Hans Christian Andersen

“ The bad, chained man looks at him, and a more gentle expression comes into his hard face. In his breast there rises a thought which he himself cannot rightly analyse, but the thought has some connection with the sunbeam, with the bird, and with the scent of violets, which grow luxuriantly in spring at the foot of the wall. Then there comes the sound of the hunter’s horn, merry and full. The little bird starts, and flies away, the sunbeam gradually vanishes, and again there is darkness in the room and in the heart of that bad man. ”

“ A ray of the setting sun shoots into the bare cells of one of the captives, for God’s sun shines upon the evil and the good. The hardened criminal casts an impatient look at the bright ray. Then a little bird flies towards the grating, for birds twitter to the just as well as to the unjust. ”

“ We look at the numerous ships, and at the Swedish coast on the opposite side of the Sound, rising far above the surface of the waters which mirror the glow of the evening sky. Behind us the wood is sharply defined ”