gerda's hair, the child forgot her foster brother
- 2:19:00Speaker 11: Kay more and more. For the old woman understood magic,
- 2:19:05Speaker 11: but she was no evil being. She only practiced witchcraft
- 2:19:08Speaker 11: a little for her own private amusement, and now she
- 2:19:12Speaker 11: wanted very much to keep little Gerda. She therefore went
- 2:19:16Speaker 11: out into the garden, stretched out her crooked stick towards
- 2:19:19Speaker 11: the rose bushes, which beautifully as they were blowing, all
- 2:19:24Speaker 11: sank into the earth, and no one could tell where
- 2:19:26Speaker 11: they had stood. The old woman feared that if Gerda
- 2:19:30Speaker 11: should see the roses, she would then think of her
- 2:19:32Speaker 11: own and would remember little Kay and run away from her.
- 2:19:37Speaker 11: She now led Gerda into the flower garden. Oh what
- 2:19:41Speaker 11: odor and what loveliness was there? Every flower that one
- 2:19:44Speaker 11: could think of and of every season stood there in
- 2:19:48Speaker 11: fullest bloom. No picture book could be gayer or more beautiful.
- 2:19:52Speaker 11: Gerda jumped for joy and played till the sun set
- 2:19:55Speaker 11: behind the tall cherry tree. She then had a pretty
- 2:19:59Speaker 11: bed with the red silken coverlet filled with blue violets.
- 2:20:03Speaker 11: She fell asleep and had as pleasant dreams as ever
- 2:20:06Speaker 11: a queen on her wedding day. The next morning she
- 2:20:10Speaker 11: went to play with the flowers in the warm sunshine,
- 2:20:13Speaker 11: and thus passed away a day. Gerda knew every flower,
- 2:20:17Speaker 11: and numerous as they were, it still seemed to Gerda
- 2:20:20Speaker 11: that one was wanting, though she did not know which.
- 2:20:24Speaker 11: One day, while she was looking at the hat of
- 2:20:26Speaker 11: the old woman painted with flowers, the most beautiful of
- 2:20:30Speaker 11: them all seemed to her to be a rose. The
- 2:20:33Speaker 11: old woman had forgotten to take it from her hat
- 2:20:35Speaker 11: when she made the others vanish in the earth. But
- 2:20:38Speaker 11: so it is when one's thoughts are not collected, what
- 2:20:42Speaker 11: said Gerda, are there no roses here? And she ran
- 2:20:45Speaker 11: about amongst the flower beds and looked and looked, but
- 2:20:49Speaker 11: there was not one to be found. She then sat
- 2:20:52Speaker 11: down and wept, But her hot tears fell just where
- 2:20:55Speaker 11: rose bush had sunk, And when her warm tears watered
- 2:20:59Speaker 11: the ground, the tree shot up suddenly as fresh and
- 2:21:03Speaker 11: blooming as when it had been swallowed up. Gerda kissed
- 2:21:06Speaker 11: the roses, thought of her own dear roses at home,
- 2:21:10Speaker 11: and with them of little Kay. Oh, how long I
- 2:21:13Speaker 11: have stayed, said the little girl. I intended to look
- 2:21:16Speaker 11: for Kay. Don't you know where he is? She asked
- 2:21:20Speaker 11: of the roses, do you think he is dead and
- 2:21:22Speaker 11: gone dead? He is certainly not, said the roses. We
- 2:21:27Speaker 11: have been in the earth where all the dead are,
- 2:21:30Speaker 11: but Kay was not there. Many thanks, said little Gerda,
- 2:21:35Speaker 11: And she went to the other flowers, looked into their cups,
- 2:21:38Speaker 11: and asked, don't you know where little Kay is? But
- 2:21:42Speaker 11: every flower stood in the sunshine and dreamed its own
- 2:21:45Speaker 11: fairy tale or its own story. And they all told
- 2:21:49Speaker 11: her very many things, but not one knew anything of Kay. Well,
- 2:21:54Speaker 11: what did the tiger lily say? Hearest thou not the
- 2:21:58Speaker 11: drum bum bum? Those are the only two tones, always bomb, bomb,
- 2:22:06Speaker 11: hark to the plaintive song of the old woman, to
- 2:22:09Speaker 11: the call of the priests. The Hindu woman, in her
- 2:22:12Speaker 11: long robe stands upon the funeral pile. The flames rise
- 2:22:16Speaker 11: around her and her dead husband. But the Hindu woman
- 2:22:19Speaker 11: thinks on the living one in the surrounding circle, on
- 2:22:22Speaker 11: him whose eyes burn hotter than the flames on him,
- 2:22:26Speaker 11: the fire whose eyes pierces her heart more than the
- 2:22:30Speaker 11: flames which will soon burn her body to ashes. Can
- 2:22:34Speaker 11: the hearts flame die in the flame of the funeral pile.
- 2:22:39Speaker 11: I don't understand that at all, said little Gerda. That
- 2:22:43Speaker 11: is my story, said the lily, What did the convolvers say?
- 2:22:49Speaker 11: Projecting over a narrow mountain path, there hangs an old
- 2:22:53Speaker 11: feudal castle. Thick evergreens grow on the dilapidated walls and
- 2:22:58Speaker 11: round the altar, where a lovely maiden is standing. She
- 2:23:02Speaker 11: bends over the railing and looks out upon the rose.
- 2:23:06Speaker 11: No fresher rose hangs on the branches than she. No
- 2:23:10Speaker 11: apple blossom carried away by the wind is more buoyant.
- 2:23:14Speaker 11: How her silken robe is rustling? Is he not yet come?
- 2:23:20Speaker 11: Is it kay that you mean? Asked little Gerda. I
- 2:23:23Speaker 11: am speaking about my story, about my dream, answered the convulvers.
- 2:23:30Speaker 11: What do the snowdrops say? Between the trees, a long
- 2:23:35Speaker 11: board is hanging. It is a swing. Two little girls
- 2:23:39Speaker 11: are sitting in it and swing themselves backwards and forwards.
- 2:23:44Speaker 11: Their frocks are as white as snow, and long green
- 2:23:47Speaker 11: silk ribbons flutter from their bonnets. Their brother, who is
- 2:23:52Speaker 11: older than they are, stands up in the swing. He
- 2:23:55Speaker 11: twines his arms round the cords to hold himself fast,
- 2:24:00Speaker 11: for in one hand he has a little cup and
- 2:24:02Speaker 11: in the other a clay pipe. He is blowing soap bubbles.
- 2:24:07Speaker 11: The swing moves, and the bubbles float in charming changing colors.
- 2:24:12Speaker 11: The last is still hanging to the end of the
- 2:24:14Speaker 11: pipe and rocks in the breeze. The swing moves. The
- 2:24:20Speaker 11: little black dog, as light as a soap bubble, jumps
- 2:24:24Speaker 11: up on his hind legs to try and get into
- 2:24:26Speaker 11: the swing. It moves. The dog falls down, barks, and
- 2:24:32Speaker 11: is angry. They tease him. The bubble bursts a swing,
- 2:24:38Speaker 11: a bursting bubble. Such is my song. What you relate
- 2:24:43Speaker 11: may be very pretty, but you tell it in so
- 2:24:46Speaker 11: melancholy a manner, and do not mention. Kay, What do
- 2:24:51Speaker 11: the hyacinths say? There were once upon a time three sisters,
- 2:24:56Speaker 11: quite transparent and very beautiful. The robe of the one
- 2:25:01Speaker 11: was red, and that of the second blue, and that
- 2:25:04Speaker 11: of the third white. They danced hand in hand beside
- 2:25:08Speaker 11: the calm lake, in the clear moonshine. They were not
- 2:25:12Speaker 11: elfin maidens, but mortal children. A sweet fragrance was smelt,
- 2:25:18Speaker 11: and the maidens vanished in the wood. The fragrance grew
- 2:25:21Speaker 11: stronger three coffins, and in them three lovely maidens glided
- 2:25:27Speaker 11: out of the forest and across the lake. The shining
- 2:25:31Speaker 11: glow worms flew around like little floating lights. Do the
- 2:25:36Speaker 11: dancing maidens sleep or are they dead? The odor of
- 2:25:40Speaker 11: the flowers says they are corpses. The evening bell tolls
- 2:25:44Speaker 11: for the dead. You make me quite sad, said little Gerda.
- 2:25:50Speaker 11: I can't help thinking of the dead maidens. Oh, it
- 2:25:53Speaker 11: is little Kay really dead. The roses have been in
- 2:25:57Speaker 11: the earth and they say no.
- 2:26:00Speaker 8: Ding dong.
- 2:26:03Speaker 11: Sounded the hyacinth bells. We do not toll for little Kay.
- 2:26:08Speaker 4: We do not know him.
- 2:26:10Speaker 11: That is our way of singing, the only one we have.
- 2:26:16Speaker 11: And Gerda went to the vernunculuses that looked forth from
- 2:26:19Speaker 11: among the shining green leaves. You are a little bright sun,
- 2:26:24Speaker 11: said Gerda. Tell me if you know where I can
- 2:26:27Speaker 11: find my playfellow. And the vernunculuses shone brightly and looked
- 2:26:31Speaker 11: again at Gerda. What song could the vernuculus sing? It
- 2:26:36Speaker 11: was one that said nothing about Kay either. In a
- 2:26:40Speaker 11: small court, the bright sun was shining in the first
- 2:26:42Speaker 11: days of spring. The beams glided down the white walls
- 2:26:46Speaker 11: of a neighbor's house, and close by, the fresh yellow
- 2:26:50Speaker 11: flowers were growing, shining like gold in the warm sun rays.
- 2:26:55Speaker 11: An old grandmother was sitting in the air. Her granddaughter,
- 2:26:59Speaker 11: the poorly servant, was just coming for a short visit.
- 2:27:03Speaker 11: She knows her grandmother. There was gold, pure virgin gold,
- 2:27:08Speaker 11: in that blessed kiss there. That is my little story,
- 2:27:13Speaker 11: said the vernaculus. My poor old grandmother sighed Gerda. Yes,
- 2:27:19Speaker 11: she is longing for me, no doubt she is sorrowing
- 2:27:22Speaker 11: for me as she did for little Kay. But I
- 2:27:25Speaker 11: will soon come home, and then I will bring Kay
- 2:27:28Speaker 11: with me. It is of no use asking the flowers.
- 2:27:32Speaker 11: They only know their own old rhymes and can tell
- 2:27:35Speaker 11: me nothing.
- 2:27:36Speaker 8: And then she tucked up.
- 2:27:37Speaker 11: Her frock to enable her to run quicker, But the
- 2:27:40Speaker 11: narcissus gave her a knock on the leg just as
- 2:27:43Speaker 11: she was going to jump over it. So she stood still,
- 2:27:47Speaker 11: looked at a long yellow flower and asked, you perhaps
- 2:27:51Speaker 11: know something? And she bent down to the narcissus, And
- 2:27:55Speaker 11: what did it say? I can see myself. I can
- 2:28:00Speaker 11: see myself. Oh how odorous I.
- 2:28:03Speaker 15: Am up in the little gowert there stands half dressed,
- 2:28:07Speaker 15: a little dancer. She stands now on one leg, now
- 2:28:11Speaker 15: on both. She despises the whole world, Yet she lives
- 2:28:15Speaker 15: only in imagination. She pours water out of the teapot
- 2:28:20Speaker 15: over a piece of stuff which she holds in her hand.
- 2:28:24Speaker 11: It is the bodice. Cleanliness is a fine thing. The
- 2:28:28Speaker 11: white dress is hanging on the hook. It was washed
- 2:28:31Speaker 11: in the teapot and dried on the roof. She puts
- 2:28:35Speaker 11: it on, ties a safron colored kerchief round her neck,
- 2:28:39Speaker 11: and then the gown looks whiter. I can see myself.
- 2:28:43Speaker 11: I can see myself. That's nothing to me, said little Gerda.
- 2:28:49Speaker 11: That does not concern me, And then off she ran
- 2:28:54Speaker 11: to the further end of the garden. The gate was locked,
- 2:28:57Speaker 11: but she shook the rusted bolt till it was loose,
- 2:29:00Speaker 11: and the gate opened, and little Gerda ran off, barefooted
- 2:29:04Speaker 11: into the wide world. She looked around her thrice, but
- 2:29:07Speaker 11: no one followed her. At last, she could run no longer.
- 2:29:12Speaker 11: She sat down on a large stone, and when she
- 2:29:15Speaker 11: looked about her, she saw that the summer had passed.
- 2:29:18Speaker 11: It was late in the autumn. But that one could
- 2:29:21Speaker 11: not remark in the beautiful garden, where there was always sunshine,
- 2:29:25Speaker 11: and where there were flowers the whole year round. Dear me,
- 2:29:29Speaker 11: how long I've stayed said Gerda, autumn has come. I
- 2:29:33Speaker 11: must not rest any longer, and she got up to
- 2:29:36Speaker 11: go further. Oh, how tender and wearied her little feet were.
- 2:29:41Speaker 11: All around it looked so cold and raw. The long
- 2:29:45Speaker 11: willowlies were quite yellow, and the fog dripped from them
- 2:29:48Speaker 11: like water. One leaf fell after the other, and the
- 2:29:52Speaker 11: sloes only stood full of fruit, which set one's teeth
- 2:29:55Speaker 11: on edge. Oh, how dark and comfortless it was in
- 2:29:59Speaker 11: the dreary world. Fourth story, The Prince and Princess Gerda
- 2:30:06Speaker 11: was obliged to rest herself again when exactly opposite to her,
- 2:30:10Speaker 11: a large raven came hopping over the white snow. He
- 2:30:14Speaker 11: had long been looking at Gerda and shaking his head,
- 2:30:17Speaker 11: and now he said, gow caw, good day, good day.
- 2:30:23Speaker 11: He could not say it better, but he felt a
- 2:30:26Speaker 11: sympathy for the little girl, and asked her where she
- 2:30:28Speaker 11: was going all alone.
- 2:30:30Speaker 4: The word alone.
- 2:30:31Speaker 11: Gerda understood quite well, and felt how much was expressed
- 2:30:35Speaker 11: by it. So she told the raven her whole history
- 2:30:38Speaker 11: and asked if he had not seen kay. The raven
- 2:30:42Speaker 11: nodded very gravely and said, it may be, it may be.
- 2:30:48Speaker 11: What do you really think? So cried the little girl
- 2:30:52Speaker 11: and she nearly squeezed the raven to death so much
- 2:30:55Speaker 11: did she kiss him gently?
- 2:30:58Speaker 16: Gently, said the rain I think I know. I think
- 2:31:03Speaker 16: that it may be little Kay, but he has forgotten
- 2:31:06Speaker 16: you for the princess. Does he live with the princess,
- 2:31:11Speaker 16: asked Gerda. Yes, listen, said the raven.
- 2:31:15Speaker 11: But it will be difficult for me to speak your language.
- 2:31:19Speaker 11: If you understand the raven language, I can tell you better. No,
- 2:31:25Speaker 11: I have not learnt it, said Gerda. But my grandmother
- 2:31:28Speaker 11: understands it, and she can speak Gibberish too. I wish
- 2:31:32Speaker 11: I had learnt it.
- 2:31:34Speaker 16: No matter, said the raven. I will tell you as
- 2:31:38Speaker 16: well as I can. However it will be bad enough.
- 2:31:43Speaker 11: And then he told all he knew. In the kingdom
- 2:31:47Speaker 11: where we are now, there lives a princess who is
- 2:31:50Speaker 11: extraordinarily clever. For she has read all the newspapers in
- 2:31:54Speaker 11: the whole world and has forgotten them again. So clever
- 2:31:59Speaker 11: is she. She was lately, it is said, sitting on
- 2:32:03Speaker 11: her throne, which is not very musing after all. But
- 2:32:08Speaker 11: she began humming an old tune, and it was just, oh,
- 2:32:13Speaker 11: why should I not be married? That song is not
- 2:32:17Speaker 11: without its meaning, said she, And so then she was
- 2:32:22Speaker 11: determined to marry, but she would have a husband who
- 2:32:25Speaker 11: knew how to give an answer when he was spoken to,
- 2:32:29Speaker 11: not one who looked only as if he were a
- 2:32:31Speaker 11: great personage, for that is so tiresome. Then she had
- 2:32:37Speaker 11: all the ladies of the court drummed together, and when
- 2:32:40Speaker 11: they heard her intention, all were very pleased, and said,
- 2:32:46Speaker 11: we are very glad to hear of it. It is
- 2:32:49Speaker 11: the very thing we were thinking of. You may believe
- 2:32:53Speaker 11: every word I say, said the raven, for I have
- 2:32:57Speaker 11: a tame sweetheart that hops about in the palace quite free,
- 2:33:02Speaker 11: And it was she who told me all this. The
- 2:33:06Speaker 11: newspapers appeared forthwith with a border of hearts and the
- 2:33:10Speaker 11: initials of the princess, And therein you might read that
- 2:33:15Speaker 11: every good looking young man who was at liberty to
- 2:33:18Speaker 11: come to the palace and speak to the princess, and
- 2:33:22Speaker 11: he who spoke in such ways as showed he felt
- 2:33:25Speaker 11: himself at home there, that one the princess would choose
- 2:33:29Speaker 11: for her husband. Yes, yes, said the raven. You may
- 2:33:34Speaker 11: believe it. It is as true as I am sitting here.
- 2:33:38Speaker 11: People came in crowds. There was a crush and a hurry,
- 2:33:42Speaker 11: but no one was successful, either on the first or
- 2:33:46Speaker 11: the second day. They could all talk well enough when
- 2:33:50Speaker 11: they were out in the street, but as soon as
- 2:33:53Speaker 11: they came in sight the palace gates and saw the
- 2:33:56Speaker 11: guard richly dressed in silver, and the lackey and gold
- 2:34:00Speaker 11: on the staircase, and the large illuminated saloons, then they
- 2:34:05Speaker 11: were abashed. And when they stood before the throne on
- 2:34:10Speaker 11: which the princess was sitting, all they could do was
- 2:34:13Speaker 11: to repeat the last word they had uttered, And to
- 2:34:16Speaker 11: hear it again did not interest her very much. It
- 2:34:20Speaker 11: was just as if the people within were under a
- 2:34:23Speaker 11: charm and had fallen into a trance, till they came
- 2:34:27Speaker 11: out again into the street. For then, oh, then they
- 2:34:31Speaker 11: could chatter enough. There was a whole row of them
- 2:34:35Speaker 11: standing from the town gates to the palace. I was
- 2:34:39Speaker 11: there myself to look, said the raven. Then they grew
- 2:34:43Speaker 11: hungry and thirsty. But from the palace they got nothing whatever,
- 2:34:49Speaker 11: not even a glass of water. Some of the cleverest,
- 2:34:53Speaker 11: it is true, had taken bread and butter with them,
- 2:34:57Speaker 11: but none shared it with his neighbor. Each thought, let
- 2:35:01Speaker 11: him look hungry, and then the princess won't have him.
- 2:35:05Speaker 11: But Kay, little kay, said Gerda. When did he come?
- 2:35:10Speaker 11: Was he among the lumber? Patience, patience, We are just
- 2:35:15Speaker 11: coming to him. It was on the third day when
- 2:35:19Speaker 11: a little personage, without horse or equipage, came, marching right
- 2:35:24Speaker 11: boldly up to the palace. His eyes shone like yours.
- 2:35:28Speaker 11: He had beautiful long hair, but his clothes were very shabby.
- 2:35:33Speaker 11: That was Kay, cried Gerda, with a voice of delight.
- 2:35:37Speaker 11: Oh no, I found him, and she clapped her hands
- 2:35:41Speaker 11: for joy. He had a little knapsack at his back,
- 2:35:44Speaker 11: said the raven. No, that was certainly his sledge, said Gerda.
- 2:35:50Speaker 11: For when he went away he took a sledge with him.
- 2:35:53Speaker 11: That maybe, said the raven.
- 2:35:56Speaker 2: I did not.
- 2:35:57Speaker 11: Examine him so minutely. But I know from my tame sweetheart,
- 2:36:02Speaker 11: that when he came into the courtyard of the palace
- 2:36:04Speaker 11: and saw the bodyguard in silver, the lackey's on the staircase,
- 2:36:09Speaker 11: he was not the least abashed. He nodded and said
- 2:36:13Speaker 11: to them, it must be very tiresome to stand on
- 2:36:17Speaker 11: the stairs. For my part, I shall go in. The
- 2:36:21Speaker 11: saloons were gleaming with lusters. Privy counselors and excellencies were
- 2:36:26Speaker 11: walking about barefooted and wore gold keys, who was enough
- 2:36:31Speaker 11: to make anyone feel uncomfortable. His boots creaked too, so loudly,
- 2:36:36Speaker 11: but still he was not at all afraid. That's Kate
- 2:36:40Speaker 11: for certain, said Gerda. I know he had a new boots.
- 2:36:45Speaker 11: I heard them creaking in Grandmamma's room. Yes, they creaked,
- 2:36:50Speaker 11: said the raven. And on he went boldly up to
- 2:36:53Speaker 11: the princess, who was sitting on a pearl as large
- 2:36:56Speaker 11: as a spinning wheel. All the ladies of the court,
- 2:37:00Speaker 11: with their attendants and attendants attendants, and all the cavaliers
- 2:37:04Speaker 11: with their gentlemen and gentlemen's gentlemen, stood round, And the
- 2:37:09Speaker 11: nearer they stood to the door, the prouder they looked.
- 2:37:14Speaker 11: It was hardly possible to look at the gentlemen's gentlemen
- 2:37:17Speaker 11: so heartily did he stand in the doorway. Oh, it
- 2:37:21Speaker 11: must have been terrible, said little Gerda. And did KA
- 2:37:25Speaker 11: get the princess? Were I not a raven? I should
- 2:37:30Speaker 11: have taken the princess myself, although I am promised.
- 2:37:34Speaker 4: It is said.
- 2:37:35Speaker 11: He spoke as well as I speak when I talk
- 2:37:37Speaker 11: raven language. This I learned from my tame sweetheart. He
- 2:37:42Speaker 11: was bold and nicely behaved. He had not come to
- 2:37:46Speaker 11: woo the princess, but only to hear her wisdom. She
- 2:37:50Speaker 11: pleased him, and he pleased her. Yes, yes, we certain
- 2:37:55Speaker 11: that was Kay, said Gerda. He was so clever he
- 2:37:59Speaker 11: could our confractions.
- 2:38:00Speaker 1: In his head.
- 2:38:02Speaker 11: Oh won't you take me to the palace. That is
- 2:38:06Speaker 11: very easily, said answered the raven. But how are we
- 2:38:10Speaker 11: to manage it? I'll speak to my tame sweetheart about it.
- 2:38:16Speaker 11: She must advise us for so much. I must tell you,
- 2:38:20Speaker 11: such a little girl as you are will never get
- 2:38:23Speaker 11: permission to enter. Oh yes I shall, said Gerda. When
- 2:38:28Speaker 11: Kay hears that I'm here, he will come out directly
- 2:38:31Speaker 11: to fetch me. Wait for me on these steps, said
- 2:38:35Speaker 11: the raven. He moved his head backwards and forwards, and
- 2:38:39Speaker 11: flew away. The evening was closing in when the raven returned.
- 2:38:44Speaker 11: Caw Caw said he she sends you her compliments, and
- 2:38:50Speaker 11: here is.
- 2:38:51Speaker 4: A role for you.
- 2:38:52Speaker 11: She took it out of the kitchen. Why there is
- 2:38:55Speaker 11: bread enough. You are hungry, no doubt. It is not
- 2:38:59Speaker 11: possible for you to enter the palace, for you are
- 2:39:01Speaker 11: bare footed. The guides in silver and the lackeys in
- 2:39:05Speaker 11: gold would not allow it, but do not cry, and
- 2:39:09Speaker 11: she'll come in. Still, my sweetheart knows a little back
- 2:39:13Speaker 11: stair that leads to the bedchamber, and she knows where
- 2:39:17Speaker 11: she can get the key of it. And then they
- 2:39:19Speaker 11: went into the garden in the large avenue, where one
- 2:39:22Speaker 11: leaf was falling after the other, And when the lights
- 2:39:25Speaker 11: in the palace had all gradually disappeared, the Raven led
- 2:39:29Speaker 11: little Gerda to the back door, which stood half open.
- 2:39:33Speaker 11: Oh how Gerda's heart beat with anxiety and longing. It
- 2:39:37Speaker 11: was just as if she had been about to do
- 2:39:38Speaker 11: something wrong. And yet she only wanted to find out
- 2:39:41Speaker 11: if little Kay was there. Yes, he must be there,
- 2:39:45Speaker 11: she called, to mind, his intelligent ways and his long hair,
- 2:39:49Speaker 11: so vividly she could quite see him, as he used
- 2:39:52Speaker 11: to laugh when they were sitting under the roses at home.
- 2:39:55Speaker 16: He will no doubt be glad to see you, to
- 2:39:59Speaker 16: hear what a lo long way you have come for
- 2:40:01Speaker 16: his sake, to know how unhappy all at home, Or
- 2:40:05Speaker 16: when he did not come back, Oh, what a fright
- 2:40:10Speaker 16: and a joy it was.
- 2:40:12Speaker 11: They were now on the stairs. A single lamp was
- 2:40:15Speaker 11: burning there, and on the floor stood the tame Raven,
- 2:40:19Speaker 11: turning her head on every side, and looking at Gerda,
- 2:40:22Speaker 11: who bowed as her grandmother had taught her to do.
- 2:40:26Speaker 11: I intended has told me so much good.
- 2:40:29Speaker 17: Of you, my dear young lady, said the tame raven.
- 2:40:33Speaker 17: Your tale is very affecting. If you will take the lamp,
- 2:40:37Speaker 17: I will go before. We will go straight on, for
- 2:40:41Speaker 17: we shall meet no one.
- 2:40:44Speaker 11: I think there is somebody just behind us, said Gerda,
- 2:40:47Speaker 11: and something rushed past. It was like shadowy figures on
- 2:40:51Speaker 11: the wall, Horses with flowing manes and thin legs, huntsmen, ladies,
- 2:40:57Speaker 11: and gentlemen on horseback. They really dreams, said the raven.
- 2:41:02Speaker 11: They come to fetch the thoughts and the high personages
- 2:41:05Speaker 11: to the chase. Tis well, for now you can observe
- 2:41:09Speaker 11: them in bed, all the better. But let me find
- 2:41:12Speaker 11: when you enjoy honor and distinction, that you possess a
- 2:41:16Speaker 11: grateful heart. Tat that's not worth talking about, said the
- 2:41:22Speaker 11: raven of the woods. Now they entered the first saloon,
- 2:41:26Speaker 11: which was of rose colored satin, with artificial flowers on
- 2:41:29Speaker 11: the wall. Here the dreams were rushing past, but they
- 2:41:34Speaker 11: hastened by so quickly that Gerda could not see the
- 2:41:37Speaker 11: high personages. One hole was more magnificent than the other.
- 2:41:43Speaker 11: One might indeed be well abashed. And at last they
- 2:41:46Speaker 11: came into the bedchamber. The ceiling of the room resembled
- 2:41:50Speaker 11: a large palm tree with leaves of glass of costly glass,
- 2:41:54Speaker 11: and in the middle, from a thick golden stem hung
- 2:41:58Speaker 11: two beds, each of which resembled a lily. One was white,
- 2:42:02Speaker 11: and in this lay the princess. The other was red.
- 2:42:06Speaker 11: And it was here that Gerda was to look for
- 2:42:08Speaker 11: little Kay. She bent back one of the red leaves
- 2:42:11Speaker 11: and saw a brown neck. Oh, that was Kay. She
- 2:42:16Speaker 11: called him quite loud by the name, held the lamp
- 2:42:19Speaker 11: towards him. The dreams rushed back again into the chamber.
- 2:42:23Speaker 11: He awoke, turned his head, and it was not little Kay.
- 2:42:28Speaker 11: The prince was only like him about the neck, but
- 2:42:30Speaker 11: he was young and handsome, and out of the white
- 2:42:33Speaker 11: lily leaves. The princess peeped too, and asked what was
- 2:42:36Speaker 11: the matter. Then little Gerda cried and told her her
- 2:42:40Speaker 11: whole history and all that the ravens had done for her.
- 2:42:44Speaker 11: Poor little thing, said the Prince and princess. They praised
- 2:42:48Speaker 11: the ravens very much, and told them they were not
- 2:42:51Speaker 11: at all angry with them, but they were not to
- 2:42:53Speaker 11: do so again. However, they should have a reward. Will
- 2:42:58Speaker 11: you fly about here at liberty, asked the princess, or
- 2:43:01Speaker 11: would you like to have a fixed appointment? As caught
- 2:43:04Speaker 11: ravens with all the broken bits from the kitchen, and
- 2:43:08Speaker 11: both the ravens nodded and begged for a fixed appointment,
- 2:43:11Speaker 11: for they thought of their old age, and said, it
- 2:43:15Speaker 11: is a very good thing to have a provision for
- 2:43:17Speaker 11: our old days. And the Prince got up and let
- 2:43:21Speaker 11: Gerda sleep in his bed. And more than this he
- 2:43:23Speaker 11: could not do. She folded her little hands and thought
- 2:43:27Speaker 11: how good men and animals are, and then fell asleep
- 2:43:31Speaker 11: and slept soundly. All the dreams flew in again, and
- 2:43:35Speaker 11: they now looked like the angels, and they drew a
- 2:43:37Speaker 11: little sledge in which little Kay sat and nodded his head.
- 2:43:42Speaker 11: But the whole was only a dream, and therefore it
- 2:43:45Speaker 11: all vanished. As soon as she awoke the next day,
- 2:43:48Speaker 11: she was dressed from head to foot in silken velvet.
- 2:43:51Speaker 11: They offered to let her stay at the palace and
- 2:43:53Speaker 11: lead a happy life, but she begged to have a
- 2:43:56Speaker 11: little carriage with the horse in front, and for a
- 2:43:59Speaker 11: small pair of shoes. Then she said she would again
- 2:44:02Speaker 11: go forth in the wide world and look for quay.
