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"We had such an excellent dinner yesterday," said an old mouse of
the female sex to another who had not been present at the feast. "I
sat number twenty-one below the mouse-king, which was not a bad
place. Shall I tell you what we had? Everything was first rate.
Mouldy bread, tallow candle, and sausage. And then, when we had
finished that course, the same came on all over again; it was as
good as two feasts. We were very sociable, and there was as much
joking and fun as if we had been all of one family circle. Nothing
was left but the sausage skewers, and this formed a subject of
conversation, till at last it turned to the proverb, 'Soup from
sausage skins;' or, as the people in the neighboring country call
it, 'Soup from a sausage skewer.' Every one had heard the proverb,
but no one had ever tasted the soup, much less prepared it. A
capital toast was drunk to the inventor of the soup, and some one
said he ought to be made a relieving officer to the poor. Was not
that witty? Then the old mouse-king rose and promised that the young
lady-mouse who should learn how best to prepare this much-admired
and savory soup should be his queen, and a year and a day should be
allowed for the purpose."
"That was not at all a bad proposal," said the other mouse; "but how
is the soup made?"
"Ah, that is more than I can tell you. All the young lady mice were
asking the same question. They wished very much to be queen, but
they did not want to take the trouble of going out into the world to
learn how to make soup, which was absolutely necessary to be done
first. But it is not every one who would care to leave her family,
or her happy corner by the fire-side at home, even to be made queen.
It is not always easy to find bacon and cheese-rind in foreign lands
every day, and it is not pleasant to have to endure hunger, and be
perhaps, after all, eaten up alive by the cat."
Most probably some such thoughts as these discouraged the majority
from going out into the world to collect the required information.
Only four mice gave notice that they were ready to set out on the
journey. They were young and lively, but poor. Each of them wished
to visit one of the four divisions of the world, so that it might be
seen which was the most favored by fortune. Every one took a sausage
skewer as a traveller's staff, and to remind them of the object of
their journey. They left home early in May, and none of them
returned till the first of May in the following year, and then only
three of them. Nothing was seen or heard of the fourth, although the
day of decision was close at hand. "Ah, yes, there is always some
trouble mixed up with the greatest pleasure," said the mouse-king;
but he gave orders that all the mice within a circle of many miles
should be invited at once. They were to assemble in the kitchen, and
the three travelled mice were to stand in a row before them, while a
sausage skewer, covered with crape, was to be stuck up instead of
the missing mouse. No one dared to express an opinion until the king
spoke, and desired one of them to go on with her story. And now we
shall hear what she said.
Soup from a Sausage Skewer
A Classic Children's Short Story
by
Hans Christian Andersen |
