Inside a box lay 25 tin soldiers.
Each shouldered a rifle and wore a smart red uniform.
When the lid was taken off the box, a little boy clapped his hands and cried with delight, "Soldiers, soldiers!"
He lost no time setting them up on a table.
All the soldiers were exactly alike except for one who had only one leg.
But he stood just as well as the others—and just as proudly too.
From where he stood, the tin soldier with one leg could see a delightful castle on a table near the window.
In front of the castle stood a paper doll.
She was a beautiful dancer and wore a dress of the palest pink, with a rose in her hair.
"She would be the perfect wife for me!" thought the tin soldier.
"But she lives in a palace and must be a princess, while I am only a soldier and live in a box.
Nonetheless, I hope I get to meet her."
Late in the evening, the boy put the other soldiers back into their box, but to the tin soldier he said,
"You must guard the others, brave soldier," and set him beside the box.
After the boy left, all the other toys amused themselves with dances and games.
The only ones who did not move were the tin soldier and the little dancer.
She stood on tiptoe, with her arms spread out.
He, bravely on his one leg, did not take his eyes off her for a moment.
When the clock struck twelve, up flew the lid of a Jack-in-the-box and out popped a goblin with a grin.
"Tin soldier!" said the goblin, "Look away.
You will never have the pretty dancer's heart."
But the tin soldier ignored him and didn't say a word.
"Ah! Tomorrow you will be punished," said the goblin.
In the morning the boy and his friend decided to put the tin soldier by the window.
Now, whether it was caused by the goblin or by a puff of wind, we do not know, but all at once the tin soldier fell headfirst into the garden below.
It was a terrific fall, and he landed under some flowers.
The little boy looked for him, and if the soldier had only called, "Here I am," the boy would easily have found him.
But the soldier did not think it was proper to cry for help while he was in uniform.
It began to rain, and the drops fell faster and harder.
Two boys came along. "Look!" said one.
"It's a tin soldier! Let's send him for a sail."
So they made a boat out of newspaper and stood the soldier in it.
As he sailed away down the gutter, both boys ran alongside, clapping their hands.
The waves were high and the current was strong, but the tin soldier showed no fear.
Up ahead, the gutter flowed under an arch and into a long dark tunnel.
"Where on earth am I going now!" thought the soldier as the boat carried him along.
"Well, it is the fault of that goblin!
Oh, if only the little dancer were with me in my boat, I wouldn't care about the dark!"
At this moment, a big water rat swam up.
"Do you have a pass?" asked the rat. "Show me your pass!"
The tin soldier did not speak, but clung tightly to his gun.
The boat rushed on.
The rat showed its teeth and shouted, "Stop him, stop him; he doesn't have a pass!"
But the current grew stronger, and the soldier's boat quickly left the rat behind.
Up ahead, the tin soldier could see daylight, but he also heard the loud roar of water.
Where the tunnel ended, the stream poured straight into a big canal.
The boat rushed out of the tunnel and, in a gush of water, fell into the canal.
Swirling around, the boat filled with water, but the tin soldier stood bravely at attention.
As the waves rose over his head, he thought of the elegant little dancer.
But much as he wished to see her again, he remembered that a soldier must bravely face his fate.
Suddenly a great fish appeared and swallowed him up.
It was dark inside that fish, worse than being in the tunnel!
But the tin soldier showed no fear.
The fish was caught, taken to the market, and sold to the same cook who lived in the boy's house.
She cut the fish open with a knife.
"Look, the tin soldier!" she called.
Marveling at the soldier who had traveled so far and returned in a fish, she carried him to the boy.
The goblin in the Jack-in-the-box was far from pleased to see the soldier return,
but the happy boy set the soldier in his place on the table by the fire.
To the soldier's delight, the dancer still stood in front of the castle, as pretty as he remembered her.
She had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
The soldier was so moved that he was ready to shed a tear of his own, but that would not have been proper for a soldier.
The goblin, of course, was jealous when he saw their happiness.
And whether the goblin knocked him, or the tin soldier fell, or some other tragedy occurred,
it is impossible to say; but just then the tin soldier tumbled into the fireplace.
The flames surrounded him with a horrible heat, and he felt that he was melting away.
Whether it was from the heat of the fire or the grief in his heart, who can tell?
A door was suddenly opened; a light wind caught the little dancer, and she fluttered like a fairy, straight into the fire to join the soldier.
In a blaze, she was gone!
The poor little soldier was reduced to a molten lump.
But the next morning, when the maid cleaned away the ashes from the fireplace, she found a small, perfectly-shaped tin heart.
And in its center was the rose from the dancer's hair.