she had on a dress of the finest gauze, and a narrow blue riband over her shoulders, and in the middle of this was a glittering spangle, which was just as large as her whole face.
The little lady stretched out both her arms, for she was a dancer, and at the same time lifted one leg so high in the air that the leaden Soldier could not find it, and he might almost have fancied she had but one leg, like himself.
“She would make a good wife for me,” thought he, “but she is rather a high personage. She lives in a castle; I have only a wooden-box, and there, too, are our five-and-twenty men: that’s not a place for her! However, I will try to get acquainted with her.”
And then he laid himself at full length behind a snuff-box that was standing on the table; whence he could have a perfect view of the little fine lady that stood on one leg without losing her balance.
As evening drew in, all the other soldiers came into their box, and the people in the
