The Tinder-Box

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

A soldier was marching along the highroad—left, right! left, right! He had a knapsack on his back and a sword at his side. He was returning from war, and now on his way home.

When he had gone some distance he met an old witch. She was dreadfully ugly, her underlip was hanging down upon her breast.

“Good evening, soldier,” she said; “what a fine sword you have, and what a big knapsack! You are a true soldier, and now you shall have as much money as ever you wish for.” “Thank you, old witch,” replied the soldier. “Do you see yonder large tree?” asked the witch, pointing out a tree which stood not far from them. “It is hollow inside. You must climb right up to its summit, when you will see a hole; through this hole you can let yourself down and get deep into the tree. I shall tie a rope round your waist, so that I can pull you up when you call out to me.”

“What shall I do down in the tree?” asked the soldier.

“Fetch money,” said the witch. “You must know that you will find a spacious hall at the bottom of the tree; it is quite light, for there are no less than three hundred lamps burning down there. You will then see three doors; you can open them—the keys are in the locks. If you enter the first room you will find in the middle of the floor a large wooden chest and a dog sitting on it, which has a pair of eyes as large as teacups. Never mind him! I shall give you my blue checked apron; you can spread it on the floor; then go quickly, seize the dog and place him on my apron, open the chest, and take out of it as many coins as you like. They are of copper; if you prefer to have silver, you must go into the second room. There you will see a dog having eyes as large as mill-wheels. But do not be afraid; put him on my apron and take as much money as you like. If, however, you wish to have gold, you can have that too, and as much as you can carry, if you go into the third room. The dog which sits on the chest in this room has eyes as large as a church-steeple. He is a very wicked dog, I can assure you, but you need not fear him. If you put him on my apron he will not hurt you, and you can take as much gold as you like out of the chest.”

“That is not at all bad,” said the soldier. “But what do you expect me to give you in return, for surely you will not do all this for nothing?”

“Yes,” replied the witch. “I shall not ask you for a single shilling. I only want you to bring up for me an old tinder-box which my grandmother forgot when she was down there for the last time.”

“Well, then, tie the rope round my waist,” said the soldier.

“Here it is,” said the witch, “and here is also my blue checked apron.”

The soldier then climbed up the tree, descended inside it by the rope, and arrived, as the witch had told him, in the great hall where the three hundred lamps were burning.

He opened the first door. Ugh! there the dog with the eyes as large as teacups was staring at him.

“You are a fine fellow,” said the soldier, placed him on the apron of the witch, and took as many coppers as his pockets would hold. Then he locked the chest, put the dog upon it, and went to the second room. Really, there was the dog with the eyes as large as mill-wheels.

“You had better not look at me so hard,” said the soldier, “you might strain your eyes,” and put the dog on the witch’s apron. When he saw the silver in the chest, he threw all the copper he had taken away, and filled his pockets and knapsack with silver. Then he went into the third room. That was dreadful to look at. The dog there had really two eyes as large as church steeples, which turned in his head like wheels.

“Good evening,” said the soldier, and touched his cap, for he had never in his life seen a dog like this. When he had looked at him more closely, he thought “that is enough,” lifted him down on the floor, and opened the chest. Good heavens! what a lot of gold there was! There was enough gold to buy the whole town, and all the sweets from all the sweetmeat stalls, in addition to all the tin soldiers, whips, and rocking-horses in the whole world. The soldier quickly threw away all the silver with which he had filled his pockets and knapsack, and replaced it by gold. He filled even his cap and his boots with gold, so that he could scarcely walk. Now he was rich.

He placed the dog again on the chest, shut the door, and called up through the tree.

“Now pull me up, old witch.”

“Have you found the tinder-box?” asked the old witch.

“Upon my soul,” said the soldier, “that I should really have forgotten.” He returned and fetched it. The old witch pulled him up, and soon he was again in the high road, his pockets, boots, knapsack, and cap filled with gold.

“What will you do with the tinder-box?” asked the soldier.

“Do not trouble your mind about that,” said the witch. “You have received your reward. Give me the tinder-box.”

“Certainly not,” replied the soldier. “Tell me quickly what you are going to do with it, or I shall draw my sword and cut your head off.”

“No,” said the witch.

Then the soldier cut her head off, so that she lay dead on the ground. He tied all his gold up in her apron, took it like a bundle on his shoulders, put the tinder-box into his pocket, and went straight to the nearest town.

It was a very pleasant town. He put up in the best inn, asked for the best rooms and for his favorite dishes; for he was rich, having so much gold.

The servant, who had to clean his boots, thought they were rather shabby old things for such a rich gentleman, for he had not yet bought a new pair. On the next day, however, he purchased decent boots and fine clothes. Thus the poor soldier had become a gentleman, and people talked to him about all the sights of their town, about the king, and about the beautiful princess his daughter.

“Where can one see her?” inquired the soldier.

“Nobody can see her,” they all said, “she lives in a strong copper castle with many towers, surrounded by high walls. Nobody but the king himself can pass in and out, for there has been a prophecy that she would marry a private soldier, and the king will prevent that.”

“I should very much like to see her,” thought the soldier, but he could by no means obtain permission to do so.

He led a merry life, went to the theater, drove in the Royal Gardens, and gave largely to the poor—that was very good of him; he remembered well of former days what it means to have not a single penny. He was now rich, had fine clothes, and soon found many friends, who all told him that he was a splendid fellow and a true gentleman; all this pleased the soldier greatly. As, however, he spent every day a good deal of money, without gaining anything, he had soon nothing left but two shillings; therefore he had to give up the elegant rooms which he occupied and live on the top of the house in a little garret; he had to black his own boots, and to mend them with a darning needle. None of his former friends came to see him, he lived so high up.

