FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82  
83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>   >|  
ehoods, I should not feel quite sure that it might not be found again some fine day. _Anders' New Cap_[14] ANNA WOHLENBERG Once upon a time there was a little boy, called Anders, who had a new cap. And a prettier cap you never could see, for mother herself had knitted it, and nobody could make anything quite as nice as mother could. And it was altogether red, except a small part in the middle which was green, for the red yarn had given out; and the tassel was blue. [Footnote 14: _A Swedish Fairy Tale._] His brothers and sisters walked about squinting at him, and their faces grew long with envy. But Anders cared nothing about that. He put his hands in his trousers pockets and went out for a walk, for he did not begrudge anybody's seeing how fine he was. The first person he met was a farm labourer walking alongside a load of peat and smacking at his horse. He made a bow so deep that his back came near breaking, and he was dumbfounded, I can tell you, when he saw it was nobody but Anders. "Dear me," he said, "if I did not think it was the gracious little count himself." And then he invited Anders to ride on the peat load. But when one has a fine red cap with a blue tassel, one is too fine to ride on peat loads, and Anders trotted proudly by. At the turn of the road he ran up against the tanner's boy, Lars. He was such a big boy that he wore high boots and carried a jack-knife. He gazed and gazed at the cap, and could not keep from fingering the blue tassel. "Let's swap caps," he said, "and I will give you my jack-knife to boot." Now this knife was a splendid one, though half the blade was gone, and the handle was a little cracked; and Anders knew that one is almost a man as soon as one has a jack-knife. But still it did not come up to the new cap which mother had made. "Oh no, I am not as stupid as all that!" And then he said good-bye to Lars with a nod; but Lars only made faces at him, for he was very much put out because he could not cheat Anders out of his cap which his mother had made. Soon after this, Anders met a very old, old woman who curtsied till her skirts looked like a balloon. She called him a little gentleman and said that he was so fine that he might go to the royal court ball. "Yes, why not?" thought Anders. "Seeing that I am so fine, I may as well go and visit the King." And so he did. In the palace yard stood two soldiers with shining helmets, and with muskets
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82  
83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Anders

 

mother

 

tassel

 
called
 
fingering
 

ehoods

 
palace
 

looked

 

carried


muskets

 
gentleman
 

helmets

 

tanner

 

shining

 

soldiers

 
splendid
 

skirts

 

curtsied


stupid

 
handle
 

cracked

 
balloon
 

Seeing

 

thought

 

brothers

 

sisters

 

Swedish


Footnote
 

walked

 

squinting

 

WOHLENBERG

 

prettier

 

knitted

 

middle

 

altogether

 

dumbfounded


breaking

 

gracious

 

trotted

 

proudly

 

invited

 

begrudge

 

trousers

 

pockets

 

smacking


alongside

 
walking
 

person

 

labourer