介绍:
n the street, up there, was an old, a very old house--it was almost threehundred years old, for that might be known by reading the great beam on whichthe date of the year was carved: together with tulips and hop-binds there werewhole verses spelled as in former times, and over every window was a distortedface cut out in the beam. The one story stood forward a great way over theother; and directly under the eaves was a leaden spout with a dragon&`&s head;the rain-water should have run out of the mouth, but it ran out of the belly,for there was a hole in the spout.
All the other houses in the street were so new and so neat, with large windowpanes and smooth walls, one could easily see that they would have nothing todo with the old house: they certainly thought, "How long is that old decayedthing to stand here as a spectacle in the street? And then the projectingwindows stand so far out, that no one can see from our windows what happens inthat direction! The steps are as broad as those of a palace, and as high as toa church tower. The iron railings look just like the door to an old familyvault, and then they have brass tops--that&`&s so stupid!"
On the other side of the street were also new and neat houses, and theythought just as the others did; but at the window opposite the old house theresat a little boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes: he certainlyliked the old house best, and that both in sunshine and moonshine. And when helooked across at the wall where the mortar had fallen out, he could sit andfind out there the strangest figures imaginable; exactly as the street hadappeared before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he couldsee soldiers with halberds, and spouts where the water ran, like dragons andserpents. That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who woreplush breeches; and he had a coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that onecould see was a real wig. Every morning there came an old fellow to him whoput his rooms in order, and went on errands; otherwise, the old man in theplush breeches was quite alone in the old house. Now and then he came to thewindow and looked out, and the little boy nodded to him, and the old mannodded again, and so they became acquaintances, and then they were friends,although they had never spoken to each other--but that made no difference. Thelittle boy heard his parents say, "The old man opposite is very well off, but
he is so very, very lonely!"
The Sunday following, the little boy took something, and wrapped it up in apiece of paper, went downstairs, and stood in the doorway; and when the manwho went on errands came past, he said to him--
"I say, master! will you give this to the old man over the way from me? I havetwo pewter soldiers--this is one of them, and he shall have it, for I know heis so very, very lonely."
And the old errand man looked quite pleased, nodded, and took the pewtersoldier over to the old house. Afterwards there came a message; it was to askif the little boy himself had not a wish to come over and pay a visit; and sohe got permission of his parents, and then went over to the old house.
And the brass balls on the iron railings shone much brighter than ever; onewould have thought they were polished on account of the visit; and it was asif the carved-out trumpeters--for there were trumpeters, who stood in tulips,carved out on the door--blew with all their might, their cheeks appeared somuch rounder than before. Yes, they blew--"Trateratra! The little boy comes!Trateratra!"--and then the door opened.
The whole passage was hung with portraits of knights in armor, and ladies insilken gowns; and the armor rattled, and the silken gowns rustled! And thenthere was a flight of stairs which went a good way upwards, and a little waydownwards, and then one came on a balcony which was in a very dilapidatedstate, sure enough, with large holes and long crevices, but grass grew thereand leaves out of them altogether, for the whole balcony outside, the yard,and the walls, were overgrown with so much green stuff, that it looked like a
garden; only a balcony. Here stood old flower-pots with faces and asses&`& ears,and the flowers grew just as they liked. One of the pots was quite overrun onall sides with pinks, that is to say, with the green part; shoot stood byshoot, and it said quite distinctly, "The air has cherished me, the sun haskissed me, and promised me a little flower on Sunday! a little flower onSunday!"
And then they entered a chamber where the walls were covered with hog&`&sleather, and printed with gold flowers.
"The gilding decays, But hog`s leather stays!" said the walls.
And there stood easy-chairs, with such high backs, and so carved out, and witharms on both sides. "Sit down! sit down!" said they. "Ugh! how I creak; now Ishall certainly get the gout, like the old clothespress, ugh!"
And then the little boy came into the room where the projecting windows were,and where the old man sat.
"I thank you for the pewter soldier, my little friend!" said the old man. "AndI thank you because you come over to me."
"Thankee! thankee!" or "cranky! cranky!" sounded from all the furniture; therewas so much of it, that each article stood in the other&`&s way, to get a lookat the little boy.
In the middle of the wall hung a picture representing a beautiful lady, soyoung, so glad, but dressed quite as in former times, with clothes that stoodquite stiff, and with powder in her hair; she neither said "thankee, thankee!"nor "cranky, cranky!" but looked with her mild eyes at the little boy, whodirectly asked the old man, "Where did you get her?"
"Yonder, at the broker&`&s," said the old man, "where there are so many pictureshanging. No one knows or cares about them, for they are all of them buried;but I knew her in by-gone days, and now she has been dead and gone these fiftyyears!"
Under the picture, in a glazed frame, there hung a bouquet of witheredflowers; they were almost fifty years old; they looked so very old!
