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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Toto's Merry Winter, by Laura E. Richards
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: Toto's Merry Winter
-
-Author: Laura E. Richards
-
-Release Date: December 11, 2012 [EBook #41603]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOTO'S MERRY WINTER ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
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-
-
-TOTO'S MERRY WINTER.
-
-
-
-
-TOTO'S
-
-MERRY WINTER.
-
-BY
-
-LAURA E. RICHARDS,
-
-    AUTHOR OF
-    "THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO," "FIVE MICE IN A MOUSETRAP,"
-    "SKETCHES AND SCRAPS," ETC., ETC.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-    BOSTON:
-    ROBERTS BROTHERS.
-    1887.
-
-
-
-
-    _Copyright, 1887_,
-    BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.
-
-    University Press:
-    JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
-
-
-
-
-    TO
-
-    The Blind Children of the Perkins Institution,
-
-    WHO HAVE LISTENED TO THE FIRST
-
-    "STORY OF TOTO,"
-
-    _THIS SECOND AND LAST PART OF HIS
-    ADVENTURES_
-
-    IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
-
-
-
-
-TOTO'S MERRY WINTER.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-
-IT was evening,--a good, old-fashioned winter evening, cold without,
-warm and merry within. The snow was falling lightly, softly, with no
-gusts of wind to trouble it and send it whirling and drifting hither and
-thither. It covered the roof with a smooth white counterpane, tucking it
-in neatly and carefully round the edges; it put a tall conical cap on
-top of the pump, and laid an ermine fold over his long and impressive
-nose. Myriads of curious little flakes pattered softly--oh! very
-softly--against the windows of the cottage, pressing against the glass
-to see what was going on inside, and saying, "Let us in! let us in!
-please do!" But nobody seemed inclined to let them in, so they were
-forced to content themselves with looking.
-
-Indeed, the aspect of the kitchen was very inviting, and it is no wonder
-that the little cold flakes wanted to get in. A great fire was crackling
-and leaping on the hearth. The whole room seemed to glow and glitter:
-brass saucepans, tin platters, glass window-panes, all cast their very
-brightest glances toward the fire, to show him that they appreciated his
-efforts. Over this famous fire, in the very midst of the dancing,
-flickering tongues of yellow flame, hung a great black soup-kettle,
-which was almost boiling over with a sense of its own importance, and a
-kindly consciousness of the good things cooking inside it.
-
-"Bubble! b-r-r-r-r! bubble! hubble!" said the black kettle, with a fat
-and spluttering enunciation.
-
-    "Bubble, hubble! b-r-r-r-r-r-r! bubble!
-     Lots of fun, and very little trouble!"
-
-On the hob beside the fire sat the tea-kettle, a brilliant contrast to
-its sooty neighbor. It was of copper, so brightly burnished that it
-shone like the good red gold. The tea-kettle did not bubble,--it
-considered bubbling rather vulgar; but it was singing very merrily, in a
-clear pleasant voice, and pouring out volumes of steam from its slender
-copper nose. "I am doing all I can to make myself agreeable!" the
-tea-kettle said to itself. "I am boiling just right,--hard enough to
-make a good cheerful noise, and not so hard as to boil all the water
-away. And _why_ that beast should sit and glower at me there as he is
-doing, is more than I can understand."
-
-"That beast" was a raccoon. I think some of you children may have seen
-him before. He was sitting in front of the fire, with his beautiful tail
-curled comfortably about his toes; and he certainly _was_ staring very
-hard at the tea-kettle. Presently the kettle, in pure playfulness and
-good-will, lifted its cover a little and let out an extra puff of snowy
-steam; and at that the raccoon gave a jump, and moved farther away from
-the fire, without ever taking his eyes off the kettle.
-
-The fact is, that for the first time in his life the raccoon knew what
-_fear_ was. He was afraid--mortally afraid--of that tea-kettle.
-
-"Don't tell me!" he had said to Toto, only the day before, "don't tell
-_me_ it isn't alive! It breathes, and it talks, and it moves, and if
-that isn't being alive I don't know what is."
-
-"Coon, how utterly absurd you are!" cried Toto, laughing. "It _doesn't_
-move, except when some one takes it up, of course, or tilts it on the
-hob."
-
-"Toto," said the raccoon, speaking slowly and impressively, "as sure as
-you are a living boy, I saw that kettle take off the top of its head and
-look out of its own inside, only last night. And before that," he added,
-looking rather shamefaced, "I--I just put my paw in to see what there
-was inside, and the creature caught it and took all the skin off."
-
-But here Toto burst into a fit of laughter, and said, "Served you
-right!" which was so rude that the raccoon went off and sat under the
-table, in a huff.
-
-So this time, when the kettle took off the top of its head, Coon did not
-run out into the shed, as he had done before, because he was ashamed
-when he remembered Toto's laughter. He only moved away a little, and
-looked and felt thoroughly uncomfortable.
-
-But now steps were heard outside. The latch clicked, the door opened,
-and Toto and Bruin entered, each carrying a foaming pail of milk. They
-brushed the snow from their coats, and Toto took off his, which the good
-bear could not well do; then, when they had carried their milk-pails
-into the dairy, they came and sat down by the fire, with an air of being
-ready to enjoy themselves. The raccoon winked at them by way of
-greeting, but did not speak.
-
-"Well, Coon," said Bruin, in his deep bass voice, "what have you been
-doing all the afternoon? Putting your tail in curl-papers, eh?"
-
-"Not at all," replied the raccoon with dignity, "I have been sweeping
-the hearth; sweeping it," he added, with a majestic curl of his tail,
-"in a manner which _some_ people [here he glanced superciliously at the
-bear] could hardly manage."
-
-"I am sure," said the boy Toto, holding out his hands toward the ruddy
-fire-blaze, "it is a blessing that Bruin has no tail. Just fancy how he
-would go knocking things about! Why, it would be two yards long, if it
-were in the same proportion as yours, Coon!"
-
-"Hah!" said the raccoon, yawning, "very likely. And what have you two
-been doing, pray, since dinner?"
-
-"I have been splitting kindling-wood," said Toto, "and building a snow
-fort, and snowballing Bruin. And he has--"
-
-"I have been talking to the pig," said Bruin, very gravely. "The pig.
-Yes. He is a very singular animal, that pig. Is it true," he added,
-turning to Toto, "that he has never left that place, that sty, since he
-was born?"
-
-"Never, except to go into the yard by the cow-shed," said Toto. "His sty
-opens into the yard, you know. But I don't think he cares to go out
-often."
-
-"That is what he said," rejoined the bear. "That is what struck me as so
-very strange. He said he never went out, from one winter to another. And
-when I asked why, he snorted, and said, 'For fear the wind should blow
-my bristles off.' Said it in a very rude way, you know. I don't think
-his manners are good. I shall not go to see him again, except in the way
-of taking his food to him. But here we sit, talking," continued the
-bear, rising, "when we ought to be getting supper. Come! come! you lazy
-fellows, and help me set the table."
-
-With this, the good bear proceeded to tie a huge white apron round his
-great black, shaggy body, and began to poke the fire, and to stir the
-contents of the soup-kettle with a long wooden spoon,--all with a very
-knowing air, as if he had done nothing but cook all his life. Meanwhile,
-the raccoon and Toto spread a clean cloth on the table, and set out
-cups and plates, a huge brown bowl for the bear, a smaller one for the
-raccoon, etc. Bread and milk, and honey and baked apples came next; the
-soup-kettle yielded up a most savory stew, made of everything good, and
-onions besides; and finally, when all was ready, Toto ran and knocked at
-the door of his grandmother's room, crying, "Granny, dear! supper is
-ready, and we are only waiting for you."
-
-The door opened, and the blind grandmother came out, with the little
-squirrel perched on her shoulder.
-
-"Good evening to you all!" she said, with her sweet smile and her pretty
-little old-fashioned courtesy. "We have been taking a nap, Cracker and
-I, and we feel quite refreshed and ready for the evening."
-
-The grandmother looked ten years younger, Toto was constantly telling
-her, than she did the year before; and, indeed, it was many years since
-she had had such a pleasant, easy life. Helpful as Toto had always been
-to her, still, he was only a little boy, though a very good one; and by
-far the larger share of work had fallen to the old lady herself. But now
-there were willing hands--paws, I should say--to help her at every turn.
-The bear washed and cooked, churned and scrubbed, with never-tiring
-energy and good-will. The raccoon worked very hard indeed: he said so,
-and nobody took the trouble to contradict him. He swept the kitchen
-occasionally, and did a good deal of graceful and genteel dusting with
-his long bushy tail, and tasted all the food that Bruin cooked, to see
-if it had the proper flavor. Besides these heavy duties, he caught rats,
-teased the cow, pulled the parrot's tail whenever he got a chance, and,
-as he expressed it, "tried to make things pleasant generally." The
-little squirrel had constituted himself a special attendant on "Madam,"
-as the forest-friends all called the grandmother. He picked up her ball
-of yarn when it rolled off her lap, as it was constantly doing. He
-cracked nuts for her, brought her the spices and things when she made
-her famous gingerbread, and went to sleep in her ample pocket when he
-had nothing else to do. As for the wood-pigeon and the parrot, they were
-happy and contented, each in her own way, each on her own comfortable
-perch, at her own window.
-
-Thus had all Toto's summer playmates become winter friends, fast and
-true; and it would be difficult to find a happier party than that which
-gathered round the bright fire, on this and every other evening, when
-the tea-things were put away, the hearth newly swept, and a great
-tin-pan full of nuts and apples placed on the clean hearth-stone. Only
-one of the animals whom you remember in Toto's summer story was missing
-from the circle; that was the woodchuck. But he was not very far off. If
-you had looked into a certain little cupboard near the fireplace,--a
-quaint little cupboard, in which lived three blue ginger-jars and a
-great pewter tankard,--you would have seen, lying in the warmest corner,
-next the fireplace, something which looked at first sight like a large
-knitted ball of red yarn. On looking closer, you would have seen that
-it was a ball of brown fur, enclosed in a knitted covering. If you had
-taken off the covering and unrolled the ball, you would have found that
-it was a woodchuck, sound asleep.
-
-Poor Chucky had found it quite impossible to accept the new arrangement.
-He had always been in the habit of sleeping all through the winter; and
-while the other animals had succeeded, after a long time, in conquering
-their sleepiness (though it was still a very common thing to find Bruin
-asleep over the churn, and Coon had a way of creeping into Toto's bed at
-odd times during the day), the woodchuck had succumbed entirely after
-the first week, and had now been asleep for a couple of months. At
-first, after he had dropped into his long slumber, the bear and the
-raccoon had played ball with him a good deal, tossing him about with
-great agility. But one day the living ball had fallen into the
-soup-kettle, where the water was so hot as to elicit a miserable sleepy
-squeak from the victim, and the grandmother had promptly forbidden the
-game. It was then that she knit the red-worsted cover for poor Chucky,
-for she said she could not bear to think of his sleeping all winter with
-nothing over him; and she put him away in the cupboard by the fireplace,
-and wished him pleasant dreams as she closed the door. So there the
-woodchuck lay, warm and comfortable, but too sound asleep to know
-anything about it. And the three blue ginger-jars and the pewter tankard
-kept watch over him, though they had their own ideas about this stranger
-having been popped in among them without so much as saying, "By your
-leave!"
-
-As I was saying, it was a happy party that sit around the blazing fire.
-The grandmother in her high-backed armchair, knitting in hand; Toto
-sitting Turk-fashion on the hearth-rug, his curly head resting on the
-shaggy coat of the bear, who sat solemnly on his haunches, blinking with
-sober pleasure at the fire; the raccoon on a low hassock, which was his
-favorite seat in the evening, as it showed off his tail to great
-advantage; the parrot and the wood-pigeon perched on the high
-chair-back, and standing on one leg or two, as they felt inclined.
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed the little squirrel, who had stationed himself on the
-top of Bruin's head, as a convenient and suitable place, "Ah! now this
-is what _I_ call comfort. Snowing fast outside, is isn't it, Bruin?"
-
-"Yes!" replied the bear.
-
-"That makes it all the more jolly inside!" said the squirrel. "What are
-we to do this evening? Is it a story evening, or dancing-school and
-games?"
-
-"We had dancing-school last night," said the bear. "I haven't got over
-it yet. I backed into the fire twice in 'forward and back, and cross
-over.' Let us have a story to-night."
-
-"Yes!" said the grandmother. "It is just the night for a story; and if
-you wish it, I will tell you one myself."
-
-"Oh! please, Madam!" "Thank you, Madam!" "Hurrah! Granny!" resounded on
-all sides, for the grandmother's stories were very popular; so, settling
-herself back in her chair, and beginning a new row in her knitting, the
-good woman said:--
-
-"This story was told to me by my own grandmother. A story that has been
-told by two grandmothers in succession is supposed to be always true;
-you may therefore believe as much of this as you like."
-
-And without further preface, she began as follows:--
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE STORY OF CHOP-CHIN AND THE GOLDEN DRAGON.
-
-
-ONCE upon a time, long ago and long ago, there lived in Pekin, which, as
-you all know, is the chief city of the Chinese Empire, a boy whose name
-was Chop-Chin. He was the son of Ly-Chee, a sweeper of the Imperial
-court-yard, whose duty it was to keep the pavement of the court-yard
-always absolutely clean, in case His Celestial Majesty, the Emperor,
-should feel inclined to put his celestial and majestic nose
-out-of-doors. Chop-Chin hoped to become a sweeper also, when he was a
-little older; but at the time when my story begins he was only twelve
-years old, and the law required that all sweepers should have passed
-their fourteenth year. So Chop-Chin helped his mother about the
-house,--for he was a good boy,--carried his father's dinner to him, and
-made himself generally useful.
-
-One day Chop-Chin entered the court-yard at the usual time, carrying a
-jar of rice on his head, and a melon in one hand. These were for his
-father's dinner, and setting them down in a shaded corner, on the cool
-white marble pavement, he looked about for his father. But Ly-Chee was
-nowhere to be seen. A group of sweepers stood at the farther end of the
-court-yard, talking together in a state of wild excitement, with many
-gestures. One of them drew his hand across his throat rapidly, and they
-all shuddered. Some one was to be killed, then? Chop-Chin wondered what
-it all meant. Suddenly one of the group caught sight of him, and at once
-they fell silent. Two or three, who were friends of his father, began to
-wring their hands and tear their clothes, and the oldest sweeper of all
-advanced solemnly toward the boy, holding out both his hands, with the
-palms downward, in token of sympathy.
-
-"My son," he said, "what is man's life but a string of beads, which at
-one time or another must be broken? Shall the wise man disquiet himself
-whether more or fewer beads have passed over the hand?"
-
-"What words are these?" cried Chop-Chin, alarmed, though he knew not
-why. "Why do you look and speak so strangely, Yow-Lay; and where is my
-father?"
-
-The old sweeper led the boy to a stone bench, and bade him sit down
-beside him. "Thou knowest," he said, "that the first duty of us sweepers
-is to keep the court-yard always as clean as the sky after rain, and as
-white as the breath of the frost."
-
-"I know it well," replied the boy. "Does not my father wear out two
-pairs of scrubbing-shoes in a month--"
-
-"Scrubbing-shoes, Granny?" said Toto, softly. "I didn't mean to
-interrupt, but what _are_ scrubbing-shoes?"
-
-"I remember asking the same question at your age, Toto," said the old
-lady, "and my grandmother told me that the sweepers always wore shoes
-with very thick soles, in which stiff bristles were fastened as in a
-scrubbing-brush. It was their custom to dash the water in bucketfuls
-over the pavement, and then dance violently about, scrubbing with their
-feet as hard as they could."
-
-"Oh, what fun!" cried Toto. "Mayn't we try it some day, Granny? I'll
-fasten four brushes to your feet, Coon, and you can scrub the floor
-every day."
-
-"Thank you, kindly!" said the raccoon. "If you can get the brushes on my
-feet, I will pledge myself to dance in them. That is certainly fair."
-
-He winked slyly at Toto, while the grandmother continued:--
-
-"Alas! my son," said the old man, "your father will wear out no more
-scrubbing-shoes. Listen! This morning, while we were all busily at work,
-it chanced through some evil fate that His Celestial Majesty felt a
-desire to taste the freshness of the morning air. Unannounced he came,
-with only the Princely Parasol-Holder, the Unique Umbrella-Opener, and
-seven boys to hold up his celestial train. You know that your father is
-slightly deaf? Yes. Well, he stood--my good friend Ly-Chee--he stood
-with his back to the palace. He heard not the noise of the opening door,
-and at the very moment when His Celestial Majesty stepped out into the
-court-yard, Ly-Chee cast a great bucketful of ice-cold water backward,
-with fatal force and precision."
-
-Chop-Chin shuddered, and hid his face in his hands.
-
-"Picture to yourself the dreadful scene!" continued the ancient sweeper.
-"The Celestial Petticoat, of yellow satin damask, was drenched. The
-Celestial Shoes, of chicken-skin embroidered in gold, were reduced to a
-pulp. A shriek burst from every mouth! Your unhappy father turned, and
-seeing what he had done, fell on his face, as did all the rest of us. In
-silence we waited for the awful voice, which presently said:--
-
-"'Princely Parasol-Holder, our feet are wet.'
-
-"The Princely Parasol-Holder groaned, and chattered his teeth together
-to express his anguish.
-
-"'Unique Umbrella-Opener,' continued the Emperor, 'our petticoat is
-completely saturated.'
-
-"The Unique Umbrella-Opener tore his clothes, and shook his hair wildly
-about his face, with moans of agony.
-
-"'Let this man's head be removed at sunrise to-morrow!' concluded His
-Celestial Majesty.
-
-"Then we all, lying on our faces, wept and cried aloud, and besought the
-celestial mercy for our comrade. We told the Emperor of Ly-Chee's long
-and faithful service; of his upright and devout life; of his wife and
-children, who looked to him for their daily bread. But all was of no
-avail. He repeated, in dreadful tones, his former words:--
-
-"'Our feet are wet. Our petticoat is saturated. Let this man's head be
-removed at sunrise to-morrow.'
-
-"Then the Unique Umbrella-Holder, who is a kindly man, made also
-intercession for Ly-Chee. But now the Emperor waxed wroth, and he
-said:--
-
-"'Are our clothes to be changed, or do we stand here all day in wetness
-because of this dog? We swear that unless the Golden Dragon himself come
-down from his altar and beg for this man's life, he shall die! Enough!'
-And with these words he withdrew into the palace.
-
-"So thou seest, my son," said the old man, sadly, "that all is over with
-thy poor father. He is now in the prison of the condemned, and to-morrow
-at sunrise he must die. Go home, boy, and comfort thy poor mother,
-telling her this sad thing as gently as thou mayest."
-
-Chop-Chin arose, kissed the old man's hand in token of gratitude for his
-kindness, and left the court-yard without a word. His head was in a
-whirl, and strange thoughts darted through it. He went home, but did not
-tell his mother of the fate which awaited her husband on the morrow. He
-could not feel that it was true. It _could not be_ that the next day,
-all in a moment, his father would cease to live. There must be some
-way,--_some_ way to save him. And then he seemed to hear the dreadful
-words, "Unless the Golden Dragon himself come down from his altar and
-beg for this man's life, he shall die." He told his mother, in answer to
-her anxious questions, that his father meant to pass the night in the
-court-yard, as he would be wanted very early in the morning; and as it
-was a hot day, and promised a warm night, the good woman felt no
-uneasiness, but turned again to her pots and pans.
-
-But Chop-Chin sat on the bench in front of the house, with his head in
-his hands thinking deeply.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-That evening, at sunset, a boy was seen walking slowly along the
-well-paved street which led to the great temple of the Golden Dragon. He
-was clad in a snow-white tunic falling to his knees; his arms and legs
-were bare; and his pig-tail, unbraided and hanging in a crinkly mass
-below his waist, showed that he was bent on some sacred mission. In his
-hands, raised high above his head, he carried a bronze bowl of curious
-workmanship. Many people turned to look at the boy, for his face and
-figure were of singular beauty.
-
-"He carries the prayers of some great prince," they said, "to offer at
-the shrine of the Golden Dragon."
-
-And, indeed, it was at the great bronze gate of the Temple that the boy
-stopped. Poising the bronze bowl gracefully on his head with one hand,
-with the other he knocked three times on the gate. It opened, and
-revealed four guards clad in black armor, who stood with glittering
-pikes crossed, their points towards the boy.
-
-"What seekest thou," asked the leader, "in the court of the Holy
-Dragon?"
-
-Chop-Chin (for I need not tell you the boy was he) lowered the bowl from
-his head, and offered it to the soldier with a graceful reverence.
-
-"Tong-Ki-Tcheng," he said, "sends you greeting, and a draught of cool
-wine. He begs your prayers to the Holy Dragon that he may recover from
-his grievous sickness, and prays that I may pass onward to the shrine."
-
-The guards bowed low at the name of Tong-Ki-Tcheng, a powerful Prince of
-the Empire, who lay sick of a fever in his palace, as all the city knew.
-Each one in turn took a draught from the deep bowl, and the leader
-said:--
-
-"Our prayers shall go up without ceasing for Tong-Ki-Tcheng, the noble
-and great. Pass on, fair youth, and good success go with thee!"
-
-They lowered their pikes, and Chop-Chin passed slowly through the
-court-yard paved with black marble, and came to the second gate, which
-was of shining steel. Here he knocked again, and the gate was opened by
-four guards clad in steel from top to toe, and glittering in the evening
-light.
-
-"What seekest thou," they asked, "in the court of the Holy Dragon?"
-
-Chop-Chin answered as before:--
-
-"Tong-Ki-Tcheng sends you greeting, and a draught of cool wine. He begs
-your prayers to the Holy Dragon that he may recover from his grievous
-sickness, and prays that I may pass onward to the shrine."
-
-The guards drank deeply from the bowl, and their leader replied: "Our
-prayers shall not cease to go up for Tong-Ki-Tcheng. Pass on, and good
-success go with thee!"
-
-Onward the boy went, holding the bronze bowl high above his head. He
-crossed the white marble court-yard, and his heart beat when he came to
-the third gate, which was of whitest ivory, for he knew that beyond the
-third court-yard was the Temple itself,--the House of Gold, in which
-dwelt the mighty Dragon, the most sacred idol in all China. He paused a
-moment, and then with a steady hand knocked at the gate. It opened
-without a sound, and there stood four guards in white armor inlaid with
-gold. The same questions and answers were repeated. They drank from the
-bowl, promised their prayers for Tong-Ki-Tcheng, and then bade the boy
-pass onward to the golden gate, which gleamed at the farther end of the
-court-yard.
-
-"But see that thou touch not the gate!" said the chief soldier. "It is
-the gate of the Temple itself, and no profane hand may rest upon it.
-Speak only, and the priests will hear and open to thee."
-
-Softly Chop-Chin paced across the last court, which was paved with
-blocks of ivory and silver, laid in cunning patterns. Halting before the
-gate of gold, he raised the bowl in his hands, and said softly:--
-
-    "Ka Ho Yai! Yai Nong Ti!
-     Tong-Ki-Tcheng Lo Hum Ki Ni!"
-
-The gates opened, and showed four priests in robes of cloth-of-gold,
-with golden censers in hand.
-
-"Rash youth!" said the chief priest, "by what right or by whose order
-comest thou here, to the Sacred Shrine of the Holy Dragon?"
-
-Chop-Chin knelt upon the threshold of the golden gate, and, with bowed
-head and downcast eyes, held out the bronze bowl.
-
-"By the right of mortal sickness, most holy priest, come I hither!" he
-said, "and by order of the noble Tong-Ki-Tcheng. He prays thee and thy
-brethren to drink to his recovery from his grievous malady, and that
-your prayers may go up with mine at the Jewelled Shrine itself."
-
-The priest drank solemnly from the bowl, and handed it to his
-assistants, the last of whom drained the last drop of wine.
-
-"Our prayers shall truly go up for Tong-Ki-Tcheng," he said. "Give me
-thy hand, fair youth, and I will lead thee to the Jewelled Shrine. But
-first I will cover thine eyes, for none save ourselves, priests of the
-First Order of the Saki-Pan, may look upon the face of the Holy Dragon."
-
-So saying, he bound a silk handkerchief firmly over the boy's eyes, and
-taking his hand, led him slowly forward.
-
-Chop-Chin's heart was beating so violently that he was half suffocated.
-He felt the floor suddenly cold, cold, beneath his feet, and knew that
-he was walking on the golden floor of the Temple. A few steps farther,
-the hand of the priest drew him downward, and together with the four
-priests he lay prostrate on his face before the shrine of the Golden
-Dragon.
-
-A great silence followed. The warm, incense-laden air was stirred by no
-sound save the breathing of the five suppliants. No breeze rustled the
-heavy satin curtains which shrouded the windows; no hum of insect or
-song of bird came from the outer world, which was fast settling down
-into night.
-
-Silence!
-
-The boy Chop-Chin lay as still as if he were carved in marble. He held
-his breath from time to time, and his whole being seemed strained to one
-effort,--that of listening. Did he hear anything? Was the breathing of
-the four priests changing a little,--growing deeper, growing louder?
-There! and there again! was that a whisper of prayer, or was it--could
-it be--the faintest suspicion of a snore? He lay still; waited and
-listened, listened and waited. After a little while there could be no
-doubt about it,--the four men were breathing heavily, slowly, regularly;
-and one of them rolled out a sonorous, a majestic snore, which resounded
-through the heavy perfumed air of the Temple, yet caused no movement
-among the other three. There could be no doubt about it,--the priests
-were asleep!
-
-Slowly, softly, the boy lifted his head; then he rose to his knees, and
-looked fearfully at the sleepers. There they lay, flat on their faces,
-their hands clasped over their heads. He touched one of them,--there was
-no answering movement. He shook another by the shoulders; he shook them
-all. They snored in concert, but gave no other sign of life. The drugged
-wine had done its work.
-
-Then, and not till then, did Chop-Chin venture to lift his eyes and look
-upon the awful mystery which was hidden by these golden walls. He
-trembled, he turned white as the tunic which covered his dusky limbs;
-but standing erect, he gazed firmly at the Golden Dragon. From the floor
-rose a splendid altar of gold, studded thick with precious gems. Rubies,
-sapphires, and emeralds, set in mystic lines and figures, formed the
-characters which told the thirty-two names of the world-renowned dragon;
-and on the top of this glittering pedestal, fifteen feet in the air,
-stood the idol itself.
-
-It was, indeed, a marvellous thing to look upon. Ten feet long, composed
-entirely of thin scales of the purest gold, laid over and over each
-other, and each scale tipped with a diamond. Two magnificent rubies
-glowed in the eye-sockets, and the head was surmounted by a crown of
-emeralds worth any ordinary kingdom. But the tail! the tail was the
-wonder of wonders. Millions of delicate gold wires as fine as silk waved
-gracefully from the scaly tip a length of three feet, and each one was
-tipped with a diamond, a ruby, or an emerald of surpassing beauty and
-lustre. So wonderful was the shimmering light of the stones that the
-whole tail seemed to sway and curl to and fro, as if some living
-creature were moving it, and rays of rainbow-colored light darted from
-it on every side, dazzling the eyes of the beholder.
-
-Chop-Chin gazed and gazed, and hid his eyes and trembled, and gazed
-again. At last he shook himself together, and whispered, "My father! my
-father!" Then softly, surely, he began to climb up the golden altar.
