The Garden of Paradise

by Hans Christian Andersen

　　There was once a king's son; nobody had so many or such beautiful booksas he had. He could read about everything which had ever happened inthis world, and see it all represented in the most beautiful pictures.He could get information about every nation and every country; but as towhere the Garden of Paradise was to be found, not a word could hediscover, and this was the very thing he thought most about. Hisgrandmother had told him, when he was quite a little fellow and wasabout to begin his school life, that every flower in the Garden ofParadise was a delicious cake, and that the pistils were full of wine.In one flower history was written, in another geography or tables; youhad only to eat the cake and you knew the lesson. The more you ate, themore history, geography and tables you knew. All this he believed then;but as he grew older and wiser and learnt more, he easily perceived thatthe delights of the Garden of Paradise must be far beyond all this.'Oh, why did Eve take of the tree of knowledge? Why did Adam eat theforbidden fruit? If it had only been I it would not have happened! neverwould sin have entered the world!'This is what he said then, and he still said it when he was seventeen;his thoughts were full of the Garden of Paradise.He walked into the wood one day; he was alone, for that was his greatestpleasure. Evening came on, the clouds drew up and it rained as if thewhole heaven had become a sluice from which the water poured in sheets;it was as dark as it is otherwise in the deepest well. Now he slipped onthe wet grass, and then he fell on the bare stones which jutted out ofthe rocky ground. Everything was dripping, and at last the poor Princehadn't got a dry thread on him. He had to climb over huge rocks wherethe water oozed out of the thick moss. He was almost fainting; just thenhe heard a curious murmuring and saw in front of him a big lighted cave.A fire was burning in the middle, big enough to roast a stag, which wasin fact being done; a splendid stag with its huge antlers was stuck on aspit, being slowly turned round between the hewn trunks of two firtrees. An oldish woman, tall and strong enough to be a man dressed up,sat by the fire throwing on logs from time to time.'Come in, by all means!' she said; 'sit down by the fire so that yourclothes may dry!''There is a shocking draught here,' said the Prince, as he sat down onthe ground.'It will be worse than this when my sons come home!' said the woman.'You are in the cavern of the winds; my sons are the four winds of theworld! Do you understand?''Who are your sons?' asked the Prince.'Well that's not so easy to answer when the question is stupidly put,'said the woman. 'My sons do as they like; they are playing rounders nowwith the clouds up there in the great hall,' and she pointed up into thesky.'Oh indeed!' said the Prince. 'You seem to speak very harshly, and youare not so gentle as the women I generally see about me!''Oh, I daresay they have nothing else to do! I have to be harsh if I amto keep my boys under control! But I can do it, although they are astiff-necked lot! Do you see those four sacks hanging on the wall? Theyare just as frightened of them as you used to be of the cane behind thelooking-glass. I can double the boys up, I can tell you, and then theyhave to go into the bag; we don't stand upon ceremony, and there theyhave to stay; they can't get out to play their tricks till it suits meto let them. But here we have one of them.' It was the Northwind whocame in with an icy blast; great hailstones peppered about the floor andsnow-flakes drifted in. He was dressed in bearskin trousers and jacket,and he had a sealskin cap drawn over his ears. Long icicles werehanging from his beard, and one hailstone after another dropped downfrom the collar of his jacket.'Don't go straight to the fire,' said the Prince. 'You might easily getchilblains!''Chilblains!' said the Northwind with a loud laugh. 'Chilblains! theyare my greatest delight! What sort of a feeble creature are you? How didyou get into the cave of the winds?''He is my guest,' said the old woman, 'and if you are not pleased withthat explanation you may go into the bag! Now you know my opinion!'This had its effect, and the Northwind told them where he came from, andwhere he had been for the last month.'I come from the Arctic seas,' he said. 