The Pink Fairy Book, part 11 · page 21 2101I shall enjoy to the full all my splendour.102To-morrow I shall hear Humpty Dumpty again, and perhaps Henny Penny too.’103And the tree stood silent and lost in thought all through the night.104Next morning the servants came in.105‘Now the dressing up will begin again,’ thought the tree.106But they dragged it out of the room, and up the stairs to the lumber-room, and put it in a dark corner, where no ray of light could penetrate.107‘What does this mean?’ thought the tree.108‘What am I to do here?109What is there for me to hear?’110And it leant against the wall, and thought and thought.111And there was time enough for that, for days and nights went by, and no one came; at last when some one did come, it was only to put some great boxes into the corner.112Now the tree was quite covered; it seemed as if it had been quite forgotten.113‘Now it is winter out-doors,’ thought the fir-tree.114‘The ground is hard and covered with snow, they can’t plant me yet, and that is why I am staying here under cover till the spring comes.115How thoughtful they are!116Only I wish it were not so terribly dark and lonely here; not even a little hare!117It was so nice out in the wood, when the snow lay all around, and the hare leapt past me; yes, even when he leapt over me: but I didn’t like it then.118It’s so dreadfully lonely up here.’119‘Squeak, squeak!’ said a little mouse, stealing out, followed by a second.120They sniffed at the fir-tree, and then crept between its boughs.121‘It’s frightfully cold,’ said the little mice.122‘How nice it is to be here!123Don’t you think so too, you old fir-tree?’124‘I’m not at all old,’ said the tree; ‘there are many much older than I am.’125‘Where do you come from?’ asked the mice, ‘and what do you know?’126They were extremely inquisitive.127‘Do tell us about the most beautiful place in the world.128Is that where you come from?129Have you been in the storeroom, where cheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from the ceiling, where one dances on tallow candles, and where one goes in thin and comes out fat?’130‘I know nothing about that,’ said the tree.131‘But I know the wood, where the sun shines, and the birds sing.’132And then it told them all about its young days, and the little mice had never heard anything like that before, and they listened with all their ears, and said: ‘Oh, how much you have seen!133How lucky you have been!’134‘I?’ said the fir-tree, and then it thought over what it had told them.135‘Yes, on the whole those were very happy times.’136But then it went on to tell them about Christmas Eve, when it had been adorned with sweet-meats and tapers.137‘Oh!’ said the little mice, ‘how lucky you have been, you old fir-tree!’138‘I’m not at all old’ said the tree.139‘I only came from the wood this winter.140I am only a little backward, perhaps, in my growth.’141‘How beautifully you tell stories!’ said the little mice.142And next evening they came with four others, who wanted to hear the tree’s story, and it told still more, for it remembered everything so clearly and thought: ‘Those were happy times!143But they may come again.144Humpty dumpty fell downstairs, and yet he married a princess; perhaps I shall also marry a princess!’145And then it thought of a pretty little birch-tree that grew out in the wood, and seemed to the fir-tree a real princess, and a very beautiful one too.146‘Who is Humpty Dumpty?’ asked the little mice.147And then the tree told the whole story; it could remember every single word, and the little mice were ready to leap on to the topmost branch out of sheer joy!148Next night many more mice came, and on Sunday even two rats; but they did not care about the story, and that troubled the little mice, for now they thought less of it too.149‘Is that the only story you know?’ asked the rats.150‘The only one,’ answered the tree.151‘I heard that on my happiest evening, but I did not realise then how happy I was.’152‘That’s a very poor story.153Don’t you know one about bacon or tallow candles? a storeroom story?’154‘No,’ said the tree.155‘Then we are much obliged to you,’ said the rats, and they went back to their friends.156At last the little mice went off also, and the tree said, sighing: ‘Really it was very pleasant when the lively little mice sat round and listened whilst I told them stories.157But now that’s over too.158But now I will think of the time when I shall be brought out again, to keep up my spirits.’159But when did that happen?160Well, it was one morning when they came to tidy up the lumber-room; they threw it really rather roughly on the floor, but a servant dragged it off at once downstairs, where there was daylight once more.161‘Now life begins again!’ thought the tree.162It felt the fresh air, the first rays of the sun, and there it was out in the yard!163Everything passed so quickly; the tree quite forgot to notice itself, there was so much to look at all around.164The yard opened on a garden full of flowers; the roses were so fresh and sweet, hanging over a little trellis, the lime-trees were in blossom, and the swallows flew about, saying: ‘Quirre-virre-vil, my husband has come home;’ but it was not the fir-tree they meant.1 2← previousThe Pink Fairy Book, part 10next →The Pink Fairy Book, part 12↑ back to The Pink Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/11/page/2/