No More Learning

At first I thought
he was looking at the great clock, which was gaily painted in red
and green. At the top sat a cuckoo, below hung the heavy leaden
weights, and the pendulum with the polished disc of metal went to
and fro, and said 'tick, tick. ' But no, he was not looking at the
clock, but at his mother's spinning wheel, that stood just
underneath it. That was the boy's favourite piece of furniture, but he
dared not touch it, for if he meddled with it he got a rap on the
knuckles. For hours together, when his mother was spinning, he would
sit quietly by her side, watching the murmuring spindle and the
revolving wheel, and as he sat he thought of many things. Oh, if he
might only turn the wheel himself! Father and mother were asleep; he
looked at them, and looked at the spinning wheel, and presently a
little naked foot peered out of the bed, and then a second foot, and
then two little white legs. There he stood. He looked round once more,
to see if father and mother were still asleep--yes, they slept; and
now he crept softly, softly, in his short little nightgown, to the
spinning wheel, and began to spin. The thread flew from the wheel, and
the wheel whirled faster and faster. I kissed his fair hair and his
blue eyes, it was such a pretty picture.

"At that moment the mother awoke. The curtain shook, she looked
forth, and fancied she saw a gnome or some other kind of little
spectre. 'In Heaven's name! ' she cried, and aroused her husband in a
frightened way. He opened his eyes, rubbed them with his hands, and
looked at the brisk little lad. 'Why, that is Bertel,' said he. And my
eye quitted the poor room, for I have so much to see. At the same
moment I looked at the halls of the Vatican, where the marble gods are
enthroned. I shone upon the group of the Laocoon; the stone seemed
to sigh. I pressed a silent kiss on the lips of the Muses, and they
seemed to stir and move. But my rays lingered longest about the Nile
group with the colossal god. Leaning against the Sphinx, he lies there
thoughtful and meditative, as if he were thinking on the rolling
centuries; and little love-gods sport with him and with the
crocodiles. In the horn of plenty sat with folded arms a little tiny
love-god, contemplating the great solemn river-god, a true picture
of the boy at the spinning wheel--the features were exactly the
same. Charming and life-like stood the little marble form, and yet the
wheel of the year has turned more than a thousand times since the time
when it sprang forth from the stone. Just as often as the boy in the
little room turned the spinning wheel had the great wheel murmured,
before the age could again call forth marble gods equal to those he
afterwards formed.

"Years have passed since all this happened," the Moon went on to
say. "Yesterday I looked upon a bay on the eastern coast of Denmark.
Glorious woods are there, and high trees, an old knightly castle
with red walls, swans floating in the ponds, and in the background
appears, among orchards, a little town with a church. Many boats,
the crews all furnished with torches, glided over the silent
expanse--but these fires had not been kindled for catching fish, for
everything had a festive look. Music sounded, a song was sung, and
in one of the boats the man stood erect to whom homage was paid by the
rest, a tall sturdy man, wrapped in a cloak. He had blue eyes and long
white hair. I knew him, and thought of the Vatican, and of the group
of the Nile, and the old marble gods. I thought of the simple little
room where little Bertel sat in his night-shirt by the spinning wheel.
The wheel of time has turned, and new gods have come forth from the
stone. From the boats there arose a shout: 'Hurrah, hurrah for
Bertel Thorwaldsen! '"


TWENTY-FOURTH EVENING

"I will now give you a picture from Frankfort," said the Moon.
"I especially noticed one building there. It was not the house in
which Goethe was born, nor the old Council House, through whose grated
windows peered the horns of the oxen that were roasted and given to
the people when the emperors were crowned. No, it was a private house,
plain in appearance, and painted green. It stood near the old Jews'
Street. It was Rothschild's house.

