From other branches hung gilded apples
and walnuts, as if they had grown there; and above and all around were
hundreds of red, blue, and white tapers, which were fastened upon the
branches. Dolls, exactly like real men and women, were placed under the
green leaves,--the tree had never seen such things before,--and at the
very top was fastened a glittering star made of gold tinsel. Oh, it was
very beautiful. "This evening," they all exclaimed, "how bright it will
be!" "O that the evening were come," thought the tree, "and the tapers
lighted! Then I shall know what else is going to happen. Will the trees
of the forest come to see me? Will the sparrows peep in at the windows,
I wonder, as they fly? Shall I grow faster here than in the forest, and
shall I keep on all these ornaments during summer and winter?" But
guessing was of very little use. His back ached with trying, and this
pain is as bad for a slender fir tree as headache is for us. At last the tapers were lighted, and then what a glistening blaze of
splendor the tree presented! It trembled so with joy in all its branches
that one of the candles fell among the green leaves and burned some of
them. "Help! help!" exclaimed the young ladies; but no harm was done,
for they quickly extinguished the fire. After this the tree tried not to tremble at all, though the fire
frightened him, he was so anxious not to hurt any of the beautiful
ornaments, even while their brilliancy dazzled him. And now the folding doors were thrown open, and a troop of children
rushed in as if they intended to upset the tree, and were followed more
slowly by their elders. For a moment the little ones stood silent with
astonishment, and then they shouted for joy till the room rang; and they
danced merrily round the tree while one present after another was taken
from it. "What are they doing? What will happen next?" thought the tree. At last
the candles burned down to the branches and were put out. Then the
children received permission to plunder the tree. Oh, how they rushed upon it! There was such a riot that the branches
cracked, and had it not been fastened with the glistening star to the
ceiling, it must have been thrown down. Then the children danced about with their pretty toys, and no one
noticed the tree except the children's maid, who came and peeped among
the branches to see if an apple or a fig had been forgotten. *       *       *       *       *

"A story, a story," cried the children, pulling a little fat man towards
the tree. "Now we shall be in the green shade," said the man as he seated himself
under it, "and the tree will have the pleasure of hearing, also; but I
shall only relate one story. What shall it be? Ivede-Avede or Humpty
Dumpty, who fell downstairs, but soon got up again, and at last married
a princess?" "Ivede-Avede," cried some; "Humpty Dumpty," cried others; and there was
a famous uproar. But the fir tree remained quite still and thought to
himself: "Shall I have anything to do with all this? Ought I to make a
noise, too?" but he had already amused them as much as they wished and
they paid no attention to him. Then the old man told them the story of Humpty Dumpty--how he fell
downstairs, and was raised up again, and married a princess. And the
children clapped their hands and cried, "Tell another, tell another,"
for they wanted to hear the story of Ivede-Avede; but this time they had
only "Humpty Dumpty." After this the fir tree became quite silent and
thoughtful. Never had the birds in the forest told such tales as that of
Humpty Dumpty, who fell downstairs, and yet married a princess. "Ah, yes! so it happens in the world," thought the fir tree. He believed
it all, because it was related by such a pleasant man. "Ah, well!" he thought, "who knows? Perhaps I may fall down, too, and
marry a princess;" and he looked forward joyfully to the next evening,
expecting to be again decked out with lights and playthings, gold and
fruit. "To-morrow I will not tremble," thought he; "I will enjoy all my
splendor, and I shall hear the story of Humpty Dumpty again, and perhaps
of Ivede-Avede." And the tree remained quiet and thoughtful all night. In the morning the servants and the housemaid came in. "Now," thought
the fir tree, "all my splendor is going to begin again." But they
dragged him out of the room and upstairs to the garret and threw him on
the floor in a dark corner where no daylight shone, and there they left
him. "What does this mean?" thought the tree. "What am I to do here? I
can hear nothing in a place like this;" and he leaned against the wall
and thought and thought. And he had time enough to think, for days and nights passed and no one
came near him; and when at last somebody did come, it was only to push
away some large boxes in a corner. So the tree was completely hidden
from sight, as if it had never existed. [Illustration: Threw him on the floor ..... and there they left him.] "It is winter now," thought the tree; "the ground is hard and covered
with snow, so that people cannot plant me. I shall be sheltered here, I
dare say, until spring comes. How thoughtful and kind everybody is to
me! Still, I wish this place were not so dark and so dreadfully
lonely, with not even a little hare to look at. How pleasant it was
out in the forest while the snow lay on the ground, when the hare would
run by, yes, and jump over me, too, although I did not like it then. Oh! it is terribly lonely here." "Squeak, squeak," said a little mouse, creeping cautiously towards the
tree; then came another, and they both sniffed at the fir tree and crept
in and out between the branches. "Oh, it is very cold," said the little mouse. "If it were not we should
be very comfortable here, shouldn't we, old fir tree?" "I am not old," said the fir tree. "There are many who are older than I
am." "Where do you come from?" asked the mice, who were full of curiosity;
"and what do you know? Have you seen the most beautiful places in the
world, and can you tell us all about them? And have you been in the
storeroom, where cheeses lie on the shelf and hams hang from the
ceiling? One can run about on tallow candles there; one can go in thin
and come out fat." "I know nothing of that," said the fir tree, "but I know the wood, where
the sun shines and the birds sing." And then the tree told the little
mice all about its youth. They had never heard such an account in their
lives; and after they had listened to it attentively, they said: "What a
number of things you have seen! You must have been very happy." "Happy!" exclaimed the fir tree; and then, as he reflected on what he
had been telling them, he said, "Ah, yes! after all, those were happy
days." But when he went on and related all about Christmas Eve, and how
he had been dressed up with cakes and lights, the mice said, "How happy
you must have been, you old fir tree." "I am not old at all," replied the tree; "I only came from the forest
this winter. I am now checked in my growth."