"Shall I have any stories?" said little Yalmar, as soon as Olé Luckoiè
had put him to sleep.
"In the evening we have no time for any," said Olé, and spread out
his most beautiful umbrella above his head. "Look now at this Chinese
scene!" and with that the whole inside of the umbrella looked like a
great china saucer, with blue trees and pointed bridges, on which
stood little Chinese, who stood and nodded with their heads. "We shall
have all the world dressed up beautifully this morning," said Olé, "for
it is really a holiday; it is Sunday. I shall go up into the church
towers to see whether the little church-elves polish the bells, because
they sound so sweetly. I shall go out into the market, and see whether
the wind blows the dust, and grass, and leaves, and what is the hardest
work there. I shall have all the stars down to polish them; I shall put
them into my apron, but first of all I must have them all numbered, and
the holes where they fit up there numbered also; else we shall never
put them into their proper places again, and then they will not be
firm, and we shall have so many falling stars, one dropping down after
another!"
"Hear, you Mr. Luckoiè, there!" said an old portrait that hung on the
wall of the room where Yalmar slept: "I am Yalmar's grandfather. We are
obliged to you for telling the boy pretty stories, but you must not go
and confuse his ideas. The stars cannot be taken down and polished! The
stars are globes like our earth, and they want nothing doing at them!"
"Thou shalt have thanks, thou old grandfather," said Olé Luckoiè;
"thanks thou shalt have! Thou art, to be sure, the head of the family;
thou art the old head of the family; but for all that, I am older than
thou! I am an old heathen; the Greeks and the Romans called me the god
of dreams. I go into great folks' houses, and I shall go there still. I
know how to manage both with young and old. But now thou mayst take thy
turn." And with this Olé Luckoiè went away, and took his umbrella with
him.
"Now, one cannot tell what he means!" said the old Portrait.
And Yalmar awoke.