- 2:44:06Speaker 11: Shoes and a muff were given her, and she was
- 2:44:08Speaker 11: too dressed very nicely. And when she was about to
- 2:44:11Speaker 11: set off, a new carriage stopped before the door. It
- 2:44:15Speaker 11: was of pure gold, and the arms of the Prince
- 2:44:18Speaker 11: and Princess shone like a star upon it. The coachman,
- 2:44:21Speaker 11: the footmen, and the outriders, for outriders there were too,
- 2:44:25Speaker 11: all wore golden crowns. The Prince and Princess assisted her
- 2:44:29Speaker 11: into the carriage themselves and wished her all success. The
- 2:44:33Speaker 11: Raven of the Woods, who was now married, accompanied her
- 2:44:37Speaker 11: for the first three miles. He sat beside Gerda, for
- 2:44:40Speaker 11: he could not bear riding backwards. The other ravens stood
- 2:44:43Speaker 11: in the doorway and flapped her wings. She could not
- 2:44:46Speaker 11: accompany Gerda because she suffered from headache since she had
- 2:44:50Speaker 11: had a fixed appointment and ate so much. The carriage
- 2:44:54Speaker 11: was lined inside with sugar plums, and in the seats
- 2:44:56Speaker 11: were fruits and gingerbread. Farewell, farewell, cried the prince and princess,
- 2:45:03Speaker 11: and Gerda wept, and the raven wept. Thus passed the
- 2:45:06Speaker 11: first miles and then the raven bade her farewell, and
- 2:45:10Speaker 11: this was the most painful separation of all. He flew
- 2:45:13Speaker 11: into a tree and beat his black wings as long
- 2:45:16Speaker 11: as he could see the carriage that shone from afar
- 2:45:19Speaker 11: like a sunbeam. Fifth story, the little robber maiden. They
- 2:45:26Speaker 11: drove through the dark wood, but the carriage shone like
- 2:45:29Speaker 11: a torch and dazzled the eyes of the robbers so
- 2:45:32Speaker 11: that they could not bear to look at it. Tis gold,
- 2:45:36Speaker 11: Tis gold, they cried, and they rushed forward, seized the horses,
- 2:45:41Speaker 11: knocked down the little postilion, the coachman and the servants,
- 2:45:45Speaker 11: and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage. Ow plump.
- 2:45:49Speaker 11: How beautiful she is. She must have been fed on
- 2:45:54Speaker 11: no colonels, said the old female robber, who had long
- 2:45:58Speaker 11: scrubby beard and bush eyebrows that hung down over her eyes.
- 2:46:03Speaker 11: She's as good as a fatted lamb. How nice she
- 2:46:06Speaker 11: will be. And then she drew out a knife, the
- 2:46:10Speaker 11: blade of which shone so that it was quite dreadful
- 2:46:12Speaker 11: to behold. Oh, cried the woman. At the same moment
- 2:46:17Speaker 11: she had been bitten in the ear by her own
- 2:46:19Speaker 11: little daughter, who hung at her back and was so
- 2:46:22Speaker 11: wild and unmanageable that it was quite amusing to see her,
- 2:46:26Speaker 11: You naughty child, said the mother, And now she had
- 2:46:30Speaker 11: not time to kill Gerda. She shall play with me,
- 2:46:34Speaker 11: said the little robber child. She shall give me her
- 2:46:37Speaker 11: muff and her pretty frock, and she shall sleep in
- 2:46:41Speaker 11: my bed. And then she gave her mother another bite,
- 2:46:44Speaker 11: so that she jumped and ran around with the pain.
- 2:46:48Speaker 11: And the robbers laughed and said, look out his dancing
- 2:46:51Speaker 11: with the little one. I will go into the carriage,
- 2:46:55Speaker 11: said the little robber maiden, and she would have her will,
- 2:46:58Speaker 11: for she was very spoilt and very headstrong. She and
- 2:47:02Speaker 11: Gerda got in, and then away they drove over the
- 2:47:05Speaker 11: stumps of the felled trees, deeper and deeper into the woods.
- 2:47:10Speaker 11: The little robber Maiden was as tall as Gerda, but stronger,
- 2:47:14Speaker 11: broader shouldered, and of dark complexion. Her eyes were quite black,
- 2:47:19Speaker 11: though looked almost melancholy. She embraced little Gerda and said,
- 2:47:23Speaker 11: they shall not kill you, as long as I am
- 2:47:25Speaker 11: not displeased with you. You are doubtless a princess. No,
- 2:47:31Speaker 11: said little Gerda, who then related all that had happened
- 2:47:35Speaker 11: to her and how much she cared about little Kay.
- 2:47:38Speaker 11: The little robber maiden looked at her with a serious air,
- 2:47:42Speaker 11: nodded her head slightly, and said, they shall not kill you.
- 2:47:46Speaker 11: Even if I am angry with you, then I will
- 2:47:49Speaker 11: do it myself. And she dried Gerda's eyes and put
- 2:47:53Speaker 11: both her hands in the handsome muff, which was so
- 2:47:55Speaker 11: soft and warm. At length, the carriage stopped. They were
- 2:48:00Speaker 11: in the midst of the courtyard of a robber's castle.
- 2:48:03Speaker 11: It was full of cracks from top to bottom, and
- 2:48:06Speaker 11: out of the openings. Magpies and rooks were flying, and
- 2:48:10Speaker 11: the great bulldogs, each of which looked as if he
- 2:48:12Speaker 11: could swallow a man, jumped up, but they did not bark,
- 2:48:16Speaker 11: for that was forbidden. In the midst of the large
- 2:48:19Speaker 11: old smoking hole, burnt a great fire on the stone floor.
- 2:48:24Speaker 11: The smoke disappeared under the stones and had to seek
- 2:48:27Speaker 11: its own negress. In an immense caldron, soup was boiling,
- 2:48:32Speaker 11: and rabbits and hares were being roasted on a spit.
- 2:48:35Speaker 11: You shall sleep with me to night, with all my animals,
- 2:48:39Speaker 11: said the little robber maiden. They had something to eat
- 2:48:42Speaker 11: and drink, and then went into a corner where straw
- 2:48:45Speaker 11: and carpets were lying beside them, and lads and perches
- 2:48:50Speaker 11: sat nearly a hundred pigeons, all asleep seemingly, but yet
- 2:48:54Speaker 11: they moved a little when the robber maiden came. They
- 2:48:57Speaker 11: are all mine, said she, at the same time, seizing
- 2:49:01Speaker 11: one that was next to her by the legs in
- 2:49:03Speaker 11: shaking it so that its wings fluttered. Kiss it, cried
- 2:49:07Speaker 11: the little girl, and flung the pigeon into Gerda's face.
- 2:49:11Speaker 11: Up there is the rabble of the wood, continued she,
- 2:49:14Speaker 11: pointing to several laughs which were fastened before a hole
- 2:49:18Speaker 11: high up in the wall. That's the rabble. They would
- 2:49:22Speaker 11: all fly away immediately if they were not well fastened in.
- 2:49:26Speaker 11: And here's my dear old back. And she laid hold
- 2:49:29Speaker 11: of the horns of a reindeer that had a bright
- 2:49:32Speaker 11: copper ring round its neck and was tethered to the spot.
- 2:49:36Speaker 11: We are obliged to lock this fellow in too, or
- 2:49:40Speaker 11: he would make his escape every evening. I tickle his
- 2:49:43Speaker 11: neck with my sharp knife. He is so frightened at it.
- 2:49:47Speaker 11: And the little girl drew forth a long knife from
- 2:49:49Speaker 11: a crack in the wall and let a glide over
- 2:49:52Speaker 11: the reindeer's neck. The poor animal kicked, The girl laughed,
- 2:49:56Speaker 11: and pulled Gerda into bed with her. Do you and
- 2:49:59Speaker 11: tell and to keep your knife while you sleep, asked Gerda,
- 2:50:03Speaker 11: looking at it rather fearfully. I always sleep with the knife,
- 2:50:07Speaker 11: said the little robber Maiden. There is no knowing what
- 2:50:10Speaker 11: may happen. But tell me now once more all about
- 2:50:14Speaker 11: little Kay and why you started off in the wide
- 2:50:17Speaker 11: world alone. And Gerda related all from the very beginning.
- 2:50:22Speaker 11: The woodpigeons cooed above in their cage, and the others slept.
- 2:50:27Speaker 11: The little robber Maiden wound her arm around Gerda's neck,
- 2:50:30Speaker 11: held a knife in the other hand, and snored so
- 2:50:33Speaker 11: loud that everybody could hear her. But Gerda could not
- 2:50:36Speaker 11: close her eyes, for she did not know whether she
- 2:50:39Speaker 11: was to live or die. The robbers sat round the fire,
- 2:50:42Speaker 11: sang and drank, and the old female robber jumped about,
- 2:50:46Speaker 11: so that it was quite dreadful for Gerda to see her.
- 2:50:50Speaker 11: Then the woodpigeons said, coo, coo, they have seen little Kay.
- 2:50:57Speaker 11: A white hen carries his sledge, and he himself sat
- 2:51:01Speaker 11: in the carriage of the snow Queen who passed here
- 2:51:05Speaker 11: down just over the wood. As we lay on our nest,
- 2:51:09Speaker 11: she blew upon us young ones, and all died except.
- 2:51:12Speaker 4: We two cow.
- 2:51:14Speaker 2: Cow.
- 2:51:16Speaker 13: What is it that you say?
- 2:51:17Speaker 18: Up there?
- 2:51:18Speaker 11: Cried little Gerda. Where did the snow Queen go to?
- 2:51:22Speaker 11: Do you know anything about it? She has no doubt.
- 2:51:25Speaker 19: Conte Lapland, for there is always snow and ice there.
- 2:51:30Speaker 19: Only ask the reindeer who's tethered there? Ice and snow
- 2:51:34Speaker 19: is there there? It is glorious and beautiful, said the reindeer.
- 2:51:40Speaker 19: One can spring about in the large shining valleys. The
- 2:51:44Speaker 19: snow Queen has her summer tent there, but her fixed
- 2:51:47Speaker 19: abode is high up towards the north pole, on the
- 2:51:51Speaker 19: island called Spezbergen. O Kay, poor little Kay, sighed Gerda.
- 2:51:58Speaker 19: Do you choose to be quiet? Said the robber maiden.
- 2:52:02Speaker 11: If you don't, I shall make you in the morning.
- 2:52:06Speaker 11: Gerda told her all that the woodpigeons had said, and
- 2:52:10Speaker 11: the little maiden looked very serious. But she nodded her
- 2:52:13Speaker 11: head and said, that's no matter. That's no matter. Do
- 2:52:17Speaker 11: you know where Lapland lies? She asked of the reindeer,
- 2:52:21Speaker 11: who should know better than I? Said the animal, His
- 2:52:25Speaker 11: eyes rolled in his head. I was born and bred
- 2:52:28Speaker 11: there there. I leapt about on the fields of snow. Listen,
- 2:52:33Speaker 11: said the robber maiden to Gerda. You see that the
- 2:52:36Speaker 11: men are gone, but my mother is still here and
- 2:52:39Speaker 11: will remain. However, towards the morning she takes a draft
- 2:52:43Speaker 11: out of the large flask, and then she sleeps a little.
- 2:52:47Speaker 11: Then I will do something for you. She now jumped
- 2:52:50Speaker 11: out of bed flew to her mother, with her arms
- 2:52:54Speaker 11: round her neck and pulling her by. The beard said,
- 2:52:56Speaker 11: good morrow, my own sweet nanny goat of a mother,
- 2:53:00Speaker 11: And her mother took hold of her nose and pinched
- 2:53:02Speaker 11: it till it was red and blue. But this was
- 2:53:05Speaker 11: all done out of pure love. When the mother had
- 2:53:08Speaker 11: taken a sup at her flask and was having a nap,
- 2:53:11Speaker 11: the little robber maiden went to the reindeer and said,
- 2:53:14Speaker 11: I should very much like to give you still many
- 2:53:17Speaker 11: a tickling with the sharp knife, for then you are
- 2:53:20Speaker 11: so amusing. However, I will untether you and help you
- 2:53:25Speaker 11: out so that you may go back to Lapland. But
- 2:53:28Speaker 11: you must make good use of your legs and take
- 2:53:31Speaker 11: this little girl for me to the palace of the
- 2:53:33Speaker 11: snow Queen, where her playfellow is. You have heard, I
- 2:53:37Speaker 11: suppose all she said, for she spoke loud enough, and
- 2:53:42Speaker 11: you were listening. The reindeer gave a bound for joy.
- 2:53:47Speaker 11: The robber maiden lifted up little Gerda and took the
- 2:53:50Speaker 11: precaution to bind her fast on the reindeer's back. She
- 2:53:54Speaker 11: even gave her a small cushion to sit on. Here
- 2:53:57Speaker 11: are your worsted leggings, for will be cold. But the
- 2:54:01Speaker 11: muff I shall keep from myself, for it is so
- 2:54:04Speaker 11: very pretty. But I do not wish you to be cold.
- 2:54:08Speaker 11: Here is a pair of lying gloves of my mother's.
- 2:54:11Speaker 11: They just reach up to your elbow.
- 2:54:13Speaker 10: On with them.
- 2:54:14Speaker 11: Now you look about the hands just like my ugly
- 2:54:16Speaker 11: old mother, and Gerda wept for joy. I can't bear
- 2:54:21Speaker 11: to see you fretting, said the little robber maiden. This
- 2:54:25Speaker 11: is just the time when you ought to look pleased.
- 2:54:28Speaker 11: Here are two loves and a ham for you, so
- 2:54:31Speaker 11: that you won't starve. The bread and the meat were
- 2:54:34Speaker 11: fastened to the rengeer's back. The little maiden opened the door,
- 2:54:39Speaker 11: called in all the dogs, and then with her knife,
- 2:54:42Speaker 11: cut the rope that fastened the animal, and said to him,
- 2:54:46Speaker 11: now off with you, but take good care of the
- 2:54:48Speaker 11: little girl. And Gerda stretched out her hands in the
- 2:54:51Speaker 11: large wadded gloves towards the robber maiden and said farewell.
- 2:54:56Speaker 11: And the reindeer flew on over a bush and bramble
- 2:55:00Speaker 11: through the great wood, over moor and heath, as fast
- 2:55:03Speaker 11: as he could go. Che tea was heard in the sky.
- 2:55:09Speaker 11: It was just as if somebody was sneezing. These are
- 2:55:12Speaker 11: my old northern lights, said the reindeer. Look how they gleam.
- 2:55:17Speaker 11: And on he now sped still quicker day and night.
- 2:55:21Speaker 4: On he went.
- 2:55:22Speaker 11: The loaves were consumed, and the ham too, and now
- 2:55:26Speaker 11: they were in Lapland sixth story. The Lapland woman and
- 2:55:32Speaker 11: the Finland woman. Suddenly they stopped before a little house
- 2:55:37Speaker 11: which looked very miserable. The roof reached to the ground,
- 2:55:41Speaker 11: and the door was so low that the family were
- 2:55:43Speaker 11: obliged to creep upon their stomachs when they went in
- 2:55:46Speaker 11: or out. Nobody was at home except an old Lapland
- 2:55:50Speaker 11: woman who was dressing fish by the light of an
- 2:55:53Speaker 11: oil lamp. And the reindeer told her the whole of
- 2:55:56Speaker 11: Gerda's history, but first of all his own, for that
- 2:56:00Speaker 11: seemed to him of greater importance. Gerda was so chill
- 2:56:04Speaker 11: that she could not speak. Poor thing, said the Lapland woman,
- 2:56:10Speaker 11: you have far to run. Still, you have more than
- 2:56:12Speaker 11: a hundred miles to go before you get to Finland.
- 2:56:16Speaker 11: There the snow Queen has her country house and burns
- 2:56:20Speaker 11: blue lights every evening. I will give you a few
- 2:56:23Speaker 11: words from me, which I will write on a dried
- 2:56:25Speaker 11: aberdine for paper.
- 2:56:27Speaker 4: I have none.
- 2:56:28Speaker 11: This you can take with you to the Finland Woman,
- 2:56:31Speaker 11: and she will be able to give you more information
- 2:56:33Speaker 11: than I can. When Gerda had warmed herself and had
- 2:56:38Speaker 11: eaten and drunk, the Lapland Woman wrote a few words
- 2:56:41Speaker 11: on a dry haberdine, begged Gerda to take care of them,
- 2:56:45Speaker 11: put her on the reindeer bound her fast, and a
- 2:56:48Speaker 11: waste from the animal te cha was again heard in
- 2:56:52Speaker 11: the air. The most charming blue lights burned the whole
- 2:56:56Speaker 11: night in the sky, and at last they came to Finland.
- 2:57:00Speaker 11: They knocked at the chimney of the Finland Woman, for
- 2:57:02Speaker 11: as to a door, she had none. There was such
- 2:57:06Speaker 11: a heat inside that the Finland Woman herself went about
- 2:57:09Speaker 11: almost naked. She was diminutive and dirty. She immediately loosened
- 2:57:14Speaker 11: little Gerda's clothes, pulled off her thick gloves and boots,
- 2:57:18Speaker 11: for otherwise the heat would have been too great, And
- 2:57:22Speaker 11: after laying a piece of ice on the reindeer's head,
- 2:57:25Speaker 11: read what was written on the fish skin. She read
- 2:57:28Speaker 11: it three times. She then knew it by heart. So
- 2:57:31Speaker 11: she put the fish into the cupboard, for it might
- 2:57:34Speaker 11: very well be eaten, and she never threw anything away.
- 2:57:38Speaker 11: Then the reindeer related his own story first, and afterwards
- 2:57:42Speaker 11: that of little Gerda, and the Finland woman winked her
- 2:57:45Speaker 11: eyes but said nothing. You are so clever, said the reindeer.
- 2:57:51Speaker 11: You can, I know, twist all the winds of the
- 2:57:53Speaker 11: world together in a knot. If the seaman looses one knot,
- 2:57:58Speaker 11: then he has a good wind. Second, then it blows
- 2:58:01Speaker 11: pretty stiffly. But if he undoes the third and fourth,
- 2:58:05Speaker 11: then it rages, so that the forests are upturned. Will
- 2:58:09Speaker 11: you give the little maiden a potion so that she
- 2:58:11Speaker 11: may possess the strength of twelve men and vanquish the
- 2:58:15Speaker 11: snow queen the strength of twelve men, said the Finland woman.
- 2:58:20Speaker 11: Much good that would be. Then she went to a
- 2:58:23Speaker 11: cupboard and drew out a large skin, rolled up. When
- 2:58:27Speaker 11: she had unrolled it, strange characters were to be seen
- 2:58:30Speaker 11: written thereon, and the Finland woman read at such a
- 2:58:33Speaker 11: rate that the perspiration trickled down her forehead. But the
- 2:58:37Speaker 11: reindeer begged so hard for little Gerda, and Gerda looked
- 2:58:41Speaker 11: so imploringly with tearful eyes at the Finland woman that
- 2:58:45Speaker 11: she winked and drew the reindeer aside into a corner
- 2:58:48Speaker 11: where the whisper together, while the animal got some fresh
- 2:58:51Speaker 11: eyes put on his head. Tis true. Little Kay is
- 2:58:55Speaker 11: at the snow Queen's and finds everything there quite to
- 2:58:58Speaker 11: his taste, and he thinks is the very best place
- 2:59:01Speaker 11: in the world. But the reason of that is he
- 2:59:04Speaker 11: has a splinter of glass in his eye and in
- 2:59:06Speaker 11: his heart. These must be got out first, otherwise he
- 2:59:10Speaker 11: will never go back to mankind, and the snow Queen
- 2:59:13Speaker 11: will retain her power over him. But can you give
- 2:59:17Speaker 11: little Gerdon nothing to take which will endure her with
- 2:59:20Speaker 11: power over the whole? I can give her no more
- 2:59:24Speaker 11: power than what she has already. Don't you see how
- 2:59:27Speaker 11: great it is? Don't you see how men and animals
- 2:59:30Speaker 11: are forced to serve her, how well she gets through
- 2:59:32Speaker 11: the world barefooted. She must not hear of her power
- 2:59:36Speaker 11: from us. That power lies in her heart, because she
- 2:59:40Speaker 11: is a sweet and innocent child. If she cannot get
- 2:59:43Speaker 11: the snow Queen by herself and rid little kay of
- 2:59:46Speaker 11: the glass, we cannot help her two miles. Hence the
- 2:59:50Speaker 11: garden of the snow Queen begins. Thither you may carry
- 2:59:53Speaker 11: the little girl, set her down by the large bush
- 2:59:56Speaker 11: with red berries standing in the snow. Don't stay talking,
- 3:00:01Speaker 11: but hastened back as fast as possible. And now the
- 3:00:05Speaker 11: Finland woman placed little Gerda on the ranger's back, and
- 3:00:08Speaker 11: off he ran with all imaginable speed. Oh, I have
- 3:00:13Speaker 11: not got my boots. I have not brought my gloves,
- 3:00:16Speaker 11: cried little Gerda. She marked she was without them from
- 3:00:20Speaker 11: the cutting frost. But the ranger dared not stand still.
- 3:00:24Speaker 11: On he ran till he came to the great bush
- 3:00:26Speaker 11: with red berries, and there he set Gerda down, kissed
- 3:00:30Speaker 11: her mouth while large bright tears flowed from the animal's eyes,
- 3:00:34Speaker 11: and then back he went as fast as possible. There
- 3:00:38Speaker 11: stood poor Gerda, now without shoes or gloves, in the
- 3:00:42Speaker 11: very middle of dreadful icy Finland. She ran on as
- 3:00:46Speaker 11: fast as she could. There then came a whole regiment
- 3:00:50Speaker 11: of snowflakes, but they did not fall from above, and
- 3:00:54Speaker 11: they were quite bright and shining from the Aurora borealis.
- 3:00:58Speaker 11: The flakes ran along then, and the nearer they came,
- 3:01:02Speaker 11: the larger they grew. Gerda well remembered how large and
- 3:01:05Speaker 11: strange the snowflakes appeared when she once saw them through
- 3:01:09Speaker 11: a magnifying glass. But now they were large and terrific.
- 3:01:12Speaker 11: In another manner, they were all alive. They were the
- 3:01:17Speaker 11: outposts of the snow Queen. They had the most wondrous shapes.
- 3:01:21Speaker 11: Some looked like large, ugly porcupines, others like snakes noted
- 3:01:25Speaker 11: together with their heads sticking out, and others again like
- 3:01:30Speaker 11: small fat bears with the hair standing on end. All
- 3:01:34Speaker 11: were of dazzling whiteness. All were living snowflakes. Little Gerda
- 3:01:39Speaker 11: repeated the Lord's prayer. The cold was so intense that
- 3:01:43Speaker 11: she could not see her own breath, which came like
- 3:01:46Speaker 11: smoke out of her mouth. It grew thicker and thicker,
- 3:01:49Speaker 11: and took the form of little angels that grew more
- 3:01:52Speaker 11: and more when they touched the earth. All had helms
- 3:01:55Speaker 11: on their heads, and lances and shields in their hands,
- 3:01:59Speaker 11: and they increas eastern numbers. And when Gerda had finished
- 3:02:02Speaker 11: the Lord's prayer, she was surrounded by a whole legion.
- 3:02:06Speaker 11: They thrust at the horrid snowflakes with their spears, so
- 3:02:09Speaker 11: that they flew away into a thousand pieces. And little
- 3:02:13Speaker 11: Gerda walked on bravely and in security. The angels patted
- 3:02:17Speaker 11: her hands and feet, and then she felt the cold less,
- 3:02:21Speaker 11: and went on quickly towards the Palace of the Snow Queen.
- 3:02:24Speaker 11: But now we shall see how Kay fared. He never
- 3:02:27Speaker 11: thought of Gerda, and least of all that she was
- 3:02:30Speaker 11: standing before the palace. Seventh story. What took place in
- 3:02:35Speaker 11: the Palace of the Snow Queen, and what happened afterward.
- 3:02:41Speaker 11: The walls of the palace were of driving snow, and
- 3:02:44Speaker 11: the windows and doors of cutting winds. There were more
- 3:02:47Speaker 11: than a hundred holes there, according as the snow was
- 3:02:51Speaker 11: driven by the winds. The largest was many miles in extent.
- 3:02:55Speaker 11: All were lighted up by the powerful Aurora borealis. And
- 3:02:59Speaker 11: all were so large, so empty, so icy, cold, and
- 3:03:03Speaker 11: so resplendent. Mirth never rained there. There was never even
- 3:03:08Speaker 11: a little bare ball with the storm from music. While
- 3:03:12Speaker 11: the polar bears went on their hind legs and showed
- 3:03:15Speaker 11: off their steps, never a little tea party of white
- 3:03:19Speaker 11: young lady foxes vast, cold and empty with holes of
- 3:03:23Speaker 11: the snow Queen. The northern lights shone with such precision
- 3:03:27Speaker 11: that one could tell exactly when they were at their
- 3:03:29Speaker 11: highest or low's degree of brightness. In the middle of
- 3:03:33Speaker 11: the empty, endless hole of snow was a frozen lake.
- 3:03:37Speaker 11: It was cracked in a thousand pieces, but each piece
- 3:03:41Speaker 11: was so like the other that it seemed the work
- 3:03:44Speaker 11: of a cunning artificer. In the middle of this lake
- 3:03:48Speaker 11: sat the snow Queen when she was at home. And
- 3:03:51Speaker 11: then she said she was sitting in the mirror of understanding,
- 3:03:54Speaker 11: and that this was the only one and the best
- 3:03:57Speaker 11: thing in the world. Little Kay was quite blue, yes,
- 3:04:01Speaker 11: nearly black with cold, but he did not observe it,
- 3:04:05Speaker 11: for she had kissed away all feelings of cold from
- 3:04:07Speaker 11: his body, and his heart was a lump of ice.
- 3:04:11Speaker 11: He was dragging along some pointed, flat pieces of ice,
- 3:04:14Speaker 11: which he lay together in all possible ways, for he
- 3:04:17Speaker 11: wanted to make something with them, just as we have
- 3:04:21Speaker 11: little flat pieces of wood to make geometrical figures with,
- 3:04:24Speaker 11: called the Chinese puzzle. Kay made all sorts of figures,
- 3:04:28Speaker 11: the most complicated, for it was an ice puzzle. For
- 3:04:31Speaker 11: the understanding. In his eyes the figures were extraordinarily beautiful
- 3:04:36Speaker 11: and of the utmost importance, for the bit of glass
- 3:04:39Speaker 11: which was in his eye caused this. He found whole
- 3:04:42Speaker 11: figures which represented a written word, but he never could
- 3:04:46Speaker 11: manage to represent just the word he wanted. That word
- 3:04:49Speaker 11: was eternity, and the snow Queen had said, if you
- 3:04:53Speaker 11: can discover that figure, you shall be your own master,
- 3:04:56Speaker 11: and I shall make you a present of the whole
- 3:04:58Speaker 11: world and a pair of new skates. But he could
- 3:05:01Speaker 11: not find it out. I am going now to warm lands,
- 3:05:06Speaker 11: said the snow Queen. I must have a look down
- 3:05:09Speaker 11: into the black cauldrons. It was the volcanoes Vesuvius and
- 3:05:12Speaker 11: Etna that she meant. I will give them just a
- 3:05:15Speaker 11: coating of white, for that is as it ought to be. Besides,
- 3:05:19Speaker 11: it is good for the oranges and the grapes. And
- 3:05:22Speaker 11: then away she flew, and Kay sat quite alone in
- 3:05:25Speaker 11: the empty halls of ice that were miles long, and
- 3:05:29Speaker 11: looked at the blocks of ice, and thought and thought
- 3:05:32Speaker 11: till his skull was almost cracked. There he sat quite
- 3:05:36Speaker 11: benumbed and motionless. One would have imagined he was frozen
- 3:05:40Speaker 11: to death. Suddenly, little Gerda stepped through the great portal
- 3:05:44Speaker 11: into the palace. The gate was formed of cutting winds,
- 3:05:47Speaker 11: but Gerda repeated her evening prayer, and the winds were
- 3:05:50Speaker 11: laid as though they slept, and the little maiden entered
- 3:05:53Speaker 11: the vast, empty, cold halls. There she beheld Kay. She
- 3:05:58Speaker 11: recognized him, flew to embrace him, and cried out her
- 3:06:02Speaker 11: arms firmly holding him the while, Kay, sweet, little Kay,
- 3:06:07Speaker 11: have I found you at last? But he sat quite still,
- 3:06:11Speaker 11: benumbed and cold. Then little Gerda shed burning tears, and
- 3:06:15Speaker 11: they fell on his bosom. They penetrated to his heart.
- 3:06:18Speaker 11: They thawed the lumps of ice and consumed the splinters
- 3:06:22Speaker 11: of the looking glass. He looked at her, and she
- 3:06:25Speaker 11: sang the hymn The rose in the valley is blooming
- 3:06:28Speaker 11: so sweet, And the angels descend there the children to greet.
- 3:06:33Speaker 11: Hereupon Kay burst into tears. He wept so much that
- 3:06:36Speaker 11: the splinter rolled out of his eye. And he recognized
- 3:06:40Speaker 11: her and shouted, Gerda, sweet, little Gerda, where have you
- 3:06:44Speaker 11: been so long? And where have I been? He looked
- 3:06:48Speaker 11: round him, How cold it is here, said he, how
- 3:06:52Speaker 11: empty and cold? And he held fast by Gerda, who
- 3:06:57Speaker 11: laughed and wept for joy. It was so beautiful that
- 3:07:00Speaker 11: even the blocks of ice danced about for joy. And
- 3:07:03Speaker 11: when they were tired and laid themselves down, they formed
- 3:07:06Speaker 11: exactly the letters which the snow Queen had told him
- 3:07:09Speaker 11: to find out. So now he was his own master.
- 3:07:12Speaker 11: He would have the whole world and a pair of
- 3:07:15Speaker 11: new skates into the bargain. Gerda kissed his cheeks, and
- 3:07:19Speaker 11: they grew quite blooming. She kissed his eyes, and they
- 3:07:22Speaker 11: shone like her own. She kissed his hands and feet,
- 3:07:26Speaker 11: and he was again well and merry. The snow Queen
- 3:07:29Speaker 11: might come back as soon as she liked. There stood
- 3:07:31Speaker 11: his discharge written in resplendent masses of ice. They took
- 3:07:36Speaker 11: each other by the hand and wandered forth out of
- 3:07:39Speaker 11: the large hall. They talked of their old grandmother, and
- 3:07:42Speaker 11: of the roses upon the roof, And wherever they went
- 3:07:45Speaker 11: the wind ceased raging, and the sun burst forth. And
- 3:07:49Speaker 11: when they reached the bush with the red berries, they
- 3:07:51Speaker 11: found the reindeer waiting for them. He had brought another,
- 3:07:55Speaker 11: a young one with him, whose utter was filled with milk,
- 3:07:58Speaker 11: which he gave to the little ones and kissed their lips.