'I have been on Behring Islandwith the Russian walrus-hunters. I sat at the helm and slept when theysailed from the north cape, and when I woke now and then the stormypetrels were flying about my legs. They are queer birds; they give abrisk flap with their wings and then keep them stretched out andmotionless, and even then they have speed enough.''Pray don't be too long-winded,' said the mother of the winds. 'So atlast you got to Behring Island!''It's perfectly splendid! There you have a floor to dance upon, as flatas a pancake, half-thawed snow, with moss. There were bones of whalesand Polar bears lying about; they looked like the legs and arms ofgiants covered with green mould. One would think that the sun had nevershone on them. I gave a little puff to the fog so that one could see theshed. It was a house built of wreckage and covered with the skins ofwhales; the flesh side was turned outwards; it was all red and green; aliving Polar bear sat on the roof growling. I went to the shore andlooked at the birds' nests, looked at the unfledged young ones screamingand gaping; then I blew down thousands of their throats and they learntto shut their mouths. Lower down the walruses were rolling about likemonster maggots with pigs' heads and teeth a yard long!''You're a good story-teller, my boy!' said his mother. 'It makes mymouth water to hear you!''Then there was a hunt! The harpoons were plunged into the walruses'breasts, and the steaming blood spurted out of them like fountains overthe ice. Then I remembered my part of the game! I blew up and made myships, the mountain-high icebergs, nip the boats; whew! how theywhistled and how they screamed, but I whistled louder. They were obligedto throw the dead walruses, chests and ropes out upon the ice! I shookthe snow-flakes over them and let them drift southwards to taste thesalt water. They will never come back to Behring Island!''Then you've been doing evil!' said the mother of the winds.'What good I did, the others may tell you,' said he. 'But here we havemy brother from the west; I like him best of all; he smells of the seaand brings a splendid cool breeze with him!''Is that the little Zephyr?' asked the Prince.'Yes, certainly it is Zephyr, but he is not so little as all that. Heused to be a pretty boy once, but that's gone by!'He looked like a wild man of the woods, but he had a padded hat on so asnot to come to any harm. He carried a mahogany club cut in the Americanmahogany forests. It could not be anything less than that.'Where do you come from?' asked his mother.'From the forest wildernesses!' he said, 'where the thorny creepers makea fence between every tree, where the water-snake lies in the wet grass,and where human beings seem to be superfluous!''What did you do there?''I looked at the mighty river, saw where it dashed over the rocks indust and flew with the clouds to carry the rainbow. I saw the wildbuffalo swimming in the river, but the stream carried him away; hefloated with the wild duck, which soared into the sky at the rapids; butthe buffalo was carried over with the water. I liked that and blew astorm, so that the primval trees had to sail too, and they were whirledabout like shavings.''And you have done nothing else?' asked the old woman.'I have been turning somersaults in the Savannahs, patting the wildhorse, and shaking down cocoanuts! Oh yes, I have plenty of stories totell! But one need not tell everything. You know that very well, oldwoman!' and then he kissed his mother so heartily that she nearly fellbackwards; he was indeed a wild boy.The Southwind appeared now in a turban and a flowing bedouin's cloak.'It is fearfully cold in here,' he said, throwing wood on the fire; 'itis easy to see that the Northwind got here first!''It is hot enough here to roast a polar bear,' said the Northwind.'You are a polar bear yourself!' said the Southwind.'Do you want to go into the bag?' asked the old woman. 'Sit down on thatstone and tell us where you have been.''In Africa, mother!' he answered. 'I have been chasing the lion with theHottentots in Kaffirland! What grass there is on those plains! as greenas an olive. The gnu was dancing about, and the ostriches ran races withme, but I am still the fastest. I went to the desert with its yellowsand. It looks like the bottom of the sea. I met a caravan! They werekilling their last camel to get water to drink, but it wasn't much theygot. The sun was blazing above, and the sand burning below. There wereno limits to the outstretched desert. Then I burrowed into the fineloose sand and whirled it up in great columns--that was a dance! Youshould have seen how despondently the dromedaries stood, and themerchant drew his caftan over his head. He threw himself down before meas if I had been Allah, his god. Now they are buried, and there is apyramid of sand over them all; when I blow it away, sometime the sunwill bleach their bones, and then travellers will see that people havebeen there before, otherwise you would hardly believe it in the desert!''Then you have only been doing harm!' said the mother. 