On one dark evening he could not even buy a candle. Then he remembered that there was a piece of candle in the tinder-box which he had fetched out of the hollow tree with the assistance of the witch. He took up the tinder-box and the little end of the candle, and was going to strike a light, when suddenly the door flew open, and the dog with a pair of eyes as large as teacups, which he had seen under the tree, made his appearance and asked: “Your lordship’s commands?”

“What is this?” asked the soldier. “That is a capital tinder-box if I can get through it what I wish for. Get me some money,” he said to the dog. The dog was gone like lightning; but in a moment he returned again, holding a large bag of coppers in his mouth.

Thus the soldier learnt what a wonderful tinder-box he had. If he struck once, the dog from the chest containing the copper appeared; two strokes made the dog who watched the silver come; and if he struck three times, the dog who sat on the chest containing the gold made his appearance. Now the soldier moved back into the elegant rooms, and appeared again well-dressed. All his former friends recognized him, and thought much of him.

One day the soldier thought: “It is very strange that nobody is allowed to see the princess. All agree in saying that she is so beautiful; but what is the use of her beauty if she is compelled to remain for ever in the big copper castle with its many towers? Is there no chance at all to see her?”

At this moment he thought of his tinder-box. He struck a light, and there the dog with a pair of eyes as large as teacups came.

“Although it is midnight,” said the soldier, “I should very much like to see the princess for a moment.”

No sooner had he pronounced his wish than the dog ran away, and returned in a few seconds with the princess. She was lying fast asleep on the dog’s back; she was so lovely to look at, that nobody could help seeing at once that she was a princess. The soldier could not abstain from kissing her, for he was a true soldier.

Then the dog carried the princess back; but on the next morning, when she was at tea with the king and the queen, she told them that she had had a very strange dream of a dog and a soldier in the night; she had been riding on the dog and the soldier had kissed her.

“That would be a fine tale,” said the queen.

Next night one of the Court ladies had to watch by the bed of the princess to see whether it was really a dream, or what else it could be.

The soldier felt a great longing to see the princess again, so he called the dog next night once more, who fetched her, running with her as fast as he could. But the old lady put on water-boots and followed him. When she saw that the dog disappeared with the princess in a large house, she took a piece of chalk and made a large white cross on the door, thinking that she would be able to recognize the house again. Then she returned home and went to bed. The dog soon brought the princess back; and when he saw the white cross on the house where the soldier lived, he made white crosses on all the doors in the town, that the Court lady might not be able to find it.

Early on the next morning, the king, the queen, the lady, and many officers of the Court came to see where the princess had been.

“There is the house,” said the king when he saw the first door with a white cross.

“No; there it is, my dear husband,” said the queen, on seeing a second door with a white cross.

“But there is one, and there is another,” said all, and wherever they looked they saw white crosses on the doors. Then they understood that it would be useless to search any more.

The queen was a very clever woman; she could do more than merely ride in a carriage. She took her large golden scissors, cut a piece of silk in squares and made a nice little bag of it. This bag she filled with ground buckwheat, then tied it to the princess’s back, and cut a little hole into it, so that the buckwheat could run out all along the road the princess was taken.

At night the dog came again, took the princess on his back, and ran with her to the soldier, who was deeply in love with her, and wished nothing more than to be a prince, that he might marry her.

The dog did not notice how the buckwheat strewed all the way from the castle up to the soldier’s house, where he climbed up the wall to enter the soldier’s window. Next morning the king and the queen knew where their daughter had been taken to: the soldier was at once arrested and thrown into prison.

There he sat, and found it awfully dark and dull. He was told, “To-morrow you will be hanged.” All this was very unpleasant, and the worst was that he had left his tinder-box at the inn.

On the next morning he could see through the iron bars how the people were hurrying out of the town in order to witness his execution. He heard the noise of the drums and saw the soldiers march past. In the crowd he noticed a shoemaker’s apprentice with a leather apron and wooden slippers on, who ran so fast that one of his slippers came off and flew against the wall, quite close to the window at which the soldier sat behind the iron bars.

“You need not hurry so, boy,” cried the soldier, “they can’t do anything until I arrive. If you would run to the place where I used to live and fetch me my tinder-box, I will give you four shillings.”

The boy, who was very anxious to have so much money, fetched the tinder-box and handed it to the soldier. Now, let us see what happened.

Outside the town they had erected a high gibbet; soldiers and many thousands of people stood around it. The king and the queen were sitting on a magnificent throne opposite the judges and counsel.

The soldier was already standing on the top of the ladder, and they were just going to put the rope round his neck, when he said he knew that it was a custom to grant a last request to a poor criminal before he suffered death, and he should very much like to smoke a pipe—the last he would ever have a chance of smoking in this world.

The king would not refuse this favor, and the soldier took up his tinder-box and struck—“One, two, three.” And lo! there suddenly appeared the three dogs; the first with eyes as large as teacups, the second with eyes as large as mill-wheels, and the third having eyes as large as church-steeples.

“Help me now, that they cannot hang me,” said the soldier.

Then the dogs rushed at the judges and the counsel, took the one up by the legs, the other by the nose, and threw them high up into the air, so that they fell down and were smashed to pieces.

“Leave me alone,” said the king; but the largest of the dogs seized both him and the queen and threw them up after the others.

When the soldiers and all the people saw that, they had great fear, and cried: “Good soldier, you shall become our king and marry the beautiful princess.”

They seated the soldier in the king’s carriage, and the three dogs danced in front of it and cried “Hurrah!” The boys whistled on their fingers, and the soldiers presented arms. The princess came out of the copper castle and became queen, and she liked it very much.

The wedding festivities lasted eight days; the dogs sat at table and opened their eyes wide.