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It is autumn. We stand on the ramparts, and look out over the sea.
We look at the numerous ships, and at the Swedish coast on the
opposite side of the sound, rising far above the surface of the
waters which mirror the glow of the evening sky. Behind us the wood
is sharply defined; mighty trees surround us, and the yellow leaves
flutter down from the branches. Below, at the foot of the wall,
stands a gloomy looking building enclosed in palisades. The space
between is dark and narrow, but still more dismal must it be behind
the iron gratings in the wall which cover the narrow loopholes or
windows, for in these dungeons the most depraved of the criminals
are confined. A ray of the setting sun shoots into the bare cells of
one of the captives, for God's sun shines upon the evil and the
good. The hardened criminal casts an impatient look at the bright
ray. Then a little bird flies towards the grating, for birds twitter
to the just as well as to the unjust. He only cries, "Tweet, tweet,"
and then perches himself near the grating, flutters his wings, pecks
a feather from one of them, puffs himself out, and sets his feathers
on end round his breast and throat. The bad, chained man looks at
him, and a more gentle expression comes into his hard face. In his
breast there rises a thought which he himself cannot rightly
analyze, but the thought has some connection with the sunbeam, with
the bird, and with the scent of violets, which grow luxuriantly in
spring at the foot of the wall. Then there comes the sound of the
hunter's horn, merry and full. The little bird starts, and flies
away, the sunbeam gradually vanishes, and again there is darkness in
the room and in the heart of that bad man. Still the sun has shone
into that heart, and the twittering of the bird has touched it.
Sound on, ye glorious strains of the hunter's horn; continue your
stirring tones, for the evening is mild, and the surface of the sea,
heaving slowly and calmly, is smooth as a mirror.
The Sunbeam and the Captive
A Classic Children's Short Story
by
Hans Christian Andersen |
