The soldier,
who had watched everything, tarried no longer, put on his little cloak,
and went down last with the youngest. Half-way down the steps, he just
trod a little on her dress; she was terrified at that, and cried out,
"What is that? who is pulling my dress?" "Don't be so silly!" said the
eldest, "you have caught it on a nail." Then they went all the way down,
and when they were at the bottom, they were standing in a wonderfully
pretty avenue of trees, all the leaves of which were of silver, and shone
and glistened. The soldier thought, "I must carry a token away with me,"
and broke off a twig from one of them, on which the tree cracked with
a loud report. The youngest cried out again. "Something is wrong, did
you hear the crack?" But the eldest said, "It is a gun fired for joy,
because we have got rid of our prince so quickly." After that they
came into an avenue where all the leaves were of gold, and lastly into
a third where they were of bright diamonds; he broke off a twig from
each, which made such a crack each time that the youngest started back
in terror, but the eldest still maintained that they were salutes.
Pages:
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942