Page:A Picture-book without Pictures and Other Stories (1848).djvu/23

 and resolved rather to put her son apprentice to a tailor.

He was now twelve, and had nothing to do; he devoured, therefore, the contents of every book which came in his way. His favorite reading was an old prose translation of Shakspere. From this, with little figures which he made of pasteboard, he performed the whole of King Lear, and the Merchant of Venice.

Andersen’s passion for reading, and his beautiful voice, had in the meantime drawn upon him the attention of several of the higher families of the city, who introduced him to their houses. His simple, child-like behavior, his wonderful memory, and his sweet voice, gave to him a peculiar charm; people talked of him, and he soon had many friends; among others, a Colonel Guldborg, brother to the well-known poet of that name, and who afterwards introduced him to Prince Christian of Denmark.

About this time his mother married a second time, and as the step-father would not spend a penny, or do any thing for her son’s education, he had still more leisure. He had