their nests in my branches, and when the wind blew I would bow to
it politely just like the others!' It took no pleasure in the
sunshine, nor in the birds, nor in the rose-coloured clouds that
sailed over it at dawn and at sunset. Then the winter came, and
the snow lay white and sparkling all around, and a hare would
come and spring right over the little fir-tree, which annoyed it
very much. But when two more winters had passed the fir-tree was
so tall that the hare had to run round it. 'Ah! to grow and
grow, and become great and old! that is the only pleasure in
life,' thought the tree. In the autumn the woodcutters used to
come and hew some of the tallest trees; this happened every year,
and the young fir-tree would shiver as the magnificent trees fell
crashing and crackling to the ground, their branches hewn off,
and the great trunks left bare, so that they were almost
unrecognisable. But then they were laid on waggons and dragged
out of the wood by horses. 'Where are they going? What will
happen to them?'

In spring, when the swallows and storks came, the fir-tree asked
them, 'Do you know where they were taken? Have you met them?'

The swallows knew nothing of them, but the stork nodded his head
thoughtfully, saying, 'I think I know. I met many new ships as I
flew from Egypt; there were splendid masts on the ships. I'll
wager those were they! They had the scent of fir-trees. Ah!
those are grand, grand!'

'Oh! if I were only big enough to sail away over the sea too!
What sort of thing is the sea? what does it look like?'