Ганс Андерсен - Fairy Tales

Johannes imagined this so clearly that he smiled, although the tears were still streaming down his face. Little birds sat in the chestnut trees and chirped, “tweet, tweet.” They were happy even though they were at a burial, but they probably knew that the dead man was in heaven now and had wings much more beautiful and larger than theirs. They knew he was happy because he had been good on earth, and that pleased them. Johannes saw how they flew from the green trees, way out into the world, and he felt a great desire to fly away with them. But first he cut a big wooden cross to place on his father’s grave, and when he brought it there in the evening, the grave was decorated with sand and flowers. Other people had done that, because they were all very fond of his dear departed father, who now was dead.

Early the next morning Johannes packed a little bundle. He put his inheritance in his belt—fifty dollars 1and a couple of silver coins. He was ready to wander out into the world. But first he went to the cemetery to his father’s grave, said the Lord’s Prayer, and then, “Good bye, dear father! I will always be a good person so you can ask God to take care of me.”

In the meadow where Johannes walked, all the flowers looked so beautiful in the warm sunshine, and they nodded in the wind as if they were saying, “Welcome into the green fields, isn’t it nice here?” But Johannes looked back one more time, to see the old church where he had been baptized as a little child, and where he and his old father had gone every Sunday to sing hymns. Way up in one of the little windows in the tower he saw the church pixie with his little pointed red cap. He was shielding his face with his bent arm, so the sun wouldn’t shine in his eyes. Johannes nodded good bye to him, and the little pixie waved his red cap, laid his hand on his heart, and blew kisses again and again to show that he wished him luck and a happy journey.

Johannes thought about all the wonders he would now see in the big marvelous world and walked further and further, further than he had ever been before. He didn’t know the towns he passed through, or the people he met. He was far away among strangers.

The first night he had to sleep in a haystack in a field; he had no other bed. But he thought it was just lovely. The king couldn’t have it any better. The whole field with the river, the haystack, and the blue sky above was a beautiful bedroom. The green grass with the small red and white flowers was the carpet, and the elderberry bushes and the wild rose hedges were flower bouquets. For a wash basin he had the whole river with the clear, fresh water where the rushes curtsied with both evening and morning greetings. The moon was a really big nightlight, high up under the blue roof, and it wouldn’t set the curtains on fire. Johannes could sleep peacefully, and that’s what he did. He didn’t wake up until the sun rose, and all the little birds were chirping, “Good morning! Good morning! Aren’t you up yet?”

The bells rang for church. It was Sunday, and people were going to hear the minister. Johannes went with them, sang a hymn, and heard the word of God. It was as if he were in his own church, where he had been baptized and where he had sung hymns with his father.

There were many graves in the churchyard, and tall grass was growing on some of them. Johannes thought of his father’s grave and that it would look like these too, now that he wasn’t there to weed and tend it. So he sat down and pulled the grass, set up wooden crosses that had fallen over, and laid the wreaths, which the wind had torn from the graves, back in place again. He thought that perhaps someone else would do the same for his father’s grave, now that he couldn’t.

Outside the cemetery gate an old beggar was standing supported by his crutch. Johannes gave him the silver coins he had and went happily on his way into the wide world.

Towards evening a terrible storm came up, and Johannes hurried to find a place of shelter, but soon it was completely dark. He finally reached a small church, standing quite apart on a hill. Fortunately the door was ajar, and he slipped inside. He would stay there until the storm passed.

“I’ll sit down here in a corner,” he said. “I’m pretty tired and need to rest a little.” He sat down, folded his hands, and said his evening prayers, and before he knew it, he slept and dreamed, while thunder and lightning raged outside.

When he awoke, it was the middle of the night, but the storm had passed, and the moonlight came shining through the windows. There was an open casket standing in the middle of the church floor with a dead man in it, soon to be buried. Since he had a clear conscience, Johannes wasn’t afraid at all, and he knew that the dead hurt no one; it’s evil living people who cause harm. Two such living, wicked people were standing by the casket, which had been placed in the church before the burial. They wanted to cause harm by throwing the poor dead man out of his casket and out the church doors.

“Why would you do that?!” asked Johannes. “That’s evil and wicked. Let him sleep in Jesus’ name.”

“Oh, rubbish!” said the two wicked men. “He fooled us and owes us money that he couldn’t repay. Now he’s dead as a doornail, and we won’t get a penny. We want revenge, and so he’ll lie like a dog outside the church doors!”

“I only have 50 dollars,” Johannes said. “That’s my whole inheritance, but I’ll gladly give it to you if you’ll promise me to leave the poor dead man in peace. I’ll manage without the money. I’m healthy and strong, and the Lord will surely help me.”

“Well,” the nasty men said, “If you’ll pay his debt, then we won’t do anything to him, you can be sure of that.” They took the money that Johannes gave them, laughed loudly at his kindness, and went on their way, but Johannes arranged the corpse again in the casket, folded its hands, said good bye, and went quite contentedly further into the big forest.

All around, where the moon shone in through the trees, he could see the lovely little elves playing happily. They weren’t bothered by him because they knew well enough that he was an innocent good person, and only wicked people aren’t allowed to see the elves. Some of them were no bigger than a finger, and their long yellow hair was fastened with golden combs. They seesawed two by two on the large dewdrops that lay on the leaves and high grass. Sometimes the dewdrops rolled so that they fell down between the long blades of grass, and then there was hilarious laughter from the other little ones. It was great fun! They sang, and Johannes recognized very well all the beautiful melodies he had learned as a small boy. Big motley spiders with silver crowns on their heads spun long suspension bridges from one hedge to another, and palaces that looked like glistening glass when the moonshine struck the dew. All this continued until sunrise. Then the little elves crept into the flower buds, and the wind took the bridges and castles, which flew up as great cobwebs into the air.

Johannes had just come out of the forest when he heard a man’s loud voice behind him. “Hello, comrade! Where are you headed?”

“Into the wide world!” Johannes said. “I have neither father nor mother and am a poor lad, but the Lord will surely help me.”

“I’m going into the wide world too,” the stranger said. “Shall we join forces?”

“Yes, let’s do that,” said Johannes, and so they did. They soon came to think very highly of each other since they were both good people. Johannes couldn’t help but notice that the stranger was much more clever than he was. He had been almost everywhere and could tell about all sorts of things that existed in the world.

The sun was already high in the sky when they sat down under a large tree to eat breakfast. All at once an old woman came by. She was very old and quite bent over, supporting herself with a crutch, and on her back she had a bundle of firewood that she had gathered in the forest. Her apron was folded up, and Johannes saw that three big bunches of ferns and willow branches stuck out from it. When she was quite close to them, her foot slipped, and she fell and uttered a loud cry, for she had broken her leg, the poor old thing.