FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN THE PEA BLOSSOM

                                       1872

                     FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

                                THE PEA BLOSSOM

                           by Hans Christian Andersen

    THERE were once five peas in one shell, they were green, the shell

was green, and so they believed that the whole world must be green

also, which was a very natural conclusion. The shell grew, and the

peas grew, they accommodated themselves to their position, and sat all

in a row. The sun shone without and warmed the shell, and the rain

made it clear and transparent; it was mild and agreeable in broad

daylight, and dark at night, as it generally is; and the peas as

they sat there grew bigger and bigger, and more thoughtful as they

mused, for they felt there must be something else for them to do.

    "Are we to sit here forever?" asked one; "shall we not become hard

by sitting so long? It seems to me there must be something outside,

and I feel sure of it."

    And as weeks passed by, the peas became yellow, and the shell

became yellow.

    "All the world is turning yellow, I suppose," said they,- and

perhaps they were right.

    Suddenly they felt a pull at the shell; it was torn off, and

held in human hands, then slipped into the pocket of a jacket in

company with other full pods.

    "Now we shall soon be opened," said one,- just what they all

wanted.

    "I should like to know which of us will travel furthest," said the

smallest of the five; "we shall soon see now."

    "What is to happen will happen," said the largest pea.

    "Crack" went the shell as it burst, and the five peas rolled out

into the bright sunshine. There they lay in a child's hand. A little

boy was holding them tightly, and said they were fine peas for his

pea-shooter. And immediately he put one in and shot it out.

    "Now I am flying out into the wide world," said he; "catch me if

you can;" and he was gone in a moment.

    "I," said the second, "intend to fly straight to the sun, that

is a shell that lets itself be seen, and it will suit me exactly;" and

away he went.

    "We will go to sleep wherever we find ourselves," said the two

next, "we shall still be rolling onwards;" and they did certainly fall

on the floor, and roll about before they got into the pea-shooter; but

they were put in for all that. "We shall go farther than the

others," said they.

    "What is to happen will happen," exclaimed the last, as he was

shot out of the pea-shooter; and as he spoke he flew up against an old

board under a garret-window, and fell into a little crevice, which was

almost filled up with moss and soft earth. The moss closed itself

round him, and there he lay, a captive indeed, but not unnoticed by

God.

    "What is to happen will happen," said he to himself.

    Within the little garret lived a poor woman, who went out to clean

stoves, chop wood into small pieces and perform such-like hard work,

for she was strong and industrious. Yet she remained always poor,

and at home in the garret lay her only daughter, not quite grown up,

and very delicate and weak. For a whole year she had kept her bed, and

it seemed as if she could neither live nor die.

    "She is going to her little sister," said the woman; "I had but

the two children, and it was not an easy thing to support both of

them; but the good God helped me in my work, and took one of them to

Himself and provided for her. Now I would gladly keep the other that

was left to me, but I suppose they are not to be separated, and my

sick girl will very soon go to her sister above." But the sick girl

still remained where she was, quietly and patiently she lay all the

day long, while her mother was away from home at her work.

    Spring came, and one morning early the sun shone brightly

through the little window, and threw its rays over the floor of the

room. just as the mother was going to her work, the sick girl fixed

her gaze on the lowest pane of the window- "Mother," she exclaimed,

"what can that little green thing be that peeps in at the window? It

is moving in the wind."

    The mother stepped to the window and half opened it. "Oh!" she

said, there is actually a little pea which has taken root and is

putting out its green leaves. How could it have got into this crack?

Well now, here is a little garden for you to amuse yourself with."

So the bed of the sick girl was drawn nearer to the window, that she

might see the budding plant; and the mother went out to her work.

    "Mother, I believe I shall get well," said the sick child in the

evening, "the sun has shone in here so brightly and warmly to-day, and

the little pea is thriving so well: I shall get on better, too, and go

out into the warm sunshine again."

    "God grant it!" said the mother, but she did not believe it

would be so. But she propped up with the little stick the green

plant which had given her child such pleasant hopes of life, so that

it might not be broken by the winds; she tied the piece of string to

the window-sill and to the upper part of the frame, so that the

pea-tendrils might twine round it when it shot up. And it did shoot

up, indeed it might almost be seen to grow from day to day.

    "Now really here is a flower coming," said the old woman one

morning, and now at last she began to encourage the hope that her sick

daughter might really recover. She remembered that for some time the

child had spoken more cheerfully, and during the last few days had

raised herself in bed in the morning to look with sparkling eyes at

her little garden which contained only a single pea-plant. A week

after, the invalid sat up for the first time a whole hour, feeling

quite happy by the open window in the warm sunshine, while outside

grew the little plant, and on it a pink pea-blossom in full bloom. The

little maiden bent down and gently kissed the delicate leaves. This

day was to her like a festival.

    "Our heavenly Father Himself has planted that pea, and made it

grow and flourish, to bring joy to you and hope to me, my blessed

child," said the happy mother, and she smiled at the flower, as if

it had been an angel from God.

    But what became of the other peas? Why the one who flew out into

the wide world, and said, "Catch me if you can," fell into a gutter

on the roof of a house, and ended his travels in the crop of a

pigeon. The two lazy ones were carried quite as far, for they also

were eaten by pigeons, so they were at least of some use; but the

fourth, who wanted to reach the sun, fell into a sink and lay there

in the dirty water for days and weeks, till he had swelled to a great

size.

    "I am getting beautifully fat," said the pea, "I expect I shall

burst at last; no pea could do more that that, I think; I am the

most remarkable of all the five which were in the shell." And the sink

confirmed the opinion.

    But the young maiden stood at the open garret window, with

sparkling eyes and the rosy hue of health on her cheeks, she folded

her thin hands over the pea-blossom, and thanked God for what He had

done.

    "I," said the sink, "shall stand up for my pea."

                            THE END