their high descent, for their genealogical tree, that is to say, the
tall fir-tree, from which each of them was a splinter, had been a tree
of great antiquity, and distinguished by his height from all the other
trees of the forest. The matches were now lying on the mantlepiece,
between a tinder-box and an old iron saucepan, and to these two they
often talked about their youth. ‘Ah, when we were upon the green
branches,’ said they; ‘when we really lived upon green branches--that
was a happy time! Every morning and evening we had diamond-tea--that is,
dew; the whole day long we had sunshine, at least whenever the sun
shone, and all the little birds used to tell stories to us. It might
easily be seen, too, that we were rich, for the other trees were clothed
with leaves only during the summer, whereas our family could afford to
wear green clothes both summer and winter. But at last came the
wood-cutters: then was the great revolution, and our family was
dispersed. The paternal trunk obtained a situation as mainmast to a
magnificent ship, which could sail round the world if it chose; the
boughs were transported to various places, and our vocation was
henceforth to kindle lights for low, common people. Now you will
understand how it comes to pass that persons of such high descent as we
are should be living in a kitchen.’
‘To be sure, mine is a very different history,’ remarked the iron
saucepan, near which the matches were lying. ‘From the moment I came
into the world until now, I have been rubbed and scrubbed, and boiled
over and over again--oh, how many times! I love to have to do with what
is solidly good, and am really of the first importance in this house. My
only recreation is to stand clean and bright upon this mantlepiece after
dinner, and hold some rational conversation with my companions. However,
excepting the water-pail, who now and then goes out into the court, we
all of us lead a very quiet domestic life here. Our only newsmonger is
the turf-basket, but he talks in such a democratic way about
“government” and the “people”--why, I assure you, not long ago, there
was an old jar standing here, who was so much shocked by what he heard
said that he fell down from the mantlepiece and broke into a thousand
pieces! That turf-basket is a Liberal, that’s the fact.’
‘Now, you talk too much,’ interrupted the tinder-box, and the steel
struck the flint, so that the sparks flew out. ‘Why should we not spend
a pleasant evening?’
[Illustration: ‘WILL YOU TELL US A STORY?’ ASKED THE QUEEN]
‘Yes, let us settle who is of highest rank among us!’ proposed the
matches.
‘Oh no; for my part I would rather not speak of myself,’ objected the
earthenware pitcher. ‘Suppose we have an intellectual entertainment? I
will begin; I will relate something of everyday life, such as we have
all experienced; one can easily transport oneself into it, and that is
so interesting! Near the Baltic, among the Danish beech-groves----’
‘That is a capital beginning!’ cried all the plates at once; ‘it will
certainly be just the sort of story for me!’
‘Yes, there I spent my youth in a very quiet family; the furniture was
rubbed, the floors were washed, clean curtains were hung up every
fortnight.’
‘How very interesting! what a charming way you have of describing
things!’ said the hair-broom. ‘Any one might guess immediately that it
is a lady who is speaking; the tale breathes such a spirit of
cleanliness!’
‘Very true; so it does!’ exclaimed the water-pail, and in the excess of
his delight he gave a little jump, so that some of the water splashed
upon the floor.
And the pitcher went on with her tale, and the end proved as good as the
beginning.
All the plates clattered applause, and the hair-broom took some green
parsley out of the sand-hole and crowned the pitcher, for he knew that
this would vex the others; and, thought he, ‘If I crown her to-day, she
will crown me to-morrow.’
‘Now I will dance,’ said the fire-tongs, and accordingly she did dance,
and oh! it was wonderful to see how high she threw one of her legs up
into the air; the old chair-cover in the corner tore with horror at
seeing her. ‘Am not I to be crowned too?’ asked the tongs, and she was
crowned forthwith.
‘These are the vulgar rabble!’ thought the matches.
[Illustration: ‘BUT LET IT MAKE US LAUGH,’ SAID THE KING]
The tea-urn was now called upon to sing, but she had a cold; she said
she could only sing when she was boiling; however, this was all her
pride and affectation. The fact was she never cared to sing except when
she was standing on the parlour-table before company.
On the window-ledge lay an old quill-pen, with which the maids used to
write; there was nothing remarkable about her, except that she had been
dipped too low in the ink; however, she was proud of that. ‘If the
tea-urn does not choose to sing,’ quoth she, ‘she may let it alone;
there is a nightingale in the cage hung just outside--he can sing; to
be sure, he had never learnt the notes--never mind, we will not speak
evil of any one this evening!’
