.

When the evening came all the other tin soldiers were put into their
box, and the people in the house went to bed. Now the toys began to
play at "visiting," and at "war," and "giving balls." The tin soldiers
rattled in their box, for they wanted to join, but could not lift the
lid. The nutcracker threw somersaults, and the pencil amused itself on
the table: there was so much noise that the canary woke up, and began
to speak too, and even in verse. The only two who did not stir from
their places were the Tin Soldier and the Dancing Lady: she stood
straight up on the point of one of her toes, and stretched out both
her arms; and he was just as enduring on his one leg; and he never
turned his eyes away from her.

Now the clock struck twelve--and, bounce! the lid flew off the
snuff-box; but there was no snuff in it, but a little black Goblin:
you see, it was a trick.

"Tin Soldier!" said the Goblin, "don't stare at things that don't
concern you."

But the Tin Soldier pretended not to hear him.

"Just you wait till to-morrow!" said the Goblin.

But when the morning came, and the children got up, the Tin Soldier
was placed in the window; and whether it was the Goblin or the draught
that did it, all at once the window flew open, and the Soldier fell
head over heels out of the third story. That was a terrible passage!
He put his leg straight up, and stuck with helmet downward and his
bayonet between the paving-stones.

The servant-maid and the little boy came down directly to look for him,
but though they almost trod upon him, they could not see him. If the
Soldier had cried out "Here I am!" they would have found him; but he
did not think it fitting to call out loudly, because he was in uniform.

Now it began to rain; the drops soon fell thicker, and at last it came
down into a complete stream. When the rain was past, two street boys
came by.

"Just look!" said one of them: "there lies a Tin Soldier. He must come
out and ride in the boat."

And they made a boat out of a newspaper, and put the Tin Soldier in
the middle of it, and so he sailed down the gutter, and the two boys
ran beside him and clapped their hands. Goodness preserve us! how the
waves rose in that gutter, and how fast the stream ran! But then
it had been a heavy rain. The paper boat rocked up and down, and
sometimes turned round so rapidly that the Tin Soldier trembled; but
he remained firm, and never changed countenance, and looked straight
befo