The Pine Tree
by Hans Christian Andersen
a story in Five parts..... part Three
III. CHRISTMAS IN THE HOUSE
The candles were now lighted. What brightness! What splendor! The Tree trembled so in every bough that one of the tapers set fire to a green branch. It blazed up splendidly.
Now the Tree did not even dare to tremble. That was a fright! He was so afraid of losing something of all his finery, that he was quite confused amidst the glare and brightness; and now both folding-doors opened, and a troop of children rushed in as if they would tip the whole Tree over. The older folks came quietly behind; the little ones stood quite still, but only for a moment, then they shouted so that the whole place echoed their shouts, they danced round the Tree, and one present after another was pulled off.
"What are they about?" thought the Tree. "What is to happen now?" And the lights burned down to the very branches, and as they burned down they were put out one after the other, and then the children had leave to plunder the Tree.
Oh, they rushed upon it so that it cracked in all its limbs; if its tip-top with the gold star on it had not been fastened to the ceiling, it would have tumbled over.
The children danced about with their pretty toys; no one looked at the Tree except the old nurse, who peeped in among the branches; but it was only to see if there was a fig or an apple that had been forgotten.
"A story! a story!" cried the children, and they dragged a little fat man toward the Tree. He sat down under it, and said, "Now we are in the shade, and the Tree can hear very well too. But I shall tell only one story. Now which will you have: that about Ivedy-Avedy, or about Klumpy-Dumpy who tumbled downstairs, and came to the throne after all, and married the princess?"
"Ivedy-Avedy," cried some; "Klumpy-Dumpy," cried the others. There was such a bawling and screaming!—the Pine Tree alone was silent, and he thought to himself, "Am I not to bawl with the rest?—am I to do nothing whatever?"—for he was one of them, and he had done what he had to do.
And the man told about Klumpy-Dumpy who tumbled downstairs, and came to the throne after all, and married the princess. And the children clapped their hands, and cried out, "Go on, go on!" They wanted to hear about Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only told them about Klumpy-Dumpy. The Pine Tree stood quite still and thoughtful: the birds in the wood had never told anything like this.
"Klumpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he married the princess! Yes, yes, that's the way of the world!" thought the Pine Tree, and he believed it all, because it was such a nice man who told the story.
"Well, well! who knows, perhaps I may fall downstairs, too, and so get a princess!" And he looked forward with joy to the next day when he should be decked out with lights and toys, fruits and tinsel.
"To-morrow I won't tremble!" thought the Pine Tree. "I will enjoy to the full all my splendor!
To-morrow I shall hear again the story of Klumpy-Dumpy, and perhaps that of Ivedy-Avedy too."
And the whole night the Tree stood still in deep thought.
In the morning the servant and the maid came in
******************** tomorrow part 4********************************
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| These wonderful Tissue Paper Trees were found at AliLillyBlog .com Blogger Ami has a wonderful tutorial with tons of pics. |
This Paper Christmas Tree Craft (with free download!) is so cute and has lots of potential for kid creativity! The tutorial with pics can be found at TheBizyMommy .com Their tree was made with card stock but I can totally see using recycled cardboard from cereal boxes. And of course, the kids can use any designs they want. Lots of fun!!
This next tree activity is a like the previous tree. Unfortunately, there are no directions, just the picture but as you can see they made trees similar to the paper tree above (maybe a little smaller) and then attached them to a cord to make a Paper Tree Garland.
Ingredients
- 1 box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix
- Water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box
- 2 or 3 drops green food color
- 2/3 cup Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting (from 16 oz container)
- Betty Crocker® Decorating Decors red and green candy sprinkles or miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits
- Miniature candy canes (2 inch), unwrapped
Directions
- 1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Line 9-inch square pan with foil so foil extends about 2 inches over sides of pan. Grease bottom only of foil with cooking spray or shortening.
- 2 Make and bake brownie mix as directed on box. Cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove brownie from pan by lifting foil; peel foil away. To cut brownie into triangles, cut into 3 rows. Cut each row into 5 triangles, see diagram. Save smaller pieces for snacking.
- 3 Stir food color into frosting. Spoon frosting into small resealable food-storage plastic bag; partially seal bag. Cut off tiny bottom corner of bag. Squeeze bag to pipe frosting over brownies. Sprinkle with decors.
- 4 Break off curved end of candy cane; insert straight piece into bottoms of triangles to make tree trunks
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