-Stepping carefully from glittering point to point, holding on here by a
-projecting ornament of carven amethyst, there by a block of jasper or
-onyx, he reached the top; then steadying himself, he leaned forward and
-lifted the Holy Dragon from its stand. To his amazement, instead of
-being barely able to move it, he found he could easily carry it, for the
-golden plates which formed it were so delicate that the weight of the
-whole great creature was incredibly small. Lightly the boy lifted it in
-his arms, and slowly, surely, noiselessly bore it to the ground. Here
-he paused, and looked keenly at the sleeping priests. Did that one's
-eyelids quiver; did his mouth twitch, as if he were waking from his
-sleep? Was that a movement of yon other man's arm, as if he were
-stealthily preparing to rise, to spring upon the sacrilegious robber?
-No! it was but the play of the colored light on the faces and raiment of
-the sleepers. The voice of their snoring still went up, calmly, evenly,
-regularly. The wine had done its work well.
-
-Then Chop-Chin took off the sash which bound his tunic at the waist, and
-shook out its folds. It was a web of crimson silk, so fine and soft that
-it could be drawn through a finger-ring, and yet, when spread out, so
-ample that the boy found no difficulty in completely covering with it
-his formidable prize. Thus enwrapped, he bore the Golden Dragon swiftly
-from the Temple, closing the doors of gold softly behind him. He crossed
-the ivory and silver pavement of the inner court, and came to the ivory
-gate. It was closed, and beside it lay the four white-clad warriors,
-sunk in profound slumber. Stepping lightly over their prostrate forms,
-Chop-Chin opened the gate softly, and found himself in the second court.
-This, also, he traversed safely, finding the armed guardians of the
-steel gate also sleeping soundly, with their mouths wide open, and their
-shining spears pointing valiantly at nothing. A touch upon the
-glittering gate,--it opened, and Chop-Chin began to breathe more freely
-when he saw the bronze gates of the outer court-yard, and knew that in
-another minute, if all went well, he would be in the open street. But,
-alas! the four guards clad in black armor, who kept watch by the outer
-gate, had been the first to drink the drugged wine, and already the
-effect of the powerful narcotic which it contained had begun to wear
-off. As Chop-Chin, bearing in his arms the shrouded figure of the mighty
-idol, approached the gate, one of the four sleepers stirred, yawned,
-rubbed his eyes, and looked about him. It was quite dark, but his eye
-caught the faint glimmer of the boy's white robe, and seizing his pike,
-he exclaimed,--
-
-"Who goes there?"
-
-Chop-Chin instantly stepped to his side, and said in a low whisper,--
-
-"It is I, Nai-Ping, second priest of the Saki-Pan, bound on business of
-the Temple. Let me pass, and quickly, for the chief priest waits my
-return."
-
-The sentinel bowed low, and undid the fastenings of the huge bronze
-gates. They swung open silently, and the boy passed through with his
-awful burden.
-
-"Strange!" soliloquized the guard, as he drew the massive bolts again.
-"I never knew one of the priests to go out at this time of night. But I
-dared not say anything, lest he should find out that I was asleep at my
-post. And now that he is gone," he added, "I may as well just take forty
-winks, as he may be away some time."
-
-So saying, he curled himself up on the marble pavement, and fell this
-time into a natural slumber.
-
-Ten o'clock of a dark night. The outer gates of the royal palace were
-closed, though lights still shone in many of the windows. Outside the
-gate a sentinel was pacing up and down, armed with pike and broadsword.
-Every time he turned on his beat, he looked up and down the narrow
-street to see if anything or anybody were approaching. Suddenly, as he
-wheeled about, he saw before him a figure which seemed to have sprung
-all in a moment out of the blackness of the night. It was the figure of
-a boy, carrying a burden considerably larger than himself,--a dark and
-shapeless mass, which yet seemed not to be heavy in proportion to its
-size.
-
-"What is this?" cried the astonished sentinel. "Who art thou, and what
-monstrous burden is this thou carriest so lightly?"
-
-"Hist!" said the boy, speaking in an awestruck whisper, "speak not so
-loud, friend! This is the Celestial Footstool!"
-
-The sentinel recoiled, and stared in dismay at the dark bundle.
-
-"May the Holy Dragon preserve me!" he said. "What has happened?"
-
-"His Celestial Majesty," replied Chop-Chin, "threw it in anger at his
-Putter-on-of-Slippers yesterday, and broke one of its legs. All day my
-master, the Chief Cabinet-maker, has been at work on it, and now he has
-sent me with it by nightfall, that no profane eye may see clearly even
-the outer covering of the sacred object."
-
-"Pass in," said the sentinel, opening the gate. "But tell me, knowest
-thou how it will fare with the Putter-on-of-Slippers? He is cousin to my
-stepfather's aunt by marriage, and I would not that aught of ill should
-befall so near a relative."
-
-"Alas! I know not," said the boy, hastening forward. "I fear it may go
-hard with him."
-
-The sentinel shook his head sadly, and resumed his walk; while Chop-Chin
-crept softly through the court-yard, keeping close to the wall, and
-feeling as he went along for a certain little door he knew of, which led
-by a staircase cut in the thickness of the wall to a certain unused
-closet, near the Celestial Bed-chamber.
-
-While all this was going on, the Emperor of China, the great and mighty
-Wah-Song, was going to bed. He had sipped his night-draught of hot wine
-mingled with honey and spices, sitting on the edge of the Celestial Bed,
-with the Celestial Nightcap of cloth-of-silver tied comfortably under
-his chin, and the Celestial Dressing-gown wrapped around him. He had
-scolded the Chief Pillow-thumper because the pillows were not fat
-enough, and because there were only ten of them instead of twelve. He
-had boxed the ears of the Tyer-of-the-Strings-of-the-Nightcap, and had
-thrown his golden goblet at the Principal Pourer, who brought him the
-wine. And when all these things were done, his Celestial Majesty
-Wah-Song got into bed, and was tucked in by the Finishing Toucher, who
-got his nose well tweaked by way of thanks. Then the taper of perfumed
-wax was lighted, and the shade of alabaster put over it, and then the
-other lights were extinguished; and then the attendants all crawled out
-backwards on their hands and knees, and shut the door after them; and
-then His Celestial Majesty went to sleep.
-
-[Illustration: At last the Emperor began to dream. He heard an awful
-voice, the voice of the Golden Dragon. "Wah-Song! Wah-Song!
-Awake!"--PAGE 44.]
-
-Peacefully the Emperor slept,--one hour, two hours, three
-hours,--discoursing eloquently the while in the common language of
-mankind,--the language of the nose. At last he began to dream,--a
-dreadful dream. He was in the Golden Temple, praying before the Jewelled
-Shrine. He heard an awful voice,--the voice of the Golden Dragon. It
-called his name; it glared upon him with its ruby eyes; it lifted its
-crowned head, and stretched its long talons toward him. Ah! ah! The
-Emperor tried to scream, but he could make no sound. Once more the
-dreadful voice was heard:--
-
-"Wah-Song! Wah-Song! Awake!"
-
-The Emperor sprang up in bed, and looked about him with eyes wild with
-terror. Ah! what was that?--that glittering form standing at the foot of
-his bed; that crowned head raised high as if in anger; those glaring
-red eyes fixed menacingly upon him!
-
-"Ah, horror! ah, destruction! the Golden Dragon is here!"
-
-With one long howl of terror and anguish, His Celestial Majesty Wah-Song
-rolled off the bed and under it, in one single motion, and lay there
-flat on his face, with his hands clasped over his head. Quaking in every
-limb, his teeth chattering, and a cold sweat pouring from him, he
-listened as the awful voice spoke again.
-
-"Wah-Song!" said the Golden Dragon, "thou hast summoned me, and I am
-here!"
-
-The wretched Emperor moaned.
-
-"I--I--I sum-summon thee, most Golden and Holy Dragon?" he stammered
-faintly. "May I be b-b-bastinadoed if I did!"
-
-"Listen!" said the Dragon, sternly, "and venture not to speak save when
-I ask thee a question. Yesterday morning, in consequence of thine own
-caprice in going out unannounced, thy silly shoes and thy pusillanimous
-petticoat became wet. For this nothing, thou has condemned to death my
-faithful servant Ly-Chee, who has brought me fresh melons every Tuesday
-afternoon for thirty years. When others, less inhuman than thou,
-interceded for his life, thou madest reply, 'We swear, that unless the
-Golden Dragon himself come down from his altar and beg for this man's
-life, he shall die!'"
-
-The Emperor groaned, and clawed the carpet in his anguish.
-
-"Therefore, Wah-Song," continued the Dragon, "I AM HERE! I come not to
-beg, but to command. Dost thou hear me?"
-
-"Ye-ye-yes!" murmured the wretched monarch. "I hear thee, Most Mighty.
-I--I--didn't know he brought thee melons. I brought thee two dozen
-pineapples myself, the other day," he added piteously.
-
-"Thou didst!" exclaimed the Golden Dragon, fiercely. "Thou didst,
-_slave!_ and they were half-rotten. HA!" and he gave a little jump on
-the floor, making his glittering tail wave, and his flaming eyes glared
-yet more fiercely at the unfortunate Wah-Song, who clung yet more
-closely to the carpet, and drummed on it with his heels in an extremity
-of fear.
-
-"Listen, now," said the Fiery Idol, "to my commands. Before day-break
-thou wilt send a free pardon to Ly-Chee, who now lies in the prison of
-the condemned, expecting to die at sunrise."
-
-"I will! I will!" cried the Emperor.
-
-"Moreover," continued the Dragon, "thou wilt send him, by a trusty
-messenger, twenty bags of goodly ducats, one for every hour that he has
-spent in prison."
-
-The Emperor moaned feebly, for he loved his goodly ducats.
-
-"Furthermore, thou wilt make Ly-Chee thy Chief Sweeper for life, with
-six brooms of gilded straw, with ivory handles, as his yearly
-perquisite, besides three dozen pairs of scrubbing-shoes; and his son,
-Chop-Chin, shalt thou appoint as Second Sweeper, to help his father."
-
-The Emperor moaned again, but very faintly, for he dared not make any
-objection.
-
-"These are my orders!" continued the Dragon. "Obey them strictly and
-speedily, and thine offence may be pardoned. Neglect them, even in the
-smallest particular, and--Ha! Hum! Wurra-_wurra_-G-R-R-R-R-R-R!" and
-here the Dragon opened his great red mouth, and uttered so fearful a
-growl that the miserable Emperor lost hold of such little wits as had
-remained to him, and fainted dead away.
-
-Ten minutes later, the sentinel at the gate was amazed at the sight of
-the Chief Cabinet-maker's apprentice, reappearing suddenly before him,
-with his monstrous burden still in his arms. The boy's hair was
-dishevelled, and his face was very pale. In truth, it had been very hard
-work to get in and out of the hollow golden monster, and Chop-Chin was
-well-nigh exhausted by his efforts, and the great excitement which had
-nerved him to carry out his bold venture.
-
-"How now!" cried the sentinel. "What means this, boy?"
-
-"Alas!" said Chop-Chin, "alas! unhappy that I am! Was it my fault that
-the mended leg was a hair-breadth shorter than the others? Good soldier,
-I have been most grievously belabored, even with the Sacred Footstool
-itself, which, although it be a great honor, is nevertheless a painful
-one. And now must I take it back to my master, for it broke again the
-last time His Celestial Majesty brought it down on my head. Wherefore
-let me pass, good sentinel, for I can hardly stand for weariness."
-
-"Pass on, poor lad!" said the good-natured soldier. "And yet--stay a
-moment! thinkest thou that aught would be amiss if I were to take just
-one peep at the Celestial Footstool? Often have I heard of its
-marvellous workmanship, and its tracery of pearl and ebony. Do but lift
-one corner of the mantle, good youth, and let me see at least a leg of
-the wonder."
-
-"At thy peril, touch it not!" cried the boy, in great alarm. "Knowest
-thou not that the penalty is four hundred lashes? Not a single glance
-have I ventured to cast at it, for they say its color changes if any
-profane eye rest upon its polished surface."
-
-"Pass on, then, in the name of the Dragon!" said the sentinel, opening
-the gate; and bidding him a hasty good-night, Chop-Chin hurried away
-into the darkness.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Now, while all this was going on, it chanced that the four priests of
-the First Order of the Saki-Pan awoke from their slumber. What their
-feelings were when they lifted their eyes and saw that the Golden Dragon
-was gone, is beyond my power to tell. Their terror was so extreme that
-they did not dare to move, but after the first horrified glance at the
-bare altar flung themselves flat on their faces again, and howled and
-moaned in their anguish.
-
-"We slept!" they cried, in a doleful chant of misery. "Yea, verily slept
-we.
-
-    "Ai! ai! we know not why;
-     Wow! wow! we know not how.
-
-"Thou removedst thyself. Thou raisedst the paw of strength and the
-hind-feet of swiftness. Because we slept, thou hast gone away, and we
-are desolate, awaiting the speedily-advancing death.
-
-    "Hong! Kong! Punka-wunka-woggle!
-     Hong! Kong! Punka-wunka-wogg!"
-
-While thus the wretched priests lay on the golden floor, bewailing their
-sin and its dreadful consequences, there fell suddenly on their ears a
-loud and heavy sound. It was at some distance,--a heavy clang, as of
-some one striking on metal. "Pong! pong!" what could it be? And now came
-other sounds,--the opening and shutting of gates, the tread of hasty
-feet, the sound of hurried voices, and finally a loud knocking at the
-door of the Temple itself.
-
-"Open, most holy Priests of the Saki-Pan!" cried a voice. "We have
-strange and fearful news! Open without delay!"
-
-The unhappy priests hurried to the door, and flung it open with
-trembling hands. Without stood all the guards of all the gates, the
-white and the steel-clad soldiers clustering about the four black-clad
-guardians of the outer gate.
-
-"Speak!" said the chief priest in great agitation, "what is your
-errand?"
-
-"O Priest!" said the black guards, trembling with excitement, "we heard
-a great knocking at the gate."
-
-"Yes, yes!" cried the priest, "I know it. What more?"
-
-"O Priest!" said the guards, "we were affrighted, so great was the
-noise; so we opened the gate but a little way, and peeped through; and
-we saw--we saw--" They paused, and gasped for breath.
-
-"Speak, sons of pigs!" shrieked the priest, "_what_ did you see?"
-
-"We saw the Golden Dragon!" said the soldiers, in a fearful whisper. "He
-is sitting up--on his hind-legs--with his mouth open! and he knocked--he
-knocked--"
-
-But the priests of the Saki-Pan waited to hear no more. Rushing through
-the court-yards, they flung wide open the great bronze gates. They
-caught up the Golden Dragon, they raised it high on their shoulders, and
-with shouts of rejoicing they bore it back to the Temple, while the
-guards prostrated themselves before it.
-
-"He went out!" sang the priests. "He walked abroad, for the glory and
-welfare of his subjects. He cast upon the city the eye of beneficence;
-he waved over it the plenipotentiary tail!
-
-    "Ai! ai! we know not why!
-     Wow! wow! we know not how!
-
-Glory to the Holy Dragon, and happiness and peace to the city and the
-people!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-But in the house of Ly-Chee all was sunshine and rejoicing. At daybreak
-a procession had come down the little street,--a troop of soldiers in
-the imperial uniform, with music sounding before them, and gay banners
-flaunting in the morning air. In the midst of the troop rode Ly-Chee, on
-a splendid black horse. He was dressed in a robe of crimson satin
-embroidered with gold, and round his neck hung strings of jewels most
-glorious to see. Behind him walked twenty slaves, each carrying a fat
-bag of golden ducats; and after the troop came more slaves, bearing
-gilded brooms with ivory handles and scrubbing-shoes of the finest
-quality. And all the soldiers and all the slaves cried aloud,
-continually:--
-
-"Honor to Ly-Chee, the Chief-Sweeper of the court-yard! Honor and peace
-to him and all his house!"
-
-The procession stopped before the little house, and the good sweeper,
-stupefied still with astonishment at his wonderful good fortune,
-dismounted and clasped his wife and children in his arms. And they wept
-together for joy, and the soldiers and the slaves and all the people
-wept with them.
-
-But the Celestial Emperor, Wah-Song, lay in bed for two weeks, speaking
-to no man, and eating nothing but water-gruel. And when he arose, at the
-end of that time, behold! he was as meek as a six-years old child.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-
-THE grandmother's story was received with great approbation, and the
-different members of the family commented on it, each after his fashion.
-
-"I should like to have been Chop-Chin!" exclaimed Toto. "How exciting it
-must have been! Only think, Coon, of talking to the Emperor in that way,
-and scolding him as if he were a little boy."
-
-"Well, I never saw an Emperor," said the raccoon; "but I certainly
-should not wish to talk to one, if they are all such wretched creatures
-as Wah-Song. _I_ should like to have been the Finishing-Toucher; then if
-he had pulled _my_ nose--hum! ha! we should see!"
-
-"Dear Madam," said the bear, who had been staring meditatively into the
-fire, "there is one thing in the story that I do not understand; that
-is--well--you spoke of the boy's having a pig-tail."
-
-"Yes, Bruin!" said the grandmother. "A Chinese pig-tail, you know."
-
-"Yes, certainly," said Bruin. "A Chinese pig's tail it would naturally
-be. Now, I confess I do not see _how_ a pig's tail could be worn on the
-head, or how it could be unbraided; that is, if the Chinese pigs have
-tails like that of our friend in the sty yonder."
-
-Toto laughed aloud at this, and even the grandmother could not help
-smiling a very little; but she gently told Bruin what a Chinaman's
-pig-tail was, and how he wore it. Meantime, Miss Mary, the parrot,
-looked on with an air of dignified amusement.
-
-"My respected father," she said presently, "spent some years in China.
-It is a fine country, though too far from Africa for my taste."
-
-"Tell us about your father, Miss Mary!" exclaimed the squirrel. "Fine
-old bird he must have been, eh?"
-
-"He was, indeed!" replied the parrot, with some emotion. "He was a noble
-bird. His beak, which I am said to have inherited, was the envy of every
-parrot in Central Africa. He could whistle in nine languages, and his
-tail--but as the famous poet Gabblio has sweetly sung,--
-
-    "'All languages and tongues must fail,
-      In speaking of Polacko's tail.'
-
-"Polacko was my father's name," she explained. "He was universally
-respected. Ah, me!"
-
-"But how came he to go to China?" asked Toto.
-
-"He was captured, my dear, and taken there when very young. He lived
-there for twenty years, with one of the chief mandarins of the empire.
-He led a happy life, with a perch and ring of ebony and silver, the
-freedom of the house, and chow-chow four times a day. At last, however,
-the young grandson of the mandarin insisted upon my father's learning to
-eat with chopsticks. The lofty spirit of Polacko could not brook this
-outrage, and the door being left open one day he flew away and made his
-way to Africa, the home of his infancy, where he passed the rest of his
-life. I drop a tear," added Miss Mary, raising her claw gracefully to
-her eyes, "to his respected memory."
-
-Nobody saw the tear, but all looked grave and sympathetic, and the
-good-natured bear said, "Quite right, I'm sure. Very proper, certainly!"
-
-But now the grandmother rose and folded up her knitting.
-
-"Dear friends, and Toto, boy," she said, "it is bed-time, now, for the
-clock has struck nine. Good-night, and pleasant dreams to you all. My
-good Bruin, you will cover the fire, and lock up the house?"
-
-"Trust me for that, dear Madam!" said the bear, heartily.
-
-"Come, then, Cracker," said the old lady. "Your basket is all ready for
-you, and it is high time you were in it." And with the squirrel perched
-on her shoulder she went into her own little room, closing the door
-behind her.
-
-After exchanging mutual "good-nights," the other members of the family
-sought their respective sleeping-places. The birds flew to their
-perches, and each, tucking her head and one leg away in some mysterious
-manner, became suddenly a very queer looking creature indeed.
-
-"Coon," said Toto, "come and sleep on my bed, won't you? My feet were
-cold, last night, and you do make such a delightful foot-warmer."
-
-"Humph!" said the raccoon, doubtfully. "I don't know, Toto. It won't be
-as warm for _me_ as my basket, though no doubt it would be nice for
-you."
-
-"I'll put the big blue dressing-gown over you," said Toto. "You know you
-like that, because you can put your nose in the pocket, and keep it
-warm."
-
-"All right," cried the raccoon. "Come along, then!" and off they went.
-
-Bruin now proceeded to rake the ashes over the fire, covering it neatly
-and carefully. He filled the kettle; he drew the bolts of door and
-windows; and finally, when all was snug and safe, the good bear laid
-himself down on the hearth-rug, and soon was fast asleep.
-
-Now all was quiet in the little cottage. Outside, the snow still fell,
-softly, steadily, silently. In the shed, Bridget, the cow, was sleeping
-soundly, with a cock and three hens roosting on her back, according to
-their invariable custom. In the warm, covered sty the pig also slept. He
-had no name, the pig; he would have scorned one.
-
-"I am a pig," he was wont to say, "and as such every one knows me. There
-is no danger of my being mistaken for anything else." Which was very
-true.
-
-But though slumber held fast, apparently, all the dwellers in cottage,
-shed, and sty, there were in reality two pairs of eyes which were
-particularly wide-awake at this moment. They were very black eyes, very
-bright eyes, and they were, if you wish to know, peeping into the
-kitchen through the crack under the cellar-door, to see what they could
-see.
-
-"Nobody there!" said little brown Squeak.
-
-"No, nobody there!" said little brown Scrabble.
-
-"Hark! what was that noise?" cried Squeak.
-
-"Only the wind!" said Scrabble.
-
-"Do you think we can get through the crack?" said Squeak.
-
-"Nothing like trying!" said Scrabble.
-
-"Scrabble!" went little brown Squeak.
-
-"Squeak!" went little brown Scrabble.
-
-And the next moment they were in the kitchen.
-
-It was nearly dark, but not quite, for the covered embers still sent out
-a dusky glow. It was warm; the floor was smooth and flat; there was a
-smell as if there might be something to eat, somewhere. Altogether, it
-was a very pleasant place for two little mice to play in; and as they
-had it all to themselves, why should they not play? Play they did,
-therefore, with right good-will; scampering hither and thither, rolling
-over and over each other, poking their little sharp noses into every
-crack and cranny they could find. Oh, what fun it was! How smooth the
-floor! how pleasant the dry, warm air, after their damp cellar-home!
-
-But about that smell, now! where did it come from? Playing and romping
-is hungry work, and the two little brown mouse-stomachs are empty. It
-seems to come from under that cupboard door. The crack is wide enough to
-let out the smell, but not quite wide enough to let in Messrs. Scrabble
-and Squeak. If they could enlarge it a bit, now, with the sharp little
-tools which they always carry in their mouths! So said, so done!
-"Nibble! nibble! nibble! Gnaw! gnaw! gnaw!" It is very fatiguing work;
-but, see! the crack widens. If one made oneself _very_ small, now? It is
-done, and the two mice find themselves in the immediate neighborhood of
-a large piece of squash pie. Oh, joy! oh, delight! too great for speech
-or squeak, but just right for attack. "Nibble! nibble! Gobble! gobble!"
-and soon the plate shines white and empty, with only the smell of the
-roses--I mean the pie--clinging round it still. There is nothing else to
-eat in the cupboard, is there? Yes! what is this paper package which
-smells so divinely, sending a warm, spicy, pungent fragrance through the
-air? Ah! pie was good, but this will be better! Nibble through the paper
-quickly, and then-- Alas! alas! the spicy fragrance means _ginger_, and
-it is not only warm, but _hot_. Oh, it burns! oh, it scorches! fire is
-in our mouths, in our noses, our throats, our little brown stomachs, now
-only too well filled. Water! water! or we die, and never see our cool,
-beloved cellar again. Hurry down from the shelf, creep through the
-crack, rush frantically round the kitchen. Surely there is a smell of
-water? Yes, yes! there it is, in that tin basin, yonder. Into it we go,
-splashing, dashing, drinking in the silver coolness, washing this fiery
-torment from our mouths and throats.
-
-Thoroughly sobered by this adventure, the two little mice sat on the
-floor beside the basin, dripping and shivering, the water trickling from
-their long tails, their short ears, their sharp-pointed noses. They
-blinked sadly at each other with their bright black eyes.
-
-"Shall we go home now, Scrabble?" said Squeak. "It is late, and Mother
-Mouse will be looking for us."
-
-"I'm so c-c-c-cold!" shivered Scrabble, who a moment before had been
-devoured by burning heat. "Don't you think we might dry ourselves before
-that fire before we go down?"
-
-"Yes!" replied Squeak, "we will. But--what is that great black thing in
-front of the fire?"
-
-"A hill, of course!" said the other. "A black hill, I should say. Shall
-we climb over it, or go round it?"
-
-"Oh, let us climb over it!" said Squeak. "The exercise will help to warm
-us; and it is such a queer-looking hill, I want to explore it."
-
-So they began to climb up the vast black mass, which occupied the whole
-space in front of the fireplace.
-
-"How soft the ground is! and it is warm, too!"
-
-"Because it is near the fire, stupid!"
-
-"And what is this tall black stuff that grows so thick all over it? It
-isn't a bit like grass, or trees either."
-
-"It _is_ grass, of course, stupid! what else could it be? Come on! come
-on! we are nearly at the top, now."
-
-"Scrabble," said little brown Squeak, stopping short, "you may call me
-stupid as much as you please, but _I_ don't like this place. I--I--I
-think it is moving."
-
-"_Moving?_" said little brown Scrabble, in a tone of horror.
-
-And then the two little mice clutched each other with their little paws,
-and wound their little tails round each other, and held on tight, tight,
-for the black mass _was_ moving! There was a long, stretching,
-undulating movement, slow but strong; and then came a quick, violent,
-awful shake, which sent the two brothers slipping, sliding, tumbling
-headlong to the floor. Picking themselves up as well as they could, and
-casting one glance back at the black hill, they rushed shrieking and
-squeaking to the cellar-door, and literally flung themselves through the
-crack. For in that glance they had seen a vast red cavern, a yawning
-gulf of fire, open suddenly in the black mass, which was now heaving and
-shuddering all over. And from this fiery cavern came smoke and flame (at
-least so the mice said when they got home to the maternal hole), and an
-awful roaring sound, which shook the whole house and made the windows
-rattle.
-
-"Home to our Mother Mouse! Home to our Mother Mouse! and never, never,
-will we leave our cellar again!"
-
-But Bruin sat up on his haunches, and scratched himself and stretched
-himself, and gave another mighty yawn.
-
-"Haw-wa-wow-you-_wonk_!" said the good bear. "Those must have been very
-lively fleas, to wake me out of a sound sleep. I wonder where they have
-crept to! I don't seem to feel them now. Ha! humph! Yaow! very sleepy!
-Not morning yet; take another nap."
-
-And stretching his huge length once more along the floor, Bruin slept
-again.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-
-AT dinner the next day, it was noticed that Coon was very melancholy. He
-shook his head frequently, and sighed so deeply and sorrowfully that the
-kind heart of the wood-pigeon was moved to pity.
-
-"Are you not well, my dear Coon?" she asked. "Something has gone amiss
-with you, evidently. Tell us what it is."
-
-The raccoon shook his head again, and looked unutterably doleful.
-
-"I knew how it would be, Coon," said the bear. "You shouldn't have eaten
-that third pie for supper. Two pies are enough for anybody, after such a
-quantity of bread and honey and milk as you had."
-
-Coon sighed again, more deeply than before.
