said the lamp, awaking fromhis dream; "I could almost wish to be melted down; but no, that mustnot be while the old people live. They love me for myself alone,they keep me bright, and supply me with oil. I am as well off as thepicture of the congress, in which they take so much pleasure." Andfrom that time he felt at rest in himself, and not more so than suchan honorable old lamp really deserved to be.
  THE END.
  1872
  FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  THE PEA BLOSSOM
  by Hans Christian Andersen
  THERE were once five peas in one shell, they were green, the shellwas green, and so they believed that the whole world must be greenalso, which was a very natural conclusion. The shell grew, and thepeas grew, they accommodated themselves to their position, and sat allin a row. The sun shone without and warmed the shell, and the rainmade it clear and transparent; it was mild and agreeable in broaddaylight, and dark at night, as it generally is; and the peas asthey sat there grew bigger and bigger, and more thoughtful as theymused, for they felt there must be something else for them to do.
  "Are we to sit here forever?" asked one; "shall we not become hardby sitting so long? It seems to me there must be something outside,and I feel sure of it."
  And as weeks passed by, the peas became yellow, and the shellbecame yellow.
  "All the world is turning yellow, I suppose," said they,- andperhaps they were right.
  Suddenly they felt a pull at the shell; it was torn off, andheld in human hands, then slipped into the pocket of a jacket incompany with other full pods.
  "Now we shall soon be opened," said one,- just what they allwanted.
  "I should like to know which of us will travel furthest," said thesmallest of the five; "we shall soon see now."
  "What is to happen will happen," said the largest pea.
  "Crack" went the shell as it burst, and the five peas rolled outinto the bright sunshine. There they lay in a child's hand. A littleboy was holding them tightly, and said they were fine peas for hispea-shooter. And immediately he put one in and shot it out.
  "Now I am flying out into the wide world," said he; "catch me ifyou can;" and he was gone in a moment.
  "I," said the second, "intend to fly straight to the sun, thatis a shell that lets itself be seen, and it will suit me exactly;" andaway he went.
  "We will go to sleep wherever we find ourselves," said the twonext, "we shall still be rolling onwards;" and they did certainly fallon the floor, and roll about before they got into the pea-shooter; butthey were put in for all that. "We shall go farther than theothers," said they.
  "What is to happen will happen," exclaimed the last, as he wasshot out of the pea-shooter; and as he spoke he flew up against an oldboard under a garret-window, and fell into a little crevice, which wasalmost filled up with moss and soft earth. The moss closed itselfround him, and there he lay, a captive indeed, but not unnoticed byGod.
  "What is to happen will happen," said he to himself.
  Within the little garret lived a poor woman, who went out to cleanstoves, chop wood into small pieces and perform such-like hard work,for she was strong and industrious. Yet she remained always poor,and at home in the garret lay her only daughter, not quite grown up,and very delicate and weak. For a whole year she had kept her bed, andit seemed as if she could neither live nor die.
  "She is going to her little sister," said the woman; "I had butthe two children, and it was not an easy thing to support both ofthem; but the good God helped me in my work, and took one of them toHimself and provided for her. Now I would gladly keep the other thatwas left to me, but I suppose they are not to be separated, and mysick girl will very soon go to her sister above." But the sick girlstill remained where she was, quietly and patiently she lay all theday long, while her mother was away from home at her work.
  Spring came, and one morning early the sun shone brightlythrough the little window, and threw its rays over the floor of theroom. just as the mother was going to her work, the sick girl fixedher gaze on the lowest pane of the window- "Mother," she exclaimed,"what can that little green thing be that peeps in at the window?