--- title: The Shoes of Fortune, part 2 — Andersen's Fairy Tales · full text with trees description: The Shoes of Fortune, part 2, «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: * Herostratus, or Eratostratus--an Ephesian, who wantonly set fire to the famous temple of Diana, in order to commemorate his name by so unc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Andersen's Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/) / The Shoes of Fortune, part 2 # The Shoes of Fortune, part 2 The Shoes of Fortune, part 2 of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen: the whole text, 121 sentences and 2573 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/page/2/) - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/1/) — \* Herostratus, or Eratostratus--an Ephesian, who wantonly set fire to the famous temple of Diana, in order to commemorate his name by so uncommon an action. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/2/) — “What's the matter?” asked the Hostess, plucking the Councillor by the sleeve; and now his recollection returned, for in the course of the conversation he had entirely forgotten all that had preceded it. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/3/) — “Merciful God, where am I!” exclaimed he in agony; and while he so thought, all his ideas and feelings of overpowering dizziness, against which he struggled with the utmost power of desperation, encompassed him with renewed force. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/4/) — “Let us drink claret and mead, and Bremen beer,” shouted one of the guests--“and you shall drink with us!” - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/5/) — Two maidens approached. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/6/) — One wore a cap of two staring colors, denoting the class of persons to which she belonged. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/7/) — They poured out the liquor, and made the most friendly gesticulations; while a cold perspiration trickled down the back of the poor Councillor. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/8/) — “What's to be the end of this! - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/9/) — What's to become of me!” groaned he; but he was forced, in spite of his opposition, to drink with the rest. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/10/) — They took hold of the worthy man; who, hearing on every side that he was intoxicated, did not in the least doubt the truth of this certainly not very polite assertion; but on the contrary, implored the ladies and gentlemen present to procure him a hackney-coach: they, however, imagined he was talking Russian. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/11/) — Never before, he thought, had he been in such a coarse and ignorant company; one might almost fancy the people had turned heathens again. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/12/) — “It is the most dreadful moment of my life: the whole world is leagued against me!” - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/13/) — But suddenly it occurred to him that he might stoop down under the table, and then creep unobserved out of the door. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/14/) — He did so; but just as he was going, the others remarked what he was about; they laid hold of him by the legs; and now, happily for him, off fell his fatal shoes--and with them the charm was at an end. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/15/) — The Councillor saw quite distinctly before him a lantern burning, and behind this a large handsome house. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/16/) — All seemed to him in proper order as usual; it was East Street, splendid and elegant as we now see it. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/17/) — He lay with his feet towards a doorway, and exactly opposite sat the watchman asleep. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/18/) — “Gracious Heaven!” said he. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/19/) — “Have I lain here in the street and dreamed? - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/20/) — Yes; 'tis East Street! - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/21/) — How splendid and light it is! - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/22/) — But really it is terrible what an effect that one glass of punch must have had on me!” - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/23/) — Two minutes later, he was sitting in a hackney-coach and driving to Frederickshafen. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/24/) — He thought of the distress and agony he had endured, and praised from the very bottom of his heart the happy reality--our own time--which, with all its deficiencies, is yet much better than that in which, so much against his inclination, he had lately been. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/25/) — III. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/26/) — The Watchman's Adventure - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/27/) — “Why, there is a pair of galoshes, as sure as I'm alive!” said the watchman, awaking from a gentle slumber. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/28/) — “They belong no doubt to the lieutenant who lives over the way. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/29/) — They lie close to the door.” - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/30/) — The worthy man was inclined to ring and deliver them at the house, for there was still a light in the window; but he did not like disturbing the other people in their beds, and so very considerately he left the matter alone. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/31/) — “Such a pair of shoes must be very warm and comfortable,” said he; “the leather is so soft and supple.” - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/32/) — They fitted his feet as though they had been made for him. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/33/) — “'Tis a curious world we live in,” continued he, soliloquizing. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/34/) — “There is the lieutenant, now, who might go quietly to bed if he chose, where no doubt he could stretch himself at his ease; but does he do it? - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/35/) — No; he saunters up and down his room, because, probably, he has enjoyed too many of the good things of this world at his dinner. - [36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/36/) — That's a happy fellow! - [37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/37/) — He has neither an infirm mother, nor a whole troop of everlastingly hungry children to torment him. - [38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/38/) — Every evening he goes to a party, where his nice supper costs him nothing: would to Heaven I could but change with him! - [39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/39/) — How happy should I be!” - [40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/40/) — While expressing his wish, the charm of the shoes, which he had put on, began to work; the watchman entered into the being and nature of the lieutenant. - [41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/41/) — He stood in the handsomely furnished apartment, and held between his fingers a small sheet of rose-colored paper, on which some verses were written--written indeed by the officer himself; for who has not, at least once in his life, had a lyrical moment? - [42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/42/) — And if one then marks down one's thoughts, poetry is produced. - [43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/43/) — But here was written: - [44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/44/) — OH, WERE I RICH! - [45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/45/) — “Oh, were I rich! - [46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/46/) — Such was my wish, yea such When hardly three feet high, I longed for much. - [47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/47/) — Oh, were I rich! an officer were I, With sword, and uniform, and plume so high. - [48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/48/) — And the time came, and officer was I! - [49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/49/) — But yet I grew not rich. - [50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/50/) — Alas, poor me! - [51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/51/) — Have pity, Thou, who all man's wants dost see. - [52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/52/) — “I sat one