-
-"I _didn't_ eat it all," he said; "I only wish I had!"
-
-"Why, Coon," queried Toto, "what's the trouble?"
-
-"Well," said Coon, "there was a piece left. I couldn't eat any more, so
-I put it away in the cupboard, thinking I would have it for lunch
-to-day. It was a lovely piece. I never saw such a squash pie as that
-was, anyhow, and that piece--"
-
-He paused, and seemed lost in the thought of the pie.
-
-"_Well!_" exclaimed Toto. "So you _did_ eat it for your lunch, and now
-you are unhappy because you didn't keep it for dinner. Is that it?"
-
-"Not at all!" replied the other, "not at all! I trust I am not _greedy_,
-Toto, _whatever_ my faults may be. I went to get it for my luncheon, for
-I had been working all the morning like a--"
-
-"Dormouse!"
-
-"Tree-toad!"
-
-"Grasshopper!" murmured the squirrel, the bear, and Toto,
-simultaneously.
-
-"Like a RACCOON!" he continued severely. "I can say no more than that;
-and I was desperately hungry. I went to the cupboard to get my piece of
-pie, and it was--gone!"
-
-"Gone!" exclaimed the grandmother; "why, who can have taken it?"
-
-"That is the point, Madam!" said Coon. "It was some small creature, for
-it got in through the crack under the cupboard door, gnawing away the
-wood. I have examined the marks," he added, "and they are the marks of
-small, very sharp teeth." And he looked significantly at the squirrel.
-
-"What do you mean by looking at me in that way?" demanded little
-Cracker, whisking his tail fiercely, and bristling all over. "I've a
-good mind to bite your ears with my sharp teeth. I never touched your
-old pie. If you say I did, I'll throw this cheese--"
-
-"Cracker! Cracker!" said the grandmother, gently, "you forget yourself!
-Good manners at table, you know. I am sure," she added, as Cracker hung
-his head and looked much ashamed, "that none of us think seriously for a
-moment that you took the pie. Coon loves his joke; but he has a good
-heart, and he would not really give you pain, I know. Of course he did
-not mean anything. Am I not right, Coon?"
-
-It is only justice to the raccoon to say that he was rather abashed at
-this. He rubbed his nose, and gave a deprecatory wink at Bruin, who was
-looking very serious; then, recovering himself, he beamed expansively on
-the squirrel, who still looked fierce, though respect for "Madam" kept
-him silent.
-
-"Mean anything?" he cried. "Dear Madam, do I _ever_ mean
-anything,--anything unkind, at least?" he added hastily, as Toto looked
-up with a suppressed chuckle. "I beg your pardon, Cracker, my boy, and I
-hope you won't bear malice. As for those marks--"
-
-"Those marks," interrupted the bear, who had risen from his seat and was
-examining the cupboard door, "were made by mice. I am quite sure of it."
-
-"So am I," said Miss Mary, quietly. "I saw them do it."
-
-"What!"
-
-"You!"
-
-"When?"
-
-"How?"
-
-"Tell us!" exclaimed every one, in a breath.
-
-"Two brown mice," said Miss Mary, "came out from under the cellar-door
-about midnight. They gnawed at the cupboard till they had made the crack
-wide enough to pass through. Then I heard them say, 'Squash pie!' and
-heard them nibbling, or rather gobbling. After a while they came rushing
-out as if the cat were after them, and jumped into the water-basin. Then
-they tried to climb up Bruin's back, but he yawned like an alligator,
-and shook them off, and they ran hurry-scurry under the cellar-door
-again."
-
-A great laugh broke out at this recital of Messrs. Squeak and Scrabble's
-nocturnal adventure, and under cover of the laughter the raccoon
-approached the parrot.
-
-"Why didn't you give the alarm," he asked, "or drive off the mice
-yourself? You knew it was my pie, for you saw me put it there."
-
-Miss Mary cocked her bright yellow eye at him expressively.
-
-"I lost two feathers from my tail, yesterday," she said. "Somebody bit
-them off while I was asleep. They were fine feathers, and I cannot
-replace them."
-
-The two exchanged a long, deep look. At length--
-
-"Miss Mary," said the raccoon aloud, "what was the color of your
-lamented husband? You told us once, but I am ashamed to say I'm not
-positive that I remember."
-
-"Green!" replied Miss Mary, in some surprise,--"a remarkably fine
-emerald green. But why do you ask?"
-
-"Ah, I thought so!" said the raccoon, ingenuously. "That explains his
-choice of a wife.--Walk, Toto, did you say? I am with you, my boy!" and
-in three bounds he was out of the door, and leaping and frolicking about
-in the new-fallen snow.
-
-Toto caught up his cap and followed him, and the two together made their
-way out of the yard, and walked, ran, leaped, jumped, tumbled,
-scrambled, toward the forest. The sky had cleared, and the sun shone
-brilliantly on the fresh white world. On every hand lay the snow,--here
-heaped and piled in fantastic drifts and strange half-human shapes;
-there spread smooth, like a vast counterpane. The tall trees of the
-forest bent under white feathery masses, which came tumbling down on
-Toto and his companion, as they lightly pushed the branches aside and
-entered the woods.
-
-A winter walk in the woods! It is always a good thing for any one who
-has eyes in his head, but it is especially good when you see all that
-Coon and Toto saw; when you know, from every tiny track or footmark,
-what little creatures have been running or hopping about; when many of
-these little creatures are your friends, and all of them at least
-acquaintances. How fresh and crisp the air was! how soft and powdery and
-generally delightful the snow! What a pleasant world it was, on the
-whole!
-
-"Let me see!" said the raccoon, stopping and looking about him. "It is
-just about here that Chucky's aunt lives. Yes, I remember, now. You see
-that oak-stump yonder, with the moss on it? Well, her burrow is just
-under that. Suppose we give her a call, and tell her how her hopeful
-nephew is."
-
-"Nonsense!" said Toto, "she is as fast asleep as he is, of course. We
-couldn't wake her if we tried, and why should we try?"
-
-"Might have a game of ball with her," suggested the raccoon. "But I
-don't know that it's worth while, after all."
-
-"Who lives in that hollow tree, now?" asked Toto. "The wild-cat used to
-live there, you know. It is a very comfortable tree, if I remember
-right."
-
-"You found it so once, didn't you, Toto?" said Coon. "Do you remember
-that day, when a thunder-shower came up, and you crept into that hollow
-tree for shelter? Ha! ha! ha! _do_ you remember that day, my boy?"
-
-"I should think I did remember it!" cried Toto. "I am not likely to
-forget it. It was raining guns and pitchforks, and the lightning was
-cracking and zigzagging all through the forest, it seemed, and the
-thunder crashing and bellowing and roaring--"
-
-"Like Bruin, when the bumble-bee stung his nose!" put in the raccoon.
-
-"Exactly!" said Toto. "There I was, curled up well in the hollow,
-thinking how lucky I was, when suddenly came two green eyes glowering at
-me, and a great spitting and spluttering and meowling.
-
-"'Get out of my house!' said the creature.
-'F-s-s-s-s-yeh-yow-s-s-s-s-s-s! get out of my house, I say!'
-
-"'My dear Madam,' I said, 'it is really more than you can expect. You
-are already thoroughly wet, and if you come here you will only drip all
-over the nice dry hole and spoil it. Now, _I_ am quite dry; and to tell
-you the truth, I mean to remain so.'
-
-"Oh, how angry that cat was!
-
-"'My name is Klawtobitz!' she cried. 'I have lived in this tree for
-seven years, and I am not going to be turned out of it by a thing with
-two legs and no tail. Who are you, I say?'
-
-"'I am a boy!' cried I, getting angry in my turn. 'I wouldn't have a
-tail if I was paid for it; and I will _not_ leave this hole!'
-
-"And then the old cat humped her back, and grinned till I saw every
-tooth in her head, and came flying at me,--claws spread, and tail as big
-round as my arm. There we fought, tooth and nail, fist and claw, till we
-were both out of breath. Finally I got her by the throat, and she made
-her teeth meet in my arm, and there we both were. I had heard no noise
-save the cat's screeching in my ear; but now, suddenly, a great growly
-voice, close beside us, cried,--
-
-"'Fair play! fair play! no choking!'
-
-"We both dropped our hold, and looking up, saw--"
-
-"Bruin and me!" interrupted the raccoon, joyously. "We were taking a
-quiet prowl in the rain, and hearing the scuffle, stopped to see what
-was going on. Such a pretty fight I had not seen in a long time, and it
-was really too bad of Bruin to stop it. How old Ma'am Wildcat's tail
-went down, though, when she saw him!"
-
-"I am very glad he did stop it," said Toto. "I was quite a little chap
-then, you see,--only seven years old,--and it was going hard with me. I
-was frightened enough, though, I can tell you, when I saw Bruin standing
-there. He looked as big as an elephant, and I fully expected to be eaten
-up the next minute. But he said, in his great hearty voice,--
-
-"'Give us your paw, my little fighting-cock! And you, Mrs. Wildcat, be
-off! I gave you warning a week ago, when you killed the wood-pigeon's
-nestlings. Off with you, now, quick, or--'"
-
-"And she went!" cried Coon. "Oh, yes, my dear, she went! And I went
-after her! I chased that cat for ten miles, to the very farthest end of
-the forest. She had the start of me, and kept it pretty well, but I was
-just overhauling her when we came to the open; she gave a flying leap
-from the last tree, and went crash through the window of a farmhouse
-which stood close at hand! I thought she would probably be attended to
-there; so I went back, and found Bruin and you as sociable and friendly
-as if you had been brought up in the same den,--you sitting in the hole,
-with your funny red legs hanging out (you were the queerest-looking
-animal I had ever seen, Toto!), and he sitting up on his haunches,
-talking to you."
-
-"And he invited us both to supper!" cried Toto. "Don't you remember,
-Coon? That was the first time I had ever seen any of you people, and I
-was dreadfully afraid that I should be the supper myself. But we went to
-his den, and had a jolly supper. Bruin ate three large watermelons, I
-remember. He _said_ a man gave them to him."
-
-"I think it very likely that he did," said Coon, "if Bruin asked him."
-
-"And I showed you how to play leap-frog," continued Toto; "and we played
-it over Bruin's back till it was time for me to go home. And then you
-both walked with me to the edge of the forest, and there we swore
-eternal friendship."
-
-"Ah!" said the raccoon, "that we did, my boy; and well have we kept the
-vow! And so long as Coon's tail has a single hair in it, will he ever
-cherish-- Hello! what's that?" he cried with a sudden start, as a tiny
-brown creature darted swiftly across the path. "Woodmouse! I say,
-Woodmouse! stop a minute; you are just the fellow I want to see."
-
-The woodmouse stopped and turned round, and greeted the two friends
-cordially.
-
-"I haven't seen you for an age!" he said. "Coon, I supposed you had been
-asleep for a couple of months, at least. How does it happen that you are
-prowling about at this season?"
-
-Coon briefly explained the state of the case, and then added:--
-
-"I am specially glad to meet you, Woodmouse, for I want to consult you
-about something. There are some mice in the cellar of the
-cottage,--brown mice. Very troublesome, thieving creatures they are, and
-we want to get rid of them. Now, I suppose they are relatives of yours,
-eh?"
-
-"Ahem! well--yes," the woodmouse admitted reluctantly. "Distant, you
-know, quite distant; but--a--yes, they _are_ relatives. A wretched,
-disreputable set, I have heard, though I never met any of them."
-
-"You have heard quite correctly!" said the raccoon, warmly. "They are a
-great annoyance to the Madam, and to all of us. They almost take the
-food out of our mouths; they destroy things in the cellar, and--and in
-fact, we want to get rid of them."
-
-The woodmouse stared at him in amazement. "Really, Mr. Coon," he said,
-laughing, "I should not have supposed, from my past acquaintance with
-you, that you would have any difficulty in getting rid of them."
-
-Raccoons cannot blush, or our Coon certainly would have done so. He
-rubbed his nose helplessly, somewhat after the fashion of Bruin, and
-cast a half-comical, half-rueful glance at Toto. Finally he replied,--
-
-"Well, you see, Woodmouse, things are rather different from usual this
-winter. The fact is, our Madam has a strong objection to--a--in point of
-fact, to slaughter; and she made it a condition of our coming to spend
-the winter with her, that we should not kill other creatures unless it
-were necessary. So I thought if we _could_ get rid of those mice in any
-other way, it would please her. I suppose there is plenty of room in the
-forest for another family of mice?"
-
-"Oh! as far as room goes," replied the woodmouse, "they have a range of
-ten miles in which to choose their home. I cannot promise to call on
-them, you know; that could not be expected. But if they behave
-themselves, they may in time overcome the prejudice against them."
-
-"Very well," said Coon, "I shall send them, then. How are you all at
-home?" he added, "and what is going on in your set?"
-
-Now it was the woodmouse's turn to look confused.
-
-"My son is to be married on the second evening after this," he said.
-"That is the only thing I know of."
-
-"What?" cried Coon. "Your son Prick-ear? Why, he is one of my best
-friends! How strange that I should have heard nothing of it!"
-
-"We didn't know--we really thought--we supposed you were asleep!"
-stammered the woodmouse.
-
-"And so you chose this time for the wedding?" said the raccoon. "Now, I
-call that unfriendly, Woodmouse, and I shouldn't have thought it of
-you."
-
-The woodmouse stroked his whiskers, and looked piteously at his
-formidable acquaintance. "Don't be offended, Coon!" he said.
-"Perhaps--perhaps you will come to the wedding, after all. Eh? of
-course we should be delighted."
-
-"Yes, to be sure I will come!" said the raccoon, cheerily. "_I_ don't
-bear malice. Oh, yes! I will come, and Toto shall come, too. Where is it
-to take place?"
-
-"We--we have engaged the cave for the evening," said the woodmouse, with
-some diffidence. "We have a large family connection, you know, and it is
-the only place big enough to hold them all."
-
-Coon stared in amazement, and Toto gave a long whistle.
-
-"The cave, eh?" he said. "I should say this was to be something very
-grand indeed. I should like very much to come, Woodmouse, if you think
-it would not trouble any of your family. I promise you that Coon shall
-be on his very best behavior, and--I'll tell you what!" he added, "I
-will provide the music, as I did last summer, at the Rabbit's Rinktum."
-
-"No, not really! will you, though?" cried the little woodmouse, his
-slender tail quivering with delight. "We shall be infinitely obliged,
-Mr. Toto, infinitely obliged, sir! We shall count upon you both. Bring
-Cracker, too, and any other friends who may be staying with you. Would
-your grandmother, possibly--eh? care to come?"
-
-"Thank you!" said Toto, gravely, "I think not. My grandmother never goes
-out in the evening."
-
-"We might bring Bruin!" suggested Coon, with a sly wink at Toto.
-
-But here the poor little woodmouse looked so unutterably distressed,
-that the two friends burst out laughing; and reassuring him by a word,
-bade him good-day, and proceeded on their walk.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-
-"AND now," said the squirrel, when the tea-things were cleared away that
-evening, "now for dancing-school. If we are going to a ball, we really
-must be more sure of our steps than we are now. Coon, oblige me with a
-whisk of your tail over the hearth. Some coals have fallen from the
-fire, and we shall be treading on them."
-
-"When the coals are cold," replied the raccoon, "I shall be happy to
-oblige you. At present they are red-hot. And meantime, as I have no idea
-of dancing immediately after my supper, I will, if you like, tell you
-the story of the Useful Coal, which your request brings to my mind. It
-is short, and will not take much time from the dancing-lesson."
-
-Right willingly the family all seated themselves around the blazing
-fire, and the raccoon began as follows:--
-
-
-THE USEFUL COAL.
-
-There was once a king whose name was Sligo. He was noted both for his
-riches and his kind heart. One evening, as he sat by his fireside, a
-coal fell out on the hearth. The King took up the tongs, intending to
-put it back on the fire, but the coal said:--
-
-"If you will spare my life, and do as I tell you, I will save your
-treasure three times, and tell you the name of the thief who steals it."
-
-These words gave the King great joy, for much treasure had been stolen
-from him of late, and none of his officers could discover the culprit.
-So he set the coal on the table, and said:--
-
-"Pretty little black and red bird, tell me, what shall I do?"
-
-"Put me in your waistcoat pocket," said the coal, "and take no more
-thought for to-night."
-
-Accordingly the King put the coal in his pocket, and then, as he sat
-before the warm fire, he grew drowsy, and presently fell fast asleep.
-
-When he had been asleep some time, the door opened, very softly, and the
-High Cellarer peeped cautiously in. This was the one of the King's
-officers who had been most eager in searching for the thief. He now
-crept softly, softly, toward the King, and seeing that he was fast
-asleep, put his hand into his waistcoat-pocket; for in that
-waistcoat-pocket King Sligo kept the key of his treasure-chamber, and
-the High Cellarer was the thief. He put his hand into the waistcoat
-pocket. S-s-s-s-s! the coal burned it so frightfully that he gave a loud
-shriek, and fell on his knees on the hearth.
-
-"What is the matter?" cried the King, waking with a start.
-
-"Alas! your Majesty," said the High Cellarer, thrusting his burnt
-fingers into his bosom, that the King might not see them. "You were just
-on the point of falling forward into the fire, and I cried out, partly
-from fright and partly to waken you."
-
-The King thanked the High Cellarer, and gave him a ruby ring as a
-reward. But when he was in his chamber, and making ready for bed, the
-coal said to him:--
-
-"Once already have I saved your treasure, and to-night I shall save it
-again. Only put me on the table beside your bed, and you may sleep with
-a quiet heart."
-
-So the King put the coal on the table, and himself into the bed, and was
-soon sound asleep. At midnight the door of the chamber opened very
-softly, and the High Cellarer peeped in again. He knew that at night
-King Sligo kept the key under his pillow, and he was coming to get it.
-He crept softly, softly, toward the bed, but as he drew near it, the
-coal cried out:--
-
-"One eye sleeps, but the other eye wakes! one eye sleeps, but the other
-eye wakes! Who is this comes creeping, while honest men are sleeping?"
-
-The High Cellarer looked about him in affright, and saw the coal
-burning fiery red in the darkness, and looking for all the world like a
-great flaming eye. In an agony of fear he fled from the chamber,
-crying,--
-
-    "Black and red! black and red!
-     The King has a devil to guard his bed."
-
-And he spent the rest of the night shivering in the farthest garret he
-could find.
-
-The next morning the coal said to the King:--
-
-"Again this night have I saved your treasure, and mayhap your life as
-well. Yet a third time I shall do it, and this time you shall learn the
-name of the thief. But if I do this, you must promise me one thing, and
-that is that you will place me in your royal crown and wear me as a
-jewel. Will you do this?"
-
-"That will I, right gladly!" replied King Sligo, "for a jewel indeed you
-are."
-
-"That is well!" said the coal. "It is true that I am dying; but no
-matter. It is a fine thing to be a jewel in a king's crown, even if one
-is dead. Now listen, and follow my directions closely. As soon as I am
-quite black and dead,--which will be in about ten minutes from now,--you
-must take me in your hand and rub me all over and around the handle of
-the door of the treasure-chamber. A good part of me will be rubbed off,
-but there will be enough left to put in your crown. When you have
-thoroughly rubbed the door, lay the key of the treasure-chamber on your
-table, as if you had left it there by mistake. You may then go hunting
-or riding, but not for more than an hour; and when you return, you must
-instantly call all your court together, as if on business of the
-greatest importance. Invent some excuse for asking them to raise their
-hands, and then arrest the man whose hands are black. Do you
-understand?"
-
-"I do!" replied King Sligo, fervently, "I do, and my warmest thanks,
-good Coal, are due to you for this--"
-
-But here he stopped, for already the coal was quite black, and in less
-than ten minutes it was dead and cold. Then the King took it and rubbed
-it carefully over the door of the treasure-chamber, and laying the key
-of the door in plain sight on his dressing-table, he called his huntsmen
-together, and mounting his horse, rode away to the forest. As soon as he
-was gone, the High Cellarer, who had pleaded a headache when asked to
-join the hunt, crept softly to the King's room, and to his surprise
-found the key on the table. Full of joy, he sought the treasure-chamber
-at once, and began filling his pockets with gold and jewels, which he
-carried to his own apartment, returning greedily for more. In this way
-he opened and closed the door many times. Suddenly, as he was stooping
-over a silver barrel containing sapphires, he heard the sound of a
-trumpet, blown once, twice, thrice. The wicked thief started, for it was
-the signal for the entire court to appear instantly before the King, and
-the penalty of disobedience was death. Hastily cramming a handful of
-sapphires into his pocket, he stumbled to the door, which he closed and
-locked, putting the key also in his pocket, as there was no time to
-return it. He flew to the presence-chamber, where the lords of the
-kingdom were hastily assembling.
-
-The King was seated on his throne, still in his hunting-dress, though he
-had put on his crown over his hat, which presented a peculiar
-appearance. It was with a majestic air, however, that he rose and
-said:--
-
-"Nobles, and gentlemen of my court! I have called you together to pray
-for the soul of my lamented grandmother, who died, as you may remember,
-several years ago. In token of respect, I desire you all to raise your
-hands to Heaven."
-
-The astonished courtiers, one and all, lifted their hands high in air.
-The King looked, and, behold! the hands of the High Cellarer were as
-black as soot! The King caused him to be arrested and searched, and the
-sapphires in his pocket, besides the key of the treasure-chamber, gave
-amble proof of his guilt. His head was removed at once, and the King had
-the useful coal, set in sapphires, placed in the very front of his
-crown, where it was much admired and praised as a BLACK DIAMOND.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"And _now_, Cracker, my boy," continued the raccoon, rising from his
-seat by the fire, "as you previously remarked, now for dancing-school!"
-
-With these words he proceeded to sweep the hearth carefully and
-gracefully with his tail, while Toto and Bruin moved the chairs and
-tables back against the wall. The grandmother's armchair was moved into
-the warm chimney-corner, where she would be comfortably out of the way
-of the dancers; and Pigeon Pretty perched on the old lady's shoulder,
-"that the two sober-minded members of the family might keep each other
-in countenance," she said. Toto ran into his room, and returned with a
-little old fiddle which had belonged to his grandfather, and stationed
-himself at one end of the kitchen, while the bear, the raccoon, and the
-squirrel formed in line at the other.
-
-"Now, then," said Master Toto, tapping smartly on the fiddle. "Stand up
-straight, all of you! That's the first thing, you know."
-
-Up they all went,--little Cracker sitting up jauntily, his tail cocked
-over his left ear, Coon pawing the air gracefully, but not quite sure of
-himself; while Bruin raised his huge form erect, and stood like a shaggy
-black giant, waiting further orders.
-
-"Bow to partners!" cried Toto.
-
-Coon and Cracker bowed to each other; and Bruin, having no partner,
-gravely saluted Miss Mary, who stood on one leg and surveyed the
-proceedings in silent but deep disdain.
-
-"Jump, and change your feet!"
-
-But this order, alas! was followed by dire confusion. Bruin dropped on
-all-fours, and frantically endeavored to stand on his fore-paws, with
-his hind-legs in the air, throwing up first one great shaggy leg and
-then another, and finally losing his balance and falling flat, with a
-thump that shook the whole house.
-
-"Dear me!" cried the grandmother, starting from her chair. "Dear, dear
-me! Who is hurt? What has happened? Are any bones broken?"
-
-"Oh, no! Madam," cried the bear, rising with surprising agility for one
-of his size; "it's nothing! nothing at all, I assure you. I--I was only
-jumping and changing my feet. But I cannot do it!" he added, in an
-aggrieved tone, to Toto. "It isn't possible, you know, for a fellow of
-my build to--a--do that sort of thing. You shouldn't, really--"
-
-"Oh, Bruin! Bruin!" cried Toto, wiping the tears from his eyes, as he
-leaned against the dresser in a paroxysm of merriment. "I didn't _mean_
-you to do that! Look here! this is the way. You jump--_so!_ and change
-your feet--_so!_ as you come down. There, look at Coon; he has the idea,
-perfectly!"
-
-The astute Coon, in truth, seeing Bruin's error, had stood quietly in
-his place till he saw Toto perform the mystic manoeuvre of "jump and
-change feet," and had then begun to practise it with a quiet grace and
-ease, as if he had done it all his life.
-
-[Illustration: "Now, then, attention all! Forward and back!" And he
-played a lively air on his fiddle.--PAGE 97.]
-
-The squirrel, meanwhile, had obeyed the first part of the order by
-jumping to the top of the clock, where he sat inspecting his little
-black feet with an air of comical perplexity.
-
-"Change them, eh?" he said. "What's the matter with them? They'll do
-very well yet awhile."
-
-"Don't be absurd, Cracker!" said Toto, rather severely. "Come down and
-take your place at once! Now, then, attention all! Forward and back!"
-and he played a lively air on his fiddle.
-
-The bear brightened up at once. "Ah!" he said, "I am all right when we
-come to forward and back. Tum-tiddy tum-tum, tum-tum-tum!" and he
-pranced forward, put out one foot, and slid back again, with an air of
-enjoyment that was pleasant to behold.
-
-"That's right!" said the master, approvingly. "Stand a little
-straighter, Bruin! Cracker, you don't point your toe enough. Hold your
-head up, Coon, and don't be looking round at your tail every minute.
-_Tum_-tiddy tum-tum, _tum_-tum-tum! _tiddy_-iddy tum-tum,
-_tum_-tum-tum! Balance to partners! Here, Bruin! you can balance to me.
-Turn partners, and back to places! There, now you may rest a moment
-before you begin on the waltz step."
-
-"Ah! that is _my_ delight," said the squirrel. "What a sensation we
-shall make at the wedding! One of the woodmouse's daughters is very
-pretty, with such a nice little nose, and such bright eyes! I shall ask
-her to waltz with me."
-
-"There won't be any one of my size there, I suppose," said the raccoon.
-"You and I will have to be partners, Toto."
-
-"And I must stay at home and waltz alone!" said Bruin, goodnaturedly.
-"It is a misfortune, in some ways, to be so big."
-
-"But great good fortune in others, Bruin, dear!" said Pigeon Pretty,
-affectionately. "I, for one, would not have you smaller, for the world!"
-
-"Nor would I!" said the grandmother, heartily. "Bruin, my friend and
-protector, your size and strength are the greatest possible comfort to
-me, coupled as they are with a kind heart and a willing--"
-
-"Paw!" cried Toto. "Your sentiments are most correct, Granny, dear; but
-Bruin _must_ not stand bowing in the middle of the room, even if he is
-grateful. Go in the corner, Bruin, and practise your steps, while I take
-a turn with Coon. And you, Cracker, can--"
-
-But Master Cracker did not wait for instructions. He had been watching
-the parrot for some minutes, with his head on one side and his eyes
-twinkling with merriment; and now, springing suddenly upon her perch, he
-caught the astonished bird round the body, leaped with her to the floor,
-and began to whirl her round the room at a surprising rate, in tolerably
-good time to the lively waltz that Toto was whistling. Miss Mary gasped
-for breath, and fluttered her wings wildly, trying to escape from her
-tormentor, and presently, finding her voice, she shrieked aloud:--
-
-"Ke-ke-kee! ki-ko! ki-ko-KAA! Let me go, you little wretch! Let me go
-this instant, or I'll peck your eyes out! I will--"
-
-"Oh, no, you won't, my dear!" said Cracker. "You wouldn't have the heart
-to do that; for then how could I look at you, the delight of my life?
