I am so cold and wet through," called a littlechild outside. It was crying and knocking at the door, whilst the rainwas pouring down and the wind was rattling all the windows.
  "Poor creature!" said the poet, and got up and opened the door.Before him stood a little boy; he was naked, and the water flowed fromhis long fair locks. He was shivering with cold; if he had not beenlet in, he would certainly have perished in the storm.
  "Poor little thing!" said the poet, and took him by the hand."Come to me; I will soon warm you. You shall have some wine and anapple, for you are such a pretty boy."
  And he was, too. His eyes sparkled like two bright stars, andalthough the water flowed down from his fair locks, they stillcurled quite beautifully.
  He looked like a little angel, but was pale with cold, andtrembling all over. In his hand he held a splendid bow, but it hadbeen entirely spoilt by the rain, and the colours of the pretty arrowshad run into one another by getting wet.
  The old man sat down by the fire, and taking the little boy on hisknee, wrung the water out of his locks and warmed his hands in hisown.
  He then made him some hot spiced wine, which quickly revivedhim; so that with reddening cheeks, he sprang upon the floor anddanced around the old man.
  "You are a merry boy," said the latter. "What is your name?"
  "My name is Cupid," he answered. "Don't you know me? There lies mybow. I shoot with that, you know. Look, the weather is getting fineagain- the moon is shining."
  "But your bow is spoilt," said the old poet.
  "That would be unfortunate," said the little boy, taking it up andlooking at it. "Oh, it's quite dry and isn't damaged at all. Thestring is quite tight; I'll try it." So, drawing it back, he took anarrow, aimed, and shot the good old poet right in the heart. "Do yousee now that my bow was not spoilt?" he said, and, loudly laughing,ran away. What a naughty boy to shoot the old poet like that, whohad taken him into his warm room, had been so good to him, and hadgiven him the nicest wine and the best apple!
  The good old man lay upon the floor crying; he was really shotin the heart. "Oh!" he cried, "what a naughty boy this Cupid is! Ishall tell all the good children about this, so that they take carenever to play with him, lest he hurt them."
  And all good children, both girls and boys, whom he told aboutthis, were on their guard against wicked Cupid; but he deceives themall the same, for he is very deep. When the students come out ofclass, he walks beside them with a book under his arm, and wearing ablack coat. They cannot recognize him. And then, if they take him bythe arm, believing him to be a student too, he sticks an arrow intotheir chest. And when the girls go to church to be confirmed, he isamongst them too. In fact, he is always after people. He sits in thelarge chandelier in the theatre and blazes away, so that peoplethink it is a lamp; but they soon find out their mistake. He walksabout in the castle garden and on the promenades. Yes, once he shotyour father and your mother in the heart too. Just ask them, and youwill hear what they say. Oh! he is a bad boy, this Cupid, and you mustnever have anything to do with him, for he is after every one. Justthink, he even shot an arrow at old grandmother; but that was a longtime ago. The wound has long been healed, but such things are neverforgotten.
  Now you know what a bad boy this wicked Cupid is.
  THE END.
  1872
  FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  THE SHADOW
  by Hans Christian Andersen
  IN very hot climates, where the heat of the sun has great power,people are usually as brown as mahogany; and in the hottestcountries they are negroes, with black skins. A learned man oncetravelled into one of these warm climates, from the cold regions ofthe north, and thought he would roam about as he did at home; but hesoon had to change his opinion. He found that, like all sensiblepeople, he must remain in the house during the whole day, with everywindow and door closed, so that it looked as if all in the housewere asleep or absent. The houses of the narrow street in which helived were so lofty that the sun shone upon them from morning tillevening, and it became quite unbearable. This learned man from thecold regions was young as well as clever; but it seemed to him as ifhe were sitting in an oven, and he became quite exhausted and weak,and grew so thin that his shadow shrivelled up, and became muchsmaller than it had been at home. The sun took away even what was leftof it, and he saw nothing of it till the evening, after sunset. It wasreally a pleasure, as soon as the lights were brought into the room,to see the shadow stretch itself against the wall, even to theceiling, so tall was it; and it really wanted a good stretch torecover its strength. The learned man would sometimes go out intothe balcony to stretch himself also; and as soon as the stars cameforth in the clear, beautiful sky, he felt revived. People at thishour began to make their appearance in all the balconies in thestreet; for in warm climates every window has a balcony, in which theycan breathe the fresh evening air, which is very necessary, even tothose who are used to a heat that makes them as brown as mahogany;so that the street presented a very lively appearance. Here wereshoemakers, and tailors, and all sorts of people sitting. In thestreet beneath, they brought out tables and chairs, lighted candles byhundreds, talked and sang, and were very merry. There were peoplewalking, carriages driving, and mules trotting along, with their bellson the harness, "tingle, tingle," as they went. Then the dead werecarried to the grave with the sound of solemn music, and the tollingof the church bells. It was indeed a scene of varied life in thestreet. One house only, which was just opposite to the one in whichthe foreign learned man lived, formed a contrast to all this, for itwas quite still; and yet somebody dwelt there, for flowers stood inthe balcony, blooming beautifully in the hot sun; and this could nothave been unless they had been watered carefully. Therefore some onemust be in the house to do this. The doors leading to the balcony werehalf opened in the evening; and although in the front room all wasdark, music could be heard from the interior of the house. The foreignlearned man considered this music very delightful; but perhaps hefancied it; for everything in these warm countries pleased him,excepting the heat of the sun. The foreign landlord said he did notknow who had taken the opposite house- nobody was to be seen there;and as to the music, he thought it seemed very tedious, to him mostuncommonly so.
  "It is just as if some one was practising a piece that he couldnot manage; it is always the same piece. He thinks, I suppose, that hewill be able to manage it at last; but I do not think so, however longhe may play it."
  Once the foreigner woke in the night. He slept with the dooropen which led to the balcony; the wind had raised the curtainbefore it, and there appeared a wonderful brightness over all in thebalcony of the opposite house. The flowers seemed like flames of themost gorgeous colors, and among the flowers stood a beautifulslender maiden. It was to him as if light streamed from her, anddazzled his eyes; but then he had only just opened them, as he awokefrom his sleep. With one spring he was out of bed, and crept softlybehind the curtain. But she was gone- the brightness haddisappeared; the flowers no longer appeared like flames, althoughstill as beautiful as ever. The door stood ajar, and from an innerroom sounded music so sweet and so lovely, that it produced the mostenchanting thoughts, and acted on the senses with magic power. Whocould live there?