The Tree only came to himself when he was unloaded in a courtyard with the other trees, and heard a man say, “That one is splendid! we don’t want the others.”  Then two servants came in rich livery and carried the Fir-tree into a large and splendid drawing-room.  Portraits were hanging on the walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood two large Chinese vases with lions on the covers.  There, too, were large easy chairs, silken sofas, large tables full of picture-books, and full of toys worth hundreds and hundreds of crowns—­at least the children said so.  And the Fir-tree was stuck upright in a cask that was filled with sand:  but no one could see that it was a cask, for green cloth was hung all around it, and it stood on a large gayly coloured carpet.  Oh, how the Tree quivered!  What was to happen?  The servants, as well as the young ladies, decorated it.  On one branch there hung little nets cut out of coloured paper, and each net was filled with sugar-plums; and among the other boughs gilded apples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though they had grown there, and little blue and white tapers were placed among the leaves.  Dolls that looked for all the world like men—­the Tree had never beheld such before—­were seen among the foliage, and at the very top a large star of gold tinsel was fixed.  It was really splendid—­beyond description splendid.

“This evening!” said they all; “how it will shine this evening!”

“Oh,” thought the Tree, “if the evening were but come!  If the tapers were but lighted!  And then I wonder what will happen!  Perhaps the other trees from the forest will come to look at me!  Perhaps the sparrows will beat against the window-panes!  I wonder if I shall take root here, and winter and summer stand covered with ornaments!”

He knew very much about the matter! but he was so impatient that for sheer longing he got a pain in his back, and this with trees is the same thing as a headache with us.

The candles were now lighted.  What brightness!  What splendour!  The Tree trembled so in every bough that one of the tapers set fire to the foliage.  It blazed up splendidly.

“Help!  Help!” cried the young ladies, and they quickly put out the fire.

Now the Tree did not even dare tremble.  What a state he was in!  He was so uneasy lest he should lose something of his splendour, that he was quite bewildered amidst the glare and brightness; when suddenly both folding-doors opened, and a troop of children rushed in as if they would upset the Tree.  The older persons followed quietly; the little ones stood quite still.  But it was only for a moment; then they shouted so that the whole place reechoed with their rejoicing; they danced round the tree, and one present after the other was pulled off.

“What are they about?” thought the Tree.  “What is to happen now?” And the lights burned down to the very branches, and as they burned down they were put out, one after the other, and then the children had permission to plunder the tree.  So they fell upon it with such violence that all its branches cracked; if it had not been fixed firmly in the cask, it would certainly have tumbled down.