Page:The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (c1899).djvu/242



"You seem to be trembling," said the king's daughter, when the shadow entered her room. "Has anything happened? You must not be ill to-day, just when we are going to celebrate our wedding."

"I have gone through the most dreadful scene that can be imagined," said the shadow. "Only think!—I suppose a shadow's poor brain cannot endure much—only think! my shadow is gone mad; he fancies that he has become a man, and that I—only think!—that I am his shadow!"

"This is shocking," said the princess "but has he been shut up?"

"Of course; and I am sadly afraid he will never recover."

"Poor shadow!" said the princess; "he is most unfortunate. It would really be a charity to deliver him from his little bit of an existence; and when I come to think how apt the people are in our days to take part with little folks against great folks, it seems to me it would be a politic measure to get rid of him quietly."

"It is a hard case, for he was a faithful servant," said the shadow, pretending to sigh.

"You are a noble character!" said the princess, bowing to him.

In the evening the whole town was illuminated, and cannons were fired—boom!—and soldiers presented arms. It was a very grand wedding. The king's daughter and the shadow stepped into the balcony to show themselves to the people, and to obtain one cheer more.

But the learned man heard nothing of all these festivities, for he had already been executed.

Some one knocked at the door, and in came an old man, wrapped up in what looked like a horse-cloth, for that keeps one warm; and he stood in need of such covering, for it was a cold winter's day. Abroad everything lay covered with snow and ice, and the wind was so sharp that it cut one's face.

Seeing the old man shiver with cold, and as the little child had gone to sleep for a moment, the mother got up and