The Old House · page 21 2101Some days afterwards there was an auction at the old house, and the little boy saw from his window how they carried the old knights and the old ladies away, the flower-pots with the long ears, the old chairs, and the old clothes-presses.102Something came here, and something came there; the portrait of her who had been found at the broker's came to the broker's again; and there it hung, for no one knew her more--no one cared about the old picture.103In the spring they pulled the house down, for, as people said, it was a ruin.104One could see from the street right into the room with the hog's-leather hanging, which was slashed and torn; and the green grass and leaves about the balcony hung quite wild about the falling beams.105And then it was put to rights.106“That was a relief,” said the neighboring houses.107A fine house was built there, with large windows, and smooth white walls; but before it, where the old house had in fact stood, was a little garden laid out, and a wild grapevine ran up the wall of the neighboring house.108Before the garden there was a large iron railing with an iron door, it looked quite splendid, and people stood still and peeped in, and the sparrows hung by scores in the vine, and chattered away at each other as well as they could, but it was not about the old house, for they could not remember it, so many years had passed--so many that the little boy had grown up to a whole man, yes, a clever man, and a pleasure to his parents; and he had just been married, and, together with his little wife, had come to live in the house here, where the garden was; and he stood by her there whilst she planted a field-flower that she found so pretty; she planted it with her little hand, and pressed the earth around it with her fingers.109Oh! what was that?110She had stuck herself.111There sat something pointed, straight out of the soft mould.112It was--yes, guess!113It was the pewter soldier, he that was lost up at the old man's, and had tumbled and turned about amongst the timber and the rubbish, and had at last laid for many years in the ground.114The young wife wiped the dirt off the soldier, first with a green leaf, and then with her fine handkerchief--it had such a delightful smell, that it was to the pewter soldier just as if he had awaked from a trance.115“Let me see him,” said the young man.116He laughed, and then shook his head.117“Nay, it cannot be he; but he reminds me of a story about a pewter soldier which I had when I was a little boy!”118And then he told his wife about the old house, and the old man, and about the pewter soldier that he sent over to him because he was so very, very lonely; and he told it as correctly as it had really been, so that the tears came into the eyes of his young wife, on account of the old house and the old man.119“It may possibly be, however, that it is the same pewter soldier!” said she.120“I will take care of it, and remember all that you have told me; but you must show me the old man's grave!”121“But I do not know it,” said he, “and no one knows it!122All his friends were dead, no one took care of it, and I was then a little boy!”123“How very, very lonely he must have been!” said she.124“Very, very lonely!” said the pewter soldier.125“But it is delightful not to be forgotten!”126“Delightful!” shouted something close by; but no one, except the pewter soldier, saw that it was a piece of the hog's-leather hangings; it had lost all its gilding, it looked like a piece of wet clay, but it had an opinion, and it gave it:127“The gilding decays, But hog's leather stays!”128This the pewter soldier did not believe.1 2← previousThe Bellnext →The Happy Family↑ back to Andersen's Fairy TalesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/19/page/2/