-Tiddy-_tum_! tiddy-_tum_! tiddy-_tum_ tum-tum! just see what a pretty
-step it is! You will enjoy it immensely, as soon as you know it a little
-better." And he whirled her round faster and faster, trying to keep pace
-with Coon and Toto, who were circling in graceful curves.
-
-Suddenly the grandmother uttered an exclamation. "Toto!" she cried, "did
-you put that custard pie out in the snow to cool? Bruin doesn't like it
-hot, you know."
-
-Toto, his head still dizzy from waltzing, looked about him in
-bewilderment.
-
-"Did I?" he said. "I am sure I don't know! I don't remember what I did
-with it. Oh, yes, I do, though!" he added hastily. "It is there, on that
-chair. Bruin! Bruin, I say! mind what you are about. It is just behind
-you."
-
-Thus adjured, the good bear, who had been gravely revolving by himself
-in the corner until he was quite blind, tried to stop short; at the same
-instant the squirrel and the parrot, stumbling against his shaggy paw,
-fell over it in a confused heap of feathers and fur. He stepped hastily
-back to avoid treading on them, lost his balance, and sat down
-heavily--on the custard pie!
-
-At the crash of the platter, the squirrel released Miss Mary, who flew
-screaming to her perch; the grandmother wrung her hands and lamented,
-begging to be told what had happened, and who was hurt; and the
-unfortunate Bruin, staggering to his feet, stared aghast at the ruin he
-had wrought. It was a very complete ruin, certainly, for the platter was
-in small fragments, while most of its contents were clinging to his own
-shaggy black coat.
-
-"Well, old fellow," said Toto, "you have done it now, haven't you? I
-tried to stop you, but I was too late."
-
-"Yes," replied the bear, solemnly, "I have done it now! And I have also
-done _with_ it now. Dear Madam," he added, turning to the old lady,
-"please forgive me! I have spoiled your pie, and broken your platter;
-but I have also learned a lesson, which I ought to have learned
-before,--that is, that waltzing is not my forte, and that, as the old
-saying is, 'A bullfrog cannot dance in a grasshopper's nest.' This is my
-last dancing lesson!"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-
-IT was a bright clear night, when Toto, accompanied by the raccoon and
-the squirrel, started from home to attend the wedding of the woodmouse's
-eldest son. The moon was shining gloriously, and her bright cold rays
-turned everything they touched to silver. The long icicles hanging from
-the eaves of the cottage glittered like crystal spears; the snow
-sparkled as if diamond-dust were strewn over its powdery surface. The
-raccoon shook himself as he walked along, and looked about him with his
-keen bright eyes.
-
-"What a fine night this would be for a hunt!" he said, sniffing the cold
-bracing air eagerly. "I smell something, surely! What is it?"
-
-"Rats, maybe!" suggested the squirrel. "There is the track of one
-yonder."
-
-"No, this is not a rat!" said the raccoon, sniffing again. "It's a--it's
-a cat! that's what it is, a cat! Do you see a track anywhere? I wonder
-how a cat came here, anyhow. I should like to chase her! It is a long
-time since I chased a cat."
-
-"Oh, never mind the cat now, Coon!" cried Toto. "We are late for the
-wedding as it is, with all your prinking. Besides," he added slyly, "I
-didn't lend you that red cravat to chase cats in."
-
-The raccoon instantly threw off his professional eagerness, and resumed
-the air of complacent dignity with which he had begun the walk. Never
-before had he been so fully impressed with the sense of his own charms.
-The red ribbon which he had begged from Toto set off his dark fur and
-bright eyes to perfection; and he certainly was a very handsome fellow,
-as he frisked daintily along, his tail curling gracefully over his back.
-
-"We shall make a sensation!" he said cheerfully; "we shall certainly
-make a sensation. Don't you think so, Toto?"
-
-"I do, indeed," replied Toto; "though it is a great pity that you and
-Cracker didn't let me put your tails in curl-papers last night, as I
-offered to do. You can't think what an improvement it would have been."
-
-"The cow offered to lend me her bell," said Cracker, "to wear round my
-neck, but it was too big, you know. She's the dearest old thing, that
-cow! I had a grand game, this morning, jumping over her back and
-balancing myself on her horns. Why doesn't she live in the house, with
-the rest of us?"
-
-"Oh!" said Toto, "one _couldn't_ have a cow in the house. She's too big,
-in the first place; and besides, Granny would not like it. One could not
-make a companion of a cow! I don't know exactly why, but that sort of
-animal is entirely different from you wood-creatures."
-
-"The difference is, my dear," said the raccoon, loftily, "that we have
-been accustomed to good society, and know something of its laws; while
-persons like Mrs. Cow are absolutely ignorant of such matters.
-Absolutely ignorant!" he repeated, impressively. "Why, only yesterday I
-went out to the barn, and being in need of a little exercise, thought I
-would amuse myself by swinging on her tail. And the creature, instead of
-saying, 'Mr. Coon, I am sensible of the honor you bestow upon me, but
-your well-proportioned figure is perhaps heavier than you are aware of,'
-or something of that sort, just kicked me off, without saying a word.
-_Kicked_, Toto! I give you my word for it. Kicked _me_!"
-
-"Humph!" said the squirrel, "I think I should have done the same in her
-place. But see, here we are at the cave. Just look at the tracks in the
-snow! Why, there must be a thousand persons here, at least."
-
-Indeed, the snow was covered in every direction with the prints of
-little feet,--feet that had hopped, had run, had crept from all sides of
-the forest, and had met in front of this low opening, from which the
-brambles and creeping vines had been carefully cleared away. Torches of
-light-wood were blazing on either side, lighting up the gloomy entrance
-for several feet, and from within came a confused murmur of many voices,
-as of hundreds of small creatures squeaking, piping, and chattering in
-every variety of tone.
-
-"We are late!" said Coon. "Everybody is here. So much the better; we
-shall make all the more sensation. Toto, is my neck-tie straight?"
-
-"Quite straight," replied Toto. "You look like--like--"
-
-"Like a popinjay!" muttered the squirrel, who had no neck-tie. "Come
-along, will you, Coon?" And the three companions entered the cave
-together.
-
-A brilliant scene it was that presented itself before their eyes. The
-cave was lighted not only by glow-worms, but by light-wood torches stuck
-in every available crack and cranny of the walls. The floor was
-sprinkled with fine white sand, clean and glittering, while branches of
-holly and alder placed in the corners added still more to the general
-air of festivity. As to the guests, they were evidently enjoying
-themselves greatly, to judge from the noise they were making. There were
-a great many of them,--hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, though it
-was impossible to count them, as they were constantly moving, hopping,
-leaping, jumping, creeping, trotting, running, even flying. Never were
-so many tiny creatures seen together. There were woodmice, of course, by
-the hundred,--old and young, big and little; cousins, uncles, aunts,
-grandmothers, of the bride and bridegroom. There were respectable
-field-mice, looking like well-to-do farmers, as indeed they were; frisky
-kangaroo-mice, leaping about on their long hind-legs, to the admiration
-of all those whose legs were short. There were all the moles, of both
-families,--those who wore plain black velvet without any ornament, and
-those who had lovely rose-colored stars at the end of their noses. These
-last gentlemen were very aristocratic indeed, and the woodmice felt
-highly honored by their presence. Besides all these, the squirrels had
-been invited, and had come in full force, the Grays and the Reds and the
-Chipmunks; and Mr. and Mrs. Titmouse were there, and old Mrs. Shrew and
-her daughters, and I don't know how many more. Hundreds and hundreds of
-guests, none of them bigger than a squirrel, and most of them much
-smaller.
-
-You can perhaps imagine the effect that was produced on this gay
-assembly by the sudden appearance among them of a RACCOON and a BOY!
-There was a confused murmur for a moment, a quick affrighted glance, and
-then dead silence. Not a creature dared to move; not a tail waved, not a
-whisker quivered; all the tiny creatures stood as if turned to stone,
-gazing in mute terror and supplication at their formidable visitors. The
-bride, who had just entered from a side-cave on her father's arm,
-prepared to faint; the bridegroom threw his arms about her and glared
-fiercely at the intruders, his tiny heart swelling as high as if he were
-a lion instead of a very small red mouse. Mr. Woodmouse, Senior, alone
-retained his presence of mind. He hastened to greet his formidable
-guests, and bade them welcome in a voice which, though tremulous, tried
-hard to be cordial.
-
-"Mr. Coon," he said, "you are welcome, most welcome. Mr. Toto, your most
-obedient, sir. Cracker, I am delighted to see you. Very good of you all,
-I'm sure, to honor this little occasion with your distinguished
-presence. Will you--ah!--hum--will you sit down?"
-
-The little host hesitated over this invitation; it would not be polite
-to ask his guests to be careful lest they should sit down _on_ the other
-guests, and yet they were so _very_ large, and took up so _much_
-room,--two of them, at least! Coon, delighted at the sensation he had
-produced, was as gracious as possible, and sitting down with great care
-so as to avoid any catastrophe, looked about him with so benign an
-expression that the rest of the company began to take heart, and
-whiskers were pricked and tails were cocked again.
-
-"This is delightful, Mr. Woodmouse!" he said heartily,--"this is really
-delightful! A brilliant occasion, indeed! But I do not see your son, the
-happy-- Ah! there he is. Prick-ear, you rascal, come here! Are you too
-proud to speak to your old friends?"
-
-Thus adjured, the young woodmouse left his bride in her mother's care
-and came forward, looking half pleased and half angry. "Good evening,
-Coon!" he said. "I was not sure whether you _were_ a friend, after our
-last meeting. But I am very glad to see you, and I bear no malice."
-
-And with this he shook paws with an air of magnanimity. Coon rubbed his
-nose, as he was apt to do when a little confused.
-
-"Oh! ah! to be sure!" he said. "I had quite forgotten that little
-matter. But say no more about it, my boy; say no more about it! By-gones
-are by-gones, and we should think of nothing but pleasure on an occasion
-like the present." With a graceful and condescending wave of his paw he
-dismissed the past, and continued: "Pray, introduce me to your charming
-bride! I assure you I am positively longing to make her acquaintance.
-After you, my boy; after you!" and he crossed the room and joined the
-bridal party.
-
-"What trouble did your son have with Coon?" Toto inquired of Mr.
-Woodmouse. "Nothing serious, I trust?"
-
-"Why--ah!--well!" said his host, in some embarrassment, "it came _near_
-being serious,--at least Prick-ear thought it did. It seems he met Mr.
-Coon one day last autumn, when he was bringing home a load of
-checkerberries for supper. Mr. Coon wanted the checkerberries,
-and--ah!--in point of fact, ate them; and when Prick-ear remonstrated,
-he chased him all round the forest, vowing that if he caught him he
-would--if you will excuse my mentioning such a thing--eat _him_ too.
-Now, that sort of thing is very painful, Mr. Toto; very painful indeed
-it is, I assure you, sir. And though Prick-ear escaped by running into
-a mole's burrow, I must confess that he has _not_ felt kindly toward Mr.
-Coon since then."
-
-"Very natural," said Toto, gravely. "I don't wonder at it."
-
-"It _has_ occurred to me," continued the woodmouse, "that possibly it
-may have been only a joke on Mr. Coon's part. Eh? what do you think?
-Seeing him so friendly and condescending here to-night, one can hardly
-suppose that he _really_--eh?--could have intended--"
-
-"He certainly would not do such a thing _now_," said Toto, decidedly,
-"certainly not. He has the kindest feeling for all your family."
-
-"A--exactly! exactly!" cried the woodmouse, highly delighted. "Most
-gratifying, I'm sure. But I see that the ceremony is about to begin. If
-you _would_ excuse me, Mr. Toto--"
-
-And the little host bowed himself away, leaving Toto to seat himself at
-leisure and watch the proceedings. These were certainly very
-interesting. The bride, an extremely pretty little mouse, was attired in
-a very becoming travelling-dress of brown fur, which fitted her to
-perfection. The ceremony was performed by a star-nosed mole of high
-distinction, who delivered a learned and impressive discourse to the
-young couple, and ended by presenting them with three leaves of
-wintergreen, of which one was eaten by each separately, while they
-nibbled the third together, in token of their united lives. When they
-met in the middle of the leaf, they rubbed noses together, and the
-ceremony was finished.
-
-Then everybody advanced to rub noses with the bride, and to shake paws
-with the happy bridegroom. One of the first to do so was the raccoon,
-who comported himself with a grace and dignity which attracted the
-admiration of all. The little bride was nearly frightened to death, it
-is true; but she bore up bravely, for her husband whispered in her ear
-that Mr. Coon was one of his dearest friends, _now_.
-
-Meanwhile, no one was enjoying the festivity more thoroughly than our
-little friend Cracker. He was whisking and frisking about from one group
-to another, greeting old friends, making new acquaintances, hearing all
-the wood-gossip of the winter, and telling in return of the wonderful
-life that he and Bruin and Coon were leading. His own relations were
-most deeply interested in all he had to tell; but while his cousins were
-loud in their expressions of delight and of envy, some of the elders
-shook their heads. Uncle Munkle, a sedate and portly chipmunk, looked
-very grave as he heard of all the doings at the cottage, and presently
-he beckoned Cracker to one side, and addressed him in a low tone.
-
-"Cracker, my boy," he said, "I don't quite like all this, do you know?
-Toto and his grandmother are all very well, though they seem to have a
-barbarous way of living; but who is this Mrs. Cow, about whom you have
-so much to say; not a domestic animal, I trust?"
-
-"Why--yes!" Cracker admitted, rather reluctantly, "she _is_ a domestic
-animal, Uncle; but she is a very good one, I assure you, and not
-objectionable in any way."
-
-The old chipmunk looked deeply offended. "I did not expect this of you,
-Cracker!" he said severely, "I did not, indeed. This is the first time,
-to my knowledge, that a member of my family has had anything to do with
-a domestic animal. I am disappointed in you, sir; distinctly
-disappointed!"
-
-There was a pause, in which the delinquent Cracker found nothing to say,
-and then his uncle added:--
-
-"And in what condition are your teeth, pray? I suppose you are letting
-them grow, while you eat those wretched messes of soft food. Have you
-_any_ proper food, at all?"
-
-"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Cracker. "Indeed, Uncle Munkle, my teeth are in
-excellent condition. Just look at them!" and he exhibited two shining
-rows of teeth as sharp as those of a newly-set saw. "We have plenty of
-nuts; more than I ever had before, I assure you. Toto got quantities of
-them in the autumn, on purpose for me; and there are great heaps of
-hazels and beech-nuts and hickories piled up in the barn-chamber, where
-I can go and help myself when I please. And almonds, too!" he added.
-"Oh, they are _so_ jolly!"
-
-Uncle Munkle looked mollified; he even seemed interested.
-
-"Almonds?" he said. "They are foreign nuts, and don't grow in this part
-of the world. I tasted some once. Where did Toto get them, do you
-think?"
-
-"He bought them of a pedler," said Cracker. "I know he would give you
-some, Uncle, if you asked him. Why won't you come out and see us, some
-day?"
-
-At this moment a loud and lively whistle was heard,--first three notes
-of warning, and then Toto's merriest jig,--which put all serious
-thoughts to flight, and set the whole company dancing. Cracker flew
-across the room to a charming young red squirrel on whom he had had his
-eye for some time, made his bow, and was soon showing off to her
-admiring gaze the fine steps which he had learned in the kitchen at
-home. The woodmice skipped and hopped merrily about; the kangaroo-mice
-danced with long, graceful bounds,--three short hops after each one. It
-is easy to do when you know just how. As for the moles, they ran round
-and round in a circle, with their noses to the ground, and thought very
-well of themselves.
-
-Presently Toto changed his tune from a jig to a waltz; and then he and
-Coon danced together, to the admiration of all beholders. Round they
-went, and round and round, circling in graceful curves,--Toto never
-pausing in his whistle, Coon's scarlet neck-tie waving like a banner in
-the breeze.
-
-"Yes, that is a sight worth seeing!" said a woodmouse to a mole. "It is
-a pity, just for this once, that you have not eyes to see it."
-
-"Are their coats of black velvet?" inquired the mole. "And have they
-stars on their noses? Tell me that."
-
-"No," replied the woodmouse.
-
-"I thought as much!" said the mole, contemptuously. "Vulgar people,
-probably. I have no desire to _see_ them, as you call it. Are we to
-have anything to eat?" he added. "That is of more consequence, to my
-mind. One can show one's skill in dancing, but that does not fill the
-stomach, and mine warns me that it is empty."
-
-At this very moment the music stopped, and the voice of the host was
-heard announcing that supper was served in the side-cave. The mole
-waited to hear no more, but rushed as fast as his legs would carry him,
-following his unerring nose in the direction where the food lay. Bolting
-into the supper-room, he ran violently against a neatly arranged pyramid
-of hazel-nuts, and down it came, rattling and tumbling over the greedy
-mole, and finally burying him completely. The rest of the company coming
-soberly in, each gentleman with his partner, saw the heaving and quaking
-mountain of nuts beneath which the mole was struggling, and he was
-rescued amid much laughter and merriment.
-
-That was a supper indeed! There were nuts of all kinds,--butternuts,
-chestnuts, beech-nuts, hickories, and hazels. There were huge piles of
-acorns, of several kinds,--the long slender brown-satin ones, and the
-fat red-and-brown ones, with a woolly down on them. There were
-partridge-berries and checkerberries, and piles of fragrant, spicy
-leaves of wintergreen. And there was sassafras-bark and spruce-gum, and
-a great dish of golden corn,--a present from the field-cousins. Really,
-it gives one an appetite only to think of it! And I verily believe that
-there never was such a nibbling, such a gnawing, such a champing and
-cracking and throwing away of shells, since first the forest was a
-forest. When the guests were thirsty, there was root-beer, served in
-birch-bark goblets; and when one had drunk all the beer one ate the
-goblet; which was very pleasant, and moreover saved some washing of
-dishes. And so all were very merry, and the star-nosed moles ate so much
-that their stars turned purple, and they had to be led home by their
-fieldmouse neighbors.
-
-At the close of the feast, the bride and groom departed for their own
-home, which was charmingly fitted up under an elder-bush, from the
-berries of which they could make their own wine. "Such a convenience!"
-said all the family. And finally, after a last wild dance, the company
-separated, the lights were put out, and "the event of the season" was
-over.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-
-TOTO and his companions walked homeward in high spirits. The air was
-crisp and tingling; the snow crackled merrily beneath their feet; and
-though the moon had set, the whole sky was ablaze with stars, sparkling
-with the keen, winter radiance which one sees only in cold weather.
-
-"Pretty wedding, eh, Toto?" said the raccoon.
-
-"Very pretty," said Toto; "very pretty indeed. I have enjoyed myself
-immensely. What good people they are, those little woodmice. See here!
-they made me fill all my pockets with checkerberries and nuts for the
-others at home, and they sent so many messages of regret and apology to
-Bruin that I shall not get any of them straight."
-
-"Hello!" said the squirrel, who had been gazing up into the sky, "what's
-that?"
-
-"What's _what_?" asked the raccoon.
-
-"_That!_" repeated Cracker. "That big thing with a tail, up among the
-stars."
-
-His companions both stared upward in their turn, and Toto exclaimed,--
-
-"Why, it's a comet! I never saw one before, but I know what they look
-like, from the pictures. It certainly _is_ a comet!"
-
-"And _what_, if I may be so bold as to ask," said Coon, "_is_ a comet?"
-
-"Why, it's--it's--THAT, you know!" said Toto.
-
-"Exactly!" said Coon. "What a clear way you have of putting things, to
-be sure!"
-
-"Well," cried Toto, laughing, "I'm afraid I cannot put it _very_
-clearly, because I don't know just _exactly_ what comets are, myself.
-But they are heavenly bodies, and they come and go in the sky, with
-tails; and sometimes you don't see one again for a thousand years; and
-though you don't see them move, they are really going like lightning all
-the time."
-
-Coon and Cracker looked at each other, as if they feared that their
-companion was losing his wits.
-
-"Have they four legs?" asked Cracker. "And what do they live on?"
-
-"They have no legs," replied Toto, "nothing but heads and tails; and I
-don't believe they live on anything, unless," he added, with a twinkle
-in his eye, "they get milk from the milky way."
-
-The raccoon looked hard at Toto, and then equally hard at the comet,
-which for its part spread its shining tail among the constellations, and
-took no notice whatever of him.
-
-"Can't you give us a little more of this precious information?" he said
-with a sneer. "It is so valuable, you know, and we are so likely to
-believe it, Cracker and I, being two greenhorns, as you seem to think."
-
-Toto flushed, and his brow clouded for an instant, for Coon could be so
-_very_ disagreeable when he tried; but the next moment he threw back his
-head and laughed merrily.
-
-"Yes, I will!" he cried. "I _will_ give you more information, old
-fellow. I will tell you a story I once heard about a comet. It isn't
-true, you know, but what of that? You will believe it just as much as
-you would the truth. Listen, now, both you cross fellows, to the story
-of
-
-
-THE NAUGHTY COMET.
-
-The door of the Comet House was open. In the great court-yard stood
-hundreds of comets, of all sizes and shapes. Some were puffing and
-blowing, and arranging their tails, all ready to start; others had just
-come in, and looked shabby and forlorn after their long journeyings,
-their tails drooping disconsolately; while others still were switched
-off on side-tracks, where the tinker and the tailor were attending to
-their wants, and setting them to rights. In the midst of all stood the
-Comet Master, with his hands behind him, holding a very long stick with
-a very sharp point. The comets knew just how the point of that stick
-felt, for they were prodded with it whenever they misbehaved
-themselves; accordingly, they all remained very quiet, while he gave
-his orders for the day.
-
-In a distant corner of the court-yard lay an old comet, with his tail
-comfortably curled up around him. He was too old to go out, so he
-enjoyed himself at home in a quiet way. Beside him stood a very young
-comet, with a very short tail. He was quivering with excitement, and
-occasionally cast sharp impatient glances at the Comet Master.
-
-"Will he _never_ call me?" he exclaimed, but in an undertone, so that
-only his companion could hear. "He knows I am dying to go out, and for
-that very reason he pays no attention to me. I dare not leave my place,
-for you know what he is."
-
-"Ah!" said the old comet, slowly, "if you had been out as often as I
-have, you would not be in such a hurry. Hot, tiresome work, _I_ call it.
-And what does it all amount to?"
-
-"Ay, that's the point!" exclaimed the young comet. "What _does_ it all
-amount to? That is what I am determined to find out. I cannot understand
-your going on, travelling and travelling, and never finding out why you
-do it. _I_ shall find out, you may be very sure, before I have finished
-my first journey."
-
-"Better not! better not!" answered the old comet. "You'll only get into
-trouble. Nobody knows except the Comet Master and the Sun. The Master
-would cut you up into inch pieces if you asked him, and the Sun--"
-
-"Well, what about the Sun?" asked the young comet, eagerly.
-
-"Short-tailed Comet No. 73!" rang suddenly, clear and sharp, through the
-court-yard.
-
-The young comet started as if he had been shot, and in three bounds he
-stood before the Comet Master, who looked fixedly at him.
-
-"You have never been out before," said the Master.
-
-"No, sir!" replied No. 73; and he knew better than to add another word.
-
-"You will go out now," said the Comet Master. "You will travel for
-thirteen weeks and three days, and will then return. You will avoid the
-neighborhood of the Sun, the Earth, and the planet Bungo. You will turn
-to the left on meeting other comets, and you are not allowed to speak to
-meteors. These are your orders. Go!"
-
-At the word, the comet shot out of the gate and off into space, his
-short tail bobbing as he went.
-
-Ah! here was something worth living for. No longer shut up in that
-tiresome court-yard, waiting for one's tail to grow, but out in the
-free, open, boundless realm of space, with leave to shoot about here and
-there and everywhere--well, _nearly_ everywhere--for thirteen whole
-weeks! Ah, what a glorious prospect! How swiftly he moved! How well his
-tail looked, even though it was still rather short! What a fine fellow
-he was, altogether!
-
-For two or three weeks our comet was the happiest creature in all space;
-too happy to think of anything except the joy of frisking about. But
-by-and-by he began to wonder about things, and that is always dangerous
-for a comet.
-
-"I wonder, now," he said, "why I may not go near the planet Bungo. I
-have always heard that he was the most interesting of all the planets.
-And the Sun! how I _should_ like to know a little more about the Sun!
-And, by the way, that reminds me that all this time I have never found
-out _why_ I am travelling. It shows how I have been enjoying myself,
-that I have forgotten it so long; but now I must certainly make a point
-of finding out. Hello! there comes Long-Tail No. 45. I mean to ask him."
-
-So he turned out to the left, and waited till No. 45 came along. The
-latter was a middle-aged comet, very large, and with an uncommonly long
-tail,--quite preposterously long, our little No. 73 thought, as he shook
-his own tail and tried to make as much of it as possible.
-
-"Good morning, Mr. Long-Tail!" he said as soon as the other was within
-speaking distance. "Would you be so very good as to tell me what you are
-travelling for?"
-
-"For six months," answered No. 45 with a puff and a snort. "Started a
-month ago; five months still to go."
-
-"Oh, I don't mean that!" exclaimed Short-Tail No. 73. "I mean _why_ are
-you travelling at all?"
-
-"Comet Master sent me!" replied No. 45, briefly.
-
-"But what for?" persisted the little comet. "What is it all about? What
-good does it do? _Why_ do we travel for weeks and months and years?
-That's what I want to find out."
-
-"Don't know, I'm sure!" said the elder, still more shortly. "What's
-more, don't care!"
-
-The little comet fairly shook with amazement and indignation. "You don't
-care!" he cried. "Is it possible? And how long, may I ask, have you been
-travelling hither and thither through space, without knowing or caring
-why?"
-
-"Long enough to learn not to ask stupid questions!" answered Long-Tail
-No. 45. "Good morning to you!"
-
-And without another word he was off, with his preposterously long tail
-spreading itself like a luminous fan behind him. The little comet looked
-after him for some time in silence. At last he said:--
-
-"Well, _I_ call that simply _disgusting_! An ignorant, narrow-minded
-old--"
-
-"Hello, cousin!" called a clear merry voice just behind him. "How goes
-it with you? Shall we travel together? Our roads seem to go in the same
-direction."
-
-The comet turned and saw a bright and sparkling meteor. "I--I--must not
-speak to you!" said No. 73, confusedly.
-
-"Not speak to me!" exclaimed the meteor, laughing. "Why, what's the
-matter? What have I done? I never saw you before in my life."
-
-"N-nothing that I know of," answered No. 73, still more confused.
-
-"Then why mustn't you speak to me?" persisted the meteor, giving a
-little skip and jump. "Eh? tell me that, will you? _Why_ mustn't you?"
-
-"I--don't--know!" answered the little comet, slowly, for he was ashamed
-to say boldly, as he ought to have done, that it was against the orders
-of the Comet Master.
-
-"Oh, gammon!" cried the meteor, with another skip. "_I_ know! Comet
-Master, eh? But a fine high-spirited young fellow like you isn't going
-to be afraid of that old tyrant. Come along, I say! If there were any
-_real reason_ why you should not speak to me--"
-
-"That's just what I say," interrupted the comet, eagerly. "What IS the
-reason? Why don't they tell it to me?"
-
-"'Cause there isn't any!" rejoined the meteor. "Come along!"
-
-After a little more hesitation, the comet yielded, and the two frisked
-merrily along, side by side. As they went, No. 73 confided all his
-vexations to his new friend, who sympathized warmly with him, and spoke
-in most disrespectful terms of the Comet Master.
