"Johanna,you have become one of the holy ones!"and he looked at her with heavy,tired eyes.And Johannaread the psalm,but not from the book—she did not haveone,she knew it by heart.
"Those were beautiful words,"said he,"but I couldnot quite follow.It is so heavy in my head!"
Rasmus had become an old man,but Elsie was nolonger young either,if we are to mention her;Rasmus nev-er did.She was a grandmother;a little flippant girl washer grandchild,the little one played with the other childrenin the village.Rasmus came,leaning on his stick;hestood still,looked at the children's play,smiled to them,old times shone into his thoughts.Elsie's grandchild point-ed at him."Poor Rasmus!"she shouted;the other childrenfollowed her example and shouted"Poor Rasmus!"andfollowed the old man with shrieks.
It was a grey,heavy day,and several like it fol-lowed,but after grey and heavy days there comes a sun-shiny one.
It was a lovely Whitsuntide,the church was deco-rated with green birch branches,there was the smell ofthe woods,and the sun shone over the church pews.Thebig altar candles were lighted,it was communion;Johan-na was amongst those kneeling there,but Rasmus was notamongst them.Just that morning our Lord had calledhim.With God are compassion and mercy.
Many years have passed since then;the tailor'shouse stands there still,but no one lives there,it mayfall with the first storm.The pool is covered with reeds anbuck-bean.The wind moans in the old tree,it is as ifone heard a song;the wind sings it,the tree tells it;ifyou don't understand it,then ask old Johanna in the almshouse.
She lives there,she sings her psalm,the one shesang for Rasmus; she thinks of him,prays to our Lord forhim,the faithful soul that she is.She can tell about the past times,the memories,which moan in the old tree.
这篇作品发表在1872年，收集在哥本哈根出版的《新的童话和故事集》第3卷第2部里。这是这个集子的最后一部，出版的具体日期是1872年3月30日，离安徒生去世只有三年。安徒生的创作活动已经进入尾声。这是安徒生最后写的一篇有关童年时**始的爱情故事。像他写的所有的这类故事一样，它的结尾照例是悲剧。他在暮年写出这样一篇故事，他的心态是怎样，我们无从推测。人老了忘性大，但儿童时代及青年时代的事情总记得很清楚，常常回到记忆中来。这个故事是否与安徒生本人的回忆有关，我们也无从推测。
不过安徒生这样解释他写这个故事的背景：“我儿时在奥登塞的时候看见过一个人，骨瘦如柴，很像骷髅，瘦弱不堪。一个年老的妇人——她常常讲些童话故事给我听——告诉我说，这人非常不幸。”看来，那个“熬锅”在他居留在国外的时候，就没有停止熬煮过。据说一个年轻人不管离开家多么远，爱他的人可以强迫他回来，办法是找一个巫婆把锅放在火上，把各种稀奇古怪的东西放进去，让它日夜熬煮。当一个年轻人回到家来的时候，他只会剩下皮包骨，样子极为可怜——是的，一般是直到他离开人世。这篇故事实际上写于1872年9月16—24日，安徒生写完这篇童话后，就再也没有能提起笔来。