Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/250

218 you. I do the maddest thing I can: I tell it to a poet and then the whole town soon gets to know it."

"The town will not take it to heart," said the man. "It will not affect a single person. They will believe that I am telling them a fairy tale when I tell them with the most serious face: 'The will-o'-the-wisps are in town, as the woman from the marsh says. Take care of yourselves!'"