The Little Elder-Tree Mother, Fairy Tales, Fairy Tales
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1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE LITTLE ELDER-TREE MOTHERby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a little boy who had caught cold; he had gone outand got wet feet. Nobody had the least idea how it had happened; theweather was quite dry. His mother undressed him, put him to bed, andordered the teapot to be brought in, that she might make him a goodcup of tea from the elder-tree blossoms, which is so warming. At thesame time, the kind-hearted old man who lived by himself in theupper storey of the house came in; he led a lonely life, for he had nowife and children; but he loved the children of others very much,and he could tell so many fairy tales and stories, that it was apleasure to hear him."Now, drink your tea," said the mother; "perhaps you will hear astory.""Yes, if I only knew a fresh one," said the old man, and noddedsmilingly. "But how did the little fellow get his wet feet?" he thenasked."That," replied the mother, "nobody can understand.""Will you tell me a story?" asked the boy."Yes, if you can tell me as nearly as possible how deep is thegutter in the little street where you go to school.""Just half as high as my top-boots," replied the boy; "but thenI must stand in the deepest holes.""There, now we know where you got your wet feet," said the oldman. "I ought to tell you a story, but the worst of it is, I do notknow any more.""You can make one up," said the little boy. "Mother says you cantell a fairy tale about anything you look at or touch.""That is all very well, but such tales or stories are worthnothing! No, the right ones come by themselves and knock at myforehead saying: 'Here I am.'""Will not one knock soon?" asked the boy; and the mother smiledwhile she put elder-tree blossoms into the teapot and poured boilingwater over them. "Pray, tell me a story.""Yes, if stories came by themselves; they are so proud, theyonly come when they please.- But wait," he said suddenly, "there isone. Look at the teapot; there is a story in it now."And the little boy looked at the teapot; the lid rose upgradually, the elder-tree blossoms sprang forth one by one, freshand white; long boughs came forth; even out of the spout they grewup in all directions, and formed a bush- nay, a large elder tree,which stretched its branches up to the bed and pushed the curtainsaside; and there were so many blossoms and such a sweet fragrance!In the midst of the tree sat a kindly-looking old woman with a strangedress; it was as green as the leaves, and trimmed with large whiteblossoms, so that it was difficult to say whether it was real cloth,or the leaves and blossoms of the elder-tree."What is this woman's name?" asked the little boy."Well, the Romans and Greeks used to call her a Dryad," said theold man; "but we do not understand that. Out in the sailors' quarterthey give her a better name; there she is called elder-tree mother.Now, you must attentively listen to her and look at the beautifulelder-tree."Just such a large tree, covered with flowers, stands out there;it grew in the corner of an humble little yard; under this tree sattwo old people one afternoon in the beautiful sunshine. He was an old,old sailor, and she his old wife; they had alreadygreat-grandchildren, and were soon to celebrate their goldenwedding, but they could not remember the date, and the elder-treemother was sitting in the tree and looked as pleased as this one here.'I know very well when the golden wedding is to take place,' she said;but they did not hear it- they were talking of bygone days."'Well, do you remember?' said the old sailor, 'when we were quitesmall and used to run about and play- it was in the very same yardwhere we now are- we used to put little branches into the ground andmake a garden.'"'Yes,' said the old woman, 'I remember it very well; we used towater the branches, and one of them, an elder-tree branch, tookroot, and grew and became the large tree under which we are nowsitting as old people.'"'Certainly, you are right,' he said; 'and in yonder cornerstood a large water-tub; there I used to sail my boat, which I had cutout myself- it sailed so well; but soon I had to sail somewhere else.'"'But first we went to school to learn something,' she said,'and then we were confirmed; we both wept on that day, but in theafternoon we went out hand in hand, and ascended the high roundtower and looked out into the wide world right over Copenhagen and thesea; then we walked to Fredericksburg, where the king and the queenwere sailing about in their magnificent boat on the