"What have I given? What am I going to give? I spit at it; it"sgood for nothing, and does not concern me. For my part, you may goon bearing roses; you cannot do anything else. Let the hazel bush bearnuts, and the cows and sheep give milk; they have each their public. Ihave mine in myself. I retire within myself and there I stop. Theworld is nothing to me."
With this the snail withdrew into his house and blocked up theentrance.
"That"s very sad," said the rose tree. "I cannot creep intomyself, however much I might wish to do so; I have to go on bearingroses. Then they drop their leaves, which are blown away by thewind. But I once saw how a rose was laid in the mistress"shymn-book, and how one of my roses found a place in the bosom of ayoung beautiful girl, and how another was kissed by the lips of achild in the glad joy of life. That did me good; it was a realblessing. Those are my recollections, my life."
And the rose tree went on blooming in innocence, while the snaillay idling in his house- the world was nothing to him.
Years passed by.
The snail had turned to earth in the earth, and the rose tree too.Even the souvenir rose in the hymn-book was faded, but in the gardenthere were other rose trees and other snails. The latter crept intotheir houses and spat at the world, for it did not concern them.
Shall we read the story all over again? It will be just the same.
THE END.
1872
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
THE SNOW MAN
by Hans Christian Andersen
"IT is so delightfully cold," said the Snow Man, "that it makes mywhole body crackle. This is just the kind of wind to blow life intoone. How that great red thing up there is staring at me!" He meant thesun, who was just setting. "It shall not make me wink. I shallmanage to keep the pieces."
He had two triangular pieces of tile in his head, instead of eyes;his mouth was made of an old broken rake, and was, of course,furnished with teeth. He had been brought into existence amidst thejoyous shouts of boys, the jingling of sleigh-bells, and theslashing of whips. The sun went down, and the full moon rose, large,round, and clear, shining in the deep blue.
"There it comes again, from the other side," said the Snow Man,who supposed the sun was showing himself once more. "Ah, I havecured him of staring, though; now he may hang up there, and shine,that I may see myself. If I only knew how to manage to move awayfrom this place,- I should so like to move. If I could, I wouldslide along yonder on the ice, as I have seen the boys do; but I don"tunderstand how; I don"t even know how to run."
"Away, away," barked the old yard-dog. He was quite hoarse, andcould not pronounce "Bow wow" properly. He had once been an indoordog, and lay by the fire, and he had been hoarse ever since. "Thesun will make you run some day. I saw him, last winter, make yourpredecessor run, and his predecessor before him. Away, away, theyall have to go."
"I don"t understand you, comrade," said the Snow Man. "Is thatthing up yonder to teach me to run? I saw it running itself a littlewhile ago, and now it has come creeping up from the other side.
"You know nothing at all," replied the yard-dog; "but then, you"veonly lately been patched up. What you see yonder is the moon, andthe one before it was the sun. It will come again to-morrow, andmost likely teach you to run down into the ditch by the well; for Ithink the weather is going to change. I can feel such pricks and stabsin my left leg; I am sure there is going to be a change."
"I don"t understand him," said the Snow Man to himself; "but Ihave a feeling that he is talking of something very disagreeable.The one who stared so just now, and whom he calls the sun, is not myfriend; I can feel that too."
"Away, away," barked the yard-dog, and then he turned roundthree times, and crept into his kennel to sleep.
There was really a change in the weather. Towards morning, a thickfog covered the whole country round, and a keen wind arose, so thatthe cold seemed to freeze one"s bones; but when the sun rose, thesight was splendid. Trees and bushes were covered with hoar frost, andlooked like a forest of white coral; while on every twig glitteredfrozen dew-drops. The many delicate forms concealed in summer byluxuriant foliage, were now clearly defined, and looked likeglittering lace-work. From every twig glistened a white radiance.The birch, waving in the wind, looked full of life, like trees insummer; and its appearance was wondrously beautiful. And where the sunshone, how everything glittered and sparkled, as if diamond dust hadbeen strewn about; while the snowy carpet of the earth appeared asif covered with diamonds, from which countless lights gleamed,whiter than even the snow itself.
"This is really beautiful," said a young girl, who had come intothe garden with a young man; and they both stood still near the SnowMan, and contemplated the glittering scene. "Summer cannot show a morebeautiful sight," she exclaimed, while her eyes sparkled.
"And we can"t have such a fellow as this in the summer time,"replied the young man, pointing to the Snow Man; "he is capital."
The girl laughed, and nodded at the Snow Man, and then trippedaway over the snow with her friend. The snow creaked and crackledbeneath her feet, as if she had been treading on starch.
"Who are these two?"