could see was a real wig. Every morning there came an old fellow to him
who put his rooms in order, and went on errands; otherwise, the old man
in the plush breeches was quite alone in the old house. Now and then he
came to the window and looked out, and the little boy nodded to him,
and the old man nodded again, and so they became acquaintances, and then
they were friends, although they had never spoken to each other--but
that made no difference. The little boy heard his parents say, "The old
man opposite is very well off, but he is so very, very lonely!"

The Sunday following, the little boy took something, and wrapped it up
in a piece of paper, went downstairs, and stood in the doorway; and when
the man who went on errands came past, he said to him--

"I say, master! will you give this to the old man over the way from me?
I have two pewter soldiers--this is one of them, and he shall have it,
for I know he is so very, very lonely."

And the old errand man looked quite pleased, nodded, and took the pewter
soldier over to the old house. Afterwards there came a message; it was
to ask if the little boy himself had not a wish to come over and pay a
visit; and so he got permission of his parents, and then went over to
the old house.

And the brass balls on the iron railings shone much brighter than ever;
one would have thought they were polished on account of the visit; and
it was as if the carved-out trumpeters--for there were trumpeters, who
stood in tulips, carved out on the door--blew with all their
might, their cheeks appeared so much rounder than before. Yes, they
blew--"Trateratra! The little boy comes! Trateratra!"--and then the door
opened.

The whole passage was hung with portraits of knights in armor, and
ladies in silken gowns; and the armor rattled, and the silken gowns
rustled! And then there was a flight of stairs which went a good way
upwards, and a little way downwards, and then one came on a balcony
which was in a very dilapidated state, sure enough, with large holes and
long crevices, but grass grew there and leaves out of them altogether,
for the whole balcony outside, the yard, and the walls, were overgrown
with so much green stuff, that it looked like a garden; only a balcony.
Here stood old flower-pots with faces and asses' ears, and the flowers
grew just as they liked. One of the pots was quite overrun on all sides
with pinks, that is to say, with the green part; shoot stood by shoot,
and it sa