place and have a little sensible
conversation with my neighbors. All of us excepting the water bucket,
which is sometimes taken into the courtyard, live here together within
these four walls. We get our news from the market basket, but it
sometimes tells us very unpleasant things about the people and the
government. Yes, and one day an old pot was so alarmed that it fell down
and was broken in pieces.'

"'You are talking too much,' said the tinder box; and the steel struck
against the flint till some sparks flew out, crying, 'We want a merry
evening, don't we?'

"'Yes, of course,' said the matches. 'Let us talk about those who are
the highest born.'

"'No, I don't like to be always talking of what we are,' remarked the
saucepan. 'Let us think of some other amusement; I will begin. We will
tell something that has happened to ourselves; that will be very easy,
and interesting as well. On the Baltic Sea, near the Danish shore--'

"'What a pretty commencement!' said the plates. 'We shall all like that
story, I am sure.'

"'Yes. Well, in my youth I lived in a quiet family where the furniture
was polished, the floors scoured, and clean curtains put up, every
fortnight.'

"'What an interesting way you have of relating a story,' said the carpet
broom. 'It is easy to perceive that you have been a great deal in
society, something so pure runs through what you say.'

"'That is quite true,' said the water bucket; and it made a spring with
joy and splashed some water on the floor.

"Then the saucepan went on with its story, and the end was as good as
the beginning.

"The plates rattled with pleasure, and the carpet broom brought some
green parsley out of the dust hole and crowned the saucepan. It knew
this would vex the others, but it thought, 'If I crown him to-day, he
will crown me to-morrow.'

"'Now let us have a dance,' said the fire tongs. Then how they danced
and stuck one leg in the air! The chair cushion in the corner burst with
laughter at the sight.

"'Shall I be crowned now?' asked the fire tongs. So the broom found
another wreath for the tongs.

"'They are only common people after all,' thought the matches. The tea
urn was now asked to sing, but she said she had a cold and could not
sing unless she felt boiling heat within. They all thought this was
affectation; they also considered it affectation that she did not wish
to sing except in the parlor, when on the table with the grand people.

"In the windo