‘I think it highly indecorous,’ observed the tea-kettle, who was the
vocalist of the kitchen, and a half-brother of the tea-urn’s, ‘that a
foreign bird should be listened to. Is it patriotic? I appeal to the
turf-basket.’
‘I am only vexed,’ said the turf-basket. ‘I am vexed from my inmost soul
that such things are thought of at all. Is it a becoming way of spending
the evening? Would it not be much more rational to reform the whole
house, and establish a totally new order of things, rather more
according to nature? Then every one would get into his right place, and
I would undertake to direct the revolution. What say you to it? That
would be something worth the doing!’
‘Oh yes, we will make a grand commotion!’ cried they all. Just then the
door opened--it was the servant-maid. They all stood perfectly still,
not one dared stir, yet there was not a single kitchen utensil among
them all but was thinking about the great things he could have done, and
how great was his superiority over the others.
‘Ah, if I had chosen it,’ thought each of them, ‘what a merry evening we
might have had!’
The maid took the matches and struck a light--oh, how they sputtered and
blazed up!
‘Now every one may see,’ thought they, ‘that we are of highest rank;
what a splendid, dazzling light we give, how glorious!’--and in another
moment they were burnt out.
* * * * *
‘That is a capital story,’ said the Queen; ‘I quite felt myself
transported into the kitchen;--yes, thou shalt have our daughter!’
‘With all my heart,’ said the King; ‘on Monday thou shalt marry our
daughter.’ They said ‘thou’ to him now, since he was so soon to become
one of the family.
The wedding was a settled thing; and on the evening preceding, the whole
city was illuminated; cakes, buns, and sugar-plums were thrown out among
the people; all the little boys in the streets stood upon tiptoes,
shouting ‘Hurrah!’ and whistling through their fingers--it was famous!
[Illustration: THEIR SLIPPERS FLEW ABOUT THEIR EARS]
‘Well, I suppose I ought to do my part too,’ thought the merchant’s son,
so he went and bought sky-rockets, squibs, Catherine-wheels,
Roman-candles, and all kinds of fireworks conceivable; put them all
into his trunk, and flew up into the air, letting them off as he flew.
Hurrah! what a glorious sky-rocket was that!
All the Turks jumped up to look, so hastily that their slippers flew
about their ears; such a meteor they had never seen before. Now they
might be sure that it was indeed the prophet who was to marry their
Princess.
As soon as the merchant’s son had returned in his trunk to the wood, he
said to himself, ‘I will now go into the city and hear what people say
about me, and what sort of figure I made in the air.’ And, certainly,
this was a very natural idea.
Oh, what strange accounts were given! Every one whom he accosted had
beheld the bright vision in a way peculiar to himself, but all agreed
that it was marvellously beautiful.
‘I saw the great prophet with my own eyes,’ declared one; ‘he had eyes
like sparkling stars, and a beard like foaming water.’
‘He flew enveloped in a mantle of fire,’ said another; ‘the prettiest
little cherubs were peeping forth from under its folds.’
Yes; he heard of many beautiful things, and the morrow was to be his
wedding-day.
He now went back to the wood, intending to get into his trunk again, but
where was it?
Alas! the trunk was burnt. One spark from the fireworks had been left in
it, and set it on fire; the trunk now lay in ashes. The poor merchant’s
son could never fly again--could never again visit his bride.
She sat the livelong day upon the roof of her palace expecting him; she
expects him still; he, meantime, goes about the world telling stories,
but none of his stories now are so pleasant as that one which he related
in the Princess’s palace about the Brimstone Matches.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE LEAPING MATCH
The flea, the grasshopper, and the frog once wanted to try which of them
could jump highest; so they invited the whole world, and anybody else
who liked, to come and see the grand sight. Three famous jumpers were
they, as was seen by every one when they met together in the room.
‘I will give my daughter to him who shall jump highest,’ said the King;
‘it would be too bad for you to have the trouble of jumping, and for us
to offer you no prize.’
The flea was the first to introduce himself; he had such polite manners,
and bowed to the company on every side, for he was of noble blood;
besides, he was accustomed to the society of man, which had been a great
advantage to him.
