at the sky--it was so high--and with slow footsteps he started out to
make the rounds of the holiday, of all its confused boundaries,
possibilities and distances. And everywhere he turned out to be too
late; he wanted to see how the tables for card playing would be
arranged, but the tables were ready and people had been playing cards
for a long time when he came up. He touched the chalk and the brush
near his father and his father immediately chased him away. What of
that, what difference did that make to him? He wanted to see how
they would start to dance and he was sure that they would dance in
the parlour, but they had already commenced to dance, not in the
parlour, but under the linden trees. He wanted to see how they would
light the lanterns, but the lanterns had all been lit already, every
one of them, to the very last of the last. They lit up of themselves
like stars.

Mamma danced best of all.



CHAPTER III


Night arrived in the form of red, green and yellow lanterns. While
there were no lanterns, there was no night. And now it lay
everywhere. It crawled into the bushes; it covered the entire garden
with darkness, as with water, and it covered the sky. Everything
looked as beautiful as the very best fairy tale with coloured
pictures. At one place the house had disappeared entirely; only the
square window made of red light remained. And the chimney of the
house was visible and there a certain spark glistened, looked down