Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/63

Rh the wooden dolls lay mixed up together, the king and all his yeomen were sighing most pitifully, and staring with their big glass eyes, for they wanted so much to be rubbed a little, just like the queen, so that they too might be able to move about of themselves. The queen went down at once on her knees and held up her beautiful crown, while she begged: "Take it, oh, take it! But rub my consort and my courtiers!" The poor man who owned the theater and all the dolls could not help weeping, for

THE QUEEN WENT DOWN ON HER KNEES AND HELD UP HER CROWN, BEGGING, "TAKE IT, OH, TAKE IT!"

he really felt sorry for them; he promised the traveling companion at once that he would give him all the money he took at his show the next evening if he would only rub four or five of his finest dolls, but the traveling companion said he would not ask for anything but the big saber which the man wore by his side, and when he got it he rubbed six of the dolls, who at once began dancing, which they did so beautifully that all the girls, the real, living girls, who were looking on, took to dancing as well. The coachman and the cook, the footmen and the chamber-maid, and all the strangers danced; even the fire-shovel and the tongs wanted to join in