THE DARNING-NEEDLE

                                  1872

                 FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

                           THE DARNING-NEEDLE

                       by Hans Christian Andersen



THERE was once a darning-needle who thought herself so fine that

she fancied she must be fit for embroidery. "Hold me tight," she would

say to the fingers, when they took her up, "don't let me fall; if

you do I shall never be found again, I am so very fine."

"That is your opinion, is it?" said the fingers, as they seized

her round the body.

"See, I am coming with a train," said the darning-needle,

drawing a long thread after her; but there was no knot in the thread.

The fingers then placed the point of the needle against the cook's

slipper. There was a crack in the upper leather, which had to be

sewn together.

"What coarse work!" said the darning-needle, "I shall never get

through. I shall break!- I am breaking!" and sure enough she broke.

"Did I not say so?" said the darning-needle, "I know I am too fine for

such work as that."

"This needle is quite useless for sewing now," said the fingers;

but they still held it fast, and the cook dropped some sealing-wax

on the needle, and fastened her handkerchief with it in front.

"So now I am a breast-pin," said the darning-needle; "I knew

very well I should come to honor some day: merit is sure to rise;" and

she laughed, quietly to herself, for of course no one ever saw a

darning-needle laugh. And there she sat as proudly as if she were in a

state coach, and looked all around her. "May I be allowed to ask if

you are made of gold?" she inquired of her neighbor, a pin; "you

have a very pretty appearance, and a curious head, although you are

rather small. You must take pains to grow, for it is not every one who

has sealing-wax dropped upon him;" and as she spoke, the

darning-needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell out of the

handkerchief right into the sink, which the cook was cleaning. "Now

I am going on a journey," said the needle, as she floated away with

the dirty water, "I do hope I shall not be lost." But she really was

lost in a gutter. "I am too fine for this world," said the

darning-needle, as she lay in the gutter; "but I know who I am, and

that is always some comfort." So the darning-needle kept up her

proud behavior, and did not lose her good humor. Then there floated

over her all sorts of things,- chips and straws, and pieces of old

newspaper. "See how they sail," said the darning-needle; "they do

not know what is under them. I am here, and here I shall stick. See,

there goes a chip, thinking of nothing in the world but himself-

only a chip. There's a straw going by now; how he turns and twists

about! Don't be thinking too much of yourself, or you may chance to

run against a stone. There swims a piece of newspaper; what is written

upon it has been forgotten long ago, and yet it gives itself airs. I

sit here patiently and quietly. I know who I am, so I shall not move."

One day something lying close to the darning-needle glittered so

splendidly that she thought it was a diamond; yet it was only a

piece of broken bottle. The darning-needle spoke to it, because it

sparkled, and represented herself as a breast-pin. "I suppose you

are really a diamond?" she said.

"Why yes, something of the kind," he replied; and so each believed

the other to be very valuable, and then they began to talk about the

world, and the conceited people in it.

"I have been in a lady's work-box," said the darning-needle,

"and this lady was the cook. She had on each hand five fingers, and

anything so conceited as these five fingers I have never seen; and yet

they were only employed to take me out of the box and to put me back

again."

"Were they not high-born?"

"High-born!" said the darning-needle, "no indeed, but so

haughty. They were five brothers, all born fingers; they kept very

proudly together, though they were of different lengths. The one who

stood first in the rank was named the thumb, he was short and thick,

and had only one joint in his back, and could therefore make but one

bow; but he said that if he were cut off from a man's hand, that man

would be unfit for a soldier. Sweet-tooth, his neighbor, dipped

himself into sweet or sour, pointed to the sun and moon, and formed

the letters when the fingers wrote. Longman, the middle finger, looked

over the heads of all the others. Gold-band, the next finger, wore a

golden circle round his waist. And little Playman did nothing at

all, and seemed proud of it. They were boasters, and boasters they

will remain; and therefore I left them."

"And now we sit here and glitter," said the piece of broken

bottle.

At the same moment more water streamed into the gutter, so that it

overflowed, and the piece of bottle was carried away.

"So he is promoted," said the darning-needle, "while I remain

here; I am too fine, but that is my pride, and what do I care?" And so

she sat there in her pride, and had many such thoughts as these,- "I

could almost fancy that I came from a sunbeam, I am so fine. It

seems as if the sunbeams were always looking for me under the water.

Ah! I am so fine that even my mother cannot find me. Had I still my

old eye, which was broken off, I believe I should weep; but no, I

would not do that, it is not genteel to cry."

One day a couple of street boys were paddling in the gutter, for

they sometimes found old nails, farthings, and other treasures. It was

dirty work, but they took great pleasure in it. "Hallo!" cried one, as

he pricked himself with the darning-needle, "here's a fellow for you."

"I am not a fellow, I am a young lady," said the darning-needle;

but no one heard her.

The sealing-wax had come off, and she was quite black; but black

makes a person look slender, so she thought herself even finer than

before.

"Here comes an egg-shell sailing along," said one of the boys;

so they stuck the darning-needle into the egg-shell.

"White walls, and I am black myself," said the darning-needle,

"that looks well; now I can be seen, but I hope I shall not be

sea-sick, or I shall break again." She was not sea-sick, and she did

not break. "It is a good thing against sea-sickness to have a steel

stomach, and not to forget one's own importance. Now my sea-sickness

has past: delicate people can bear a great deal."

Crack went the egg-shell, as a waggon passed over it. "Good

heavens, how it crushes!" said the darning-needle. "I shall be sick

now. I am breaking!" but she did not break, though the waggon went

over her as she lay at full length; and there let her lie.

                        THE END

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