Page:Fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen (Walker).djvu/215

Rh at home, and of the heavy taxes which could not be paid. Her thoughts were those of the whole caravan, so the red dawn shone upon them, like a glimmer from that sun of fortune which was about to arise. They heard the song of the dying nightingale, and to them it was no false prophet, but rather a harbinger of good fortune. The wind whistled sharply, and they did not understand its song. Sail on securely over the ocean! you have given all that you possessed in return for the journey; poor and helpless you will land upon the shores of your Canaan. You must sell yourself, your wife, and your children, but you shall not suffer long. The goddess of death lurks behind the broad, fragrant leaves, her kiss of welcome will breathe pestilential fever into your blood! Sail on, sail on over the surging waters! But the travellers listened happily to the song of the nightingale, for it promised them good fortune. Daylight shone through the floating clouds, and peasants were wending their way over the heath to church. The women in their black dresses and with white kerchiefs round their heads looked as if they might have stepped down out of the old pictures in the church. Round about there was only the great dead plain covered with brown withered heather, and the white sand hills beyond. The women held their prayerbooks in their hands and wandered on toward the church. Ah, pray, pray for those whose steps are leading them to the grave beyond the rolling waters!"

SIXTEENTH EVENING

"I know a Punchinello," said the moon. "The public shout directly they see him; each ot his movements is so comic that the whole house roars when he appears; his personality makes them laugh, not his art. Even when he was little, playing about with the other boys, he was already a Punchinello. Nature had made him one; she had given him a hump on his back and one on his chest. But the inner man, the soul—ah,