canals.'"'But soon I had to sail about somewhere else, and for manyyears I was travelling about far away from home.'"'And I often cried about you, for I was afraid lest you weredrowned and lying at the bottom of the sea. Many a time I got up inthe night and looked if the weathercock had turned; it turned often,but you did not return. I remember one day distinctly: the rain waspouring down in torrents; the dust-man had come to the house where Iwas in service; I went down with the dust-bin and stood for a momentin the doorway, and looked at the dreadful weather. Then the postmangave me a letter; it was from you. Heavens! how that letter hadtravelled about. I tore it open and read it; I cried and laughed atthe same time, and was so happy! Therein was written that you werestaying in the hot countries, where the coffee grows. These must bemarvellous countries. You said a great deal about them, and I read allwhile the rain was pouring down and I was standing there with thedust-bin. Then suddenly some one put his arm round my waist-'"'Yes, and you gave him a hearty smack on the cheek,' said the oldman."'I did not know that it was you- you had come as quickly asyour letter; and you looked so handsome, and so you do still. Youhad a large yellow silk handkerchief in your pocket and a shininghat on. You looked so well, and the weather in the street washorrible!'"'Then we married,' he said. 'Do you remember how we got our firstboy, and then Mary, Niels, Peter, John, and Christian?''Oh yes; and now they have all grown up, and have become usefulmembers of society, whom everybody cares for.'"'And their children have had children again,' said the oldsailor. 'Yes, these are children's children, and they are strong andhealthy. If I am not mistaken, our wedding took place at this seasonof the year.'"'Yes, to-day is your golden wedding-day,' said the littleelder-tree mother, stretching her head down between the two oldpeople, who thought that she was their neighbour who was nodding tothem; they looked at each other and clasped hands. Soon afterwards thechildren and grandchildren came, for they knew very well that it wasthe golden wedding-day; they had already wished them joy and happinessin the morning, but the old people had forgotten it, although theyremembered things so well that had passed many, many years ago. Theelder-tree smelt strongly, and the setting sun illuminated the facesof the two old people, so that they looked quite rosy; the youngest ofthe grandchildren danced round them, and cried merrily that therewould be a feast in the evening, for they were to have hot potatoes;and the elder mother nodded in the tree and cried 'Hooray' with theothers.""But that was no fairy tale," said the little boy who had listenedto it."You will presently understand it," said the old man who toldthe story. "Let us ask little elder-tree mother about it.""That was no fairy tale," said the little elder-tree mother;"but now it comes! Real life furnishes us with subjects for the mostwonderful fairy tales; for otherwise my beautiful elder-bush could nothave grown forth out of the teapot."And then she took the little boy out of bed and placed him onher bosom; the elder branches, full of blossoms, closed over them;it was as if they sat in a thick leafy bower which flew with themthrough the air; it was beautiful beyond all description. The littleelder-tree mother had suddenly become a charming young girl, but herdress was still of the same green material, covered with whiteblossoms, as the elder-tree mother had worn; she had a real elderblossom on her bosom, and a wreath of the same flowers was wound roundher curly golden hair; her eyes were so large and so blue that itwas wonderful to look at them. She and the boy kissed each other,and then they were of the same age and felt the same joys. They walkedhand in hand out of the bower, and now stood at home in a beautifulflower garden. Near the green lawn the father's walking-stick was tiedto a post. There was life in this stick for the little ones, for assoon as they seated themselves upon it the polished knob turned into aneighing horse's head, a long black mane was fluttering in the wind,and four strong slender legs grew out. The animal was fiery andspirited; they galloped round the lawn. "Hooray! now we shall ride faraway, many miles!" said the boy; "we shall ride to the nobleman'sestate where we were last year." And they rode round the lawn again,and the little girl, who, as we know, was no other than the littleelder-tree mother, continually cried, "Now we are in the country! Doyou see the farmhouse ther...
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