ea; when at the same moment, coming by
a path to the right, appeared, in his wooden shoes and jacket, the poor
boy who had been confirmed with him. He had followed his own path, and
had reached the spot just as soon as the son of the king had done. They
ran towards each other, and stood together hand in hand in the vast
church of nature and of poetry, while over them sounded the invisible
holy bell: blessed spirits floated around them, and lifted up their
voices in a rejoicing hallelujah!

THE OLD HOUSE

In the street, up there, was an old, a very old house--it was almost
three hundred years old, for that might be known by reading the great
beam on which the date of the year was carved: together with tulips and
hop-binds there were whole verses spelled as in former times, and over
every window was a distorted face cut out in the beam. The one story
stood forward a great way over the other; and directly under the eaves
was a leaden spout with a dragon's head; the rain-water should have run
out of the mouth, but it ran out of the belly, for there was a hole in
the spout.

All the other houses in the street were so new and so neat, with large
window panes and smooth walls, one could easily see that they would have
nothing to do with the old house: they certainly thought, "How long is
that old decayed thing to stand here as a spectacle in the street? And
then the projecting windows stand so far out, that no one can see from
our windows what happens in that direction! The steps are as broad as
those of a palace, and as high as to a church tower. The iron railings
look just like the door to an old family vault, and then they have brass
tops--that's so stupid!"

On the other side of the street were also new and neat houses, and they
thought just as the others did; but at the window opposite the old house
there sat a little boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes:
he certainly liked the old house best, and that both in sunshine and
moonshine. And when he looked across at the wall where the mortar
had fallen out, he could sit and find out there the strangest figures
imaginable; exactly as the street had appeared before, with steps,
projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could see soldiers with
halberds, and spouts where the water ran, like dragons and serpents.
That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who wore plush
breeches; and he had a coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that one