And the Fir Tree was put into a great tub
filled with sand; but no one could see that it was a tub, for it
was hung round with green cloth, and stood on a large, many-colored
carpet. Oh, how the Tree trembled! What was to happen now? The
servants, and the young ladies also, decked it out. On one branch they
hung little nets, cut out of colored paper; every net was filled
with sweetmeats; golden apples and walnuts hung down, as if they grew
there, and more than a hundred little candles, red, white, and blue,
were fastened to the different boughs. Dolls that looked exactly like
real people--the tree had never seen such before--swung among the
foliage, and high on the summit of the tree was fixed a tinsel star.
It was splendid, particularly splendid.
"This evening," said all, "this evening it will shine."
"Oh," thought the Tree, "that it were evening already! Oh, that the
lights may be soon lit up! When may that be done? I wonder if trees
will come out of the forest to look at me? Will the sparrows fly
against the panes? Shall I grow fast here, and stand adorned in
summer and winter?"
Yes, he did not guess badly. But he had a complete backache from
mere longing, and the backache is just as bad for a Tree as the
headache for a person.
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