Page 75 - English_Spark_8

‘Where do you come from, asked the Mice, ‘Tell us about the most beautiful spot on

the earth! I only know the wood, where the sun shines and where the little birds sing.
And then he told all about his youth; and the little Mice had never heard the like this
before; and they listened and said, ‘How much you have seen! How happy you must

have been!’

‘Yes, those were happy times. And then he told about Christmas-eve, when he was
decked out with cakes and candles.’

‘Oh, said the little Mice’, ‘How fortunate you have been, old Fir Tree!’
I am by no means old, said he. ‘I came from the wood this winter; I am quite young.

They may still come! Humpty-Dumpty fell downstairs, and yet he got a princess!’
‘Who Humpty-Dumpty?’ asked the Mice. So then the Fir Tree told the whole fairy

tale. Next night two more Mice came to listen to his stories, but they did not find
them too interesting. ‘Do you know only one story?’ asked the Mice. ‘Only that one,

answered the Tree.’ ‘It is a very stupid story! Can’t you tell any other stories?’ ‘No, said
the Tree’. ‘Then good-bye,’ said the rats; and they went home.

The Tree was lonely again. One morning, some people came and set to work in the
loft. The trunks were moved, the Tree was pulled out and thrown towards the stairs,

where the daylight shone.
‘Now a merry life will begin again, thought the Tree. He felt the fresh air, at first’.

‘Now, then, I shall really enjoy life. But, alas, his leaves were all dry and yellow! In the
courtyard some of the children were playing who had danced at Christmas round the
Fir Tree. They were glad at the sight of him. One of them ran and tore off the red star.’

‘Only look what is still on the ugly old Christmas tree!’ said he, trampling on the
branches’. The Tree was sad.

‘It’s over. It’s past!’ said the poor Tree. ‘I should have rejoiced when I had reason to

do so!’
Now it’s past!

—Hans Christian Anderson

Fir Tree — evergreen tree; felled — cut down; swallows — small birds; stork — large bird; masts — ship
poles; gingerbread — sweet cake/cookie; tapers — thin candles; loft — storage room.

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