And the man told about Humpy-Dumpy that tumbled down, who notwithstanding came to the throne, and at last married the princess.  And the children clapped their hands, and cried.  “Oh, go on!  Do go on!” They wanted to hear about Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only told them about Humpy-Dumpy.  The Fir Tree stood quite still and absorbed in thought; the birds in the wood had never related the like of this.  “Humpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he married the princess!  Yes, yes!  That’s the way of the world!” thought the Fir Tree, and believed it all, because the man who told the story was so good-looking.  “Well, well! who knows, perhaps I may fall downstairs, too, and get a princess as wife!” And he looked forward with joy to the morrow, when he hoped to be decked out again with lights, playthings, fruits, and tinsel.

“I won’t tremble to-morrow!” thought the Fir Tree.  “I will enjoy to the full all my splendor!  To-morrow I shall hear again the story of Humpy-Dumpy, and perhaps that of Ivedy-Avedy too.”  And the whole night the Tree stood still and in deep thought.

In the morning the servant and the housemaid came in.

“Now then the splendor will begin again,” thought the Fir.  But they dragged him out of the room, and up the stairs into the loft:  and here, in a dark corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him.  “What’s the meaning of this?” thought the Tree.  “What am I to do here?  What shall I hear now, I wonder?” And he leaned against the wall lost in reverie.  Time enough had he too for his reflections; for days and nights passed on, and nobody came up; and when at last somebody did come, it was only to put some great trunks in a corner, out of the way.  There stood the Tree quite hidden; it seemed as if he had been entirely forgotten.

“’Tis now winter out-of-doors!” thought the Tree.  “The earth is hard and covered with snow; men cannot plant me now, and therefore I have been put up here under shelter till the spring-time comes!  How thoughtful that is!  How kind man is, after all!  If it only were not so dark here, and so terribly lonely!  Not even a hare!  And out in the woods it was so pleasant, when the snow was on the ground, and the hare leaped by; yes—­even when he jumped over me; but I did not like it then!  It is really terribly lonely here!”

“Squeak!  Squeak!” said a little Mouse, at the same moment, peeping out of his hole.  And then another little one came.  They snuffed about the Fir Tree, and rustled among the branches.

“It is dreadfully cold,” said the Mouse.  “But for that, it would be delightful here, old Fir, wouldn’t it?”

“I am by no means old,” said the Fir Tree.  “There’s many a one considerably older than I am.”

“Where do you come from,” asked the Mice; “and what can you do?” They were so extremely curious.  “Tell us about the most beautiful spot on the earth.  Have you never been there?  Were you never in the larder, where cheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from above; where one dances about on tallow candles:  that place where one enters lean, and comes out again fat and portly?”