In the morning the servant and the maid came in.
IV. IN THE ATTIC
“Now all the finery will begin again,” thought the Pine. But they dragged him out of the room, and up the stairs into the attic; and here in a dark corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him. “What's the meaning of this?” thought the Tree. “What am I to do here? What shall I see and hear now, I wonder?” And he leaned against the wall and stood and thought and thought. And plenty of time he had, for days and nights passed, and nobody came up; and when at last somebody did come, it was only to put some great trunks in the corner. There stood the Tree quite hidden; it seemed as if he had been entirely forgotten.
“'T is now winter out-of-doors!” thought the Tree. “The earth is hard and covered with snow; men cannot plant me now; therefore I have been put up here under cover till spring! How thoughtful that is! How good men are, after all! If it were not so dark here, and so terribly lonely! Not even a hare. Out there it was so pleasant in the woods, when the snow was on the ground, and the hare leaped by; yes—even when he jumped over me; but I did not like it then. It is terribly lonely here!”
“Squeak! squeak!” said a little Mouse at the same moment, peeping out of his hole. And then another little one came. They snuffed about the Pine Tree, and rustled among the branches.
“It is dreadfully cold,” said the little Mouse. “But for that, it would be delightful here, old Pine, wouldn't it!”
“I am by no means old,” said the Pine Tree. “There are many a good deal older than I am.”
“Where do you come from?” asked the Mice; “and what can you do?” They were so very curious. “Tell us about the most beautiful spot on earth. Have you been there? Were you ever in the larder, where cheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from above; where one dances about on tallow candles; where one goes in lean and comes out fat?”
“I don't know that place,” said the Tree. “But I know the wood where the sun shines, and where the little birds sing.”
And then he told his story from his youth up; and the little Mice had never heard the like before; and they listened and said, “Well, to be sure! How much you have seen! How happy you must have been!”