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THE ELF OF THE ROSE
IN the midst of a garden grew a rose-tree,in full blossom, and in the prettiest of all the roses lived an elf. He wassuch a little wee thing, that no human eye could see him. Behind each leaf ofthe rose he had a sleeping chamber. He was as well formed and as beautiful as alittle child could be, and had wings that reached from his shoulders to hisfeet. Oh, what sweet fragrance there was in his chambers! and how clean andbeautiful were the walls! for they were the blushing leaves of the rose. Duringthe whole day he enjoyed himself in the warm sunshine, flew from flower toflower, and danced on the wings of the flying butterflies. Then he took it intohis head to measure how many steps he would have to go through the roads andcross-roads that are on the leaf of a linden-tree. What we call the veins on aleaf, he took for roads; ay, and very long roads they were for him; for beforehe had half finished his task, the sun went down: he had commenced his work toolate. It became very cold, the dew fell, and the wind blew; so he thought thebest thing he could do would be to return home. He hurried himself as much ashe could; but he found the roses all closed up, and he could not get in; not asingle rose stood open. The poor little elf was very much frightened. He hadnever before been out at night, but had always slumbered secretly behind thewarm rose-leaves. Oh, this would certainly be his death. At the other end ofthe garden, he knew there was an arbor, overgrown with beautiful honey-suckles.The blossoms looked like large painted horns; and he thought to himself, hewould go and sleep in one of these till the morning. He flew thither; but"hush!" two people were in the arbor,- a handsome young man and a beautifullady. They sat side by side, and wished that they might never be obliged to part.They loved each other much more than the best child can love its father andmother. "But we must part," said the young man; "your brotherdoes not like our engagement, and therefore he sends me so far away onbusiness, over mountains and seas. Farewell, my sweet bride; for so you are tome." And then they kissed each other, and the girl wept, and gave him arose; but before she did so, she pressed a kiss upon it so fervently that theflower opened. Then the little elf flew in, and leaned his head on thedelicate, fragrant walls. Here he could plainly hear them say, "Farewell, farewell;"and he felt that the rose had been placed on the young man's breast. Oh, howhis heart did beat! The little elf could not go to sleep, it thumped so loudly.The young man took it out as he walked through the dark wood alone, and kissedthe flower so often and so violently, that the little elf was almost crushed.He could feel through the leaf how hot the lips of the young man were, and therose had opened, as if from the heat of the noonday sun. There came anotherman, who looked gloomy and wicked. He was the wicked brother of the beautifulmaiden. He drew out a sharp knife, and while the other was kissing the rose,the wicked man stabbed him to death; then he cut off his head, and buried itwith the body in the soft earth under the linden-tree. "Now he is gone,and will soon be forgotten," thought the wicked brother; "he willnever come back again. He was going on a long journey over mountains and seas;it is easy for a man to lose his life in such a journey. My sister will supposehe is dead; for he cannot come back, and she will not dare to question me abouthim." Then he scattered the dry leaves over the light earth with his foot,and went ho me through the darkness; but he went not alone, as he thought,- thelittle elf accompanied him. He sat in a dry rolled-up linden-leaf, which hadfallen from the tree on to the wicked man's head, as he was digging the grave.The hat was on the head now, which made it very dark, and the little elfshuddered with fright and indignation at the wicked deed. It was the dawn ofmorning before the wicked man reached home; he took off his hat, and went intohis sister's room. There lay the beautiful, blooming girl, dreaming of him whomshe loved so, and who was now, she supposed, travelling far away over mountainand sea. Her wicked brother stopped over her, and laughed hideously, as fiendsonly can laugh. The dry leaf fell out of his hair upon the counterpane; but hedid not notice it, and went to get a little sleep during the early morninghours. But the elf slipped out of the withered leaf, placed himself by the earof the sleeping girl, and told her, as in a dream, of the horrid murder;described the place where her brother had slain her lover, and buried his body;and told her of the linden-tree, in full blossom, that stood close by. "Thatyou may not think this is only a dream that I have told you," he said,"you will find on your bed a withered leaf." Then she awoke, andfound it there. Oh, what bitter tears she shed! and she could not open herheart to any one for relief. The window stood open the whole day, and thelittle elf could easily have reached the roses, or any of the flowers; but hecould not find it in his heart to