tree remained quite still, and
thought to himself, "Shall I have anything to do with all this? Ought
I to make a noise too?" but he had already amused them as much as they
wished.

Then the old man told them the story of Humpty-Dumpty;--how he fell
downstairs and was raised up again, and married a princess. And the
children clapped their hands and cried "Tell another, tell another,"
for they wanted to hear the story of Ivede-Avede; but this time they
had only Humpty-Dumpty. After this the fir tree became quite silent
and thoughtful. Never had the birds in the forest told such tales as
Humpty-Dumpty who fell down stairs, and yet married a princess.

"Ah, yes! so it happens in the world," thought the fir tree. He
believed it all, because it was related by such a pleasant man.

"Ah, well!" he thought, "who knows? Perhaps I may fall down too and
marry a princess;" and he looked forward joyfully to the next evening,
expecting to be again decked out with lights and playthings, gold and
fruit. "Tomorrow I will not tremble," thought he; "I will enjoy all my
splendor, and I shall hear the story of Humpty-Dumpty again, and
perhaps Ivede-Avede." And the tree remained quiet and thoughtful all
night.

In the morning the servants and the housemaid came in. "Now," thought
the fir tree, "all my splendor is going to begin again." But they
dragged him out of the room and upstairs to the garret and threw him
on the floor, in a dark corner where no daylight shone, and there they
left him. "What does this mean?" thought the tree. "What am I to do
here? I can hear nothing in a place like this;" and he leaned against
the wall and thought and thought.

And he had time enough to think, for days and nights passed, and no
one came near him; and when at last somebody did come, it was only to
push away some large boxes in a corner. So the tree was completely
hidden from sight as if it had never existed.

"It is winter now," thought the tree; "the ground is hard and covered
with snow, so that people cannot plant me. I shall be sheltered here,
I dare say, until spring comes. How thoughtful and kind everybody is
to me! Still, I wish this place were not so dark and so dreadfully
lonely, with not even a little hare to look at. How pleasant it was
out in the forest while the snow lay on the ground, when the hare
would run by, yes, and jump over me too, although I did not like it
then. Oh! it is terribly lonely here."

"Squeak, squeak," said a l