Page:Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales (1888).djvu/407



This is another of the moon’s pictures.

“I have seen the young cadet, who has just been made an officer, put on his new uniform for the first time. I have seen a young bride in her wedding dress, and the young princess girl-wife look happy in her gorgeous robes; but never have I seen such perfect delight as that of a little girl, whom I saw dressed this evening in a new frock. The dress was blue, and she had a hat trimmed with pink. There was a great calling out for a candle; for my rays shining in through the windows of the room were not bright enough for the occasion, and further light was necessary. There stood the little maid, stiff and upright as a doll, her arms stretched out painfully straight from the stiffness of the dress, and her fingers apart; and what happiness beamed from her eyes, and from her whole countenance! ‘Tomorrow you shall go out in your new clothes,’ said her mother; and the little one looked up at her hat and down at her frock, and said, with a bright smile, ‘Mother, what will the little dogs think, when they see me in all these beautiful new things?’”

“I saw a little girl,” said the moon, “who was weeping over the wickedness of the world. She had been presented with a most beautiful doll as a present. It certainly was a very pretty doll, so fair and delicate, and not made to bear the rough usage of the world. But the brothers of this little girl, those great, naughty boys, had set the doll up high in the branches of a tree, and had run away. The little girl could not reach up to the doll to help her down, and that is why she was crying. The doll seemed to be crying too, for she stretched out her arms among the green branches, and looked quite mournful. Yes, these were some of the troubles of life which the little girl had often heard of. Alas, poor dolly! it was already beginning to grow dark, and what would become of her when the night came on? Was she to be left sitting there alone on the bough all night? No, the little maiden could not allow such a thing. ‘I’ll stay with you,’ she said, though she did not feel quite comfortable at the thought. She almost fancied she saw a lot of little ugly fairies, with their high-crowned hats, sitting among the bushes; and farther back, in the long walk, there seemed to be music and dancing. Then they came nearer, and stretched out their hands towards the tree on which the doll sat, and pointed at her with their fingers, and laughed and made fun of her. Oh, how frightened the little girl felt! and then she said to herself, ‘I needn’t be afraid; no one can do me any harm if I have not been naughty. I wonder if I have done anything wrong;’ and then she remembered, ‘Oh, yes, I laughed at the poor duck who had a piece of red rag on her leg, because she limped along so funnily; I could not help laughing, but it’s naughty to laugh at animals, and make fun of them. Then she looked up at the doll, and said, ‘Did you laugh at the duck too?’ and it seemed as if the doll shook er head.”