The prince was ofopinion that all this was right, and that it was only the naturalcourse which things ought to take. His power increased day by day, hisname was feared by all, and fortune favoured his deeds.
  He brought enormous wealth home from the conquered towns, andgradually accumulated in his residence riches which could nowhere beequalled. He erected magnificent palaces, churches, and halls, and allwho saw these splendid buildings and great treasures exclaimedadmiringly: "What a mighty prince!" But they did not know what endlessmisery he had brought upon other countries, nor did they hear thesighs and lamentations which rose up from the debris of thedestroyed cities.
  The prince often looked with delight upon his gold and hismagnificent edifices, and thought, like the crowd: "What a mightyprince! But I must have more- much more. No power on earth mustequal mine, far less exceed it."
  He made war with all his neighbours, and defeated them. Theconquered kings were chained up with golden fetters to his chariotwhen he drove through the streets of his city. These kings had tokneel at his and his courtiers' feet when they sat at table, andlive on the morsels which they left. At last the prince had his ownstatue erected on the public places and fixed on the royal palaces;nay, he even wished it to be placed in the churches, on the altars,but in this the priests opposed him, saying: "Prince, you are mightyindeed, but God's power is much greater than yours; we dare not obeyyour orders."
  "Well," said the prince. "Then I will conquer God too." And in hishaughtiness and foolish presumption he ordered a magnificent ship tobe constructed, with which he could sail through the air; it wasgorgeously fitted out and of many colours; like the tail of a peacock,it was covered with thousands of eyes, but each eye was the barrelof a gun. The prince sat in the centre of the ship, and had only totouch a spring in order to make thousands of bullets fly out in alldirections, while the guns were at once loaded again. Hundreds ofeagles were attached to this ship, and it rose with the swiftness ofan arrow up towards the sun. The earth was soon left far below, andlooked, with its mountains and woods, like a cornfield where theplough had made furrows which separated green meadows; soon itlooked only like a map with indistinct lines upon it; and at last itentirely disappeared in mist and clouds. Higher and higher rose theeagles up into the air; then God sent one of his numberless angelsagainst the ship. The wicked prince showered thousands of bullets uponhim, but they rebounded from his shining wings and fell down likeordinary hailstones. One drop of blood, one single drop, came out ofthe white feathers of the angel's wings and fell upon the ship inwhich the prince sat, burnt into it, and weighed upon it likethousands of hundredweights, dragging it rapidly down to the earthagain; the strong wings of the eagles gave way, the wind roaredround the prince's head, and the clouds around- were they formed bythe smoke rising up from the burnt cities?- took strange shapes,like crabs many, many miles long, which stretched their claws outafter him, and rose up like enormous rocks, from which rollingmasses dashed down, and became fire-spitting dragons.
  The prince was lying half-dead in his ship, when it sank at lastwith a terrible shock into the branches of a large tree in the wood.
  "I will conquer God!" said the prince. "I have sworn it: my willmust be done!"
  And he spent seven years in the construction of wonderful ships tosail through the air, and had darts cast from the hardest steel tobreak the walls of heaven with. He gathered warriors from allcountries, so many that when they were placed side by side theycovered the space of several miles. They entered the ships and theprince was approaching his own, when God sent a swarm of gnats- oneswarm of little gnats. They buzzed round the prince and stung his faceand hands; angrily he drew his sword and brandished it, but he onlytouched the air and did not hit the gnats. Then he ordered hisservants to bring costly coverings and wrap him in them, that thegnats might no longer be able to reach him. The servants carried outhis orders, but one single gnat had placed itself inside one of thecoverings, crept into the prince's ear and stung him. The placeburnt like fire, and the poison entered into his blood. Mad with pain,he tore off the coverings and his clothes too, flinging them far away,and danced about before the eyes of his ferocious soldiers, who nowmocked at him, the mad prince, who wished to make war with God, andwas overcome by a single little gnat.
  THE END.
  1872
  FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  THE WILD SWANS
  by Hans Christian Andersen
  FAR away in the land to which the swallows fly when it iswinter, dwelt a king who had eleven sons, and one daughter, namedEliza. The eleven brothers were princes, and each went to schoolwith a star on his breast, and a sword by his side. They wrote withdiamond pencils on gold slates, and learnt their lessons so quicklyand read so easily that every one might know they were princes.Their sister Eliza sat on a little stool of plate-glass, and had abook full of pictures, which had cost as much as half a kingdom. Oh,these children were indeed happy, but it was not to remain soalways. Their father, who was king of the country, married a verywicked queen, who did not love the poor children at all. They knewthis from the very first day after the wedding. In the palace therewere great festivities, and the children played at receivingcompany; but instead of having, as usual, all the cakes and applesthat were left, she gave them some sand in a tea-cup, and told them topretend it was cake. The week after, she sent little Eliza into thecountry to a peasant and his wife, and then she told the king somany untrue things about the young princes, that he gave himself nomore trouble respecting them.
  "Go out into the world and get your own living," said the queen."Fly like great birds, who have no voice." But she could not make themugly as she wished, for they were turned into eleven beautiful wildswans. Then, with a strange cry, they flew through the windows ofthe palace, over the park, to the forest beyond. It was earlymorning when they passed the peasant's cottage, where their sisterEliza lay asleep in her room. They hovered over the roof, twistedtheir long necks and flapped their wings, but no one heard them or sawthem, so they were at last obliged to fly away, high up in the clouds;and over the wide world they flew till they came to a thick, darkwood, which stretched far away to the seashore. Poor little Elizawas alone in her room playing with a green leaf, for she had noother playthings, and she pierced a hole through the leaf, andlooked through it at the sun, and it was as if she saw her brothers'clear eyes, and when the warm sun shone on her cheeks, she thoughtof all the kisses they had given her. One day passed just likeanother; sometimes the winds rustled through the leaves of therose-bush, and would whisper to the roses, "Who can be morebeautiful than you!"