Hans Christian Andersen

“ The poor soul inside was allowed to live in it; she had the Egyptian bird to thank for that; or was it repayment for having once pleaded for the nest of his wild black brother in Borreby Forest? Then, poor thing, she was a child, a delicate, pale hyacinth in a noble flower garden. Poor Anna Dorothea; she remembered it all! Ah, human beings can sigh as well as the wind when it soughs through the rushes and reeds.
"'Oh dear! Oh dear! No bells rang over the grave of Waldemar Daa. No schoolboys sang when the former lord of Borreby Castle was laid in his grave. ”

“ Then, too, how he whistles in the chimneys, making the fire crackle and sparkle. How cozy it is to sit in the warm glow of the fire listening to the tales it has to tell! Let the wind tell its own story! It can tell you more adventures than all of us put together. ”

“ Well, everything must have an end, even misery! Sister Ida became the wife of a peasant, and this was her father's sorest trial. His daughter's husband a miserable serf, who might at any moment be ordered the punishment of the wooden horse by his lord. It is well that the sod covers him now, and you, too, Ida! Ah yes! ah yes! Poor me, poor me! I still linger on. In Thy mercy release me, O Christ!'
"This was the prayer of Anna Dorothea, as she lay in the miserable hovel which was only left standing for the sake of the stork. ”

“ All was life and merriment, greater far than within rich Borreby Hall.
"The great lady came driving toward the Hall, in her gilded chariot drawn by six horses. She had her three dainty daughters with her; they were indeed three lovely flowers. A rose, a lily, and a pale hyacinth. The mother herself was a gorgeous tulip; she took no notice whatever of the crowd, who all stopped in their game to drop their curtseys and make their bows; one might have thought that, like a tulip, she was rather frail in the stalk and feared to bend her back. ”

“ So the tree with the black stork's nest was allowed to stand. It was only a little thing.
"The chopping and the sawing went on—the three-decker was built. The master builder was a man of humble origin, but of noble loyalty; great power lay in his eyes and on his forehead, and Waldemar Daa liked to listen to him, and little Ida liked to listen, too, the eldest, fifteen-year-old daughter. But whilst he built the ship for her father, he built a castle in the air for himself, in which he and little Ida sat side by side as man and wife. ”

“ Fiery black horses neighed in the stables; Borreby Hall was a very rich place when wealth came there.
"Then there were the children, three dainty maidens, Ida, Johanna, and Anna Dorothea. I remember their names well.
"They were rich and aristocratic people and they were born and bred in wealth! Whew! whew! fare away!" ”