The Tinderbox by Hans Christian Andersen

[joannaingram84]

One night, when he was sitting alone after his friends had gone, he thought, "It is a pity that no one can see that beautiful princess. What is the good of her beauty if she must always remain behind the high walls and towers of a copper castle? Will I never see her? ... Where is my tinderbox?"

[joannaingram84]

The dog brought the princess back to her copper castle; but in the morning while she was having tea with her father and mother, the king and queen, she told them that she had a very strange dream that night. A large dog had come and carried her away to a soldier who kissed her.

[joannaingram84]

"That's a nice story," said the queen, but she didn't mean it.

[joannaingram84]

The next night one of the older ladies in waiting was sent to watch over the princess while she slept, and find out whether it had only been a dream, and not something worse.

[joannaingram84]

The soldier longed to see the princess so much that he couldn't bear it, so at night he sent the dog to fetch her. The dog ran as fast as he could, but the lady in waiting had her boots on and she kept up with him all the way. When she saw which house he had entered, she took out a piece of chalk and made a big white cross on the door.

[joannaingram84]

"Now we'll be able to find it in the morning," she thought, and went home to get some sleep.

[joannaingram84]

The next morning the king and queen, the old lady in waiting, and all the royal officers went out into town to find the house where the princess had been.

[joannaingram84]

"Here it is!" exclaimed the king, when he saw the first door with a cross on it.

[joannaingram84]

"No, my sweet husband, it is here," said his wife, who had seen the second door with a cross on it.

[joannaingram84]

"Here's one!"

[sigmapi1501]

So this will be your 30 posts?

[joannaingram84]

"There's one!"

[joannaingram84]

Everyone shouted at once, for it didn't matter where anyone looked; there he would find a door with a cross on it; and so they all gave up.

[joannaingram84]

Now the queen was so clever, she could do more than ride in a golden carriage. She took out her golden scissors and cut out a large piece of silk and sewed it into a pretty little bag. This she filled with the fine grain of buckwheat, and tied the bag around the princess' waist. When this was done, she cut a little hole in the bag just big enough for the little grains of buckwheat to fall out, one at a time, and show the way to the house where the princess was taken by the dog.

[joannaingram84]

During the night the dog came to fetch the princess and carry her on his back to the soldier, who loved her so much that now he had only one desire, and that was to be a prince so that he could marry her.