- 3:08:02Speaker 11: They then carried Kay and Gerda first to the Finland woman,
- 3:08:05Speaker 11: where they warmed themselves in the warm room and learned
- 3:08:08Speaker 11: what they were to do on their journey home. And
- 3:08:10Speaker 11: then they went to the Lapland woman, who made some
- 3:08:13Speaker 11: new clothes for them and repaired their sledges. The reindeer
- 3:08:17Speaker 11: and the young hind leaped along beside them and accompanied
- 3:08:20Speaker 11: them to the boundary of the country. Here the first
- 3:08:23Speaker 11: vegetation peeped forth. Here Kay and Gerda took leave of
- 3:08:26Speaker 11: the Lapland woman. Farewell, farewell, they all said, and the
- 3:08:31Speaker 11: first green buds appeared, The first little birds began to chirp,
- 3:08:35Speaker 11: and out of the wood came riding on a magnificent horse,
- 3:08:38Speaker 11: which Gerda knew. It was one of the leaders in
- 3:08:41Speaker 11: the Golden carriage, a young damsel with a bright red
- 3:08:44Speaker 11: cap on her head and armed with pistols. It was
- 3:08:47Speaker 11: the little robber maiden, who tired of being at home,
- 3:08:50Speaker 11: had determined to make a journey to the north and
- 3:08:53Speaker 11: afterwards in another direction if that did not please her.
- 3:08:57Speaker 11: She recognized Gerda immediately, and Gerda knew her too. It
- 3:09:00Speaker 11: was a joyful meeting. You are a fine fellow for
- 3:09:04Speaker 11: tramping about, she said to little Kay, I should like
- 3:09:08Speaker 11: to know faith. If you deserve that, one should run
- 3:09:11Speaker 11: from one end of the world to the other for
- 3:09:13Speaker 11: your sake. But Gerda patted her cheeks and inquired for
- 3:09:17Speaker 11: the prince and princess. They are gone abroad, said the other.
- 3:09:21Speaker 11: But the raven asked little Gerda. Oh, the raven is dead,
- 3:09:26Speaker 11: She answered, His tame sweetheart is a widow and wears
- 3:09:30Speaker 11: a bit of black worstood round her leg. She laments
- 3:09:33Speaker 11: most piteously. But it's all mere talk and stuff. Now
- 3:09:37Speaker 11: tell me what have you been doing and how you
- 3:09:40Speaker 11: managed to catch him? And Gerda and Kay both told
- 3:09:43Speaker 11: their story, and schnip schnap schner bassloor, said the robber maiden,
- 3:09:49Speaker 11: And she took the hands of each and promised that
- 3:09:52Speaker 11: if she should some day pass through the town where
- 3:09:54Speaker 11: they lived, she would come and visit them, And then
- 3:09:57Speaker 11: away she rode. Kay and Gerda took each other's hand.
- 3:10:00Speaker 11: It was lovely spring weather, with abundance of flowers and
- 3:10:04Speaker 11: of burdure. The church bells rang, and the children recognized
- 3:10:08Speaker 11: the high towers and the large town. It was that
- 3:10:11Speaker 11: in which they dwelt. They entered and hastened up to
- 3:10:14Speaker 11: their grandmother's room, where everything was standing as formerly. The
- 3:10:18Speaker 11: clocks said tick tack, and the finger moved round. But
- 3:10:22Speaker 11: as they entered, they remarked that they were now grown up.
- 3:10:25Speaker 11: The roses on the leads hung blooming in at the
- 3:10:28Speaker 11: open window. There stood the little children's chairs, and Kay
- 3:10:32Speaker 11: and Gerda sat down on them, holding each other by
- 3:10:34Speaker 11: the hand. They had both forgotten the cold, empty splendor
- 3:10:38Speaker 11: of the snow Queen, as though it had been a dream.
- 3:10:41Speaker 11: The grandmother sat in the bright sunshine and read aloud
- 3:10:45Speaker 11: from the Bible. Unless ye become as little children, ye
- 3:10:49Speaker 11: cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And Kay and Gerda
- 3:10:52Speaker 11: looked in each other's eyes, and all at once they
- 3:10:55Speaker 11: understood the old hymn, The rose in the valley is
- 3:10:58Speaker 11: blooming so sweet, and the angels descend there the children
- 3:11:01Speaker 11: to greet. There sat the two grown up persons, grown
- 3:11:06Speaker 11: up and yet children, children at least in heart. And
- 3:11:10Speaker 11: it was summertime, summer, glorious summer, end of the snow Queen.
- 3:11:19Speaker 1: The leap frog, a flea, a grasshopper and a leap
- 3:11:24Speaker 1: frog once wanted to see which could jump highest, And
- 3:11:28Speaker 1: they invited the whole world and everybody else besides, who
- 3:11:32Speaker 1: chose to come to see the festival. Three famous jumpers
- 3:11:36Speaker 1: were they, As everyone would say when they all met
- 3:11:39Speaker 1: together in the room. I will give my daughter to
- 3:11:43Speaker 1: him who jumps highest, exclaimed the king. For it is
- 3:11:47Speaker 1: not so amusing where there is no prize to jump.
- 3:11:49Speaker 1: For the flea was the first to step forward. He
- 3:11:54Speaker 1: had exquisite manners and bowed to the company on all sides,
- 3:11:59Speaker 1: for he had noble blood, and was moreover accustomed to
- 3:12:03Speaker 1: the society of man alone. And that makes a great difference.
- 3:12:09Speaker 1: Then came the grasshopper. He was considerably heavier, but he
- 3:12:13Speaker 1: was well mannered, and wore a green uniform, which he
- 3:12:17Speaker 1: had by right of birth. He said moreover that he
- 3:12:21Speaker 1: belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family, and that in
- 3:12:25Speaker 1: the house where he then was, he was thought much
- 3:12:28Speaker 1: of the fact was he had been just brought out
- 3:12:32Speaker 1: of the fields and put in a pasteboard house three
- 3:12:35Speaker 1: stories high, all made of court cards, with the colored
- 3:12:39Speaker 1: side inwards, and doors and windows cut out of the
- 3:12:43Speaker 1: body of the Queen of hearts. I sing so well,
- 3:12:47Speaker 1: said he that sixteen native grasshoppers who have chirped from
- 3:12:51Speaker 1: infancy and yet got no house built of cards to
- 3:12:55Speaker 1: live in, grew thinner than they were before, for sheer
- 3:12:58Speaker 1: vexation when they heard me. It was thus that the
- 3:13:03Speaker 1: flea and the grasshopper gave an account of themselves, and
- 3:13:06Speaker 1: thought they were quite good enough to marry a princess.
- 3:13:10Speaker 1: The leap frog said nothing, but people gave it as
- 3:13:13Speaker 1: their opinion that he therefore thought the more. And when
- 3:13:17Speaker 1: the house dog snuffed at him with his nose, he
- 3:13:20Speaker 1: confessed the leap frog was of good family. The old counselor,
- 3:13:26Speaker 1: who had had three orders given him to make him
- 3:13:28Speaker 1: hold his tongue, asserted that the leap frog was a prophet,
- 3:13:32Speaker 1: for that one could see on his back if there
- 3:13:34Speaker 1: would be a severe or mild winter, And that was
- 3:13:38Speaker 1: what one could not see even on the back of
- 3:13:40Speaker 1: the man who writes the almanac. I say nothing, it
- 3:13:44Speaker 1: is true, exclaimed the king. But I have my own opinion. Notwithstanding,
- 3:13:51Speaker 1: now the trial was to take place. The flea jumped
- 3:13:55Speaker 1: so high that nobody could see where he went to,
- 3:13:58Speaker 1: so they all asserted he had not jumped at all,
- 3:14:01Speaker 1: and that was dishonorable. The grasshopper jumped only half as high,
- 3:14:06Speaker 1: but he leaped into the king's face, who said that
- 3:14:10Speaker 1: was ill mannered. The leap frog stood still for a
- 3:14:14Speaker 1: long time, lost in thought. It was believed at last
- 3:14:17Speaker 1: he would not jump at all. I only hope he
- 3:14:21Speaker 1: is not unwell, said the house dog. When pop he
- 3:14:25Speaker 1: made a jump, all on one side, into the lap
- 3:14:27Speaker 1: of the princess, who was sitting on a little golden
- 3:14:30Speaker 1: stool close by. Hereupon, the king said, there is nothing
- 3:14:35Speaker 1: above my daughter. Therefore to bound up to her is
- 3:14:39Speaker 1: the highest jump that can be made. But for this
- 3:14:43Speaker 1: one must possess understanding. And the leap frog has shown
- 3:14:47Speaker 1: that he has understanding. He is brave and intellectual, and
- 3:14:52Speaker 1: so he won the princess. It's all the same to me,
- 3:14:56Speaker 1: said the fleet. She may have the old leap frog
- 3:14:59Speaker 1: for all I care. I jumped the highest. But in
- 3:15:03Speaker 1: this world merit seldom meets its reward. A fine exterior
- 3:15:07Speaker 1: is what people look at nowadays. The flea then went
- 3:15:12Speaker 1: into foreign service, where it is said he was killed.
- 3:15:17Speaker 1: The grasshopper sat without on a green bank and reflected
- 3:15:21Speaker 1: on worldly things, and he said, to yes, a fine
- 3:15:26Speaker 1: exterior is everything. A fine exterior is what people care about.
- 3:15:32Speaker 1: And then he began chirping his peculiar, melancholy song from
- 3:15:36Speaker 1: which we have taken this history, and which may very
- 3:15:39Speaker 1: possibly be all untrue, although it does stand here printed
- 3:15:44Speaker 1: in black and white, and of the leap frog the elderbush.
- 3:15:52Speaker 20: Once upon a time there was a little boy who
- 3:15:53Speaker 20: had taken cold. He had gone out and got his
- 3:15:56Speaker 20: feet wet, though nobody could imagine how it had happened,
- 3:15:59Speaker 20: for it was quite dry weather. So his mother undressed him,
- 3:16:02Speaker 20: put him to bed, and had the tea pot brought
- 3:16:04Speaker 20: in to make him a good cup of elder flower tea.
- 3:16:07Speaker 20: Just at that moment, the merry old man came in,
- 3:16:09Speaker 20: who lived up a top of the house, all alone,
- 3:16:12Speaker 20: for he had neither wife nor children, but he liked
- 3:16:15Speaker 20: children very much, and knew so many fairy tales that
- 3:16:18Speaker 20: it was quite delightful. Now, drink your tea, said the
- 3:16:21Speaker 20: boy's mother. Then perhaps you may hear a fairy tale
- 3:16:25Speaker 20: if I had but something new to tell, said the
- 3:16:27Speaker 20: old man. But how did the child get his feet wet?
- 3:16:30Speaker 20: That is the very thing that nobody can make out,
- 3:16:32Speaker 20: said his mother. Am I to hear a fairy tale?
- 3:16:35Speaker 20: Asked the little boy. Yes, if you can tell me exactly,
- 3:16:39Speaker 20: for I must know that first, how deep the gutter
- 3:16:41Speaker 20: is in the little street opposite that you must pass
- 3:16:44Speaker 20: through and going to school? Just up to the middle
- 3:16:47Speaker 20: of my boots, said the child. But then I must
- 3:16:49Speaker 20: go into the deep hole. Aha, that's where the wet
- 3:16:52Speaker 20: feet came from, said the old man. I ought now
- 3:16:55Speaker 20: to tell you a story, but I don't know any more.
- 3:16:59Speaker 20: You can make one a moment, said the little boy.
- 3:17:01Speaker 20: My mother says that all you look at can be
- 3:17:03Speaker 20: turned into a fairy tale, and that you can find
- 3:17:06Speaker 20: a story in everything. Yes, but such tales and stories
- 3:17:10Speaker 20: are good for nothing. The right sort come of themselves.
- 3:17:13Speaker 20: They tap at my forehead and say, here we are.
- 3:17:16Speaker 20: Won't there be a tap soon? Asked the little boy,
- 3:17:19Speaker 20: and his mother laughed, put some elder flowers in the
- 3:17:22Speaker 20: teapot and poured boiling water on them. Do tell me something,
- 3:17:26Speaker 20: pray do, yes, if a fairy tale would come of
- 3:17:29Speaker 20: its own accord. But they are proud and haughty, and
- 3:17:32Speaker 20: come only when they choose stop, he said, all on
- 3:17:36Speaker 20: a sudden, I have it. Pay attention, there is one
- 3:17:39Speaker 20: in the teapot, And the little boy looked at the teapot.
- 3:17:42Speaker 20: The cover rose more and more, and the elder flowers
- 3:17:45Speaker 20: came forth so fresh and white, and shot up long
- 3:17:48Speaker 20: branches out of the spout. Even did they spread themselves
- 3:17:51Speaker 20: on all sides, and grew larger and larger.
- 3:17:54Speaker 4: It was a.
- 3:17:54Speaker 20: Splendid elder bush, a whole tree, and it reached into
- 3:17:58Speaker 20: the very bed and pushed the curtain aside. How it bloomed,
- 3:18:02Speaker 20: and what an odor. In the middle of the bush
- 3:18:04Speaker 20: sat a friendly looking old woman in a most strange dress.
- 3:18:08Speaker 20: It was quite green, like the leaves of the elder,
- 3:18:10Speaker 20: and was trimmed with large white elder flowers, so that
- 3:18:14Speaker 20: at first one could not tell whether it is a
- 3:18:16Speaker 20: stuff or a natural green in real flowers. What's that
- 3:18:20Speaker 20: woman's name, asked the little boy. The Greeks and Romans
- 3:18:23Speaker 20: said the old man called her a dryad, but that
- 3:18:26Speaker 20: we do not understand. The people who live in the
- 3:18:29Speaker 20: New Booths have a much better name for her. They
- 3:18:31Speaker 20: call her old Granny, and she it is to whom
- 3:18:34Speaker 20: you are to pay attention. Now listen and look at
- 3:18:37Speaker 20: the beautiful elder bush. Just such, another large blooming elder
- 3:18:42Speaker 20: tree stands near the New Booths. It grew there in
- 3:18:45Speaker 20: the corner of a little miserable courtyard and under it
- 3:18:48Speaker 20: sat of an afternoon in the most splendid sunshine. Two
- 3:18:52Speaker 20: old people, an old old seaman and his old old wife.
- 3:18:56Speaker 20: They had great grandchildren and were soon to celebrate the
- 3:19:00Speaker 20: fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, but they could not exactly
- 3:19:03Speaker 20: recollect the date. And old granny sat in the tree
- 3:19:07Speaker 20: and looked as pleased as now I know the date,
- 3:19:09Speaker 20: said she, But those below her did not hear her,
- 3:19:12Speaker 20: for they were talking about old times. Yes, can't you
- 3:19:16Speaker 20: remember when we were very little, said the old seaman,
- 3:19:19Speaker 20: and ran and played about. It was the very same
- 3:19:22Speaker 20: courtyard where we now are, and we stuck slips in
- 3:19:25Speaker 20: the ground and made a garden. I remember it well,
- 3:19:28Speaker 20: said the old woman. I remember it quite well. We
- 3:19:31Speaker 20: watered the slips, and one of them was an elderbush.
- 3:19:34Speaker 20: It took root, put forth green shoots, and grew up
- 3:19:38Speaker 20: to be the large tree under which we old folks
- 3:19:40Speaker 20: are now sitting. To be sure, said he. And there
- 3:19:43Speaker 20: in the corner stood a water pail where I used
- 3:19:45Speaker 20: to swim my boats. True, but first we went to
- 3:19:49Speaker 20: school to learn somewhat, said she. And then we were confirmed.
- 3:19:53Speaker 20: We both cried. But in the afternoon we went up
- 3:19:55Speaker 20: the round tower and looked down on Copenhagen and far
- 3:19:58Speaker 20: far away over the water. Then we went to Friedericksburg,
- 3:20:02Speaker 20: where the King and the Queen were sailing about in
- 3:20:04Speaker 20: their splendid barges. But I had a different sort of
- 3:20:07Speaker 20: sailing to that later, and that too for many a year,
- 3:20:11Speaker 20: a long way off on great voyages. Yes, many a
- 3:20:15Speaker 20: time I have wept for your sake, said she. I
- 3:20:18Speaker 20: thought you were dead and gone and lying in the
- 3:20:20Speaker 20: deep waters. Many a night have I got up to
- 3:20:23Speaker 20: see if the wind had not changed, And changed it had,
- 3:20:26Speaker 20: sure enough, But you never came. I remember so well.
- 3:20:30Speaker 20: One day when the rain was pouring down in Torrents.
- 3:20:33Speaker 20: The scavengers were before the house where I was in service,
- 3:20:36Speaker 20: and I had come up with the dust and remained
- 3:20:38Speaker 20: standing at the door. It was dreadful weather, when just
- 3:20:42Speaker 20: as I was there, the postman came and gave me
- 3:20:44Speaker 20: a letter.
- 3:20:45Speaker 4: It was from you.
- 3:20:46Speaker 20: What a tour that letter had made. I opened it
- 3:20:49Speaker 20: instantly and read.
- 3:20:50Speaker 11: I laughed and wept. I was so happy in it.
- 3:20:54Speaker 20: I read that you were in a warm lands where
- 3:20:57Speaker 20: the coffee tree grows. What a blessed land that must be.
- 3:21:01Speaker 20: You related so much, and I saw it all the
- 3:21:03Speaker 20: while the rain was pouring down, and I standing there
- 3:21:06Speaker 20: with a dust box. At the same moment came someone
- 3:21:09Speaker 20: who embraced me. Yes, but you gave him a good
- 3:21:12Speaker 20: box on his ear that made it tingle. But I
- 3:21:15Speaker 20: did not know it was you. You arrived as soon
- 3:21:17Speaker 20: as your letter, and you were so handsome that you
- 3:21:20Speaker 20: still are, and had a long yellow silk handkerchief round
- 3:21:23Speaker 20: your neck and a brand new hat on. Oh, you
- 3:21:26Speaker 20: were so dashing. Good heavens, what weather it was, and
- 3:21:30Speaker 20: what a state the street was in. And then we married,
- 3:21:33Speaker 20: said he, don't you remember? And then we had our
- 3:21:35Speaker 20: first little boy, and then Mary and Nicholas and Peter
- 3:21:39Speaker 20: and Christian. Yes, and how they grew all grew up
- 3:21:42Speaker 20: to be honest people and were beloved by everybody. And
- 3:21:47Speaker 20: their children also have children, said the old sailor. Yes,
- 3:21:51Speaker 20: those are our grandchildren, full of strength and vigor. It
- 3:21:54Speaker 20: was methinks about this season that we had our wedding. Yes,
- 3:21:58Speaker 20: this very day is the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage,
- 3:22:01Speaker 20: said old Granny, sticking her head between the two old
- 3:22:04Speaker 20: people who thought it was their neighbor who nodded to them.
- 3:22:08Speaker 20: They looked at each other and held one another by
- 3:22:10Speaker 20: the hand. Soon after came their children and their grandchildren,
- 3:22:14Speaker 20: for they knew well enough that it was the day
- 3:22:16Speaker 20: of the fiftieth anniversary, and had come with their gratulations
- 3:22:19Speaker 20: that very morning. But the old people had forgotten it,
- 3:22:23Speaker 20: although they were able to remember all that had happened
- 3:22:25Speaker 20: many years ago. And the elderbush sent forth a strong
- 3:22:29Speaker 20: odor in the sun that it was just about to set,
- 3:22:32Speaker 20: and shone right in the old people's faces. They both
- 3:22:35Speaker 20: looked so rosy cheeked, and the youngest of the grandchildren
- 3:22:38Speaker 20: danced around them and called out, quite delighted that there
- 3:22:42Speaker 20: was to be something very splendid that evening, that they
- 3:22:45Speaker 20: were all to have hot potatoes. And Old Nanny nodded
- 3:22:48Speaker 20: in the bush and shouted hurrah with the rest. But
- 3:22:51Speaker 20: that is no fairy tale, said the little boy who
- 3:22:55Speaker 20: was listening to the story. The thing is, you must
- 3:22:58Speaker 20: understand it, said the Let us ask old Nanny. That
- 3:23:03Speaker 20: was no fairy tale, tis true, said old Nanny, But
- 3:23:07Speaker 20: now it's coming. The most wonderful fairy tales grow out
- 3:23:10Speaker 20: of that which is reality. Were that not the case,
- 3:23:12Speaker 20: you know, my magnificent elderbush could not have grown out
- 3:23:15Speaker 20: of the teapot, and then she took the little boy
- 3:23:18Speaker 20: out of bed, laid herm on her bosom, and the
- 3:23:21Speaker 20: branches of the elder tree full of flowers closed around her.
- 3:23:25Speaker 20: They sat in an aerial dwelling, and it flew with
- 3:23:28Speaker 20: them through the air. Oh, it was wondrous, beautiful. Old
- 3:23:33Speaker 20: Nanny had grown all of a sudden a young and
- 3:23:35Speaker 20: pretty maiden. But her robe was still the same green
- 3:23:38Speaker 20: stuff with white flowers which she had worn before. On
- 3:23:42Speaker 20: her bosom she had a real elderflower, and in her
- 3:23:44Speaker 20: yellow waving hair a wreath of the flowers. Her eyes
- 3:23:48Speaker 20: were so large and blue that it was a pleasure
- 3:23:50Speaker 20: to look at them. She kissed the boy, and now
- 3:23:53Speaker 20: they were of the same age and felt alike. Hand
- 3:23:56Speaker 20: in hand, they went out of the bower, and they
- 3:23:58Speaker 20: were standing in the beautiful garden of their home, near
- 3:24:01Speaker 20: the green lawn. Papa's walking stick was tied, and for
- 3:24:04Speaker 20: the little ones it seemed to be endowed with life,
- 3:24:07Speaker 20: for as soon as they got astride it, the round
- 3:24:09Speaker 20: polished knob was turned into a magnificent neighing head, A
- 3:24:12Speaker 20: long black mane fluttered in the breeze, and four slender
- 3:24:16Speaker 20: yet strong legs shot out. The animal was strong and handsome,
- 3:24:20Speaker 20: and away they went at full gallop round the lawn.
- 3:24:24Speaker 21: Huzza, Now we.
- 3:24:25Speaker 20: Are riding miles off, said the boy. We are riding
- 3:24:28Speaker 20: away to the castle where we were last year. And
- 3:24:32Speaker 20: on they rode round the grass plot, and the little maiden,
- 3:24:35Speaker 20: who we know was no one else but old Nanny,
- 3:24:37Speaker 20: kept on crying out. Now we are in the country.
- 3:24:41Speaker 20: Don't you see the farm house yonder? And there is
- 3:24:43Speaker 20: the elder tree standing beside it, and the cock is
- 3:24:46Speaker 20: scraping away the earth for the hens. Look how he struts.
- 3:24:50Speaker 20: And now we are close to the church. It lies
- 3:24:52Speaker 20: high upon the hill, between the large oak trees, one
- 3:24:55Speaker 20: of which is half decayed. And now we are by
- 3:24:58Speaker 20: the smithy, where the fire is blazing, and where the
- 3:25:01Speaker 20: half naked men are banging with their hammers till the
- 3:25:04Speaker 20: sparks fly about away away to the beautiful country seat.
- 3:25:10Speaker 20: And all that the little maiden, who sat behind on
- 3:25:12Speaker 20: the stick spoke of, flew by. In reality, the boy
- 3:25:15Speaker 20: saw it all, and yet they were only going round
- 3:25:18Speaker 20: the grass plot. Then they played in a side avenue
- 3:25:21Speaker 20: and marked out a little garden on the earth, and
- 3:25:23Speaker 20: they took elder blossoms from their hair planted them, and
- 3:25:27Speaker 20: they grew just like those the old people planted when
- 3:25:29Speaker 20: they were children, as related before. They went hand in hand,
- 3:25:33Speaker 20: as the old people had done when they were children,
- 3:25:35Speaker 20: but not to the round Tower or to Friedericksburg.
- 3:25:39Speaker 11: No.
- 3:25:39Speaker 20: The little damsel wound her arms around the boy, and
- 3:25:42Speaker 20: then they flew far away through all Denmark, and spring came,
- 3:25:46Speaker 20: and summer, and then it was autumn, and then winter,
- 3:25:50Speaker 20: and a thousand pictures were reflected in the eye and
- 3:25:52Speaker 20: in the heart of the boy, and the little girl
- 3:25:54Speaker 20: always sang to him, this you will never forget. And
- 3:25:58Speaker 20: during their whole flight the old tree smelt so sweet
- 3:26:01Speaker 20: and odorous. Here marked the roses and fresh beeches, But
- 3:26:06Speaker 20: the elder tree had a more wondrous fragrance, for its
- 3:26:08Speaker 20: flowers hung on the breast of the little maiden, and
- 3:26:11Speaker 20: there too did he often lay his head during the flight.
- 3:26:15Speaker 20: It is lovely here in spring, said the maiden. And
- 3:26:18Speaker 20: they stood in a beech wood that had just put
- 3:26:20Speaker 20: on its first green, where the woodroof at their feet
- 3:26:23Speaker 20: sent forth its fragrance, and the pale red anemone looked
- 3:26:26Speaker 20: so pretty among the verdier oh would that it were
- 3:26:29Speaker 20: always spring in the sweetly smelling Danish beech forests. It
- 3:26:34Speaker 20: is lovely here in summer, said she, And she flew
- 3:26:37Speaker 20: past old castles of by gone days of chivalry, where
- 3:26:40Speaker 20: the red walls and the embattled gables were mirrored in
- 3:26:43Speaker 20: the canal, where the swans were swimming, and peered up
- 3:26:46Speaker 20: into the old cool avenues. In the fields, the corn
- 3:26:50Speaker 20: was waving like the sea, and the ditches redd and
- 3:26:53Speaker 20: yellow flowers were growing wild drone flowers, and the blooming
- 3:26:57Speaker 20: convolvuses were creeping in the hedges. Towards evening, the moon
- 3:27:01Speaker 20: rose round and large, and the haycocks in the meadows
- 3:27:04Speaker 20: smelt so sweetly. This one never forgets. It is lovely
- 3:27:08Speaker 20: here in autumn, said the little maiden. And suddenly the
- 3:27:11Speaker 20: atmosphere grew as blue again as before. The forest grew
- 3:27:15Speaker 20: red and green and yellow colored. The dogs came leaping along,
- 3:27:19Speaker 20: and whole flocks of wild flower flew over the cairn,
- 3:27:22Speaker 20: where BlackBerry bushes were hanging round the old stones. The
- 3:27:26Speaker 20: sea was dark blue, covered with ships full of white sails.
- 3:27:29Speaker 20: And in the barn, old women, maidens and children were
- 3:27:32Speaker 20: sitting picking hops into a large cask. The young sang songs,
- 3:27:36Speaker 20: but the old told fairy tales of mountain sprites and soothsayers.
- 3:27:41Speaker 20: Nothing could be more charming. It is delightful here in winter,
- 3:27:46Speaker 20: said the little maiden, And all the trees were covered
- 3:27:48Speaker 20: with hoar frost. They looked like white corals. The snow
- 3:27:52Speaker 20: crackled under foot as if one had new boots on,
- 3:27:55Speaker 20: and one falling star after the other was seen in
- 3:27:57Speaker 20: the sky. The Christmas tree was lighted in the room,
- 3:28:00Speaker 20: presents were there, and good humor reigned in the country.
- 3:28:04Speaker 20: The violin sounded in the room of the peasant, the
- 3:28:07Speaker 20: newly baked cakes were attacked. Even the poorest child said,
- 3:28:10Speaker 20: it is really delightful here in winter. Yes, it was delightful.
- 3:28:15Speaker 20: And the little Maiden showed the boy everything, And the
- 3:28:18Speaker 20: elder tree still was fragrant, and the red flag and
- 3:28:21Speaker 20: the white cross was still waving, the flag under which
- 3:28:25Speaker 20: the old seaman in the New Booths had sailed. And
- 3:28:28Speaker 20: the boy grew up to be a lad and was
- 3:28:30Speaker 20: to go forth in the wide world, far far away,
- 3:28:33Speaker 20: to warm lands where the coffee tree grows. But at
- 3:28:36Speaker 20: his departure, the little Maiden took an elder blossom from
- 3:28:39Speaker 20: her bosom and gave it to him to keep, and
- 3:28:41Speaker 20: it was placed between the leaves of his prayer book,
- 3:28:44Speaker 20: And when in foreign lands he opened the book, it
- 3:28:46Speaker 20: was always at the place where the keepsake flower lay.
- 3:28:50Speaker 20: And the more he looked at it, the fresher it became.
