The Complete Fairy Tales & Other Stories
By Hans Christian Andersen - online book
Oxford Complete Illustrated Edition all his stories written between 1835 and 1872.
| Share page |
|
197 |
||
|
A ROSE FROM THE GRAVE OF HOMER |
||
 |
||
|
All the songs of the East tell of the love of the nightingale for the rose ; in the silent starlit nights the winged songster serenades his fragrant flower.
Not far from Smyrna, under the lofty plane trees, where the merchant drives his loaded camels, that proudly lift their long necks and tramp clumsily over the holy ground, I saw a hedge of roses. Wild pigeons flew among the branches of the high trees, and their wings glistened, while a sunbeam glided over them, as if they were of mother-o'-pearl.
The rose hedge bore a flower which was the most beautiful among all, and the nightingale sang to her of his woes ; but the Rose was silent—not a dewdrop lay, like a tear of sympathy, upon her leaves : she bent down over a few great stones. |
||