Evening star., 1927-11-15

thans Christian Andersen. Danlen Wr1ter
oSr ,as: for sHHsa and
ss ss:sss;
der. The Ugly Duckling." The Little
There was once a real student who
lived in an attic and owned nothing
whatsoever. There was also a real
huckster who lived on the ground floor
and owned the whole house. The
goblin made friends with him. for
every Christmas he was given bowl
full of porridge with lump of butter
in it. The huckster could easily afford
this. so the goblin stayed in the shop.
One evening the student came in
by the back door to buy some candles
| and cheese. He had no one to send, so
he went himself. He got what he
asked for and paid for 1t and the
huckster and his wife wished him
good evening.
The student returned the greeting,
but stood absorbed in reading some.
thing on the paper in which the
cheese was wrapped. 1t was a page
from an old book Of poetry which
should never have been torn up at all.
The huckster had the rest of the
book and offered to sell 1t to the stu
| dent for pence. So the student took
the book instead Of the cheese, decid.
ing to live on bread and butter.
1T would be a sin to tear up such
q book" said the student. "You are
a capital fellow and a practical man,
but you know no more about poetry
than a tub!'
Now this was a very rude speech
especially to the tub, which was stand
ing near by. The huckster laughed.
for, Of course, it was said as joke.
But the goblin was annoyed that any
one should dare say such a thing to
the huckster who was landlord and
also sold the best butter.
At night. when every one was asleep
and abed except the student. the
goblin borrowed the landlords wife's
long tongue. She had no use for il
1t on any object in the room and
thereby confer on it the power of
speech. OF course, only one object
could make use of it at q time, but
probably this was just as well.
The goblin laid the tongue on the
tub and asked, 'Is 1t really true that
you do not know what poetry is?"
"Of course, know" answered the
tub. 1T is the kind of stuff that is
printed at the foot of newspaper
columns and is sometimes cut out"
Then the goblin put the tongue upon
| the coffee mill, and what pace 1t
| wagged at then! He also put it on
! the butter cask and on the cash box.
| They were all of the same opinion
as the tub and what the majority
agree upon must be respected.
Now the student shall have his
say" said the goblin, and he stole
| stealthily up the back stairs to the
attic, where the student lived.
| There was light burning and the
goblin peeped through the keyhole
and saw that the student was reading
the tattered book he had taken instead
of the cheese. But how bright the
room was! A clear ray Of light shot
forth from the book, which widened
out to a stem, and then to mighty
tree, which rose and spread !ts
| branches right over the student.
The leaves of this tree were delight
| fully fresh. some with dark and spar
| king eyes, while others had wonder
fully blue and clear eyes. Every fruit
| was a shining star and the air was
filed with music. No, the little goblin
| had never imagined, much less seen OF
| taken part in, such splendors at these
So then he stood on tiptoe, peeping
and peeping till the light was put out
The, student blew out his lamp and
went to bed. but the little goblin re
mained by the door. for the swee
songs still echoed through the air
! making a charming lullaby for the
| student who was taking his rest.
This Is splendid" said the goblin
II hadn't expected anything of the
kind. think l will stay with the
| student"
So he thought-and then he thought
| again. But the student has no por
! ridge with butter in it."
Then he went away. Yes, he went
| back to the huckster; and it was q
good thing he went, for the tongue
had been left on the tub, which had
almost used UP the landlords wife's
volubility!
The tub had given a detailed de
scription of what he contained from
one side and now he was just to turr
himself over to repeat the same from
the other side, when the goblin cam,
back and took away the lady's tongue
| to return It to her. But the whole
shop, from the cash box to the fire
wood. took their opinions from the tul