But what are they? asked the Snow-man.
Lovers! replied the yard-dog. They will go into one kennel and gnaw the same bone!
Are they the same kind of beings that we are? asked the Snow-man.
They are our masters, answered the yard-dog. Really people who have only been in the world one day know very little. Thats the conclusion I have come to. Now I have age and wisdom; I know everyone in the house, and I can remember a time when I was not lying here in a cold kennel. Bow-wow!
The cold is splendid, said the Snow-man. Tell me some more. But dont rattle your chain so, it makes me crack!
Bow-wow! barked the yard-dog. They used to say I was a pretty little fellow; then I lay in a velvet-covered chair in my masters house. My mistress used to nurse me, and kiss and fondle me, and call me her dear, sweet little Alice! But by-and-by I grew too big, and I was given to the housekeeper, and I went into the kitchen. You can see into it from where you are standing; you can look at the room in which I was master, for so I was when I was with the housekeeper. Of course it was a smaller place than upstairs, but it was more comfortable, for I wasnt chased about and teased by the children as I had been before. My food was just as good, or even better. I had my own pillow, and there was a stove there, which at this time of year is the most beautiful thing in the world. I used to creep right under that stove. Ah me! I often dream of that stove still! Bow-wow!
Is a stove so beautiful? asked the Snow-man. Is it anything like me?
It is just the opposite of you! It is coal-black, and has a long neck with a brass pipe. It eats firewood, so that fire spouts out of its mouth. One has to keep close beside it-quite underneath is the nicest of all. You can see it through the window from where you are standing.
And the Snow-man looked in that direction, and saw a smooth polished object with a brass pipe. The flicker from the fire reached him across the snow. The Snow-man felt wonderfully happy, and a feeling came over him which he could not express; but all those who are not snow-men know about it.
Why did you leave her? asked the Snow-man. He had a feeling that such a being must be a lady. How could you leave such a place?
I had to! said the yard-dog. They turned me out of doors, and chained me up here. I had bitten the youngest boy in the leg, because he took away the bone I was gnawing; a bone for a bone, I thought! But they were very angry, and from that time I have been chained here, and I have lost my voice. Dont you hear how hoarse I am? Bow-wow! I cant speak like other dogs. Bow-wow! That was the end of happiness!
The Snow-man, however, was not listening to him any more; he was looking into the room where the housekeeper lived, where the stove stood on its four iron legs, and seemed to be just the same size as the Snow-man.
How something is cracking inside me! he said. Shall I never be able to get in there? It is certainly a very innocent wish, and our innocent wishes ought to be fulfilled. I must get there, and lean against the stove, if I have to break the window first!
You will never get inside there! said the yard-dog; and if you were to reach the stove you would disappear. Bow-wow!
Im as good as gone already! answered the Snow-man. I believe Im breaking up!
The whole day the Snow-man looked through the window; towards dusk the room grew still more inviting; the stove gave out a mild light, not at all like the moon or even the sun; no, as only a stove can shine, when it has something to feed upon. When the door of the room was open, it flared up-this was one of its peculiarities; it flickered quite red upon the Snow-mans white face.
I cant stand it any longer! he said. How beautiful it looks with its tongue stretched out like that!
It was a long night, but the Snow-man did not find it so; there he stood, wrapt in his pleasant thoughts, and they froze, so that he cracked.
Next morning the panes of the kitchen window were covered with ice, and the most beautiful ice-flowers that even a snow-man could desire, only they blotted out the stove. The window would not open; he couldnt see the stove which he thought was such a lovely lady. There was a cracking and cracking inside him and all around; there was just such a frost as a snow-man would delight in. But this Snow-man was different: how could he feel happy?
Yours is a bad illness for a Snow-man! said the yard-dog. I also suffered from it, but I have got over it. Bow-wow! he barked. The weather is going to change! he added.
The weather did change. There came a thaw.
When this set in the Snow-man set off. He did not say anything, and he did not complain, and those are bad signs.
One morning he broke up altogether. And lo! where he had stood there remained a broomstick standing upright, round which the boys had built him!
