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FAIRY TALES AND LAUGHTER STORIES
* * * * *
SCANDINAVIAN STORIES
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THE HARDY TIN SOLDIER
BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
There were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers; they were all brothers,
for they had all been born of one old tin spoon. They shouldered their
muskets, and looked straight before them; their uniform was red and
blue, and very splendid. The first thing they had heard in the
world, when the lid was taken off their box, had been the words "Tin
soldiers!" These words were uttered by a little boy, clapping his
hands: the soldiers had been given to him, for it was his birthday;
and now he put them upon the table. Each soldier was exactly like the
rest; but one of them had been cast last of all, and there had not
been enough tin to finish him; but he stood as firmly upon his one leg
as the others on their two; and it was just this Soldier who became
remarkable.
On the table on which they had been placed stood many other
playthings, but the toy that attracted most attention was a neat
castle of cardboard. Through the little windows one could see straight
into the hall.
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