"I looked through the open door. The staircase was brilliantly
lighted: servants carrying wax candles in massive silver
candlesticks stood there, and bowed low before an old woman, who was
being brought downstairs in a litter. The proprietor of the house
stood bare-headed, and respectfully imprinted a kiss on the hand of
the old woman. She was his mother. She nodded in a friendly manner
to him and to the servants, and they carried her into the dark
narrow street, into a little house, that was her dwelling. Here her
children had been born, from hence the fortune of the family had
arisen. If she deserted the despised street and the little house,
fortune would also desert her children. That was her firm belief. "

The Moon told me no more; his visit this evening was far too
short. But I thought of the old woman in the narrow despised street.
It would have cost her but a word, and a brilliant house would have
arisen for her on the banks of the Thames--a word, and a villa would
have been prepared in the Bay of Naples.

"If I deserted the lowly house, where the fortunes of my sons
first began to bloom, fortune would desert them! " It was a
superstition, but a superstition of such a class, that he who knows
the story and has seen this picture, need have only two words placed
under the picture to make him understand it; and these two words
are: "A mother. "


TWENTY-FIFTH EVENING

"It was yesterday, in the morning twilight"--these are the words
the Moon told me--"in the great city no chimney was yet smoking--and
it was just at the chimneys that I was looking. Suddenly a little head
emerged from one of them, and then half a body, the arms resting on
the rim of the chimney-pot. 'Ya-hip! ya-hip! ' cried a voice. It was
the little chimney-sweeper, who had for the first time in his life
crept through a chimney, and stuck out his head at the top. 'Ya-hip!
ya-hip' Yes, certainly that was a very different thing to creeping
about in the dark narrow chimneys! the air blew so fresh, and he could
look over the whole city towards the green wood. The sun was just
rising. It shone round and great, just in his face, that beamed with
triumph, though it was very prettily blacked with soot.

"'The whole town can see me now,' he exclaimed, 'and the moon
can see me now, and the sun too. Ya-hip! ya-hip! ' And he flourished
his broom in triumph. "


TWENTY-SIXTH EVENING

"Last night I looked down upon a town in China," said the Moon.
"My beams irradiated the naked walls that form the streets there.
Now and then, certainly, a door is seen; but it is locked, for what
does the Chinaman care about the outer world? Close wooden shutters
covered the windows behind the walls of the houses; but through the
windows of the temple a faint light glimmered. I looked in, and saw
the quaint decorations within. From the floor to the ceiling
pictures are painted, in the most glaring colours, and richly
gilt--pictures representing the deeds of the gods here on earth. In
each niche statues are placed, but they are almost entirely hidden by the
coloured drapery and the banners that hang down. Before each idol (and
they are all made of tin) stood a little altar of holy water, with
flowers and burning wax lights on it. Above all the rest stood Fo, the
chief deity, clad in a garment of yellow silk, for yellow is here
the sacred colour. At the foot of the altar sat a living being, a
young priest. He appeared to be praying, but in the midst of his
prayer he seemed to fall into deep thought, and this must have been
wrong, for his cheeks glowed and he held down his head. Poor
Soui-Hong! Was he, perhaps, dreaming of working in the little flower
garden behind the high street wall? And did that occupation seem
more agreeable to him than watching the wax lights in the temple? Or
did he wish to sit at the rich feast, wiping his mouth with silver
paper between each course? Or was his sin so great that, if he dared
utter it, the Celestial Empire would punish it with death? Had his
thoughts ventured to fly with the ships of the barbarians, to their
homes in far distant England? No, his thoughts did not fly so far, and
yet they were sinful, sinful as thoughts born of young hearts,
sinful here in the temple, in the presence of Fo and the other holy
gods.

