Page:Fairy tales and other stories (Andersen, Craigie).djvu/134

122 But the tin soldier pretended not to hear him.

'Just you wait till to-morrow!' said the goblin.

But when the morning came, and the children got up, the tin soldier was placed in the window; and whether it was the goblin or the draught that did it, all at once the window flew open, and the soldier fell head over heels



out of the third story. That was a terrible passage! He put his leg straight up, and stuck with his helmet downwards and his bayonet between the paving-stones.

The servant-maid and the little boy came down directly to look for him, but though they almost trod upon him they could not see him. If the soldier had cried out 'Here I am!' they would have found him; but he did not think it fitting to call out loudly, because he was in uniform.