介绍:
FIRST STORY. Which Treats of a Mirror and of the Splinters Now then, let us begin. When we are at the end of the story, we shall knowmore than we know now: but to begin.
Once upon a time there was a wicked sprite, indeed he was the most mischievousof all sprites. One day he was in a very good humor, for he had made a mirrorwith the power of causing all that was good and beautiful when it wasreflected therein, to look poor and mean; but that which was good-for-nothing
and looked ugly was shown magnified and increased in ugliness. In this mirrorthe most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best personswere turned into frights, or appeared to stand on their heads; their faceswere so distorted that they were not to be recognised; and if anyone had amole, you might be sure that it would be magnified and spread over both noseand mouth.
"That&`&s glorious fun!" said the sprite. If a good thought passed through aman&`&s mind, then a grin was seen in the mirror, and the sprite laughedheartily at his clever discovery. All the little sprites who went to his
school--for he kept a sprite school--told each other that a miracle hadhappened; and that now only, as they thought, it would be possible to see howthe world really looked. They ran about with the mirror; and at last there wasnot a land or a person who was not represented distorted in the mirror. Sothen they thought they would fly up to the sky, and have a joke there. Thehigher they flew with the mirror, the more terribly it grinned: they couldhardly hold it fast. Higher and higher still they flew, nearer and nearer tothe stars, when suddenly the mirror shook so terribly with grinning, that itflew out of their hands and fell to the earth, where it was dashed in ahundred million and more pieces. And now it worked much more evil than before;
for some of these pieces were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and theyflew about in the wide world, and when they got into people&`&s eyes, there theystayed; and then people saw everything perverted, or only had an eye for thatwhich was evil. This happened because the very smallest bit had the same powerwhich the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got a splinter intheir heart, and then it made one shudder, for their heart became like a lumpof ice. Some of the broken pieces were so large that they were used for
windowpanes, through which one could not see one&`&s friends. Other pieces wereput in spectacles; and that was a sad affair when people put on their glassesto see well and rightly. Then the wicked sprite laughed till he almost choked,for all this tickled his fancy. The fine splinters still flew about in theair: and now we shall hear what happened next.
SECOND STORY. A Little Boy and a Little Girl
In a large town, where there are so many houses, and so many people, thatthere is no roof left for everybody to have a little garden; and where, onthis account, most persons are obliged to content themselves with flowers inpots; there lived two little children, who had a garden somewhat larger than aflower-pot. They were not brother and sister; but they cared for each other asmuch as if they were. Their parents lived exactly opposite. They inhabited twogarrets; and where the roof of the one house joined that of the other, and the
gutter ran along the extreme end of it, there was to each house a smallwindow: one needed only to step over the gutter to get from one window to theother.
The children&`&s parents had large wooden boxes there, in which vegetables forthe kitchen were planted, and little rosetrees besides: there was a rose ineach box, and they grew splendidly. They now thought of placing the boxesacross the gutter, so that they nearly reached from one window to the other,and looked just like two walls of flowers. The tendrils of the peas hung downover the boxes; and the rose-trees shot up long branches, twined round thewindows, and then bent towards each other: it was almost like a triumphant
arch of foliage and flowers. The boxes were very high, and the children knewthat they must not creep over them; so they often obtained permission to getout of the windows to each other, and to sit on their little stools among theroses, where they could play delightfully. In winter there was an end of thispleasure. The windows were often frozen over; but then they heated copperfarthings on the stove, and laid the hot farthing on the windowpane, and thenthey had a capital peep-hole, quite nicely rounded; and out of each peeped a
gentle friendly eye--it was the little boy and the little girl who werelooking out. His name was Kay, hers was Gerda. In summer, with one jump, theycould get to each other; but in winter they were obliged first to go down thelong stairs, and then up the long stairs again: and out-of-doors there wasquite a snow-storm.
"It is the white bees that are swarming," said Kay&`&s old grandmother.
"Do the white bees choose a queen?" asked the little boy; for he knew that thehoney-bees always have one.
"Yes," said the grandmother, "she flies where the swarm hangs in the thickestclusters. She is the largest of all; and she can never remain quietly on theearth, but goes up again into the black clouds. Many a winter&`&s night sheflies through the streets of the town, and peeps in at the windows; and theythen freeze in so wondrous a manner that they look like flowers."
"Yes, I have seen it," said both the children; and so they knew that it wastrue.
"Can the Snow Queen come in?" said the little girl.
"Only let her come in!" said the little boy. "Then I&`&d put her on the stove,and she&`&d melt."
And then his grandmother patted his head and told him other stories.
In the evening, when little Kay was at home, and half undressed, he climbed upon the chair by the window, and peeped out of the little hole. A fewsnow-flakes were falling, and one, the largest of all, remained lying on theedge of a flower-pot.