evening sunk in dreams of bliss, A maid of seven years old gave me a kiss, I at that time was rich in poesy And tales of old, though poor as poor could be; But all she asked for was this poesy. - [53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/53/) — Then was I rich, but not in gold, poor me! - [54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/54/) — As Thou dost know, who all men's hearts canst see. - [55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/55/) — “Oh, were I rich! - [56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/56/) — Oft asked I for this boon. - [57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/57/) — The child grew up to womanhood full soon. - [58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/58/) — She is so pretty, clever, and so kind Oh, did she know what's hidden in my mind-- A tale of old. - [59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/59/) — Would she to me were kind! - [60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/60/) — But I'm condemned to silence! oh, poor me! - [61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/61/) — As Thou dost know, who all men's hearts canst see. - [62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/62/) — “Oh, were I rich in calm and peace of mind, My grief you then would not here written find! - [63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/63/) — O thou, to whom I do my heart devote, Oh read this page of glad days now remote, A dark, dark tale, which I tonight devote! - [64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/64/) — Dark is the future now. - [65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/65/) — Alas, poor me! - [66](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/66/) — Have pity Thou, who all men's pains dost see.” - [67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/67/) — Such verses as these people write when they are in love! - [68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/68/) — But no man in his senses ever thinks of printing them. - [69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/69/) — Here one of the sorrows of life, in which there is real poetry, gave itself vent; not that barren grief which the poet may only hint at, but never depict in its detail--misery and want: that animal necessity, in short, to snatch at least at a fallen leaf of the bread-fruit tree, if not at the fruit itself. - [70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/70/) — The higher the position in which one finds oneself transplanted, the greater is the suffering. - [71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/71/) — Everyday necessity is the stagnant pool of life--no lovely picture reflects itself therein. - [72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/72/) — Lieutenant, love, and lack of money--that is a symbolic triangle, or much the same as the half of the shattered die of Fortune. - [73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/73/) — This the lieutenant felt most poignantly, and this was the reason he leant his head against the window, and sighed so deeply. - [74](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/74/) — “The poor watchman out there in the street is far happier than I. He knows not what I term privation. - [75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/75/) — He has a home, a wife, and children, who weep with him over his sorrows, who rejoice with him when he is glad. - [76](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/76/) — Oh, far happier were I, could I exchange with him my being--with his desires and with his hopes perform the weary pilgrimage of life! - [77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/77/) — Oh, he is a hundred times happier than I!” - [78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/78/) — In the same moment the watchman was again watchman. - [79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/79/) — It was the shoes that caused the metamorphosis by means of which, unknown to himself, he took upon him the thoughts and feelings of the officer; but, as we have just seen, he felt himself in his new situation much less contented, and now preferred the very thing which but some minutes before he had rejected. - [80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/80/) — So then the watchman was again watchman. - [81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/81/) — “That was an unpleasant dream,” said he; “but 'twas droll enough altogether. - [82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/82/) — I fancied that I was the lieutenant over there: and yet the thing was not very much to my taste after all. - [83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/83/) — I missed my good old mother and the dear little ones; who almost tear me to pieces for sheer love.” - [84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/84/) — He seated himself once more and nodded: the dream continued to haunt him, for he still had the shoes on his feet. - [85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/85/) — A falling star shone in the dark firmament. - [86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/86/) — “There falls another star,” said he: “but what does it matter; there are always enough left. - [87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/87/) — I should not much mind examining the little glimmering things somewhat nearer, especially the moon; for that would not slip so easily through a man's fingers. - [88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/88/) — When we die--so at least says the student, for whom my wife does the washing--we shall fly about as light as a feather from one such a star to the other. - [89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/89/) — That's, of course, not true: but 'twould be pretty enough if it were so. - [90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/90/) — If I could but once take a leap up there, my body might stay here on the steps for what I care.” - [91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/91/) — Behold--there are certain things in the world to which one ought never to give utterance except with the greatest caution; but doubly careful must one be when we have the Shoes of Fortune on our feet. - [92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/92/) — Now just listen to what happened to the watchman. - [93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/93/) — As to ourselves, we all know the speed produced by the employment of steam; we have experienced it either on railroads, or in boats when crossing the sea; but such a flight is like the travelling of a sloth in comparison with the velocity with which light moves. - [94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/94/) — It flies nineteen million times faster than the best race-horse; and yet electricity is quicker still. - [95](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/95/) — Death is an electric shock which our heart receives; the freed soul soars upwards on the wings of electricity. - [96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/96/) — The sun's light wants eight minutes and some seconds to perform a journey of more than twenty million of our Danish \[\*\] miles; borne by electricity, the soul wants even some minutes less to accomplish the same flight. - [97](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/97/) — To it the space between the heavenly bodies is not greater than the distance between the homes of our friends in town is for us, even if they live a short way from each other; such an electric shock in the heart, however, costs us the use of the body here below; unless, like the watchman of East Street, we happen to have on the Shoes of Fortune. - [98](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/98/) — \* A Danish mile is nearly 4 3/4 English. - [99](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/99/) — In a few seconds the watchman had done the fifty-two thousand of our miles up to the moon, which, as everyone knows, was formed out of matter much lighter than our earth; and is, so we should say, as soft as newly-fallen snow. - [100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/100/) — He found himself on one of the many circumjacent mountain-ridges with which we are acquainted by means of Dr. Madler's “Map of the Moon.” **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/6/page/2/) - ← previous: [The Shoes of Fortune, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/5/) - next →: [The Shoes of Fortune, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/7/) - ↑ back to [Andersen's Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/)