-
-"A pretty sort of person to dictate to you, when he hasn't the smallest
-sign of a tail himself! I wouldn't submit to it!" cried the meteor. "As
-to the other orders, some of them are not so bad. Of course, nobody
-would want to go near that stupid, poky Earth, if he could possibly help
-it; and the planet Bungo is--ah--is not a very nice planet, I believe.
-[The fact is, the planet Bungo contains a large reform school for unruly
-meteors, but our friend made no mention of that.] But as for the
-Sun,--the bright, jolly, delightful Sun,--why, I am going to take a
-nearer look at him myself. Come on! We will go together, in spite of the
-Comet Master."
-
-Again the little comet hesitated and demurred; but after all, he had
-already broken one rule, and why not another? He would be punished in
-any case, and he might as well get all the pleasure he could. Reasoning
-thus, he yielded once more to the persuasions of the meteor, and
-together they shot through the great space-world, taking their way
-straight toward the Sun.
-
-When the Sun saw them coming, he smiled and seemed much pleased. He
-stirred his fire, and shook his shining locks, and blazed brighter and
-brighter, hotter and hotter. The heat seemed to have a strange effect on
-the comet, for he began to go faster and faster.
-
-"Hold on!" said the meteor. "Why are you hurrying so? I cannot keep up
-with you."
-
-"I cannot stop myself!" cried No. 73. "Something is drawing me forward,
-faster and faster!"
-
-On he went at a terrible rate, the meteor following as best he might.
-Several planets which he passed shouted to him in warning tones, but he
-could not hear what they said. The Sun stirred his fire again, and
-blazed brighter and brighter, hotter and hotter; and forward rushed the
-wretched little comet, faster and faster, faster and faster!
-
-"Catch hold of my tail and stop me!" he shrieked to the meteor. "I am
-shrivelling, burning up, in this fearful heat! Stop me, for pity's
-sake!"
-
-But the meteor was already far behind, and had stopped short to watch
-his companion's headlong progress. And now,--ah, me!--now the Sun opened
-his huge fiery mouth. The comet made one desperate effort to stop
-himself, but it was in vain. An awful, headlong plunge through the
-intervening space; a hissing and crackling; a shriek,--and the fiery
-jaws had closed on Short-Tail No. 73, forever!
-
-"Dear me!" said the meteor. "How very shocking! I quite forgot that the
-Sun ate comets. I must be off, or I shall get an æon in the Reform
-School for this. I am really very sorry, for he was a nice little
-comet!"
-
-And away frisked the meteor, and soon forgot all about it.
-
-But in the great court-yard in front of the Comet House, the Master took
-a piece of chalk, and crossed out No. 73 from the list of short-tailed
-comets on the slate that hangs on the door. Then he called out, "No. 1
-Express, come forward!" and the swiftest of all the comets stood before
-him, brilliant and beautiful, with a bewildering magnificence of tail.
-The Comet Master spoke sharply and decidedly, as usual, but not
-unkindly.
-
-"No. 73, Short-Tail," he said, "has disobeyed orders, and has in
-consequence been devoured by the Sun."
-
-Here there was a great sensation among the comets.
-
-"No. 1," continued the Master, "you will start immediately, and travel
-until you find a runaway meteor, with a red face and blue hair. You are
-permitted to make inquiries of respectable bodies, such as planets or
-satellites. When found, you will arrest him and take him to the planet
-Bungo. My compliments to the Meteor Keeper, and I shall be obliged if he
-will give this meteor two æons in the Reform School. I trust," he
-continued, turning to the assembled comets, "that this will be a lesson
-to all of you!"
-
-And I believe it was.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-
-"BRUIN, what do you think? Oh, Bruin! what _do_ you think?" Thus spoke
-the little squirrel as he sat perched on his big friend's shoulder, the
-day after the wedding party.
-
-"What do I think?" repeated the bear. "Why, I think that you are
-tickling my ear, Master Cracker, and that if you do not stop, I shall be
-under the painful necessity of knocking you off on the floor."
-
-"Oh, that isn't the kind of thinking I mean!" replied Cracker,
-impudently flirting the tip of his tail into the good bear's eye.
-"_That_ is of no consequence, you great big fellow! What are your ears
-for, if not for me to tickle? I mean, what do you think I heard at the
-party, last night?"
-
-"A great deal of nonsense!" replied the bear, promptly.
-
-"Bruin, I shall certainly be obliged to shake you!" cried the squirrel.
-"I shall shake you till your teeth rattle, if you give me any more of
-this impudence. So behave yourself now, and listen to me. I was talking
-with Chipper last night,--my cousin, you know, who lives at the other
-end of the wood,--and he told me something that really quite troubled
-me. You remember old Baldhead?"
-
-"Well, yes!" said Bruin, "I should say I did. He hasn't been in our part
-of the wood again, has he?"
-
-"Oh, no!" replied Cracker. "He is not likely to go anywhere for a long
-time, I should say. He has broken his leg, Chipper tells me, and has
-been shut up in his cavern for a week and more."
-
-"Dear me!" said the kind-hearted bear. "I am very sorry to hear it! How
-does the poor old man get his food?"
-
-"Chipper didn't seem to think he _could_ get any," replied the squirrel.
-"He peeped in at the door, yesterday, and saw him lying in his bunk,
-looking very pale and thin. He tried once or twice to get up, but fell
-back again; and Chipper is sure there was nothing to eat in the cave. I
-thought I wouldn't say anything to Coon or Toto last night, but would
-wait till I had told you."
-
-"It must be seen to at once!" cried Bruin, starting up. "I will go
-myself, and take care of the poor man till his leg is well. Where are
-the Madam and Toto? We must tell them at once."
-
-The blind grandmother was in the kitchen, rolling out pie-crust. She
-listened, with exclamations of pity and concern, to Cracker's account of
-the poor old hermit, and agreed with Bruin that aid must be sent to him
-without delay. "I will pack a basket at once," she said, "with
-nourishing food, bandages for the broken leg, and some simple medicines;
-and Toto, you will take it to the poor man, will you not, dear?"
-
-"Of course I will!" said Toto, heartily.
-
-But Bruin said: "No, dear Madam! I will go myself. Our Toto's heart is
-big, but he is not strong enough to take care of a sick person. It is
-surely best for me to go."
-
-The grandmother hesitated. "Dear Bruin," she said, "of course you
-_would_ be the best nurse on many accounts; but if the man is weak and
-nervous, I am afraid--you alarmed him once, you know, and possibly the
-sight of you, coming in suddenly, might--"
-
-"Speak out, Granny!" cried Toto, laughing. "You think Bruin would simply
-frighten the man to death, or at best into a fit; and you are quite
-right. I'll tell you what, old fellow!" he added, turning to Bruin, who
-looked sadly crestfallen at this throwing of cold water on the fire of
-his kindly intentions, "we will go together, and then the whole thing
-will be easily managed. I will go in first, and tell the hermit all
-about you; and then, when his mind is prepared, you can come in and make
-him comfortable."
-
-The good bear brightened up at this, and gladly assented to Toto's
-proposition; and the two set out shortly after, Bruin carrying a large
-basket of food, and Toto a small one containing medicines and bandages.
-Part of the food was for their own lunch, as they had a long walk before
-them, and would not be back till long past dinner-time. They trudged
-briskly along,--Toto whistling merrily as usual, but his companion very
-grave and silent.
-
-"What ails you, old fellow?" asked the boy, when a couple of miles had
-been traversed in this manner. "Has our account of the wedding made you
-pine with envy, and wish yourself a mouse?"
-
-"No!" replied the bear, slowly, "oh, no! I should not like to be a
-mouse, or anything of that sort. But I do wish, Toto, that I was not so
-frightfully ugly!"
-
-"Ugly!" cried Toto, indignantly, "who said you were ugly? What put such
-an idea into your head?"
-
-"Why, you yourself," said the bear, sadly. "You said I would frighten
-the man to death, or into a fit. Now, one must be horribly ugly to do
-that, you know."
-
-"My _dear_ Bruin," cried Toto, "it isn't because you are _ugly_; why,
-you are a perfect beauty--for a bear. But--well--you are _very_ large,
-you know, and somewhat shaggy, if you don't mind my saying so; and you
-must remember that most bears are very savage, disagreeable creatures.
-How is anybody who sees you for the first time to know that you are the
-best and dearest old fellow in the world? Besides," he added, "have you
-forgotten how you frightened this very hermit when he stole your honey,
-last year?"
-
-Bruin hung his head, and looked very sheepish. "I shouldn't roar, now,
-of course," he said. "I meant to be very gentle, and just put one paw
-in, and then the end of my nose, and so get into the cave by degrees,
-you know."
-
-Toto had his doubts as to the soothing effect which would have been
-produced by this singular measure, but he had not the heart to say so;
-and after a pause, Bruin continued:--
-
-"Of course, however, you and Madam were quite right,--quite right you
-were, my boy. But I was wondering, just now, whether there were not
-some way of making myself less frightful. Now, you and Madam have no
-hair on your faces,--none anywhere, in fact, except a very little on the
-top of your head. That gives you a gentle expression, you see. Do you
-think--would it be possible--would you advise me to--to--in fact, to
-shave the hair off my face?"
-
-The excellent bear looked wistfully at Toto, to mark the effect of this
-proposition; but Toto, after struggling for some moments to preserve his
-gravity, burst into a peal of laughter, so loud and clear that it woke
-the echoes of the forest.
-
-"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the boy. "Ho! oh, dear me! ho! ho! ha! Bruin,
-dear, you really _must_ excuse me, but I cannot help it. Ho! ho! ho!"
-
-Bruin looked hurt and vexed for a moment, but it was only a moment.
-Toto's laughter was too contagious to be resisted; the worthy bear's
-features relaxed, and the next instant he was laughing himself,--or
-coming as near to it as a black bear can.
-
-"I am a foolish old fellow, I suppose!" he said. "We will say no more
-about it, Toto. But, hark? who is that speaking. It sounded like a crow,
-only it was too feeble."
-
-They listened, and presently the sound was heard again; and this time it
-certainly was a faint but distinct "Caw!" and apparently at no great
-distance from them. The two companions looked about, and soon saw the
-owner of the voice perched on a stump, and croaking dismally. A more
-miserable-looking bird was never seen. His feathers drooped in limp
-disorder, and evidently had not been trimmed for days; his eyes were
-half-shut, and save when he opened his beak to utter a despairing "Caw!"
-he might have been mistaken for a stuffed bird,--and a badly stuffed
-bird at that.
-
-"Hello, friend!" shouted Toto, in his cheery voice. "What is the matter
-that you look so down in the beak?"
-
-The crow raised his head, and looked sadly at the two strangers. "I am
-sick," he said, "and I can't get anything to eat for myself or my
-master."
-
-"Who is your master?" asked the boy.
-
-"He is a hermit," replied the crow. "He lives in a cave near by; but
-last week he broke his leg, and has not been able to move since then. He
-has nothing to eat, for he will not touch raw snails, and I cannot find
-anything else for him. I fear he will die soon, and I shall probably die
-too."
-
-"Come! come!" said the bear, "don't let me hear any nonsense of that
-kind. Die, indeed! Here, take that, sir, and don't talk foolishness!"
-
-"That" was neither more nor less than the wing of a roast chicken which
-Bruin had pulled hastily from the basket. The famished crow fell upon
-it, beak and claw, without more ado; and a silence ensued, while the two
-friends, well pleased, watched the first effect of their charitable
-mission.
-
-"Poor creature!" said Toto. "Were you ever so hungry as that, Bruin?"
-
-"Oh, yes!" said the bear, carelessly, "often and often. When I came out
-in the spring, you know. But I never stayed hungry very long," he
-added, with a significant grimace. "This crow is sick, you see, and
-probably cannot help himself much. How does that go, old fellow?" he
-said, addressing the crow, who had polished the chicken-bone till it
-shone again, and now looked up with a twinkle in his eyes very different
-from the wretched, lacklustre expression they had at first worn.
-
-"You have given me life, sir!" he said warmly; "you have positively
-given me life. I am once more a crow. And now, tell me how I can serve
-you, for you are evidently bent on some errand."
-
-"We have come to see your master," said Toto. "We heard of his accident,
-and thought he must be in need of help. So, if you will show us the
-way--"
-
-The crow needed no more, but joyfully spread his wings, and half hopped,
-half fluttered along the ground as fast as he could go. "Noble
-strangers!" he cried, "our humble dwelling is close at hand. Follow me,
-I pray you, and blessings attend your footsteps."
-
-The two friends followed, and soon came upon the entrance to a cave,
-around which a sort of rustic porch had been built. Vines were trained
-over it, and a rude chair and table stood beneath the pleasant shade.
-
-"This is my master's study," said the crow. "Here we have spent many
-happy and profitable hours. May it please you to enter, worshipful
-sirs?"
-
-"What do you say, Bruin?" asked Toto, glancing at his companion. "Shall
-we go in, or send the crow first, to announce us?"
-
-"You had better go in alone," said the bear, decidedly. "I will stay
-here with Master Crow, and when--that is, _if_ you think it best for me
-to come in, later, you have but to call me."
-
-Accordingly Toto entered the cavern, which was dimly lighted by a hole
-in the roof. As soon as his eyes became accustomed to the gloom, he
-perceived a rude pallet at one side, on which was stretched the form of
-a tall old man. His long white hair and beard were matted and tangled;
-his thin hands lay helpless by his side; it seemed as if he were
-scarcely alive. He opened his eyes, however, at the sound of footsteps,
-and looked half-fearfully at the boy, who bent softly over him.
-
-"Good morning, sir!" said Toto, not knowing what else to say. "Is your
-leg better, to-day?"
-
-"Water!" murmured the old man, feebly.
-
-"Water? Why, yes, of course! I'll get some in a minute."
-
-He started for the mouth of the cave, but before he reached it, a huge,
-shaggy, black paw was thrust in at the aperture, holding out a bark
-dish, while a sort of enormous whisper, which just _was_ not a growl,
-murmured, "Here it is!"
-
-"Thank you, Bru--I mean, thank you!" said Toto, in some confusion,
-glancing apprehensively toward the bed. But the old man noticed nothing,
-till the clear cool water was held to his lips. He drank eagerly, and
-seemed to gain a little strength at once, for he now gazed earnestly at
-Toto, and presently said, in a feeble voice:--
-
-"Who are you, dear child, and what good angel has sent you to save my
-life?"
-
-"My name is Toto," replied the boy. "As to how I came here, I will tell
-you all that by-and-by; but now you are too weak either to talk or to
-listen, and I must see at once about getting you some--"
-
-"_Food!_" came the huge whisper again, rolling like a distant muttering
-of thunder through the cavern; and again the shaggy paw appeared,
-solemnly waving a bowl of jelly.
-
-Toto flew to take it, but paused for a moment, overcome with amusement
-at the aspect presented by his friend. The good bear had wedged his huge
-bulk tightly into a corner behind a jutting fragment of rock. Here he
-sat, with the basket of provisions between his knees, and an air of deep
-and solemn mystery in his look and bearing. Not seeing Toto, he still
-held the bowl of jelly in his outstretched paw, and opening his
-cavernous jaws, was about to send out another rolling thunder-whisper of
-"Food!" when Toto sprang quickly on the jelly, and taking a spoon from
-the basket, rapped the bear on the nose with it, and then returned to
-his charge.
-
-The poor hermit submitted meekly to being fed with a spoon, and at every
-mouthful seemed to gain strength. A faint color stole into his wan
-cheek, his eyes brightened, and before the bowl was two thirds empty, he
-actually smiled.
-
-"I little thought I should ever taste jelly again," he said. "Indeed, I
-had fully made up my mind that I must starve to death here; for I was
-unable to move, and never thought of human aid coming to me in this
-lonely spot. Even my poor crow, my faithful companion for many years,
-has left me. I trust he has found some other shelter, for he was feeble
-and lame, himself."
-
-"Oh, he is all right!" said Toto, cheerily. "It was he who showed us the
-way here; and he's outside now, talking to--that is--talking to himself,
-you know."
-
-"Showed _us_ the way?" repeated the hermit. "You have a companion, then?
-Why does he not come in, and let me thank him also for his kindness?"
-
-"He?" said Toto, stammering. "He--oh--he--he doesn't like to be
-thanked."
-
-"But at least he will come in!" urged the old man. "Do, pray, ask him! I
-am distressed to think of his staying outside. Is he a very shy boy?"
-
-"He isn't a boy," said Toto. "He's--oh! what a muddle I'm making of it!
-He's bigger than a boy, sir, a great deal bigger. And--I hope you won't
-mind, but--he's black!"
-
-"A negro! is it possible?" exclaimed the hermit. "My dear boy, I have no
-prejudice against the Ethiopian race. I must insist on his coming in.
-Stay! I will call him myself. I believe they are generally called either
-Cæsar or Pompey. Mr. Pomp--"
-
-"Oh, stop!" cried Toto, in distress. "His name _isn't_ Pompey, it's
-Bruin. And he wouldn't come in yet if I were to--"
-
-"Cut him into inch pieces!" came rolling like muffled thunder through
-the doorway.
-
-The old hermit started as if he had been shot. "Ah! what is that?" he
-cried. "Boy! boy! who--_what_ is that speaking?"
-
-"Oh, dear!" cried Toto, distractedly. "Oh, dear! what shall I do? Please
-don't be alarmed, Mr. Baldhead--I mean, Mr. Hermit. He is the best,
-dearest, kindest old fellow _in the world_, and it isn't his fault,
-because he was--"
-
-"Born so!" resounded from without; and the poor hermit, now speechless
-with terror, could only gasp, and gaze at Toto with eyes of agonized
-entreaty.
-
-"Yes, he was born so!" continued the boy. "And we might have been bears
-ourselves, you know, if we had happened to have them for fathers and
-mothers; so--" But here he paused in dismay, for the hermit, without
-more ado, quietly fainted away.
-
-"Oh, Bruin! Crow! come here!" cried Toto. "I am afraid he is dead, or
-dying. What shall we do?"
-
-At this summons the crow came hopping and fluttering in, followed by the
-unhappy bear, who skulked along, hugging the wall and making himself as
-small as possible, while he cast shamefaced and apologetic glances
-toward the bed.
-
-"Oh, you needn't mind now!" cried Toto. "He won't know you are here. Do
-you think he is dead, Crow? Have you ever seen him like this before?"
-
-But the crow never had; and the three were standing beside the bed in
-mute dismay, when suddenly a light flutter of wings was heard, and a
-soft voice cooed, "Toto! Bruin!" and the next moment Pigeon Pretty came
-flying into the cave, with a bunch of dried leaves in her bill. A glance
-showed her the situation, and alighting softly on the old man's breast
-she held the leaves to his nostrils, fanning him the while with her
-outspread wings.
-
-"Oh!" she said, "I have flown so fast I am quite out of breath. You see,
-dears, I was afraid that something of this sort might happen, as soon as
-I heard of your going. I was in the barn, you know, when you were
-talking about it, and getting ready. So I flew to my old nest and got
-these leaves, of which I always keep a store on hand. See, he is
-beginning to revive already."
-
-In truth, the pungent fragrance of the leaves, which now filled the air,
-seemed to have a magical effect on the sick man. His eyelids fluttered,
-his lips moved, and he muttered faintly, "The bear! oh, the bear!"
-
-The wood-pigeon motioned to Bruin and Toto to withdraw, which they
-speedily did, casting remorseful glances at one another. Silently and
-sadly they sat down in the porch, and here poor Bruin abandoned himself
-to despair, clutching his shaggy hair, and even pulling out several
-handfuls of it, while he inwardly called himself by every hard name he
-could think of. Toto sat looking gloomily at his boots for a long time,
-but finally he said, in a whisper:--
-
-"Cheer up, old fellow! it was all my fault. I do suppose I am the
-stupidest boy that ever lived. If I had only managed a little
-better--hark! what is that?"
-
-Both listened, and heard the soft voice of the wood-pigeon calling,
-"Bruin! Bruin! Toto! come in, both of you. Mr. Hermit understands all
-about it now, and is ready to welcome _both_ his visitors."
-
-Much amazed, the two friends rose, and slowly and hesitatingly
-re-entered the cave, the bear making more desperate efforts even than
-before to conceal his colossal bulk. To his astonishment, however, the
-hermit, who was now lying propped up by an improvised pillow of dry
-moss, greeted him with an unflinching gaze, and even smiled and held out
-his hand.
-
-"Mr. Bruin," he said, "I am glad to meet you, sir! This sweet bird has
-told me all about you, and I am sincerely pleased to make your
-acquaintance. So you have walked ten miles and more to bring help and
-comfort to an old man who stole your honey!"
-
-But this was more than the good bear could stand. He sat down on the
-ground, and thrusting his great shaggy paws into his eyes, fairly began
-to blubber. At this, I am ashamed to say, all the others fell to
-laughing. First, Toto laughed--but Toto, bless him! was always
-laughing; and then Pigeon Pretty laughed; and then Jim Crow; and then
-the hermit; and finally, Bruin himself. And so they all laughed
-together, till the forest echoes rang, and the woodchucks almost stirred
-in their holes.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-
-IT was late in the afternoon of the same day. In the cottage at home all
-was quiet and peaceful. The grandmother was taking a nap in her room,
-with the squirrel curled up comfortably on the pillow beside her. In the
-kitchen, the fire and the kettle were having it all their own way, for
-though two other members of the family were in the room, they were
-either asleep or absorbed in their own thoughts, for they gave no sign
-of their presence. The kettle was in its glory, for Bruin had polished
-it that very morning, and it shone like the good red gold. It sang its
-merriest song, and puffed out clouds of snow-white steam from its
-slender spout.
-
-"Look at me!" it said to the fire. "Am I not well worth looking at? I
-feel almost sure that I must have turned into gold, for I never used to
-look like this. A golden kettle is rather a rare thing, I flatter
-myself. It really seems a pity that there is no one here except the
-stupid parrot, who has gone to sleep, and that odious raccoon, who
-always looks at me as if I were a black pot, and a cracked pot at that."
-
-"To be sure!" crackled the fire, encouragingly. "To be sure! But never
-mind, my dear! I admire you immensely, as you know, and it is my
-greatest pleasure to see myself reflected in your bright face. Crick!
-crack! cr-r-r-r-rickety!" said the fire.
-
-"Hm! hm! tsing! tsing! tsing!" sang the kettle. And they performed
-really a very creditable duet together.
-
-Now it happened that the parrot was not asleep, though she had had the
-bad taste to turn her back on the fire and the kettle. She was looking
-out of the window, in fact, and wondering when the wood-pigeon would
-come back. Though not a bird of specially affectionate nature, Miss Mary
-was still very fond of Pigeon Pretty, and always missed her when she
-was away. This afternoon had seemed particularly long, for no one had
-been in the kitchen save Coon, with whom she was not on very good terms.
-Now, she thought, it was surely time for her friend to return; and she
-stretched her neck, and peered out of the window, hoping to catch the
-flutter of the soft brown wings. Instead of this, however, she caught
-sight of something else, which made her start and ruffle up her
-feathers, and look again with a very different expression.
-
-Outside the cottage stood a man,--an ill-looking fellow, with a heavy
-pack strapped on his back. He was looking all about him, examining the
-outside of the cottage carefully, and evidently listening for any sound
-that might come from within. All being silent, he stepped to the window
-(not Miss Mary's window, but the other), and took a long survey of the
-kitchen; and then, seeing no living creature in it (for the raccoon
-under the table and the parrot on her perch were both hidden from his
-view), he laid down his pack, opened the door, and quietly stepped in.
-An ill-looking fellow, Miss Mary had thought him at the first glance;
-but now, as she noiselessly turned on her perch and looked more closely
-at him, she thought his aspect positively villanous. He had a hooked
-nose and a straggling red beard, and his little green eyes twinkled with
-an evil light as he looked about the cosey kitchen, with all its neat
-and comfortable appointments.
-
-First he stepped to the cupboard, and after examining its contents he
-drew out a mutton-bone (which had been put away for Bruin), a hunch of
-bread, and a cranberry tart, on which he proceeded to make a hearty
-meal, without troubling himself about knife or fork. He ate hurriedly,
-looking about him the while,--though, curiously enough, he saw neither
-of the two pairs of bright eyes which were following his every movement.
-The parrot on her perch sat motionless, not a feather stirring; the
-raccoon under the table lay crouched against the wall, as still as if
-he were carved in stone. Even the kettle had stopped singing, and only
-sent out a low, perturbed murmur from time to time.
-
-His meal finished, the rascal--his confidence increasing as the moments
-went by without interruption--proceeded to warm himself well by the
-fire, and then on tiptoe to walk about the room, peering into cupboards
-and lockers, opening boxes and pulling out drawers. The parrot's blood
-boiled with indignation at the sight of this "unfeathered vulture," as
-she mentally termed him, ransacking all the Madam's tidy and well-kept
-stores; but when he opened the drawer in which lay the six silver
-teaspoons (the pride of the cottage), and the porringer that Toto had
-inherited from his great-grandfather,--when he opened this drawer, and
-with a low whistle of satisfaction drew the precious treasures from
-their resting-place, Miss Mary could contain herself no longer, but
-clapped her wings and cried in a clear distinct voice, "Stop thief!"
-
-The man started violently, and dropping the silver back into the drawer,
-looked about him in great alarm. At first he saw no one, but presently
-his eyes fell on the parrot, who sat boldly facing him, her yellow eyes
-gleaming with anger. His terror changed to fury, and with a muttered
-oath he stepped forward.
-
-"It was you, was it?" he said fiercely. "You'll never say 'Stop thief'
-again, my fine bird, for I'll wring your neck before I'm half a minute
-older."
-
-[Illustration: But at this last mishap the robber, now fairly beside
-himself, rushed headlong from the cottage.--PAGE 163.]
-
-He stretched his hand toward the parrot, who for her part prepared to
-fly at him and fight for her life; but at that moment something
-happened. There was a rushing in the air; there was a yell as if a dozen
-wild-cats had broken loose, and a heavy body fell on the robber's
-back,--a body which had teeth and claws (an endless number of claws, it
-seemed, and all as sharp as daggers); a body which yelled and scratched
-and bit and tore, till the ruffian, half mad with terror and pain,
-yelled louder than his assailant. Vainly trying to loosen the clutch
-of those iron claws, the wretch staggered backward against the hob. Was
-it accident, or did the kettle by design give a plunge, and come down
-with a crash, sending a stream of boiling water over his legs? Who can
-tell? It was a remarkable kettle. But at this last mishap the robber,
-now fairly beside himself, rushed headlong from the cottage, and still
-bearing his terrible burden, fled screaming down the road.
-
-At the same moment the door of the grandmother's room was opened
-hurriedly, and the old lady cried, in a trembling voice, "What has
-happened? What is it? Coon! Mary! are you here?"
-
-"I am here, Madam!" replied the parrot, quickly. "Coon has--has just
-stepped out, with--in fact, with an acquaintance. He will be back
-directly, no doubt."
-
-"But that fearful noise!" said the grandmother. "Was that--"
-
-"The acquaintance, dear Madam!" replied Miss Mary, calmly. "He was
-excited!--about something, and he raised his voice, I confess, higher
-than good breeding usually allows. Yes. Have you had a pleasant nap?"
