Little Ida’s Flowers by Hans Christian Andersen. Short summary

5 seconds

A student told Ida that flowers give balls at night. The girl dreamed that the flowers were dancing. But in the morning they wilted completely. Ida buried them with all honors.

1 minute

Ida asked the student why the flowers in her bouquet hung their heads. «Because they danced all night at the ball and were tired,» he said. Ida placed the bouquet in the doll’s crib so the flowers could rest.

At night the girl had a dream. All of her flowers from the windowsill stood in the middle of the room and began to dance. They were joined by a bouquet, put by Ida the day before in the doll’s crib.

The dolls and all the girl’s toys also danced. The flowers even danced with the haughty Sophie, whose crib was occupied by the bouquet. Ida watched this ball with bated breath.

After dancing, the flowers in the bouquet said they were more tired than ever. They asked doll Sophie to tell Ida to bury them in the garden, where the dead canary was buried. Then they would come back to life in the spring.

In the morning, the girl rushed to the crib. Alas, the flowers had all wilted. Ida put them in a beautiful box and took them with her cousins to the garden. There the children dug a hole and covered the grave with earth. And then the boys shot a salute with their bows — they didn’t have guns.