THE GALOSHES OF FORTUNE by Hans Christian Andersen A BEGINNING In the house in Copenhagen,
Not far from the king's new market,
A very large party had assembled,
The host and his family expecting,
No doubt,
To receive invitations in return.
One half of the company were already seated at the card tables.
The others,
Half seemed to be waiting the result of their hostess's question,
Well,
How shall we amuse ourselves?
Conversation followed,
Which after a while began to prove very entertaining.
Among other subjects,
It turned upon the events of the Middle Ages,
Which some persons maintained were more full of interest than our own times.
Counsellor Knapp defended this opinion so warmly that the lady of the house immediately went over to his side,
And both exclaimed against Ørsted's essays on ancient and modern times,
In which the preference is given to our own.
The counsellor considered the times of the Danish king Hans as the noblest and happiest.
The conversation on this topic was only interrupted for a moment by the arrival of a newspaper,
Which did not,
However,
Contain much worth reading.
And while it is still going on,
We'll pay a visit to the ante room,
In which cloaks,
Sticks,
And galoshes were carefully placed.
Here sat two maidens,
One young and the other old,
As if they had come and were waiting to accompany their mistress's home.
But on looking at them more closely,
It could easily be seen that they were no common servants.
Their shapes were too graceful,
Their complexions too delicate,
And the cut of their dresses much too elegant.
They were two fairies.
The younger one was not Fortune herself,
But the chambermaid of one of Fortune's attendants,
Who carries about her more trifling gifts.
The elder one,
Who was named Care,
Looked rather gloomy.
She always goes about to perform her own business in person,
For then she knows it is properly done.
They were telling each other where they had been during the day.
The messenger of Fortune had only transacted a few unimportant matters.
For instance,
She had preserved a new bonnet from a shower of rain,
And obtained for an honest man a bow from a titled nobody,
And so on.
But she had something extraordinary to relate after all.
I must tell you,
Said she,
That today is my birthday,
And in honor of it I have been instructed with a pair of galoshes.
To introduce amongst mankind.
These galoshes have the property of making everyone who puts them on imagine himself in any place he wishes,
Or that he exists at any period.
Every wish is fulfilled at the moment it is expressed,
So that for once mankind have the chance of being happy.
No,
Replied Care,
You may depend upon it,
That whoever puts on these galoshes will be very unhappy,
And blessed the moment in which he can get rid of them.
What are you thinking of,
Replied the other?
Now see,
I will place them by the door,
Someone will take them instead of his own,
And he will be the happy man.
And this was the end of their conversation.
And the end of our story this evening.
Until next time,
Sweet dreams.
