ree. "They are not taller
than I; there was one, indeed, that was much shorter;--and why do they
keep all their branches? Where are they carrying them to?"

"We know! we know!" chirped the Sparrows. "We have peeped in at the
windows down there in the town. We know where they are carrying them
to. Oh, they are going to where it is as bright and splendid as you can
think! We peeped through the windows, and saw them planted in the middle
of the warm room, and dressed with the most splendid things,--with
gilded apples, with gingerbread, with toys and many hundred lights!"

"And then?" asked the Pine Tree, and he trembled in every bough. "And
then? What happens then?"

"We did not see anything more: it beat everything!"

"I wonder if I am to sparkle like that!" cried the Tree, rejoicing.
"That is still better than to go over the sea! How I do suffer for very
longing! Were Christmas but come! I am now tall, and stretch out like
the others that were carried off last year! Oh, if I were already on
the cart! I wish I were in the warm room with all the splendor and
brightness. And then? Yes; then will come something better, something
still grander, or why should they dress me out so? There must come
something better, something still grander,--but what? Oh, how I long,
how I suffer! I do not know myself what is the matter with me!"

"Rejoice in us!" said the Air and the Sunlight; "rejoice in thy fresh
youth out here in the open air!"

But the Tree did not rejoice at all; he grew and grew; and he stood
there in all his greenery; rich green was he winter and summer. People
that saw him said, "That's a fine tree!" and toward Christmas he was
the first that was cut down. The axe struck deep into the very pith; the
Tree fell to the earth with a sigh: he felt a pang--it was like a swoon;
he could not think of happiness, for he was sad at being parted from his
home, from the place where he had sprung up. He well knew that he should
never see his dear old comrades, the little bushes and flowers around
him, any more; perhaps not even the birds! The setting off was not at
all pleasant.

The Tree only came to himself when he was unloaded in a courtyard with
other trees, and heard a man say, "That one is splendid! we don't want
the others." Then two servants came in rich livery and carried the
Pine Tree into a large and splendid room. Portraits were hanging on the
walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood two large Chinese vases