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Page 26
"Squeak! Squeak!" said a little Mouse, at the same moment, peeping out of his
hole. And then another little one came. They snuffed about the Fir Tree, and
rustled among the branches.
"It is dreadfully cold," said the Mouse. "But for that, it would be delightful
here, old Fir, wouldn't it?"
"I am by no means old," said the Fir Tree. "There's many a one considerably
older than I am."
"Where do you come from," asked the Mice; "and what can you do?" They were so
extremely curious. "Tell us about the most beautiful spot on the earth. Have
you never been there? Were you never in the larder, where cheeses lie on the
shelves, and hams hang from above; where one dances about on tallow candles:
that place where one enters lean, and comes out again fat and portly?"
"I know no such place," said the Tree. "But I know the wood, where the sun
shines and where the little birds sing." And then he told all about his youth;
and the little Mice had never heard the like before; and they listened and
said,
"Well, to be sure! How much you have seen! How happy you must have been!"
"I!" said the Fir Tree, thinking over what he had himself related. "Yes, in
reality those were happy times." And then he told about Christmas-eve, when he
was decked out with cakes and candles.
"Oh," said the little Mice, "how fortunate you have been, old Fir Tree!"
"I am by no means old," said he. "I came from the wood this winter; I am in my
prime, and am only rather short for my age."
"What delightful stories you know," said the Mice: and the next night they
came with four other little Mice, who were to hear what the Tree recounted:
and the more he related, the more he remembered himself; and it appeared as if
those times had really been happy times. "But they may still come--they may
still come! Humpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he got a princess!" and he
thought at the moment of a nice little Birch Tree growing out in the woods: to
the Fir, that would be a real charming princess.
"Who is Humpy-Dumpy?" asked the Mice. So then the Fir Tree told the whole
fairy tale, for he could remember every single word of it; and the little Mice
jumped for joy up to the very top of the Tree. Next night two more Mice came,
and on Sunday two Rats even; but they said the stories were not interesting,
which vexed the little Mice; and they, too, now began to think them not so
very amusing either.
"Do you know only one story?" asked the Rats.
"Only that one," answered the Tree. "I heard it on my happiest evening; but I
did not then know how happy I was."
"It is a very stupid story! Don't you know one about bacon and tallow candles?
Can't you tell any larder stories?"
"No," said the Tree.
"Then good-bye," said the Rats; and they went home.
At last the little Mice stayed away also; and the Tree sighed: "After all, it
was very pleasant when the sleek little Mice sat round me, and listened to
what I told them. Now that too is over. But I will take good care to enjoy
myself when I am brought out again."
But when was that to be? Why, one morning there came a quantity of people and
set to work in the loft. The trunks were moved, the tree was pulled out and
thrown--rather hard, it is true--down on the floor, but a man drew him towards
the stairs, where the daylight shone.
"Now a merry life will begin again," thought the Tree. He felt the fresh air,
the first sunbeam--and now he was out in the courtyard. All passed so quickly,
there was so much going on around him, the Tree quite forgot to look to
himself. The court adjoined a garden, and all was in flower; the roses hung so
fresh and odorous over the balustrade, the lindens were in blossom, the
Swallows flew by, and said, "Quirre-vit! My husband is come!" but it was not
the Fir Tree that they meant.
"Now, then, I shall really enjoy life," said he exultingly, and spread out his
branches; but, alas, they were all withered and yellow! It was in a corner
that he lay, among weeds and nettles. The golden star of tinsel was still on
the top of the Tree, and glittered in the sunshine.
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