Page:Fairy tales and other stories (Andersen, Craigie).djvu/337

Rh and out at the top, and more delicate than the flames, invisible to human eyes, little tiny beings floated there, as many as there had been blossoms on the Flax. They were lighter even than the flame from which they were born; and when the flame was extinguished, and nothing remained of the Paper but black ashes, they danced over it once more, and where they touched the black mass the little red sparks appeared. The children came out of school, and the schoolmaster was the last of all. That was fun! and the children sang over the dead ashes—

But the little invisible beings all said,

'The song is never done, that is the best of all. I know it, and therefore I'm the happiest of all.'

But the children could neither hear that nor understand it, nor ought they, for children must not know everything.

'THERE IS A DIFFERENCE'

was in the month of May. The wind still blew cold, but bushes and trees, field and meadow, all alike said the spring had come. There was store of flowers even in the wild hedges; and there spring carried on his affairs, and preached from a little apple tree, where one branch hung fresh and blooming, covered with delicate pink blossoms that were just ready to open. The Apple Tree Branch knew well enough how beautiful he was, for the knowledge is inherent in the blade as well as in the blood; and consequently the Branch was not surprised when a nobleman's carriage stopped opposite to him on the road, and the young countess said that that apple branch was the loveliest thing one could behold, a very emblem of spring in its most charming form. And the Branch was broken off, and she held it in her delicate hand, and sheltered it with her silk parasol. Then they drove to the castle, where there were lofty halls and splendid apartments. Pure white curtains fluttered round the open windows, and beautiful