STORY-TELLING 



5578 



STORY-TELLING 



"This one is famous ; we want only this one for 

 our Christmas !" 



Now two servants came in gay liveries, and 

 carried the Fir Tree into a large, beautiful room. 

 All around the walls hung pictures, and by the 

 great stove stood large Chinese vases with lions 

 on the covers ; there were rocking-chairs, silken 

 sofas, great tables covered with picture books, 

 and toys worth a hundred times a hundred dol- 

 lars ; at least, the children said so. And the Fir 

 Tree was put into a great tub filled with sand ; 

 but no one could see that it was a tub, for it was 

 hung round with green cloth, and stood on a large, 

 many-colored carpet. Oh, how the Tree trem- 

 bled! What was to happen now? The servants, 

 and the young ladies also, decked it out. On one 

 branch they hung little bags cut out of colored 

 paper, and every bag was filled with sweet- 

 meats. Golden apples and walnuts hung down 

 as if they grew there, and more than a hundred 

 little candles, red, white, and blue, were fastened 

 to the different boughs. Dolls that looked ex- 

 actly like real people the Tree had never seen 

 such before swung among the foliage, and high 

 on the summit of the Tree was fixed a tinsel 

 star. It was splendid. 



"This evening," said all, "this evening it will 

 shine." 



"Oh," thought the Tree, "that it were evening 

 already ! Oh, that the lights may be soon lit ! 

 When will that be done? I wonder if trees will 

 come out of the forest to look at me? Will the 

 Sparrows fly against the panes? Shall I grow 

 fast here, and stand adorned in summer and 

 winter?" 



But the Tree had a backache from mere long- 

 ing, and the backache is just as bad for a tree 

 as the headache for a person. 



At last the candles were lighted. What a bril- 

 liance ! what a splendor ! The Tree trembled so in 

 all its branches that one of the candles set fire to 

 a green twig, and it was scorched, but one of the 

 young ladies hastily put the fire out. 



Now the Tree might not even tremble. Oh, 

 that was terrible ! It was so afraid of setting 

 fire to some of its ornaments, and it was quite 

 bewildered with all the brilliance. And now the 

 folding doors were thrown open, and a number 

 of children rushed in as if they would have over- 

 turned the whole Tree, while the older people fol- 

 lowed more deliberately. The little ones stood 

 quite silent, but only for a minute ; then they 

 shouted till the room rang ; they danced gleefully 

 round the Tree, and one present after another 

 was plucked from it. 



"What are they about?" thought the Tree. 

 "What's going to be clone?" 



And the candles burned down to the twigs, and 

 as they burned down they were extinguished, 

 and then the children were given permission to 

 plunder the Tree. They rushed in upon it, so 

 that every branch cracked again ; if it had not 

 been fastened by the top and by the golden star 

 to the ceiling, the Tree certainly would have 

 fallen down. 



The children danced about with their pretty 

 toys. No one looked at the Tree except one old 

 man, who came up and peeped among the 

 branches, but only to see if a fig or an apple 

 had not been forgotten. 



"A story ! A story !" shouted the children, as 

 they drew a little fat man toward the Tree. He 

 sat down just beneath it "for then we shall be 

 in the green wood," said he, "and the Tree may 

 have the advantage of listening to my tale. But 

 I can tell only one. Will you hear the story of 

 Ivede-Avede, or of Klumpey-Dumpey, who fell 

 downstairs, and still was raised up to honor and 

 married the princess?" 



"Ivede-Avede," cried some ; "Klumpey-Dum- 

 pey," cried others, and there was a great crying 

 and shouting. Only the Fir Tree was silent, and 

 thought, "Shall I not be in it? Shall I have 

 nothing to do in it?" But he had been in the 

 evening's amusement and had done what was 

 required of him. 



And the fat man told about Klumpey-Dumpey, 

 who fell downstairs, and yet was raised to honor 

 and married the princess. And the children 

 clapped their hands, and cried, "Tell another, 

 tell another !" for they wanted to hear about 

 Ivede-Avede ; but they got only the story of 

 Klumpey-Dumpey. 



The Fir Tree stood quite silent and thought- 

 ful ; never had the birds in the wood told such a 

 story as that ; Klumpey-Dumpey fell downstairs, 

 and yet came to honor and married the princess 

 at last ! 



"Yes, so it happens in the world !" thought 

 the Fir Tree, and believed it must be true, be- 

 cause that was such a nice man who told it. 



"Well, who can know? Perhaps I shall fall 

 downstairs, too, and marry a princess !" And it 

 looked forward with pleasure to being adorned 

 again, the next evening, with candles and toys, 

 gold and fruit. "To-morrow I shall not trem- 

 ble," it thought. "I shall rejoice in all my 

 splendor. To-morrow I shall hear the story of 

 Klumpey-Dumpey again, or perhaps that of 

 Ivede-Avede, too." 



And the Tree stood all night quiet and thought- 

 ful. 



In the morning the servants and the chamber- 

 maid came in. 



"Now my splendor will begin afresh," thought 

 the Tree. 



But they dragged him out of the room and up- 

 stairs to the garret, and there they put him in a 

 dark corner where no daylight shone. 



"What's the meaning of this?" thought the 

 Tree. "What am I to do here? What is to 

 happen?" 



And he leaned against the wall, and thought, 

 and thought. And he had time enough, for days 

 and nights went by, and nobody came up ; and 

 when at length some one came, it was only to put 

 some great boxes in a corner. Now the Tree 

 stood quite hidden away, and the supposition is 

 that it was quite forgotten. 



"Now it's winter outside," thought the Tree. 

 "The earth is hard and covered with snow, and 

 people cannot plant me ; therefore I suppose I'm 

 to be sheltered here until spririg comes. How 

 considerate that is ! How good people are ! If 

 it were only not so dark here, and so terribly 

 solitary ! Not even a little hare ! It was pretty 

 out there in the wood, when the snow lay thick 

 and the hare sprang past ; yes, even when he 

 jumped over me ; but then I did not like it. It is 

 terribly lonely up here !" 