The pendulum of the great clock went to and fro, and the hands turned, andeverything in the room became still older; but they did not observe it.
"They say at home," said the little boy, "that you are so very, very lonely!"
"Oh!" said he. "The old thoughts, with what they may bring with them, come andvisit me, and now you also come! I am very well off!"
Then he took a book with pictures in it down from the shelf; there werewhole long processions and pageants, with the strangest characters, which onenever sees now-a-days; soldiers like the knave of clubs, and citizens withwaving flags: the tailors had theirs, with a pair of shears held by twolions--and the shoemakers theirs, without boots, but with an eagle that hadtwo heads, for the shoemakers must have everything so that they can say, it isa pair! Yes, that was a picture book!
The old man now went into the other room to fetch preserves, apples, andnuts--yes, it was delightful over there in the old house.
"I cannot bear it any longer!" said the pewter soldier, who sat on thedrawers. "It is so lonely and melancholy here! But when one has been in afamily circle one cannot accustom oneself to this life! I cannot bear it any
longer! The whole day is so long, and the evenings are still longer! Here itis not at all as it is over the way at your home, where your father andmother spoke so pleasantly, and where you and all your sweet children madesuch a delightful noise. Nay, how lonely the old man is--do you think that hegets kisses? Do you think he gets mild eyes, or a Christmas tree? He will getnothing but a grave! I can bear it no longer!"
"You must not let it grieve you so much," said the little boy. "I find it sovery delightful here, and then all the old thoughts, with what they may bringwith them, they come and visit here."
"Yes, it&`&s all very well, but I see nothing of them, and I don&`&t know them!"said the pewter soldier. "I cannot bear it!"
"But you must!" said the little boy.
Then in came the old man with the most pleased and happy face, the mostdelicious preserves, apples, and nuts, and so the little boy thought no moreabout the pewter soldier.
The little boy returned home happy and pleased, and weeks and days passedaway, and nods were made to the old house, and from the old house, and thenthe little boy went over there again.
The carved trumpeters blew, "Trateratra! There is the little boy! Trateratra!"and the swords and armor on the knights&`& portraits rattled, and the silk gownsrustled; the hog&`&s leather spoke, and the old chairs had the gout in theirlegs and rheumatism in their backs: Ugh! it was exactly like the first time,for over there one day and hour was just like another.
"I cannot bear it!" said the pewter soldier. "I have shed pewter tears! It istoo melancholy! Rather let me go to the wars and lose arms and legs! It wouldat least be a change. I cannot bear it longer! Now, I know what it is to havea visit from one&`&s old thoughts, with what they may bring with them! I havehad a visit from mine, and you may be sure it is no pleasant thing in the end;I was at last about to jump down from the drawers.
"I saw you all over there at home so distinctly, as if you really were here;it was again that Sunday morning; all you children stood before the table andsung your Psalms, as you do every morning. You stood devoutly with foldedhands; and father and mother were just as pious; and then the door was opened,and little sister Mary, who is not two years old yet, and who always danceswhen she hears music or singing, of whatever kind it may be, was put into theroom--though she ought not to have been there--and then she began to dance,
but could not keep time, because the tones were so long; and then she stood,first on the one leg, and bent her head forwards, and then on the other leg,and bent her head forwards--but all would not do. You stood very seriously alltogether, although it was difficult enough; but I laughed to myself, and thenI fell off the table, and got a bump, which I have still--for it was notright of me to laugh. But the whole now passes before me again in thought, andeverything that I have lived to see; and these are the old thoughts, with whatthey may bring with them.
"Tell me if you still sing on Sundays? Tell me something about little Mary!And how my comrade, the other pewter soldier, lives! Yes, he is happy enough,that&`&s sure! I cannot bear it any longer!"
"You are given away as a present!" said the little boy. "You must remain. Canyou not understand that?"
The old man now came with a drawer, in which there was much to be seen, both"tin boxes" and "balsam boxes," old cards, so large and so gilded, such as onenever sees them now. And several drawers were opened, and the piano wasopened; it had landscapes on the inside of the lid, and it was so oarse whenthe old man played on it! and then he hummed a song.
"Yes, she could sing that!" said he, and nodded to the portrait, which hehad bought at the broker&`&s, and the old man&`&s eyes shone so bright!
"I will go to the wars! I will go to the wars!" shouted the pewter soldier asloud as he could, and threw himself off the drawers right down on the floor.What became of him? The old man sought, and the little boy sought; he wasaway, and he stayed away.
"I shall find him!" said the old man; but he never found him. The floor wastoo open--the pewter soldier had fallen through a crevice, and there he lay asin an open tomb.
That day passed, and the little boy went home, and that week passed, andseveral weeks too. The windows were quite frozen, the little boy was obligedto sit and breathe on them to get a peep-hole over to the old house, and therethe snow had been blown into all the carved work and inscriptions; it layquite up over the steps, just as if there was no one at home--no
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