Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/227

Rh "Where are they going to?" asked the pine-tree. "They are not bigger than I ; there was even one which was much smaller. Why were they allowed to keep all their branches? Where are they being taken to?"

"We know! we know!" twittered the sparrows. "We have looked in at the windows down in the town ! We know where they are going to! Ah! they are going to the greatest glory and splendor one can think of. We have looked in at the windows and seen that they are placed in the middle of the warm room and decorated with most beautiful things — gilt apples, honey-cakes, toys, and many hundreds of candles."

"And then?" asked the pine-tree, trembling in all its branches. "And then? What happens then?"

"Well, we have n't seen anything else. It was really wonderful!"

"I wonder if I came into existence to have such a glorious career?" cried the pine-tree in exultation. "That would be even better than going across the ocean. How painful this longing is ! If only it were Christmas! Now I am tall and have big branches like those which were taken away last year. Oh, how I wish that I was already in the cart, that I was in the warm parlor with all that glory and splendor around me ! And then? Well, then something still better must follow, something still more glorious. But what? Oh, how I suffer! How I am longing! I do not know myself what has taken possession of me."

"Rejoice in us," said the air and the sunshine; "rejoice in your fresh youth in the open!"

But the tree did not at all rejoice. It grew and grew ; green, dark green, it stood there winter and summer; people who saw it said: "There's a fine tree! "And at Christmas-time it was the first to be felled. The ax cut deeply into its marrow ; the tree fell to the ground with a sigh; it felt a pain, a faintness ; it was unable to think of any happiness; it was sad at parting from its home, from the spot where it had sprung up; it knew it would never again see the dear old comrades, the little bushes and the flowers round about, perhaps not even the birds. To take leave of all this was not at all pleasant. The tree came to itself only when it was being unloaded in the yard and heard a man say: "That's a beauty! That's the one we'll use!" Two grandly dressed servants then came and carried the pine-tree into a large, beautiful room. On the walls around hung portraits, and near the great stove stood Chinese vases with lions on the lids. There were rocking-chairs, silken sofas, large tables covered with picture-books and toys, — -many hundred dollars' worth, — at least that's what the children said. And the tree was placed in a great tub filled with sand, but nobody could see it was a tub, for it was covered up with some green cloth and was standing on a large, brightly colored carpet. How the tree trembled! What was going to take place? Both the servants and the ladies of the house were busy decorating it. On the branches they hung little nets cut