'Into the bag yougo!' And before he knew where he was she had the Southwind by the waistand in the bag; it rolled about on the ground, but she sat down upon itand then it had to be quiet.'Your sons are lively fellows!' said the Prince.'Yes, indeed,' she said; 'but I can master them! Here comes the fourth.'It was the Eastwind, and he was dressed like a Chinaman.'Oh, have you come from that quarter?' said the mother. 'I thought youhad been in the Garden of Paradise.''I am only going there to-morrow!' said the Eastwind. 'It will be ahundred years to-morrow since I have been there. I have just come fromChina, where I danced round the porcelain tower till all the bellsjingled. The officials were flogged in the streets, the bamboo caneswere broken over their shoulders, and they were all people ranging fromthe first to the ninth rank. They shrieked "Many thanks, Father andbenefactor," but they didn't mean what they said, and I went on ringingthe bells and singing "Tsing, tsang, tsu!"''You're quite uproarious about it!' said the old woman. 'It's a goodthing you are going to the Garden of Paradise to-morrow; it always has agood effect on your behaviour. Mind you drink deep of the well ofwisdom, and bring a little bottleful home to me.''That I will,' said the Eastwind, 'But why have you put my brother fromthe south into the bag? Out with him. He must tell me about thephoenix; the Princess always wants to hear about that bird when I callevery hundred years. Open the bag! then you'll be my sweetest mother,and I'll give you two pockets full of tea as green and fresh as when Ipicked it!''Well, for the sake of the tea, and because you are my darling, I willopen my bag!'She did open it and the Southwind crept out, but he was quitecrestfallen because the strange Prince had seen his disgrace.'Here is a palm leaf for the Princess!' said the Southwind. 'The oldphoenix, the only one in the world, gave it to me. He has scratchedhis whole history on it with his bill, for the hundred years of hislife, and she can read it for herself. I saw how the phoenix set fireto his nest himself and sat on it while it burnt, like the widow of aHindoo. Oh, how the dry branches crackled, how it smoked, and what asmell there was! At last it all burst into flame; the old bird was burntto ashes, but his egg lay glowing in the fire; it broke with a loud bangand the young one flew out. Now it rules over all the birds, and it isthe only phoenix in the world. He bit a hole in the leaf I gave you;that is his greeting to the Princess.''Let us have something to eat now!' said the mother of the winds; andthey all sat down to eat the roast stag, and the Prince sat by the sideof the Eastwind, so they soon became good friends.'I say,' said the Prince, 'just tell me who is this Princess, and whereis the Garden of Paradise?''Oh ho!' said the Eastwind, 'if that is where you want to go you mustfly with me to-morrow. But I may as well tell you that no human beinghas been there since Adam and Eve's time. You know all about them Isuppose from your Bible stories?''Of course,' said the Prince.'When they were driven away the Garden of Eden sank into the ground, butit kept its warm sunshine, its mild air, and all its charms. The queenof the fairies lives there. The Island of Bliss, where death neverenters, and where living is a delight, is there. Get on my backto-morrow and I will take you with me; I think I can manage it! But youmustn't talk now, I want to go to sleep.'When the Prince woke up in the early morning, he was not a littlesurprised to find that he was already high above the clouds. He wassitting on the back of the Eastwind, who was holding him carefully; theywere so high up that woods and fields, rivers and lakes, looked like alarge coloured map.'Good morning,' said the Eastwind. 