At last the candles were lighted. What a brilliance, what splendor!
The Tree trembled so in all its branches that one of the candles set
fire to a green twig, and it was scorched.
"Heaven preserve us!" cried the young ladies; and they hastily put the
fire out.
Now the Tree might not even tremble. Oh, that was terrible! It was
so afraid of setting fire to some of its ornaments, and it was quite
bewildered with all the brilliance. And now the folding doors were
thrown open, and a number of children rushed in as if they would
have overturned the whole Tree; the older people followed more
deliberately. The little ones stood quite silent, but only for a
minute; then they shouted till the room rang: they danced gleefully
round the Tree, and one present after another was plucked from it.
"What are they about?" thought the Tree. "What's going to be done?"
And the candles burned down to the twigs, and as they burned down
they were extinguished, and then the children received permission to
plunder the Tree. Oh! they rushed in upon it, so that every branch
cracked again: if it had not been fastened by the top and by the
golden star to the ceiling, it would have fallen down.
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