Little Tuk Page #2

								

cried; "it is always wet, and as quiet as death in Soroe." Then little
Tuk saw she was changed into a frog. "Croak," and again she was an old
woman. "One must dress according to the weather," said she. "It is
wet, and my town is just like a bottle. By the cork we must go in, and
by the cork we must come out again. In olden times I had beautiful
fish, and now I have fresh, rosy-cheeked boys in the bottom of the
bottle, and they learn wisdom, Hebrew and Greek."

"Croak." How it sounded like the cry of the frogs on the moor,
or like the creaking of great boots when some one is marching,--always
the same tone, so monotonous and wearing, that little Tuk at length
fell fast asleep, and then the sound could not annoy him. But even
in this sleep came a dream or something like it. His little sister
Gustava, with her blue eyes, and fair curly hair, had grown up a
beautiful maiden all at once, and without having wings she could
fly. And they flew together over Zealand, over green forests and
blue lakes.

"Hark, so you hear the cock crow, little Tuk. 'Cock-a-doodle-doo.'
The fowls are flying out of Kjoge. You shall have a large farm-yard.
You shall never suffer hunger or want. The bird of good omen shall
be yours, and you shall become a rich and happy man; your house
shall rise up like King Waldemar's towers, and shall be richly adorned
with marble statues, like those at Prastoe. Understand me well; your
name shall travel with fame round the world like the ship that was
to sail from Corsor, and at Roeskilde,--Don't forget the names of
the towns, as King Hroar said,--you shall speak well and clearly
little Tuk, and when at last you lie in your grave you shall sleep
peacefully, as--"

"As if I lay in Soroe," said little Tuk awaking. It was bright
daylight, and he could not remember his dream, but that was not
necessary, for we are not to know what will happen to us in the
future. Then he sprang out of bed quickly, and read over his lesson in
the book, and knew it all at once quite correctly. The old washerwoman
put her head in at the door, and nodded to him quite kindly, and said,
"Many thanks, you good child, for your help yesterday. I hope all your
beautiful dreams will come true."

Little Tuk did not at all know what he had dreamt, but One above
did.
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