Christmas Day (December 25)

Aye, aye, much he knew about the matter! but he had a real back-ache for sheer longing, and a back-ache with trees is the same thing as a head- ache with us.

3. Christmas In The House

The candles were now lighted. What brightness! What splendor! The Tree trembled so in every bough that one of the tapers set fire to a green branch. It blazed up splendidly.

Now the Tree did not even dare to tremble. That was a fright! He was so afraid of losing something of all his finery, that he was quite confused amidst the glare and brightness; and now both folding-doors opened, and a troop of children rushed in as if they would tip the whole Tree over. The older folks came quietly behind; the little ones stood quite still, but only for a moment, then they shouted so that the whole place echoed their shouts, they danced round the Tree, and one present after another was pulled off.

``What are they about?'' thought the Tree. ``What is to happen now?'' And the lights burned down to the very branches, and as they burned down they were put out one after the other, and then the children had leave to plunder the Tree. Oh, they rushed upon it so that it cracked in all its limbs; if its tip-top with the gold star on it had not been fastened to the ceiling, it would have tumbled over.

The children danced about with their pretty toys; no one looked at the Tree except the old nurse, who peeped in among the branches; but it was only to see if there was a fig or an apple that had been forgotten.

``A story! a story!'' cried the children, and they dragged a little fat man toward the Tree. He sat down under it, and said, ``Now we are in the shade, and the Tree can hear very well too. But I shall tell only one story. Now which will you have: that about Ivedy-Avedy, or about Klumpy- Dumpy who tumbled downstairs, and came to the throne after all, and married the princess?''

``Ivedy-Avedy,'' cried some; ``Klumpy- Dumpy,'' cried the others. There was such a bawling and screaming!--the Pine Tree alone was silent, and he thought to himself, ``Am I not to bawl with the rest?--am I to do nothing whatever?''--for he was one of them, and he had done what he had to do.

And the man told about Klumpy-Dumpy who tumbled downstairs, and came to the throne after all, and married the princess. And the children clapped their hands, and cried out, ``Go on, go on!'' They wanted to hear about Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only told them about Klumpy-Dumpy. The Pine Tree stood quite still and thoughtful: the birds in the wood had never told anything like this. ``Klumpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he married the princess! Yes, yes, that's the way of the world!'' thought the Pine Tree, and he believed it all, because it was such a nice man who told the story.

``Well, well! who knows, perhaps I may fall downstairs, too, and so get a princess!'' And he looked forward with joy to the next day when he should be decked out with lights and toys, fruits and tinsel.

``To-morrow I won't tremble!'' thought the Pine Tree. ``I will enjoy to the full all my splendor! To-morrow I shall hear again the story of Klumpy-Dumpy, and perhaps that of Ivedy- Avedy too.'' And the whole night the Tree stood still in deep thought.

In the morning the servant and the maid came in.

4. In The Attic

``Now all the finery will begin again,'' thought the Pine. But they dragged him out of the room, and up the stairs into the attic; and here in a dark corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him. ``What's the meaning of this?'' thought the Tree. ``What am I to 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; and the more he told, the more plainly he remembered all himself; and he thought: ``That was a merry time! But it can come! it can come! Klumpy-Dumpy fell down stairs, and yet he got a princess! Maybe I can get a princess too!'' And all of a sudden he thought of a nice little Birch Tree growing out in the woods: to the Pine, that would be a really charming princess.

``Who is Klumpy-Dumpy?'' asked the little Mice.

So then the Pine Tree told the whole fairy tale, for he could remember every single word of it; and the little Mice jumped for joy up to the very top of the Tree. Next night two more Mice came, and on Sunday two Rats, even; but they said the stories were not amusing, which vexed the little Mice, because they, too, now began to think them not so very amusing either.

``Do you know only that one story?'' asked the Rats.

``Only that one!'' answered the Tree. ``I heard it on my happiest evening; but I did not then know how happy I was.''

``It is a very stupid story! Don't you know one about bacon and tallow candles? Can't you tell any larder-stories?''

``No,'' said the Tree.

``Thank you, then,'' said the Rats; and they went home.

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