- 3:28:53Speaker 20: He felt as if it were the fragrance of the
- 3:28:55Speaker 20: Danish groves. And from among the leaves of the flowers,
- 3:28:58Speaker 20: he could distinctly see the little maiden peeping forth with
- 3:29:01Speaker 20: her bright blue eyes. And then she whispered, it is
- 3:29:04Speaker 20: delightful here in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and a
- 3:29:08Speaker 20: hundred visions glided before his mind. Thus passed many years,
- 3:29:13Speaker 20: and he was now an old man and sat with
- 3:29:16Speaker 20: his old wife under the blooming tree. They held each
- 3:29:19Speaker 20: other by the hand, as the old grandfather and grandmother
- 3:29:22Speaker 20: Yonder and the new Booths did, and they talked exactly
- 3:29:25Speaker 20: like them, of old times and of the fiftieth anniversary
- 3:29:28Speaker 20: of their wedding. The little maiden, with the blue eyes
- 3:29:31Speaker 20: and her elder blossoms in her hair, sat in the tree,
- 3:29:35Speaker 20: nodded to both of them and said, today is the
- 3:29:38Speaker 20: fiftieth anniversary. And then she took two flowers out of
- 3:29:41Speaker 20: her hair and kissed them. First they shone like silver,
- 3:29:45Speaker 20: then like gold, And when they were laid them on
- 3:29:48Speaker 20: the heads of the old people, each flower became a
- 3:29:50Speaker 20: gold crown. So there they both sat like a king
- 3:29:54Speaker 20: and a queen, under the fragrant tree that looked exactly
- 3:29:57Speaker 20: like an elder. The old man told his wife the
- 3:30:00Speaker 20: story of Old Nanny as it had been told to
- 3:30:02Speaker 20: him when a boy, and it seemed to both of
- 3:30:05Speaker 20: them it contained much that resembled their own history, and
- 3:30:08Speaker 20: those parts that were like it pleased them best. Thus
- 3:30:11Speaker 20: it is said the little maiden in the tree. Some
- 3:30:14Speaker 20: call me Old Nanny, others a dryad. But in reality
- 3:30:18Speaker 20: my name is Remembrance. Tis I who sit in the
- 3:30:21Speaker 20: tree that grows and grows. I can remember, I can
- 3:30:24Speaker 20: tell things. Let me see if you have my flower still,
- 3:30:28Speaker 20: And the old man opened his prayer book. There lay
- 3:30:31Speaker 20: the elder blossom, as fresh as if it had been
- 3:30:33Speaker 20: placed there but a short time before. And Remembrance nodded,
- 3:30:37Speaker 20: and the old people, decked with crowns of gold, sat
- 3:30:41Speaker 20: in the flush of the evening sun. They closed their eyes,
- 3:30:44Speaker 20: and and yes, that's the end of the story. The
- 3:30:48Speaker 20: little boy lay in his bed. He did not know
- 3:30:51Speaker 20: if he had dreamed or not, or if he had
- 3:30:53Speaker 20: been listening while someone told him the story. The teapot
- 3:30:56Speaker 20: was standing on the table, but no elder tree was
- 3:30:59Speaker 20: growing out of it, and the old man who had
- 3:31:01Speaker 20: been talking was just on the point of going out
- 3:31:04Speaker 20: of the door, and he did go. How splendid that was,
- 3:31:08Speaker 20: said the little boy mother. I have been to warm countries,
- 3:31:12Speaker 20: so I should think, said his mother. When one has
- 3:31:14Speaker 20: drunk two good cupfuls of elder flower tea, tis likely
- 3:31:17Speaker 20: enough one goes into warm climates. And she tucked him
- 3:31:20Speaker 20: up nicely. Least he should take cold. You have had
- 3:31:24Speaker 20: a good sleep while I have been sitting here and
- 3:31:26Speaker 20: arguing with him whether it was a story or a
- 3:31:28Speaker 20: fairy tale. And where is old nanny? Asked the little
- 3:31:31Speaker 20: boy in the teapot, said his mother. And there she
- 3:31:35Speaker 20: may remain. End of the elder bush.
- 3:31:40Speaker 14: The bell.
- 3:31:42Speaker 9: People said, the evening bell is sounding, the sun is setting.
- 3:31:46Speaker 9: For a strange, wondrous tone was heard in the narrow
- 3:31:49Speaker 9: streets of a large town. It was like the sound
- 3:31:52Speaker 9: of a church bell, but it was only heard for
- 3:31:54Speaker 9: a moment, for the rolling of the carriages and the
- 3:31:57Speaker 9: voices of the multitude made too great a noise. Those
- 3:32:00Speaker 9: persons who were walking outside the town, where the houses
- 3:32:03Speaker 9: were farther apart, with gardens or little fields between them,
- 3:32:07Speaker 9: could see the evening sky still better and heard the
- 3:32:10Speaker 9: sound of the bell much more distinctly. It was as
- 3:32:13Speaker 9: if the tones came from a church in the still forest.
- 3:32:17Speaker 9: People looked thitherward and felt their minds attuned most solemnly.
- 3:32:22Speaker 9: A long time passed, and people said to each other,
- 3:32:25Speaker 9: I wonder if there is a church out in the wood.
- 3:32:28Speaker 9: The bell has a tone that is wondrous.
- 3:32:30Speaker 11: Sweet.
- 3:32:31Speaker 9: Let us stroll thither and examine the matter nearer. And
- 3:32:34Speaker 9: the rich people drove out, and the poor walked, But
- 3:32:38Speaker 9: the way seemed strangely long to them. And when they
- 3:32:41Speaker 9: came to a clump of willows which grew on the
- 3:32:43Speaker 9: skirts of the forest, they sat down and looked up
- 3:32:46Speaker 9: at the long branches, and fancied they were now in
- 3:32:50Speaker 9: the depth of the green wood. The confectioner of the
- 3:32:53Speaker 9: town came out and set up his booth there, and
- 3:32:56Speaker 9: soon after came another confectioner, who hung a bell over
- 3:33:00Speaker 9: his stand as a sign or ornament, but it had
- 3:33:03Speaker 9: no clapper and it was tarred over to preserve it
- 3:33:06Speaker 9: from the rain. When all the people returned home, they
- 3:33:09Speaker 9: said it had been a very romantic and that it
- 3:33:12Speaker 9: was quite a different sort of thing to a picnic
- 3:33:14Speaker 9: or tea party. There were three persons who asserted they
- 3:33:17Speaker 9: had penetrated to the end of the forest, and that
- 3:33:20Speaker 9: they had always heard the wondrous sounds of the bell,
- 3:33:23Speaker 9: but it seemed to them as if it had come
- 3:33:26Speaker 9: from the town. One wrote a poem about it, and
- 3:33:29Speaker 9: said the bell sounded like the voice of a mother
- 3:33:32Speaker 9: to a good dear child, and that no melody was
- 3:33:34Speaker 9: sweeter than the tones of the bell. The king of
- 3:33:38Speaker 9: the country was also observant of it, and vowed that
- 3:33:41Speaker 9: he who could discover whence the sounds proceeded, should have
- 3:33:44Speaker 9: the title of universal bell ringer, even if it were
- 3:33:48Speaker 9: not really a bell. Many persons now went to the
- 3:33:52Speaker 9: wood for the sake of getting the place, but only
- 3:33:55Speaker 9: one returned with a sort of explanation, for nobody went
- 3:33:58Speaker 9: far enough that one not further than the others. However,
- 3:34:02Speaker 9: he said that the sound proceeded from a very large
- 3:34:05Speaker 9: owl in a hollow tree, a sort of learned owl
- 3:34:09Speaker 9: that continually knocked its head against the branches. But whether
- 3:34:12Speaker 9: the sound came from his head or from the hollow tree,
- 3:34:16Speaker 9: that no one could say with certainty. So now he
- 3:34:19Speaker 9: got the place of universal bell ringer, and wrote yearly
- 3:34:23Speaker 9: a short treatise on the owl. But everybody was just
- 3:34:26Speaker 9: as wise as before. It was the day of confirmation.
- 3:34:31Speaker 9: The clergy man had spoken so touchingly that children who
- 3:34:35Speaker 9: were confirmed had been greatly moved. It was an eventful
- 3:34:38Speaker 9: day for them. From children, they became all at once
- 3:34:41Speaker 9: grown up persons. It was as if their infant souls
- 3:34:44Speaker 9: were now to fly all at once into persons with
- 3:34:47Speaker 9: more understanding. The sun was shining gloriously. The children that
- 3:34:51Speaker 9: had been confirmed went out of the town, and from
- 3:34:54Speaker 9: the wood was borne towards them the sounds of the
- 3:34:57Speaker 9: unknown bell with wonderful distinctness. They all immediately felt a
- 3:35:02Speaker 9: wish to go thither, all except three. One of them
- 3:35:06Speaker 9: had to go home to try on a ball dress,
- 3:35:08Speaker 9: for it was just the dress and the ball which
- 3:35:10Speaker 9: had caused her to be confirmed this time, for otherwise
- 3:35:13Speaker 9: she would not have come. The other was a poor
- 3:35:16Speaker 9: boy who had borrowed his coat and boots to be
- 3:35:18Speaker 9: confirmed in from the innkeeper's son, and he was to
- 3:35:22Speaker 9: give them back by a certain hour. The third said
- 3:35:25Speaker 9: that he never went to strange places if his parents
- 3:35:27Speaker 9: were not with him, that he had always been a
- 3:35:30Speaker 9: good boy hitherto, and would still be so now that
- 3:35:33Speaker 9: he was confirmed, and that one ought not to laugh
- 3:35:36Speaker 9: at him for it. The others, however, did make fun
- 3:35:39Speaker 9: of him. After all, there were three therefore, that did
- 3:35:43Speaker 9: not go. The others hastened on the sun shone. The
- 3:35:47Speaker 9: birds sang, and the children sang two, and each held
- 3:35:50Speaker 9: the other by the hand, for as yet they had
- 3:35:53Speaker 9: none of them any high office, and were all of
- 3:35:55Speaker 9: equal rank in the eye of God. But two of
- 3:35:58Speaker 9: the youngest soon grew tired, and both returned to town.
- 3:36:02Speaker 9: Two little girls sat down and twined garlands. So they
- 3:36:05Speaker 9: did not go either, And when the others reached the
- 3:36:08Speaker 9: willow tree where the confectioner was, they said, now we
- 3:36:11Speaker 9: are there. In reality, the bell does not exist. It
- 3:36:15Speaker 9: is only a fancy that people have taken into their heads.
- 3:36:19Speaker 9: At the same moment, the bell sounded deep in the wood,
- 3:36:22Speaker 9: so clear and solemnly, that five or six determined to
- 3:36:26Speaker 9: penetrate somewhat further. It was so thick, and the foliage
- 3:36:30Speaker 9: so dense that it was quite fatiguing to proceed. Woodruff
- 3:36:34Speaker 9: and anemonies grew almost too high. Blooming convovoluses and BlackBerry
- 3:36:39Speaker 9: bushes hung in long garlands from tree to tree, where
- 3:36:42Speaker 9: the nightingale sang and the sunbeams were playing. It was
- 3:36:46Speaker 9: very beautiful, but it was no place for girls to go.
- 3:36:49Speaker 9: Their clothes would get so torn. Large blocks of stone
- 3:36:53Speaker 9: lay there, overgrown with moss of every color. The fresh
- 3:36:57Speaker 9: spring bubbled forth and made a strange gurgling sound that
- 3:37:01Speaker 9: surely cannot be the bell, said one of the children,
- 3:37:04Speaker 9: lying down and listening. This must be looked to, so
- 3:37:07Speaker 9: he remained and let the others go on without him.
- 3:37:10Speaker 9: They afterwards came to a little house made of branches
- 3:37:13Speaker 9: and the bark of trees. A large wild apple tree
- 3:37:16Speaker 9: bent over it, as if it would shower down all
- 3:37:19Speaker 9: its blessings. On the roof, where roses were blooming, the
- 3:37:22Speaker 9: long stems twined round the gable, on which there hung
- 3:37:25Speaker 9: a small bell. Was it that which people had heard? Yes,
- 3:37:30Speaker 9: everybody was unanimous on the subject, except one who said
- 3:37:34Speaker 9: that the bell was too small and too fine to
- 3:37:36Speaker 9: be heard at so great a distance. And besides, it
- 3:37:39Speaker 9: was very different tones to those that could move a
- 3:37:42Speaker 9: human heart in such a manner. It was a king's
- 3:37:45Speaker 9: son who spoke whereon the others said, such people always
- 3:37:49Speaker 9: want to be wiser than everybody else. They now let
- 3:37:52Speaker 9: him go on alone, And as he went his breast
- 3:37:56Speaker 9: was filled more and more with the forest solitude. But
- 3:37:59Speaker 9: he still he heard the little bell with which the
- 3:38:01Speaker 9: others were so satisfied. And now and then, when the
- 3:38:04Speaker 9: wind blew, he could also hear the people singing who
- 3:38:07Speaker 9: were sitting at tea where the confectioner had his tent.
- 3:38:11Speaker 9: But the deep sound of the bell rose louder. It
- 3:38:15Speaker 9: was almost as if an organ were accompanying it, and
- 3:38:17Speaker 9: the tones came from the left hand, the side where
- 3:38:20Speaker 9: the heart is placed. A rustling was heard in the bushes,
- 3:38:24Speaker 9: and a little boy stood before the king's son, a
- 3:38:28Speaker 9: boy in wooden shoes and with so short a jacket
- 3:38:31Speaker 9: that one could see what long wrists he had. Both
- 3:38:35Speaker 9: knew each other. The boy was that one among the
- 3:38:38Speaker 9: children who could not come, because he had to go
- 3:38:40Speaker 9: home and return his jacket and boots to the innkeeper's son.
- 3:38:44Speaker 9: This he had done, and was now going on in
- 3:38:47Speaker 9: wooden shoes and in his humble dress. For the bell
- 3:38:50Speaker 9: sounded with so deep a tone and with such strange
- 3:38:53Speaker 9: power that proceed he must Why then, can we go together,
- 3:38:59Speaker 9: said the king's son. But the poor child that had
- 3:39:02Speaker 9: been confirmed, was quite ashamed. He looked at his wooden shoes,
- 3:39:06Speaker 9: pulled at the short sleeves of his jacket, and said
- 3:39:08Speaker 9: that he was afraid he could not walk so fast. Besides,
- 3:39:12Speaker 9: he thought that the bell must be looked for to
- 3:39:14Speaker 9: the right, for that was the place where all sorts
- 3:39:16Speaker 9: of beautiful things were to be found. But there we
- 3:39:20Speaker 9: shall not meet, said the king's son, nodding at the
- 3:39:23Speaker 9: same time to the poor boy, who went into the darkest,
- 3:39:26Speaker 9: thickest part of the wood, where thorns tore his humble
- 3:39:29Speaker 9: dress and scratched his face and hands and feet till
- 3:39:32Speaker 9: they bled. The king's son got some scratches too, But
- 3:39:37Speaker 9: the sun shone on his path, and it was him
- 3:39:39Speaker 9: that we will follow, for he was an excellent and
- 3:39:42Speaker 9: resolute youth. I must and will find the bell, he said,
- 3:39:46Speaker 9: even if I am obliged to go to the end
- 3:39:48Speaker 9: of the world. The ugly apes sat upon the trees
- 3:39:52Speaker 9: and grinned. Shall we thrash him, they said, shall we
- 3:39:55Speaker 9: thrash him? He is the son of a king. But
- 3:39:58Speaker 9: on he went, without being disheartened, deeper and deeper into
- 3:40:02Speaker 9: the wood where the most wonderful flowers were growing. There
- 3:40:06Speaker 9: stood white lilies with blood red stamina, sky blue tulips,
- 3:40:10Speaker 9: which shone as they waved in the winds, and apple trees,
- 3:40:14Speaker 9: the apples of which looked exactly like large soap bubbles.
- 3:40:18Speaker 9: So only think how the trees must have sparkled in
- 3:40:20Speaker 9: that sunshine. Around the nicest green meads, where the deer
- 3:40:25Speaker 9: were playing in the grass grew magnificent oaks and beeches,
- 3:40:29Speaker 9: And if the bark of one of the trees was cracked,
- 3:40:32Speaker 9: there grass and long creeping plants grew in the crevices.
- 3:40:36Speaker 9: And there were large calm lakes there too, in which
- 3:40:39Speaker 9: white swans were swimming and beat the air with their wings.
- 3:40:43Speaker 9: The king's son often stood still and listened. He thought
- 3:40:47Speaker 9: the bell sounded from the depths of these still lakes.
- 3:40:50Speaker 9: But then he remarked again that the tone proceeded not
- 3:40:53Speaker 9: from there, but farther off, from out the depths of
- 3:40:56Speaker 9: the forest. The sun now set, the atmosphere glowed like fire.
- 3:41:02Speaker 9: It was still in the woods, so very still, And
- 3:41:05Speaker 9: he fell on his knees, sung his evening hymn, and said,
- 3:41:08Speaker 9: I cannot find what I seek.
- 3:41:10Speaker 14: The sun is going.
- 3:41:11Speaker 9: Down, and night is coming, the dark, dark night. Yet
- 3:41:15Speaker 9: perhaps I may be able once more to see the
- 3:41:18Speaker 9: round red Sun before he entirely disappears. I will climb
- 3:41:21Speaker 9: up yonder rock. And he seized hold of the creeping
- 3:41:25Speaker 9: plants and the roots of trees, climbed up the moist stones,
- 3:41:29Speaker 9: where the water snakes were writhing and the toads were croaking,
- 3:41:33Speaker 9: And he gained the summit before the sun had gone
- 3:41:35Speaker 9: quite down. How magnificent was the sight From this height.
- 3:41:39Speaker 14: The sea, the.
- 3:41:40Speaker 9: Great, the glorious sea, that dashed its long waves against
- 3:41:44Speaker 9: the coast, was stretched out before him, and yonder where
- 3:41:48Speaker 9: sea and sky meet, stood the Sun like a large
- 3:41:52Speaker 9: shining altar, all melted together in the most glowing colors.
- 3:41:57Speaker 9: And the wood and the sea sang a song of rejoicing,
- 3:42:01Speaker 9: and his heart sang with all the rest. All nature
- 3:42:04Speaker 9: was a vast holy church, in which the trees and
- 3:42:07Speaker 9: the buoyant clouds were the pillars, flowers and grass, the
- 3:42:11Speaker 9: velvet carpeting, and heaven itself the large cupola. The red
- 3:42:16Speaker 9: colors above faded away as the sun vanished, but a
- 3:42:19Speaker 9: million stars were lighted, a million lamps shone, and the
- 3:42:24Speaker 9: King's son spread out his arms towards heaven and wood
- 3:42:28Speaker 9: and sea, when at the same moment, coming by a
- 3:42:32Speaker 9: path to the right, appeared in his wooden shoes and jacket,
- 3:42:36Speaker 9: the poor boy, who had been confirmed with him. He
- 3:42:39Speaker 9: had followed his own path and had reached the spot
- 3:42:42Speaker 9: just as soon as the sun of the king had done.
- 3:42:45Speaker 9: They ran towards each other and stood together hand in
- 3:42:48Speaker 9: hand in the vast church of nature and of poetry.
- 3:42:52Speaker 9: While over them sounded the invisible holy bell. Blessed spirits
- 3:42:57Speaker 9: floated around them and lifted up their voices in a
- 3:43:00Speaker 9: rejoicing Hallelujah.
- 3:43:03Speaker 4: End of the bell.
- 3:43:06Speaker 14: The old house.
- 3:43:09Speaker 21: In the street up there was an old, fairy old house.
- 3:43:14Speaker 21: It was almost three hundred years old, for that might
- 3:43:17Speaker 21: be known by reading the great beam on which the
- 3:43:19Speaker 21: date of the year was carved, together with tulips and
- 3:43:23Speaker 21: hot vines. There were whole verses spelled as in former times,
- 3:43:27Speaker 21: and over every window was a distorted face cut out
- 3:43:31Speaker 21: in the beam. The one story stood forward a great
- 3:43:35Speaker 21: way over the other, and directly under the eaves with
- 3:43:38Speaker 21: a leaden spout with a dragon's head. The rain water
- 3:43:41Speaker 21: should have run out of the mouse, but it ran
- 3:43:43Speaker 21: out of the belly, for there was a hole in
- 3:43:46Speaker 21: the spout. All the other houses in the street were
- 3:43:50Speaker 21: so new and so neat, with large window panes and
- 3:43:54Speaker 21: smooth walls, one could easily see that they would have
- 3:43:57Speaker 21: nothing to do with the old house. They certainly thought,
- 3:44:01Speaker 21: how long is that old, decayed thing to stand here
- 3:44:04Speaker 21: as a spectacle in the street. And then the projecting
- 3:44:08Speaker 21: windows stand so far out that no one can see
- 3:44:11Speaker 21: from our windows what happens in that direction. The steps
- 3:44:15Speaker 21: are as broad as those of a palace, and as
- 3:44:17Speaker 21: high as to a church tower. The iron railings looked
- 3:44:22Speaker 21: just like the door to an old family vault. And
- 3:44:25Speaker 21: then they have brass tops. That's so stupid. On the
- 3:44:31Speaker 21: other side of the street were also new and neat houses,
- 3:44:34Speaker 21: and they thought just as the others did. But at
- 3:44:37Speaker 21: the window opposite the old house there sat a little
- 3:44:40Speaker 21: boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes. He
- 3:44:45Speaker 21: certainly liked the old house best, and that both in
- 3:44:49Speaker 21: sunshine and moonshine, and when he looked across at the
- 3:44:53Speaker 21: wall where the mortar had fallen out. He could sit
- 3:44:56Speaker 21: and find out there the strangest figures imaginable, exactly as
- 3:45:00Speaker 21: the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows and
- 3:45:05Speaker 21: pointed gables. He could see soldiers with halbirds and spouts
- 3:45:10Speaker 21: where the water ran like dragons and serpents. That was
- 3:45:14Speaker 21: a house to look at. And there lived an old
- 3:45:17Speaker 21: man who wore plush breeches and had a coat with
- 3:45:21Speaker 21: large brass buttons, and a wig that one could see
- 3:45:24Speaker 21: was a real wig. Every morning there came an old
- 3:45:27Speaker 21: fellow to him, who put his rooms in order and
- 3:45:30Speaker 21: went on Errand's. Otherwise, the old man in the plush
- 3:45:34Speaker 21: breeches was quite alone in the old house now. And
- 3:45:38Speaker 21: then he came to the window and looked out, and
- 3:45:41Speaker 21: the little boy nodded to him, and the old man
- 3:45:43Speaker 21: nodded again, and so they became acquaintances, and then they
- 3:45:48Speaker 21: were friends, although they had never spoken to each other,
- 3:45:52Speaker 21: but that made no difference. The little boy heard his
- 3:45:55Speaker 21: parents say, the old man opposite is very well off,
- 3:46:00Speaker 21: but he is so very very lonely. The Sunday following,
- 3:46:05Speaker 21: the little boy took something and wrapped it up in
- 3:46:07Speaker 21: a piece of paper, went downstairs and stood in the doorway,
- 3:46:12Speaker 21: And when the man who went on errands came past,
- 3:46:14Speaker 21: he said to him, I say, master, will you give
- 3:46:19Speaker 21: this to the old man over the way from me?
- 3:46:21Speaker 21: I have two pewter soldiers. This is one of them,
- 3:46:25Speaker 21: and he shall have it, for I know he is
- 3:46:27Speaker 21: so very very lonely. And the old errand man looked
- 3:46:32Speaker 21: quite pleased, nodded, and took the pewter soldier over to
- 3:46:36Speaker 21: the old house. Afterwards there came a message. It was
- 3:46:40Speaker 21: to ask if the little boy himself had not a
- 3:46:43Speaker 21: wish to come over and pay a visit. And so
- 3:46:46Speaker 21: he got permission of his parents, and then went over
- 3:46:49Speaker 21: to the old house. And the brass balls on the
- 3:46:52Speaker 21: iron railings shone much brighter than ever one would have thought.
- 3:46:56Speaker 21: They were polished on account of the visit. And it
- 3:46:59Speaker 21: was as if the carved out trumpeters, for there were
- 3:47:03Speaker 21: trumpeters who stood in tulips carved out on the door,
- 3:47:07Speaker 21: blew with all their might. Their cheeks appeared so much
- 3:47:10Speaker 21: rounder than before. Yes, they blew trettera traw. The little
- 3:47:17Speaker 21: boy comes, tritera traw. And then the door opened. The
- 3:47:24Speaker 21: whole passage was hung with portraits of knights in armor
- 3:47:27Speaker 21: and ladies in silken gowns, and the armor rattled and
- 3:47:31Speaker 21: the silken gowns rustled. And then there was a flight
- 3:47:35Speaker 21: of stairs which went a good way upwards and a
- 3:47:38Speaker 21: little way downwards. And then one came on a balcony
- 3:47:41Speaker 21: which was in a very dilapidated state, sure enough, with
- 3:47:45Speaker 21: large holes and long crevices. But grass grew there, and
- 3:47:48Speaker 21: leaves out of them altogether. For the whole balcony outside
- 3:47:51Speaker 21: the yard, and the walls were overgrown with so much
- 3:47:54Speaker 21: green stuff that it looked like a garden, only a balcony.
- 3:47:58Speaker 21: Here stood old saw pots with faces and asses ears,
- 3:48:02Speaker 21: and the flowers grew just as they liked. One of
- 3:48:05Speaker 21: the pots was quite overrun on all sides with pinks,
- 3:48:09Speaker 21: that is to say, with the green parts. Shoot stood
- 3:48:12Speaker 21: by shoot, and it said, quite distinctly, the air has
- 3:48:16Speaker 21: cherished me, the sun has kissed me, and promised me
- 3:48:19Speaker 21: a little flower on Sunday, a little flower on Sunday.
- 3:48:24Speaker 21: And then they entered a chamber where the walls were
- 3:48:26Speaker 21: covered with hog's leather and printed with gold flowers. The
- 3:48:30Speaker 21: gilding decays, but hog's leather stays, said the walls. And
- 3:48:36Speaker 21: there stood easy chairs with such high backs and so
- 3:48:40Speaker 21: carved out, and with arms on both sides. Sit down,
- 3:48:44Speaker 21: Sit down, said they. Oh, how I creak? Now, I
- 3:48:48Speaker 21: shall certainly get the gout like the old clothes press.
- 3:48:51Speaker 4: Oh.
- 3:48:53Speaker 21: And then the little boy came into the room where
- 3:48:56Speaker 21: the projecting windows were and where the old man sat.
- 3:49:01Speaker 21: I thank you for the pewter soldier, my little friend,
- 3:49:04Speaker 21: said the old man. And I thank you because you
- 3:49:06Speaker 21: come over to me. Thankee thankee or cranky cranky sounded
- 3:49:13Speaker 21: from all the furniture. There was so much of it
- 3:49:16Speaker 21: that each article stood in the other's way to get
- 3:49:19Speaker 21: a look at the little boy. In the middle of
- 3:49:23Speaker 21: the wall hung a picture representing a beautiful lady, so young,
- 3:49:27Speaker 21: so glad, but dressed quite as in former times, with
- 3:49:32Speaker 21: clothes that stood quite stiff, and with powder in her hair.
- 3:49:37Speaker 21: She neither said thankee thankee nor cranky cranky, but looked
- 3:49:42Speaker 21: with her mild eyes at the little boy, who directly
- 3:49:46Speaker 21: asked the old man, where did you get her? Yonder
- 3:49:51Speaker 21: at the broker's, said the old man. Where there are
- 3:49:55Speaker 21: so many pictures hanging, no one knows or cares about them,
- 3:49:59Speaker 21: for they are all of them buried. But I knew her,
- 3:50:02Speaker 21: and bygone days, and now she has been dead and
- 3:50:05Speaker 21: gone these fifty years. Under the picture, in a glazed frame,
- 3:50:12Speaker 21: there hung a bouquet of withered flowers. They were almost
- 3:50:16Speaker 21: fifty years old. They looked so very old. The pendulum
- 3:50:21Speaker 21: of the great clock went to and fro, and the
- 3:50:24Speaker 21: hands turned, and everything in the room became still older.
- 3:50:28Speaker 21: But they did not observe it. They say at home,
- 3:50:32Speaker 21: said the little boy, that you are so very very lonely. Oh,
- 3:50:39Speaker 21: said he, the old thoughts, with what they may bring
- 3:50:42Speaker 21: with them, come and visit me. And now you also come.
- 3:50:46Speaker 21: I am very well off. Then he took a book
- 3:50:51Speaker 21: with pictures in it. Down from the shelf. There were
- 3:50:54Speaker 21: whole long processions and pageants with the strangest characters which
- 3:50:59Speaker 21: one never sees nowadays, soldiers like the knave of clubs,
- 3:51:03Speaker 21: and citizens with waving flags. The tailors had theirs with
- 3:51:07Speaker 21: a pair of shears held by two lions, and the
- 3:51:10Speaker 21: shoemakers theirs without boots, but with an eagle that had
- 3:51:14Speaker 21: two heads. For the shoemakers must have everything so that
- 3:51:18Speaker 21: they can say it is a pair. Yes, that was
- 3:51:22Speaker 21: a picture book. The old man now went into the
- 3:51:26Speaker 21: other room to fetch preserves, apples and nuts. Yes, it
- 3:51:30Speaker 21: was delightful over there in the old house. I cannot
- 3:51:34Speaker 21: bear it any longer, said the pewter soldier, who sat
- 3:51:38Speaker 21: on the drawers. It is so lonely, a melancholy here.
- 3:51:41Speaker 21: But when one has been in a family circle, one
- 3:51:44Speaker 21: cannot accustom oneself to this life. I cannot bear it
- 3:51:48Speaker 21: any longer. The whole day is so long in the
- 3:51:51Speaker 21: evenings are still longer.
- 3:51:53Speaker 4: Here.
- 3:51:54Speaker 21: It is not at all as it is over the
- 3:51:56Speaker 21: way at your home, where your father and mother spoke
- 3:51:59Speaker 21: so pleasantly, and where you and all your sweet children
- 3:52:02Speaker 21: made such delightful noise. Nay, how lonely the old man is.
- 3:52:08Speaker 21: Do you think that he gets kisses? Do you think
- 3:52:11Speaker 21: he gets mild eyes? Or a Christmas tree? He will
- 3:52:15Speaker 21: get nothing but a grave. I can bear it no longer.
- 3:52:21Speaker 21: You must not let it grieve you so much, said
- 3:52:23Speaker 21: the little boy. I find it so delightful here. And
- 3:52:27Speaker 21: then all the old thoughts, with what they may bring
- 3:52:29Speaker 21: with them, they come and visit here. Yes, it is
- 3:52:33Speaker 21: all very well, but I see nothing of them, and
- 3:52:35Speaker 21: I don't know them, said the pewter soldier. I cannot
- 3:52:39Speaker 21: bear it, but you must, said the little boy. Then
- 3:52:44Speaker 21: in came the old man with the most pleased and
- 3:52:46Speaker 21: happy face, the most delicious preserves apple and nuts, And
- 3:52:50Speaker 21: so the little boy thought no more about the pewter soldier.
- 3:52:56Speaker 21: The little boy returned home, happy and pleased. And weeks
- 3:52:59Speaker 21: and days passed by, and nods were made to the
- 3:53:02Speaker 21: old house and from the old house, and then the
- 3:53:05Speaker 21: little boy went over there again. The carved trumpeters blew
- 3:53:09Speaker 21: tritera traw. There is the little boy trettera traw, And
- 3:53:15Speaker 21: the swords and armor on the knight's portraits rattled, and
- 3:53:18Speaker 21: the silk gowns rustled, the hog's leather spoke, and the
- 3:53:22Speaker 21: old chairs had the gout in their legs and rheumatism
- 3:53:25Speaker 21: in their backs. Oh, it was exactly like the first time.