-
-The good old lady, still much mystified, though her fears were set at
-rest by the parrot's quiet confidence, returned to her room to put on
-her cap, and to smooth the pretty white curls which her Toto loved. No
-sooner was the door closed than the squirrel, who had been fairly
-dancing up and down with curiosity and eagerness, opened a fire of
-questions:--
-
-"Who was it? What happened? What did he want? Who knocked down the
-kettle? Why didn't you want Madam to know?" etc.
-
-Miss Mary entered into a full account of the thrilling adventure, and
-had but just finished it when in walked the raccoon, his eyes sparkling,
-his tail cocked in its airiest way.
-
-"Well?" cried the parrot, eagerly, "is he gone?"
-
-"Yes, my dear, he is gone!" replied Coon, gayly. "Oh, dear me! what a
-pleasant ride I have had! Why didn't you come too, Miss Mary? You might
-have held on by his hair. It would have been such fun! Yes, I went on
-quite a good bit with him, just to show him the way, you know. And then
-I bade him good-by, and begged him to come again; but he didn't say he
-would."
-
-Coon shook himself, and fairly chuckled with glee, as did also his two
-companions; but presently Miss Mary, quitting her perch, flew to the
-table, and holding out her claw to the raccoon, said gravely:--
-
-"Coon, you have saved my life, and perhaps the Madam's and Cracker's
-too. Give me your paw, and receive my warmest thanks for your timely
-aid. We have not been the best of friends, lately," she added, "but I
-trust all will be different now. And the next time you are invited to a
-party, if you fancy a feather or so to complete your toilet, you have
-only to mention it, and I shall be happy to oblige you."
-
-"And for my part, Miss Mary," responded the raccoon warmly, "I beg you
-to consider me the humblest of your servants from this day forth. If you
-fancy any little relish, such as snails or fat spiders, as a change from
-your every-day diet, it will be a pleasure to me to procure them for
-you. Beauty," he continued, with his most gallant bow, "is enchanting,
-and valor is enrapturing; but beauty and valor _combined_, are--"
-
-"Oh, come!" said the squirrel, who felt rather crusty, perhaps, because
-he had not seen the fun, and so did not care for the fine speeches,
-"stop bowing and scraping to each other, you two, and let us put this
-distracted-looking room in order before Madam comes in again. Pick up
-the kettle, will you, Coon? Look! the water is running all over the
-floor."
-
-The raccoon did not answer, being apparently very busy setting the
-chairs straight; so Cracker repeated his request, in a sharper voice.
-
-"Do you hear me, Coon? Please pick up that kettle. I cannot do it
-myself, for it is twice as big as I am, but I should think you could
-lift it easily, now that it is empty."
-
-The raccoon threw a perturbed glance at the kettle, and then said in a
-tone which tried to be nonchalant, "Oh! the kettle is all right. It will
-get up, I suppose, when it feels like it. If it should ask me to help
-it, of course I would; but perhaps it may prefer the floor for a change.
-I--I often lie on the floor, myself," he added.
-
-The squirrel stared. "What do you mean?" he said. "It isn't alive! Toto
-said it wasn't."
-
-The raccoon beckoned him aside, and said in a low tone, "My good
-Cracker, Toto _says_ a great many things, and no doubt he thinks they
-are all true. But he is a young boy, and, let me tell you, he does _not_
-know everything in the world. If that thing is not alive, why did it
-jump off its seat just at the critical moment, and pour hot water over
-the robber's legs?"
-
-"Did it?" exclaimed the squirrel, much impressed.
-
-"Yes, it did!" replied the raccoon, emphatically. "I saw it with these
-eyes. And I don't deny that it was a great help, Cracker, and that I was
-very glad the kettle did it. But see, now! when a creature has no more
-self-respect than to lie there for a quarter of an hour, with its head
-on the other side of the room, without making the smallest attempt to
-get up and put itself together again, why, I tell you frankly _I_ don't
-feel much like assisting it. You never knew one of _us_ to behave in
-that sort of way, did you, now?"
-
-"N-n-no!" said Cracker, doubtfully. "But then, if any of us were to lose
-our heads, we should be dead, shouldn't we?"
-
-"Exactly!" cried the raccoon, triumphantly. "And when that thing loses
-its head, it _isn't_ dead. That's just the difference. It can go without
-its head for an hour! I've seen it, when Toto took it off--the head, I
-mean--and forgot to put it on again. I tell you, it just _pretends_ to
-be dead, so that it can be taken care of, and carried about like a baby,
-and given water whenever it is thirsty. A secret, underhand, sly
-creature, I call it, and I sha'n't touch it to put its head on again!"
-
-And that was all the thanks the kettle got for its pains.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-
-WHEN Toto came home, as he did just when night was closing in around the
-little cottage, he was whistling merrily, as usual; and the first sound
-of his clear and tuneful whistle brought Coon, Cracker, and Miss Mary
-all running to the door, to greet, to tell, and to warn him. The boy
-listened wide-eyed to the story of the attempted robbery, and at the end
-of it he drew a long breath of relief.
-
-"I am _so_ glad you didn't let Granny know!" he cried. "That was clever
-of you. She never would have slept quietly again. And, I say! what a
-good fellow you are, Coon! Shake paws, old boy! And Miss Mary, you are a
-trump, and I would give you a golden nose-ring like your Princess's if
-you had a nose to wear it on. To think of you two defending the castle,
-and putting the enemy to flight, horse, foot, and dragoons!"
-
-"What is dragoons?" asked the parrot, gravely. "I don't think he had any
-about him, unless it was concealed. He had no horse, either; but he had
-two feet,--and very ugly ones they were. He danced on them when the
-kettle poured hot water over his legs,--danced higher than ever you did,
-Toto."
-
-"Did he?" laughed Toto, who was in high spirits. "Ha! ha! I am delighted
-to hear it. But," he added, "it is so dark that you do not see our
-guest, whom I have brought home for a little visit. Where are you, Jim
-Crow? Come here and be introduced to the family!"
-
-Thus adjured, the crow hopped solemnly forward, and made his best bow to
-the three inmates, who in turn saluted him, each after his or her
-fashion. The raccoon was gracious and condescending, the squirrel
-familiar and friendly, the parrot frigidly polite, though inwardly
-resenting that a crow should be presented to her,--to _her_, the
-favorite attendant of the late lamented Princess of Central
-Africa,--without her permission having been asked first. As for the
-crow, he stood on one leg and blinked at them all in a manner which
-meant a great deal or nothing at all, just as you chose to take it.
-
-"Distinguished persons!" he said, gravely, "it is with pleasure that I
-make your acquaintance. May this day be the least happy of your lives!
-Lady Parrot," he added, addressing himself particularly to Miss Mary,
-"grant me the honor of leading you within. The evening air is chill for
-one so delicate and fragile."
-
-Miss Mary, highly delighted at being addressed by such a stately title
-as "Lady Parrot," relaxed at once the severity of her mien, and
-gracefully sidled into the house in company with the sable-clad
-stranger, while Toto and the two others followed, much amused.
-
-After a hearty supper, in the course of which Toto related as much of
-his and Bruin's adventures in the hermit's cave as he thought proper,
-the whole family gathered around the blazing hearth. Toto brought the
-pan of apples and the dish of nuts; the grandmother took up her
-knitting, and said, with a smile: "And who will tell us a story, this
-evening? We have had none for two evenings now, and it is high time that
-we heard something new. Cracker, my dear, is it not your turn?"
-
-"I think it is," said the squirrel, hastily cramming a couple of very
-large nuts into his cheek-pouches, "and if you like, I will tell you a
-story that Mrs. Cow told me a day or two ago. It is about a cow that
-jumped over the moon."
-
-"What!" cried Toto. "Why, I've known that story ever since I was a baby!
-And it isn't a story, either, it's a rhyme,--
-
-    "Hey diddle diddle,
-     The cat and the fiddle,
-     The cow--"
-
-"Yes, yes! I know, Toto," interrupted the squirrel. "She told me that,
-too, and said it was a pack of lies, and that people like you didn't
-know anything about the real truth of the matter. So now, if you will
-just listen to me, I will tell you how it really happened."
-
-
-THE MOON-CALF.
-
-There once was a young cow, and she had a calf.
-
-"And that's half!" said Toto, in rather a provoking manner.
-
-"No, it isn't, it's only the beginning," said the little squirrel,
-indignantly; "and if you would rather tell the story yourself, Toto, you
-are welcome to do so."
-
-"Beg pardon! Crackey," said Toto, apologetically. "Won't do so again,
-Crackey; go on, that's a dear!" and the squirrel, who never bore malice
-for more than two minutes, put his little huff away, and continued:--
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-This young cow, you see, she was very fond of her calf,--very fond
-indeed she was,--and when they took it away from her, she was very
-unhappy, and went about roaring all day long.
-
-"Cows don't roar!" said Toto the irrepressible. "They _low_. There's a
-piece of poetry about it that I learned once:--
-
-    "'The lowing herd--'
-
-do something or other, I don't remember what."
-
-    "'The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,'"
-
-quoted the grandmother, softly.
-
-"What do they wind?" asked the raccoon. "Yarn, or a chain-pump like the
-one in the yard, or what?"
-
-"I don't know what you mean by _low_, Toto!" said the squirrel, without
-noticing Coon's remarks. "Your cow roared so loud the other day that I
-fell off her horn into the hay. I don't see anything _low_ in that."
-
-"Why, Cracker, can't you understand?" cried Toto. "They _low_ when they
-_moo_! I don't mean that they moo _low_, but 'moo' _is_ 'low,' don't you
-see?"
-
-"No, I do _not_ see!" replied the squirrel, stoutly. "And I don't
-believe there is anything _to_ see, I don't. So there, now!"
-
-At this point Madam interfered, and with a few gentle words made the
-matter clear, and smoothed the ruffled feathers--or rather fur.
-
-The raccoon, who had been listening with ears pricked up, and keen eyes
-glancing from one to the other of the disputants, now murmured, "Ah,
-yes! very explicit. Quite what I should have said myself!" and relapsed
-into his former attitude of graceful and dignified ease.
-
-The squirrel repeated to himself, "Moo! low! loo! mow! moo!" several
-times, shook his head, refreshed himself with a nut, and finally, at the
-general request, continued his story:
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-So, as I said, this young cow was very sad, and she looed--I mean
-mowed--all day to express her grief. And she thought, "If I could only
-know where my calf is, it would not be quite so dreadfully bad. But they
-would not tell me where they were taking him, though I asked them
-politely in seven different tones, which is more than any other cow here
-can use."
-
-Now, when she was thinking these thoughts it chanced that the maid came
-to milk the cows, and with the maid came a young man, who was talking
-very earnestly to her.
-
-"What is it, Molly?" says he. "Doesn't thee know me well enough?"
-
-"I knows a moon-calf when I sees him!" says the maid; and with that she
-boxed his ears, and sat down to milk the cow, and he went away in a
-huff.
-
-But the cow heard what the maid said, and began to wonder what
-moon-calves were, and whether they were anything like her calf.
-Presently, when the maid had gone away with the pail of milk, she said
-to the Oldest Ox, who happened to be standing near,--
-
-"Old Ox, pray tell me, what is a moon-calf?"
-
-The Oldest Ox did not know anything about moon-calves, but he had no
-idea of betraying his ignorance to anybody, much less to a very young
-cow; so he answered promptly, "It's a calf that lives in the moon, of
-course."
-
-"Is it--are they--like other calves?" inquired the cow, timidly, "or a
-different sort of animal?"
-
-"When a creature is called a calf," replied the Ox, severely, "it _is_ a
-calf. If it were a cat, a hyena, or a toad with three tails, it would be
-called by its own name. Now do you understand?"
-
-Then he shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep, for he did not like to
-answer questions on matters of which he knew nothing; it fatigued his
-brain, and oxen should always avoid fatigue of the brain.
-
-But the young cow had one more question to ask, and could not rest till
-it was answered; so mustering all her courage, she said, desperately,
-"Oh, Old Ox! before you go to sleep, please--_please_, tell me if people
-ever take calves to the moon from here?"
-
-"Frequently!" said the Oldest Ox. "I wish you were there, now. I am
-asleep. Good-night to you!" and in a few minutes he really was asleep.
-
-But the young cow stood still, thinking. She thought so hard that when
-the farmer's boy came to drive the cattle into the barn, she hardly saw
-where she was going, but stumbled first against the door and then
-against the wall, and finally walked into Old Brindle's stall instead of
-her own, and got well prodded by the latter's horns in consequence.
-
-"This cow is sick!" said the farmer's boy. "I must give her a warm mash,
-and cut an inch or two off her tail to-morrow."
-
-Next day the cows were driven out into the pasture, for the weather was
-warm, and they found it a pleasant change from the barn-yard. They
-cropped the honey-clover, well seasoned with buttercups and with just
-enough dandelions scattered about to "give it character," as Mother
-Brindle said. They stood knee-deep in the cool, clear stream which
-flowed under the willows, and lay down in the shade of the great
-oak-tree, and altogether were as happy as cows can possibly be.
-
-All but the young red cow. She cared nothing for any of the pleasures
-which she had once enjoyed so keenly; she only walked up and down, up
-and down, thinking of her lost calf, and looking for the moon. For she
-had fully made up her mind by this time that her darling Bossy had been
-taken to the moon, and had become a moon-calf; and she was wondering
-whether she might not see or hear something of him when the moon rose.
-
-The day passed, and when the evening was still all rosy in the west, a
-great globe of shining silver rose up in the east. It was the full moon,
-coming to take the place of the sun, who had put on his nightcap and
-gone to bed. The young cow ran towards it, stretching out her neck, and
-calling,--
-
-"Bossy! Moo! moo! Bossy, are you there?"
-
-Then she listened, and thought she heard a distant voice which said,
-"There!"
-
-"I knew it!" she cried, frantically, "I knew it! Bossy is now a
-moon-calf. Something must be done about it at once, if I only knew
-what!"
-
-And she ran to Mother Brindle, who was standing by the fence, talking to
-the neighbor's black cow,--her with the spotted nose.
-
-"Mother Brindle!" she cried. "Have you ever had a calf taken to the
-moon? My calf, my Bossy, is there, and is now a moon-calf. Tell me, oh!
-tell me, how to get at him, I beseech you!"
-
-"What nonsense is this?" said Mother Brindle, severely. "Compose
-yourself! You are excited, and will injure your milk, and that would
-reflect upon the whole herd. As for your calf, why should you be better
-off than other people? I have lost ten calves, the finest that ever were
-seen, and I never made half such a fuss about them as you make over this
-puny little red creature."
-
-"But he is _there_, in the moon!" cried the poor cow. "I must find him
-and get him down. I _must_, do you hear?"
-
-"Decidedly, your wits must be in the moon, my dear," said the neighbor's
-black cow, not unkindly. "They certainly have left you. Who ever heard
-of calves in the moon? Not I, for one; and I am not more ignorant than
-others, perhaps."
-
-The red cow was about to reply, when suddenly across the meadow came
-ringing the farm-boy's call, "Co, Boss! Co, Boss! Co, Boss!"
-
-"Ah!" said Mother Brindle, "can it really be milking-time? What a
-pleasant day this has been! Good-evening to you, neighbor. And you,
-child," she added, turning to the red cow, "come straight home with me.
-I heard James promise you a warm mash, and that will be the best thing
-for you."
-
-But at these words the young cow started, and with a wild bellow ran to
-the farthest end of the pasture. "Bossy!" she cried, staring wildly up
-at the silver globe, which was rising steadily higher and higher in the
-sky, "you are going away from me! Jump down from the moon, and come to
-your mother! Bossy! Bossy! _Come!_"
-
-And then a distant voice, floating softly down through the air,
-answered, "Come! come!"
-
-"He calls me!" cried the red cow. "My darling calls me, and I go. I will
-go to the moon; I will be a moon-cow! Bossy, Bossy, I come!"
-
-She ran forward like an antelope, gave a sudden leap into the air, and
-went up, up, up,--over the haystacks, over the trees, over the
-clouds,--up among the stars.
-
-But, alas! in her frantic desire to reach the moon she overshot the
-mark; jumped clear over it, and went down on the other side, nobody
-knows where, and she never was seen or heard of again.
-
-And Mother Brindle, when she saw what had happened, ran straight home
-and gobbled up the warm mash before any of the other cows could get
-there, and ate so fast that she made herself ill.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"That is the whole story," said the squirrel, seriously; "and it seemed
-to me a very curious one, I confess."
-
-"Very!" said Toto, dryly. "But there's nothing about the others in
-it,--the cat and fiddle, and the little dog, you know."
-
-"Well, they _weren't_ in it really, at all!" replied Cracker. "They were
-all lies, Mrs. Cow says, every one of them."
-
-"Humph!" said Toto "Well, Mrs. Cow ought to be a good judge of lies, I
-should say."
-
-"What can be expected," said the raccoon loftily, "from a creature who
-eats hay? Be good enough to hand me those nuts, Toto, will you? The
-story has positively made me hungry,--a thing that has not happened--"
-
-"Since dinner-time!" said Toto. "Wonderful indeed, Coon! But I shall
-hand the nuts to Cracker first, for he has told us a very good story,
-whether it is true or not."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-
-THE apples and nuts went round again and again, and for a few minutes
-nothing was heard save the cracking of shells and the gnawing of sharp
-white teeth. At length the parrot said, meditatively:--
-
-"That was a very stupid cow, though! Are all cows as stupid as that?"
-
-"Well, I don't think they are what you would call brilliant, as a rule,"
-Toto admitted; "but they are generally good, and that is better."
-
-"Hem! possibly!" said Miss Mary, dryly. "That is probably why we have no
-cows in Central Africa. Our animals being all, without exception, clever
-_and_ good, there is really no place for creatures of the sort you
-describe."
-
-"How about the bogghun, Miss Mary?" asked the raccoon, slyly, with a
-wink at Toto.
-
-The parrot ruffled up her feathers, and was about to make a sharp reply;
-but suddenly remembering the raccoon's brave defence of her an hour
-before, she smoothed her plumage again, and replied gently,--
-
-"I confess that I forgot the bogghun, Coon. It is indeed a treacherous
-and a wicked creature!--a dark blot on the golden roll of African
-animals." She paused and sighed, then added, as if to change the
-subject, "But, come! is it too late to have another story? If not, I
-have a short one in mind, which I will tell you, if you wish."
-
-All assented joyfully, and Miss Mary, without more delay, related the
-story of
-
-
-THE THREE REMARKS.
-
-There was once a princess, the most beautiful princess that ever was
-seen. Her hair was black and soft as the raven's wing [here the Crow
-blinked, stood on one leg and plumed himself, evidently highly
-flattered by the allusion]; her eyes were like stars dropped in a pool
-of clear water, and her speech like the first tinkling cascade of the
-baby Nile. She was also wise, graceful, and gentle, so that one would
-have thought she must be the happiest princess in the world.
-
-But, alas! there was one terrible drawback to her happiness. She could
-make only three remarks. No one knew whether it was the fault of her
-nurse, or a peculiarity born with her; but the sad fact remained, that
-no matter what was said to her, she could only reply in one of three
-phrases. The first was,--
-
-"What is the price of butter?"
-
-The second, "Has your grandmother sold her mangle yet?"
-
-And the third, "With all my heart!"
-
-You may well imagine what a great misfortune this was to a young and
-lively princess. How could she join in the sports and dances of the
-noble youths and maidens of the court? She could not always be silent,
-neither could she always say, "With all my heart!" though this was her
-favorite phrase, and she used it whenever she possibly could; and it was
-not at all pleasant, when some gallant knight asked her whether she
-would rather play croquet or Aunt Sally, to be obliged to reply, "What
-is the price of butter?"
-
-On certain occasions, however, the princess actually found her infirmity
-of service to her. She could always put an end suddenly to any
-conversation that did not please her, by interposing with her first or
-second remark; and they were also a very great assistance to her when,
-as happened nearly every day, she received an offer of marriage.
-Emperors, kings, princes, dukes, earls, marquises, viscounts, baronets,
-and many other lofty personages knelt at her feet, and offered her their
-hands, hearts, and other possessions of greater or less value. But for
-all her suitors the princess had but one answer. Fixing her deep radiant
-eyes on them, she would reply with thrilling earnestness, "_Has_ your
-grandmother sold her mangle yet?" and this always impressed the suitors
-so deeply that they retired weeping to a neighboring monastery, where
-they hung up their armor in the chapel, and taking the vows, passed the
-remainder of their lives mostly in flogging themselves, wearing hair
-shirts, and putting dry toast-crumbs in their beds.
-
-Now, when the king found that all his best nobles were turning into
-monks, he was greatly displeased, and said to the princess:--
-
-"My daughter, it is high time that all this nonsense came to an end. The
-next time a respectable person asks you to marry him, you will say,
-'With all my heart!' or I will know the reason why."
-
-But this the princess could not endure, for she had never yet seen a man
-whom she was willing to marry. Nevertheless, she feared her father's
-anger, for she knew that he always kept his word; so that very night she
-slipped down the back stairs of the palace, opened the back door, and
-ran away out into the wide world.
-
-She wandered for many days, over mountain and moor, through fen and
-through forest, until she came to a fair city. Here all the bells were
-ringing, and the people shouting and flinging caps into the air; for
-their old king was dead, and they were just about to crown a new one.
-The new king was a stranger, who had come to the town only the day
-before; but as soon as he heard of the old monarch's death, he told the
-people that he was a king himself, and as he happened to be without a
-kingdom at that moment, he would be quite willing to rule over them. The
-people joyfully assented, for the late king had left no heir; and now
-all the preparations had been completed. The crown had been polished up,
-and a new tip put on the sceptre, as the old king had quite spoiled it
-by poking the fire with it for upwards of forty years.
-
-When the people saw the beautiful princess, they welcomed her with many
-bows, and insisted on leading her before the new king.
-
-"Who knows but that they may be related?" said everybody. "They both
-came from the same direction, and both are strangers."
-
-Accordingly the princess was led to the market-place, where the king was
-sitting in royal state. He had a fat, red, shining face, and did not
-look like the kings whom she had been in the habit of seeing; but
-nevertheless the princess made a graceful courtesy, and then waited to
-hear what he would say.
-
-The new king seemed rather embarrassed when he saw that it was a
-princess who appeared before him; but he smiled graciously, and said, in
-a smooth oily voice,--
-
-"I trust your 'Ighness is quite well. And 'ow did yer 'Ighness leave yer
-pa and ma?"
-
-At these words the princess raised her head and looked fixedly at the
-red-faced king; then she replied, with scornful distinctness,--
-
-"What is the price of butter?"
-
-At these words an alarming change came over the king's face. The red
-faded from it, and left it a livid green; his teeth chattered; his eyes
-stared, and rolled in their sockets; while the sceptre dropped from his
-trembling hand and fell at the princess's feet. For the truth was, this
-was no king at all, but a retired butterman, who had laid by a little
-money at his trade, and had thought of setting up a public house; but
-chancing to pass through this city at the very time when they were
-looking for a king, it struck him that he might just as well fill the
-vacant place as any one else. No one had thought of his being an
-impostor; but when the princess fixed her clear eyes on him and asked
-him that familiar question, which he had been in the habit of hearing
-many times a day for a great part of his life, the guilty butterman
-thought himself detected, and shook in his guilty shoes. Hastily
-descending from his throne, he beckoned he princess into a side-chamber,
-and closing the door, besought her in moving terms not to betray him.
-
-"Here," he said, "is a bag of rubies as big as pigeon's eggs. There are
-six thousand of them, and I 'umbly beg your 'Ighness to haccept them as
-a slight token hof my hesteem, if your 'Ighness will kindly consent to
-spare a respeckable tradesman the disgrace of being hexposed."
-
-The princess reflected, and came to the conclusion that, after all, a
-butterman might make as good a king as any one else; so she took the
-rubies with a gracious little nod, and departed, while all the people
-shouted, "Hooray!" and followed her, waving their hats and kerchiefs, to
-the gates of the city.
-
-With her bag of rubies over her shoulder, the fair princess now pursued
-her journey, and fared forward over heath and hill, through brake and
-through brier. After several days she came to a deep forest, which she
-entered without hesitation, for she knew no fear. She had not gone a
-hundred paces under the arching limes, when she was met by a band of
-robbers, who stopped her and asked what she did in their forest, and
-what she carried in her bag. They were fierce, black-bearded men, armed
-to the teeth with daggers, cutlasses, pistols, dirks, hangers,
-blunderbusses, and other defensive weapons; but the princess gazed
-calmly on them, and said haughtily,--
-
-"Has your grandmother sold her mangle yet?"
-
-[Illustration: "It is true!" he gasped. "We are undone! Noble princess!"
-and here he and the whole band assumed attitudes of supplication.--PAGE
-195.]
-
-The effect was magical. The robbers started back in dismay, crying, "The
-countersign!" Then they hastily lowered their weapons, and assuming
-attitudes of abject humility, besought the princess graciously to
-accompany them to their master's presence. With a lofty gesture she
-signified assent, and the cringing, trembling bandits led her on through
-the forest till they reached an open glade, into which the sunbeams
-glanced right merrily. Here, under a broad oak-tree which stood in the
-centre of the glade, reclined a man of gigantic stature and commanding
-mien, with a whole armory of weapons displayed upon his person.
-Hastening to their chief, the robbers conveyed to him, in agitated
-whispers, the circumstance of their meeting the princess, and of her
-unexpected reply to their questions. Hardly seeming to credit their
-statement, the gigantic chieftain sprang to his feet, and advancing
-toward the princess with a respectful reverence, begged her to repeat
-the remark which had so disturbed his men. With a royal air, and in
-clear and ringing tones, the princess repeated,--
-
-"_Has_ your grandmother sold her mangle yet?" and gazed steadfastly at
-the robber chief.
-
-He turned deadly pale, and staggered against a tree, which alone
-prevented him from falling.
-
-"It is true!" he gasped. "We are undone! The enemy is without doubt
-close at hand, and all is over. Yet," he added with more firmness, and
-with an appealing glance at the princess, "yet there may be one chance
-left for us. If this gracious lady will consent to go forward, instead
-of returning through the wood, we may yet escape with our lives. Noble
-princess!" and here he and the whole band assumed attitudes of
-supplication, "consider, I pray you, whether it would really add to your
-happiness to betray to the advancing army a few poor foresters, who earn
-their bread by the sweat of their brow. Here," he continued, hastily
-drawing something from a hole in the oak-tree, "is a bag containing ten
-thousand sapphires, each as large as a pullet's egg. If you will
-graciously deign to accept them, and to pursue your journey in the
-direction I shall indicate, the Red Chief of the Rustywhanger will be
-your slave forever."
-
-The princess, who of course knew that there was no army in the
-neighborhood, and who moreover did not in the least care which way she
-went, assented to the Red Chief's proposition, and taking the bag of
-sapphires, bowed her farewell to the grateful robbers, and followed
-their leader down a ferny path which led to the farther end of the
-forest. When they came to the open country, the robber chieftain took
-his leave of the princess, with profound bows and many protestations of
-devotion, and returned to his band, who were already preparing to plunge
-into the impenetrable thickets of the midforest.
-
-The princess, meantime, with her two bags of gems on her shoulders,
-fared forward with a light heart, by dale and by down, through moss and
-through meadow. By-and-by she came to a fair high palace, built all of
-marble and shining jasper, with smooth lawns about it, and sunny gardens
-of roses and gillyflowers, from which the air blew so sweet that it was
-a pleasure to breathe it. The princess stood still for a moment, to
-taste the sweetness of this air, and to look her fill at so fair a spot;
-and as she stood there, it chanced that the palace-gates opened, and the
-young king rode out with his court, to go a-catching of nighthawks.
