Once upon a time, a little boy owned 25 tin soldiers all made out of an old tin spoon. Twenty-four of them were alike as peas in a pod. However, the 25th soldier was different.
He had the same smart red and blue uniform like the others and the same rifle over his shoulder. But he had only one leg. Yet, he stood firm and fast on his one leg just like the soldiers with both legs.
When the craftsman started making the 25th soldier there wasn’t enough tin left so he made the last soldier with only one leg.
A beautiful ballerina
In this playroom there was a beautiful castle. Through its many windows you could see the magnificent rooms inside. In front of it was a lake made out of a piece of mirror. Tiny wax swans swam in it and all around it stood miniature trees. In the doorway stood a beautiful ballerina made out of paper. She was dressed in a white frock and had a blue sash over her shoulder. It was pinned in place with a huge sequin. She raised her arms over her head and one leg was raised high behind her.
The one-legged tin soldier could see the beautiful ballerina and thought she was very beautiful. But her leg was raised so high behind her that the tin soldier could not see it from where he was. The tin soldier thought that the ballerina was one legged like him and decided she would be a good wife for him.
However, he felt that she was too grand for him as she lived in a castle. He had only a box to live in and he shared it with the other 24 soldiers. The one legged tin shoulder gave up all hope of marrying the ballerina but he gazed at her all day long.
When the little boy who owned the toys had gone to bed at night, the toys came out play and visit each other, dance and generally have fun. The only toys who didn’t move were the ballerina and the one legged tin soldier.
A wizard
One day, as the clock struck twelve the jack-in-the-box popped out. He was a wizard and when he saw the tin soldier looking at the ballerina he felt jealous.
“If you don’t stop gazing at the ballerina something nasty will happen to you”, he threatened the tin soldier who did not take any notice of him. Neither did he stop looking at the ballerina.
The next morning the tin soldier was standing on the nursery window sill. It may have been a sudden gust of wind or it may have been the work of the wizard, but the window suddenly blew open and the tin soldier plunged to the street below.
The little boy and his nanny rushed out into the street to look for him but though they nearly stepped on him they did not find the one-legged tin soldier. Soon, it began to rain and they had to give up the search.
To be continued next week