"I know whither his thoughts had strayed. At the farther end of
the city, on the flat roof paved with porcelain, on which stood the
handsome vases covered with painted flowers, sat the beauteous Pu,
of the little roguish eyes, of the full lips, and of the tiny feet.
The tight shoe pained her, but her heart pained her still more. She
lifted her graceful round arm, and her satin dress rustled. Before her
stood a glass bowl containing four gold-fish. She stirred the bowl
carefully with a slender lacquered stick, very slowly, for she, too,
was lost in thought. Was she thinking, perchance, how the fishes
were richly clothed in gold, how they lived calmly and peacefully in
their crystal world, how they were regularly fed, and yet how much
happier they might be if they were free? Yes, that she could well
understand, the beautiful Pu. Her thoughts wandered away from her
home, wandered to the temple, but not for the sake of holy things.
Poor Pu! Poor Soui-hong!

"Their earthly thoughts met, but my cold beam lay between the two,
like the sword of the cherub. "


TWENTY-SEVENTH EVENING

"The air was calm," said the Moon; "the water was transparent as
the purest ether through which I was gliding, and deep below the
surface I could see the strange plants that stretched up their long
arms towards me like the gigantic trees of the forest. The fishes swam
to and fro above their tops. High in the air a flight of wild swans
were winging their way, one of which sank lower and lower, with
wearied pinions, his eyes following the airy caravan, that melted
farther and farther into the distance. With outspread wings he sank
slowly, as a soap bubble sinks in the still air, till he touched the
water. At length his head lay back between his wings, and silently
he lay there, like a white lotus flower upon the quiet lake. And a
gentle wind arose, and crisped the quiet surface, which gleamed like
the clouds that poured along in great broad waves; and the swan raised
his head, and the glowing water splashed like blue fire over his
breast and back. The morning dawn illuminated the red clouds, the swan
rose strengthened, and flew towards the rising sun, towards the bluish
coast whither the caravan had gone; but he flew alone, with a
longing in his breast. Lonely he flew over the blue swelling billows. "


TWENTY-EIGHTH EVENING

"I will give you another picture of Sweden," said the Moon. "Among
dark pine woods, near the melancholy banks of the Stoxen, lies the old
convent church of Wreta. My rays glided through the grating into the
roomy vaults, where kings sleep tranquilly in great stone coffins.
On the wall, above the grave of each, is placed the emblem of
earthly grandeur, a kingly crown; but it is made only of wood, painted
and gilt, and is hung on a wooden peg driven into the wall. The
worms have gnawed the gilded wood, the spider has spun her web from
the crown down to the sand, like a mourning banner, frail and
transient as the grief of mortals. How quietly they sleep! I can
remember them quite plainly. I still see the bold smile on their lips,
that so strongly and plainly expressed joy or grief. When the
steamboat winds along like a magic snail over the lakes, a stranger
often comes to the church, and visits the burial vault; he asks the
names of the kings, and they have a dead and forgotten sound. He
glances with a smile at the worm-eaten crowns, and if he happens to be
a pious, thoughtful man, something of melancholy mingles with the
smile. Slumber on, ye dead ones! The Moon thinks of you, the Moon at
night sends down his rays into your silent kingdom, over which hangs
the crown of pine wood. "


TWENTY-NINTH EVENING

"Close by the high-road," said the Moon, "is an inn, and
opposite to it is a great waggon-shed, whose straw roof was just being
re-thatched. I looked down between the bare rafters and through the
open loft into the comfortless space below. The turkey-cock slept on
the beam, and the saddle rested in the empty crib. In the middle of
the shed stood a travelling carriage; the proprietor was inside,
fast asleep, while the horses were being watered. The coachman
stretched himself, though I am very sure that he had been most
comfortably asleep half the last stage. The door of the servants' room
stood open, and the bed looked as if it had been turned over and over;
the candle stood on the floor, and had burnt deep down into the
socket. The wind blew cold through the shed: it was nearer to the dawn
than to midnight. In the wooden frame on the ground slept a wandering
family of musicians. The father and mother seemed to be dreaming of
the burning liquor that remained in the bottle. The little pale
daughter was dreaming too, for her eyes were wet with tears. The harp
stood at their heads, and the dog lay stretched at their feet. "


