The Shadow Page #4

"The Shadow" is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a scholar who gets separated from his shadow. In a peculiar twist, the shadow gains a life of its own, becomes rich, and takes over the scholar's life. Through this allegorical narrative, Andersen explores themes of identity, morality, and the nature of existence, providing a thought-provoking reflection on the human condition.

• Children

								

could therefore answer the princess, and make allusions which quite
astonished her. She thought he must be the cleverest man in all the
world, and felt the greatest respect for his knowledge. When she
danced with him again she fell in love with him, which the shadow
quickly discovered, for she had with her eyes looked him through and
through. They danced once more, and she was nearly telling him, but
she had some discretion; she thought of her country, her kingdom,
and the number of people over whom she would one day have to rule. "He
is a clever man," she thought to herself, "which is a good thing,
and he dances admirably, which is also good. But has he
well-grounded knowledge? that is an important question, and I must try
him." Then she asked him a most difficult question, she herself
could not have answered it, and the shadow made a most unaccountable
grimace.

"You cannot answer that," said the princess.

"I learnt something about it in my childhood," he replied; "and
believe that even my very shadow, standing over there by the door,
could answer it."

"Your shadow," said the princess; "indeed that would be very
remarkable."

"I do not say so positively," observed the shadow; "but I am
inclined to believe that he can do so. He has followed me for so
many years, and has heard so much from me, that I think it is very
likely. But your royal highness must allow me to observe, that he is
very proud of being considered a man, and to put him in a good
humor, so that he may answer correctly, he must be treated as a man."

"I shall be very pleased to do so," said the princess. So she
walked up to the learned man, who stood in the doorway, and spoke to
him of the sun, and the moon, of the green forests, and of people near
home and far off; and the learned man conversed with her pleasantly
and sensibly.

"What a wonderful man he must be, to have such a clever shadow!"
thought she. "If I were to choose him it would be a real blessing to
my country and my subjects, and I will do it." So the princess and the
shadow were soon engaged to each other, but no one was to be told a
word about it, till she returned to her kingdom.

"No one shall know," said the shadow; "not even my own shadow;"
and he had very particular reasons for saying so.

After a time, the princess returned to the land over which she
reigned, and the shadow accompanied her.

"Listen my friend," said the shadow to the learned man; "now
that I am as fortunate and as powerful as any man can be, I will do
something unusually good for you. You shall live in my palace, drive
with me in the royal carriage, and have a hundred thousand dollars a
year; but you must allow every one to call you a shadow, and never
venture to say that you have been a man. And once a year, when I sit
in my balcony in the sunshine, you must lie at my feet as becomes a
shadow to do; for I must tell you I am going to marry the princess,
and our wedding will take place this evening."

"Now, really, this is too ridiculous," said the learned man. "I
cannot, and will not, submit to such folly. It would be cheating the
whole country, and the princess also. I will disclose everything,
and say that I am the man, and that you are only a shadow dressed up
in men's clothes."

"No one would believe you," said the shadow; "be reasonable,
now, or I will call the guards."

"I will go straight to the princess," said the learned man.

"But I shall be there first," replied the shadow, "and you will be
sent to prison." And so it turned out, for the guards readily obeyed
him, as they knew he was going to marry the king's daughter.

"You tremble," said the princess, when the shadow appeared
before her. "Has anything happened? You must not be ill to-day, for
this evening our wedding will take place."

"I have gone through the most terrible affair that could
possibly happen," said the shadow; "only imagine, my shadow has gone
mad; I suppose such a poor, shallow brain, could not bear much; he
fancies that he has become a real man, and that I am his shadow."

"How very terrible," cried the princess; "is he locked up?"

"Oh yes, certainly; for I fear he will never recover."

"Poor shadow!" said the princess; "it is very unfortunate for him;
it would really be a good deed to free him from his frail existence;
and, indeed, when I think how often people take the part of the
lower class against the higher, in these days, it would be policy to
put him out of the way quietly."

"It is certainly rather hard upon him, for he was a faithful
servant," said the shadow; and he pretended to sigh.

"Yours is a noble character," said the princess, and bowed herself
before him.

In the evening the whole town was illuminated, and cannons fired
"boom," and the soldiers presented arms. It was indeed a grand
wedding. The princess and the shadow stepped out on the balcony to
show themselves, and to receive one cheer more. But the learned man
heard nothing of all these festivities, for he had already been
executed.
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