The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Once upon a time, there was twenty five tin soldiers. They were all in a box together and were given to a boy, as his birthday present. He took them all out and stood them up in one line. They were all the same, except one, who was missing one leg, as there had not been enough tin left to give him two legs.
There were plenty of other play things in the children’s room, but one that stood out, was a paper castle, with paper swans outside, along with rose bushes. In front of the paper castle stood one ballerina doll. She had her leg lifted so high up, that it looked like she only had one leg to stand on. The tin soldier saw this and thought to himself, that she would make for a good wife for him, as they were the same. He was a little shy, as she seemed like such a fine lady and he was just a tin soldier, sharing a box with twenty four other men, but he was still determined to get to know her.
He hid himself and waited for night to come. As the other tin soldiers were put back into their box, he could now admire the ballerina on his own and step out to talk to her. All the other toys started to wake up and play too, except the tin soldiers, who could not lift off the lid on their box. The tin soldier talked to the ballerina and despite seeing she actually had two legs, they both were immediately attracted to each other. Though when the clock hit twelve, the jack-in-a-box popped out of his box. He too liked the ballerina and did not approve of the tin soldier speaking to her, but the tin soldier did not care and the jack-in-a-box waited for now and said the tin soldier would regret it.
If it was bad faith or the jack-in-the-box was not known, but when the boy came the next morning and put the soldiers in the window, the window flew open and a gust of wind pushed out the tin soldier, down onto the street. The boy and servant maid went down to look for him, but with no luck. It began to rain and later two boys found the tin soldier and decided he needed a boat. So they build one out of newspaper, put the tin soldier into it and sent him off down the gutter. The boys were not fast enough for the stream in the gutter though and the poor tin soldier soon went down the drain and into the sewers.
Down in the sewer, he passed by a rat that asked for his passport, but obviously he had none and stayed quiet, while the stream moved him further ahead. The rat followed after and soon gathered more rats, as the tin soldier had not paid toll or shown his passport. The paper boat fell into a canal and was sucked down, with the tin soldier, until the paper boat was all wet and broke and the tin soldier could do nothing but fall towards the bottom and think of the dear ballerina.
Though he was ‘saved’, when a great fish came by and swallowed him whole. It was dark for a long time and the tin soldier did not know what to do, until he suddenly saw a strong light. He had somehow ended up in the very same house the little boy lived in and the servant maid had just cut open the fish and found the tin soldier inside. He was then put back into the children’s room and almost began to cry, upon seeing the little ballerina again.
Suddenly one of the little boys picked up the soldier and threw him into the stove. He had absolutely no reason to do so, so it somehow had to be the work of the jack-in-the-box. The heat was very terrible, but he did not know if it was the flames or the heat of love that brought the heat. He looked up at the ballerina and she down at him. He could feel himself melt away, but remained firm and held onto his gun on his shoulder. The door to the room suddenly flew open and a gust of wind pushed to the ballerina and she flew down and landed right next to the sin soldier in the stove. The next morning, the servant maid cleaned the stove and found a small tin heart and tinsel rose, burned black as cinder.
by Annoying Dog » Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:13 am I've searched for some time but couldn't find a post about this so I thought I'd just ask you for your opinion
