made of paper, and she wore a dress of clear muslin, with a narrow blue
ribbon over her shoulders just like a scarf. In front of these was fixed a
glittering tinsel rose, as large as her whole face. The little lady was a dancer,
and she stretched out both her arms, and raised one of her legs so high, that
the tin soldier could not see it at all, and he thought that she, like himself,
had only one leg. “That is the wife for me,” he thought; “but she is too
grand, and lives in a castle, while I have only a box to live in, five-and-
twenty of us altogether, that is no place for her. Still I must try and make her
acquaintance.” Then he laid himself at full length on the table behind a
snuff-box that stood upon it, so that he could peep at the little delicate lady,
who continued to stand on one leg without losing her balance. When
evening came, the other tin soldiers were all placed in the box, and the
people of the house went to bed. Then the playthings began to have their
own games together, to pay visits, to have sham fights, and to give balls.
The tin soldiers rattled in their box; they wanted to get out and join the
amusements, but they could not open the lid. The nut-crackers played at
leap-frog, and the pencil jumped about the table. There was such a noise
that the canary woke up and began to talk, and in poetry too. Only the tin
soldier and the dancer remained in their places. She stood on tiptoe, with
her legs stretched out, as firmly as he did on his one leg. He never took his
eyes from her for even a moment. The clock struck twelve, and, with a
bounce, up sprang the lid of the snuff-box; but, instead of snuff, there
jumped up a little black goblin; for the snuff-box was a toy puzzle.
“Tin soldier,” said the goblin, “don’t wish for what does not belong to
you.”
But the tin soldier pretended not to hear.
“Very well; wait till to-morrow, then,” said the goblin.
When the children came in the next morning, they placed the tin soldier
in the window. Now, whether it was the goblin who did it, or the draught, is
not known, but the window flew open, and out fell the tin soldier, heels over
head, from the third story, into the street beneath. It was a terrible fall; for
he came head downwards, his helmet and his bayonet stuck in between the
