The Complete Fairy Tales & Other Stories
By Hans Christian Andersen - online book

Oxford Complete Illustrated Edition all his stories written between 1835 and 1872.

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OLE LUK-OIE                            201
was the copy; and next to these were a few more letters which thought they looked just like the. first; and these Hjalmar had written ; but they lay down just as if they had tumbled over the pencil lines on which they were to stand.
' See, this is how you should hold yourselves,' said the Copy. ' Look, sloping in this way, with a powerful swing ! '
' Oh, we should be very glad to do that,' replied Hjalmar's Letters, * but we cannot; we are too weakly.'
' Then you must take medicine,' said Ole Luk-Oie. .
' Oh, no,' cried they ; and they immediately stood up so gracefully that it was beautiful to behold.
: Yes, now we cannot tell any stories,' said Ole Luk-Oie ; 1 now I must exercise them. One, two ! one, two 1' and thus he exercised the Letters ; and they stood quite slender, and as beautiful as any copy can be. But when Ole Luk-Oie went away, and Hjalmar looked at them next morning, they were as weak and miserable as ever.
TUESDAY
As soon as Hjalmar was in bed, Ole Luk-Oie touched all the furniture in the room with his little magic squirt, and they immediately began to converse together, and each one spoke of itself, with the exception of the spittoon, which stood silent, and was vexed that they should be so vain as to speak only of themselves, and think only of themselves, without any regard for him who stood so modestly in the corner for every one's use.
Over the chest of drawers hung a great picture in a gilt frame—it was a landscape. One saw therein large old trees, flowers in the grass, and a large lake with a river which flowed round about a forest, past many castles, and far out into the wide ocean.
Ole Luk-Oie touched the painting with his magic squirt, and the birds in it began to sing, the branches of the trees stirred, and the clouds began to move across it; one could see their shadows glide over the landscape.
Now Ole Luk-Oie lifted little Hjalmar up to the frame, and put the boy's feet into the picture, just in the high
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