'You may as well sleep a littlelonger, for there is not much to be seen in this flat country below us,unless you want to count the churches. They look like chalk dots on thegreen board.'He called the fields and meadows 'the green board.''It was very rude of me to leave without saying good-bye to your motherand brothers,' said the Prince.'One is excused when one is asleep!' said the Eastwind, and they flew onfaster than ever. You could mark their flight by the rustling of thetrees as they passed over the woods; and whenever they crossed a lake,or the sea, the waves rose and the great ships dipped low down in thewater, like floating swans. Towards evening the large towns were amusingas it grew dark, with all their lights twinkling now here, now there,just as when one burns a piece of paper and sees all the little sparkslike children coming home from school. The Prince clapped his hands, butthe Eastwind told him he had better leave off and hold tight, or hemight fall and find himself hanging on to a church steeple.The eagle in the great forest flew swiftly, but the Eastwind flew moreswiftly still. The Kossack on his little horse sped fast over theplains, but the Prince sped faster still.'Now you can see the Himalayas!' said the Eastwind. 'They are thehighest mountains in Asia; we shall soon reach the Garden of Paradise.'They took a more southerly direction, and the air became scented withspices and flowers. Figs and pomegranates grew wild, and the wild vineswere covered with blue and green grapes. They both descended here andstretched themselves on the soft grass, where the flowers nodded to thewind, as much as to say, 'Welcome back.''Are we in the Garden of Paradise now?' asked the Prince.'No, certainly not!' answered the Eastwind. 'But we shall soon be there.Do you see that wall of rock and the great cavern where the wild vinehangs like a big curtain? We have to go through there! Wrap yourself upin your cloak, the sun is burning here, but a step further on it is icycold. The bird which flies past the cavern has one wing out here in theheat of summer, and the other is there in the cold of winter.''So that is the way to the Garden of Paradise!' said the Prince.Now they entered the cavern. Oh, how icily cold it was; but it did notlast long. The Eastwind spread his wings, and they shone like thebrightest flame; but what a cave it was! Large blocks of stone, fromwhich the water dripped, hung over them in the most extraordinaryshapes; at one moment it was so low and narrow that they had to crawlon hands and knees, the next it was as wide and lofty as if they were inthe open air. It looked like a chapel of the dead, with mute organ pipesand petrified banners.'We seem to be journeying along Death's road to the Garden of Paradise!'said the Prince, but the Eastwind never answered a word, he only pointedbefore them where a beautiful blue light was shining. The blocks ofstone above them grew dimmer and dimmer, and at last they became astransparent as a white cloud in the moonshine. The air was alsodeliciously soft, as fresh as on the mountain-tops and as scented asdown among the roses in the valley.A river ran there as clear as the air itself, and the fish in it werelike gold and silver. Purple eels, which gave out blue sparks with everycurve, gambolled about in the water; and the broad leaves of thewater-lilies were tinged with the hues of the rainbow, while the floweritself was like a fiery orange flame, nourished by the water, just asoil keeps a lamp constantly burning. A firm bridge of marble, asdelicately and skilfully carved as if it were lace and glass beads, ledover the water to the Island of Bliss, where the Garden of Paradisebloomed.The Eastwind took the Prince in his arms and bore him over. The flowersand leaves there sang all the beautiful old songs of his childhood, butsang them more wonderfully than any human voice could sing them.Were these palm trees or giant water plants growing here? The Princehad never seen such rich and mighty trees. The most wonderful climbingplants hung in wreaths, such as are only to be found pictured in goldand colours on the margins of old books of the Saints or entwined amongtheir initial letters. It was the most extraordinary combination ofbirds, flowers and scrolls.Close by on the grass stood a flock of peacocks with their brillianttails outspread. Yes, indeed, it seemed so, but when the Prince touchedthem he saw that they were not birds but plants. They were big dockleaves, which shone like peacocks' tails. Lions and tigers sprang likeagile cats among the green hedges, which were scented with the blossomof the olive, and the lion and the tiger were tame. The wild dove,glistening like a pearl, beat the lion's mane with his wings; and theantelope, otherwise so shy, stood by nodding, just as if he wanted tojoin the game.The Fairy of the Garden now advanced to meet them; her garments shonelike the sun, and her face beamed like