Page:Fairy tales and other stories (Andersen, Craigie).djvu/367

 Rh and ate the delicate young kernels, which had only just begun to form. But there was another surprise and another fright in store for them. Out of the thicket stepped a tall old woman: her face was quite brown, and her hair was deep black and shining. The whites of her eyes gleamed like a negro's; on her back she carried a bundle, and in her hand she bore a knotted stick. She was a gipsy. The children did not at once understand what she said. She brought three nuts out of her pocket, and told them that in these nuts the most beautiful, the loveliest things were hidden, for they were wishing-nuts.

Ib looked at her, and she seemed so friendly that he plucked up courage and asked her if she would give him the nuts; and the woman gave them to him, and gathered some more for herself, a whole pocketful, from the nut tree.

And Ib and Christine looked at the wishing-nuts with great eyes.

'Is there a carriage with a pair of horses in this nut?' he asked.

'Yes, there's a golden carriage with golden horses,' answered the woman.

'Then give me the nut,' said little Christine.

And Ib gave it to her, and the strange woman tied it in her pocket-handkerchief for her.

'Is there in this nut a pretty little neckerchief, like the one Christine wears round her neck?' inquired Ib.

'There are ten neckerchiefs in it,' answered the woman. 'There are beautiful dresses in it, and stockings, and a hat.'

'Then I will have that one too,' cried little Christine.

And Ib gave her the second nut also. The third was a little black thing.

'That one you can keep,' said Christine; 'and it is a pretty one too.'

'What is in it?' inquired Ib.

'The best of all things for you,' replied the gipsy woman.

And Ib held the nut very tight. The woman promised to lead the children into the right path, so that they might find their way home; and now they went forward, certainly in quite a different direction from the path they should have followed. But that is no reason why we should suspect the gipsy woman of wanting to steal the