THERE were once twenty-five tin soldiers, all brothers. They carried muskets and held themselves very upright, and they had red and blue uniforms that were very gay indeed. When the lid was taken off the box in which the tin soldiers lay, they found that they had been given to a little boy, because it was his birthday. He stood them up on the table and arranged them in ranks and played with them a long time.

They were all exactly alike except one. That one had only a single leg, for he had been made last, when there was not quite tin enough to complete him. However, he stood as firmly on his one leg as the rest did on their two, and it is of his adventures that this story tells.

On the same table with the tin soldiers were several other playthings, and the most charming of these was a pretty cardboard castle. You could look into the rooms through its little windows and in front of it stood some tiny trees clustering around a little mirror that was intended to represent a lake. Waxen swans swam in the lake and were reflected on its surface. All this was very pretty, but still prettier was a little damsel standing in the open doorway of the castle. She, too, was cut out of cardboard, but she had on a frock of the whitest muslin, and a piece of blue ribbon was flung across her shoulders like a scarf.

"That lady would be just the wife for me," thought the tin soldier, "but she is of rather too high rank. She lives in a castle. My home is only a box. Besides, there are all our twenty-five men in it, and of course it is no place for her, but there will be no harm in making her acquaintance."

So he stationed himself behind a work-basket that was on the table, and from there he had a full view of the delicate little lady.

When evening came, all the other tin soldiers were put away into the box, but he was left undisturbed, for he was behind the work-basket where he was not seen. Presently, the people of the house went to bed, and the playthings now began to play on their own account. The tin soldiers rattled in the box, for they wanted to share in the fun, but they could not raise the cover. The nutcrackers cut capers, and the slate-pencil had fine sport on the slate, and there was a great racket.

The one-legged tin soldier and the cardboard maiden were the only ones who did not move from their places. As for the maiden, she remained looking

out from the doorway of the castle, and the tin soldier stood firmly on his one leg, never for a moment turning his eyes away from her.

Twelve o'clock struck, and suddenly the lid of a small box right at the soldier's elbow flew back, and up jumped a little black conjuror. He was in fact a Jack-in-the-box. "Tin soldier!" said the conjuror, "wilt thou keep thine eyes to thyself?" The tin soldier pretended not to hear.

"Well, only wait till tomorrow!" the conjuror said.

When the morrow had come and the children were out of bed, the tin soldier was placed on the ledge of an open window whence he could look down three stories into a city street. Whether the conjuror occasioned it, I cannot say, but the tin soldier had not been long on the window ledge when out he tumbled head foremost. A dreadful fall was that! and he landed heels upward on the street walk with his bayonet sticking between the paving stones.

It now began to rain, and there was a regular shower. When the rain was over, two boys came by. "Look," said one, "here is a tin soldier. He shall have a boat-ride for once in his life."

So they made a boat out of an old newspaper, put the tin soldier into it, and away he sailed down the gutter, while both the boys ran along beside him clapping their hands. The paper boat rocked to and fro, and every now and then veered around so quickly that the tin soldier became quite giddy. Still he moved not a muscle, looked straight before him and held his musket tightly clasped.

All at once the boat sailed into a tunnel under the pavement. "That's the last of him," said the boys as they turned away.

He was now in darkness almost as dense as if he had been at home in his own box. "Where shall I go next?" thought he. "Yes, to be sure, this is all that conjuror's doing! Ah! if the little maiden were but sailing in the boat I would not care if it was twice as dark."

Just then a great water-rat that lived under the pavement darted out from a crevice in the tunnel and began swimming after the paper boat. "Stop!" it cried. "Tin soldier, I say stop!"

But the soldier was silent and held his weapon with a still firmer grasp. On he sailed, and the rat followed. Oh! how furiously it showed its teeth. However, the boat had too much of a start and the rat soon turned back. The current was growing stronger, and the tin soldier caught a glimpse of daylight on ahead. At the same time he heard a roaring noise which might well have caused the boldest heart to tremble. Only fancy! where the tunnel ended, the water of the gutter fell a distance of fully thirty inches into a canal. To make this descent was as dangerous for the tin soldier as sailing down a mighty waterfall would be for us.

The boat darted forward, and the poor tin soldier held himself as stiff and immovable as possible. No one could accuse him of even blinking. As the boat went over the fall it spun round and round four times and half filled with water. The tin soldier saw plainly that the boat was about to sink. Deeper and deeper it settled, softer and softer grew the paper. The water was soon up to the soldier's neck. He thought of the 'pretty cardboard maiden whom he would never see again. Then the water went over his head, and immediately afterward the paper tore asunder and the tin soldier fell through the rent; but as he was sinking toward the bottom of the canal he was swallowed by a large fish.

Oh! what darkness he was in now. It was far worse than that of the gutter tunnel, and there was no room to move. Yet the tin soldier's courage did not forsake him. There he lay at full length shouldering his musket.

A few hours later the fish began to turn and twist and make the strangest movements, but at last it became quite still, and some time afterward what seemed to the soldier to be a flash of lightning darted through it. The daylight shone brightly and someone exclaimed, "Here is a tin soldier!"

The fish had been caught, taken to the market, sold, and carried to a home kitchen where a servant girl was now cutting it up with a large knife. She seized the tin soldier and took. him to the parlor where everyone was eager to see the remarkable man who had been swallowed by afish. They set him on the table, and wonder of wonders! the tin soldier was in the very same room where he had been before. He saw the same children, the same playthings stood on the table, and among these was the beautiful castle with the pretty little cardboard maiden standing in the doorway. He would have wept for joy, had not such weakness been unbecoming in a soldier. He looked at the maiden, and she looked at him, yet neither spoke a word.

Now one of the little boys took up the soldier and threw him into the fire. He did not give any reason for so doing, and no doubt the Jack-in-the-box conjuror had something to do with the mischievous act.

There stood the tin soldier in a blaze of red light. He felt extremely hot. Whether this heat was the result of the fire, or of the flames of love within him, he knew not. He looked at the little damsel. She looked at him. He was melting, but still he stood firmly with his musket at his shoulder. A door opened and a gust of wind came in that seized the cardboard maiden, and she flew straight into the fire to the tin soldier. She remained in view only a moment, and then blazed up and was gone. The tin soldier did not last much longer, for he soon melted to a hard lump, and when the maid took up the ashes the next day she found his remains in the shape of a little tin heart.