Next came the grasshopper; he was not quite so slightly and elegantly
formed as the flea; however, he knew perfectly well how to conduct
himself, and wore a green uniform, which belonged to him by right of
birth. Moreover, he declared himself to have sprung from a very ancient
and honourable Egyptian family, and that in his present home he was very
highly esteemed, so much so, indeed, that he had been taken out of the
field and put into a card-house three stories high, built on purpose for
him, and all of court-cards, the coloured sides being turned inwards: as
for the doors and windows in his house, they were cut out of the body of
the Queen of Hearts. ‘And I can sing so well,’ added he, ‘that sixteen
parlour-bred crickets, who have chirped and chirped ever since they
were born and yet could never get anybody to build them a card-house,
after hearing me have fretted themselves ten times thinner than ever,
out of sheer envy and vexation!’ Both the flea and the grasshopper knew
excellently well how to make the most of themselves, and each considered
himself quite an equal match for a princess.
[Illustration: THE OLD COUNCILLOR]
The frog said not a word; however, it might be that he thought the more,
and the house-dog, after going snuffing about him, confessed that the
frog must be of a good family. And the old councillor, who in vain
received three orders to hold his tongue, declared that the frog must be
gifted with the spirit of prophecy, for that one could read on his back
whether there was to be a severe or a mild winter, which, to be sure, is
more than can be read on the back of the man who writes the weather
almanack.
‘Ah, I say nothing for the present!’ remarked the old King, ‘but I
observe everything, and form my own private opinion thereupon.’ And now
the match began. The flea jumped so high that no one could see what had
become of him, and so they insisted that he had not jumped at all,
‘which was disgraceful, after he had made such a fuss!’
The grasshopper only jumped half as high, but he jumped right into the
King’s face, and the King declared he was quite disgusted by his
rudeness.
[Illustration: ‘I SAY NOTHING FOR THE PRESENT,’ REMARKED THE KING]
The frog stood still as if lost in thought; at last people fancied he
did not intend to jump at all.
‘I’m afraid he is ill!’ said the dog; and he went snuffing at him
again, when lo! all at once he made a little side-long jump into the lap
of the Princess, who was sitting on a low stool close by.
Then spoke the King: ‘There is nothing higher than my daughter,
therefore he who jumps up to her jumps highest; but only a person of
good understanding would ever have thought of that, and thus the frog
has shown us that he has understanding. He has brains in his head, that
he has!’
[Illustration]
And thus the frog won the Princess.
‘I jumped highest for all that!’ exclaimed the flea. ‘But it’s all the
same to me; let her have the stiff-legged, slimy creature, if she like
him! I jumped highest, but I am too light and airy for this stupid
world; the people can neither see me nor catch me; dulness and heaviness
win the day with them!’
And so the flea went into foreign service, where, it is said, he was
killed.
And the grasshopper sat on a green bank, meditating on the world and its
goings on, and at length he repeated the flea’s last words--‘Yes,
dulness and heaviness win the day! dulness and heaviness win the day!’
And then he again began singing his own peculiar, melancholy song, and
it is from him that we have learnt this history; and yet, my friend,
though you read it here in a printed book, it may not be perfectly
true.
[Illustration: THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER]
[Illustration]
THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER
Have you never seen an old-fashioned oaken-wood cabinet, quite black
with age and covered with varnish and carving-work? Just such a piece of
furniture, an old heir-loom that had been the property of its present
mistress’s great-grandmother, once stood in a parlour. It was carved
from top to bottom--roses, tulips, and little stags’ heads with long,
branching antlers, peering forth from the curious scrolls and foliage
surrounding them. Moreover, in the centre panel of the cabinet was
carved the full-length figure of a man, who seemed to be perpetually
grinning, perhaps at himself, for in truth he was a most ridiculous
figure; he had crooked legs, small horns on his forehead, and a long
beard. The children of the house used to call him ‘the crooked-legged
Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant,’ for this was a long,
hard name, and not many figures, whether carved in wood or in stone,
could boast of such a title. There he stood, his eyes always fixed upon
the table under the pier-glass, for on this table stood a pretty little
porcelain shepherdess, her mantle gathered gracefully round her, and
fastened with a red rose; her shoes and hat were gilt, her hand held a
crook--oh, she was charming! Close by her stood a little
chimney-sweeper, likewise of porcelain. He was as clean and neat as any
of the other figures, indeed, the manufacturer might just as well have
made a prince as a chimney-sweeper of him, for though elsewhere black as
a coal, his face was as fresh and rosy as a girl’s, which was certainly
a mistake,--it ought to have been black. His ladder in his hand, there
he kept his station, close by the little shepherdess; they had been
placed together from the first, had always remained on the same spot,
and had thus plighted their troth to each other; they suited each other
so well, they were both young people, both of the same kind of
porcelain, both alike fragile and delicate.
