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the Tree except the old nurse, who peeped between the branches; but it was
only to see if there was a fig or an apple left that had been forgotten.

"A story! A story!" cried the children, drawing a little fat man towards the
Tree. He seated himself under it and said, "Now we are in the shade, and the
Tree can listen too. But I shall tell only one story. Now which will you have;
that about Ivedy-Avedy, or about Humpy-Dumpy, who tumbled downstairs, and yet
after all came to the throne and married the princess?"

"Ivedy-Avedy," cried some; "Humpy-Dumpy," cried the others. There was such a
bawling and screaming--the Fir Tree alone was silent, and he thought to
himself, "Am I not to bawl with the rest? Am I to do nothing whatever?" for he
was one of the company, and had done what he had to do.

And the man told about Humpy-Dumpy that tumbled down, who notwithstanding came
to the throne, and at last married the princess. And the children clapped
their hands, and cried. "Oh, go on! Do go on!" They wanted to hear about
Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only told them about Humpy-Dumpy. The Fir
Tree stood quite still and absorbed in thought; the birds in the wood had
never related the like of this. "Humpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he
married the princess! Yes, yes! That's the way of the world!" thought the Fir
Tree, and believed it all, because the man who told the story was so
good-looking. "Well, well! who knows, perhaps I may fall downstairs, too, and
get a princess as wife!" And he looked forward with joy to the morrow, when
he hoped to be decked out again with lights, playthings, fruits, and tinsel.

"I won't tremble to-morrow!" thought the Fir Tree. "I will enjoy to the full
all my splendor! To-morrow I shall hear again the story of Humpy-Dumpy, and
perhaps that of Ivedy-Avedy too." And the whole night the Tree stood still and
in deep thought.

In the morning the servant and the housemaid came in.

"Now then the splendor will begin again," thought the Fir. But they dragged
him out of the room, and up the stairs into the loft: and here, in a dark
corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him. "What's the meaning of
this?" thought the Tree. "What am I to do here? What shall I hear now, I
wonder?" And he leaned against the wall lost in reverie. Time enough had he
too for his reflections; for days and nights passed on, and nobody came up;
and when at last somebody did come, it was only to put some great trunks in a
corner, out of the way. There stood the Tree quite hidden; it seemed as if he
had been entirely forgotten.

"'Tis now winter out-of-doors!" thought the Tree. "The earth is hard and
covered with snow; men cannot plant me now, and therefore I have been put up
here under shelter till the spring-time comes! How thoughtful that is! How
kind man is, after all! If it only were not so dark here, and so terribly
lonely! Not even a hare! And out in the woods it was so pleasant, when the

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