that of a happy mother rejoicingover her child. She was young and very beautiful, and was surrounded bya band of lovely girls, each with a gleaming star in her hair.When the Eastwind gave her the inscribed leaf from the Phoenix hereyes sparkled with delight. She took the Prince's hand and led him intoher palace, where the walls were the colour of the brightest tulips inthe sunlight. The ceiling was one great shining flower, and the longerone gazed into it the deeper the calyx seemed to be. The Prince went tothe window, and looking through one of the panes saw the Tree ofKnowledge, with the Serpent, and Adam and Eve standing by.'Are they not driven out?' he asked, and the Fairy smiled, and explainedthat Time had burned a picture into each pane, but not of the kind oneusually sees; they were alive, the leaves on the trees moved, and peoplecame and went like the reflections in a mirror.Then he looked through another pane, and he saw Jacob's dream, with theladder going straight up into heaven, and angels with great wings werefluttering up and down. All that had ever happened in this world livedand moved on these window panes; only Time could imprint such wonderfulpictures.The Fairy smiled and led him into a large, lofty room, the walls ofwhich were like transparent paintings of faces, one more beautiful thanthe other. These were millions of the Blessed who smiled and sang, andall their songs melted into one perfect melody. The highest ones were sotiny that they seemed smaller than the very smallest rosebud, no biggerthan a pinpoint in a drawing. In the middle of the room stood a largetree, with handsome drooping branches; golden apples, large and small,hung like oranges among its green leaves. It was the Tree ofKnowledge, of whose fruit Adam and Eve had eaten. From every leafhung a shining red drop of dew; it was as if the tree wept tears ofblood.'Now let us get into the boat,' said the Fairy. 'We shall findrefreshment on the swelling waters. The boat rocks, but it does not movefrom the spot; all the countries of the world will pass before oureyes.'It was a curious sight to see the whole coast move. Here came loftysnow-clad Alps, with their clouds and dark fir trees. The horn echoedsadly among them, and the shepherd yodelled sweetly in the valleys. Thenbanian trees bent their long drooping branches over the boat, blackswans floated on the water, and the strangest animals and flowersappeared on the shore. This was New Holland, the fifth portion of theworld, which glided past them with a view of its blue mountains. Theyheard the song of priests, and saw the dances of the savages to thesound of drums and pipes of bone. The pyramids of Egypt reaching to theclouds, with fallen columns, and Sphynxes half buried in sand, nextsailed past them. Then came the Aurora Borealis blazing over the peaksof the north; they were fireworks which could not be imitated. ThePrince was so happy, and he saw a hundred times more than we havedescribed.'Can I stay here always?' he asked.'That depends upon yourself,' answered the Fairy. 'If you do not, likeAdam, allow yourself to be tempted to do what is forbidden, you can stayhere always.''I will not touch the apples on the Tree of Knowledge,' said the Prince.'There are thousands of other fruits here as beautiful.''Test yourself, and if you are not strong enough, go back with theEastwind who brought you. He is going away now, and will not come backfor a hundred years; the time will fly in this place like a hundredhours, but that is a long time for temptation and sin. Every eveningwhen I leave you I must say, "Come with me," and I must beckon to you,but stay behind. Do not come with me, for with every step you take yourlonging will grow stronger. You will reach the hall where grows the Treeof Knowledge; I sleep beneath its fragrant drooping branches. You willbend over me and I must smile, but if you press a kiss upon my lipsParadise will sink deep down into the earth, and it will be lost to you.The sharp winds of the wilderness will whistle round you, the cold rainwill drop from your hair. Sorrow and labour will be your lot.''I will remain here!' said the Prince.And the Eastwind kissed him on the mouth and said: 'Be strong, then weshall meet again in a hundred years. Farewell! Farewell!' And theEastwind spread his great wings; they shone like poppies at the harvesttime, or the Northern Lights in a cold winter.'Good-bye! good-bye!' whispered the flowers. Storks and pelicans flewin a line like waving ribbons, conducting him to the boundaries of theGarden.'Now