leave one so afflicted. In the window stood abush bearing monthly roses. He seated himself in one of the flowers, and gazedon the poor girl. Her brother often came into the room, and would be quite cheerful,in spite of his base conduct; so she dare not say a word to him of her heart'sgrief. As soon as night came on, she slipped out of the house, and went intothe wood, to the spot where the linden-tree stood; and after removing theleaves from the earth, she turned it up, and there found him who had beenmurdered. Oh, how she wept and prayed that she also might die! Gladly would shehave taken the body home with her; but that was impossible; so she took up thepoor head with the closed eyes, kissed the cold lips, and shook the mould outof the beautiful hair. "I will keep this," said she; and as soon asshe had covered the body again with the earth and leaves, she took the head anda little sprig of jasmine that bloomed in the wood, near the spot where he wasburied, and carried them home with her. As soon as she was in her room, shetook the largest flower-pot she could find, and in this she placed the head of thedead man, covered it up with earth, and planted the twig of jasmine in it. "Farewell,farewell," whispered the little elf. He could not any longer endure towitness all this agony of grief, he therefore flew away to his own rose in thegarden. But the rose was faded; only a few dry leaves still clung to the green hedgebehind it. "Alas! how soon all that is good and beautiful passes away,"sighed the elf. After a while he found another rose, which became his home, foramong its delicate fragrant leaves he could dwell in safety. Every morning heflew to the window of the poor girl, and always found her weeping by the flowerpot. The bitter tears fell upon the jasmine twig, and each day, as she became palerand paler, the sprig appeared to grow greener and fresher. One shoot afteranother sprouted forth, and little white buds blossomed, which the poor girlfondly kissed. But her wicked brother scolded her, and asked her if she wasgoing mad. He could not imagine why she was weeping over that flower-pot, andit annoyed him. He did not know whose closed eyes were there, nor what red lipswere fading beneath the earth. And one day she sat and leaned her head againstthe flower-pot, and the little elf of the rose found her asleep. Then he seatedhimself by her ear, talked to her of that evening in the arbor, of the sweetperfume of the rose, and the loves of the elves. Sweetly she dreamed, and whileshe dreamt, her life passed away calmly and gently, and her spirit was with himwhom she loved, in heaven. And the jasmine opened its large white bells, andspread forth its sweet fragrance; it had no other way of showing its grief forthe dead. But the wicked brother considered the beautiful blooming plant as hisown property, left to him by his sister, and he placed it in his sleeping room,close by his bed, for it was very lovely in appearance, and the fragrance sweetand delightful. The little elf of the rose followed it, and flew from flower toflower, telling each little spirit that dwelt in them the story of the murderedyoung man, whose head now formed part of the earth beneath them, and of thewicked brother and the poor sister. "We know it," said each littlespirit in the flowers, "we know it, for have we not sprung from the eyesand lips of the murdered one. We know it, we know it," and the flowersnodded with their heads in a peculiar manner. The elf of the rose could notunderstand how they could rest so quietly in the matter, so he flew to thebees, who were gathering honey, and told them of the wicked brother. And thebees told it to their queen, who commanded that the next morning they should goand kill the murderer. But during the night, the first after the sister'sdeath, while the brother was sleeping in his bed, close to where he had placedthe fragrant jasmine, every flower cup opened, and invisibly the little spiritsstole out, armed with poisonous spears. They placed themselves by the ear ofthe sleeper, told him dreadful dreams and then flew across his lips, andpricked his tongue with their poisoned spears. "Now have we revenged thedead," said they, and flew back into the white bells of the jasmineflowers. When the morning came, and as soon as the window was opened, the roseelf, with the queen bee, and the whole swarm of bees, rushed in to kill him. Buthe was already dead. People were standing round the bed, and saying that thescent of the jasmine had killed him. Then the elf of the rose understood therevenge of the flowers, and explained it to the queen bee, and she, with thewhole swarm, buzzed about the flower-pot. The bees could not be driven away.Then a man took it up to remove it, and one of the bees stung him in the hand,so that he let the flower-pot fall, and it was broken to pieces. Then every onesaw the whitened skull, and they knew the dead man in the bed was a murderer. Andthe queen bee hummed in the air, and sang of the revenge of the flowers, and ofthe elf of the rose and said that behind the smallest leaf dwells One, who candiscover evil deeds, and punish them also.