- 3:53:30Speaker 21: For over there, one day and hour was just like another.
- 3:53:36Speaker 21: I cannot bear it, said the pewter soldier. I have
- 3:53:39Speaker 21: shed pewter tears. It is too melancholy. Rather, let me
- 3:53:43Speaker 21: go to the wars and lose arms and legs. It
- 3:53:46Speaker 21: would at least be a change. I cannot bear it longer.
- 3:53:50Speaker 21: Now I know what it is to have a visit
- 3:53:52Speaker 21: from one's old thoughts, with what they may bring with them.
- 3:53:56Speaker 21: I have had a visit from mine, and you may
- 3:53:59Speaker 21: be sure it is no pleasant thing. In the end,
- 3:54:02Speaker 21: I was at last about to jump down from the drawers.
- 3:54:06Speaker 21: I saw you all over there at home, so distinctly
- 3:54:09Speaker 21: as if you really were here. It was again that
- 3:54:12Speaker 21: Sunday morning. All you children stood before the table and
- 3:54:15Speaker 21: sung your psalms, as you do every morning. You stood
- 3:54:19Speaker 21: devoutly with folded hands, and father and mother were just
- 3:54:22Speaker 21: as pious. And then the door was opened, and little
- 3:54:26Speaker 21: sister Mary, who is not two years old yet, and
- 3:54:29Speaker 21: who always dances when she hears music, her singing of
- 3:54:32Speaker 21: whatever kind it may be, was put into the room,
- 3:54:36Speaker 21: though she ought not to have been there. And then
- 3:54:38Speaker 21: she began to dance, but could not keep time because
- 3:54:41Speaker 21: the tones were so long. And then she stood first
- 3:54:45Speaker 21: on one leg and bent her head forwards, and then
- 3:54:48Speaker 21: on the other leg and bent her head forwards. But
- 3:54:52Speaker 21: all would not do. You stood very seriously all together,
- 3:54:57Speaker 21: although it was difficult enough. But I I laughed to myself,
- 3:55:01Speaker 21: and then I fell off the table and got a bump,
- 3:55:04Speaker 21: which I still have, for it was not right of
- 3:55:06Speaker 21: me to laugh. But the hole now passes before me
- 3:55:10Speaker 21: again in thought and everything that I have lived to see.
- 3:55:15Speaker 21: And these are the old thoughts, with what they may
- 3:55:17Speaker 21: bring with them. Tell me, if you still sing on Sundays,
- 3:55:22Speaker 21: tell me something about little Mary, and how my comrade,
- 3:55:25Speaker 21: the other pewter soldier lives. Yes, he is happy enough,
- 3:55:29Speaker 21: that's sure. I cannot bear it any longer. You are
- 3:55:34Speaker 21: given away as a present, said the little boy. You
- 3:55:37Speaker 21: must remain. Can you not understand that? The old man
- 3:55:42Speaker 21: now came with a drawer in which there was much
- 3:55:45Speaker 21: to be seen, both tin boxes and balsam boxes, old cards,
- 3:55:51Speaker 21: so large and so gilded, such as one never sees
- 3:55:54Speaker 21: them now. And several drawers were opened, and the piano
- 3:55:58Speaker 21: was opened. It had unescapes on the inside of the lid,
- 3:56:02Speaker 21: and it was so hoarse when the old man played
- 3:56:04Speaker 21: on it. And then he hummed the song. Yes she
- 3:56:09Speaker 21: could sing, that, said he, and nodded to the portrait
- 3:56:13Speaker 21: which he had bought at the broker's. And the old
- 3:56:15Speaker 21: man's eyes shone so bright.
- 3:56:18Speaker 14: I will go to the wars.
- 3:56:20Speaker 21: I will go to the wars, shouted the pewter soldier
- 3:56:24Speaker 21: as loud as he could. And threw himself off the drawers,
- 3:56:27Speaker 21: right down on the floor. What became of him? The
- 3:56:33Speaker 21: old man sought, and the little boy saw it. He
- 3:56:36Speaker 21: was away, and he stayed away. I shall find him,
- 3:56:42Speaker 21: said the old man, But he never found him. The
- 3:56:45Speaker 21: floor was too open. The pewter soldier had fallen through
- 3:56:48Speaker 21: a crevice, and there he lay as in an open tomb.
- 3:56:53Speaker 21: That day passed, and the little boy went home, And
- 3:56:56Speaker 21: that week passed, and several weeks too. The windows were
- 3:57:00Speaker 21: quite frozen. The little boy was obliged to sit and
- 3:57:04Speaker 21: breathe on them to get a peep hole over to
- 3:57:06Speaker 21: the old house, and there the snow had been blown
- 3:57:09Speaker 21: into all the carved work and inscriptions. It lay quite
- 3:57:14Speaker 21: up over the steps, just as if there was no
- 3:57:17Speaker 21: one at home. Nor was there any one at home.
- 3:57:22Speaker 21: The old man was dead.
- 3:57:24Speaker 14: In the evening.
- 3:57:25Speaker 21: There was a hearst scene before the door, and he
- 3:57:28Speaker 21: was borne into it in his coffin. He was now
- 3:57:31Speaker 21: to go into the country to lie in his grave.
- 3:57:35Speaker 21: He was driven out there, but no one followed. All
- 3:57:39Speaker 21: his friends were dead, and the little boy kissed his
- 3:57:42Speaker 21: hand to the coffin as it was driven away. Some
- 3:57:46Speaker 21: days afterwards there was an auction at the old house,
- 3:57:50Speaker 21: and the little boy saw from his window how they
- 3:57:53Speaker 21: carried the old knights and the old ladies away, the
- 3:57:56Speaker 21: flower pots with the long ears, the old chairs, and
- 3:58:00Speaker 21: the old clothes presses. Something came here, and something came there.
- 3:58:06Speaker 21: The portrait of her who had been found that the
- 3:58:08Speaker 21: brokers came to the brokers again, and there it hung,
- 3:58:12Speaker 21: for no one knew her more, no one cared about
- 3:58:15Speaker 21: the old picture. In the spring they pulled the house down,
- 3:58:22Speaker 21: for as people said, it was a ruin. One could
- 3:58:26Speaker 21: see from the street right into the room with the
- 3:58:28Speaker 21: hog's leather hanging, which was slashed and torn, and the
- 3:58:32Speaker 21: green grass and leaves about the balcony hung quite wild
- 3:58:35Speaker 21: about the falling beams. And then it was put to rights.
- 3:58:41Speaker 21: That was a relief, said the neighboring houses. A fine
- 3:58:46Speaker 21: house was built there, with large windows and smooth white walls.
- 3:58:50Speaker 21: But before it, where the old house had in fact stood,
- 3:58:54Speaker 21: was a little garden laid out, and a wild grapevine
- 3:58:57Speaker 21: ran up the wall of the neighboring house. Before the
- 3:59:01Speaker 21: garden there was a large iron railing with an iron door.
- 3:59:04Speaker 21: It looked quite splendid, and the people stood still and
- 3:59:08Speaker 21: peeped in, and the sparrows hung by scores in the
- 3:59:11Speaker 21: vine and chattered away at each other as well as
- 3:59:14Speaker 21: they could. But it was not about the old house,
- 3:59:17Speaker 21: for they could not remember it. So many years had passed,
- 3:59:21Speaker 21: so many that the little boy had grown to a
- 3:59:23Speaker 21: whole man, yes, a clever man, and a pleasure to
- 3:59:27Speaker 21: his parents. And he had just been married, and together
- 3:59:31Speaker 21: with his little wife, had come to live in the
- 3:59:33Speaker 21: house here where the garden was. And he stood by
- 3:59:36Speaker 21: her whilst she planted a field flower that she found
- 3:59:39Speaker 21: so pretty. She planted it with her little hand and
- 3:59:43Speaker 21: pressed the ears around it with her fingers. Oh what
- 3:59:48Speaker 21: was that she had stuck herself? There sat something pointed
- 3:59:53Speaker 21: straight out of the soft mold. It was, yes, guess
- 3:59:59Speaker 21: it was the pewter soldier. He that was lost up
- 4:00:02Speaker 21: at the old man, and had tumbled and turned about
- 4:00:05Speaker 21: amongst the timber and the rubbish, and had at last
- 4:00:08Speaker 21: laid for many years in the ground. The young wife
- 4:00:11Speaker 21: wiped the dirt off the soldier, first with a green leaf,
- 4:00:16Speaker 21: and then with her fine handkerchief. It had such a
- 4:00:19Speaker 21: delightful smell that it was to the pewter soldier just
- 4:00:23Speaker 21: as if he had awakened from a trance. Let me
- 4:00:27Speaker 21: see him, said the young man. He laughed, and then
- 4:00:31Speaker 21: shook his head. Nay, it cannot be. He but he
- 4:00:35Speaker 21: reminds me of a story about a pewter soldier, which
- 4:00:38Speaker 21: I had when I was a little boy. And then
- 4:00:41Speaker 21: he told his wife about the old house and the
- 4:00:43Speaker 21: old man, and about the pewter soldier that he sent
- 4:00:47Speaker 21: over to him because he was so very very lonely,
- 4:00:51Speaker 21: And he told it as correctly as it had really been,
- 4:00:55Speaker 21: so that the tears came into the eyes of his
- 4:00:57Speaker 21: young wife on account of the old house and the
- 4:01:00Speaker 21: old man. It may possibly be, however, that it is
- 4:01:05Speaker 21: the same pewter soldier, said she. I will take care
- 4:01:09Speaker 21: of it and remember all that you have told me.
- 4:01:12Speaker 21: But you must show me the old man's grave. But
- 4:01:16Speaker 21: I do not know it, said he. And no one
- 4:01:19Speaker 21: knows it. All its friends were dead, no one took
- 4:01:22Speaker 21: care of it. And I was then a little boy.
- 4:01:27Speaker 21: How very very lonely he must have been, said she,
- 4:01:31Speaker 21: Very very lonely, said the pewter soldier. But it is
- 4:01:35Speaker 21: delightful not to be forgotten. Delightful shouted something close by.
- 4:01:42Speaker 21: But no one except the pewter soldier saw that it
- 4:01:45Speaker 21: was a piece of the hog's leather hangings. It had
- 4:01:49Speaker 21: lost all its gilding. It looked like a piece of
- 4:01:52Speaker 21: wet clay. But it had an opinion, and it gave
- 4:01:56Speaker 21: it The guilding decays. But Hogg's leave.
- 4:02:01Speaker 14: This.
- 4:02:01Speaker 21: The pewter soldier did not believe.
- 4:02:05Speaker 3: The happy family. Really, the largest green leaf in this
- 4:02:10Speaker 3: country is a dock leaf. If one held it before one,
- 4:02:14Speaker 3: it is like a whole apron. And if one holds
- 4:02:16Speaker 3: it over one's head in rainy weather, it is almost
- 4:02:19Speaker 3: as good as an umbrella, for it is so immensely large.
- 4:02:23Speaker 3: The burdock never grows alone, but where there grows one,
- 4:02:26Speaker 3: there always grow several. It is a great delight. And
- 4:02:30Speaker 3: all this delightfulness is snail's food. The great white snails,
- 4:02:34Speaker 3: which passons of quality in former times, made prickses of
- 4:02:39Speaker 3: ate and said, hum, hum, how delicious, For they thought
- 4:02:42Speaker 3: it tasted so delicate. Lived on dock leaves, and therefore
- 4:02:47Speaker 3: burdocks seeds were sown. Now there was an old manor
- 4:02:51Speaker 3: house where they no longer at snails they were quite extinct,
- 4:02:56Speaker 3: But the burdocks were not extinct. They grew and grew
- 4:03:00Speaker 3: all over the walks and all the beds. They could
- 4:03:02Speaker 3: not get the mastery over them. It was a whole
- 4:03:05Speaker 3: forest of burdocks here and there stood an apple and
- 4:03:08Speaker 3: a plant tree or else. One never would have thought
- 4:03:12Speaker 3: that it was a garden. All was burdocks. And there
- 4:03:16Speaker 3: lived the two last venerable old snails. They themselves knew
- 4:03:21Speaker 3: not how old they were, but they could remember very
- 4:03:24Speaker 3: well that there had been many more. That they were
- 4:03:27Speaker 3: of a family from foreign lands, and that for them
- 4:03:30Speaker 3: and theirs, the whole forest was planted. They had never
- 4:03:34Speaker 3: been outside it. But they knew that there was still
- 4:03:36Speaker 3: something more in the world, which was called the manor house,
- 4:03:40Speaker 3: and that they were boiled, and then they became black,
- 4:03:43Speaker 3: and were then placed on a silver dish. But what
- 4:03:46Speaker 3: happened further they knew not, or in fact, what it
- 4:03:50Speaker 3: was to be boiled and to lie on a silver
- 4:03:52Speaker 3: dish they could not possibly imagine. But it was said
- 4:03:56Speaker 3: to be delightful and particularly genteel. Neither the chafers, the toads,
- 4:04:02Speaker 3: nor the earth worms whom they asked about it, could
- 4:04:05Speaker 3: give them any information. None of them had been boiled
- 4:04:08Speaker 3: or laid on a silver dish. The old white snails
- 4:04:13Speaker 3: were the first persons of distinction in the world that
- 4:04:15Speaker 3: they knew. The forest was planted for their sake, and
- 4:04:20Speaker 3: the manor house was there that they might be boiled
- 4:04:23Speaker 3: and laid on a silver dish. Now they lived a
- 4:04:26Speaker 3: very lonely and happy life, And as they had no
- 4:04:29Speaker 3: children themselves, they had adopted a little common snail, which
- 4:04:33Speaker 3: they brought up as their own. But the little one
- 4:04:36Speaker 3: would not grow, for he was of a common family.
- 4:04:40Speaker 3: But the old ones, especially Dame Mother Snail, thought they
- 4:04:44Speaker 3: could observe how he increased in size, and she begged father,
- 4:04:47Speaker 3: if he could not see it, that he would at
- 4:04:50Speaker 3: least feel the little snail's shell. And then he felt
- 4:04:53Speaker 3: it and found the good Dame was right. One day
- 4:04:57Speaker 3: there was a heavy storm of rain. Hear how it
- 4:05:01Speaker 3: beats like a drum on the dock leaves, said father snail.
- 4:05:06Speaker 3: There are also rain drops, said mother snail. And now
- 4:05:10Speaker 3: the rain pours right down the stalk. He will see
- 4:05:13Speaker 3: that it will be wet here. I am very happy
- 4:05:16Speaker 3: to think that we have our good house, and the
- 4:05:18Speaker 3: little one has his also. There is more done for
- 4:05:22Speaker 3: us than for all the other creatures, sure enough, But
- 4:05:25Speaker 3: can you not see that we are folks of quality
- 4:05:28Speaker 3: in the world. We are provided with a house from
- 4:05:31Speaker 3: our berth, and the burdock forest is planted for our sakes.
- 4:05:36Speaker 3: I should like to know how far it extends, and
- 4:05:39Speaker 3: what there is outside. There is nothing at all, said
- 4:05:44Speaker 3: father Snail. No place can be better than ours, and
- 4:05:48Speaker 3: I have nothing to wish for, yes, said the Dame,
- 4:05:52Speaker 3: I would willingly go to the manor house, be boiled
- 4:05:55Speaker 3: and laid on a silver dish. All our forefathers have
- 4:05:58Speaker 3: been treated, so there is something extraordinary in it. You
- 4:06:02Speaker 3: may be sure the manor house has most likely fall
- 4:06:06Speaker 3: into ruin, said father Snail. All the burdocks have grown
- 4:06:11Speaker 3: up over it so that they cannot come out. There
- 4:06:14Speaker 3: need not, however, be any haste about that. But you
- 4:06:18Speaker 3: are always in such a tremendous hurry, and the little
- 4:06:20Speaker 3: one is beginning to be the same. Has he not
- 4:06:23Speaker 3: been creeping up that stalk these three days? It gives
- 4:06:27Speaker 3: me a headache when I look up to him. You
- 4:06:30Speaker 3: must not scold him, said mother Snail. He creeps so
- 4:06:34Speaker 3: carefully he will afford us much pleasure, and we have
- 4:06:38Speaker 3: nothing but him to live for. But had he not
- 4:06:41Speaker 3: thought of it, where shall we get a wife for him?
- 4:06:46Speaker 3: Do you not think that there are some of our
- 4:06:48Speaker 3: species in the great distance in the interior of the
- 4:06:50Speaker 3: Burdock Forest black snails, I dare say there are enough
- 4:06:55Speaker 3: of said the old one, black snails without a house.
- 4:07:00Speaker 3: But they are so common and so conceited. But we
- 4:07:03Speaker 3: might have the ants the commission to look out for us.
- 4:07:06Speaker 3: They run to and fro as if they had something
- 4:07:08Speaker 3: to do. And they certainly know of a wife for
- 4:07:11Speaker 3: our little snail. I know one, sure enough, the most
- 4:07:16Speaker 3: charming one, said one of the ants. But I am
- 4:07:19Speaker 3: afraid we shall hardly succeed, for she is a queen.
- 4:07:24Speaker 3: That is nothing, said the old folks. Has she a house?
- 4:07:28Speaker 3: She has a palace, said the ant, the finest ant's palace,
- 4:07:33Speaker 3: with seven hundred passages. I thank you, said mother snail.
- 4:07:38Speaker 3: Our son shall not go into an ant hill. If
- 4:07:41Speaker 3: you know nothing better than that. We shall give the
- 4:07:43Speaker 3: commission to the white gnats. They fly far and wide
- 4:07:47Speaker 3: in rain and sunshine. They know the whole forest here,
- 4:07:50Speaker 3: both within and without. We have a wife for him,
- 4:07:55Speaker 3: said the gnats. At a hundred human paces from here,
- 4:07:59Speaker 3: there sits a little snaw in her house on a
- 4:08:01Speaker 3: gooseberry bush. She is quite lonely and old enough to
- 4:08:05Speaker 3: be married. It is only a hundred human paces. Well,
- 4:08:10Speaker 3: then let her come to him, said the old ones.
- 4:08:13Speaker 3: He has a whole forest of burdocks, she has only
- 4:08:16Speaker 3: a bush. And so they went and fetched little missus Snail.
- 4:08:22Speaker 3: It was a whole week before she arrived, but therein
- 4:08:25Speaker 3: was just the very best of it, for one could
- 4:08:27Speaker 3: thus see that she was of the same species. And
- 4:08:32Speaker 3: then the marriage was celebrated. Six earthworms shone as well
- 4:08:36Speaker 3: as they could in other respects. The whole went off
- 4:08:40Speaker 3: very quietly, for the old folks could not bear noise
- 4:08:43Speaker 3: and merriment. But old Dame Snail made a brilliant speech.
- 4:08:47Speaker 3: Father Snail could not speak, he was too much affected.
- 4:08:52Speaker 3: And so they gave them as a dowry and inheritance
- 4:08:55Speaker 3: the whole forest of burdocks, and said what they had
- 4:08:58Speaker 3: always said, that it was the best in the world,
- 4:09:02Speaker 3: and if they lived honestly and decently, and increased and multiplied,
- 4:09:07Speaker 3: they and their children would, once in the course of time,
- 4:09:10Speaker 3: come to the manor house, be boiled black and laid
- 4:09:13Speaker 3: on silver dishes. After this speech was made, the old
- 4:09:18Speaker 3: ones crept into their shells, and never more came out.
- 4:09:22Speaker 3: They slept. The young couple governed in the forest and
- 4:09:26Speaker 3: had a numerous progeny, but they were never boiled, and
- 4:09:30Speaker 3: never came on the silver dishes. So from this they
- 4:09:34Speaker 3: concluded that the manor house had fallen to ruins, and
- 4:09:37Speaker 3: that all the men in the world were extinct, And
- 4:09:40Speaker 3: as no one contradicted them, so of course it was so.
- 4:09:45Speaker 3: And the rain beat on the dock leaves to make
- 4:09:47Speaker 3: drum music for their sake, and the sun shone in
- 4:09:51Speaker 3: order to give the Burdock forest a color for their sakes.
- 4:09:54Speaker 3: And they were very happy, and the whole family was happy,
- 4:09:57Speaker 3: for they indeed were so end of the happy family.
- 4:10:03Speaker 22: The story of a mother. Her mother sat there with
- 4:10:08Speaker 22: her little child. She was so downcast, so fraid that
- 4:10:12Speaker 22: it should die. It was so pale, the small eyes
- 4:10:16Speaker 22: had closed themselves, and it drew its breath so softly
- 4:10:20Speaker 22: now and then with a deep respiration, as if it sighed.
- 4:10:25Speaker 22: And the mother looked still more sorrowfully on the little creature.
- 4:10:29Speaker 22: Then a knocking was heard at the door, and in
- 4:10:32Speaker 22: came a poor old man, wrapped up as in a
- 4:10:35Speaker 22: large horse cloth, for it warms one and he needed it.
- 4:10:40Speaker 22: As it was the cold winter season. Everything out of
- 4:10:44Speaker 22: doors was carved with ies in snow, and the wind
- 4:10:47Speaker 22: blew so that it cut the face. As the old
- 4:10:51Speaker 22: man trembled with cold, and the little child slept a moment,
- 4:10:56Speaker 22: the mother went and poured some alley into a pot
- 4:11:00Speaker 22: and set it on the stove, that it might be
- 4:11:02Speaker 22: warm for him. The old man sat and rocked the cradle,
- 4:11:07Speaker 22: and the mother sat down and chair closed by him,
- 4:11:11Speaker 22: and looked at her little sick child that drew its
- 4:11:14Speaker 22: breath so deep, and raised its little hand. Do you
- 4:11:20Speaker 22: not think that I shall save him?
- 4:11:22Speaker 4: Said she?
- 4:11:23Speaker 22: Our Lord will not take him from me. The old
- 4:11:27Speaker 22: man it was death himself. He nodded so strangely it
- 4:11:31Speaker 22: could just as well signify yes as no. And the
- 4:11:35Speaker 22: mother looked down in her lap, and the tears ran
- 4:11:38Speaker 22: down over her cheeks. Her head became so heavy. She
- 4:11:43Speaker 22: had not closed her eyes for three days and nights,
- 4:11:47Speaker 22: and now she slept, but only for a minute, when
- 4:11:51Speaker 22: she started up and trembled with cold.
- 4:11:55Speaker 10: What is that?
- 4:11:56Speaker 22: Said she, and looked down on all slide. But the
- 4:12:00Speaker 22: old man was gone, and her little child was gone.
- 4:12:06Speaker 22: He had taken it with him, and the old clock
- 4:12:09Speaker 22: in the corner bird and burd the great leaden weight
- 4:12:14Speaker 22: ran down to the floor bump, and then the clock
- 4:12:18Speaker 22: also stood still. But the poor mother ran out of
- 4:12:22Speaker 22: the house and cried aloud for her child. Out there
- 4:12:28Speaker 22: in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman
- 4:12:30Speaker 22: in long black clothes, and she said, death has been
- 4:12:35Speaker 22: in thy chamber. And I saw him hasten away with
- 4:12:39Speaker 22: thy little child. He goes faster than the wind, and
- 4:12:43Speaker 22: he never brings back what he takes. Oh, only tell
- 4:12:48Speaker 22: me which way he went, said the mother. Tell me
- 4:12:51Speaker 22: the way, and I shall find him. I know it,
- 4:12:55Speaker 22: said the woman in the black clothes. But before I
- 4:12:59Speaker 22: tell it, thou, thou must first sing for me all
- 4:13:01Speaker 22: the songs thou hast sung for thy child. I am
- 4:13:05Speaker 22: fond of them. I have heard them before. I am Knight.
- 4:13:09Speaker 22: I saw thy tears whilst thou sangst them. I will
- 4:13:14Speaker 22: sing them all all, said the mother. But do not
- 4:13:18Speaker 22: stop me now I may overtake him. I may find
- 4:13:22Speaker 22: my child. But Knight stood still and mute. Then the
- 4:13:27Speaker 22: mother wrung her hands, sang and wept, and theou were
- 4:13:31Speaker 22: many songs, but yet many more tears. And then Knight said,
- 4:13:36Speaker 22: go to the right, into the dark pine forest. Thither
- 4:13:40Speaker 22: I saw Death take his way with thy little child.
- 4:13:46Speaker 22: The roads crossed each other in the depths of the forest,
- 4:13:49Speaker 22: and she no longer knew whether she should go. Then
- 4:13:53Speaker 22: there stood a thorn bush. There was neither leaf nor
- 4:13:57Speaker 22: flower on it. It was also in the cool inter season,
- 4:14:01Speaker 22: and ice flakes hung on the branches. Hast thou not
- 4:14:04Speaker 22: seen Death go past with my little child? Said the mother. Yes,
- 4:14:10Speaker 22: said the thorn bush. But I will not tell thee
- 4:14:13Speaker 22: which way he took, unless thou wilt first warm me
- 4:14:17Speaker 22: up at thy heart. I am freezing to death. I
- 4:14:20Speaker 22: shall become a lump of ice. And she passed the
- 4:14:24Speaker 22: thorn bush to her breast so firmly that it might
- 4:14:27Speaker 22: be thoroughly warmed. And the thorns went right into her flesh,
- 4:14:32Speaker 22: and her blood flowed in large drops. But the thorn
- 4:14:35Speaker 22: bush shot forth fresh green leaves, and there came flowers
- 4:14:39Speaker 22: on it in the cool winter night. The heart of
- 4:14:43Speaker 22: the afflicted mother was so warm, and the thorn bush
- 4:14:47Speaker 22: told her the way she should go. She then came
- 4:14:50Speaker 22: to a large lake, where there was neither ship nor boat.
- 4:14:54Speaker 22: The lake was not frozen sufficiently to bear her. Neither
- 4:14:58Speaker 22: was it open nor law enough that she could wade
- 4:15:02Speaker 22: through it and across it. She must go if she
- 4:15:04Speaker 22: would find her child. Then she lay down to drink
- 4:15:09Speaker 22: up the lake. And that was an impossibility for a
- 4:15:12Speaker 22: human being, But the afflicted mother thought that a miracle
- 4:15:16Speaker 22: might happen. Nevertheless, Oh what should I not give to
- 4:15:20Speaker 22: come to my child? Said the weeping mother, And she
- 4:15:23Speaker 22: wept still more, and her eyes sunk down at the
- 4:15:27Speaker 22: depths of the waters, and became two precious parlse But
- 4:15:30Speaker 22: the water bore her up as if she sat in
- 4:15:33Speaker 22: a swing, and she flung in the rocking waves to
- 4:15:36Speaker 22: the shore on the opposite sides, and where there stood
- 4:15:39Speaker 22: a mild, broad, strange house. One knew not if it
- 4:15:43Speaker 22: were a mountain with forests and caverns, or if it
- 4:15:47Speaker 22: were built up, But the poor mother could not see it.
- 4:15:51Speaker 22: She had wept her eyes out. Where shall I find Death,
- 4:15:55Speaker 22: who took away my little child? Said she. He has
- 4:15:59Speaker 22: not come here yet, said the old grave woman, who
- 4:16:02Speaker 22: was appointed to look after Death's great green house. How
- 4:16:07Speaker 22: have you been able to find the way hither? And
- 4:16:09Speaker 22: who has helped you? Our Lord has helped me, said she.
- 4:16:14Speaker 22: He's merciful, and you will also be so where shall
- 4:16:18Speaker 22: I find my little child? Nay I know not, said
- 4:16:22Speaker 22: the woman, And you cannot see many flowers and trees
- 4:16:26Speaker 22: are withered this night. Death will soon come and plant
- 4:16:29Speaker 22: them over again. You certainly know that every person has
- 4:16:34Speaker 22: he saw her life's tree or flower, just as everyone
- 4:16:37Speaker 22: happens to be settled. They look like other plants, but
- 4:16:41Speaker 22: they have pulsations of the heart. Children's hearts can also
- 4:16:45Speaker 22: beat go after yours. Perhaps you may know our childs.
- 4:16:49Speaker 22: But what will you give if I tell you what
- 4:16:53Speaker 22: you shall do more? I have nothing to give, said
- 4:16:56Speaker 22: the afflicted mother, But I will go to the world's
- 4:16:59Speaker 22: end for you. Nay, I have nothing to do there,
- 4:17:02Speaker 22: said the woman. But you can give me your long
- 4:17:05Speaker 22: black hair. You know yourself that it is fine, and
- 4:17:09Speaker 22: that I like you shall have my white hair instead,
- 4:17:13Speaker 22: And that's always something. Do demand nothing else, said she,
- 4:17:19Speaker 22: that I will gladly give you. And she gave her
- 4:17:23Speaker 22: fine black hair and got the old woman's snow white
- 4:17:27Speaker 22: hair instead. So they went into Death's great greenhouse, where
- 4:17:32Speaker 22: flowers and trees grew strangely into one another. There stood
- 4:17:36Speaker 22: fine hyacins under glass bells, and there stood strong stemmed peonies.
- 4:17:42Speaker 22: There grew water plants, some so fresh, others half sick.
- 4:17:46Speaker 22: The water snakes lay down on them, and black crabs
- 4:17:50Speaker 22: pinched their stalks. There stood beautiful palm trees, oaks and planterns.
- 4:17:56Speaker 22: There stood parsley and flowering thyme. Every tree and every
- 4:18:00Speaker 22: flower had its name. Each of them was a human life.
- 4:18:04Speaker 22: The human frame still lived, one in China, and another
- 4:18:08Speaker 22: in greenland. Round about in the world there were large
- 4:18:12Speaker 22: trees in small pots, so that they stood so stunted
- 4:18:15Speaker 22: in growth and ready to burst the pots. In other
- 4:18:19Speaker 22: places there was a little dull flower in rich mold,
- 4:18:23Speaker 22: with moss round about it, and it was so petted
- 4:18:26Speaker 22: and nursed. But the distressed mother bent down o'er all
- 4:18:31Speaker 22: the smallest plants and heard within them how the human
- 4:18:34Speaker 22: heart beat. And amongst millions she knew her childs. There
- 4:18:39Speaker 22: I tease, cried she, and stretched her hands out over
- 4:18:42Speaker 22: a little blue crocud, hung quite sickly on one side.
