The Little Glass Man, and Other StoriesHauff, Wilhelm
Science
The Little Glass Man, and Other Stories
Hauff, Wilhelm
Children's stories
Oh, the colour, the movement, the loveliness of it all! I once went
to a pantomime and saw the Transformation Scene with all the fairies.
It was very beautiful and a little like what I saw now. Only there
the fairies were all made up with painted faces, and curls which had
not grown on their heads, while here you could see at a glance that
everything was quite real. And they were so lovely, these fairies! I
made myself comfortable at the window, no one could see me from below.
Only the moon from the big window opposite stared me full in the face.
'No matter what _you_ think,' I said, nodding at her; 'don't _you_ talk
about inquisitiveness. Why there isn't a window or a cranny but you
take a peep in if you get the chance!'
Down below, at one end of the hall, there was a raised platform; on
this, in the largest of the chairs, sat Fairy Queen with a crown
on her head and a long silver train. A few other fairies, all with
long trains, sat by her, and the rest moved about in the hall. In
one corner, just below where I sat, there was a long table, on which
were set out plates with pasties and sweets and sandwiches; there
were coloured glasses also and flagons of wine. Near the table stood
Gogul Mogul greeting the fairies as they arrived and handing them
refreshments. He was dressed in green tights, his hair stood up in a
great mop. Among all those ladies he was the only gentleman; but he
knew his importance, and he looked it.
'Oh yes, she has come,' I heard him say in answer to inquiries; 'what
heart could wish for more! she is without, putting herself straight.
Did you say raspberry tart or cherry tart?' he asked, turning to a
fairy. And taking up a flagon, he quoted--
'Here plenty's liberal horn shall pour,
Of fruits for thee a copious shower.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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