Not far off stood a figure three times as large as the others. It was an
old Chinese mandarin who could nod his head; he too was of porcelain,
and declared that he was grandfather to the little shepherdess. He could
not prove his assertion; however, he insisted that he had authority
over her, and so, when ‘the crooked-legged
Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant’ made proposals to the
little shepherdess, he nodded his head in token of his consent.
‘Now, you will have a husband,’ said the old mandarin to her, ‘a husband
who, I verily believe, is of mahogany-wood; you will be the wife of a
Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant, of a man who has a whole
cabinet full of silverplate, besides a store of no one knows what in the
secret drawers!’
‘I will not go into that dismal cabinet!’ declared the little
shepherdess. ‘I have heard say that eleven porcelain ladies are already
imprisoned there.’
‘Then you shall be the twelfth, and you will be in good company!’
rejoined the mandarin. ‘This very night, when the old cabinet creaks,
your nuptials shall be celebrated, as sure as I am a Chinese mandarin!’
Whereupon he nodded his head and fell asleep.
But the little shepherdess wept, and turned to the beloved of her heart,
the porcelain chimney-sweep.
‘I believe I must ask you,’ said she, ‘to go out with me into the wide
world, for here we cannot stay.’
‘I will do everything you wish,’ replied the little chimney-sweeper;
‘let us go at once. I think I can support you by my profession.’
‘If you could but get off the table!’ sighed she; ‘I shall never be
happy till we are away, out in the wide world.’
And he comforted her, and showed her how to set her little foot on the
carved edges and gilded foliage twining round the leg of the table, till
at last they reached the floor. But turning to look at the old cabinet,
they saw everything in a grand commotion, all the carved stags putting
their little heads farther out, raising their antlers, and moving their
throats, whilst ‘the crooked-legged
Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant’ sprang up, and shouted
out to the old Chinese mandarin, ‘Look, they are eloping! they are
eloping!’ They were not a little frightened, and quickly jumped into an
open drawer for protection.
In this drawer there were three or four incomplete packs of cards, and
also a little puppet-theatre; a play was being performed, and all the
queens, whether of diamonds, hearts, clubs, or spades, sat in the front
row fanning themselves with the flowers they held in their hands; behind
them stood the knaves, showing that they had each two heads, one above
and one below, as most cards have. The play was about two persons who
were crossed in love, and the shepherdess wept over it, for it was just
like her own history.
‘I cannot bear this!’ said she. ‘Let us leave the drawer.’ But when they
had again reached the floor, on looking up at the table, they saw that
the old Chinese mandarin had awakened, and was rocking his whole body to
and fro with rage.
‘Oh, the old mandarin is coming!’ cried the little shepherdess, and down
she fell on her porcelain knees in the greatest distress. ‘A sudden
thought has struck me,’ said the chimney-sweeper: ‘suppose we creep into
the large pot-pourri vase that stands in the corner; there we can rest
upon roses and lavender, and throw salt in his eyes if he come near us.’
‘That will not do at all,’ said she; ‘besides, I know that the old
mandarin was once betrothed to the pot-pourri vase, and no doubt there
is still some slight friendship existing between them. No, there is no
help for it, we must wander forth together into the wide world.’
‘Hast thou indeed the courage to go with me into the wide world?’ asked
the chimney-sweeper. ‘Hast thou considered how large it is, and that we
may never return home again?’
‘I have,’ replied she.
And the chimney-sweeper looked keenly at her, and then said, ‘My path
leads through the chimney! hast thou indeed the courage to creep with me
through the stove, through the flues and the tunnel? Well do I know the
way! We shall mount up so high that they cannot come near us, and at the
top there is a cavern that leads into the wide world.’
And he led her to the door of the stove.
‘Oh, how black it looks!’ sighed she; however, she went on with him,
through the flues and through the tunnel, where it was dark, pitch
dark.
‘Now we are in the chimney,’ said he; ‘and look, what a lovely star
shines above us!’
And there was actually a star in the sky, shining right down upon them,
as if to show them the way. And they crawled and crept--a fearful path
was theirs--so high, so very high! but he guided and supported her, and
showed her the best places whereon to plant her tiny porcelain feet,
till they reached the edge of the chimney, where they sat down to rest,
for they were very tired, and indeed not without reason.