- 4:18:48Speaker 22: Don't touch the flower, said the old woman, But place
- 4:18:52Speaker 22: yourself here. And when death comes, I expect him every moment.
- 4:18:56Speaker 22: Do not let him pluck the flower up, but threaten
- 4:18:59Speaker 22: him that you will do the same with the others.
- 4:19:02Speaker 22: Then he will be afraid. He is responsible for them
- 4:19:06Speaker 22: to our Lord, and no one dares to pluck them
- 4:19:09Speaker 22: up before he gives leap. All at once, an icy
- 4:19:13Speaker 22: cold rushed through the great hall, and the blind mother
- 4:19:16Speaker 22: could feel that it was Death that came. How hast
- 4:19:19Speaker 22: thou been able to find thy way hither?
- 4:19:22Speaker 14: He asked?
- 4:19:24Speaker 22: How couldst thou come quicker than I? I am a mother,
- 4:19:28Speaker 22: said she. And Death stretched out his long hand towards
- 4:19:32Speaker 22: the fine little flower, but she held her hands fast
- 4:19:36Speaker 22: around his, so tight and yet afraid that she should
- 4:19:40Speaker 22: touch one of the leaves. Then Death blew on her hands,
- 4:19:44Speaker 22: and she felt that it was colder than the cold wind,
- 4:19:48Speaker 22: and her hands fell down powerless. Thou canst not do
- 4:19:53Speaker 22: anything against me, said Death, But our Lord can, said she.
- 4:19:59Speaker 22: I ow to do his biddings, said Death, Um his gardener.
- 4:20:03Speaker 22: I take all his flowers and trees and plant them
- 4:20:06Speaker 22: out in the great garden of Paradise, in the unknown land.
- 4:20:10Speaker 22: But how they grow there, and how it is there,
- 4:20:13Speaker 22: I dare not tell. THEE Give him back my child,
- 4:20:17Speaker 22: said the mother, and she wept and prayed. At once
- 4:20:22Speaker 22: she seized hold of two beautiful flowers close by with
- 4:20:26Speaker 22: each hand, and cried out to Death, I will tear
- 4:20:30Speaker 22: all thy flowers off, for I am in despair. Touch
- 4:20:35Speaker 22: them not, said Death. Thou sayest that thou art so unhappy,
- 4:20:40Speaker 22: and now thou wilt make another mother equally unhappy another mother,
- 4:20:46Speaker 22: said the poor woman, and directly let go her hold
- 4:20:50Speaker 22: above the flowers. There thou hast thine eyes, said Death.
- 4:20:55Speaker 22: I fished them up from the lake. They shone so
- 4:20:59Speaker 22: bright I knew not they were thine. Take them again.
- 4:21:03Speaker 22: They are now brighter than before. Now look down into
- 4:21:06Speaker 22: the deep well close by. I shall tell thee the
- 4:21:09Speaker 22: names of the two flowers thou wouldst have torn up,
- 4:21:13Speaker 22: And thou wilt see their whole future life, their whole
- 4:21:17Speaker 22: human existence, and see what thou wast about to disturb
- 4:21:21Speaker 22: and destroy. And she looked down into the well, and
- 4:21:25Speaker 22: it was a happiness to see how the one became
- 4:21:28Speaker 22: a blessing to the world, to see how much happiness
- 4:21:31Speaker 22: and joy were felt everywhere. And she saw the other's life,
- 4:21:36Speaker 22: and it was sorrow and distress, horror and wretchedness. Both
- 4:21:42Speaker 22: of them are God's will, said Death. Which of them
- 4:21:46Speaker 22: is Misfortune's flower, and which is that of happiness?
- 4:21:49Speaker 4: Asked she.
- 4:21:51Speaker 22: That I will not tell THEE said death, But this
- 4:21:54Speaker 22: thou shalt know from me, that the one flower was
- 4:21:58Speaker 22: thy own child. It was thy child's fate. Thou sawest
- 4:22:02Speaker 22: thy own child's future life. Then the mother screamed with terror,
- 4:22:08Speaker 22: which of them was my child? Tell it me, save
- 4:22:11Speaker 22: the innocent, Save my child from all that misery. Rather
- 4:22:16Speaker 22: take it away, take it into God's kingdom. Forget my tears,
- 4:22:20Speaker 22: forget my prayers, and all that I have done. I
- 4:22:25Speaker 22: do not understand THEE said death. Wilt thou have thy
- 4:22:29Speaker 22: child again? Or shall I go with it there where
- 4:22:33Speaker 22: thou dost not know? Then the mother wrung her hands,
- 4:22:38Speaker 22: fell on her knees and prayed to our Lord. Oh
- 4:22:42Speaker 22: hear me not when I pray against thy will, which
- 4:22:45Speaker 22: is the best?
- 4:22:46Speaker 11: Hear me not?
- 4:22:47Speaker 21: Hear me not.
- 4:22:49Speaker 22: And she bowed her head down in her lap, and
- 4:22:52Speaker 22: death took her child and went with it to the
- 4:22:55Speaker 22: unknown land.
- 4:22:59Speaker 13: The fall collar. There was once a fine gentleman, all
- 4:23:05Speaker 13: of whose movables were a boot jack and a hair comb.
- 4:23:09Speaker 13: But he had the finest false collars in the world.
- 4:23:13Speaker 13: And it is about one of these collars that we
- 4:23:17Speaker 13: are now to hear a story. It was so old
- 4:23:21Speaker 13: that it began to think of marriage. And it happened
- 4:23:26Speaker 13: that it came to be washed in company with a garter. Nay,
- 4:23:31Speaker 13: said the collar. I never see anything so slender and
- 4:23:37Speaker 13: so fine, so soft and so neat. May I not
- 4:23:42Speaker 13: ask your name, that I shall not tell you, said
- 4:23:47Speaker 13: the garter. Where do you leave? Asked the collar. But
- 4:23:53Speaker 13: the garter was so bashful, so modest, and thought it
- 4:23:57Speaker 13: was a strange question to answer. You are certainly a girdle,
- 4:24:03Speaker 13: said the collar, that is to say, an inside girdle.
- 4:24:08Speaker 13: I see well that you are both for use and ormond,
- 4:24:11Speaker 13: my dear young lady, I will thank you not to
- 4:24:16Speaker 13: speak to me, said the garter. I think I have
- 4:24:20Speaker 13: not given the least occasion for it. Yes, when one
- 4:24:26Speaker 13: is as handsome as you, said the collar, that is
- 4:24:31Speaker 13: occasion enough. Don't come so near me. I beg of you,
- 4:24:37Speaker 13: said the garter. You look so much like those men folks.
- 4:24:44Speaker 13: I am also a fine gentleman, said the collar. I
- 4:24:49Speaker 13: have a boot jack and a hair comb. But that
- 4:24:55Speaker 13: was not true, for it was his master who had them.
- 4:24:59Speaker 13: But he boasted, don't come so near me, said the garter,
- 4:25:05Speaker 13: I'm not accustomed to eat prude, exclaimed the collar. And
- 4:25:11Speaker 13: then it was taken out of the washing tub. It
- 4:25:14Speaker 13: was started hung over the back of a chair in
- 4:25:17Speaker 13: the sunshine, and was then laid on the ironing blanket.
- 4:25:22Speaker 13: Then came the worm box iron. Dear lady, said the collar.
- 4:25:30Speaker 13: Dear widow lady, I feel quite hot, I am quite changed.
- 4:25:37Speaker 13: I begin to unfold myself. You will burn a hole
- 4:25:42Speaker 13: in me. O. I offer you my hand, rag said
- 4:25:48Speaker 13: the box iron, and went proudly over the collar. For
- 4:25:53Speaker 13: she fancied she was a steam engine that will go
- 4:25:57Speaker 13: on the railroad and draw the wagons, rag, said the
- 4:26:03Speaker 13: box iron. The collar was a little jack at the edge,
- 4:26:08Speaker 13: and so came the long scissors to cut off the
- 4:26:11Speaker 13: jack part. Huh, said the collar. You are certainly the
- 4:26:17Speaker 13: first opera dancer. How well you can stretch your legs out.
- 4:26:24Speaker 13: It is the most graceful performance I have ever seen.
- 4:26:30Speaker 13: No one can imitate you, I know it, said the scissors.
- 4:26:38Speaker 13: You deserve to be a baroness, said the collar. All
- 4:26:42Speaker 13: that I have is a fine gentleman, a boot jack
- 4:26:46Speaker 13: and a hair comb. If I only had the barony,
- 4:26:52Speaker 13: do you seek my hand? Said the scissors, for she
- 4:26:57Speaker 13: was angry, and without more aid of she cut him,
- 4:27:02Speaker 13: and then he was condemned. I shall now be obliged
- 4:27:07Speaker 13: to ask the hair comb. It is surprising how well
- 4:27:11Speaker 13: you preserve your teeth, miss, said the collar. Have you
- 4:27:16Speaker 13: never thought of being be throwed? Yes, of course you
- 4:27:22Speaker 13: may be sure of that, said the hair comb. I
- 4:27:25Speaker 13: am the throat to the boot jack be throwed, exclaimed
- 4:27:31Speaker 13: the collar. Now there was no other court, and so
- 4:27:37Speaker 13: he despised it. A long time passed away. Then the
- 4:27:42Speaker 13: collar came into the rag chest at the paper mill.
- 4:27:46Speaker 13: There was a large company of rags, the fine by themselves,
- 4:27:51Speaker 13: and the course by themselves, just as it should be.
- 4:27:58Speaker 13: They all had much to say, but the collar the most,
- 4:28:02Speaker 13: for he was a real boaster. I have had such
- 4:28:07Speaker 13: an immense number of sweethearts, said the collar, I could
- 4:28:12Speaker 13: not be in peace. It is true. I was always
- 4:28:16Speaker 13: a fine, starch up gentleman. I had both a boot
- 4:28:20Speaker 13: jack and a hair comb, which I have never used.
- 4:28:25Speaker 13: You should have seen me, then, you should have seen
- 4:28:29Speaker 13: me when I lay down. I shall never forget my
- 4:28:33Speaker 13: first love. She was a girdle, so fine, so soft,
- 4:28:40Speaker 13: and so charming. She threw herself into a tub of
- 4:28:45Speaker 13: water for my sake. There was also a widow who
- 4:28:50Speaker 13: became glowing hot, but I left her standing till she
- 4:28:55Speaker 13: got black again. There was also the first opera dancer.
- 4:29:00Speaker 13: She gave me that cup which I now go with.
- 4:29:04Speaker 13: She was so ferocious, my own hair comb was in
- 4:29:09Speaker 13: love with me. She lost all her teeth from that
- 4:29:14Speaker 13: heart ache. Yes, I have leave to see much of
- 4:29:20Speaker 13: that sort of thing, but I am extremely sorry for
- 4:29:25Speaker 13: the garter. I mean the girdle that went into the watertop.
- 4:29:32Speaker 13: I have much of my conscience. I want to become
- 4:29:35Speaker 13: white paper, and it became so. All the rags were
- 4:29:41Speaker 13: turned into white paper. But the collar came to be
- 4:29:45Speaker 13: just this very piece of white paper we hear see
- 4:29:50Speaker 13: and on which the story is printed. And that was
- 4:29:54Speaker 13: because it boasted so terribly afterwards of what had never
- 4:29:59Speaker 13: happened to eat. It would be well for us to
- 4:30:03Speaker 13: beware that we may not act in a similar manner,
- 4:30:09Speaker 13: for we can never know if we may not, in
- 4:30:13Speaker 13: the course of time, also come into the rag chest
- 4:30:18Speaker 13: and be made into white paper, and then have our
- 4:30:22Speaker 13: whole life's history printed on it, even the most secret,
- 4:30:28Speaker 13: and be obliged to run about and tell it ourselves,
- 4:30:32Speaker 13: just like this collar, and of the false collar.
- 4:30:39Speaker 18: The shadow. It is in the hot lands that the
- 4:30:44Speaker 18: sun burns sure enough. There the people become quite a
- 4:30:48Speaker 18: mahogany brown a, and in the hottest lands they are
- 4:30:53Speaker 18: burnt to negroes. But now it was only to the
- 4:30:57Speaker 18: hot lands that a learned man had come from the cold.
- 4:31:01Speaker 18: There he thought that he could run about just as
- 4:31:04Speaker 18: when at home, But he soon found out his mistake.
- 4:31:09Speaker 18: He and all sensible folks were obliged to stay within doors.
- 4:31:15Speaker 18: The window shutters and doors were closed the whole day.
- 4:31:19Speaker 18: It looked as if the whole house slept, or there
- 4:31:22Speaker 18: was no one at home. The narrow street with the
- 4:31:26Speaker 18: high houses was built so that the sunshine must fall
- 4:31:30Speaker 18: there from morning till evening. It was really not to
- 4:31:33Speaker 18: be borne the learned man from the cold lands. He
- 4:31:38Speaker 18: was a young man and seemed to be a clever man.
- 4:31:41Speaker 18: Sat in a glowing oven. It took effect on him.
- 4:31:46Speaker 18: He became quite meager. Even his shadow shrunk in, for
- 4:31:50Speaker 18: the sun had also an effect on it. It was
- 4:31:54Speaker 18: first towards evening, when the sun was down, that they
- 4:31:58Speaker 18: began to freshen up again. In the warm lands, every
- 4:32:03Speaker 18: window has a balcony, and the people came out on
- 4:32:07Speaker 18: all the balconies in the street, for one must have air,
- 4:32:11Speaker 18: even if one be accustomed to be mahogany. It was
- 4:32:15Speaker 18: lively both up and down the street. Tailors and shoemakers,
- 4:32:19Speaker 18: and all the folks moved out into the street. Chairs
- 4:32:23Speaker 18: and tables were brought forth, and candles burnt. Yes, above
- 4:32:28Speaker 18: a thousand lights were burning, and the one talked and
- 4:32:31Speaker 18: the other sung, and people walked, and church bells rang,
- 4:32:36Speaker 18: and asses went along with a dingle, dingle dong, for
- 4:32:39Speaker 18: they too had bells. On the street, boys were screaming
- 4:32:43Speaker 18: and hooting, and shouting and shooting with devils and detonating balls.
- 4:32:49Speaker 18: And there came corpse bearers and hood wearers, for there
- 4:32:53Speaker 18: were funerals with Psalm and him, and then the din
- 4:32:58Speaker 18: of carriages driving and com arriving. Yes, it was in
- 4:33:03Speaker 18: truth lively enough down in the street.
- 4:33:07Speaker 7: Only in that.
- 4:33:08Speaker 18: Single house which stood opposite that in which the learned
- 4:33:12Speaker 18: foreigner lived, it was quite still, And yet some one
- 4:33:17Speaker 18: lived there. For there stood flowers in the balcony. They
- 4:33:21Speaker 18: grew so well in the sun's heat, and that they
- 4:33:24Speaker 18: could not do unless they were watered and someone must
- 4:33:28Speaker 18: water them. There must be somebody there. The door opposite
- 4:33:34Speaker 18: was also opened late in the evening, but it was
- 4:33:37Speaker 18: dark within, at least in the front room. Further in
- 4:33:42Speaker 18: there was heard the sound of music. The learned foreigner
- 4:33:46Speaker 18: thought it quite marvelous. But now it might be that
- 4:33:50Speaker 18: he only imagined it, for he found everything marvelous out
- 4:33:54Speaker 18: there in the warm lands, if there had only been
- 4:33:57Speaker 18: no sun. The strange's landlord said that he didn't know
- 4:34:02Speaker 18: who had taken the house opposite. One saw no person about,
- 4:34:07Speaker 18: and as to the music, it appeared to him to
- 4:34:10Speaker 18: be extremely tiresome. It is as if someone sat there
- 4:34:15Speaker 18: and practiced a piece that he could not master. Always
- 4:34:19Speaker 18: the same piece. I shall master, it, says he, But
- 4:34:24Speaker 18: yet he cannot master it, however long he plays. One
- 4:34:29Speaker 18: night the stranger awoke. He slept with the doors of
- 4:34:32Speaker 18: the balcony open, the curtain before it was raised by
- 4:34:36Speaker 18: the wind, and he thought that a strange luster came
- 4:34:40Speaker 18: from the opposite neighbor's house. All the flowers shone like
- 4:34:44Speaker 18: flames in the most beautiful colors, and in the midst
- 4:34:49Speaker 18: of the flowers stood a slender, graceful maiden. It was
- 4:34:53Speaker 18: as if she also shone. The light really hurt his eyes.
- 4:34:58Speaker 18: He now opened them quite wide. Yes, he was quite awake.
- 4:35:04Speaker 18: With one spring, he was on the floor. He crept
- 4:35:08Speaker 18: gently behind the curtain. But the maiden was gone. The
- 4:35:12Speaker 18: flowers shone no longer, but there they stood, fresh and
- 4:35:16Speaker 18: blooming as ever. The door was ajar and far within.
- 4:35:21Speaker 18: The music sounded so soft and delightful one could really
- 4:35:25Speaker 18: melt away in sweet thoughts from it. Yet it was
- 4:35:29Speaker 18: like a piece of enchantment. And who lived there? Where
- 4:35:34Speaker 18: was the actual entrance? The whole of the ground floor
- 4:35:38Speaker 18: was a row of shops, and there people could not
- 4:35:41Speaker 18: always be running through. One evening, the stranger sat out
- 4:35:45Speaker 18: on the balcony. The light burnt in the room behind him,
- 4:35:49Speaker 18: and thus it was quite natural that his shadow should
- 4:35:52Speaker 18: fall on his opposite neighbor's wall. Yes, there it sat
- 4:35:57Speaker 18: directly opposite between the flowers on the balcony. And when
- 4:36:01Speaker 18: the stranger moved, the shadow also moved, For that it
- 4:36:05Speaker 18: always does. I think my shadow is the only living
- 4:36:11Speaker 18: thing one sees over there, said the learned man. See
- 4:36:16Speaker 18: how nicely it sits between the flowers. The door stands
- 4:36:20Speaker 18: half open. Now the shadow should be cunning and go
- 4:36:24Speaker 18: into the room, look about, and then come and tell
- 4:36:28Speaker 18: me what it has seen. Come now, be useful and
- 4:36:32Speaker 18: do me a service, said he, in jest, have the
- 4:36:35Speaker 18: kindness to step in. Now art thou going? And then
- 4:36:41Speaker 18: he nodded to the shadow, and the shadow nodded again. Well,
- 4:36:46Speaker 18: then go, but don't stay away. The stranger rose, and
- 4:36:52Speaker 18: his shadow on the opposite neighbor's balcony rose also. The
- 4:36:58Speaker 18: stranger turned around, and the shadow also turned around. Yes,
- 4:37:04Speaker 18: if any one had paid particular attention to it, they
- 4:37:07Speaker 18: would have seen quite distinctly that the shadow went in
- 4:37:12Speaker 18: through the half open balcony door of their opposite neighbor,
- 4:37:16Speaker 18: just as the stranger went into his own room and
- 4:37:19Speaker 18: let the long curtain fall down after him. Next morning,
- 4:37:25Speaker 18: the learned man went out to drink coffee and read
- 4:37:28Speaker 18: the newspapers. What is that, said he as he came
- 4:37:32Speaker 18: out into the sunshine. I have no shadow, So then
- 4:37:37Speaker 18: it has actually gone last night and not come again.
- 4:37:40Speaker 18: It is really tiresome. This annoyed him, not so much
- 4:37:46Speaker 18: because the shadow was gone, but because he knew there
- 4:37:49Speaker 18: was a story about a man without a shadow. It
- 4:37:53Speaker 18: was known to everybody at home in the cold lands,
- 4:37:57Speaker 18: and if the learned man now came there and told
- 4:38:00Speaker 18: his story, they would say that he was imitating it,
- 4:38:04Speaker 18: and that he had no need to do. He would
- 4:38:08Speaker 18: therefore not talk about it at all, and that was
- 4:38:12Speaker 18: wisely thought. In the evening he went out again on
- 4:38:18Speaker 18: the balcony. He had placed the light directly behind him,
- 4:38:22Speaker 18: for he knew that the shadow would always have its
- 4:38:25Speaker 18: master for a screen. But he could not entice it.
- 4:38:30Speaker 18: He made himself little, he made himself great, But no
- 4:38:34Speaker 18: shadow came again. He said, hemp, hemp, But it was
- 4:38:40Speaker 18: of no use. It was vexatious. But in the warm
- 4:38:45Speaker 18: lands everything grows so quickly. And after the lapse of
- 4:38:49Speaker 18: eight days, he observed, to his great joy that a
- 4:38:53Speaker 18: new shadow came in the sunshine. In the course of
- 4:38:56Speaker 18: three weeks he had a very fair shadow, which, when
- 4:39:00Speaker 18: he set out for his home in the northern lands,
- 4:39:03Speaker 18: grew more and more in the journey, so that at
- 4:39:07Speaker 18: last it was so long and so large that it
- 4:39:10Speaker 18: was more than sufficient. The learned man then came home,
- 4:39:14Speaker 18: and he wrote books about what was true in the world,
- 4:39:18Speaker 18: and about what was good and what was beautiful. And
- 4:39:22Speaker 18: there passed days and years, yes, many years passed by
- 4:39:29Speaker 18: one evening, as he was sitting in his room, there
- 4:39:33Speaker 18: was a gentle knocking at the door. Come in, said he,
- 4:39:38Speaker 18: But no one came in. So he opened the door,
- 4:39:42Speaker 18: and there stood before him such an extremely lean man
- 4:39:47Speaker 18: that he felt quite strange. As to the rest. The
- 4:39:51Speaker 18: man was very finely dressed. He must be a gentleman.
- 4:39:56Speaker 18: Whom have I the honor of speaking, asked the learned man. Yes,
- 4:40:02Speaker 18: I thought as much, said the fine man. I thought
- 4:40:06Speaker 18: you would not know me. I have got so much body.
- 4:40:10Speaker 18: I have even got flesh and clothes. You certainly never
- 4:40:14Speaker 18: thought of seeing me so well off? Do you not
- 4:40:18Speaker 18: know your old shadow? You certainly thought I should never
- 4:40:21Speaker 18: more return. Things have gone on well with me since
- 4:40:25Speaker 18: I was last with you. I have, in all respects
- 4:40:29Speaker 18: become very well off. Shall I purchase my freedom from service?
- 4:40:34Speaker 18: If so I can do it? And then he rattled
- 4:40:38Speaker 18: a whole bunch of valuable seals that hung to his watch,
- 4:40:42Speaker 18: and he stuck his hand in the thick gold chain
- 4:40:45Speaker 18: he wore around his neck. Nay, how all his fingers
- 4:40:49Speaker 18: glittered with diamond rings, and then all were pure gems. Nay,
- 4:40:55Speaker 18: I cannot recover from my surprise, said the learned man,
- 4:40:59Speaker 18: What is the meaning of all this? Something common? It
- 4:41:03Speaker 18: is not, said the shadow, But you yourself do not
- 4:41:07Speaker 18: belong to the common order. And I, as you know well,
- 4:41:12Speaker 18: have from a child, followed in your footsteps. As soon
- 4:41:16Speaker 18: as you found I was capable to go out alone
- 4:41:19Speaker 18: in the world, I went my own way. I am
- 4:41:23Speaker 18: in the most brilliant circumstances. But there came a sort
- 4:41:28Speaker 18: of desire over me to see you once more before
- 4:41:31Speaker 18: you die. You will die, I suppose. I also wished
- 4:41:36Speaker 18: to see this land again, for you know we always
- 4:41:39Speaker 18: love our native land. I know you have got another
- 4:41:43Speaker 18: shadow again. Have I anything to pay to it?
- 4:41:46Speaker 4: Or you?
- 4:41:48Speaker 18: If so, you will oblige me by saying what it is? Nay,
- 4:41:53Speaker 18: is it really thou? Said the learned man. It is
- 4:41:56Speaker 18: most remarkable. I never imagined that one old shadow could
- 4:42:01Speaker 18: come again as a man. Tell me what I have
- 4:42:05Speaker 18: to pay, said the shadow, For I don't like to
- 4:42:08Speaker 18: be in any sort of debt. How canst thou talk,
- 4:42:12Speaker 18: so said the learned man. What debt is there to
- 4:42:15Speaker 18: talk about? Make thyself as free as any one else.
- 4:42:20Speaker 18: I am extremely glad to hear of thy good fortune.
- 4:42:24Speaker 18: Sit down, old friend, and tell me a little how
- 4:42:27Speaker 18: it has gone with thee, and what thou hast seen
- 4:42:31Speaker 18: at our opposite neighbors there in the warm lands. Yes,
- 4:42:36Speaker 18: I will tell you all about it, said the shadow,
- 4:42:38Speaker 18: and sat down. But then you must also promise me
- 4:42:44Speaker 18: that wherever you may meet me, you will never say
- 4:42:47Speaker 18: to any one here in the town that I have
- 4:42:49Speaker 18: been your shadow. I intend to get betrothed, for I
- 4:42:53Speaker 18: can provide for more than one family. Be quite at
- 4:42:57Speaker 18: thy ease about that, said the learned man. I shall
- 4:43:00Speaker 18: not say to anyone who thou actually art. Here is
- 4:43:04Speaker 18: my hand, I promise it, And a man's bond is
- 4:43:08Speaker 18: his word. A word is the shadow, said the shadow,
- 4:43:13Speaker 18: and as such it must speak. It was really quite
- 4:43:18Speaker 18: astonishing how much of a man it was. It was
- 4:43:22Speaker 18: dressed entirely in black and of the very finest cloth.
- 4:43:27Speaker 18: It had patent leather boots and a hat that could
- 4:43:30Speaker 18: be folded together so that it was bare, crown and brim.
- 4:43:34Speaker 18: Not to speak of what we already know. It had seals,
- 4:43:38Speaker 18: gold neck chain, and diamond rings. Yes, the shadow was
- 4:43:43Speaker 18: well dressed, and it was just that which made it
- 4:43:47Speaker 18: quite a man. Now I shall tell you of my adventures,
- 4:43:52Speaker 18: said the shadow, and then he sat with the polished
- 4:43:55Speaker 18: boots as heavily as he could on the arm of
- 4:43:58Speaker 18: the learned Man's new shadow, which lay like a poodle
- 4:44:02Speaker 18: dog at his feet. Now this was perhaps from arrogance,
- 4:44:07Speaker 18: and the shadow on the ground kept itself so still
- 4:44:10Speaker 18: and quiet that I might hear all that passed. It
- 4:44:14Speaker 18: wished to know how it could get free and work
- 4:44:17Speaker 18: its way up so as to become its own master.
- 4:44:21Speaker 18: Do you know who lived in our opposite neighbor's house,
- 4:44:24Speaker 18: said the shadow. It was the most charming of all beings.
- 4:44:29Speaker 8: It was Poesy.
- 4:44:31Speaker 18: I was there for three weeks, and that has as
- 4:44:34Speaker 18: much effect as if one had lived three thousand years
- 4:44:38Speaker 18: and read all that was composed and written. That is
- 4:44:42Speaker 18: what I say, and that is right. I have seen everything,
- 4:44:46Speaker 18: and I know everything, Poesy, cried the learned man. Yes, yes,
- 4:44:54Speaker 18: she often dwells, a recluse in large cities. Poesy, Yes,
- 4:45:00Speaker 18: I have seen her a single short moment, but sleep
- 4:45:04Speaker 18: came into my eyes. She stood on the balcony and
- 4:45:08Speaker 18: shone as the Aurora borealis shines, go on, go on,
- 4:45:15Speaker 18: thou wert on the balcony and went through the doorway
- 4:45:18Speaker 18: and then then I was in the antechamber, said the shadow.
- 4:45:24Speaker 18: You always sat and looked over to the antechamber. There
- 4:45:28Speaker 18: was no light. There was a sort of twilight, but
- 4:45:31Speaker 18: the one door stood open directly opposite the other, through
- 4:45:35Speaker 18: a long row of rooms and saloons, and there it
- 4:45:38Speaker 18: was lighted up. I should have been completely killed if
- 4:45:42Speaker 18: I had gone over to the maiden, but I was circumspect.
- 4:45:45Speaker 18: I took time to think, and that one must always do.
- 4:45:50Speaker 18: And what didst thou then see? Asked the learned man.
- 4:45:54Speaker 18: I saw everything, and I shall tell all to you.
- 4:45:58Speaker 18: But it is no price on my part as a
- 4:46:01Speaker 18: free man, and with the knowledge I have not to
- 4:46:04Speaker 18: speak of my position in life, my excellent circumstances. I
- 4:46:09Speaker 18: certainly wish that you would say you to me. I
- 4:46:14Speaker 18: beg your pardon, said the learned man. It is an
- 4:46:17Speaker 18: old habit with me. You are perfectly right, and I
- 4:46:21Speaker 18: shall remember it. But now you must tell me all.
- 4:46:25Speaker 18: You saw everything, said the shadow, For I saw everything,
- 4:46:30Speaker 18: and I know everything. How did it look in the
- 4:46:34Speaker 18: furthest saloon, asked the learned man. Was it there as
- 4:46:38Speaker 18: in the fresh woods? Was it there as in a
- 4:46:40Speaker 18: holy church? Were the saloons like the Starlit firmament when
- 4:46:45Speaker 18: we stand on the high mountains. Everything was there, said
- 4:46:50Speaker 18: the shadow. I did not go quite in. I remained
- 4:46:53Speaker 18: in the foremost room in the twilight. But I stood
- 4:46:57Speaker 18: there quite well. I saw everything, and I know everything.
- 4:47:02Speaker 18: I have been in the ante chamber at the court
- 4:47:04Speaker 18: of Poesy. But what did you see? Did all the
- 4:47:08Speaker 18: gods of the olden times pass through the large saloons,
- 4:47:12Speaker 18: that the old heroes come bat there? Did sweet children
- 4:47:15Speaker 18: play there and relate their dreams? I tell you I
- 4:47:19Speaker 18: was there, and you can conceive that I saw everything
- 4:47:22Speaker 18: there was to be seen. Had you come over there,
- 4:47:25Speaker 18: you would not have been a man. But I became so.
