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Page 67
And the old lady gave the old soldier alms, and went into the church with
Karen.
And all the people in the church looked at Karen's red shoes, and all the
pictures, and as Karen knelt before the altar, and raised the cup to her
lips, she only thought of the red shoes, and they seemed to swim in it; and
she forgot to sing her psalm, and she forgot to pray, "Our Father in Heaven!"
Now all the people went out of church, and the old lady got into her carriage.
Karen raised her foot to get in after her, when the old soldier said,
"Look, what beautiful dancing shoes!"
And Karen could not help dancing a step or two, and when she began her feet
continued to dance; it was just as though the shoes had power over them. She
danced round the church corner, she could not leave off; the coachman was
obliged to run after and catch hold of her, and he lifted her in the carriage,
but her feet continued to dance so that she trod on the old lady dreadfully.
At length she took the shoes off, and then her legs had peace.
The shoes were placed in a closet at home, but Karen could not avoid looking
at them.
Now the old lady was sick, and it was said she could not recover. She must be
nursed and waited upon, and there was no one whose duty it was so much as
Karen's. But there was a great ball in the city, to which Karen was invited.
She looked at the old lady, who could not recover, she looked at the red
shoes, and she thought there could be no sin in it; she put on the red shoes,
she might do that also, she thought. But then she went to the ball and began
to dance.
When she wanted to dance to the right, the shoes would dance to the left, and
when she wanted to dance up the room, the shoes danced back again, down the
steps, into the street, and out of the city gate. She danced, and was forced
to dance straight out into the gloomy wood.
Then it was suddenly light up among the trees, and she fancied it must be the
moon, for there was a face; but it was the old soldier with the red beard; he
sat there, nodded his head, and said, "Look, what beautiful dancing shoes!"
Then she was terrified, and wanted to fling off the red shoes, but they clung
fast; and she pulled down her stockings, but the shoes seemed to have grown to
her feet. And she danced, and must dance, over fields and meadows, in rain and
sunshine, by night and day; but at night it was the most fearful.
She danced over the churchyard, but the dead did not dance--they had
something better to do than to dance. She wished to seat herself on a poor
man's grave, where the bitter tansy grew; but for her there was neither peace
nor rest; and when she danced towards the open church door, she saw an angel
standing there. He wore long, white garments; he had wings which reached from
his shoulders to the earth; his countenance was severe and grave; and in his
hand he held a sword, broad and glittering.
"Dance shalt thou!" said he. "Dance in thy red shoes till thou art pale and
cold! Till thy skin shrivels up and thou art a skeleton! Dance shalt thou from
door to door, and where proud, vain children dwell, thou shalt knock, that
they may hear thee and tremble! Dance shalt thou--!"
"Mercy!" cried Karen. But she did not hear the angel's reply, for the shoes
carried her through the gate into the fields, across roads and bridges, and
she must keep ever dancing.
One morning she danced past a door which she well knew. Within sounded a
psalm; a coffin, decked with flowers, was borne forth. Then she knew that the
old lady was dead, and felt that she was abandoned by all, and condemned by
the angel of God.
She danced, and she was forced to dance through the gloomy night. The shoes
carried her over stack and stone; she was torn till she bled; she danced over
the heath till she came to a little house. Here, she knew, dwelt the
executioner; and she tapped with her fingers at the window, and said, "Come
out! Come out! I cannot come in, for I am forced to dance!"
And the executioner said, "Thou dost not know who I am, I fancy? I strike bad
people's heads off; and I hear that my axe rings!"
"Don't strike my head off!" said Karen. "Then I can't repent of my sins! But
strike off my feet in the red shoes!"
And then she confessed her entire sin, and the executioner struck off her feet
with the red shoes, but the shoes danced away with the little feet across the
field into the deep wood.
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