Hans Christian Andersen

“ The lightning flashed every moment, and the thunder rolled continuously the whole night long. The window burst open and the Princess flew out; she was as pale as death, but she laughed at the storm as if it were not bad enough; her white mantle swirled about in the wind like the sails of a ship. The travelling companion beat her with his three birches till the blood dripped on to the ground. She could hardly fly any farther. At last they reached the mountain.
The courtiers looked most grand and proper. . . . Numbers of tiny little elves danced around the hall
"What a hailstorm there is!" ”

“ When he woke up it was the middle of the night and the storm was over: the moon was shining in upon him through the windows. In the middle of the aisle stood an open coffin with a dead man in it who was not yet buried. John was not at all afraid, for he had a good conscience, and he knew that the dead can do no harm; it is living wicked people who do harm to others. There were two such bad men standing by the coffin. They had come to do harm to this poor dead man; to turn him out of his coffin and throw the body outside the church door. ”

“ With every gust of wind the bones rattled so that all the little birds were frightened away and they never dared come into the garden; all the flowers were tied up to human bones in the place of stakes, and human skulls grinned out of every flower-pot. ”

“ But the travelling companion shook his head, and said gently and tenderly, "No; my time is up. I have only paid my debt. Do you remember the dead man whom you prevented the wicked men from disturbing? You gave all that you possessed so that he might have rest in his grave. I am the dead man!" And then he immediately vanished.
The wedding festivities lasted a whole month. John and the Princess were devoted to each other, and the old King had many happy days in which to let their little children play "ride a cock-horse" on his knee and to play with his sceptre. ”

“ It would be a heavy task to climb over all these, and so John and his fellow traveller went into an inn to rest and refresh themselves before they made the ascent next day. There were a number of people in the bar parlour at the inn, for there was a man showing off some marionettes. He had just put up his little theatre, and the people were sitting round waiting for the play to begin. A fat old butcher had taken up his place in the middle of the front row, and he had a ferocious-looking bulldog by his side, and it sat staring just as hard as anybody else. ”

“ The doll was exactly like a living being, except that she could not speak. The showman was delighted, because now he did not have to hold the wires at all for this doll, as she could dance quite well by herself, and none of the others could do that.
At night, when everybody had gone to bed, some one was heard sighing most dolefully, and it went on so long that everybody got up to see who it could be. The showman went along to his theatre, because that was where the sighs seemed to come from. All the wooden dolls were lying in a heap ”

“ As soon as he had rubbed on the salve, the old woman got up and walked away faster than she had been able to do before. This was all the effect of the salve; but no such ointment as this was to be had at any chemist's.
"What ever do you want with those bundles of fern?" said John to his companion.
"They make very good birch rods, and they are just what I like. I am a very queer fellow, you know!" ”

“ In the middle of the floor was a throne supported on four horses' legs with harness of the red fiery spiders. The throne itself was of milky glass, and the cushions were made of little black mice holding on to each other by the tails. ”