THIRTIETH EVENING

"It was in a little provincial town," the Moon said; "it certainly
happened last year, but that has nothing to do with the matter. I
saw it quite plainly. To-day I read about it in the papers, but
there it was not half so clearly expressed. In the taproom of the
little inn sat the bear leader, eating his supper; the bear was tied
up outside, behind the wood pile--poor Bruin, who did nobody any harm,
though he looked grim enough. Up in the garret three little children
were playing by the light of my beams; the eldest was perhaps six
years old, the youngest certainly not more than two. 'Tramp,
tramp'--somebody was coming upstairs: who might it be? The door was
thrust open--it was Bruin, the great, shaggy Bruin! He had got tired of
waiting down in the courtyard, and had found his way to the stairs.
I saw it all," said the Moon. "The children were very much
frightened at first at the great shaggy animal; each of them crept
into a corner, but he found them all out, and smelt at them, but did
them no harm. 'This must be a great dog,' they said, and began to
stroke him. He lay down upon the ground, the youngest boy clambered on
his back, and bending down a little head of golden curls, played at
hiding in the beast's shaggy skin. Presently the eldest boy took his
drum, and beat upon it till it rattled again; the bear rose upon his
hind legs, and began to dance. It was a charming sight to behold. Each
boy now took his gun, and the bear was obliged to have one too, and he
held it up quite properly. Here was a capital playmate they had found;
and they began marching--one, two; one, two.

"Suddenly some one came to the door, which opened, and the
mother of the children appeared. You should have seen her in her
dumb terror, with her face as white as chalk, her mouth half open, and
her eyes fixed in a horrified stare. But the youngest boy nodded to
her in great glee, and called out in his infantile prattle, 'We're
playing at soldiers. ' And then the bear leader came running up. "


THIRTY-FIRST EVENING

The wind blew stormy and cold, the clouds flew hurriedly past;
only for a moment now and then did the Moon become visible. He said,
"I looked down from the silent sky upon the driving clouds, and saw
the great shadows chasing each other across the earth. I looked upon a
prison. A closed carriage stood before it; a prisoner was to be
carried away. My rays pierced through the grated window towards the
wall; the prisoner was scratching a few lines upon it, as a parting
token; but he did not write words, but a melody, the outpouring of his
heart. The door was opened, and he was led forth, and fixed his eyes
upon my round disc. Clouds passed between us, as if he were not to see
his face, nor I his. He stepped into the carriage, the door was
closed, the whip cracked, and the horses gallopped off into the
thick forest, whither my rays were not able to follow him; but as I
glanced through the grated window, my rays glided over the notes,
his last farewell engraved on the prison wall--where words fail,
sounds can often speak. My rays could only light up isolated notes, so
the greater part of what was written there will ever remain dark to
me. Was it the death-hymn he wrote there? Were these the glad notes of
joy? Did he drive away to meet death, or hasten to the embraces of his
beloved? The rays of the Moon do not read all that is written by
mortals. "


THIRTY-SECOND EVENING

"I love the children," said the Moon, "especially the quite little
ones--they are so droll. Sometimes I peep into the room, between the
curtain and the window frame, when they are not thinking of me. It
gives me pleasure to see them dressing and undressing. First, the
little round naked shoulder comes creeping out of the frock, then
the arm; or I see how the stocking is drawn off, and a plump little
white leg makes its appearance, and a white little foot that is fit to
be kissed, and I kiss it too.

"But about what I was going to tell you. This evening I looked
through a window, before which no curtain was drawn, for nobody
lives opposite. I saw a whole troop of little ones, all of one family,
and among them was a little sister. She is only four years old, but
can say her prayers as well as any of the rest. The mother sits by her
bed every evening, and hears her say her prayers; and then she has a
kiss, and the mother sits by the bed till the little one has gone to
sleep, which generally happens as soon as ever she can close her eyes.

