the old house

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE OLD HOUSEby Hans Christian AndersenA VERY old house stood once in a street with several that werequite new and clean. The date of its erection had been carved on oneof the beams, and surrounded by scrolls formed of tulips andhop-tendrils; by this date it could be seen that the old house wasnearly three hundred years old. Verses too were written over thewindows in old-fashioned letters, and grotesque faces, curiouslycarved, grinned at you from under the cornices. One story projecteda long way over the other, and under the roof ran a leaden gutter,...