Page:Fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen (Walker).djvu/148

114 with the forces of nature. He would soon discover the best of everything, the red, red gold!

"This was why his chimney flamed and smoked and sparkled. Yes, I was there, too," said the wind.

"Away with you, away! I sang in the back of the chimney. Smoke, smoke, embers and ashes, that is all it will come to! You will burn yourself up in it. Whew! whew! away with it! But Waldemar Daa could not let it go.

"The fiery steeds in the stable, where were they? The old gold and silver plate in cupboard and chest, where was that? The cattle, the land, the castle itself? Yes, they could all be melted down in the crucible, but yet no gold would come.

"Barn and larder got emptier and emptier. Fewer servants; more mice. One pane of glass got broken and another followed it. There was no need for me to go in by the doors," said the wind. "A smoking chimney means a cooking meal, but the only chimney which smoked here swallowed up all the meals, all for the sake of the red gold.

"I blew through the castle gate like a watchman blowing his horn, but there was no watchman," said the wind. "I twisted round the weathercock on the tower and it creaked as if the watchman up there was snoring, only there was no watchman. Rats and mice were the only inhabitants. Poverty laid the table; poverty lurked in wardrobe and larder. The doors fell off their hinges, cracks and crannies appeared everywhere; I went in and out," said the wind, "so I know all about it."

"The hair and the beard of Waldemar Daa grew gray, in the sorrow of his sleepless nights, amid smoke and ashes. His skin grew grimy and yellow, and his eyes greedy for gold, the long expected gold.

"I whistled through the broken panes and fissures, blew into the daughters' chests where their clothes lay faded and threadbare; they had to last forever. A song like this had never been sung over the cradles of these children. A lordly life became a woeful life! I was the only one to sing in the