Read "The Greenies" by Hans Christian Andersen online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
A ROSE TREE stood in the window. But a little while ago it had been green and fresh, and now it looked sickly -- it was in poor health, no doubt. A whole regiment was quartered on it and was eating it up; yet, notwithstanding this seeming greediness, the regiment was a very decent and respectable one. It wore bright-green uniforms. I spoke to one of the "Greenies. " He was but three days old, and yet he was already a grandfather. What do you think he said? It is all true -- he spoke of himself and of the rest of the regiment. Listen!
"We are the most wonderful creatures in the world. At a very early age we are engaged, and immediately we have the wedding. When the cold weather comes we lay our eggs, but the little ones lie sunny and warm. The wisest of the creatures, the ant, -- we have the greatest respect for him! -- understands us well. He appreciates us, you may be sure. He does not eat us up at once; he takes our eggs, lays them in the family ant hill on the ground floor -- lays them, labeled and numbered, side by side, layer on layer, so that each day a new one may creep out of the egg. Then he puts us in a stable, pinches our hind legs, and milks us till we die. He has given us the prettiest of names -- 'little milch cow.'