Page:The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (c1899).djvu/270

 a young officer with several orders, of whom it was generally said that he was a man of sound heart and intellect.

The poor assistant came out of the last heart in the row half stunned. He could not collect his thoughts, and concluded that it was his over-vivid imagination that had led him this dance.



"Good gracious!" sighed he, "surely I have a propensity for going crazy! It is so very hot in this place that my blood rushes to my head." And he now called to mind the great event of the preceding evening, when his head had stuck between the railings of the hospital. "It must have arisen from that," thought he, "and I must see to it in time. A vapour bath would do me good. I wish I were now lying on the upper shelf of one."

And he instantly found himself lying on the upper shelf of a vapour-bath, only with his