- 4:47:29Speaker 18: And besides, I learned to know my inward nature, my
- 4:47:34Speaker 18: innate qualities, the relationship I had with Poesy. At the
- 4:47:39Speaker 18: time I was with you, I thought not of that,
- 4:47:42Speaker 18: But always you know it well. When the sun rose
- 4:47:46Speaker 18: and when the sun went down, I became so strangely
- 4:47:49Speaker 18: great in the moonlight. I was very near being more
- 4:47:53Speaker 18: distinct than yourself. At that time I did not understand
- 4:47:58Speaker 18: my nature. It was revealed to be in the antechamber,
- 4:48:02Speaker 18: I became a man. I came out matured, but you
- 4:48:06Speaker 18: were no longer in the warm lands as a man.
- 4:48:10Speaker 18: I was ashamed to go as I did. I was
- 4:48:13Speaker 18: in want of boots, of clothes, of the whole human
- 4:48:16Speaker 18: varnish that makes a man perceptible. I took my way.
- 4:48:21Speaker 18: I tell it to you, but you will not put
- 4:48:24Speaker 18: it in any book. I took my way to the
- 4:48:27Speaker 18: cake woman. I hid myself behind her. The woman didn't
- 4:48:31Speaker 18: think how much she concealed. I went out first in
- 4:48:35Speaker 18: the evening. I ran about the streets in the moonlight.
- 4:48:39Speaker 18: I made myself long up the walls. It tickles the
- 4:48:43Speaker 18: back so delightfully. I ran up and ran down. Peeped
- 4:48:47Speaker 18: into the highest windows, into the saloons, and on the roofs.
- 4:48:51Speaker 18: I peeped in where no one could peep. And I
- 4:48:54Speaker 18: saw what no one else saw, what no one else
- 4:48:57Speaker 18: should see. This is, in fact a base world. I
- 4:49:02Speaker 18: would not be a man if it were not now
- 4:49:05Speaker 18: once accepted and regarded as something to be.
- 4:49:08Speaker 10: So.
- 4:49:09Speaker 18: I saw the most unimaginable things with the women, with
- 4:49:12Speaker 18: the men, with parents, and with the sweet matchless children.
- 4:49:17Speaker 18: I saw, said the shadow, what no human being must know,
- 4:49:23Speaker 18: but what they would all so willingly know, What is
- 4:49:26Speaker 18: bad in their neighbor. Had I written a newspaper, it
- 4:49:30Speaker 18: would have been read. But I wrote directly to the
- 4:49:34Speaker 18: persons themselves, and there was consternation in all the towns
- 4:49:38Speaker 18: where I came. They were so afraid of me, and
- 4:49:42Speaker 18: yet they were so excessively fond of me. The professors
- 4:49:46Speaker 18: made a professor of me, and the tailors gave me
- 4:49:49Speaker 18: new clothes. I am well furnished. The master of the
- 4:49:52Speaker 18: mint struck new coin for me, and the women said
- 4:49:56Speaker 18: I was so handsome, and so I became the man
- 4:50:00Speaker 18: I am. And now I bid you farewell. Here is
- 4:50:04Speaker 18: my card. I live on the sunny side of the street,
- 4:50:08Speaker 18: and am always at home at rainy weather. And so
- 4:50:12Speaker 18: away went the shadow. That was most extraordinary, said the
- 4:50:17Speaker 18: learned man. Years and days passed by, then the shadow
- 4:50:22Speaker 18: came again.
- 4:50:23Speaker 13: How goes it?
- 4:50:24Speaker 18: Said the shadow? Alas said the learned man, I write
- 4:50:29Speaker 18: about the true and the good and the beautiful, but
- 4:50:32Speaker 18: no one cares to hear such things. I am quite desperate,
- 4:50:36Speaker 18: for I take it so much to heart. But I don't,
- 4:50:40Speaker 18: said the shadow. I become fat, and it is that
- 4:50:44Speaker 18: one wants to become. You do not understand the world.
- 4:50:48Speaker 18: You will become ill by it. You must travel. I
- 4:50:52Speaker 18: shall make a tour this summer. Will you go with me.
- 4:50:56Speaker 18: I should like to have a traveling companion. Will you
- 4:50:59Speaker 18: go with me as shadow. It will be a great
- 4:51:03Speaker 18: pleasure for me to have you with me. I shall
- 4:51:06Speaker 18: pay the traveling expenses. Nay, this is too much, said
- 4:51:11Speaker 18: the learned man. It is just as one takes it,
- 4:51:14Speaker 18: said the shadow. It will do you much good to travel.
- 4:51:18Speaker 18: Will you be my shadow? You shall have everything free
- 4:51:21Speaker 18: on the journey. Nay, that is too bad, said the
- 4:51:26Speaker 18: learned man. But it is just so with the world,
- 4:51:30Speaker 18: said the shadow, And so it will be, and away
- 4:51:33Speaker 18: it went again. The learned man was not at all
- 4:51:38Speaker 18: in the most enviable state. Grief and torment followed him,
- 4:51:42Speaker 18: and what he said about the true and the good
- 4:51:45Speaker 18: and the beautiful was to most persons like roses for
- 4:51:49Speaker 18: a cow. He was quite ill. At last, you really
- 4:51:54Speaker 18: look like a shadow, said his friends to him, and
- 4:51:57Speaker 18: the learned man trembled for he thought of it. You
- 4:52:02Speaker 18: must go to a watering place, said the shadow, who
- 4:52:05Speaker 18: came and visited him. There is nothing else for it.
- 4:52:08Speaker 18: I will take you with me for old acquaintance sake.
- 4:52:12Speaker 18: I will pay the traveling expenses, and you write the descriptions,
- 4:52:17Speaker 18: and if they are a little musing for me, on
- 4:52:19Speaker 18: the way, I will go to a watering place. My
- 4:52:22Speaker 18: beard does not grow out as it ought. That is
- 4:52:26Speaker 18: also a sickness, and one must have a beard. Now
- 4:52:29Speaker 18: you be wise and accept the offer. We shall travel
- 4:52:33Speaker 18: as comrades. And so they traveled. The shadow was master
- 4:52:39Speaker 18: and the master was the shadow. They drove with each other.
- 4:52:43Speaker 18: They rode and walked together, side by side, before and behind.
- 4:52:48Speaker 18: Just as the sun was, the shadow always took care
- 4:52:52Speaker 18: to keep itself in the master's place. Now the learned
- 4:52:56Speaker 18: man didn't think much about that. He was a very
- 4:52:59Speaker 18: kind hearted man, and particularly mild and friendly. And so
- 4:53:04Speaker 18: he said one day to the shadow, as we have
- 4:53:07Speaker 18: now become companions, and in this way have grown up
- 4:53:11Speaker 18: together from childhood. Shall we not drink thou together? It
- 4:53:16Speaker 18: is more familiar. You are right, said the shadow, who
- 4:53:21Speaker 18: was now the proper master. It is said in a
- 4:53:24Speaker 18: very straightforward and well meant manner. You, as a learned man,
- 4:53:29Speaker 18: certainly know how strange nature is. Some persons cannot bear
- 4:53:34Speaker 18: to touch gray paper, or they become ill. Others shiver
- 4:53:38Speaker 18: in every limb if one rub the pane of glass
- 4:53:41Speaker 18: with a nail. I have just such a feeling on
- 4:53:45Speaker 18: hearing you say thou to me. I feel myself as
- 4:53:48Speaker 18: if pressed to the earth in my first situation with you.
- 4:53:52Speaker 18: You see that it is a feeling that it is
- 4:53:55Speaker 18: not pride. I cannot allow you to say thou to me,
- 4:54:00Speaker 18: but I will willingly say thou to you. So it
- 4:54:02Speaker 18: is half done. So the shadow said thou to its
- 4:54:07Speaker 18: former master. This is rather too bad, thought he that
- 4:54:12Speaker 18: I must say you, and he say thou. But he
- 4:54:16Speaker 18: was now obliged to put up with it. So they
- 4:54:20Speaker 18: came to a watering place where there were many strangers,
- 4:54:24Speaker 18: and amongst them was a princess who was troubled with
- 4:54:27Speaker 18: seeing too well. And that was so alarming. She directly
- 4:54:32Speaker 18: observed that the stranger who had just come was quite
- 4:54:36Speaker 18: a different sort of person to all the others. He
- 4:54:39Speaker 18: has come here in order to get his beard to grow,
- 4:54:42Speaker 18: they say, But I see the real cause he cannot
- 4:54:46Speaker 18: cast a shadow. She had become inquisitive, and so she
- 4:54:52Speaker 18: entered into conversation directly with the strange gentlemen on their promenades.
- 4:54:57Speaker 18: As the daughter of a king, she need not to
- 4:55:00Speaker 18: stand upon trifles. So she said, your complaint is that
- 4:55:05Speaker 18: you cannot cast a shadow. Your Royal Highness must be
- 4:55:10Speaker 18: improving considerably, said the shadow. I know your complaint is
- 4:55:15Speaker 18: that you see too clearly, but it has decreased. You
- 4:55:18Speaker 18: are cured. I just happen to have a very unusual shadow.
- 4:55:23Speaker 18: Do you not see that person who always goes with me?
- 4:55:27Speaker 18: Other persons have a common shadow, but I do not
- 4:55:31Speaker 18: like what is common to all. We give our servants
- 4:55:34Speaker 18: finer cloth for their livery than we ourselves use. So
- 4:55:37Speaker 18: I had my shadow trimmed up into a man. Yes,
- 4:55:41Speaker 18: you see, I have even given him a shadow. It
- 4:55:44Speaker 18: is somewhat expensive, but I like to have something for myself.
- 4:55:49Speaker 18: What thought the princess? Should I really be cured? These
- 4:55:54Speaker 18: baths are the first in the world, and our time
- 4:55:57Speaker 18: water has wonderful powers. But I shall not leave this place,
- 4:56:02Speaker 18: for it now begins to be amusing.
- 4:56:04Speaker 4: Here.
- 4:56:05Speaker 18: I am extremely fond of that stranger. Would that his
- 4:56:08Speaker 18: beard should not grow, for in that case he will
- 4:56:11Speaker 18: leave us. In the evening, the Princess and the shadow
- 4:56:16Speaker 18: danced together in the large ballroom. She was light, but
- 4:56:20Speaker 18: he was still lighter. She had never had such a
- 4:56:24Speaker 18: partner in the dance. She told him from what land
- 4:56:27Speaker 18: she came, and he knew that land, he had been there.
- 4:56:31Speaker 18: But then she was not at home. He had peeped
- 4:56:35Speaker 18: in at the window above and below. He had seen
- 4:56:38Speaker 18: both the one and the other, and so he could
- 4:56:41Speaker 18: answer the princess and make insinuations, so that she was
- 4:56:46Speaker 18: quite astonished. He must be the wisest man in the
- 4:56:49Speaker 18: whole world. She felt such respect for what he knew,
- 4:56:54Speaker 18: so that when they again danced together, she fell in
- 4:56:57Speaker 18: love with him, and that the shadow could remark, for
- 4:57:01Speaker 18: she almost pierced him through with her eyes. So they
- 4:57:05Speaker 18: danced once more together, and she was about to declare herself,
- 4:57:10Speaker 18: but she was discreet. She thought of her country and kingdom,
- 4:57:14Speaker 18: and of the many persons she would have to reign over.
- 4:57:18Speaker 18: He is a wise man, she said to herself. It
- 4:57:22Speaker 18: is well, and he dances delightfully. That is also good.
- 4:57:27Speaker 18: But has he solid knowledge? That is just as important.
- 4:57:31Speaker 18: He must be examined. So she began by degrees to
- 4:57:36Speaker 18: question him about the most difficult things she could think of,
- 4:57:40Speaker 18: and which she herself could not have answered, so that
- 4:57:43Speaker 18: the Shadow made a strange face. You cannot answer these questions,
- 4:57:48Speaker 18: said the princess. They belonged to my childhood's learning, said
- 4:57:53Speaker 18: the shadow. I really believe my shadow by the door
- 4:57:56Speaker 18: there can answer them, your shadow, said the princess. That
- 4:58:01Speaker 18: would indeed be marvelous. I will not say for a
- 4:58:05Speaker 18: certainty that he can, said the shadow. But I think so.
- 4:58:10Speaker 18: He has now followed me for so many years and
- 4:58:13Speaker 18: listened to my conversation. I should think it possible. But
- 4:58:18Speaker 18: your Royal Highness will permit me to observe that he
- 4:58:22Speaker 18: is so proud of passing himself off for a man
- 4:58:25Speaker 18: that when he is to be in a proper humor,
- 4:58:28Speaker 18: and he must be so to answer, well, he must
- 4:58:31Speaker 18: be treated quite like a man. Oh I like that,
- 4:58:35Speaker 18: said the princess. So she went to the learned man
- 4:58:39Speaker 18: by the door, and she spoke to him about the
- 4:58:41Speaker 18: sun and the moon, and about persons out of and
- 4:58:45Speaker 18: in the world. And he answered with wisdom and prudence.
- 4:58:49Speaker 18: What a man that must be, who has so wise
- 4:58:52Speaker 18: a shadow, thought she. It will be a real blessing
- 4:58:56Speaker 18: to my people and kingdom if I choose him for
- 4:58:59Speaker 18: my consort.
- 4:59:00Speaker 5: I will do it.
- 4:59:02Speaker 18: They were soon agreed, both the princess and the shadow,
- 4:59:06Speaker 18: but no one was to know about it before she
- 4:59:09Speaker 18: arrived in her own kingdom. No one, not even my shadow,
- 4:59:14Speaker 18: said the shadow, and he had his own thoughts about it.
- 4:59:18Speaker 18: Now they were in the country where the princess reigned
- 4:59:21Speaker 18: when she was at home. Listen, my good friend, said
- 4:59:25Speaker 18: the shadow to the learned man. I have now become
- 4:59:29Speaker 18: as happy and mighty as any one can be. I
- 4:59:32Speaker 18: will therefore do something particular for THEE. Thou shalt always
- 4:59:38Speaker 18: live with me in the palace, drive with me in
- 4:59:40Speaker 18: my royal carriage, and have ten thousand pounds a year.
- 4:59:45Speaker 18: But then thou must submit to be called shadow by
- 4:59:49Speaker 18: all and everyone. Thou must not say that thou hast
- 4:59:53Speaker 18: ever been a man. And once a year, when I
- 4:59:57Speaker 18: sit on the balcony in the sunshine, thou must lie
- 5:00:01Speaker 18: at my feet as a shadow shall do. I must
- 5:00:04Speaker 18: tell THEE I am going to marry the king's daughter,
- 5:00:08Speaker 18: and the nuptials are to take place this evening.
- 5:00:12Speaker 11: Nay, this is going too far.
- 5:00:14Speaker 18: Said the learned man.
- 5:00:15Speaker 21: I will not have it.
- 5:00:17Speaker 8: I will not do it.
- 5:00:18Speaker 18: It is to deceive the whole country and the princess too.
- 5:00:22Speaker 18: I will tell everything that I am a man and
- 5:00:25Speaker 18: thou art a shadow, thou art only dressed up. There
- 5:00:30Speaker 18: is no one who will believe it, said the shadow.
- 5:00:32Speaker 18: Be reasonable, or I will call the guard. I will
- 5:00:36Speaker 18: go directly to the princess, said the learned man. But
- 5:00:40Speaker 18: I will go first, said the shadow, And thou wilt
- 5:00:43Speaker 18: go to prison, and that he was obliged to do
- 5:00:47Speaker 18: for the sentinels obeyed him, whom they knew the king's
- 5:00:51Speaker 18: daughter was to marry you. Tremble, said the princess, as
- 5:00:55Speaker 18: the Shadow came into her chamber. Has anything happened? You
- 5:00:59Speaker 18: must not be unwell this evening, now that we are
- 5:01:02Speaker 18: to have our nuptials celebrated. I have lived to see
- 5:01:07Speaker 18: the most cruel thing that anyone can live to see,
- 5:01:11Speaker 18: said the shadow. Only imagine, yes, it is true. Such
- 5:01:16Speaker 18: a poor shadow skull cannot bear much. Only think my
- 5:01:21Speaker 18: shadow has become mad. He thinks that he is a man,
- 5:01:26Speaker 18: and that I now only think that I am his shadow.
- 5:01:31Speaker 18: It is terrible, said the princess. But he is confined,
- 5:01:35Speaker 18: is he not that he is? I am afraid that
- 5:01:39Speaker 18: he will never recover, poor shadow, said the princess. He
- 5:01:44Speaker 18: is very unfortunate. It would be a real work of
- 5:01:47Speaker 18: charity to deliver him from the little life he has.
- 5:01:51Speaker 18: And when I think properly over the matter, I am
- 5:01:55Speaker 18: of opinion that it will be necessary to do away
- 5:01:57Speaker 18: with him in all stillness. It is certainly hard, said
- 5:02:02Speaker 18: the shadow, for he was a faithful servant. And then
- 5:02:06Speaker 18: he gave a sort of sigh. You are a noble character,
- 5:02:10Speaker 18: said the princess. The whole city was illuminated in the evening,
- 5:02:15Speaker 18: and the cannons went off with a bum bum, and
- 5:02:19Speaker 18: the soldier's presented arms.
- 5:02:21Speaker 21: That was a marriage.
- 5:02:23Speaker 18: The princess and the Shadow went out on the balcony
- 5:02:26Speaker 18: to show themselves and get another hurrah. The learned man
- 5:02:31Speaker 18: heard nothing of all this, for they had deprived him
- 5:02:35Speaker 18: of life.
- 5:02:37Speaker 13: And of the shadow.
- 5:02:40Speaker 7: The little match girl most terribly cold it was. It snowed,
- 5:02:46Speaker 7: and was nearly quite dark and evening, the last evening
- 5:02:50Speaker 7: of the year. In this cold and darkness, there went
- 5:02:54Speaker 7: along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded and with
- 5:02:57Speaker 7: naked feet. When she left home. She had slippers on,
- 5:03:01Speaker 7: it is true, but what was the good of that?
- 5:03:04Speaker 7: They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn.
- 5:03:08Speaker 7: So large were they, and the poor little thing lost
- 5:03:12Speaker 7: them as she scuffled away. Across the street because of
- 5:03:15Speaker 7: two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast. One slipper was
- 5:03:20Speaker 7: nowhere to be found. The other had been laid hold
- 5:03:23Speaker 7: of by an urchin, and off he ran with it.
- 5:03:26Speaker 7: He thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he,
- 5:03:29Speaker 7: some day or other, should have children himself. So the
- 5:03:33Speaker 7: little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet that
- 5:03:36Speaker 7: were quite red and blue from cold. She carried a
- 5:03:40Speaker 7: quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held
- 5:03:43Speaker 7: a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought
- 5:03:47Speaker 7: anything of her the whole livelong day. No one had
- 5:03:50Speaker 7: given her a single farthing. She crept along, trembling with
- 5:03:55Speaker 7: cold and hunger, a very picture of sorrow, the poor
- 5:03:59Speaker 7: little thing. The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair,
- 5:04:04Speaker 7: which fell in beautiful curls around her neck. But of that,
- 5:04:08Speaker 7: of course, she never once now thought. From all the
- 5:04:12Speaker 7: windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously
- 5:04:16Speaker 7: of roast goose, For you know, it was New Year's Eve. Yes,
- 5:04:20Speaker 7: of that, she thought. In a corner formed by two houses,
- 5:04:25Speaker 7: of which one advanced more than the other, she seated
- 5:04:29Speaker 7: herself down and cowered together her little feet she had
- 5:04:32Speaker 7: drawn close up to her. But she grew colder and colder,
- 5:04:37Speaker 7: and to go home she did not venture, for she
- 5:04:39Speaker 7: had not sold any matches, and could not bring a
- 5:04:42Speaker 7: farthing of money from her father. She would certainly get blows.
- 5:04:47Speaker 7: And at home it was cold too, for above her
- 5:04:50Speaker 7: she had only the roof through which the wind whistled.
- 5:04:53Speaker 7: Even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw
- 5:04:56Speaker 7: and rags. Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh,
- 5:05:02Speaker 7: a match might afford her a world of comfort, if
- 5:05:05Speaker 7: she only dared take a single one out of the bundle,
- 5:05:08Speaker 7: draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it.
- 5:05:11Speaker 7: She drew one out wrist. How it blazed, how it burnt.
- 5:05:16Speaker 7: It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle. As
- 5:05:19Speaker 7: she held her hands over it, it was a wonderful light.
- 5:05:23Speaker 7: It seemed, really to the little maiden, as though she
- 5:05:26Speaker 7: were sitting before a large iron stove with burnished brass
- 5:05:30Speaker 7: feet and a brass ornament atop. The fire burned with
- 5:05:33Speaker 7: such blessed influence. It warmed so delightfully. The little girl
- 5:05:38Speaker 7: had already stretched out her feet to warm them too.
- 5:05:41Speaker 7: But the small flame went out the stove vanished. She
- 5:05:45Speaker 7: had only the remains of the burnt out match in
- 5:05:48Speaker 7: her hand. She rubbed another against the wall. It burned brightly,
- 5:05:53Speaker 7: and where the light fell on the wall, there the
- 5:05:56Speaker 7: wall became transparent like a veil, so that she could
- 5:05:59Speaker 7: see into the room. On the table was spread a
- 5:06:03Speaker 7: snow white tablecloth. Upon it was a splendid porcelain service,
- 5:06:08Speaker 7: and the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing
- 5:06:11Speaker 7: of apple and dried plums. And what was still more
- 5:06:15Speaker 7: capital to behold was the goose hopped down from the dish,
- 5:06:19Speaker 7: reeled about on the floor with knife and fork in
- 5:06:21Speaker 7: its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl.
- 5:06:24Speaker 7: When the match went out, and nothing but the thick, cold,
- 5:06:28Speaker 7: damp wall was left behind, she lighted another match. Now
- 5:06:34Speaker 7: there she was sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree.
- 5:06:38Speaker 7: It was still larger and more decorated than the one
- 5:06:41Speaker 7: which she had seen through the glass door in the
- 5:06:43Speaker 7: rich merchant's house. Thousands of lights were burning on the
- 5:06:47Speaker 7: green branches, and gaily colored pictures such as she had
- 5:06:51Speaker 7: seen in the shop windows, looked down upon her. The
- 5:06:55Speaker 7: little maiden stretched out her hands toward them. When the
- 5:06:59Speaker 7: match went out, the lights of the Christmas tree rose
- 5:07:02Speaker 7: higher and higher. She saw them now as stars in heaven.
- 5:07:07Speaker 7: One fell down and formed a long trail of fire.
- 5:07:11Speaker 7: Some one is just dead, said the little girl, for
- 5:07:14Speaker 7: her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her
- 5:07:18Speaker 7: and who was now no more, had told her that
- 5:07:21Speaker 7: when a star falls, a soul ascends to God. She
- 5:07:26Speaker 7: drew another match against the wall. It was again light,
- 5:07:29Speaker 7: and in the luster there stood the old grandmother, so
- 5:07:33Speaker 7: bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression
- 5:07:37Speaker 7: of love. Grandmother cried the little one, Oh, take me
- 5:07:42Speaker 7: with you.
- 5:07:43Speaker 4: You go away.
- 5:07:44Speaker 10: When the match burns out, you vanish like the warm stove,
- 5:07:47Speaker 10: like the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree.
- 5:07:52Speaker 10: And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against
- 5:07:55Speaker 10: the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of
- 5:07:58Speaker 10: keeping her grandmother near her. And the matches gave such
- 5:08:01Speaker 10: a brilliant light that it was brighter than at noonday.
- 5:08:05Speaker 10: Never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and so tall.
- 5:08:10Speaker 10: She took the little maiden on her arm, and both
- 5:08:13Speaker 10: flew in brightness and joy, so high, so very high,
- 5:08:18Speaker 10: and then above was neither cold, nor hunger nor anxiety.
- 5:08:24Speaker 10: They were with God. But in the corner, at the
- 5:08:30Speaker 10: cold hour of dawn sat the poor girl, with rosy
- 5:08:33Speaker 10: cheeks and with the smiling mouth, leaning against the wall,
- 5:08:37Speaker 10: frozen to death. On the last evening of the old year,
- 5:08:41Speaker 10: stiff and stark sat the child there with her matches,
- 5:08:44Speaker 10: of which one bundle had been burnt. She wanted to
- 5:08:48Speaker 10: warm herself. People said, no one had the slightest suspicion
- 5:08:53Speaker 10: of what beautiful things she had seen. No one even
- 5:08:57Speaker 10: dreamed of the splendor in which, with her grandma mother
- 5:09:01Speaker 10: she had entered on the joys of a new year.
- 5:09:06Speaker 10: End of the little match.
- 5:09:07Speaker 23: Girl, the dream of little Tuck. Ah, Yes, that was
- 5:09:15Speaker 23: little Tuck. In reality, his name was not Tuck, but
- 5:09:20Speaker 23: that was what he called himself before he could speak plain.
- 5:09:24Speaker 23: He meant it for Charles. And it is all well
- 5:09:28Speaker 23: enough if one does but know it. He had now
- 5:09:33Speaker 23: to take care of his little sister, Augusta, who was
- 5:09:37Speaker 23: much younger than himself, and he was besides to learn
- 5:09:41Speaker 23: his lesson at the same time. But these two things
- 5:09:45Speaker 23: would not do together at all. There sat the poor
- 5:09:49Speaker 23: little fellow with his sister on his lap, and he
- 5:09:53Speaker 23: sang to her all the songs he knew, and he
- 5:09:56Speaker 23: glanced the while from time to time into the geography
- 5:10:00Speaker 23: book that lay open before him. By the next morning
- 5:10:04Speaker 23: he was to have learnt all the towns in Zeeland
- 5:10:07Speaker 23: by heart, and to know about them all that is
- 5:10:11Speaker 23: possible to be known. His mother now came home, for
- 5:10:16Speaker 23: she had been out, and took little Augusta on her arm.
- 5:10:21Speaker 23: Tuck ran quickly to the window and read so eagerly
- 5:10:25Speaker 23: that he pretty nearly read his eyes out, for it
- 5:10:29Speaker 23: got darker and darker, But his mother had no money
- 5:10:33Speaker 23: to buy a candle. There goes the old washerwoman over
- 5:10:38Speaker 23: the way, said his mother, as she looked out of
- 5:10:41Speaker 23: the window. The poor woman can hardly drag herself along,
- 5:10:46Speaker 23: and she must now drag the pail home from the fountain.
- 5:10:50Speaker 23: Be a good boy, Tucky, and run across and help
- 5:10:54Speaker 23: the old woman, won't you? So Tuck ran over quickly
- 5:10:58Speaker 23: and helped her. But when he came back again into
- 5:11:02Speaker 23: the room, it was quite dark, and as to a
- 5:11:06Speaker 23: light there was no thought of such a thing. He
- 5:11:10Speaker 23: was now to go to bed. That was an old
- 5:11:13Speaker 23: turn up bedstead. In it he lay and thought about
- 5:11:16Speaker 23: his geography lesson, and of Zeeland, and of all that
- 5:11:20Speaker 23: his master had told him. He ought to be sure
- 5:11:24Speaker 23: to have read over his lesson again, but that you know,
- 5:11:27Speaker 23: he could not do. He therefore put his geography book
- 5:11:31Speaker 23: under his pillow, because he had heard that was a
- 5:11:36Speaker 23: very good thing to do when one wants to learn
- 5:11:38Speaker 23: one's lesson, but one cannot, however, rely upon it entirely. Well,
- 5:11:45Speaker 23: there he lay and thought and thought, and all at
- 5:11:49Speaker 23: once it was just as if someone kissed his eyes
- 5:11:53Speaker 23: and mouth. He slept, And yet he did not sleep.
- 5:11:58Speaker 23: It was as though the old washerwoman gazed on him
- 5:12:02Speaker 23: with her mild eyes and said, it were a great
- 5:12:06Speaker 23: sin if you were not to know your lesson tomorrow morning.
- 5:12:11Speaker 23: You have aided me. I therefore will now help you,
- 5:12:15Speaker 23: and the loving God will do so at all times.
- 5:12:19Speaker 23: And all of a sudden, the book under Tuck's pillow
- 5:12:22Speaker 23: began scraping and scratching. Kikheti ki kluck, cluck cluck. That
- 5:12:30Speaker 23: was an old hen. That was an old hen who
- 5:12:33Speaker 23: came creeping along. And she was from kiyoj I'm a
- 5:12:39Speaker 23: keyoder hen, said she, And then she related how many
- 5:12:43Speaker 23: inhabitants there were there, and about the battle that had
- 5:12:46Speaker 23: taken place, and which after all, was hardly worth talking about. Quibbledy, crabbledy, plump,
- 5:12:56Speaker 23: downfell somebody. It was a wooden bird, the poppingjay used
- 5:13:01Speaker 23: at the shooting matches at Prostow. Now he said that
- 5:13:07Speaker 23: there were just as many inhabitants as he had nails
- 5:13:10Speaker 23: in his body, and he was very proud. Thor Waldsen
- 5:13:14Speaker 23: lived almost next door to me. Paulump here I lie capitally.
- 5:13:22Speaker 23: But little Tuck was no longer lying down. All at
- 5:13:25Speaker 23: once he was on horseback. On he went at full gallop,
- 5:13:30Speaker 23: still galloping on and on a night with a gleaming plume,
- 5:13:35Speaker 23: and most magnificently dressed, held him before him on the horse.
- 5:13:41Speaker 23: And thus they rode through the wood to the old
- 5:13:44Speaker 23: town of Boordingborg. And that was a large and very
- 5:13:48Speaker 23: lively town. High towers rose from the castle of the king,
- 5:13:53Speaker 23: and the brightness of many candles streamed from all the windows.
- 5:13:58Speaker 23: Within was dance and song, and King Waldemar and the young,
- 5:14:04Speaker 23: richly attired maids of honor danced together. The morn now came,
- 5:14:10Speaker 23: and as soon as the sun appeared, the whole town
- 5:14:13Speaker 23: and the King's palace crumbled together, and one tower after
- 5:14:17Speaker 23: the other, and at last only a single one remained
- 5:14:21Speaker 23: standing where the castle had been before. And the town
- 5:14:26Speaker 23: was so small and poor. And the schoolboys came along
- 5:14:30Speaker 23: with their books under their arms, and said two thousand inhabitants.
- 5:14:35Speaker 23: But that was not true, for there were not so many.
- 5:14:39Speaker 23: And little Tucky lay in his bed. It seemed to
- 5:14:43Speaker 23: him as if he dreamed, and yet as if he
- 5:14:46Speaker 23: were not dreaming. However, somebody was close beside him, Little Tucky,
- 5:14:53Speaker 23: Little Tucky cried, someone near. It was a seaman, quite
- 5:14:57Speaker 23: a little personage, so little as if he were a midshipman.
