There were pictures hanging on the walls , and near the Dutch stove stood great Chinese vases with lions on their lids ; there were armchairs , silk-covered sofas , big tables laden with picture-books and toys , worth hundreds of pounds-at least , so the children said . The fir-tree was placed in a great tub filled with sand , but no one could see that it was a tub , for it was all hung with greenery and stood on a gay carpet . How the tree trembled ! What was coming now ? On its branches they hung little nets cut out of coloured paper , each full of sugarplums ; gilt apples and nuts hung down as if they were growing , over a hundred red , blue , and white tapers were fastened among the branches . Dolls as life-like as human beings -- the fir-tree had never seen any before were suspended among the green , and right up at the top was fixed a gold tinsel star ; it was gorgeous , quite unusually gorgeous ! ` To-night , ' they all said , ` to-night it will be lighted ! ' ` Ah ! ' thought the tree , ` if it were only evening ! Then the tapers would soon be lighted . What will happen then ? I wonder whether the trees will come from the wood to see me , or if the sparrows will fly against the window panes ? Am I to stand here decked out thus through winter and summer ? ' It was not a bad guess , but the fir-tree had real bark-ache from sheer longing , and bark-ache in trees is just as bad as head-ache in human beings . Now the tapers were lighted . What a glitter ! What splendour ! The tree quivered in all its branches so much , that one of the candles caught the green , and singed it . ` Take care ! ' cried the young ladies , and they extinguished it .
Now the tree did not even dare XXXXX quiver .
On as before for if in of that to whether