had leave
to plunder the Tree. Oh, they rushed upon it so that it cracked in all
its limbs; if its tip-top with the gold star on it had not been fastened
to the ceiling, it would have tumbled over.

The children danced about with their pretty toys; no one looked at the
Tree except the old nurse, who peeped in among the branches; but it was
only to see if there was a fig or an apple that had been forgotten.

"A story! a story!" cried the children, and they dragged a little fat
man toward the Tree. He sat down under it, and said, "Now we are in the
shade, and the Tree can hear very well too. But I shall tell only
one story. Now which will you have: that about Ivedy-Avedy, or about
Klumpy-Dumpy who tumbled downstairs, and came to the throne after all,
and married the princess?"

"Ivedy-Avedy," cried some; "Klumpy-Dumpy," cried the others. There was
such a bawling and screaming!--the Pine Tree alone was silent, and he
thought to himself, "Am I not to bawl with the rest?--am I to do nothing
whatever?"--for he was one of them, and he had done what he had to do.

And the man told about Klumpy-Dumpy who tumbled downstairs, and came to
the throne after all, and married the princess. And the children clapped
their hands, and cried out, "Go on, go on!" They wanted to hear about
Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only told them about Klumpy-Dumpy.
The Pine Tree stood quite still and thoughtful: the birds in the wood
had never told anything like this. "Klumpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and
yet he married the princess! Yes, yes, that's the way of the world!"
thought the Pine Tree, and he believed it all, because it was such a
nice man who told the story.

"Well, well! who knows, perhaps I may fall downstairs, too, and so get a
princess!" And he looked forward with joy to the next day when he should
be decked out with lights and toys, fruits and tinsel.

"To-morrow I won't tremble!" thought the Pine Tree. "I will enjoy to
the full all my splendor! To-morrow I shall hear again the story of
Klumpy-Dumpy, and perhaps that of Ivedy-Avedy too." And the whole night
the Tree stood still in deep thought.

In the morning the servant and the maid came in.

IV. IN THE ATTIC

"Now all the finery will begin again," thought the Pine. But they
dragged him out of the room, and up the stairs into the attic; and here
in a dark corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him. "What's
the meaning of this?" thought the Tree. "What am I to