is slippers flew off, and came right
against the wall where the soldier sat looking through the iron grating.

"Halloo, you shoemaker's boy! you needn't be in such a hurry," cried the
soldier to him: "it will not begin till I come. But if you will run to
where I lived, and bring me my tinder-box, you shall have four
shillings; but you must put your best leg foremost."

The shoemaker's boy wanted to get the four shillings, so he went and
brought the tinder-box, and--well, we shall hear now what happened.

Outside the town a great gallows had been built, and around it stood the
soldiers and many hundred thousand people. The King and Queen sat on a
splendid throne, opposite to the Judges and the whole Council. The
soldier already stood upon the ladder; but as they were about to put the
rope round his neck, he said that before a poor criminal suffered his
punishment an innocent request was always granted to him. He wanted very
much to smoke a pipe of tobacco, as it would be the last pipe he should
smoke in this world. The King would not say "No" to this; so the soldier
took his tinder-box and struck fire. One--two--three--! and there
suddenly stood all the dogs--the one with eyes as big as tea-cups, the
one with eyes as large as mill-wheels, and the one whose eyes were as
big as round towers.

"Help me now, so that I may not be hanged," said the soldier. And the
dogs fell upon the Judge and all the Council, seized one by the leg and
another by the nose, and tossed them all many feet into the air, so that
they fell down and were all broken to pieces.

"I won't!" cried the King; but the biggest dog took him and the Queen
and threw them after the others. Then the soldiers were afraid, and the
people cried, "Little soldier, you shall be our King, and marry the
beautiful Princess!"

So they put the soldier into the King's coach, and all the three dogs
darted on in front and cried "Hurrah!" and the boys whistled through
their fingers, and the soldiers presented arms. The Princess came out of
the copper castle, and became Queen, and she liked that well enough. The
wedding lasted a week, and the three dogs sat at the table too, and
opened their eyes wider than ever at all they saw.

197

The following is one of Andersen's early
stories, published in 1838. It has always been
a great favorite. Whimsically odd couples, in
this case so constant in their devotion to each
other, seeme