-
-Now when the king saw a right fair princess standing alone at his
-palace-gate, her rich garments dusty and travel-stained, and two heavy
-sacks hung upon her shoulders, he was filled with amazement; and leaping
-from his steed, like the gallant knight that he was, he besought her to
-tell him whence she came and whither she was going, and in what way he
-might be of service to her.
-
-But the princess looked down at her little dusty shoes, and answered
-never a word; for she had seen at the first glance how fair and goodly a
-king this was, and she would not ask him the price of butter, nor
-whether his grandmother had sold her mangle yet. But she thought in her
-heart, "Now, I have never, in all my life, seen a man to whom I would so
-willingly say, 'With all my heart!' if he should ask me to marry him."
-
-The king marvelled much at her silence, and presently repeated his
-questions, adding, "And what do you carry so carefully in those two
-sacks, which seem over-heavy for your delicate shoulders?"
-
-Still holding her eyes downcast, the princess took a ruby from one bag,
-and a sapphire from the other, and in silence handed them to the king,
-for she willed that he should know she was no beggar, even though her
-shoes were dusty. Thereat all the nobles were filled with amazement, for
-no such gems had ever been seen in that country.
-
-But the king looked steadfastly at the princess, and said, "Rubies are
-fine, and sapphires are fair; but, maiden, if I could but see those
-eyes of yours, I warrant that the gems would look pale and dull beside
-them."
-
-At that the princess raised her clear dark eyes, and looked at the king
-and smiled; and the glance of her eyes pierced straight to his heart, so
-that he fell on his knees and cried:
-
-"Ah! sweet princess, now do I know that thou art the love for whom I
-have waited so long, and whom I have sought through so many lands. Give
-me thy white hand, and tell me, either by word or by sign, that thou
-wilt be my queen and my bride!"
-
-And the princess, like a right royal maiden as she was, looked him
-straight in the eyes, and giving him her little white hand, answered
-bravely, "_With all my heart!_"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-
-NOW, if we had looked into the hermit's cave a few days after this, we
-should have seen a very pleasant sight. The good old man was sitting up
-on his narrow couch, with his lame leg on a stool before him. On another
-stool sat our worthy friend Bruin, with a backgammon-board on his knees,
-and the two were deep in the mysteries of Russian backgammon.
-
-"Doublets!" said the hermit, throwing the dice.
-
-"Dear, dear, what luck you do have!" said the bear. "Double sixes again!
-That takes you out, doesn't it?"
-
-"Yes," said the hermit, "this finishes the game and the rubber. But just
-remember, my friend, how you beat me yesterday. I was gammoned over and
-over again, with never a doublet to save me from ruin."
-
-"To be sure!" said Bruin, with a chuckle. "To be sure! yesterday was one
-of my good days. And so to-day you have gammoned me back again. I
-suppose that is why the game is called back-gammon, hey?"
-
-"Possibly!" replied the hermit, smiling.
-
-"And how have you been in the habit of playing?" continued the bear.
-"You spoke of playing last winter, you know. Whom did you play with, for
-example?"
-
-"With myself," said the hermit,--"the right hand against the left. I
-taught my crow the game once, but it didn't work very well. He could not
-lift the dice-box, and could only throw the dice by running against the
-box, and upsetting it. This was apt to disarrange the pieces, you see;
-and as he would not trust me to throw for him, we gave it up."
-
-"I see!" said Bruin, thoughtfully. "And what else did you do in the way
-of amusement?"
-
-"I read, chiefly," replied the old man. "You see I have a good many
-books, and they are all good ones, which will bear reading many times."
-
-"Humph!" said the bear. "That is _one_ thing about you people that I
-cannot understand,--the reading of books. Seems so senseless, you know,
-when you can use your eyes for other things. But, tell me," he added,
-"have you never thought of trying our way of passing the winter? It is
-certainly much the best way, when one is alone. Choose a comfortable
-place, like this, for example, curl yourself up in the warmest corner,
-and there you are, with nothing to do but to sleep till spring comes
-again."
-
-"I am afraid I could not do that," said the hermit with a smile. "We are
-made differently, you see. I cannot sleep more than a few hours at a
-time, at any season of the year."
-
-"Not if you sucked your paw?" inquired the bear, eagerly. "That makes
-all the difference, you know. Have you ever _tried_ sucking your paw?"
-
-The hermit was forced to admit that he never had.
-
-"Ah! well, you really must try it some day," said Bruin. "There is
-nothing like it, after all. Nothing like it! I will confess to you," he
-added in a low tone, and looking cautiously about to make sure that they
-were alone, "that I have missed it sadly this winter. In most respects
-this has been the happiest season of my life, and I have enjoyed it more
-than I can tell you; but still there are times,--when I am tired, you
-know, or the weather is dull, or Coon is a little trying, as he is
-sometimes,--times when I feel as if I would give a great deal for a
-quiet corner where I could suck my paw and sleep for a week or two."
-
-"Couldn't you manage it, somehow?" asked the hermit, sympathetically.
-
-"Oh, no! no!" replied the good bear, decidedly. "Coon thinks the Madam
-would not like it. He is very genteel, you know,--very genteel indeed,
-Coon is; and he says it wouldn't be at all 'the thing' for me to suck
-my paw anywhere about the place. I never know just what 'thing' he means
-when he says that, but it's a favorite expression of his; and he
-certainly knows a great deal about good manners. Besides," he added,
-more cheerfully, "there is always plenty of work to do, and that is the
-best thing to keep one awake. But now, Mr. Baldhead, it is time for your
-dinner, sir; and here am I sitting and talking, when I ought to be
-warming your broth!"
-
-With these words the excellent bear arose, put away the backgammon
-board, and proceeded to build up the fire, hang the kettle, and put the
-broth on to warm, all as deftly as if he had been a cook all his life.
-He stirred and tasted, shook his head, tasted again, and then said,--
-
-"You haven't the top of a young pine-tree anywhere about the house, I
-suppose? It would give this broth such a nice flavor."
-
-"I am afraid not!" said the hermit, laughing. "I don't generally keep a
-large stock of such things on hand. But I fancy the broth will be very
-good without it, to judge from the last I had."
-
-The bear still looked dissatisfied. "Do you ever put frogs in your
-broth?" he asked, presently. "Whole ones, you know, rolled in a batter,
-just like dumplings?"
-
-"_No!_" said the hermit, quickly and decidedly. "I am quite sure I
-should not like them, thank you,--though it was very kind of you to make
-the suggestion!" he added, seeing that Bruin looked disappointed.
-
-"You have no idea how nice they are," said the good bear, rather sadly.
-"But you are so strange, you people! I never could induce Toto or Madam
-to try them, either. I invented the soup myself,--at least the
-frog-dumpling part of it,--and made it one day as a little surprise for
-them. But when I told them what the dumplings were, Toto choked and
-rolled on the floor, and Madam was quite ill at the very thought, though
-she had not begun to eat her soup. So Coon and Cracker and I had it all
-to ourselves, and uncommonly good it was. It's a pity for people to be
-so prejudiced."
-
-The good hermit was choking a little himself, for some reason or other,
-but he looked very grave when Bruin turned toward him for assent, and
-said, "Quite so!" which is a safe remark under most circumstances.
-
-The broth being now ready, the bear proceeded to arrange a tray neatly,
-and set it before his patient, who took up his wooden spoon and fell to
-with right good-will. The good bear stood watching him with great
-satisfaction; and it was really a pity that there was no one there to
-watch the bear himself, for as he stood there with a clean cloth over
-his arm, his head on one side, and his honest face beaming with pride
-and pleasure, he was very well worth looking at.
-
-At this moment a sharp cry of terror was heard outside, then a quick
-whirr of wings, and the next moment the wood-pigeon darted into the
-cave, closely pursued by a large hawk. Poor Pigeon Pretty! She was quite
-exhausted, and with one more piteous cry she fell fainting at Bruin's
-feet. In another instant the hawk would have pounced upon her, but that
-instant never came for the winged marauder. Instead, something or
-somebody pounced on _him_. A thick white covering enveloped him,
-entangling his claws, binding down his wings, well-nigh stifling him. He
-felt himself seized in an iron grasp and lifted bodily into the air,
-while a deep, stern voice exclaimed,--
-
-"Now, sir! have you anything to say for yourself, before I wring your
-neck?"
-
-Then the covering was drawn back from his head, and he found himself
-face to face with the great bear, whom he knew perfectly well by sight.
-But he was a bold fellow, too well used to danger to shrink from it,
-even in so terrible a form as this; and his fierce yellow eyes met the
-stern gaze of his captor without shrinking.
-
-"Have you anything to say?" repeated the bear, "before I wring your ugly
-neck?"
-
-"No!" replied the hawk, sullenly, "wring away."
-
-This answer rather disconcerted our friend Bruin, who, as he sometimes
-said sadly to himself, had "lost all taste for killing;" so he only
-shook Master Hawk a little, and said,--
-
-"Do you know of any reason why your neck should _not_ be wrung?"
-
-"None in life!" answered the hawk. "Wring away, I tell you! Are you
-afraid, you great clumsy monster?"
-
-"I'll soon show you whether I am afraid or not!" said the bear, sternly.
-"Why did you chase my pigeon?"
-
-"'Cause I wanted to eat her!" was the defiant reply. "If _you_ had had
-nothing to eat for a week, you'd have eaten her long before this, I'll
-be bound!"
-
-"Nothing to eat for a week!" repeated the bear, incredulously. "Why was
-that?"
-
-"'Cause there wasn't anything, stupid!" said the other.
-
-Here Bruin began to rub his nose with his disengaged paw, and to look
-helplessly about him, as he always did when disturbed in mind.
-
-"Now--now--now!" he exclaimed, "you hawk, what do you mean by that?
-Couldn't you dig for roots?"
-
-The hawk stared. "Dig for roots?" he repeated, contemptuously. "Look at
-my beak! Do you think I can dig with that?"
-
-"It _is_ rather short," said Bruin; "but--yes! why, of course, _any one_
-can dig, if he wants to."
-
-"Ask that old thing," said the hawk, nodding toward the hermit, "whether
-_he_ ever dug with his beak; and it's twice as long as mine."
-
-"Of course he has!" replied Bruin, promptly; but then he faltered, for
-it suddenly occurred to him that he had never seen either Toto or the
-Madam dig with their noses; and it was with some hesitation that he
-asked:
-
-"Mr. Baldhead--excuse me! but--a--have you ever tried digging for roots
-in the ground--with your beak--I mean, nose?"
-
-The hermit looked up gravely, as he sat with Pigeon Pretty on his knee.
-"No, my friend," he said with great seriousness, "I have never tried
-it, and doubt if I could do it. I can dig with my hands, though," he
-added, seeing the good bear look more and more puzzled.
-
-"Ah, yes!" said Bruin. "But you see this bird has no hands, though he
-has very ugly claws; so that doesn't help-- Well!" he cried, breaking
-off short, and once more addressing the hawk. "I don't see anything for
-it _but_ to wring your neck, do you? After all, it will keep you from
-being hungry again."
-
-But here the soft voice of the wood-pigeon interposed. "No, no! Bruin,
-dear," cried the gentle bird. "Give him something to eat, and let him
-go. If he had eaten nothing for a week, I am sure he was not to blame
-for pursuing the first eatable creature he saw. Remember," she added in
-a lower tone, which only the bear could hear, "that before this winter,
-any of us would have done the same."
-
-Bruin scratched his head helplessly; the hawk turned his yellow eyes on
-Pigeon Pretty with a strange look, but said nothing. But now the hermit
-saw that it was time for him to interfere.
-
-"Pigeon Pretty," he said, "you are right, as usual. Bruin, my friend,
-bring your prisoner here, and let him finish this excellent broth, into
-which I have crumbled some bread. I will answer for Master Hawk's good
-behavior, for the present at least," he added, "for I know that he comes
-of an old and honorable family."
-
-Wonder of wonders! In five minutes the hawk was sitting quietly on the
-hermit's knee, sipping broth, pursuing the floating bits of bread in the
-bowl, and submitting to have his soft black plumage stroked, with the
-best grace in the world. On the good man's other knee sat Pigeon Pretty,
-now quite recovered from her fright and fatigue, her soft eyes beaming
-with pleasure; while Bruin squatted opposite them, looking from one to
-the other, and assuring himself over and over again that Pigeon Pretty
-was "a most astonishing bird! 'pon my word, a _most_ astonishing bird!"
-
-His meal ended, the stranger wiped his beak politely on his feathers,
-plumed himself, and thanked his hosts for their hospitality, with a
-stately courtesy which contrasted strangely with his former sullen and
-ferocious bearing. The fierce glare was gone from his eyes, which were,
-however, still strangely bright; and with his glossy plumage smooth, and
-his head held proudly erect, he really was a noble-looking bird.
-
-"Long is it, indeed," he said, "since any one has spoken a kind word to
-Ger-Falcon. It will not be forgotten, I assure you. We are a wild and
-lawless family,--our beak against every one, and every one's claw
-against us,--and yet, as you observed, Sir Baldhead, we are an old and
-honorable race. Alas! for the brave, brave days of old, when my sires
-were the honored companions of kings and princes! My grandfather seventy
-times removed was served by an emperor, the obsequious monarch carrying
-him every day on his own wrist to the hunting. He ate from a golden
-dish, and wore a collar of gems about his neck. Ah, me! what would be
-the feelings of that noble ancestor if he could see his descendant a
-hunted outlaw, persecuted by the sons of those very men who once courted
-and caressed him, and supporting a precarious existence by the ignoble
-spoils of barn-yards and hen-roosts!"
-
-The hawk paused, overcome by these recollections of past glory, and the
-good bear said kindly,--
-
-"Dear! dear! very sad, I'm sure. And how did this melancholy change come
-about, pray?"
-
-"Fashion, my dear sir!" replied the hawk, "ignoble fashion! The race of
-men degenerated, and occupied themselves with less lofty sports than
-hawking. My family, left to themselves, knew not what to do. They had
-been trained to pursue, to overtake, to slay, through long generations;
-they were unfitted for anything else. But when they began to lead this
-life on their own account, man, always ungrateful, turned upon them, and
-persecuted them for the very deeds which had once been the delight and
-pride of his fickle race. So we fell from our high estate, lower and
-lower, till the present representative of the Ger-Falcon is the poor
-creature you behold before you."
-
-The hawk bowed in proud humility, and his hearers all felt, perhaps,
-much more sorry for him than he deserved. The wood-pigeon was about to
-ask something more about his famous ancestors, when a shadow darkened
-the mouth of the cave, and Toto made his appearance, with the crow
-perched on his shoulder.
-
-"Well, Mr. Baldhead!" he cried in his fresh, cheery voice, "how are you
-to-day, sir? Better still? I have brought you some--hello! who is this?"
-And catching sight of the stranger, he stopped short, and looked at the
-bear for an explanation.
-
-"This is Mr. Ger-Falcon, Toto," said Bruin. "My friend Toto, Mr.
-Falcon." Toto nodded, and the hawk made him a stately bow; but the two
-looked distrustfully at each other, and neither seemed inclined to make
-any advances. Bruin continued,--
-
-"Mr. Falcon came here in a--well, not in a friendly way at all, I must
-say. But he is in a very different frame of mind, now, and I trust there
-will be no further trouble."
-
-"Do you ever change your name, sir?" asked Toto, abruptly, addressing
-the hawk.
-
-"I do not understand you, sir!" replied the latter, haughtily. "I have
-no reason to be ashamed of my name."
-
-"Perhaps not!" said the boy. "And yet I am tolerably sure that Mr.
-Ger-Falcon is no other than Mr. Chicken Hawkon, and that it was he who
-tried to carry off my Black Spanish chickens yesterday morning."
-
-"You are right, sir!" said the hawk. "You are quite right! I was
-starving, and the chickens presented themselves to me wholly in the
-light of food. May I ask for what purpose you keep chickens, sir?"
-
-"Why, we eat them when they grow up," said Toto; "but--"
-
-"Ah, precisely!" murmured the hawk. "You eat them also. I thought so."
-
-"But we don't steal other people's chickens," said the boy, "we eat our
-own."
-
-"Precisely!" said the hawk, again. "You eat the tame, confiding
-creatures who feed from your hand, and stretch their necks trustfully to
-meet their doom. I, on the contrary, when the pangs of hunger force me
-to snatch a morsel of food to save me from starvation, snatch it from
-strangers, not from my friends."
-
-Toto was about to make a hasty reply, but the bear, with a motion of his
-paw, checked him, and said gravely to the hawk,--
-
-"Come, come! Mr. Falcon, I cannot have any dispute of this kind. There
-is some truth in what you say, and I have no doubt that emperors and
-other disreputable people have had a large share in forming the bad
-habits into which you and all your family have fallen. But those habits
-must be changed, sir, if you intend to remain in this forest. You must
-not meddle with Toto's chickens; you must not chase quiet and harmless
-birds. You must, in short, become a respectable and law-abiding bird,
-instead of a robber and a murderer."
-
-"All very fine!" said the hawk, angrily. "But how am I to live, pray? I
-can be 'respectable,' as you call it, in summer; but in weather like
-this--"
-
-"That can be easily managed," said the kind hermit. "You can stay with
-me, Falcon. I shall soon be able to shift for myself, and I will gladly
-undertake to feed you until the snow and frost are gone. You will be a
-companion for my crow-- By the way, where is my crow? Surely he came in
-with you, Toto?"
-
-"He did," said Toto, "but he hopped off the moment we entered. Didn't
-like the looks of the visitor, I fancy," he added in a low tone.
-
-Search was made, and finally the crow was discovered huddled together, a
-disconsolate little bunch of black feathers, in the darkest corner of
-the cave.
-
-"Come, Jim!" cried Toto, who was the first to catch sight of him. "Come
-out, old fellow! Why are you rumpling and humping yourself up in that
-absurd fashion?"
-
-"Is he gone?" asked the crow, opening one eye a very little way, and
-lifting his head a fraction of an inch from the mass of feathers in
-which it was buried. "Good Toto, kind Toto, is he gone? I would not be
-eaten to-day, Toto, if it could be avoided. _Did_ you say he was gone?"
-
-"If you mean the hawk," said Toto, "he is _not_ gone; and what is more,
-he isn't going, for your master has asked him to stay the rest of the
-winter. But cheer up, old boy! he won't hurt you. Bruin has bound him
-over to keep the peace, and you must come out and make the best of it."
-
-The unhappy crow begged and protested, but all in vain. Toto caught him
-up, laughing, and carried him to his master, who set him on his knee,
-and smoothed his rumpled plumage kindly. The hawk, who was highly
-gratified by the hermit's invitation, put on his most gracious manner,
-and soon convinced the crow that he meant him no harm.
-
-"A member of the ancient family of Corvus!" he exclaimed.
-"Contemporaries, and probably friends, of the early Falcons. Let us also
-be friends, dear sir; and let the names of James Crow and Ger-Falcon go
-down together to posterity."
-
-But now Bruin and Pigeon Pretty were eager to hear all the home news
-from the cottage. They listened with breathless interest to Toto's
-account of the attempted robbery, and of Coon's noble "defence of the
-castle," as the boy called it. Miss Mary also received her full share of
-the credit, nor was the kettle excluded from honorable mention. When all
-was told, Toto proceeded to unpack the basket he had brought, which
-contained gingerbread, eggs, apples, and a large can of butter-milk
-marked "For Bruin." Many were the joyous exclamations called forth by
-this present of good cheer; and it seemed as if the old hermit could not
-sufficiently express his gratitude to Toto and his good grandmother.
-
-"Oh, don't!" cried the boy, half distressed by the oft-repeated thanks.
-"If you only knew how we _like_ it! It's so jolly, you know. Besides,"
-he added, "I want you to do something for _me_ now, Mr. Baldhead, so
-that will turn the tables. A shower is coming up, and it is early yet,
-so I need not go home for an hour. So, will you not tell us a story? We
-are very fond of stories,--Bruin and Pigeon Pretty and I."
-
-"A story! a story!" cried every one, eagerly.
-
-"A story, hey?" said the good hermit, smiling. "With all my heart, dear
-lad! And what shall the story be about?"
-
-"About fairies!" replied Toto, promptly. "I have not heard a fairy story
-for a long time."
-
-"So be it!" said the hermit, after a moment's reflection. "When I was a
-boy like you, Toto, I lived in Ireland, the very home of the fairy-folk;
-so I know more about them than most people, perhaps, and this is an
-Irish fairy story that I am going to tell you."
-
-And settling himself comfortably on his moss-pillows, the hermit began
-the story of--
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-GREEN JACKET.
-
-    "'It's Green Men, it's Green Men,
-        All in the wood together;
-      And, oh! we're feared o' the Green Men
-        In all the sweet May weather,'--
-
-
-"ON'Y I'm _not_ feared o' thim mesilf!" said Eileen, breaking off her
-song with a little merry laugh. "Wouldn't I be plazed to meet wan o'
-thim this day, in the wud! Sure, it 'ud be the lookiest day o' me
-loife."
-
-She parted the boughs, and entered the deep wood, where she was to
-gather faggots for her mother. Holding up her blue apron carefully, the
-little girl stepped lightly here and there, picking up the dry brown
-sticks, and talking to herself all the while,--to keep herself company,
-as she thought.
-
-"Thin I makes a low curchy," she was saying, "loike that wan Mother made
-to the lord's lady yistherday, and the Green Man he gi'es me a nod,
-and--
-
-"'What's yer name, me dear?' says he.
-
-"'Eileen Macarthy, yer Honor's Riverence!' says I.--No! I mustn't say
-'Riverence,' bekase he's not a priest, ava'. 'Yer Honor's Grace' wud do
-better.
-
-"'And what wud ye loike for a prisint, Eily?' says he.
-
-"And thin I'd say--lit me see! what wud I have first? Oh, I know! I'd
-ask him-- Och! what's that? A big green grasshopper, caught be his leg
-in a spider's wib. Wait a bit, poor crathur, oi'll lit ye free agin."
-
-Full of pity for the poor grasshopper, Eily stooped to lift it carefully
-out of the treacherous net into which it had fallen. But what was her
-amazement on perceiving that the creature was not a grasshopper, but a
-tiny man, clad from head to foot in light green, and with a scarlet cap
-on his head. The little fellow was hopelessly entangled in the net, from
-which he made desperate efforts to free himself, but the silken strands
-were quite strong enough to hold him prisoner.
-
-For a moment Eileen stood petrified with amazement, murmuring to
-herself, "Howly Saint Bridget! what will I do now at all? Sure, I niver
-thought I'd find wan really in loife!" but the next moment her kindness
-of heart triumphed over her fear, and stooping once more she very gently
-took the little man up between her thumb and finger, pulled away the
-clinging web, and set him respectfully on the top of a large toadstool
-which stood conveniently near.
-
-The little Green Man shook himself, dusted his jacket with his red cap,
-and then looked up at Eileen with twinkling eyes.
-
-"Thank ye, my maiden!" he said kindly. "Ye have saved my life, and ye
-shall not be the worse for it, if ye _did_ take me for a grasshopper."
-
-Eily was rather abashed at this, but the little man looked very kind; so
-she plucked up her courage, and when he asked, "What is yer name, my
-dear?" ("jist for all the wurrld the way I thought of," she said to
-herself) answered bravely, with a low courtesy, "Eileen Macarthy, yer
-Honor's Riverence--Grace, I mane!" and then she added, "They calls me
-Eily, most times, at home."
-
-"Well, Eily," said the Green Man, "I suppose ye know who I am?"
-
-"A fairy, plaze yer Honor's Grace!" said Eily, with another courtesy.
-"Sure, I've aften heerd av yer Honor's people, but I niver thought I'd
-see wan of yez. It's rale plazed I am, sure enough. Manny's the time
-Docthor O'Shaughnessy's tell't me there was no sich thing as yez; but I
-niver belaved him, yer Honor!"
-
-"That's right!" said the Green Man, heartily, "that's very right. Never
-believe a word he says! And now, Eily, alanna, I'm going to do ye a
-fairy's turn before I go. Ye shall have yer wish of whatever ye like in
-the world. Take a minute to think about it, and then make up yer mind."
-
-Eily fairly gasped for breath. Her dreams had then come true; she was to
-have a fairy wish! Could it possibly be true? And what should she wish
-for? The magic carpet? The goose that laid eggs of gold? The invisible
-cloak? Eily had all the old fairy-stories at her tongue's end, for her
-mother told her one every night as she sat at her spinning. Jack and the
-Beanstalk, the Sleeping Beauty, the Seven Swans, the Elves that stole
-Barney Maguire, the Brown Witch, and the Widdy Malone's Pig,--she knew
-them all, and scores of others besides. Her mother always began the
-stories with, "Wanst upon a time, and a very good time it was;" or,
-"Long, long ago, whin King O'Toole was young, and the praties grew all
-ready biled in the ground;" or, "Wan fine time, whin the fairies danced,
-and not a poor man lived in Ireland." In this way, the fairies seemed
-always to be thrown far back into a remote past, which had nothing in
-common with the real work-a-day world in which Eily lived. But now--oh,
-wonder of wonders!--now, here was a real fairy, alive and active, with
-as full power of blessing or banning as if the days of King O'Toole had
-come again,--and what was more, with good-will to grant to Eileen
-Macarthy whatever in the wide world she might wish for! The child stood
-quite still, with her hands clasped, thinking harder than she had ever
-thought in all her life before; and the Green Man sat on the toadstool
-and watched her, with eyes which twinkled with some amusement, but no
-malice.
-
-"Take yer time, my dear," he said, "take yer time! Ye'll not meet a
-Green Man every day, so make the best o' your chance!"
-
-Suddenly Eily's face lighted up with a sudden inspiration. "Och!" she
-cried, "sure I have it, yer Riverence's Grace--Honor, I shud say! I have
-it! it's the di'monds and pearrls I'll have, iv ye plaze!"
-
-"Diamonds and pearls?" repeated the fairy, "what diamonds and pearls?
-There are a great many in the world. You don't want them _all_, surely?"
-
-"Och, no, yer Honor!" said Eily. "Only wan of aich to dhrop out o' me
-mouth ivery time I shpake, loike the girrl in the sthory, ye know.
-Whiniver she opened her lips to shpake, a di'mond an' a pearrl o' the
-richest beauty dhropped from her mouth. That's what I mane, plaze yer
-Honor's Grace. Och! wudn't it be beautiful, entirely?"
-
-"Humph!" said the fairy, looking rather grave. "Are ye _quite_ sure that
-this is what you wish for most, Eileen? Don't decide hastily, or ye may
-be sorry for it."
-
-"Sorry!" cried Eileen, "what for wud I be sorry? Sure I'd be richer than
-the Countess o' Kilmoggen hersilf, let alone the Queen, be the time I'd
-talked for an hour. An' I _loove_ to talk!" she added softly, half to
-herself.
-
-The Green Man laughed outright at this. "Well, Eily," he said, "ye shall
-have yer own way. Stoop down to me here!"
-
-Eileen bent down, and he touched her lips three times with the scarlet
-tassel of his cap. "Slanegher Banegher!" he said. "The charm is worked.
-Now go home, Eileen Macarthy, and the good wishes of the Green Men go
-with ye. Ye will have yer own wish fulfilled as soon as ye cross the
-threshold of yer home. But hark ye now!" he added, impressively. "A day
-may come when ye will wish with all yer heart to have the charm taken
-away. If that ever happens, come to this same place with a sprig of
-holly in yer hand. Strike this toadstool three times, and say,
-'Slanegher Banegher, Skeen na Lane!' And now good-by to ye!" and
-clapping his scarlet cap on his head, the little man leaped from the
-toadstool, and instantly disappeared from sight among the ferns and
-mosses.
