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Page 44
Hand in hand they went out of the bower, and they were standing in the
beautiful garden of their home. Near the green lawn papa's walking-stick was
tied, and for the little ones it seemed to be endowed with life; for as soon
as they got astride it, the round polished knob was turned into a magnificent
neighing head, a long black mane fluttered in the breeze, and four slender yet
strong legs shot out. The animal was strong and handsome, and away they went
at full gallop round the lawn.
"Huzza! Now we are riding miles off," said the boy. "We are riding away to
the castle where we were last year!"
And on they rode round the grass-plot; and the little maiden, who, we know,
was no one else but old Nanny, kept on crying out, "Now we are in the country!
Don't you see the farm-house yonder? And there is an Elder Tree standing
beside it; and the cock is scraping away the earth for the hens, look, how he
struts! And now we are close to the church. It lies high upon the hill,
between the large oak-trees, one of which is half decayed. And now we are by
the smithy, where the fire is blazing, and where the half-naked men are
banging with their hammers till the sparks fly about. Away! away! To the
beautiful country-seat!"
And all that the little maiden, who sat behind on the stick, spoke of, flew by
in reality. The boy saw it all, and yet they were only going round the
grass-plot. Then they played in a side avenue, and marked out a little garden
on the earth; and they took Elder-blossoms from their hair, planted them, and
they grew just like those the old people planted when they were children, as
related before. They went hand in hand, as the old people had done when they
were children; but not to the Round Tower, or to Friedericksberg; no, the
little damsel wound her arms round the boy, and then they flew far away
through all Denmark. And spring came, and summer; and then it was autumn, and
then winter; and a thousand pictures were reflected in the eye and in the
heart of the boy; and the little girl always sang to him, "This you will never
forget." And during their whole flight the Elder Tree smelt so sweet and
odorous; he remarked the roses and the fresh beeches, but the Elder Tree had a
more wondrous fragrance, for its flowers hung on the breast of the little
maiden; and there, too, did he often lay his head during the flight.
"It is lovely here in spring!" said the young maiden. And they stood in a
beech-wood that had just put on its first green, where the woodroof* at their
feet sent forth its fragrance, and the pale-red anemony looked so pretty among
the verdure. "Oh, would it were always spring in the sweetly-smelling Danish
beech-forests!"
* Asperula odorata.
"It is lovely here in summer!" said she. And she flew past old castles of
by-gone days of chivalry, where the red walls and the embattled gables were
mirrored in the canal, where the swans were swimming, and peered up into the
old cool avenues. In the fields the corn was waving like the sea; in the
ditches red and yellow flowers were growing; while wild-drone flowers, and
blooming convolvuluses were creeping in the hedges; and towards evening the
moon rose round and large, and the haycocks in the meadows smelt so sweetly.
"This one never forgets!"
"It is lovely here in autumn!" said the little maiden. And suddenly the
atmosphere grew as blue again as before; the forest grew red, and green, and
yellow-colored. The dogs came leaping along, and whole flocks of wild-fowl
flew over the cairn, where blackberry-bushes were hanging round the old
stones. The sea was dark blue, covered with ships full of white sails; and in
the barn old women, maidens, and children were sitting picking hops into a
large cask; the young sang songs, but the old told fairy tales of
mountain-sprites and soothsayers. Nothing could be more charming.
"It is delightful here in winter!" said the little maiden. And all the trees
were covered with hoar-frost; they looked like white corals; the snow crackled
under foot, as if one had new boots on; and one falling star after the other
was seen in the sky. The Christmas-tree was lighted in the room; presents were
there, and good-humor reigned. In the country the violin sounded in the room
of the peasant; the newly-baked cakes were attacked; even the poorest child
said, "It is really delightful here in winter!"
Yes, it was delightful; and the little maiden showed the boy everything; and
the Elder Tree still was fragrant, and the red flag, with the white cross, was
still waving: the flag under which the old seaman in the New Booths had
sailed. And the boy grew up to be a lad, and was to go forth in the wide
world-far, far away to warm lands, where the coffee-tree grows; but at his
departure the little maiden took an Elder-blossom from her bosom, and
gave it him to keep; and it was placed between the leaves of his Prayer-Book;
and when in foreign lands he opened the book, it was always at the place where
the keepsake-flower lay; and the more he looked at it, the fresher it became;
he felt as it were, the fragrance of the Danish groves; and from among the
leaves of the flowers he could distinctly see the little maiden, peeping forth
with her bright blue eyes--and then she whispered, "It is delightful here in
Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter"; and a hundred visions glided before his
mind.
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