The good Count looked up in surprize.
“If it isn’t a dear little fairy!” he exclaimed. “Why, certainly, if you have a plan to propose, I shall be happy to hear it.”
“Well, then,” said Tillette, “suppose we go first into the great hall in the old wing of the castle. That is so large that it will hold us all, and we can have a grand dance, if we feel like it, after we get there.”
“I am afraid that the great hall would be very uncomfortable,” said the Count. “No one has lived in it, nor even entered it, so far as I know, for many years; and everything must be covered with dust and cobwebs.”
“But it would be so nice to march around that great hall, with the music and everything. I don’t believe there’s any dust.”
“Well, then,” said the Count, “as you seem to have set your heart on it, we’ll go.”
So the Count and the Countess put on their hats and took their places in the procession, at the head of the line of children and just behind the musicians. Then they all marched across the great courtyard to the old wing of the castle, and when they reached the doors of the great hall, the giant swung them open, and everybody entered.
Never were there two such astonished people as the Count and the Countess!
Right in the middle of the hall stood a great Christmas-tree, which the giant had brought in on his shoulders from the woods. On the wide-spreading branches of this tall tree were hung hundreds of presents and sparkling ornaments.
“What does this mean?” gasped the Count. “Whose tree is this?”