Page:The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (c1899).djvu/167

 THE GIRL WHO TROD ON THE LOAF 145

" But if she now will ask for forgiveness, and never do again ? "

" But she will not ask for forgiveness," they said.

" I do so wish that she would ! " said the little girl, and she was quite inconsolable. " I will give my doll's house if she may come up ! It is so horrible for poor Inger ! "

And the expression went straight down into Inger's heart, as if it did her good. It was the first time that there was any one who said, " Poor Inger ! " and did not add anything about its being her own fault. A little innocent child wept and prayed for her. It was so strange that

"l DO SO WISH SHE WOULD," SAID ] HE LITTLE GIRL, AND SHE WAS QUITE INCONSOLABLE,

A PEASANT SET UP A

PT. VII.

POLE CLOSE TO THE WALL, AND TIED OF OATS TO THE TOP.

it made her wish to weep herself ; but she could weep, and that was a torture.

As years passed in the upper world

— for down below there was no alteration — she heard sounds from above less frequently, for there was less said about her ; then one day she noticed a sigh : "Inger! Inger! how thou hast grieved me! I said it would be so ! " It was her mother, as she was dying. She sometimes heard her name mentioned by her old master and mistress ; and it was the gentlest word that her mistress said : " I wonder whether I shall ever see thee again, Inger ! One does not know where one may come to I "

But Inger understood well enough that her worthy mistress would never come where she was.

In this manner again a long and bitter time passed.

Then Inger again heard her name men- tioned, and she saw overhead what looked like two clear, shining stars ; they were two gentle eyes, which were closing on the earth. So many years had passed since that time when the little girl wept inconsolably for " poor Inger," that the child had become an old woman whom Heaven would now call to her rest, and just in that moment when all the thoughts of her whole life rose up, she remembered also how, as a little child, she had been caused to weep bitterly when she heard the story of Inger. That time and that impression stood out so vividly before the old woman in the hour of her death that she exclaimed quite loud : " O Lord, my God, I do not wonder that I, as well as Inger, have often trampled upon the gifts of Thy blessings without thinking of them ; I wonder that I have not also walked with pride in my heart: but Thou in Thy mercy hast not suffered me to sink, but hast held me up; leave not hold of me in my last hour ! "

And the eyes of the old woman closed, and the eyes of her soul opened to hidden things, and, as Inger was so strongly pre-