And then it told them all about its young days , and the little mice had never heard anything like that before , and they listened with all their ears , and said : ` Oh , how much you have seen ! How lucky you have been ! ' ` I ? ' said the fir-tree , and then it thought over what it had told them . ` Yes , on the whole those were very happy times . ' But then it went on to tell them about Christmas Eve , when it had been adorned with sweet-meats and tapers . ` Oh ! ' said the little mice , ` how lucky you have been , you old fir-tree ! ' ` I 'm not at all old ' said the tree . ' I only came from the wood this winter . I am only a little backward , perhaps , in my growth . ' ` How beautifully you tell stories ! ' said the little mice . And next evening they came with four others , who wanted to hear the tree 's story , and it told still more , for it remembered everything so clearly and thought : ` Those were happy times ! But they may come again . Humpty dumpty fell downstairs , and yet he married a princess ; perhaps I shall also marry a princess ! ' And then it thought of a pretty little birch-tree that grew out in the wood , and seemed to the fir-tree a real princess , and a very beautiful one too . ` Who is Humpty Dumpty ? ' asked the little mice . And then the tree told the whole story ; it could remember every single word , and the little mice were ready to leap on to the topmost branch out of sheer joy !
Next night many more mice came , and XXXXX Sunday even two rats ; but they did not care about the story , and that troubled the little mice , for now they thought less of it too .
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