"This evening the two elder children were a little boisterous. One
of them hopped about on one leg in his long white nightgown, and the
other stood on a chair surrounded by the clothes of all the
children, and declared he was acting Grecian statues. The third and
fourth laid the clean linen carefully in the box, for that is a
thing that has to be done; and the mother sat by the bed of the
youngest, and announced to all the rest that they were to be quiet,
for little sister was going to say her prayers.

"I looked in, over the lamp, into the little maiden's bed, where
she lay under the neat white coverlet, her hands folded demurely and
her little face quite grave and serious. She was praying the Lord's
prayer aloud. But her mother interrupted her in the middle of her
prayer. 'How is it,' she asked, 'that when you have prayed for daily
bread, you always add something I cannot understand? You must tell
me what that is. ' The little one lay silent, and looked at her
mother in embarrassment. 'What is it you say after our daily bread? '
'Dear mother, don't be angry: I only said, and plenty of butter on
it. '"




THE NEIGHBOURING FAMILIES

One would have thought that something important was going on in
the duck-pond, but it was nothing after all. All the ducks lying
quietly on the water or standing on their heads in it--for they
could do that--at once swarm to the sides; the traces of their feet
were seen in the wet earth, and their cackling was heard far and wide.
The water, which a few moments before had been as clear and smooth
as a mirror, became very troubled. Before, every tree, every
neighbouring bush, the old farmhouse with the holes in the roof and
the swallows' nest, and especially the great rose-bush full of
flowers, had been reflected in it. The rose-bush covered the wall
and hung out over the water, in which everything was seen as if in a
picture, except that it all stood on its head; but when the water
was troubled everything got mixed up, and the picture was gone. Two
feathers which the fluttering ducks had lost floated up and down;
suddenly they took a rush as if the wind were coming, but as it did
not come they had to lie still, and the water once more became quiet
and smooth. The roses were again reflected; they were very
beautiful, but they did not know it, for no one had told them. The sun
shone among the delicate leaves; everything breathed forth the
loveliest fragrance, and all felt as we do when we are filled with joy
at the thought of our happiness.

"How beautiful existence is! " said each rose. "The only thing that
I wish for is to be able to kiss the sun, because it is so warm and
bright. I should also like to kiss those roses down in the water,
which are so much like us, and the pretty little birds down in the
nest. There are some up above too; they put out their heads and pipe
softly; they have no feathers like their father and mother. We have
good neighbours, both below and above. How beautiful existence is! "

The young ones above and below--those below were really only
shadows in the water--were sparrows; their parents were sparrows
too, and had taken possession of the empty swallows' nest of last
year, and now lived in it as if it were their own property.
"Are those the duck's children swimming here? " asked the young
sparrows when they saw the feathers on the water.

"If you must ask questions, ask sensible ones," said their mother.
"Don't you see that they are feathers, such as I wear and you will
wear too? But ours are finer. Still, I should like to have them up
in the nest, for they keep one warm. I am very curious to know what
the ducks were so startled about; not about us, certainly, although
I did say 'peep' to you pretty loudly. The thick-headed roses ought to
know why, but they know nothing at all; they only look at themselves
and smell. I am heartily tired of such neighbours. "

"Listen to the dear little birds up there," said the roses;
"they begin to want to sing too, but are not able to manage it yet.
But it will soon come. What a pleasure that must be! It is fine to
have such cheerful neighbours. "

Suddenly two horses came galloping up to be watered. A peasant boy
rode on one, and he had taken off all his clothes except his large
broad black hat. The boy whistled like a bird, and rode into the
pond where it was deepest, and as he passed the rose-bush he plucked a
rose and stuck it in his hat. Now he looked dressed, and rode on.
The other roses looked after their sister, and asked each other,
"Where can she be going to? " But none of them knew.

"I should like to go out into the world for once," said one;
"but here at home among our green leaves it is beautiful too. The
whole day long the sun shines bright and warm, and in the night the
sky shines more beautifully still; we can see that through all the
little holes in it. "

They meant the stars, but they knew no better.