we begin our dancing!' said the Fairy; 'at the end when I dancewith you, as the sun goes down you will see me beckon to you and cry,"Come with me", but do not come. I have to repeat it every night for ahundred years. Every time you resist, you will grow stronger, and atlast you will not even think of following. To-night is the first time.Remember my warning!'And the Fairy led him into a large hall of white transparent lilies, theyellow stamens in each formed a little golden harp which echoed thesound of strings and flutes. Lovely girls, slender and lissom, dressedin floating gauze, which revealed their exquisite limbs, glided in thedance, and sang of the joy of living--that they would never die--andthat the Garden of Paradise would bloom for ever.The sun went down and the sky was bathed in golden light which gave thelilies the effect of roses; and the Prince drank of the foaming winehanded to him by the maidens. He felt such joy as he had never knownbefore; he saw the background of the hall opening where the Tree ofKnowledge stood in a radiancy which blinded him. The song proceedingfrom it was soft and lovely, like his mother's voice, and she seemed tosay, 'My child, my beloved child!'Then the Fairy beckoned to him and said so tenderly, 'Come with me,'that he rushed towards her, forgetting his promise, forgettingeverything on the very first evening that she smiled and beckoned tohim.The fragrance in the scented air around grew stronger, the harps soundedsweeter than ever, and it seemed as if the millions of smiling heads inthe hall where the Tree grew nodded and sang, 'One must know everything.Man is lord of the earth.' They were no longer tears of blood which fellfrom the Tree; it seemed to him that they were red shining stars.'Come with me, come with me,' spoke those trembling tones, and at everystep the Prince's cheeks burnt hotter and hotter and his blood coursedmore rapidly.'I must go,' he said, 'it is no sin; I must see her asleep; nothing willbe lost if I do not kiss her, and that I will not do. My will isstrong.'The Fairy dropped her shimmering garment, drew back the branches, and amoment after was hidden within their depths.'I have not sinned yet!' said the Prince, 'nor will I'; then he drewback the branches. There she lay asleep already, beautiful as only theFairy in the Garden of Paradise can be. She smiled in her dreams; hebent over her and saw the tears welling up under her eyelashes.'Do you weep for me?' he whispered. 'Weep not, beautiful maiden. Ionly now understand the full bliss of Paradise; it surges through myblood and through my thoughts. I feel the strength of the angels and ofeverlasting life in my mortal limbs! If it were to be everlasting nightto me, a moment like this were worth it!' and he kissed away the tearsfrom her eyes; his mouth touched hers.Then came a sound like thunder, louder and more awful than any he hadever heard before, and everything around collapsed. The beautiful Fairy,the flowery Paradise sank deeper and deeper. The Prince saw it sink intothe darkness of night; it shone far off like a little tiny twinklingstar. The chill of death crept over his limbs; he closed his eyes andlay long as if dead.The cold rain fell on his face, and the sharp wind blew around his head,and at last his memory came back. 'What have I done?' he sighed. 'I havesinned like Adam, sinned so heavily that Paradise has sunk low beneaththe earth!' And he opened his eyes; he could still see the star, thefar-away star, which twinkled like Paradise; it was the morning star inthe sky. He got up and found himself in the wood near the cave of thewinds, and the mother of the winds sat by his side. She looked angry andraised her hand.'So soon as the first evening!' she said. 'I thought as much; if youwere my boy, you should go into the bag!''Ah, he shall soon go there!' said Death. He was a strong old man, witha scythe in his hand and great black wings. 'He shall be laid in acoffin, but not now; I only mark him and then leave him for a time towander about on the earth to expiate his sin and to grow better. I willcome some time. When he least expects me, I shall come back, lay him ina black coffin, put it on my head, and fly to the skies. The Garden ofParadise blooms there too, and if he is good and holy he shall enterinto it; but if his thoughts are wicked and his heart still full of sin,he will sink deeper in his coffin than Paradise sank, and I shall onlygo once in every thousand years to see if he is to sink deeper or torise to the stars, the twinkling stars up there.'