. Stories for the household . The little maiden with the blue eyes and with the The Elder Tree Mother. 273 elder blossoms in her hair sat up in the tree, and nodded to both ofthem, and said, To-day is our golden wedding-day! and then shetook two flowers out of her hair and kissed them, and they gleamed firstlike silver and then like gold, and when she laid them on the heads ofthe old people each changed into a golden crown. There they both sat,like a King and a Queen, under the fragrant tree which looked quitelike an elder bush, and he told his old wife of the story of the ElderTree Mother, as
. Stories for the household . The little maiden with the blue eyes and with the The Elder Tree Mother. 273 elder blossoms in her hair sat up in the tree, and nodded to both ofthem, and said, To-day is our golden wedding-day! and then shetook two flowers out of her hair and kissed them, and they gleamed firstlike silver and then like gold, and when she laid them on the heads ofthe old people each changed into a golden crown. There they both sat,like a King and a Queen, under the fragrant tree which looked quitelike an elder bush, and he told his old wife of the story of the ElderTree Mother, as it had been told to him when he was quite a little boy,and they both thought that the story in many points resembled theirown, and those parts they liked the best. Tes, thus it is! said the little girl in the tree. Some call meElder Tree Mother, others the Dryad, but my real name is Eemem-brance : it is I who sit in the tree that grows on and on, and I can thinkback and tell stories. Let me see if you have still your THE BOY AXD HIS lieTHER. And the old man opened his hymn-book; there lay the elder blossomas fresh as if it had only just been placed there; and Remembrancenodded, and the two old people with the golden crowns on their headssat in the red evening sunlight, and they closed their eyes, and—and—the story was finished. The little boy lay in his bed and did not know whether he had beendreaming or had heard a tale told; the tea-pot stood on the table, butno elder bush was growing out of it, and the old man who had toldabout it was just going out of the door, and indeed he went. How beautiful that was! said the little boy. Mother, I havebeen in the hot countries. Yes, I can imagine that! replied his mother. When one drinkstwo cups of hot elder tea one very often gets into the hot countries! And she covered him up well, that he might not take cold. You haveslept well while I disputed with him as to whether it was a story or afairy tale. And where is the Elder
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