Page:Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales (1888).djvu/196



castle, with thick walls, towers, and winding staircases, stood at about the distance of a mile from any other residence.

In this castle dwelt a rich, high-born nobleman—only, however, during the months of summer, when the beautiful grounds were in their richest verdure.

Of all other residences situated in the neighbourhood this was the best and most beautiful. Outside, the constant play of fountains preserved the wonderful vegetation; and within the castle everything was arranged with comfort and elegance.

Over the entrance gate the family escutcheon had been carved in stone. Blooming roses climbed round it, and also round the balcony in great profusion.

In front of the castle extended a large and well-kept lawn, with a carpet of fresh turf as soft as velvet to the foot. Round it were beds of rare and lovely flowers, not only in the hothouse, but in the flower gardens, while hedges and thornbushes, covered with white and pink, blossoms, formed the boundary of the estate.

This nobleman was fortunate enough to possess a clever head-gardener, to whom the flowers, fruit and kitchen gardens, were a delight.

There still remained, however, on the estate, relics of olden times, box-trees cut into forms of crowns and pyramids, and two noble lofty trees. Although very old, they still remained rooted in the earth, but they were now almost without leaves, and it is supposed that a storm or a waterspout had caused a blight to fall upon them.

Time out of mind these lofty trees had contained quantities of nests built by cawing rooks, crows, and ravens. It was quite a bird-village. In fact, these birds were the noble proprietors, and the oldest families on the estate, and actually the rightful owners of the castle.

They cared nothing for the human beings who lived under them. They allowed, as it were, these creatures of earth to associate with them in spite of their insolence; for sometimes they would crack a whip, which would sound like a pistol shot, and make them all fly away, crying “Caw, caw.”

The gardener had more than once begged his master to have these old