I heard a buzzing sound. Was it she or the wind? No, it was she, Mistress Toothache! Her terrible highness, Satania Infernalis! Heaven deliver and preserve us from her visits!
‘Now I’m going on a journey!’ said the Darning Needle. ‘I do hope that I’ll not get lost!’ But she really was lost already.
One of the tin soldiers was a little different; he had one leg because he had been cast last of all, and there had not been enough tin to finish him.
No one would let it be known that he could see nothing, for that would have proved that he was unfit for office or that he was very, very stupid.
When Christmas-time approached, quite young trees were felled, sometimes trees which were neither so old nor so large as this Fir Tree. These young trees were just the most beautiful.
‘Well, I’ll give my daughter to the one who jumps highest!’ said the king; ‘for it would look so mean to let these people jump for nothing!’
So the little girl had to walk with naked feet, which were red and blue with cold. No one had bought anything of her the live-long day; no one had given her a penny.
‘I know what you want,’ said the sea witch. ‘It is stupid of you, for it will get you in trouble, my little princess. You want to get rid of your fishtail.’
Travellers came to the City of the Emperor and admired it, and the Palace and the Garden, but when they heard the song of the Nightingale, they said: ‘That is the best of all!’
Although there were plenty of princesses, there was always something that did not seem quite right about them.
Karen looked first at the red shoes, then at the black ones, then at the red again, and put them on.
The Snow Queen kissed Kay again, and then he forgot all about little Gerda, Grandmother, and all the others at home.
‘He is not pretty, but he has a good temper and swims as well as the others. Perhaps he will improve in looks as time goes on.’
Suddenly the door flew open and there stood the bear—the big, shaggy Bruin! Tired of standing so long in the yard, he had at last broken loose and found his way upstairs and into the attic.