HE DREAM GOD 145
THE MONEY BOX 169
ELDER-TREE MOTHER 174
THE SNOW QUEEN 192
THE ROSES AND THE SPARROWS 253
THE OLD HOUSE 273
THE CONCEITED APPLE BRANCH 290
NOTES 299

[Illustration: They danced merrily ... around the tree.]

[Illustration]

HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES

THE FIR TREE

FAR away in the forest, where the warm sun and the fresh air made a
sweet resting place, grew a pretty little fir tree. The situation was
all that could be desired; and yet the tree was not happy, it wished so
much to be like its tall companions, the pines and firs which grew
around it.

The sun shone, and the soft air fluttered its leaves, and the little
peasant children passed by, prattling merrily; but the fir tree did not
heed them.

Sometimes the children would bring a large basket of raspberries or
strawberries, wreathed on straws, and seat themselves near the fir
tree, and say, "Is it not a pretty little tree?" which made it feel even
more unhappy than before.

And yet all this while the tree grew a notch or joint taller every year,
for by the number of joints in the stem of a fir tree we can discover
its age.

Still, as it grew, it complained: "Oh! how I wish I were as tall as the
other trees; then I would spread out my branches on every side, and my
crown would overlook the wide world around. I should have the birds
building their nests on my boughs, and when the wind blew, I should bow
with stately dignity, like my tall companions."

So discontented was the tree, that it took no pleasure in the warm
sunshine, the birds, or the rosy clouds that floated over it morning and
evening.

Sometimes in winter, when the snow lay white and glittering on the
ground, there was a little hare that would come springing along, and
jump right over the little tree's head; then how mortified it would
feel.

Two winters passed; and when the third arrived, the tree had grown so
tall that the hare was obliged to run round it. Yet it remained
unsatisfied and would exclaim: "Oh! to grow, to grow; if I could but
keep on growing tall and old! There is nothing else worth caring for in
the world."

In the autumn the woodcutters came, as usual, and cut down several of
the tallest trees; and the young fir, which was now grown to a good,
full height, shuddered as