"We make it lively about the house," said the sparrow-mother; "and
people say that a swallows' nest brings luck; so they are glad of
us. But such neighbours as ours! A rose-bush on the wall like that
causes damp. I daresay it will be taken away; then we shall,
perhaps, have some corn growing here. The roses are good for nothing
but to be looked at and to be smelt, or at most to be stuck in a
hat. Every year, as I have been told by my mother, they fall off.
The farmer's wife preserves them and strews salt among them; then they
get a French name which I neither can pronounce nor care to, and are
put into the fire to make a nice smell. You see, that's their life;
they exist only for the eye and the nose. Now you know. "

In the evening, when the gnats were playing about in the warm
air and in the red clouds, the nightingale came and sang to the
roses that the beautiful was like sunshine to the world, and that
the beautiful lived for ever. The roses thought that the nightingale
was singing about itself, and that one might easily have believed;
they had no idea that the song was about them. But they were very
pleased with it, and wondered whether all the little sparrows could
become nightingales.

"I understand the song of that bird very well," said the young
sparrows. "There was only one word that was not clear to me. What does
'the beautiful' mean? "

"Nothing at all," answered their mother; "that's only something
external. Up at the Hall, where the pigeons have their own house,
and corn and peas are strewn before them every day--I have dined
with them myself, and that you shall do in time, too; for tell me what
company you keep and I'll tell you who you are--up at the Hall they
have two birds with green necks and a crest upon their heads; they can
spread out their tails like a great wheel, and these are so bright
with various colours that it makes one's eyes ache. These birds are
called peacocks, and that is 'the beautiful. ' If they were only
plucked a little they would look no better than the rest of us. I
would have plucked them already if they had not been so big. "

"I'll pluck them," piped the young sparrow, who had no feathers
yet.

In the farmhouse lived a young married couple; they loved each
other dearly, were industrious and active, and everything in their
home looked very nice. On Sundays the young wife came down early,
plucked a handful of the most beautiful roses, and put them into a
glass of water, which she placed upon the cupboard.

"Now I see that it is Sunday," said the husband, kissing his
little wife. They sat down, read their hymn-book, and held each
other by the hand, while the sun shone down upon the fresh roses and
upon them.

"This sight is really too tedious," said the sparrow-mother, who
could see into the room from her nest; and she flew away.

The same thing happened on the following Sunday, for every
Sunday fresh roses were put into the glass; but the rose-bush
bloomed as beautifully as ever. The young sparrows now had feathers,
and wanted very much to fly with their mother; but she would not allow
it, and so they had to stay at home. In one of her flights, however it
may have happened, she was caught, before she was aware of it, in a
horse-hair net which some boys had attached to a tree. The
horse-hair was drawn tightly round her leg--as tightly as if the
latter were to be cut off; she was in great pain and terror. The
boys came running up and seized her, and in no gentle way either.

"It's only a sparrow," they said; they did not, however, let her
go, but took her home with them, and every time she cried they hit her
on the beak.

In the farmhouse was an old man who understood making soap into
cakes and balls, both for shaving and washing. He was a merry old man,
always wandering about. On seeing the sparrow which the boys had
brought, and which they said they did not want, he asked, "Shall we
make it look very pretty? "

At these words an icy shudder ran through the sparrow-mother.

Out of his box, in which were the most beautiful colours, the
old man took a quantity of shining leaf-gold, while the boys had to go
and fetch some white of egg, with which the sparrow was to be
smeared all over; the gold was stuck on to this, and the
sparrow-mother was now gilded all over. But she, trembling in every
limb, did not think of the adornment. Then the soap-man tore off a
small piece from the red lining of his old jacket, and cutting it so
as to make it look like a cock's comb, he stuck it to the bird's head.

"Now you will see the gold-jacket fly," said the old man,
letting the sparrow go, which flew away in deadly fear, with the sun
shining upon her. How she glittered! All the sparrows, and even a
crow--and an old boy he was too--were startled at the sight; but still
they flew after her to learn what kind of strange bird she was.

