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              etarth On   ristmas eve bearing a UrgrUi ranc.
of fir in his hand, and wherever He finds a home with a bit of
fir at the door or a little tree at the window (signs that he is loved
and remembered), He touches that home withHis gentle hand and
blesses it. And as he passes by the cattle in the stables kneel in
adoration, bees begin to hum and sing and the sheep march in pro-
cession to meet him.
   Hans Christian Andersen with the imagination of a child who
delights in personifying things, has told a story of a little fir tree-
a story so full of human feeling that it has endowed the fir tree,
for all who have read the story, with a special sense of personality.
"Out in the forest stood a little fir tree' who took no pleasure in
the sun, clouds or birds, for it was always wishing it was a big tree.
When a hare jumped over it, it was as angry as could be, and trem-
bled with rage because it was not big and strong. Even when it
grew so large that the hare had to run around it instead of jump-
ing over it, it grumbled with discontent. "Oh, to grow strong is
the only fine thing on earth," it thought, and was so full of ambi-
tion to be the largest tree of the forest that it did not enjoy any of
the beautiful things that it was surrounded with and that would
have made it very happy if its heart had not been so disturbed with
envy and dissatisfaction. The birds told it wonderful tales of cities
where people were as numerous as the trees of the forest, and then
the restless little tree grew more discontented than ever because it
could not go to this strange place. One day when the snow lay
thick upon the ground a man came and cut the tree down and took
it with some of its companions to the city, and then began a series
of adventures such as would have made any other little tree very
happy. For it was admired and praised for its beauty, candles and
bright ornaments and boxes tied with ribbons were hung on its
sturdy branches, children danced round it and sang beautiful carols.
After all its adventures were over and it found that the bright green
of its branches had turned brown and that it was about to be made
into faggots for the fire, it looked back over its life and saw that it
had been full of joy and beauty, but that constant desire for some-
thing it did not have had blinded it to the beautiful things that it
did have. Now that life was soon to be lost it realized that its pre-
cious days had been spent in complainings, rather than rejoicings,
268
HE CHRISTMAS FIR: LEGENDS
ND FACTS OF THE HOLIDAY TREE
'Oh, Fir tree green, Oh, Fir tree green, your leaves are constant ever."
NY beautiful legends cluster round the fir tree that
Lave sprung from the people's feeling of love for it,
und of their yearly joy in it. Sweetest of all is the
me relatingK, how the Christ Child wanders over the