Antonio Canova. · page 31 2 3201At each corner she placed a candle, and on the carpet she put a number of eggs.202She arranged the eggs in the form of certain figures.203When this was done, she called to a man who was waiting with a violin.204She tied a band about her eyes, and then the dancing began.205How lightly, quickly, nimbly, wonderfully, she moved!206She skipped so fast among the eggs, she trod so closely beside them, that you would have thought she must crush them all.207But not one of them did she touch.208With all kinds of steps she passed among them.209Not one of them was moved from its place.210Wilhelm forgot all his cares.checked by a teacher211He watched every motion of the child.212He almost forgot who and where he was.213When the dance was ended, Mignon rolled the eggs together with her foot into a little heap.214Not one was left behind, not one was harmed.215Then she took the band from her eyes, and made a little bow.216Wilhelm thanked her for showing him a dance that was so wonderful and pretty.217He praised her, petted her, and hoped that she had not tired herself too much.218When she had gone from the room, the man with the violin told Wilhelm of the care she had taken to teach him the music of the dance.219He told how she had sung it to him over and over again.220He told how she had even wished to pay him with her own money for learning to play it for her.221There was yet another way in which Mignon tried to please Wilhelm, and make him forget his cares.222She sang to him.223The song which he liked best was one whose words he had never heard before.224Its music, too, was strange to him, and yet it pleased him very much.225He asked her to speak the words over and over again.checked by a teacher226He wrote them down; but the sweetness of the tune was more delightful than the words.227The song began in this way:--228"Do you know the land where citrons, lemons, grow, And oranges under the green leaves glow?"229Once, when she had ended the song, she said again, "Do you know the land?"230"It must be Italy," said Wilhelm. "231Have you ever been there?"232The child did not answer.233* * * * *234End of Project Gutenberg's Fifty Famous Stories Retold, by James Baldwin1 2 3← previousV. the Fortune.↑ back to Fifty Famous Stories RetoldThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/54/page/3/