Driven by fear and horror, she flew homeward; she was almost
sinking fainting to the earth, while the flock of pursuing birds
increased, some even attempting to peck at her.

"Look at her! Look at her! " they all cried.

"Look at her! Look at her" cried her little ones, as she
approached the nest. "That is certainly a young peacock, for it
glitters in all colours; it makes one's eyes ache, as mother told
us. Peep! that's 'the beautiful'. " And then they pecked at the bird
with their little beaks so that it was impossible for her to get
into the nest; she was so exhausted that she couldn't even say "Peep! "
much less "I am your own mother! " The other birds, too, now fell
upon the sparrow and plucked off feather after feather until she
fell bleeding into the rose-bush.

"Poor creature! " said all the roses; "only be still, and we will
hide you. Lean your little head against us. "

The sparrow spread out her wings once more, then drew them closely
to her, and lay dead near the neighbouring family, the beautiful fresh
roses.

"Peep! " sounded from the nest. "Where can mother be so long?
It's more than I can understand. It cannot be a trick of hers, and
mean that we are now to take care of ourselves. She has left us the
house as an inheritance; but to which of us is it to belong when we
have families of our own? "

"Yes, it won't do for you to stay with me when I increase my
household with a wife and children,"' said the smallest.

"I daresay I shall have more wives and children than you," said
the second.

"But I am the eldest! " exclaimed the third. Then they all got
excited; they hit out with their wings, pecked with their beaks, and
flop! one after another was thrown out of the nest. There they lay
with their anger, holding their heads on one side and blinking the eye
that was turned upwards. That was their way of looking foolish.

They could fly a little; by practice they learned to improve,
and at last they agreed upon a sign by which to recognise each other
if they should meet in the world later on. It was to be one "Peep! "
and three scratches on the ground with the left foot.

The young one who had remained behind in the nest made himself
as broad as he could, for he was the proprietor. But this greatness
did not last long. In the night the red flames burst through the
window and seized the roof, the dry straw blazed up high, and the
whole house, together with the young sparrow, was burned. The two
others, who wanted to marry, thus saved their lives by a stroke of
luck.

When the sun rose again and everything looked as refreshed as if
it had had a quiet sleep, there only remained of the farmhouse a few
black charred beams leaning against the chimney, which was now its own
master. Thick smoke still rose from the ruins, but the rose-bush stood
yonder, fresh, blooming, and untouched, every flower and every twig
being reflected in the clear water.

"How beautifully the roses bloom before the ruined house,"
exclaimed a passer-by. "A pleasanter picture cannot be imagined. I
must have that. " And the man took out of his portfolio a little book
with white leaves: he was a painter, and with his pencil he drew the
smoking house, the charred beams and the overhanging chimney, which
bent more and more; in the foreground he put the large, blooming
rose-bush, which presented a charming view. For its sake alone the
whole picture had been drawn.

Later in the day the two sparrows who had been born there came by.
"Where is the house? " they asked. "Where is the nest? Peep! All is
burned and our strong brother too. That's what he has now for
keeping the nest. The roses got off very well; there they still
stand with their red cheeks. They certainly do not mourn at their
neighbours' misfortunes. I don't want to talk to them, and it looks
miserable here--that's my opinion. " And away they went.

On a beautiful sunny autumn day--one could almost have believed it
was still the middle of summer--there hopped about in the dry
clean-swept courtyard before the principal entrance of the Hall a
number of black, white, and gaily-coloured pigeons, all shining in the
sunlight. The pigeon-mothers said to their young ones: "Stand in
groups, stand in groups! for that looks much better. "

"What kind of creatures are those little grey ones that run
about behind us? " asked an old pigeon, with red and green in her eyes.
"Little grey ones! Little grey ones! " she cried.

