besides, there was so little room. But the leaden Soldier was resolute; there he lay at full length, and still “carried arms.”
The fish darted hither and thither; he moved about in the most terrible manner, and at last he was quite still. Something like a ray of light darted through him; all was bright and clear, and a voice cried, “The leaden Soldier!” The fish had been caught, taken to market, bought, and sent into the kitchen, where the cook cut it open with a large knife. She took the Soldier by the waist with her finger and thumb, and carried him up stairs, where everybody was eager to see the remarkable man that had made a journey in the inside of a fish. But the Soldier was not proud. They put him on the table, and—no! how wondrously things fall out in this world!—he was in the very same room where he had been before; he saw the same children; the same toys were upon the table—the beautiful castle with the pretty little Dancer standing at the door—all were the same! She stood upon one leg still, and held the other high
