Page:The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (c1899).djvu/194

 172

ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES

The Fellow-Traveller

OOR Johannes was sorely afflicted, for his father was ill, past all hope of recovery. Besides their two selves, not a soul was present in the little room. The lamp on the table was flickering, and it was late at night.

" You have been a good son, Johannes," said the sick father, " and God will, no doubt, help you on in the world." And he gazed at him with mild and thoughtful eyes, fetched a deep sigh, and then died — though he only looked as if he had gone to sleep. But Johannes wept ; for now he had nobody in the wide world — neither father, mother, sister, nor brother. Poor Johannes ! He knelt down beside the bed, kissed his dead father's hand, and shed many, many bitter tears ! But at length his eyes closed, and he fell asleep against the hard bed-post.

He had then a strange dream. He thought the sun and moon came down to him, and he saw his father again in full health and freshness, and heard him laugh as he used to do when he was

a gold crown on her long, shining

him ; and his father said : " Look

She is the loveliest maid upon

all these fine things vanished ; his

pleased. A pretty girl, with hair, presented her hand to what a bride you have won earth." He then woke, and father lay dead and cold in his bed, and nobody was near them. Poor Johannes !

In the following week, the dead man was buried. The son followed close behind the coffin, for he was never again to behold the father who had loved him so dearly. He heard them fling the earth down upon the coffin, and still saw a little corner of it left ; but, at the next shovelful, even that disappeared. Then he felt as though his heart would break, so afflicted was he. They sang a psalm round the grave, and it sounded so beautiful that it brought tears into Johannes' eyes. He wept, and felt relieved. The sun shone down gloriously on the green trees, just as if it meant to say : " You must not be so mournful, Johannes. Look how beautifully blue the sky is yonder ! Your father is up above, and is begging of the All-merciful that you may thrive at all times ! "

" I will always be good," said Johannes, "then I shall join my father in heaven ; and what joy it will be to meet him again ! How much I shall have to tell him, and how much he will have to teach me about the delights of heaven, just as he used to teach me here on earth. Oh, what joy that will be ! "

He fancied it all so plainly that he smiled, while the tears still ran down his cheeks. The birds in the chestnut trees kept twittering, " Twit ! twit ! " They were gay, although they had been at the funeral ; but they knew that the dead man was now in heaven, and had wings much larger and more beautiful than their own ; and that he was happy, because he had been good here on earth : and, therefore, they were pleased. Johannes saw how they flew from the green trees out into the wide world, and then he wished to fly away also. But he first cut out a large wooden cross to place on his father's grave ; and when he brought it thither in the evening, he found the grave decked with gravel and flowers. This had been done by strangers, who all esteemed the worthy man who had gone to his last home.

Early the next morning, Johannes packed up his little bundle, and put into his girdle his whole legacy, consisting of fifty dollars and a couple of silver shillings, with which he meant to wander forth into the world. But first of all he repaired to his father's grave in the churchyard, where he repeated the Lord's Prayer, and then said, " Farewell ! "

Abroad in the fields through which he passed, all the flowers looked fresh and lovely in the warm sunshine. And they nodded in the wind, just as if they meant to say : " Welcome to the greenwood ! Is it not delightful here ? " But Johannes turned round to give a last look at the old church, in which he was christened as an infant, and where he used to go with his father every Sunday to hear the service, and to sing his psalm ; and in so doing he perceived, in one of the upper loopholes of the church tower, the little goblin belonging to it, who stood with his little pointed, red cap on his head, shading his countenance with his arm, so that the sun might not