The Dryad - Part I

We're going to Paris to see the exposition!
Now we're there! It was a speedy journey, done completely without witchcraft -- we went by steam, in a ship and on a railroad. Our time is indeed a time of fairy tales.

The Goblin and the Woman

You know the Goblin, but do you know the Woman -- the Gardener's wife? She was very well read and knew poems by heart; and she could write them, too, easily, except that the rhymes -- "clinchings," as she called them -- gave her a little trouble.

Vano and Glano

Near the coast of Zealand, off Holsteinborg castle, there once lay two wooded islands, Vano and Glano, on which were villages, churches, and farms.

The Little Green Ones

A rose tree drooped in the window. Not so long ago it was green and blooming, but now it looked sickly -- something was wrong with it.

The Toad

The well was deep, and therefore the rope was long; the wheel went around with difficulty when the water-filled bucket had to be pulled up over the side of the well.

Aunty

You ought to have known Aunty; she was so lovely. And yet, to be more specific, she wasn't lovely in the usual sense of the word, but she was sweet and charming and funny in her own way -- just the type to gossip about when one is in the mood to gossip and be facetious over someone.

The Porter's Son

The General's family lived on the first floor, and the Porter's family lived in the cellar. There was a vast distance between them -- the whole first floor, as well as all the grades of society; but both families lived under the same roof, and their windows looked out in the same street and the same garden.

Kept Secret But Not Forgotten

There was once an old mansion with a moat and drawbridge. The drawbridge was more often up than down; not all visitors are good or welcome.

The Storm Shifts The Signboards

In olden days, when Grandfather was just a little boy and wore red trousers, a red jacket, a sash around his waste, and a feather in his cap -- for that's the way little boys dressed in his childhood when they wore their best clothes -- so many things were different from nowadays.

Golden Treasure

The drummer's wife went to church and saw the new altar with painted pictures and carved angels. The angels were very beautiful, both those painted on cloth, in all their colors and glory, and those carved in wood, painted and gilded.