She makes a great fuss , but that 's all nonsense . But tell me what happened to you , and how you caught him . ' And Kay and Gerda told her all . ` Dear , dear ! ' said the robber-girl , shook both their hands , and promised that if she came to their town she would come and see them . Then she rode on . But Gerda and Kay went home hand in hand . There they found the grandmother and everything just as it had been , but when they went through the doorway they found they were grown-up . There were the roses on the leads ; it was summer , warm , glorious summer . The Fir-tree Translated from the German of Hans Christian Andersen . There was once a pretty little fir-tree in a wood . It was in a capital position , for it could get sun , and there was enough air , and all around grew many tall companions , both pines and firs . It did not heed the warm sun and the fresh air , or notice the little peasant children who ran about chattering when they came out to gather wild strawberries and raspberries . Often they found a whole basketful and strung strawberries on a straw ; they would sit down by the little fir-tree and say , ` What a pretty little one this is ! ' The tree did not like that at all . By the next year it had grown a whole ring taller , and the year after that another ring more , for you can always tell a fir-tree 's age from its rings . ` Oh ! if I were only a great tree like the others ! ' sighed the little fir-tree , ` then I could stretch out my branches far and wide and look out into the great world ! The birds would build their nests in my branches , and when the wind blew I would bow to it politely just like the others ! '
It took no pleasure in the sunshine , nor in the birds , nor in the rose-coloured clouds that sailed over it at dawn and XXXXX sunset .
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