The flake of snow grew larger and larger; and at last it was like a younglady, dressed in the finest white gauze, made of a million little flakes likestars. She was so beautiful and delicate, but she was of ice, of dazzling,sparkling ice; yet she lived; her eyes gazed fixedly, like two stars; butthere was neither quiet nor repose in them. She nodded towards the window, andbeckoned with her hand. The little boy was frightened, and jumped down fromthe chair; it seemed to him as if, at the same moment, a large bird flew past
the window.
The next day it was a sharp frost--and then the spring came; the sun shone,the green leaves appeared, the swallows built their nests, the windows wereopened, and the little children again sat in their pretty garden, high up onthe leads at the top of the house.
That summer the roses flowered in unwonted beauty. The little girl had learneda hymn, in which there was something about roses; and then she thought of herown flowers; and she sang the verse to the little boy, who then sang it withher:
"The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet,
And angels descend there the children to greet."
And the children held each other by the hand, kissed the roses, looked up atthe clear sunshine, and spoke as though they really saw angels there. Whatlovely summer-days those were! How delightful to be out in the air, near thefresh rose-bushes, that seem as if they would never finish blossoming!
Kay and Gerda looked at the picture-book full of beasts and of birds; and itwas then--the clock in the church-tower was just striking five--that Kay said,"Oh! I feel such a sharp pain in my heart; and now something has got into myeye!"
The little girl put her arms around his neck. He winked his eyes; now therewas nothing to be seen.
"I think it is out now," said he; but it was not. It was just one of thosepieces of glass from the magic mirror that had got into his eye; and poor Kayhad got another piece right in his heart. It will soon become like ice. It didnot hurt any longer, but there it was.
"What are you crying for?" asked he. "You look so ugly! There&`&s nothing thematter with me. Ah," said he at once, "that rose is cankered! And look, thisone is quite crooked! After all, these roses are very ugly! They are just likethe box they are planted in!" And then he gave the box a good kick with hisfoot, and pulled both the roses up.
"What are you doing?" cried the little girl; and as he perceived her fright,he pulled up another rose, got in at the window, and hastened off from dearlittle Gerda.
Afterwards, when she brought her picture-book, he asked, "What horrid beastshave you there?" And if his grandmother told them stories, he alwaysinterrupted her; besides, if he could manage it, he would get behind her, puton her spectacles, and imitate her way of speaking; he copied all her ways,and then everybody laughed at him. He was soon able to imitate the gait andmanner of everyone in the street. Everything that was peculiar and displeasingin them--that Kay knew how to imitate: and at such times all the people said,
"The boy is certainly very clever!" But it was the glass he had got in hiseye; the glass that was sticking in his heart, which made him tease evenlittle Gerda, whose whole soul was devoted to him.
His games now were quite different to what they had formerly been, they wereso very knowing. One winter&`&s day, when the flakes of snow were flying about,he spread the skirts of his blue coat, and caught the snow as it fell.
"Look through this glass, Gerda," said he. And every flake seemed larger, andappeared like a magnificent flower, or beautiful star; it was splendid to lookat!
"Look, how clever!" said Kay. "That&`&s much more interesting than real flowers!They are as exact as possible; there is not a fault in them, if they did notmelt!"
It was not long after this, that Kay came one day with large gloves on, andhis little sledge at his back, and bawled right into Gerda&`&s ears, "I havepermission to go out into the square where the others are playing"; and off hewas in a moment.
There, in the market-place, some of the boldest of the boys used to tie theirsledges to the carts as they passed by, and so they were pulled along, and gota good ride. It was so capital! Just as they were in the very height of theiramusement, a large sledge passed by: it was painted quite white, and there was
someone in it wrapped up in a rough white mantle of fur, with a rough whitefur cap on his head. The sledge drove round the square twice, and Kay tied onhis sledge as quickly as he could, and off he drove with it. On they wentquicker and quicker into the next street; and the person who drove turnedround to Kay, and nodded to him in a friendly manner, just as if they kneweach other. Every time he was going to untie his sledge, the person nodded tohim, and then Kay sat quiet; and so on they went till they came outside the
gates of the town. Then the snow began to fall so thickly that the little boycould not see an arm&`&s length before him, but still on he went: when suddenlyhe let go the string he held in his hand in order to get loose from thesledge, but it was of no use; still the little vehicle rushed on with thequickness of the wind. He then cried as loud as he could, but no one heardhim; the snow drifted and the sledge flew on, and sometimes it gave a jerk asthough they were driving over hedges and ditches. He was quite frightened, and
he tried to repeat the Lord&`&s Prayer; but all he could do, he was only able toremember the multiplication table.
The snow-flakes grew larger and larger, till at last they looked just likegreat white fowls. Suddenly they flew on one side; the large sledge stopped,and the person who drove rose up. It was a lady; her cloak and cap were ofsnow. She was tall and of slender figure, and of a dazzling whiteness. It wasthe Snow Queen.
"We have travelled fast," said she; "but it is freezingly cold. Come under my
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