Hans Christian Andersen

“ Her thoughts trembled, her limbs trembled, she sank down on the grass, by the rippling water.
'Thou springest from the earth with lasting life!' said she; 'cool my tongue, give me refreshment!'
'I am not the living fountain!' answered the water. I flow by machinery!'
'Give me of thy freshness, thou green grass,' begged the Dryad. 'Give me one of the fragrant flowers!'
'We die when we are broken off!' answered the grass and flowers. ”

“ There shone in her thoughts two bright eyes, and she thought of Marie, poor Marie! the happy, ragged child with the red flower in her black hair. She was in the city of the world, rich, and dazzling, as when she drove past the priest's house, the Dryad's tree, and the old oak. She was here, no doubt, in the deafening noise; perhaps she had just got out of that magnificent coach waiting yonder; splendid carriages stood here with laced coachmen, and silk-stockinged footmen. The grand people alighting were all women, richly dressed ladies. ”

“ The carriage disappeared in the dim light; the Dryad also vanished, rose up into the gas-light and the fresh free air; there, and not down in the crossing arches and their suffocating air, could the wonder be found, the Wonder of the World, that which she sought in her short night of life; it must shine stronger than all the gas-lights up here, stronger than the moon which now glided forth. ”

“ Thus it sounded, thus it sang, and the brightness vanished, but not the longing and desire of the Dryad; she trembled with expectation, in a fever of wild anticipation.
'I shall go to the city of cities!' she exultingly cried. 'Life begins, gathers like the cloud, and no one knows where it goes.'
In the grey dawn, when the moon grew pale and the clouds red, the hour of fulfilment struck, and the promise was redeemed. ”

“ What music! such tones the Dryad had never heard, and yet she seemed to hear in them well-known voices. They came from the depths of the heart of the whole creation. She thought she heard the rustling of the old oak tree, she thought she heard the old priest talking about great deeds, and about famous names, and of what God's creatures had power to give as a gift to future times, and must give it in order to win, by that means, eternal life for itself. ”

“ The chestnut tree was on the cart, it nodded with its branches 'Farewell', or 'Away', the Dryad knew not which; she thought and dreamt of the wonderful, new, and yet so familiar scenes which should be unfolded before her. No childish heart in innocent delight, no passion-filled soul, has ever begun its journey to Paris more full of thought than she. 'Farewell!' became 'Away! away!'
The wheels of the cart went round, the distant became near and was left behind; the country changed, as the clouds change ”

“ Poor Dryad; it will be thy ruin! thy longing will grow, thy yearning and thy craving will become stronger! The tree itself will become a prison for thee; thou wilt forsake thy dwelling, forsake thy nature, and fly away and mix with human beings, and then thy years will dwindle down to half the lifetime of the ephemeral fly, only a single night ”

“ The clouds arose, forming themselves like a whole mountain range, and scudded through the air, out over the whole landscape as far as the Dryad could see.
The clouds lay like enormous purple rocks, layer on layer, high up in the sky. Flashes of lightning darted forth; 'they also are servants of God the Lord,' the old priest had said. And there came a bluish dazzling flash, a blaze as if the sun itself had burst the purple rocks, and the lightning came down, and splintered the mighty old oak tree to the roots ”

“ Vehicles went past, light and heavy; omnibuses, those over-filled houses on wheels, rolled along, riders trotted ahead, carts and carriages claimed the right to do the same. The Dryad wondered whether the tall houses, which stood so close, would also flit away, change their shapes like the clouds and glide aside, so that she could see into Paris, and out over it. ”

“ Then certainly Marie was there!
'Sancta Maria!' they sang within; the clouds of incense floated under the lofty painted and gilded arches, where twilight reigned. It was the Church of the Madeleine. Dressed in black, in costly materials made after the latest fashion, ladies of the highest society glided over the polished floor. Coats of arms were on the silver clasps of the prayer-books bound in velvet, and on the fine, strongly-scented handkerchiefs trimmed with costly Brussels lace. Some of the ladies knelt in silent prayer before the altars, others sought the confessionals. ”

“ No metal cannon can boom through the air and over the land at the birth of a royal child, as the thunder rumbled here at the death of the old oak tree. The rain streamed down: a refreshing breeze blew, the storm was past, and a Sunday calm fell on everything. The village people gathered round the fallen old oak; the venerable priest spoke words in its praise, and an artist made a sketch of the tree itself as a lasting memorial.
'Everything passes away!' said the Dryad, 'passes away like the clouds, and returns no more.' The old priest came there no more ”

“ The Field of Mars, like a great Christmas table, had on it an Aladdin's Palace of industry and art, and round about it were little articles from all countries; every nation found something to remind it of home. ”

“ Works of art in metal, in stone, in weaving, proclaim the mental life which is stirring in all the countries of the world. Picture-galleries, masses of flowers, everything that intellect and hand can create in the workshops of the craftsman is here displayed to view. ”

“ The number of carriages is constantly increasing, the crowds of people both on foot and on horseback are increasing, omnibuses and tramcars are stuffed and filled and covered with people,—all these streams move to one goal, 'The Paris Exhibition!' All the entrances are decorated with the French flag ”

“ We have many points of superiority over mankind!'
'They have learnt swimming, though,' said a little freshwater fish. 'I am from the big lake; men go into the water in the hot season there, but first they put off their shells, and then they swim. The frogs have taught them that, they push with the hind-legs, and paddle with the fore-legs; they can't keep it up long. They would like to imitate us, but they don't get near it. ”

“ The swallow gave a very good description, 'but one can see better for oneself,' she said; but how should the Dryad ever get to see these beings? She must content herself with being able to look out over the beautiful landscape and see the busy activity of men. That was lovely, but most lovely of all, when the old priest stood here under the oak, and told about France, and about the great deeds of men and women, whose names are named with admiration throughout all times. The Dryad heard of the shepherdess Joan of Arc, of Charlotte Corday ”

“ All the coim.tries of the world had sent and exhibited their natives, so that the old tench and bream, the nimble perch and the mossgrown carp should see these beings and give their opinions upon the species.
'They are shell-fish!' said a muddy little bleak. 'They change their shells two or three times in the day, and make sounds with their mouths—talking, they call it. We don't change, and we make ourselves understood in an easier way; movements with the corners of the mouth, and a stare with the eyes! ”