Page:Hans Andersen's fairy tales (Robinson).djvu/311

THE LEAPING MATCH born and yet could never get anybody to build them a card-house, after hearing me have fretted themselves ten times thinner than ever, out of sheer envy and vexation!' Both the flea and the grasshopper knew excellently well how to make the most of themselves, and each considered himself quite an equal match for a princess.

The frog said not a word; however, it might be that he thought the more, and the house-dog, after going snuffing about him, confessed that the frog must be of a good family. And the old councillor, who in vain received three orders to hold his tongue, declared that the frog must be gifted with the spirit of prophecy, for that one could read on his back whether there was to be a severe or a mild winter, which, to be sure, is more than can be read on the back of the man who writes the weather almanack.

'Ah, I say nothing for the present!' remarked the old King, 'but I observe everything, and form my own private opinion thereupon.' And now the match began. The flea jumped so high that no one could see what had become of him, and so they insisted that he had not jumped at all, 'which was disgraceful, after he had made such a fuss!'

The grasshopper only jumped half as high, but he jumped 259