《安徒生童话英文版》第340章

　　gold!' He was quite giddy, I could have blown him down," said theWind; "but I only fanned the glowing coals, and accompanied himthrough the door to the room where his daughter sat shivering. Hiscoat was powdered with ashes, and there were ashes in his beard and inhis tangled hair. He stood erect, and held high in the air the brittleglass that contained his costly treasure. 'Found! found! Gold!gold!' he shouted, again holding the glass aloft, that it mightflash in the sunshine; but his hand trembled, and the alchymic glassfell from it, clattering to the ground, and brake in a thousandpieces. The last bubble of his happiness had burst, with a whiz anda whir, and I rushed away from the gold-maker's house.

　　"Late in the autumn, when the days were short, and the mistsprinkled cold drops on the berries and the leafless branches, Icame back in fresh spirits, rushed through the air, swept the skyclear, and snapped off the dry twigs, which is certainly no greatlabor to do, yet it must be done. There was another kind of sweepingtaking place at Waldemar Daa's, in the castle of Borreby. His enemy,Owe Ramel, of Basnas, was there, with the mortgage of the house andeverything it contained, in his pocket. I rattled the brokenwindows, beat against the old rotten doors, and whistled throughcracks and crevices, so that Mr. Owe Ramel did not much like to remainthere. Ida and Anna Dorothea wept bitterly, Joanna stood, pale andproud, biting her lips till the blood came; but what could that avail?Owe Ramel offered Waldemar Daa permission to remain in the housetill the end of his life. No one thanked him for the offer, and Isaw the ruined old gentleman lift his head, and throw it back moreproudly than ever. Then I rushed against the house and the oldlime-trees with such force, that one of the thickest branches, adecayed one, was broken off, and the branch fell at the entrance,and remained there. It might have been used as a broom, if any one hadwanted to sweep the place out, and a grand sweeping-out there reallywas; I thought it would be so. It was hard for any one to preservecomposure on such a day; but these people had strong wills, asunbending as their hard fortune. There was nothing they could calltheir own, excepting the clothes they wore. Yes, there was one thingmore, an alchymist's glass, a new one, which had been lately bought,and filled with what could be gathered from the ground of the treasurewhich had promised so much but failed in keeping its promise. WaldemarDaa hid the glass in his bosom, and, taking his stick in his hand, theonce rich gentleman passed with his daughters out of the house ofBorreby. I blew coldly upon his flustered cheeks, I stroked his graybeard and his long white hair, and I sang as well as I was able,'Whir-r-r, whir-r-r. Gone away! Gone away!' Ida walked on one sideof the old man, and Anna Dorothea on the other; Joanna turned round,as they left the entrance. Why? Fortune would not turn because sheturned. She looked at the stone in the walls which had once formedpart of the castle of Marck Stig, and perhaps she thought of hisdaughters and of the old song,-

　　"The eldest and youngest, hand-in-hand,

　　Went forth alone to a distant land."These were only two; here there were three, and their father with themalso. They walked along the high-road, where once they had driven intheir splendid carriage; they went forth with their father as beggars.They wandered across an open field to a mud hut, which they rented fora dollar and a half a year, a new home, with bare walls and emptycupboards. Crows and magpies fluttered about them, and cried, as if incontempt, 'Caw, caw, turned out of our nest- caw, caw,' as they haddone in the wood at Borreby, when the trees were felled. Daa and hisdaughters could not help hearing it, so I blew about their ears todrown the noise; what use was it that they should listen?