Ah! now I understand why he loved the stove, said the yard-dog. That is the raker they use to clean out the stove! The Snow-man had a stove-raker in his body! Thats what was the matter with him! And now its all over with him! Bow-wow!
And before long it was all over with the winter too! Bow-wow! barked the hoarse yard-dog.
But the young girl sang:
Woods, your bright green garments don!
Willows, your woolly gloves put on!
Lark and cuckoo, daily sing February has brought the spring!
My heart joins in your song so sweet;
Come out, dear sun, the world to greet!
And no one thought of the Snow-man.
The Shirt-collar
Translated from the German of Hans Andersen
There was once a fine gentleman whose entire worldly possessions consisted of a boot-jack and a hair-brush; but he had the most beautiful shirt-collar in the world, and it is about this that we are going to hear a story.
The shirt-collar was so old that he began to think about marrying; and it happened one day that he and a garter came into the wash-tub together.
Hulloa! said the shirt-collar, never before have I seen anything so slim and delicate, so elegant and pretty! May I be permitted to ask your name?
I shant tell you, said the garter.
Where is the place of your abode? asked the shirt-collar.
But the garter was of a bashful disposition, and did not think it proper to answer.
Perhaps you are a girdle? said the shirt-collar, an under girdle? for I see that you are for use as well as for ornament, my pretty miss!
You ought not to speak to me! said the garter Im sure I havent given you any encouragement!
When anyone is as beautiful as you, said the shirt-collar, is not that encouragement enough?
Go away, dont come so close! said the garter. You seem to be a gentleman!
So I am, and a very fine one too! said the shirt-collar; I possess a boot-jack and a hair-brush!
That was not true; it was his master who owned these things; but he was a terrible boaster.
Dont come so close, said the garter. Im not accustomed to such treatment!
What affectation! said the shirt-collar. And then they were taken out of the wash-tub, starched, and hung on a chair in the sun to dry, and then laid on the ironing-board. Then came the glowing iron.
Mistress widow! said the shirt-collar, dear mistress widow! I am becoming another man, all my creases are coming out; you are burning a hole in me! Ugh! Stop, I implore you!
You rag! said the iron, travelling proudly over the shirt-collar, for it thought it was a steam engine and ought to be at the station drawing trucks.
You rag! said the iron, travelling proudly over the shirt-collar, for it thought it was a steam engine and ought to be at the station drawing trucks.
Rag! it said.
The shirt-collar was rather frayed out at the edge, so the scissors came to cut off the threads.
Oh! said the shirt-collar, you must be a dancer! How high you can kick! That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! No man can imitate you!
I know that! said the scissors.
You ought to be a duchess! said the shirt-collar. My worldly possessions consist of a fine gentleman, a boot-jack, and a hair-brush. If only I had a duchy!
What! He wants to marry me? said the scissors, and she was so angry that she gave the collar a sharp snip, so that it had to be cast aside as good for nothing.
Well, I shall have to propose to the hair-brush! thought the shirt-collar. It is really wonderful what fine hair you have, madam! Have you never thought of marrying?
Yes, that I have! answered the hair-brush; Im engaged to the boot-jack!
Engaged! exclaimed the shirt-collar. And now there was no one he could marry, so he took to despising matrimony.
Time passed, and the shirt-collar came in a rag-bag to the paper-mill. There was a large assortment of rags, the fine ones in one heap, and the coarse ones in another, as they should be. They had all much to tell, but no one more than the shirt-collar, for he was a hopeless braggart.
I have had a terrible number of love affairs! he said. They give me no peace. I was such a fine gentleman, so stiff with starch! I had a boot-jack and a hair-brush, which I never used! You should just have seen me then! Never shall I forget my first love! She was a girdle, so delicate and soft and pretty! She threw herself into a wash-tub for my sake! Then there was a widow, who glowed with love for me. But I left her alone, till she became black. Then there was the dancer, who inflicted the wound which has caused me to be here now; she was very violent! My own hair-brush was in love with me, and lost all her hair in consequence. Yes, I have experienced much in that line; but I grieve most of all for the garter, I mean, the girdle, who threw herself into a wash-tub. I have much on my conscience; it is high time for me to become white paper!
