Real life furnishes us with subjects for the mostwonderful fairy tales; for otherwise my beautiful elder-bush could nothave grown forth out of the teapot." And then she took the little boy out of bed and placed him onher bosom; the elder branches, full of blossoms, closed over them;it was as if they sat in a thick leafy bower which flew with themthrough the air; it was beautiful beyond all description. The littleelder-tree mother had suddenly become a charming young girl, but herdress was still of the same green material, covered with whiteblossoms, as the elder-tree mother had worn; she had a real elderblossom on her bosom, and a wreath of the same flowers was wound roundher curly golden hair; her eyes were so large and so blue that itwas wonderful to look at them. She and the boy kissed each other,and then they were of the same age and felt the same joys. They walkedhand in hand out of the bower, and now stood at home in a beautifulflower garden. Near the green lawn the father's walking-stick was tiedto a post. There was life in this stick for the little ones, for assoon as they seated themselves upon it the polished knob turned into aneighing horse's head, a long black mane was fluttering in the wind,and four strong slender legs grew out. The animal was fiery andspirited; they galloped round the lawn. "Hooray! now we shall ride faraway, many miles!" said the boy; "we shall ride to the nobleman'sestate where we were last year." And they rode round the lawn again,and the little girl, who, as we know, was no other than the littleelder-tree mother, continually cried, "Now we are in the country! Doyou see the farmhouse there, with the large baking stove, whichprojects like a gigantic egg out of the wall into the road? Theelder-tree spreads its branches over it, and the cock struts about andscratches for the hens. Look how proud he is! Now we are near thechurch; it stands on a high hill, under the spreading oak trees; oneof them is half dead! Now we are at the smithy, where the fire roarsand the half-naked men beat with their hammers so that the sparksfly far and wide. Let's be off to the beautiful farm!" And they passedby everything the little girl, who was sitting behind on the stick,described, and the boy saw it, and yet they only went round thelawn. Then they played in a side-walk, and marked out a littlegarden on the ground; she took elder-blossoms out of her hair andplanted them, and they grew exactly like those the old peopleplanted when they were children, as we have heard before. Theywalked about hand in hand, just as the old couple had done when theywere little, but they did not go to the round tower nor to theFredericksburg garden. No; the little girl seized the boy round thewaist, and then they flew far into the country. It was spring and itbecame summer, it was autumn and it became winter, and thousands ofpictures reflected themselves in the boy's eyes and heart, and thelittle girl always sang again, "You will never forget that!" Andduring their whole flight the elder-tree smelt so sweetly; henoticed the roses and the fresh beeches, but the elder-tree smelt muchstronger, for the flowers were fixed on the little girl's bosom,against which the boy often rested his head during the flight. "It is beautiful here in spring," said the little girl, and theywere again in the green beechwood, where the thyme breathed forthsweet fragrance at their feet, and the pink anemones looked lovelyin the green moss. "Oh! that it were always spring in the fragrantbeechwood!"