"They are sparrows, and good creatures. We have always had the
reputation of being pious, so we will allow them to pick up the corn
with us; they don't interrupt our talk, and they scrape so prettily
when they bow. "

Indeed they were continually making three foot-scrapings with
the left foot and also said "Peep! " By this means they recognised each
other, for they were the sparrows from the nest on the burned house.

"Here is excellent fare! " said the sparrow. The pigeons strutted
round one another, puffed out their chests mightily, and had their own
private views and opinions.

"Do you see that pouter pigeon? " said one to the other. "Do you
see how she swallows the peas? She eats too many, and the best ones
too. Curoo! Curoo! How she lifts her crest, the ugly, spiteful
creature! Curoo! Curoo! " And the eyes of all sparkled with malice.
"Stand in groups! Stand in groups! Little grey ones, little grey ones!
Curoo, curoo, curoo! "

So their chatter ran on, and so it will run on for thousands of
years. The sparrows ate lustily; they listened attentively, and even
stood in the ranks with the others, but it did not suit them at all.
They were full, and so they left the pigeons, exchanging opinions
about them, slipped in under the garden palings, and when they found
the door leading into the house open, one of them, who was more than
full, and therefore felt brave, hopped on to the threshold. "Peep! "
said he; "I may venture that. "

"Peep! " said the other; "so may I, and something more too! " and he
hopped into the room. No one was there; the third sparrow, seeing
this, flew still farther into the room, exclaiming, "All or nothing!
It is a curious man's nest all the same; and what have they put up
here? What is it? "

Close to the sparrows the roses were blooming; they were reflected
in the water, and the charred beams leaned against the overhanging
chimney. "Do tell me what this is. How comes this in a room at the
Hall? " And all three sparrows wanted to fly over the roses and the
chimney, but flew against a flat wall. It was all a picture, a great
splendid picture, which the artist had painted from a sketch.

"Peep! " said the sparrows, "it's nothing. It only looks like
something. Peep! that is 'the beautiful. ' Do you understand it? I
don't. "

And they flew away, for some people came into the room.

Days and years went by. The pigeons had often cooed, not to say
growled--the spiteful creatures; the sparrows had been frozen in
winter and had lived merrily in summer: they were all betrothed, or
married, or whatever you like to call it. They had little ones, and of
course each one thought his own the handsomest and cleverest; one flew
this way, another that, and when they met they recognised each other
by their "Peep! " and the three scrapes with the left foot. The
eldest had remained an old maid and had no nest nor young ones. It was
her pet idea to see a great city, so she flew to Copenhagen.

There was a large house painted in many gay colours standing close
to the castle and the canal, upon which latter were to be seen many
ships laden with apples and pottery. The windows of the house were
broader at the bottom than at the top, and when the sparrows looked
through them, every room appeared to them like a tulip with the
brightest colours and shades. But in the middle of the tulip stood
white men, made of marble; a few were of plaster; still, looked at
with sparrows' eyes, that comes to the same thing. Up on the roof
stood a metal chariot drawn by metal horses, and the goddess of
Victory, also of metal, was driving. It was Thorwaldsen's Museum.

"How it shines! how it shines! " said the maiden sparrow. "I
suppose that is 'the beautiful. ' Peep! But here it is larger than a
peacock. " She still remembered what in her childhood's days her mother
had looked upon as the greatest among the beautiful. She flew down
into the courtyard: there everything was extremely fine. Palms and
branches were painted on the walls, and in the middle of the court
stood a great blooming rose-tree spreading out its fresh boughs,
covered with roses, over a grave. Thither flew the maiden sparrow, for
she saw several of her own kind there. A "peep" and three
foot-scrapings--in this way she had often greeted throughout the year,
and no one here had responded, for those who are once parted do not
meet every day; and so this greeting had become a habit with her.
But to-day two old sparrows and a young one answered with a "peep" and
the thrice-repeated scrape with the left foot.

"Ah! Good-day! good-day! " They were two old ones from the nest and
a little one of the family. "Do we meet here? It's a grand place,
but there's not much to eat.