And so he did! he became white paper, the very paper on which this story is printed. And that was because he had boasted so terribly about things which were not true. We should take this to heart, so that it may not happen to us, for we cannot indeed tell if we may not some day come to the rag-bag, and be made into white paper, on which will be printed our whole history, even the most secret parts, so that we too go about the world relating it, like the shirt-collar.
The Princess in the Chest
Translated from the Danish
There were once a king and a queen who lived in a beautiful castle, and had a large, and fair, and rich, and happy land to rule over. From the very first they loved each other greatly, and lived very happily together, but they had no heir.
They had been married for seven years, but had neither son nor daughter, and that was a great grief to both of them. More than once it happened that when the king was in a bad temper, he let it out on the poor queen, and said that here they were now, getting old, and neither they nor the kingdom had an heir, and it was all her fault. This was hard to listen to, and she went and cried and vexed herself.
Finally, the king said to her one day, This cant be borne any longer. I go about childless, and its your fault. I am going on a journey and shall be away for a year. If you have a child when I come back again, all will be well, and I shall love you beyond all measure, and never more say an angry word to you. But if the nest is just as empty when I come home, then I must part with you.
After the king had set out on his journey, the queen went about in her loneliness, and sorrowed and vexed herself more than ever. At last her maid said to her one day, I think that some help could be found, if your majesty would seek it. Then she told about a wise old woman in that country, who had helped many in troubles of the same kind, and could no doubt help the queen as well, if she would send for her. The queen did so, and the wise woman came, and to her she confided her sorrow, that she, was childless, and the king and his kingdom had no heir.
The wise woman knew help for this. Out in the kings garden, said she, under the great oak that stands on the left hand, just as one goes out from the castle, is a little bush, rather brown than green, with hairy leaves and long spikes. On that bush there are just at this moment three buds. If your majesty goes out there alone, fasting, before sunrise, and takes the middle one of the three buds, and eats it, then in six months you will bring a princess into the world. As soon as she is born, she must have a nurse, whom I shall provide, and this nurse must live with the child in a secluded part of the palace; no other person must visit the child; neither the king nor the queen must see it until it is fourteen years old, for that would cause great sorrow and misfortune.
The queen rewarded the old woman richly, and next morning, before the sun rose, she was down in the garden, found at once the little bush with the three buds, plucked the middle one and ate it. It was sweet to taste, but afterwards was as bitter as gall. Six months after this, she brought into the world a little girl. There was a nurse in readiness, whom the wise woman had provided, and preparations were made for her living with the child, quite alone, in a secluded wing of the castle, looking out on the pleasure-park. The queen did as the wise woman had told her; she gave up the child immediately, and the nurse took it and lived with it there.
When the king came home and heard that a daughter had been born to him, he was of course very pleased and happy, and wanted to see her at once.
The queen had then to tell him this much of the story, that it had been foretold that it would cause great sorrow and misfortune if either he or she got a sight of the child until it had completed its fourteenth year.
This was a long time to wait. The king longed so much to get a sight of his daughter, and the queen no less than he, but she knew that it was not like other children, for it could speak immediately after it was born, and was as wise as older folk. This the nurse had told her, for with her the queen had a talk now and again, but there was no one who had ever seen the princess. The queen had also seen what the wise woman could do, so she insisted strongly that her warning should be obeyed. The king often lost his patience, and was determined to see his daughter, but the queen always put him off the idea, and so things went on, until the very day before the princess completed her fourteenth year.
The king and the queen were out in the garden then, and the king said, Now I cant and I wont wait any longer. I must see my daughter at once. A few hours, more or less, cant make any difference.
The queen begged him to have patience till the morning. When they had waited so long, they could surely wait a single day more. But the king was quite unreasonable. No nonsense, said he; she is just as much mine as yours, and I will see her, and with that he went straight up to her room.
He burst the door open, and pushed aside the nurse, who tried to stop him, and there he saw his daughter. She was the loveliest young princess, red and white, like milk and blood, with clear blue eyes and golden hair, but right in the middle of her forehead there was a little tuft of brown hair.