Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/57

 the king could not have it much finer. The whole of the field with the rivulet, the haystack, and the blue heavens above, made a most beautiful bedchamber. The green grass, with the little red and white flowers, was the carpet, the elder bushes and the wild rose hedges were bouquets of flowers, and for a wash-hand basin he had all the rivulet with the clear, fresh water, where the rushes courtesied to him and said both "Good evening" and "Good morning." The moon was a fine, big lamp, high up under the blue vault, without any risk of setting fire to the curtains, Johannes might sleep on in peace, which he did; he did not wake up till the sun rose and all the little birds were singing all around him: "Good morning! Good morning! Are you not up yet?"

The bells were ringing for church; it was Sunday. The people were on their way to hear the sermon and Johannes went with them, sang a hymn, and listened to the word of God; it seemed to him as if he were in his own church, where he had been christened, and had sung hymns with his father. In the churchyard there were many graves, and on some of them the grass had grown high. Johannes then thought of his father's grave, which in time would look like these, now that he could not weed it and keep it in order. He sat down and plucked the grass from the graves, raised up the wooden crosses which had fallen down, and put back in their places the wreaths which the wind had blown away from the graves, for he thought: "Perhaps some one will do the same to my father's grave now that I cannot do it!" Outside the churchyard gate stood an old beggar, leaning upon his crutch; Johannes gave him the small silver coins he had, and proceeded on his way, happy and pleased, into the wide world.

Toward evening the weather became terribly bad, and Johannes hurried on to get under shelter, but very soon the dark night set in; just then he at last reached a little church which lay quite by itself on the top of a hill. The door was fortunately ajar and he stole inside; here he would remain till the bad weather was over.

"I'll sit down here in a corner!" he said, "I am quite tired and sorely in want of a little rest!" And so he sat down, folded his hands and said his evening prayer, and in less than no time he was asleep and had begun to dream, while it thundered and lightened outside.

When he awoke it was midnight; the bad weather was over and the moon shone in upon him through the windows. In the middle of the aisle stood an open coffin with a dead man in it, for he had not yet been buried. Johannes was not afraid, for he had a good conscience, and knew that the dead do not harm anybody; it is living, wicked people who molest their fellow-creatures. Two such wicked men were standing close to the dead man, who had been placed inside the church before he was buried; they were evilly disposed toward him, and would not let him lie