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                       THE TIN SOLDIER

   Once upon a time . . . there lived a child who had a lot of toys. The child
kept his toys in his room and spent many happy hours everyday playing with 
them. One of his favourite games was the battle with the tin soldiers. He 
arranged the little toy soldiers in their respective ranks and fought 
imaginary battles.
   When the boy received the soldiers, as a present, he noticed that one of 
them had been made, by mistake, with just one leg. Despite the missing limb, 
the boy placed the little mutilated soldier in the front lines, encouraging 
him to be the most valorous of all the little soldiers. The child did not know
that, at night, the toys became animated and talked between themselves.
   It often happened that, when lining up the soldiers after playing with 
them, the little boy would forget about the little tin soldier without a leg 
and left him with all the other toys. It was thus that the little metal 
soldier got to talk to a pretty tin ballerina.
   A great friendship was born between the two, and pretty soon the little 
soldier fell in love with the ballerina. But the nights went by quickly, and 
he did not find the courage to declare his love to her. When the child played 
with the soldiers and positioned him in the front lines, the little soldier 
hoped that the ballerina would notice his courage in battle. And in the 
evening, when the ballerina asked the soldier if he had been afraid, he 
proudly answered, "No." 
   But the loving stares and sighs of the little soldier did not go unnoticed 
by the jack-in-the-box. One night, the jackin-the-box said to the little 
soldier: "Hey you! Don't look at the ballerina like that!" The poor little 
soldier was confused and he blushed, but the kind ballerina cheered him up.
   "Don't listen to him, he is ugly and jealous. I am very happy to talk to 
you," she said blushing too. The two little tin flgurines were both too shy to
speak of their love.
   One day they were separated. The boy picked up the tin soldier and placed 
him on the window-sill. 
   "You stay here and watch for the enemy," he said. Then the boy played 
inside with the other soliders.
   It was summer and in the days that followed the soldier remained on the 
window-sill. But one afternoon there was a sudden storm and a strong wind 
shook the windows. The Iittle soldier fell head first off the window-sill. His
bayonet stuck into the ground. It kept raining and storming and pretty soon 
the rain formed big puddles and the gutters were full. A group of boys in the 
nearby school waited for the storm to end and when it stopped raining hard 
they ran outdoors. 
   Joking and laughing, the boys hopped over the bigger puddles while two of 
them cautiously walked next to the wall so that the sprinkling rain wouldn't 
wet them. These two boys noticed the little tin soldier stuck in the sodden 
earth.
   "Too bad he has just one leg. Otherwise, I'd take him home with me," one of
the boys said. The other boy picked him up and put him in his pocket.
   "Let's take him anyway," he said. "We could use him for something." On the 
other side of the street, the gutter was overflowing and the current carried a
little paper boat.
   "Let's put the little soldier in the boat and make him a sailor," said the 
boy who had picked up the tin soldier.And so the little soldier became a 
sailor.
   The whirling gutter flowed into a sewer and the little boat was carried 
down the drain. The water in the underground sewage was deep and muddy. Big 
rats gnashed their teeth as the vessel and its unusual passenger flowed by. 
The boat was soaked and about to sink. But the little soldier, who had faced 
far greater dangers in battle, was not afraid. The water of the sewer then 
flowed into the river and the little boat, now overturned, was swept by the 
high waves. The little tin soldier realized his end was near. After the paper 
boat was wrecked, he sank in deep waters. A thousand thoughts went through the
little soldier's mind, but one in particular anguished him:
   "I will never see my sweet little ballerina again!" But a huge mouth 
swallowed the little tin soldier and, once again, his destiny took an 
unexpected turn.
   The little soldier found himself in the stomach of a large fish who had 
been lured by the glittering colours of his uniform. The fish, however, did 
not even have time to digest his meal because, shortly after having swallowed 
the soldier, he was caught in the net of a fisherman. Shortly after, the 
gasping fish ended up in a big basket and was brought to the market.
   Meanwhile, a cook was on her way to the market. She worked in the very same
house where the little soldier used to live.
   "This fish will be perfect for tonight's guests," the cook said when she 
saw the big fish on the fish market's counter. The fish ended up in the 
kitchen and when the cook slit its belly to clean it she found the little tin 
soldier.
   "This looks like one of our boy's toy soldiers . . ." she thought, and ran 
to the boy to show him her discovery.
   "That's right, it's my soldier!" the little boy cheered, when he recognized
the soldier with the missing leg.
   "I wonder how he got into the fish's belly? Poor soldier, he must have gone
through a lot of trouble since he fell off the window-sill!" The little boy 
placed the soldier on the mantle, right next to his sister's ballerina.
   The amazing ways of destiny had once again reunited the two lovers. The 
little soldier and the ballerina were very happy to be close to each other. At
night they talked about what had happened after their separation. But the ill 
disposition of fate had another surprise in store for them.
   One day a sudden gust of wind lifted the heavy drape of the window and hit 
the ballerina, who fell into the flreplace. The little soldier saw his friend 
fall into the fireplace and he was frightened. He knew a fire was lit because 
he could feel its warmth. He was desperate, conscious of not being able to do 
anything to save the ballerina. In fact, fire is the greatest enemy of tin 
figurines because it melts metals. Rocking back and forth on his one leg, the
little soldier tried to move the metal base under his feet that held him in
place.
   He kept trying to move until he fell into the fire as well. The two 
figurines were reunited in their misfortune. They were so close to each other 
now, that their metal bases began melting together. The tin of one base melted
with the metal of the other, and the metal strangely moulded into the shape of
a heart. As their bodies were about to begin melting as well, the little boy 
went by the fireplace and saw the two little figurines enveloped by the flames
and moved them away from the blaze with his foot.
   Ever since then the soldier and the ballerina have been melted close to 
each other, sharing their destiny and a common base shaped like a heart.