do here? What
shall I see and hear now, I wonder?" And he leaned against the wall and
stood and thought and thought. And plenty of time he had, for days and
nights passed, and nobody came up; and when at last somebody did come,
it was only to put some great trunks in the corner. There stood the Tree
quite hidden; it seemed as if he had been entirely forgotten.

"'T is now winter out-of-doors!" thought the Tree. "The earth is hard
and covered with snow; men cannot plant me now; therefore I have been
put up here under cover till spring! How thoughtful that is! How good
men are, after all! If it were not so dark here, and so terribly lonely!
Not even a hare. Out there it was so pleasant in the woods, when the
snow was on the ground, and the hare leaped by; yes--even when he jumped
over me; but I did not like it then. It is terribly lonely here!"

"Squeak! squeak!" said a little Mouse at the same moment, peeping out of
his hole. And then another little one came. They snuffed about the Pine
Tree, and rustled among the branches.

"It is dreadfully cold," said the little Mouse. "But for that, it would
be delightful here, old Pine, wouldn't it!"

"I am by no means old," said the Pine Tree. "There are many a good deal
older than I am."

"Where do you come from?" asked the Mice; "and what can you do?" They
were so very curious. "Tell us about the most beautiful spot on earth.
Have you been there? Were you ever in the larder, where cheeses lie on
the shelves, and hams hang from above; where one dances about on tallow
candles; where one goes in lean and comes out fat?"

"I don't know that place," said the Tree. "But I know the wood where the
sun shines, and where the little birds sing."

And then he told his story from his youth up; and the little Mice had
never heard the like before; and they listened and said, "Well, to be
sure! How much you have seen! How happy you must have been!"

"I!" said the Pine Tree, and he thought over what he had himself told.
"Yes, really 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 lucky you have been, old Pine Tree!"

"I am not at all old," said he. "I came from the wood this winter; I am
in my prime, and am only rather short of my age."

"What delightful stories you know!" said the Mice: and the next night
they came with four other little Mice, who were to hear what the Tree
had to tell; a