he
pretty little creature. "It has come to invite you to a wedding. Two
little Mice are going to be married to-night. They live under the
floor of your mother's pantry; it is said to be such a nice place to
live in."

"But how can I get through the mouse hole in the floor?" asked
Hjalmar.

"I will see to that," said Ole Luk-Oie. And with his magic squirt he
touched Hjalmar, who at once began to grow smaller and smaller, until
at last he was scarcely as big as a finger.

"Now you can borrow the tin soldier's uniform. I think it will fit
you," said Ole Luk-Oie.

And in a moment Hjalmar was dressed like the smartest of tin soldiers.

"Will you be so kind as to take a seat in your Mamma's thimble?" said
the mouse; "I shall then have the honour of drawing you."

"Oh, dear! are you going to take this trouble yourself, little miss?"
said Hjalmar.

Then they drove to the mouse's wedding. They passed first through a
long passage beneath the floor, which was only just high enough to
drive through in a thimble; and the whole passage was lit up with
phosphorescent wood.

"Doesn't it smell nice here?" said the mouse, who was drawing the
thimble. "The whole passage has been greased with bacon fat; it could
not be more exquisite."

Then they came into the bridal hall. On the right hand stood all the
little lady mice; and they whispered and giggled as if they were
making fun of one another; on the left stood all the gentlemen mice,
stroking their whiskers with their forepaws; and in the center of the
hall you could see the bride and bridegroom, standing in a hollow
cheese.

More and more guests arrived, until the mice were nearly treading one
another to death. The bridal pair had stationed themselves just in the
doorway, so that one could neither come in nor go out. Like the
passage, the floor had been greased with bacon fat, and that was the
whole of the feast; but for dessert they produced a pea on which a
mouse belonging to the family had bitten the name of the bridal
pair--that is to say, the first letter of the name. It was something
extraordinary.

All the mice said it was a beautiful wedding, and that the
entertainment had been very enjoyable.

So Hjalmar drove home again. He had been in very distinguished
society; but he had been obliged to shrink together to make himself
small, and to put on the tin soldier's uniform.

"Am I to hear any more stories now?" asked little Hjalmar, as soon as
Ole Luk-Oie had put