``But I know the wood where the sun shines, and
where the little birds sing.''
And then he told his story from his youth up;
and the little Mice had never heard the like
before; and they listened and said,
``Well, to be sure! How much you have seen!
How happy you must have been!''
``I!'' said the Pine Tree, and he thought over
what he had himself told. ``Yes, really those
were happy times.'' And then he told about
Christmas Eve, when he was decked out with
cakes and candles.
``Oh,'' said the little Mice, ``how lucky you have
been, old Pine Tree!''
``I am not at all old,'' said he. ``I came from
the wood this winter; I am in my prime, and am
only rather short of my age.''
``What delightful stories you know!'' said the
Mice: and the next night they came with four
other little Mice, who were to hear what the Tree
had to tell; and the more he told, the more plainly
he remembered all himself; and he thought:
``That was a merry time! But it can come! it can
come! Klumpy-Dumpy fell down stairs, and yet
he got a princess! Maybe I can get a princess
too!'' And all of a sudden he thought of a nice
little Birch Tree growing out in the woods: to the
Pine, that would be a really charming princess.
``Who is Klumpy-Dumpy?'' asked the little
Mice.
So then the Pine Tree told the whole fairy tale,
for he could remember every single word of it; and
the little Mice jumped for joy up to the very top
of the Tree.
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