Heaven with all its stars was above them, and the town with all its
roofs lay beneath them; the wide, wide world surrounded them. The poor
shepherdess had never imagined all this; she leant her little head on
her chimney-sweeper’s arm, and wept so vehemently that the gilding broke
off from her waistband.
‘This is too much!’ exclaimed she. ‘This can I not endure! The world is
all too large! Oh that I were once more upon the little table under the
pier-glass! I shall never be happy till I am there again. I have
followed thee out into the wide world, surely thou canst follow me home
again, if thou lovest me!’
And the chimney-sweeper talked very sensibly to her, reminding
her of the old Chinese mandarin and ‘the crooked-legged
Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant,’ but she wept so
bitterly, and kissed her little chimney-sweep so fondly, that at last he
could not but yield to her request, unreasonable as it was.
So with great difficulty they crawled down the chimney, crept through
the flues and the tunnel, and at length found themselves once more in
the dark stove; but they still lurked behind the door, listening, before
they would venture to return into the room. Everything was quite still;
they peeped out: alas! on the ground lay the old Chinese mandarin. In
attempting to follow the runaways, he had fallen down off the table and
had broken into three pieces; his head lay shaking in a corner; ‘the
crooked-legged Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant’ stood
where he had always stood, thinking over what had happened.
‘Oh, how shocking!’ exclaimed the little shepherdess; ‘old grandfather
is broken in pieces, and we are the cause! I shall never survive it!’
and she wrung her delicate hands.
‘He can be put together again,’ replied the chimney-sweeper. ‘He can
very easily be put together; only be not so impatient! If they glue his
back together, and put a strong rivet in his neck, then he will be as
good as new again, and will be able to say plenty of unpleasant things
to us.’
‘Do you really think so?’ asked she. And then they climbed up the table
to the place where they had stood before.
‘See how far we have been!’ observed the chimney-sweeper, ‘we might have
spared ourselves all the trouble.’
‘If we could but have old grandfather put together!’ said the
shepherdess. ‘Will it cost very much?’
And he was put together; the family had his back glued and his neck
riveted; he was as good as new, but could no longer nod his head.
‘You have certainly grown very proud since you broke in
pieces!’ remarked the crooked-legged
Field-marshal-Major-General-Corporal-Sergeant, ‘but I must say, for my
part, I do not see that there is anything to be proud of. Am I to have
her or am I not? Just answer me that!’
And the chimney-sweeper and the little shepherdess looked imploringly at
the old mandarin; they were so afraid lest he should nod his head. But
nod he could not, and it was disagreeable to him to tell a stranger
that he had a rivet in his neck: so the young porcelain people always
remained together; they blessed the grandfather’s rivet, and loved each
other till they broke in pieces.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE POOR DUCKLING WAS SCORNED BY ALL]
THE UGLY DUCKLING
It was beautiful in the country, it was summer-time; the wheat was
yellow, the oats were green, the hay was stacked up in the green
meadows, and the stork paraded about on his long red legs, discoursing
in Egyptian, which language he had learned from his mother. The fields
and meadows were skirted by thick woods, and a deep lake lay in the
midst of the woods.--Yes, it was indeed beautiful in the country! The
sunshine fell warmly on an old mansion, surrounded by deep canals, and
from the walls down to the water’s edge there grew large burdock-leaves,
so high that children could stand upright among them without being
perceived. This place was as wild and unfrequented as the thickest part
of the wood, and on that account a duck had chosen to make her nest
there. She was sitting on her eggs; but the pleasure she had felt at
first was now almost gone, because she had been there so long, and had
so few visitors, for the other ducks preferred swimming on the canals to
sitting among the burdock-leaves gossiping with her.
At last the eggs cracked one after another, ‘Tchick tchick!’ All the
eggs were alive, and one little head after another appeared. ‘Quack,
quack,’ said the duck, and all got up as well as they could; they peeped
about from under the green leaves, and as green is good for the eyes,
their mother let them look as long as they pleased.
‘How large the world is!’ said the little ones, for they found their
present situation very different to their former confined one, while yet
in the egg-shells.
‘Do you imagine this to be the whole of the world?’ said the mother; ‘it
extends far beyond the other side of the garden, to the pastor’s field;
but I have never been there. Are you all here?’ And then she got up.
‘No, I have not got you all, the largest egg is still here. How long
will this last? I am so weary of it!’ And then she sat down again.
‘Well, and how are you getting on?’ asked an old duck, who had come to
pay her a visit.