- 5:15:01Speaker 23: But a midshipman he was not many remembrances from Corsore.
- 5:15:08Speaker 23: That is a town that is just rising into importance,
- 5:15:11Speaker 23: a lively town that has steamboats and stage coaches. Formerly
- 5:15:16Speaker 23: people called it ugly, but that is no longer true.
- 5:15:20Speaker 23: I lie on the sea, said Corsair. I have high
- 5:15:24Speaker 23: roads and gardens, and I have given birth to a
- 5:15:27Speaker 23: poet who was witty and amusing, which all poets are not.
- 5:15:35Speaker 23: I once intended to equip a ship that was to
- 5:15:39Speaker 23: sail all around the earth, but I did not do it,
- 5:15:43Speaker 23: although I could have done so, And then too, I
- 5:15:46Speaker 23: smell so deliciously, for close before the gate bloomed the
- 5:15:52Speaker 23: most beautiful roses. Little Tuck looked, and all was red
- 5:15:57Speaker 23: and green before his eyes. But as soon as the
- 5:16:01Speaker 23: confusion of colors was somewhat over all, of a sudden
- 5:16:05Speaker 23: there appeared a wooded slope close to the bay, and
- 5:16:09Speaker 23: high up above stood a magnificent old church with two
- 5:16:13Speaker 23: high pointed towers. From out the hillside spouted fountains in
- 5:16:19Speaker 23: thick streams of water, so that there was a continual splashing.
- 5:16:24Speaker 23: And close beside them sat an old king with a
- 5:16:27Speaker 23: golden crown upon his white head. That was King Hurrar,
- 5:16:33Speaker 23: near the fountains, close to the town of Ralskady, as
- 5:16:38Speaker 23: it is now called.
- 5:16:40Speaker 14: And up the.
- 5:16:42Speaker 23: Slope into the old church went all the kings and
- 5:16:45Speaker 23: queens of Denmark, hand in hand, all with their golden crowns,
- 5:16:51Speaker 23: and the organ played, and the fountains rustled. Little Tuck
- 5:16:56Speaker 23: saw all heard all. Do not forget the diet, said
- 5:17:01Speaker 23: King Hurrar. Again, all suddenly disappeared, Yes, and whither it
- 5:17:09Speaker 23: seemed to him just as if one turned over a
- 5:17:12Speaker 23: leaf in a book, and now stood there an old
- 5:17:17Speaker 23: peasant woman who came from Sarol, where grass grows.
- 5:17:22Speaker 9: In the marketplace.
- 5:17:24Speaker 23: She had an old gray linen apron hanging over her
- 5:17:27Speaker 23: head and back. It was so wet it certainly must
- 5:17:30Speaker 23: have been raining. Yes, that it was, said she. And
- 5:17:36Speaker 23: she now related many pretty things out of Holberg's comedies,
- 5:17:39Speaker 23: and about Waldemar and Absalom. But all at once she
- 5:17:44Speaker 23: cowered together, and her head began shaking backwards and forwards,
- 5:17:49Speaker 23: and she looked as if she were going to make
- 5:17:51Speaker 23: a spring kroak kurok, said she. It is wet, it
- 5:17:57Speaker 23: is wet. There is such a pleasant deathlike stillness and sorb.
- 5:18:04Speaker 23: She was now suddenly a frog croak, and now she
- 5:18:08Speaker 23: was an old woman. One must dress according to the weather,
- 5:18:12Speaker 23: said she. It is wet, it is wet. My town
- 5:18:17Speaker 23: is just like a bottle, and one gets in by
- 5:18:20Speaker 23: the neck, and by the neck one must get out again.
- 5:18:24Speaker 23: In former times I had the finest fish, and now
- 5:18:29Speaker 23: I have fresh, rosy cheeked boys at the bottom of
- 5:18:32Speaker 23: the bottle who learn wisdom Hebrew Greek croak. When she spoke,
- 5:18:40Speaker 23: it sounded just like the noise of frogs, or as
- 5:18:43Speaker 23: if one walked with boots over a moor, always the
- 5:18:47Speaker 23: same tone, so uniform and so tiring, that little Tuck
- 5:18:52Speaker 23: fell into a good sound sleep, which, by the bye
- 5:18:58Speaker 23: could not do him any harm. But even in this
- 5:19:02Speaker 23: sleep there came a dream, or whatever else. It was
- 5:19:06Speaker 23: his little sister, Augusta, she with the blue eyes and
- 5:19:11Speaker 23: the fair curling hair, was suddenly a tall, beautiful girl,
- 5:19:16Speaker 23: and without having wings, was yet able to fly. And
- 5:19:20Speaker 23: she now flew over Zealand, over the green woods and
- 5:19:24Speaker 23: the blue lakes. Do you hear the cock crow? Tucky cock,
- 5:19:29Speaker 23: a doodle doo? The cocks are flying up from Judge.
- 5:19:34Speaker 23: You will have a farm yard so large, oh so
- 5:19:38Speaker 23: very large. You will suffer neither hunger nor thirst. You
- 5:19:42Speaker 23: will get on in the world. You will be a
- 5:19:45Speaker 23: rich and happy man. Your house will exalt itself like
- 5:19:49Speaker 23: King Waldemar's tower, and will be richly decorated with marble
- 5:19:54Speaker 23: statues like that at Pristau. You understand what I mean.
- 5:20:00Speaker 23: Your name shall circulate with renown all round the earth,
- 5:20:05Speaker 23: like unto the ship that was to have sailed from
- 5:20:08Speaker 23: course and in rose Kild. Do not forget the diet,
- 5:20:13Speaker 23: said King Hurrar. Then you will speak well and wisely.
- 5:20:18Speaker 23: Little Tucky, And when at last you sink into your grave,
- 5:20:22Speaker 23: you shall sleep as quietly as if I lay in Siroy,
- 5:20:28Speaker 23: said Tuck, awaking. It was bright day, and he was
- 5:20:32Speaker 23: now quite unable to call to mind his dream. That, however,
- 5:20:37Speaker 23: was not at all necessary, for one may not know
- 5:20:41Speaker 23: what the future will bring. And out of bed he
- 5:20:45Speaker 23: jumped and read in his book, and now all at
- 5:20:48Speaker 23: once he knew his whole lesson. And the old washerwoman
- 5:20:52Speaker 23: popped her head in at the door, nodded to him friendly,
- 5:20:56Speaker 23: and said, thanks, many thanks, my good child, for your help.
- 5:21:01Speaker 23: May the good, ever loving God fulfill your loveliest dream.
- 5:21:08Speaker 23: Little Tucky did not know at all what he had dreamed,
- 5:21:11Speaker 23: but the loving God knew it. End of the dream
- 5:21:17Speaker 23: of Little Tuck.
- 5:21:19Speaker 24: The naughty Boy. A long time ago there lived an
- 5:21:24Speaker 24: old poet, a thoroughly kind old poet. As he was
- 5:21:30Speaker 24: sitting one evening in his room, a dreadful storm arose without,
- 5:21:35Speaker 24: and the rain streamed down from heaven. But the old
- 5:21:39Speaker 24: poet sat warm and comfortable in his chimney corner, where
- 5:21:43Speaker 24: the fire blazed and the roasting apple hissed. Those who
- 5:21:48Speaker 24: have not a roof over their heads will be wetted
- 5:21:51Speaker 24: to the skin, said the good old poet. Oh let
- 5:21:55Speaker 24: me in, Let me in. I am cold, and I'm
- 5:21:58Speaker 24: so wet, exclaimed suddenly a child that stood crying at
- 5:22:03Speaker 24: the door and knocking for admittance, while the rain poured
- 5:22:06Speaker 24: down and the wind made all the windows rattle. Poor thing,
- 5:22:12Speaker 24: said the old poet, as he went to open the door.
- 5:22:16Speaker 24: There stood a little boy, quite naked, and the water
- 5:22:20Speaker 24: ran down from his long golden hair. He trembled with cold,
- 5:22:25Speaker 24: and had he not come into a warm room, he
- 5:22:28Speaker 24: would most certainly have perished in the frightful tempest. Poor child,
- 5:22:34Speaker 24: said the old poet, as he took the boy by
- 5:22:36Speaker 24: the hand. Come in, Come in, and I will soon
- 5:22:40Speaker 24: restore thee Thou shalt have wine and roasted apples, for
- 5:22:45Speaker 24: thou art verily a charming child. And the boy was
- 5:22:50Speaker 24: so really his eyes were like two bright stars, and
- 5:22:54Speaker 24: although the water trickled down his hair, it waved in
- 5:22:58Speaker 24: beautiful curls. He looked exactly like a little angel, but
- 5:23:03Speaker 24: he was so pale, and his whole body trembled with cold.
- 5:23:08Speaker 24: He had a nice little bow in his hand, but
- 5:23:10Speaker 24: it was quite spoiled by the rain, and the tints
- 5:23:14Speaker 24: of his many colored arrows ran one into the other.
- 5:23:19Speaker 24: The old poet seated himself beside his hearth and took
- 5:23:23Speaker 24: the little fellow on his lap. He squeezed the water
- 5:23:27Speaker 24: out of his dripping hair, warmed his hands between his own,
- 5:23:31Speaker 24: and boiled for him some sweet wine. Then the boy
- 5:23:36Speaker 24: recovered his cheeks again grew rosy. He jumped down from
- 5:23:41Speaker 24: the lap where he was sitting, and danced round the
- 5:23:44Speaker 24: kind old poet. You are a merry fellow, said the
- 5:23:49Speaker 24: old man. What's your name? My name is Cupid, answered
- 5:23:56Speaker 24: the boy.
- 5:23:57Speaker 14: Don't you know me?
- 5:23:59Speaker 24: There lies my Oh it shoots well, I can assure you. Look,
- 5:24:04Speaker 24: the weather is now clearing up, and the moon is
- 5:24:07Speaker 24: shining clear again through the window. Why your bow is
- 5:24:12Speaker 24: quite spoiled, said the old poet. That were sad, indeed,
- 5:24:17Speaker 24: said the boy, And he took the bow in his
- 5:24:20Speaker 24: hand and examined it on every side. Oh, it is
- 5:24:25Speaker 24: dry again and is not hurt at all. The string
- 5:24:28Speaker 24: is quite tight. I will try it directly, and he
- 5:24:33Speaker 24: bent his bow, took aim, and shot an arrow at
- 5:24:37Speaker 24: the old poet, right into his heart. You see now
- 5:24:42Speaker 24: that my bow was not spoiled, said he laughing, and
- 5:24:45Speaker 24: away he ran the naughty boy to shoot the old
- 5:24:50Speaker 24: poet in that way, he who had taken him into
- 5:24:54Speaker 24: his warm room, who had treated him so kindly, and
- 5:24:58Speaker 24: who had given him warm wine and the very best apples.
- 5:25:02Speaker 24: The poor poet lay on the earth and wept, for
- 5:25:06Speaker 24: the arrow had really flown into his heart. Fie said he,
- 5:25:12Speaker 24: how naughty a boy cupid is. I will tell all
- 5:25:16Speaker 24: children about him, that they may take care and not
- 5:25:19Speaker 24: play with him, for he will only cause them sorrow
- 5:25:23Speaker 24: and many a heartache. And all good children to whom
- 5:25:27Speaker 24: he related this story took great heed of this naughty cupid.
- 5:25:32Speaker 24: But he made fools of them still, for he is
- 5:25:35Speaker 24: astonishingly cunning. When the university students come from the lectures,
- 5:25:41Speaker 24: he runs beside them in a black coat and with
- 5:25:44Speaker 24: a book under his arm. It is quite impossible for
- 5:25:48Speaker 24: them to know him, and they walk along with him
- 5:25:50Speaker 24: arm and arm, as if he too were a student
- 5:25:53Speaker 24: like themselves, And then, unperceived, he thrusts an arrow to
- 5:25:59Speaker 24: their bosom. When the young maidens come from being examined
- 5:26:03Speaker 24: by the clergyman or go to church to be confirmed there,
- 5:26:07Speaker 24: he is again close behind them. Yes, he is forever
- 5:26:11Speaker 24: following people At the play, he sits in the great
- 5:26:15Speaker 24: chandelier and burns in bright flames, so that people think
- 5:26:19Speaker 24: it is really a flame, but they soon discover it
- 5:26:23Speaker 24: is something else. He roves about in the garden of
- 5:26:27Speaker 24: the palace and upon the ramparts. Yes, once he even
- 5:26:31Speaker 24: shot your father and mother right in the heart. Ask
- 5:26:34Speaker 24: them only and you will hear what they'll tell you. Oh,
- 5:26:38Speaker 24: he is a naughty boy, that cupid. You must never
- 5:26:42Speaker 24: have anything to do with him. He is forever running
- 5:26:46Speaker 24: after everybody. Only think he shot an arrow once at
- 5:26:50Speaker 24: your old grandmother. But that is a long time ago,
- 5:26:54Speaker 24: and it is all past now. However, a thing of
- 5:26:58Speaker 24: that sort she never forgets. Fine, naughty cupid. But now
- 5:27:04Speaker 24: you know him, and you know too how ill behaved
- 5:27:08Speaker 24: he is. End of the naughty Boy. The red shoes.
- 5:27:21Speaker 24: There was once a little girl who was very pretty
- 5:27:24Speaker 24: and delicate. But in summer she was forced to run
- 5:27:27Speaker 24: about with bare feet. She was so poor, and in
- 5:27:32Speaker 24: winter wear very large wooden shoes, which made her little
- 5:27:35Speaker 24: insteps quite red, and that looked so dangerous. In the
- 5:27:42Speaker 24: middle of the village lived old dom shoemaker. She sat
- 5:27:46Speaker 24: and sewed together as well as she could a little
- 5:27:50Speaker 24: pair of shoes out of old red strips of cloth.
- 5:27:53Speaker 24: They were very clumsy, but it was a kind thought.
- 5:27:57Speaker 24: They were meant for the little girl. The little girl
- 5:28:01Speaker 24: was called Karen. On the very day her mother was buried,
- 5:28:07Speaker 24: Karen received the red shoes and wore them for the
- 5:28:10Speaker 24: first time. They were certainly not intended for mourning, but
- 5:28:15Speaker 24: she had no others, and with stockingless feet, she followed
- 5:28:19Speaker 24: the poor straw coffin in them. Suddenly, a large old
- 5:28:24Speaker 24: carriage drove up, and a large old lady sat in it.
- 5:28:28Speaker 24: She looked at the little girl, felt compassion for her,
- 5:28:32Speaker 24: and then said to the clergyman, here give me the
- 5:28:35Speaker 24: little girl. I will adopt her. And Karen believed all
- 5:28:39Speaker 24: this happened on account of the red shoes. But the
- 5:28:43Speaker 24: old lady thought they were horrible, and they were burnt.
- 5:28:47Speaker 24: But Karen herself was cleanly and nicely dressed. She must
- 5:28:51Speaker 24: learn to read and sew. And people said she was
- 5:28:55Speaker 24: a nice little thing, but the looking glass said, thou
- 5:28:59Speaker 24: art more than nice, thou art beautiful. Now the queen
- 5:29:04Speaker 24: once traveled through the land, and she had her little
- 5:29:07Speaker 24: daughter with her, and this little daughter was a princess,
- 5:29:11Speaker 24: and people streamed to the castle, and Karen was there also,
- 5:29:15Speaker 24: And the little princess stood in her fine white dress
- 5:29:19Speaker 24: in a window and let herself be stared at. She
- 5:29:22Speaker 24: had neither a train nor a golden crown, but splendid
- 5:29:26Speaker 24: red Morocco shoes. They were certainly far handsomer than those
- 5:29:32Speaker 24: domed shoemaker had made for little Karen. Nothing in the
- 5:29:36Speaker 24: world can be compared with red shoes. Now Karen was
- 5:29:41Speaker 24: old enough to be confirmed. She had new clothes and
- 5:29:45Speaker 24: was to have new shoes also. The rich shoemaker in
- 5:29:49Speaker 24: the city took the measure of her little foot. This
- 5:29:52Speaker 24: took place at his house, in his room, where stood
- 5:29:56Speaker 24: large glass cases filled with elegant shoes and brilliant boots.
- 5:30:02Speaker 24: All this looked charming, but the old lady could not
- 5:30:05Speaker 24: see well, and so had no pleasure in them. In
- 5:30:09Speaker 24: the midst of the shoes stood a pair of red ones,
- 5:30:12Speaker 24: just like those the princess had worn. How beautiful they were,
- 5:30:17Speaker 24: the shoemaker said. Also they had been made for the
- 5:30:20Speaker 24: child of a count, but had not fitted. That must
- 5:30:25Speaker 24: be patent leather, said the old lady. They shine, so yes,
- 5:30:30Speaker 24: they shine, said Karen, And they fitted and were bought,
- 5:30:36Speaker 24: but the old lady knew nothing about their being read,
- 5:30:39Speaker 24: else she would never have allowed Karen to have gone
- 5:30:42Speaker 24: in red shoes to be confirmed. Yet such was the case.
- 5:30:49Speaker 24: Everybody looked at her feet, and when she stepped through
- 5:30:52Speaker 24: the chancel door on the church pavement, it seemed to
- 5:30:55Speaker 24: her as if the old figures on the tombs, those
- 5:30:58Speaker 24: portraits of old preachers and preachers wives with stiff ruffs
- 5:31:03Speaker 24: and long black dresses, fixed their eyes on her red shoes,
- 5:31:09Speaker 24: and she thought only of them. As the clergyman laid
- 5:31:12Speaker 24: his hand upon her head and spoke of the holy
- 5:31:15Speaker 24: baptism of the Covenant with God, and how she would
- 5:31:19Speaker 24: be now a matured Christian, and the organ pealed so solemnly,
- 5:31:24Speaker 24: the sweet children's voices sang, and the old music directors sang,
- 5:31:29Speaker 24: but Karen only thought of her red shoes. In the afternoon,
- 5:31:34Speaker 24: the old lady heard from everyone that the shoes had
- 5:31:37Speaker 24: been read, and she said that it was very wrong
- 5:31:40Speaker 24: of Karen, that it was not at all becoming, and
- 5:31:43Speaker 24: that in future Karen should only go in black shoes
- 5:31:47Speaker 24: to church, even when she should be older. The next
- 5:31:51Speaker 24: Sunday there was the sacrament, and Karen looked at the
- 5:31:54Speaker 24: black shoes, looked at the red ones, looked at them again,
- 5:31:59Speaker 24: and put on the red shoes. The sun shone gloriously.
- 5:32:05Speaker 24: Karen and the old lady walked along the path through
- 5:32:08Speaker 24: the corn.
- 5:32:09Speaker 14: It was rather dusty.
- 5:32:10Speaker 24: There at the church door stood an old soldier with
- 5:32:14Speaker 24: a crutch and with a wonderfully long beard which was
- 5:32:17Speaker 24: more red than white. And he bowed to the ground
- 5:32:21Speaker 24: and asked the old lady whether he might dust her shoes.
- 5:32:25Speaker 24: And Karen stretched out her little foot, See what beautiful
- 5:32:30Speaker 24: dancing shoes, said the soldier, sit firm when you dance,
- 5:32:36Speaker 24: and he put his hand out towards the soles. And
- 5:32:40Speaker 24: the old lady gave the soldier alms and went into
- 5:32:43Speaker 24: the church with Karen. And all the people of the
- 5:32:48Speaker 24: church looked at Karen's red shoes and all the pictures.
- 5:32:52Speaker 24: And as Karen knelt before the altar and raised the
- 5:32:55Speaker 24: cup to her lips, she only thought of the red shoes,
- 5:33:00Speaker 24: and they seemed to swim in it. And she forgot
- 5:33:03Speaker 24: to sing her psalm, and she forgot to pray our
- 5:33:06Speaker 24: Father in heaven. Now all the people went out of
- 5:33:10Speaker 24: the church, and the old lady got into her carriage.
- 5:33:15Speaker 24: Karen raised her foot to get in after her when
- 5:33:17Speaker 24: the old soldier said, look what beautiful dancing shoes. And
- 5:33:25Speaker 24: Karen could not help dancing a step or two. And
- 5:33:28Speaker 24: when she began, her feet continued to dance. It was
- 5:33:31Speaker 24: just as though the shoes had power over them. She
- 5:33:35Speaker 24: danced round the church corner. She could not leave off.
- 5:33:39Speaker 24: The coachman was obliged to run after her and catch
- 5:33:41Speaker 24: hold of her, and he lifted her in the carriage,
- 5:33:45Speaker 24: but her feet continued to dance, so that she trod
- 5:33:48Speaker 24: on the old lady dreadfully. At length, she took the
- 5:33:52Speaker 24: shoes off, and then her legs had peace.
- 5:33:56Speaker 14: The shoes were.
- 5:33:57Speaker 24: Placed in a closet at home, but and could not
- 5:34:00Speaker 24: avoid looking at them. Now the old lady was sick,
- 5:34:05Speaker 24: and it was said she could not recover. She must
- 5:34:09Speaker 24: be nursed and waited upon. And there was no one
- 5:34:12Speaker 24: whose duty it was so much as Karen's. But there
- 5:34:17Speaker 24: was a great ball in the city to which Karen
- 5:34:19Speaker 24: was invited. She looked at the old lady, who could
- 5:34:23Speaker 24: not recover. She looked at the red shoes, and she
- 5:34:27Speaker 24: thought there could be no sin in it. She put
- 5:34:31Speaker 24: on the red shoes. She might do that also, she thought.
- 5:34:35Speaker 24: But then she went to the ball and began to dance.
- 5:34:40Speaker 24: When she wanted to dance to the right, the shoes
- 5:34:43Speaker 24: would dance to the left, And when she wanted to
- 5:34:45Speaker 24: dance up the room, the shoes danced back again. Down
- 5:34:49Speaker 24: the steps, into the street, and out of the city gate.
- 5:34:53Speaker 24: She danced, and was forced to dance straight out into
- 5:34:57Speaker 24: the gloomy wood. Then it was suddenly light up among
- 5:35:01Speaker 24: the trees, and she fancied it must be the moon,
- 5:35:04Speaker 24: for there was a face. But it was the old
- 5:35:07Speaker 24: soldier with the red beard. He sat there, nodded his
- 5:35:11Speaker 24: head and said, look what beautiful dancing shoes. Then she
- 5:35:18Speaker 24: was terrified and wanted to fling off the red shoes,
- 5:35:22Speaker 24: but they clung fast, and she pulled down her stockings,
- 5:35:26Speaker 24: but the shoes seemed to have grown to her feet.
- 5:35:29Speaker 24: And she danced, and must dance over fields and meadows
- 5:35:33Speaker 24: in rain and sunshine by night and day. But at
- 5:35:37Speaker 24: night it was the most fearful. She danced over the churchyard,
- 5:35:42Speaker 24: but the dead did not dance. They had something better
- 5:35:45Speaker 24: to do than to dance. She wished to seat herself
- 5:35:48Speaker 24: upon a poor man's grave, where the bitter tansy grow.
- 5:35:53Speaker 24: But for her there was neither peace nor rest. And
- 5:35:56Speaker 24: when she danced towards the open church door, she saw
- 5:35:59Speaker 24: an angel see standing there. He wore long white garments.
- 5:36:03Speaker 24: He had wings which reached from his shoulders to the earth.
- 5:36:07Speaker 24: His countenance was severe and grave, and in his hand
- 5:36:11Speaker 24: he held a sword, broad and glittering. Dance. Shalt thou, said,
- 5:36:18Speaker 24: he dance in thy red shoes, till thou art pale
- 5:36:23Speaker 24: and cold, till thy skin shrivels up, and thou art
- 5:36:27Speaker 24: a skeleton. Dance, Shalt thou from door to door, And
- 5:36:32Speaker 24: where proud, vain children dwell, thou shalt knock, that they
- 5:36:37Speaker 24: may hear thee and tremble.
- 5:36:40Speaker 14: Dance.
- 5:36:40Speaker 24: Shalt thou mercy, cried Karen, But she did not hear
- 5:36:46Speaker 24: the angel's reply, for the shoes carried her through the
- 5:36:50Speaker 24: gate into the fields, across roads and bridges, and she
- 5:36:53Speaker 24: must keep ever dancing. One morning she danced past a
- 5:36:58Speaker 24: door which she well knew within sounded a psalm. A
- 5:37:03Speaker 24: coffin decked with flowers was borne forth. Then she knew
- 5:37:07Speaker 24: that the old lady was dead, and felt that she
- 5:37:10Speaker 24: was abandoned by all, and condemned by the angel of God.
- 5:37:16Speaker 24: She danced, and she was forced to dance through the
- 5:37:19Speaker 24: gloomy night. The shoes carried her over stack and stone.
- 5:37:24Speaker 24: She was torn till she bled. She danced over the
- 5:37:27Speaker 24: heath till she came to a little house. Here she
- 5:37:31Speaker 24: knew dwelt the executioner, and she tapped with her fingers
- 5:37:35Speaker 24: at the window and said, come out, come out. I
- 5:37:38Speaker 24: cannot come in, for I am forced to dance. And
- 5:37:42Speaker 24: the executioner said, thou dost not know who I am.
- 5:37:46Speaker 24: I fancy I strike bad people's heads off, and I
- 5:37:51Speaker 24: hear that my axe rings. Don't strike my head off,
- 5:37:56Speaker 24: said Karen. Then I can't repent of my sins, but
- 5:38:00Speaker 24: strike off my feet in the red shoes. And then
- 5:38:04Speaker 24: she confessed her entire sin, and the executioner struck off
- 5:38:08Speaker 24: her feet with the red shoes. But the shoes danced
- 5:38:12Speaker 24: away with the little feet across the field into the
- 5:38:15Speaker 24: deep wood, and he carved out little wooden feet for her,
- 5:38:19Speaker 24: and crutches taught her the psalm criminals always sing. And
- 5:38:24Speaker 24: she kissed the hand which had wielded the axe, and
- 5:38:27Speaker 24: went over the heath. Now I have suffered enough for
- 5:38:31Speaker 24: the red shoes, said she, Now, I will go into
- 5:38:35Speaker 24: the church that people may see me, And she hastened
- 5:38:39Speaker 24: towards the church door, but when she was near it,
- 5:38:42Speaker 24: the red shoes danced before her, and she was terrified
- 5:38:47Speaker 24: and turned round. The whole week she was unhappy and
- 5:38:52Speaker 24: wept many bitter tears. But when Sunday returned, she said, well,
- 5:38:57Speaker 24: now I have suffered and struggled enough. I really believe
- 5:39:01Speaker 24: I am as good as many a one who sits
- 5:39:04Speaker 24: in the church and holds her head so high. And
- 5:39:08Speaker 24: away she went boldly. But she had not got farther
- 5:39:11Speaker 24: than the churchyard gate before she saw the red shoes
- 5:39:15Speaker 24: dancing before her, and she was frightened and turned back
- 5:39:19Speaker 24: and repented of her sin from her heart. And she
- 5:39:23Speaker 24: went to the parsonage and begged that they would take
- 5:39:26Speaker 24: her into service. She would be very industrious, she said,
- 5:39:31Speaker 24: and would do everything she could. She did not care
- 5:39:34Speaker 24: about the wages, only she wished to have a home
- 5:39:38Speaker 24: and be with good people. And the clergyman's wife was
- 5:39:42Speaker 24: sorry for her and took her into service, and she
- 5:39:45Speaker 24: was industrious and thoughtful. She sat still and listened when
- 5:39:49Speaker 24: the clergyman read the Bible in the evenings, all the
- 5:39:53Speaker 24: children thought a great deal of her, but when they
- 5:39:56Speaker 24: spoke of dress and grandeur and beauty, she shook her head.
- 5:40:02Speaker 24: The following Sunday, when the family was going to church,
- 5:40:05Speaker 24: they asked her whether she would not go with them,
- 5:40:08Speaker 24: but she glanced sorrowfully, with tears in her eyes at
- 5:40:11Speaker 24: her crutches. The family went to hear the word of God,
- 5:40:16Speaker 24: but she went alone into her little chamber. There was
- 5:40:19Speaker 24: only room for a bed and chair to stand in it,
- 5:40:22Speaker 24: and here she sat down with her prayer book, And
- 5:40:26Speaker 24: whilst she read with a pious mind, the wind bore
- 5:40:30Speaker 24: the strains of the organ towards her, and she raised
- 5:40:33Speaker 24: her tearful countenance and said, O, God help me. And
- 5:40:39Speaker 24: the sun shone so clearly and straight. Before her stood
- 5:40:43Speaker 24: the Angel of God in white garments, the same she
- 5:40:46Speaker 24: had seen that night at the church door. But he
- 5:40:50Speaker 24: no longer carried the sharp sword, but in its stead
- 5:40:53Speaker 24: a splendid green spray full of roses. And he touched
- 5:40:58Speaker 24: the ceiling with the spray, and the ceiling rose so high,
- 5:41:03Speaker 24: and where he had touched it, there gleamed a golden star.
- 5:41:06Speaker 24: And he touched the walls, and they widened out and
- 5:41:10Speaker 24: she saw the organ which was playing. She saw the
- 5:41:13Speaker 24: old pictures of the preachers and the preacher's wives. The
- 5:41:17Speaker 24: congregations sat in cushioned seats and sang out of their
- 5:41:21Speaker 24: prayer books, for the church itself had come to the
- 5:41:24Speaker 24: poor girl in her narrow chamber, or else she had
- 5:41:28Speaker 24: come into the church. She sat in the pew at
- 5:41:31Speaker 24: the clergyman's family, And when they had ended the psalm
- 5:41:34Speaker 24: and looked up, they nodded and said, it is right
- 5:41:38Speaker 24: that thou art come. It was through mercy, she said.
- 5:41:42Speaker 24: And the organ pealed, and the children's voices in the
- 5:41:45Speaker 24: choir sounded so sweet and soft. The clear sunshine streamed
- 5:41:50Speaker 24: so warmly through the window into the pew where Karen sat.
- 5:41:55Speaker 24: Her heart was so full of sunshine, peace and joy
- 5:41:59Speaker 24: that it brought her soul flew on the sunshine to God.
- 5:42:04Speaker 24: And there no one asked after the red shoes, End
- 5:42:10Speaker 24: of the red shoes.