Page:Hans Andersen's fairy tales (Robinson).djvu/270

HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES for the shoes carried her through the gate, into the fields, along highways and by-ways, and still she must dance. One morning she danced past a door she knew well; she heard psalm-singing from within, and presently a coffin, strewn with flowers, was borne out. Then Karen knew that the good old lady was dead, and she felt herself a thing forsaken by all mankind, and accursed by the Angel of God.

Dance she did, and dance she must, even through the dark night; the shoes bore her continually over thorns and briars, till her limbs were torn and bleeding. Away she danced over the heath to a little solitary house; she knew that the headsman dwelt there, and she tapped with her fingers against the panes, crying—

'Come out! come out!—I cannot come in to you, I am dancing.'

And the headsman replied, 'Surely thou knowest not who I am. I cut off the heads of wicked men, and my axe is very sharp and keen.'