FAR down in the forest, where the warm sun and
the fresh air made a sweet resting-place, grew a pretty little
fir-tree; and yet it was not happy, it wished so much to be tall
like its companions— the pines and firs which grew around it. The
sun shone, and the soft air fluttered its leaves, and the little
peasant children passed by, prattling merrily, but the fir-tree
heeded them not. Sometimes the children would bring a large basket
of raspberries or strawberries, wreathed on a straw, and seat
themselves near the fir-tree, and say, “Is it not a pretty little
tree?” which made it feel more unhappy than before. And yet all this
while the tree grew a notch or joint taller every year; for by the
number of joints in the stem of a fir-tree we can discover its age.
Still, as it grew, it complained, “Oh! how I wish I were as tall
as the other trees, then I would spread out my branches on every
side, and my top would over-look the wide world. I should have the
birds building their nests on my boughs, and when the wind blew, I
should bow with stately dignity like my tall companions.” The tree
was so discontented, that it took no pleasure in the warm sunshine,
the birds, or the rosy clouds that floated over it morning and
evening. Sometimes, in winter, when the snow lay white and
glittering on the ground, a hare would come springing along, and
jump right over the little tree; and then how mortified it would
feel! Two winters passed, and when the third arrived, the tree had
grown so tall that the hare was obliged to run round it.
Yet it remained unsatisfied, and would exclaim, “Oh, if I could
but keep on growing tall and old! There is nothing else worth caring
for in the world!” In the autumn, as usual, the wood-cutters came
and cut down several of the tallest trees, and the young fir-tree,
which was now grown to its full height, shuddered as the noble trees
fell to the earth with a crash. After the branches were lopped off,
the trunks looked so slender and bare, that they could scarcely be
recognized. Then they were placed upon wagons, and drawn by horses
out of the forest. “Where were they going? What would become of
them?” The young fir-tree wished very much to know; so in the
spring, when the swallows and the storks came, it asked, “Do you
know where those trees were taken? Did you meet them?” |