then she seated herself on the edge of the drawer， and thought that perhaps one of theflowers would ask her to dance; but none of them came. Then she coughed， “Hem， hem，a-hem;” but for all that not one came. The shabby doll now danced quite alone， and not verybadly， after all. As none of the flowers seemed to notice Sophy， she let herself down from thedrawer to the floor， so as to make a very GREat noise. All the flowers came round herdirectly， and asked if she had hurt herself， especially those who had lain in her bed. But shewas not hurt at all， and Ida's flowers thanked her for the use of the nice bed， and were verykind to her. They led her into the middle of the room， where the moon shone， and dancedwith her， while all the other flowers formed a circle round them. Then Sophy was very happy，and said they might keep her bed; she did not mind lying in the drawer at all. But the flowersthanked her very much， and said，—
“We cannot live long. To-morrow morning we shall be quite dead; and you must tell littleIda to bury us in the garden， near to the grave of the canary; then， in the summer weshall wake up and be more beautiful than ever.”
“No， you must not die，” said Sophy， as she kissed the flowers.
then the door of the room opened， and a number of beautiful flowers danced in. Ida couldnot imagine where they could come from， unless they were the flowers from the king's garden.First came two lovely roses， with little golden crowns on their heads; these were the king andqueen. Beautiful stocks and carnations followed， bowing to every one present. They had alsomusic with them. Large poppies and peonies had pea-shells for instruments， and blew intothem till they were quite red in the face. The bunches of blue hyacinths and the little whitesnowdrops jingled their bell-like flowers， as if they were real bells. Then came many moreflowers： blue violets， purple heart's-ease， daisies， and lilies of the valley， and they alldanced together， and kissed each other. It was very beautiful to behold.
At last the flowers wished each other good-night. Then little Ida crept back into her bedagain， and dreamt of all she had seen. When she arose the next morning， she went quicklyto the little table， to see if the flowers were still there. She drew aside the curtains of the littlebed. There they all lay， but quite faded; much more so than the day before. Sophy was lyingin the drawer where Ida had placed her; but she looked very sleepy.
“Do you remember what the flowers told you to say to me?” said little Ida. But Sophylooked quite stupid， and said not a single word.
“You are not kind at all，” said Ida; “and yet they all danced with you.”
then she took a little paper box， on which were painted beautiful birds， and laid the deadflowers in it.
“This shall be your pretty coffin，” she said; “and by and by， when my cousins come tovisit me， they shall help me to bury you out in the garden; so that next summer you maygrow up again more beautiful than ever.”
Her cousins were two good-tempered boys， whose names were James and Adolphus. theirfather had given them each a bow and arrow， and they had brought them to show Ida. Shetold them about the poor flowers which were dead; and as soon as they obtainedpermission， they went with her to bury them. The two boys walked first， with theircrossbows on their shoulders， and little Ida followed， carrying the pretty box containing thedead flowers. They dug a little grave in the garden. Ida kissed her flowers and then laid them，with the box， in the earth. James and Adolphus then fired their crossbows over the grave，as they had neither guns nor cannons.