Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by Hans Christian Andersen

On one of the Danish islands, where old Thingstones, the seats of justice of our forefathers, still stand in the cornfields, and huge trees rise in the forests of beech, there lies a little town whose low houses are covered with red tiles. In one of these houses strange things were brewing over the glowing coals on the open hearth; there was a boiling going on in glasses, and a mixing and distilling, while herbs were being cut up and pounded in mortars. An elderly man looked after it all.

-"One must only do the right thing," he said; "yes, the right--the correct thing. One must find out the truth concerning every created particle, and keep to that."