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The Leap-Frog
Hans Christian Andersen
A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Leap-frog once wanted to
see which could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and everybody
else besides who chose to come to see the festival. Three famous jumpers were
they, as everyone would say, when they all met together in the room.
"I will give my daughter to him who jumps highest,"
exclaimed the King; "for it is not so amusing where there is no prize to jump
for."
The Flea was the first to step forward. He had exquisite
manners, and bowed to the company on all sides; for he had noble blood, and was,
moreover, accustomed to the society of man alone; and that makes a great
difference.
Then came the Grasshopper. He was considerably heavier,
but he was well-mannered, and wore a green uniform, which he had by right of
birth; he said, moreover, that he belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family,
and that in the house where he then was, he was thought much of. The fact was,
he had been just brought out of the fields, and put in a pasteboard house, three
stories high, all made of court-cards, with the colored side inwards; and doors
and windows cut out of the body of the Queen of Hearts. "I sing so well," said
he, "that sixteen native grasshoppers who have chirped from infancy, and yet got
no house built of cards to live in, grew thinner than they were before for sheer
vexation when they heard me."
It was thus that the Flea and the Grasshopper gave an
account of themselves, and thought they were quite good enough to marry a
Princess.
The Leap-frog said nothing; but people gave it as their
opinion, that he therefore thought the more; and when the housedog snuffed at
him with his nose, he confessed the Leap-frog was of good family. The old
councillor, who had had three orders given him to make him hold his tongue,
asserted that the Leap-frog was a prophet; for that one could see on his back,
if there would be a severe or mild winter, and that was what one could not see
even on the back of the man who writes the almanac.
"I say nothing, it is true," exclaimed the King; "but I
have my own opinion, notwithstanding."
Now the trial was to take place. The Flea jumped so high
that nobody could see where he went to; so they all asserted he had not jumped
at all; and that was dishonorable.
The Grasshopper jumped only half as high; but he leaped
into the King's face, who said that was ill-mannered.
The Leap-frog stood still for a long time lost in
thought; it was believed at last he would not jump at all.
"I only hope he is not unwell," said the house-dog;
when, pop! he made a jump all on one side into the lap of the Princess, who was
sitting on a little golden stool close by.
Hereupon the King said, "There is nothing above my
daughter; therefore to bound up to her is the highest jump that can be made; but
for this, one must possess understanding, and the Leap-frog has shown that he
has understanding. He is brave and intellectual."
And so he won the Princess.
"It's all the same to me," said the Flea. "She may have
the old Leap-frog, for all I care. I jumped the highest; but in this world merit
seldom meets its reward. A fine exterior is what people look at now-a-days."
The Flea then went into foreign service, where, it is
said, he was killed.
The Grasshopper sat without on a green bank,
and reflected on worldly things; and he said too, "Yes, a fine exterior is
everything--a fine exterior is what people care about." And then he began
chirping his peculiar melancholy song, from which we have taken this history;
and which may, very possibly, be all untrue, although it does stand here printed
in black and white.
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