“Roses bloom and cease to be,
But we shall the Christ-child see.”
Then the little ones held each other by the hand, and kissed the roses, and
looked at the bright sunshine, and spoke to it as if the Christ-child were
there. Those were splendid summer days. How beautiful and fresh it was
out among the rose-bushes, which seemed as if they would never leave off
blooming. One day Kay and Gerda sat looking at a book full of pictures of
animals and birds, and then just as the clock in the church tower struck
twelve, Kay said, “Oh, something has struck my heart!” and soon after,
“There is something in my eye.”
The little girl put her arm round his neck, and looked into his eye, but she
could see nothing.
“I think it is gone,” he said. But it was not gone; it was one of those bits
of the looking-glass-that magic mirror, of which we have spoken-the ugly
glass which made everything great and good appear small and ugly, while
all that was wicked and bad became more visible, and every little fault
could be plainly seen. Poor little Kay had also received a small grain in his
heart, which very quickly turned to a lump of ice. He felt no more pain, but
the glass was there still. “Why do you cry?” said he at last; “it makes you
look ugly. There is nothing the matter with me now. Oh, see!” he cried
suddenly, “that rose is worm-eaten, and this one is quite crooked. After all
they are ugly roses, just like the box in which they stand,” and then he
kicked the boxes with his foot, and pulled off the two roses.
“Kay, what are you doing?” cried the little girl; and then, when he saw
how frightened she was, he tore off another rose, and jumped through his
own window away from little Gerda.
When she afterwards brought out the picture book, he said, “It was only
fit for babies in long clothes,” and when grandmother told any stories, he
would interrupt her with “but;” or, when he could manage it, he would get
behind her chair, put on a pair of spectacles, and imitate her very cleverly,
to make people laugh. By-and-by he began to mimic the speech and gait of
