SIXTEENTH EVENING

Hear what the Moon told me. "I have seen the cadet who had just

been made an officer put on his handsome uniform for the first time; I

have seen the young bride in her wedding dress, and the princess

girl-wife happy in her gorgeous robes; but never have I seen a

felicity equal to that of a little girl of four years old, whom I

watched this evening. She had received a new blue dress, and a new

pink hat, the splendid attire had just been put on, and all were

calling for a candle, for my rays, shining in through the windows of

the room, were not bright enough for the occasion, and further

illumination was required. There stood the little maid, stiff and

upright as a doll, her arms stretched painfully straight out away from

the dress, and her fingers apart; and oh, what happiness beamed from

her eyes, and from her whole countenance! 'To-morrow you shall go

out in your new clothes,' said her mother; and the little one looked

up at her hat, and down at her frock, and smiled brightly. 'Mother,'

she cried, 'what will the little dogs think, when they see me in these

splendid new things?'"

Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · 第 106 / 223 题