Page:The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (c1899).djvu/278

 Every corpse is a sphinx of immortality. Thus, the present sphinx, in its black sarcophagus, recalled in the lines that the living man had penned only two days before:—

Two figures were moving about the room. They are both known to us. One was the fairy named Care, and the other the ambassadress of Happiness.

"Look there," said Care. "What happiness did your goloshes afford mankind?"

"They have, at least, wrought a lasting good for him who is slumbering here," answered Joy.

"Not so," said Care. "He went away of himself, without being called. His intellectual powers were not strong enough to dig up the treasures he was destined to discover. I will confer a benefit upon him."

And she drew the goloshes off his feet, when the sleep of death ended, and he once more revived. Care disappeared, and with her the goloshes; she doubtless considered them to be her own property.