“You must not look only on the sorrowful side,” said the little boy; “I
think everything in this house is beautiful, and all the old pleasant thoughts
come back here to pay visits.”
“Ah, but I never see any, and I don’t know them,” said the tin soldier,
“and I cannot bear it.”
“You must bear it,” said the little boy. Then the old man came back with a
pleasant face; and brought with him beautiful preserved fruits, as well as
apples and nuts; and the little boy thought no more of the tin soldier. How
happy and delighted the little boy was; and after he returned home, and
while days and weeks passed, a great deal of nodding took place from one
house to the other, and then the little boy went to pay another visit. The
carved trumpeters blew “Tanta-ra-ra. There is the little boy. Tanta-ra-ra.”
The swords and armor on the old knight’s pictures rattled. The silk dresses
rustled, the leather repeated its rhyme, and the old chairs had the gout in
their backs, and cried, “Creak;” it was all exactly like the first time; for in
that house, one day and one hour were just like another. “I cannot bear it
any longer,” said the tin soldier; “I have wept tears of tin, it is so
melancholy here. Let me go to the wars, and lose an arm or a leg, that
would be some change; I cannot bear it. Now I know what it is to have
visits from one’s old recollections, and all they bring with them. I have had
visits from mine, and you may believe me it is not altogether pleasant. I was
very nearly jumping from the shelf. I saw you all in your house opposite, as
if you were really present. It was Sunday morning, and you children stood
round the table, singing the hymn that you sing every morning. You were
standing quietly, with your hands folded, and your father and mother. You
were standing quietly, with your hands folded, and your father and mother
were looking just as serious, when the door opened, and your little sister
Maria, who is not two years old, was brought into the room. You know she
always dances when she hears music and singing of any sort; so she began
to dance immediately, although she ought not to have done so, but she could
not get into the right time because the tune was so slow; so she stood first
on one leg and then on the other, and bent her head very low, but it would
