Only think ! at the end of the tunnel the gutter discharged itself into a great canal ; that would be just as dangerous for him as it would be for us to go down a waterfall . Now he was so near to it that he could not hold on any longer . On went the boat , the poor Tin-soldier keeping himself as stiff as he could : no one should say of him afterwards that he had flinched . The boat whirled three , four times round , and became filled to the brim with water : it began to sink ! The Tin-soldier was standing up to his neck in water , and deeper and deeper sank the boat , and softer and softer grew the paper ; now the water was over his head . He was thinking of the pretty little Dancer , whose face he should never see again , and there sounded in his ears , over and over again : ` Forward , forward , soldier bold ! Death 's before thee , grim and cold ! ' The paper came in two , and the soldier fell -- but at that moment he was swallowed by a great fish . Oh ! how dark it was inside , even darker than in the tunnel , and it was really very close quarters ! But there the steadfast little Tin-soldier lay full length , shouldering his gun . Up and down swam the fish , then he made the most dreadful contortions , and became suddenly quite still . Then it was as if a flash of lightning had passed through him ; the daylight streamed in , and a voice exclaimed , ` Why , here is the little Tin-soldier ! ' The fish had been caught , taken to market , sold , and brought into the kitchen , where the cook had cut it open with a great knife . She took up the soldier between her finger and thumb , and carried him into the room , where everyone wanted to see the hero who had been found inside a fish ; but the Tin-soldier was not at all proud . They put him on the table , and -- no , but what strange things do happen in this world ! -- the Tin-soldier was in the same room in which he had been before ! He saw the same children , and the same toys on the table ; and there was the same grand castle with the pretty little Dancer . She was still standing on one leg with the other high in the air ; she too was steadfast .
That touched the Tin-soldier , he was nearly going to shed tin-tears ; but that would not have been fitting XXXXX a soldier .
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