Question

A SHORT STORY OF PURU THE BRAVE

Answer 1

There were once twenty-five tin soldiers. They were brothers, for they had all been made out of the same old tin spoon. They all held their rifles against their shoulders, stood upright, and looked straight ahead. Their uniforms were very smart-looking—red and blue—and very splendid. The first thing they heard in the world, when the lid was taken off the box in which they lay, was the words “Tin soldiers!” These words were spoken by a little boy, who clapped his hands for joy. The soldiers had been given him because it was his birthday, and now he was putting them out upon the table.

All of them were exactly the same, except one who only had one leg. He had been made last of all, and there had not been quite enough tin left to finish him. But he stood as firmly on his one leg as the others upon their two, and it is his story that we will hear about.

On the table where the tin soldiers had been set up were some other toys, but the one that was most popular was a pretty little paper castle. Through its tiny windows you could see straight into the hall. In front of the castle stood little trees around a small mirror which was meant to be the lake. Little toy swans swam on it, in which you could see their reflections.

All this was very pretty, but prettiest of all was a little lady who stood at the castle’s open door. She too was cut out of paper, but she wore a lovely dress and a narrow blue ribbon over her shoulders, like a scarf, and in the middle of the ribbon was a shining tinsel rose. The little lady stretched out both her arms, for she was a dancer, and then she lifted one leg so high that the Soldier quite lost sight of it. He thought that she had only one leg as well.