The Tree only came to himself when he was
unloaded in a courtyard with other trees, and
heard a man say, ``That one is splendid! we don't
want the others.'' Then two servants came in
rich livery and carried the Pine Tree into a large
and splendid room. Portraits were hanging on
the walls, and near the white porcelain stove
stood two large Chinese vases with lions on the
covers. There, too, were large easy-chairs, silken
sofas, large tables full of picture-books, and full of
toys worth a hundred times a hundred dollars--
at least so the children said. And the Pine Tree
was stuck upright in a cask filled with sand: but
no one could see that it was a cask, for green cloth
was hung all around it, and it stood on a gayly
colored carpet. Oh, how the Tree quivered!
What was to happen? The servants, as well as the
young ladies, dressed it. On one branch there
hung little nets cut out of colored paper; each net
was filled with sugar-plums; gilded apples and
walnuts hung as though they grew tightly there,
and more than a hundred little red, blue, and white
tapers were stuck fast into the branches. Dolls
that looked for all the world like men--the Tree
had never seen such things before--fluttered
among the leaves, and at the very top a large star
of gold tinsel was fixed. It was really splendid--
splendid beyond telling.
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