Page:A Picture-book without Pictures and Other Stories (1848).djvu/19

 wife said it was a punishment of the devil, to teach him his real existence.

The unhappy temper of the father increased from day to day; he longed to go forth into the world. At that time war was raging in Germany. Napoleon was his hero, and as Denmark had now allied itself to France, he enlisted as a private soldier in a recruiting regiment, hoping that some time or other he might return as a lieutenant. The neighbors, however, thought it was all a folly to let himself be shot for no purpose at all. The corps in which he served went no farther than Holstein; the peace succeeded, and the poor shoemaker returned to his trade, only chagrined to have seen no service, nor even been in foreign lands. But though he had seen no service, his health had suffered; he awoke one morning delirious, and talked about campaigns and Napoleon. Young Andersen, then nine years old, was sent to the next village to ask counsel from a wise woman.

“Will my poor father die?” inquired he, anxiously.

“If thy father will die,” replied she, “thou wilt meet his ghost on thy way home.”