-
-Eileen stood still for some time, lost in a dream of wonder and delight.
-Finally rousing herself, she gave a long, happy sigh, and hastily
-filling her apron with sticks, turned her steps homeward.
-
-The sun was sinking low when she came in sight of the little cabin, at
-the door of which her mother was standing, looking anxiously in every
-direction.
-
-"Is it yersilf, Eily?" cried the good woman in a tone of relief, as she
-saw the child approaching. "And where have ye been at all? It's a wild
-colleen y'are, to be sprankin' about o' this way, and it nearly sundown.
-Where have ye been, I'm askin' ye?"
-
-Eily held up her apronful of sticks with a beaming smile, but answered
-never a word till she stood on the threshold of the cottage. ("Sure I
-might lose some," she had been saying to herself, "and that 'ud niver
-do.") But as soon as she had entered the little room which was kitchen,
-hall, dining-room, and drawing-room for the Macarthy family, she dropped
-her bundle of faggots, and clasping her hands together, cried, "Och,
-mother! what do ye think? Sure ye'll niver belave me whin I till ye--"
-
-Here she suddenly stopped, for hop! pop! two round shining things
-dropped from her mouth, and rolled away over the floor of the cabin.
-
-"Howly Michael be me guide!" cried Mrs. Macarthy; "phwhat's that?"
-
-"It's marvels! [marbles]" shouted little Phelim, jumping up from his
-seat by the fire and running to pick up the shining objects. "Eily's
-got her mouf full o' marvels! Hurroo!"
-
-"They aren't marvels!" said Eily, indignantly. "Wait till I till ye,
-mother asthore! I wint to the forest as ye bade me, to gather shticks,
-an'--" hop! pop! out flew two more shining things from her mouth and
-rolled away after the others.
-
-Mrs. Macarthy uttered a piercing shriek, and clapped her hand over
-Eileen's mouth. "She's bewitched!" she cried. "Me choild's bewitched,
-an' shpakin' buttons! Och, wirra! wirra! what'll I do at all? Run,
-Phelim," she added, "an' call yer father. He's in the praty-patch,
-loikely. An' ye kape shtill!" she said to Eily, who was struggling
-vainly to free herself from her mother's powerful grasp. "Kape shtill,
-I'm tillin' ye, an' don't open yer lips! It's savin' yer body an' sowl I
-may be this minute. Saint Bridget, Saint Michael, an' blissid Saint
-Patrick!" she ejaculated piously, "save me choild, an' I'll serve ye on
-me knees the rist o' me days."
-
-Poor Eily! This was a sad beginning of all her glory. She tried
-desperately to open her mouth, sure that in a moment she could make her
-mother understand the whole matter. But Honor Macarthy was a stalwart
-woman, and Eily's slender fingers could not stir the massive hand which
-was pressed firmly upon her lips.
-
-At this moment her father entered hastily, with Phelim panting behind
-him.
-
-"Phwhat's the matther, woman?" he asked anxiously. "Here's Phelim clane
-out o' his head, an' shcramin' about Eily, an' marvels an' buttons, an'
-I dunno what all. Phwhat ails the choild?" he added in a tone of great
-alarm, as he saw Eileen in her mother's arms, flushed and disordered,
-the tears rolling down her cheeks.
-
-"Och, Dinnis!" cried Honor, "it's bewitched she is,--clane bewitched out
-o' her sinses, an shpakes buttons out av her mouth wid ivery worrd she
-siz. Och, me choild! me poor, misfortunate choild! Who wud do ye sich an
-ill turn as this, whin ye niver harmed annybody since the day ye were
-born?"
-
-"_Buttons!_" said Dennis Macarthy; "what do ye mane by buttons? How can
-she shpake buttons, I'm askin' ye? Sure, ye're foolish yersilf, Honor,
-woman! Lit the colleen go, an' she'll till me phwhat 'tis all about."
-
-"Och, av ye don't belave me!" cried Honor. "Show thim to yer father,
-Phelim! Look at two av thim there in the corner,--the dirrty things!"
-
-Phelim took up the two shining objects cautiously in the corner of his
-pinafore and carried them to his father, who examined them long and
-carefully. Finally he spoke, but in an altered voice.
-
-"Lit the choild go, Honor," he said. "I want to shpake till her. Do as I
-bid ye!" he added sternly; and very reluctantly his wife released poor
-Eily, who stood pale and trembling, eager to explain, and yet afraid to
-speak for fear of being again forcibly silenced.
-
-"Eileen," said her father, "'tis plain to be seen that these things are
-not buttons, but jew'ls."
-
-"Jew'ls!" exclaimed Honor, aghast.
-
-"Ay!" said Dennis; "jew'ls, or gims, whichiver ye plaze to call thim.
-Now, phwhat I want to know is, where did ye get thim?"
-
-"Oh, Father!" cried Eily; "don't look at me that a-way! Sure, I've done
-no harrum! I only--" hop! pop! another splendid diamond and another
-white, glistening pearl fell from her lips; but she hurried on, speaking
-as quickly as she could: "I wint to the forest to gather shticks, and
-there I saw a little Grane Man, all the same loike a hoppergrass, caught
-be his lig in a spidher's wib; and whin I lit him free he gi' me a wish,
-to have whativer I loiked bist in the wurrld; an' so I wished, an' I
-sid--" but by this time the pearls and diamonds were hopping like
-hail-stones all over the cabin-floor; and with a look of deep anger and
-sorrow Dennis Macarthy motioned to his wife to close Eileen's mouth
-again, which she eagerly did.
-
-"To think," he said, "as iver a child o' mine shud shtale the Countess's
-jew'ls, an' thin till me a pack o' lies about thim! Honor, thim is the
-beads o' the Countess's nickluss that I was tillin' ye about, that I saw
-on her nick at the ball, whin I carried the washin' oop to the Castle.
-An' this misfortunate colleen has shwallied 'em."
-
-"Shwallied 'em!" echoed Honor, incredulously. "How wud she shwally 'em,
-an' have 'em in her mouth all the toime? An' how wud she get thim to
-shwally, an' the Countess in Dublin these three weeks, an' her jew'ls
-wid her? Shame an ye, Dinnis Macarthy! to suspict yer poor, diminted
-choild of shtalin'! It's bewitched she is, I till ye! Look at the face
-av her this minute!"
-
-Just at that moment the sound of wheels was heard; and Phelim, who was
-standing at the open door, exclaimed,--
-
-"Father! here's Docthor O'Shaughnessy dhrivin' past. Will I shtop him?
-Maybe he wud know."
-
-"Ay, shtop him! shtop him, lad!" cried both mother and father in a
-breath.
-
-Phelim darted out, and soon returned, followed by the doctor,--a tall,
-thin man with a great hooked nose, on which was perched a pair of green
-spectacles.
-
-Eileen had never liked Dr. O'Shaughnessy; and now a cold shiver passed
-over her as he fixed his spectacled eyes on her and listened in silence
-to the confused accounts which her father and mother poured into his
-ear.
-
-"Humph!" he said at last. "Bewitched? 'tis very loikely. I've known many
-so of late. Let me see the jew'ls, as ye call thim."
-
-The pearls and diamonds were brought,--a whole handful of them,--and
-poured into the doctor's hand, which closed suddenly over them, while
-his dull black eyes shot out a quick gleam under the shading spectacles.
-The next moment, however, he laughed good-humoredly and turned them
-carelessly over one by one.
-
-"Why, Dinnis," he said, "'tis aisy to see that ye've not had mich
-expeerunce o' jew'ls, me bye, or ye'd not mistake these bits o' glass
-an' sich fer thim. No! no! there's no jew'ls here, wheriver the
-Countess's are. An' these bits o' trash dhrop out o' the choild's mouth,
-ye till me, ivery toime she shpakes?"
-
-"Ivery toime, yer Anner!" said Honor. "Out they dhrops, an' goes hoppin'
-an' leppin' about the room, loike they were aloive."
-
-"I see!" said the doctor. "I understand. This is a very sirrious case,
-Misther Macarthy,--a very sirrious case _in_dade, sirr; an' I'll be free
-to till ye that I know but _wan_ way av curin' it."
-
-"Och, whirrasthru!" cried Mrs. Macarthy. "What is it at all, Docthor
-alanna? Is it a witch has overlooked her, or what is it? Och, me choild!
-me poor, diminted choild! will I lose ye this-a-way? Ochone! ochone!"
-and in her grief she loosed her hold of Eileen and clapped her hands to
-her own face, sobbing aloud. But before the child could open her lips to
-speak, she found herself seized in another and no less powerful grasp,
-while another hand covered her mouth,--not warm and firm like her
-mother's, but cold, bony, and frog-like. Holding her as in a vice, Dr.
-O'Shaughnessy spoke once more to her parents.
-
-"I'll save her loife," said he, "and mebbe her wits as well, av the
-thing's poassible. But it's not here I can do ut at all. I'll take the
-choild home wid me to me house, and Misthress O'Shaughnessy will tind
-her as if she wuz her own; and thin I will try th' ixpirimint which is
-the ownly thing on airth can save her."
-
-"Spirimint?" said Honor. "Sure, there's two, three kinds o' mint growin'
-here in oor own door-yard, but I dunno av there's anny o' that kind.
-Will ye make a tay av it, Docthor, or is it a poultuss ye'll be puttin'
-an her, to dhraw out the witchcraft, loike?"
-
-"Whisht, whisht, woman!" said Dennis, impatiently. "Howld yer prate,
-can't ye, an' the docthor waitin'? Is there no way ye cud cure her, an'
-lave her at home thin, Docthor? Faith, I'd be loth to lave her go away
-from uz loike this, let alone the throuble she'll be to yez!"
-
-"No throuble at all!" said the doctor, briskly. "At laste," he added
-more gravely, "naw moor thin I'd gladly take for ye an' yer good woman,
-Dinnis! Come, help me wid the colleen, now. Aisy does it! Now, thin, oop
-wid ye, Eily!"
-
-And the next moment Eileen found herself in the doctor's narrow gig,
-wedged tightly between him and the side of the vehicle.
-
-"Ye can sind her bits o' clothes over by Phelim," said Dr.
-O'Shaughnessy, as he gathered up the reins, apparently in great haste.
-"I'll not shtop now. Good-day t' ye, Dinnis! My respicts to ye,
-Misthress Macarthy. Ye'll hear av the choild in a day or two!" And
-whistling to his old pony, they started off at as brisk a trot as the
-latter could produce on such short notice.
-
-Poor Eileen! Was this the result of the fairy's gift? She sat still,
-half-paralyzed with grief and terror, for she made no doubt that the
-hated doctor was going to do something very, very dreadful to her.
-
-Seeing that she made no effort to free herself, or to speak, her captor
-removed his hand from her mouth; but not until they were well out of
-sight and hearing of her parents.
-
-"Now, Eileen," he said, not unkindly, "av ye'll be a good colleen, and
-not shpake a wurrd, I'll lave yer mouth free. But av ye shpake, so much
-as to say, 'Bliss ye!' I'll tie up yer jaw wid me pock'-handkercher, so
-as ye can't open ut at all. D' ye hear me, now?"
-
-Eileen nodded silently. She had not the slightest desire to say "Bliss
-ye!" to Dr. O'Shaughnessy; nor did she care to fill his rusty old gig,
-or to sprinkle the high road, with diamonds and pearls.
-
-"That's roight!" said the Doctor, "that's a sinsible gyurrl as ye are.
-See, now, what a foine bit o' sweet-cake Misthress O'Shaughnessy 'ull be
-givin' ye, whin we git home."
-
-The poor child burst into tears, for the word 'home' made her realize
-more fully that she was going every moment farther and farther away from
-her own home,--from her kind father, her anxious and loving mother, and
-dear little Phelim. What would Phelim do at night, without her shoulder
-to curl up on and go to sleep, in the trundle-bed which they had shared
-ever since he was a tiny baby? Who would light her father's pipe, and
-sing him the little song he always liked to hear while he smoked it
-after supper? These, and many other such thoughts, filled Eileen's mind
-as she sat weeping silently beside the green-spectacled doctor, who
-cared nothing about her crying, so long as she did not try to speak.
-
-After a drive of some miles, they reached a tall, dark, gloomy-looking
-house, which was not unlike the doctor himself, with its small greenish
-window-panes and its gaunt chimneys. Here the pony stopped, and the
-doctor, lifting Eileen out of the gig, carried her into the house. Mrs.
-O'Shaughnessy came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron,
-and stared in amazement at the burden in her husband's arms.
-
-"Honor Macarthy's Eily!" she exclaimed. "The Saints protict uz! Is she
-kilt, or what's the matther?"
-
-"Open the door o' the best room!" said the doctor, briefly. "Open it,
-woman, I'm tillin' ye!" and entering a large bare room, he set Eileen
-down hastily on a stool, and then drew a long breath and wiped his brow.
-"I've got ye!" he said. "Safe and sound I've got ye now, glory for ut!
-And ye'll not lave this room until ye've made me _King av Ireland_!"
-
-Eileen stared at the man, thinking he had gone mad; for his face was
-red, and his eyes, from which he had snatched the green spectacles,
-glittered with a strange light. The same idea flashed into his wife's
-mind, and she crossed herself devoutly, exclaiming,--
-
-"Howly St. Pathrick, he's clane diminted. 'King,' indade! will ye hear
-um?"
-
-The doctor turned on her sharply. "Diminted?" he said; "ye'll soon see
-av I'm diminted. I till ye I'll be King av Ireland before the month's
-oot. Shpake, now, Eileen! Open yer mouth, alanna, and make yer manners
-to Misthress O'Shaughnessy."
-
-Thus adjured, Eileen dropped a courtesy, and said, timidly, "Good day t'
-ye, Ma'm! I houp ye're well!"
-
-Hop! pop! down dropped a pearl and a diamond, and the doctor, pouncing
-on them, held them up in triumph before the eyes of his astonished wife.
-
-"Div ye see that?" he cried. "That's a dimind! There's no sich in Queen
-Victory's crownd this day. And look a' that! That's a pearrl, an' as big
-as a marrowfat pay. The loike of ut's not in Ireland, I till ye. Woman,
-there's a fortin' in ivery wurrd this colleen shpakes! And she's goin'
-to shpake," he added, grimly, "and to kape an shpakin', till Michael
-O'Shaughnessy is rich enough to buy all Ireland,--ay, and England too,
-av he'd a mind to!"
-
-"But--but," cried Mrs. O'Shaughnessy, utterly bewildered by her
-husband's wild talk, and by the sight of the jewels, "what does it all
-mane? Has the choild swallied 'em? And won't she die av 'em, av it's
-that manny in her stumick?"
-
-"Whisht wid yer foolery!" said her husband, contemptuously. "Swallied
-'em, indade! The gyurrl has met a Grane Man, that's the truth of ut; and
-he's gi'n her a wish, and she's got ut,--and now I've got _her_." And he
-chuckled, and rubbed his bony hands together, while his eyes twinkled
-with greed.
-
-"A Grane Man! The saints be good to uz!" cried Mrs. O'Shaughnessy.
-"Sure, ye always till't me there was no sich thing ava'."
-
-"I lied, thin!" shouted the doctor. "I lied, an' that's all there is to
-say about ut. Do ye think I'm obleeged to shpake the thruth ivery day in
-the week to an ignor'nt crathur like yersilf? It's worn out I'd be, body
-and sowl, at that rate. Now, Eileen Macarthy," he continued, turning to
-his unhappy little prisoner, "ye are to do as I till ye, an' no
-harrum'll coom to ye, an' maybe good. Ye are to sit in this room and
-_talk_; and ye'll kape an talkin' till the room is _full-up_! d'ye hear
-me, now?"
-
-"Full-up?" exclaimed Eileen, faintly.
-
-"Full-up!" repeated the doctor. "No less'll satisfy me, and it's the
-laste ye can do for all the throuble I've taken forr ye. Misthress
-O'Shaughnessy an' mesilf 'ull take turns sittin' wid ye, so 'at ye'll
-have some wan to talk to. Ye'll have plinty to ate an' to dhrink, an'
-that's more than manny people have in Ireland this day. So lit me hear
-no complainin'."
-
-With this, the worthy man proceeded to give strict injunctions to his
-wife to keep the child talking, and not to leave her alone for an
-instant; and finally he departed, shutting the door behind him, and
-leaving the captive and her jailer alone together.
-
-Mrs. O'Shaughnessy immediately poured forth a flood of questions, to
-which Eileen replied by telling the whole pitiful story from beginning
-to end. It was a relief to be able to speak at last, and to rehearse the
-whole matter to understanding, if not sympathetic, ears. Mrs.
-O'Shaughnessy listened and looked, looked and listened, with open mouth
-and staring eyes. With her eyes shut, she would not have believed her
-ears; but the double evidence was too much for her.
-
-The diamonds and pearls kept on falling, falling, fast and faster. They
-filled Eileen's lap, they skipped away over the floor, while the
-doctor's wife pursued them with frantic eagerness. Each diamond was
-clear and radiant as a drop of dew, each pearl lustrous and perfect; but
-they gave no pleasure now to the fairy-gifted child. She could only
-think of the task that lay before her,--to FILL this great, empty room;
-of the millions and millions, and yet again millions of gems that must
-fall from her lips before the floor would be covered even a few inches
-deep; of the weeks and months,--perhaps the years,--that must elapse
-before she would see her parents and Phelim again. She remembered the
-words of the fairy: "A day may come when you will wish with all your
-heart to have the charm removed." And then, like a flash, came the
-recollection of those other words: "When that day comes, come here to
-this spot," and do so and so.
-
-In fancy, Eileen was transported again to the pleasant green forest; was
-looking at the Green Man as he sat on the toadstool, and begging him to
-take away this fatal gift, which had already, in one day, brought her so
-much misery. Harshly on her reverie broke in the voice of Mrs.
-O'Shaughnessy, asking,--
-
-"And has yer father sold his pigs yit?"
-
-She started, and came back to the doleful world of reality. But even as
-she answered the woman's question, she made in her heart a firm
-resolve,--somehow or other, _somehow_, she would escape; she would get
-out of this hateful house, away from these greedy, grasping people; she
-would manage somehow to find her way to the wood, and then--then for
-freedom again! Cheered by her own resolution, she answered the woman
-composedly, and went into a detailed account of the birth, rearing, and
-selling of the pigs, which so fascinated her auditor that she was
-surprised, when the recital was over, to find that it was nearly
-supper-time.
-
-The doctor now entered, and taking his wife's place, began to ply Eily
-with questions, each one artfully calculated to bring forth the longest
-possible reply:--
-
-"How is it yer mother is related to the Countess's auld housekeeper,
-avick; and why is it, that wid sich grand relations she niver got into
-the castle at all?"
-
-"Phwhat was that I h'ard the other day about the looky bargain yer
-father--honest man!--made wid the one-eyed peddler from beyant
-Inniskeen?" and--
-
-"Is it thrue that yer mother makes all her butther out av skim-milk just
-by making the sign of the cross--God bless it!--over the churn?"
-
-Although she did not like the doctor, Eily did, as she had said to the
-Green Man, "_loove_ to talk;" so she chattered away, explaining and
-disclaiming, while the diamonds and pearls flew like hail-stones from
-her lips, and her host and jailer sat watching them with looks of greedy
-rapture.
-
-Eily paused, fairly out of breath, just as Mrs. O'Shaughnessy entered,
-bringing her rather scanty supper. There was quite a pile of jewels in
-her lap and about her feet, while a good many had rolled to a distance;
-but her heart sank within her as she compared the result of three hours'
-steady talking with the end to which the rapacious doctor aspired.
-
-She was allowed to eat her supper in peace, but no sooner was it
-finished than the questioning began again, and it was not until ten
-o'clock had struck that the exhausted child was allowed to lay her head
-down on the rude bed which Mrs. O'Shaughnessy had hastily made up for
-her.
-
-The next day was a weary one for poor Eily. From morning till night she
-was obliged to talk incessantly, with only a brief space allowed for her
-meals. The doctor and his wife mounted guard by turns, each asking
-questions, until to the child's fancy they seemed like nothing but
-living interrogation points. All day long, no matter what she was
-talking about,--the potato-crop, or the black hen that the fox stole, or
-Phelim's measles,--her mind was fixed on one idea, that of escaping from
-her prison. If only some fortunate chance would call them both out of
-the room at once! But, alas! that never happened. There was always a
-pair of greedy eyes fixed on her, and on the now hated jewels which
-dropped in an endless stream from her lips; always a harsh voice in her
-ears, rousing her, if she paused for an instant, by new questions as
-stupid as they were long.
-
-Once, indeed, the child stopped short, and declared that she could not
-and would not talk any more; but she was speedily shown the end of a
-birch rod, with the hint that the doctor "would be loth to use the likes
-av it on Dinnis Macarthy's choild; but her parints had given him charge
-to dhrive out the witchcraft be hook or be crook; and av a birch rod
-wasn't first cousin to a crook, what was it at all?" and Eily was forced
-to find her powers of speech again.
-
-By nightfall of this day the room was ankle-deep in pearls and diamonds.
-A wonderful sight it was, when the moon looked in at the window, and
-shone on the lustrous and glittering heaps which Mrs. O'Shaughnessy
-piled up with her broom. The woman was fairly frightened at the sight of
-so much treasure, and she crossed herself many times as she lay down on
-the mat beside Eileen's truckle-bed, muttering to herself, "Michael
-knows bist, I suppose; but sorrow o' me if I can feel as if there was a
-blissing an it, ava'!"
-
-The third day came, and was already half over, when an urgent summons
-came for Doctor O'Shaughnessy. One of his richest patrons had fallen
-from his horse and broken his leg, and the doctor must come on the
-instant. The doctor grumbled and swore, but there was no help for it; so
-he departed, after making his wife vow by all the saints in turn, that
-she would not leave Eileen's side for an instant until he returned.
-
-When Eily heard the rattle of the gig and the sound of the pony's feet,
-and knew that the most formidable of her jailers was actually _gone_,
-her heart beat so loud for joy that she feared its throbbing would be
-heard. Now, at last, a loop-hole seemed to open for her. She had a plan
-already in her head, and now there was a chance for her to carry it out.
-But an Irish girl of ten has shrewdness beyond her years, and no gleam
-of expression appeared in Eileen's face as she spoke to Mrs.
-O'Shaughnessy, who had been standing by the window to watch her
-husband's departure, and who now returned to her seat.
-
-"We'll be missin' the docthor this day, ma'm, won't we?" she said. "He's
-so agrayable, ain't he, now?"
-
-"He is that!" replied Mrs. O'Shaughnessy, with something of a sigh.
-"He's rale agrayable, Michael is--whin he wants to be," she added. "Yis,
-I'll miss um more nor common to-day, for 'tis worn out I am intirely
-wid shlapin so little these two nights past. Sure, I _can't_ shlape, wid
-thim things a-shparklin' an' a-glowerin' at me the way they do; and now
-I'll not get me nap at all this afthernoon, bein' I must shtay here and
-kape ye talkin' till the docthor cooms back. Me hid aches, too, mortial
-bad!"
-
-"Do it, now?" said Eily, soothingly. "Arrah, it's too bad, intirely!
-Will I till ye a little shtory that me grandmother hed for the hidache?"
-
-"A shtory for the hidache?" said Mrs. O'Shaughnessy. "What do ye mane by
-that, I'm askin' ye?"
-
-"I dunno roightly how ut is," replied Eily, innocently, "but Granny used
-to call this shtory a cure for the hidache, and mebbe ye'd find ut so.
-An' annyhow it 'ud kape me talkin'," she added meekly, "for 'tis mortial
-long."
-
-"Go an wid it, thin!" said Mrs. O'Shaughnessy, settling herself more
-comfortably in her chair. "I loove a long shtory, to be sure. Go an,
-avick!"
-
-And Eily began as follows, speaking in a clear, low monotone:--
-
-"Wanst upon a toime there lived an owld, owld woman, an' her name was
-Moira Magoyle; an' she lived in an owld, owld house, in an owld, owld
-lane that lid through an owld, owld wood be the side of an owld, owld
-shthrame that flowed through an owld, owld shthrate av an owld, owld
-town in an owld, owld county. An' this owld, owld woman, sure enough,
-she had an owld, owld cat wid a white nose; an' she had an owld, owld
-dog wid a black tail, an' she had an owld, owld hin wid wan eye, an' she
-had an owld, owld cock wid wan leg, an' she had--"
-
-Mrs. O'Shaughnessy yawned, and stirred uneasily on her seat. "Seems to
-me there's moighty little goin' an in this shtory!" she said, taking up
-her knitting, which she had dropped in her lap. "I'd loike somethin' a
-bit more loively, I'm thinkin', av I had me ch'ice."
-
-"Jist wait, ma'm!" said Eily, with quiet confidence, "ownly wait till I
-coom to the parrt about the two robbers an' the keg o' gunpowdther, an'
-its loively enough ye'll foind ut. But I must till ut the same way 'at
-Granny did, else it 'ull do no good, ava. Well, thin, I was sayin' to
-ye, ma'm, this owld woman (Saint Bridget be good to her!) she had an
-owld, owld cow, an' she had an owld, owld shape, an' she had an owld,
-owld kitchen wid an owld, owld cheer an' an owld, owld table, an' an
-owld, owld panthry wid an owld, owld churn, an' an owld, owld sauce-pan,
-an' an owld, owld gridiron, an' an owld, owld--"
-
-Mrs. O'Shaughnessy's knitting dropped again, and her head fell forward
-on her breast. Eileen's voice grew lower and softer, but still she went
-on,--rising at the same time, and moving quietly, stealthily, towards
-the door,--
-
-"An' she had an owld, owld kittle, an' she had an owld, owld pot wid an
-owld, owld kiver; an' she had an owld, owld jug, an' an owld, owld
-platther, an' an owld, owld tay-pot--"
-
-Eily's hand was on the door, her eyes were fixed on the motionless form
-of her jailer; her voice went on and on, its soft monotone now
-accompanied by another sound,--that of a heavy, regular breathing which
-was fast deepening into a snore.
-
-"An' she had an owld, owld shpoon, an' an owld, owld fork, an' an owld,
-owld knife, an' an owld, owld cup, an' an owld, owld bowl, an' an owld,
-owld, owld--"
-
-The door is open! The story is done! Two little feet go speeding down
-the long passage, across the empty kitchen, out at the back door, and
-away, away! Wake, Mrs. O'Shaughnessy! wake! the story is done and the
-bird is flown!
-
-Surely it was the next thing to flying, the way in which Eily sped
-across the meadows, far from the hated scene of her imprisonment. The
-bare brown feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground; the brown locks
-streamed out on the wind; the little blue apron fluttered wildly, like a
-banner of victory. On! on! on! with panting bosom, with parted lips,
-with many a backward glance to see if any one were following; on went
-the little maid, over field and fell, through moss and through mire,
-till at last--oh, happy, blessed sight!--the dark forest rose before
-her, and she knew that she was saved.
-
-Quite at the other end of the wood lay the spot she was seeking; but she
-knew the way well, and on she went, but more carefully now,--parting the
-branches so that she broke no living twig, and treading cautiously lest
-she should crush the lady fern, which the Green Men love. How beautiful
-the ferns were, uncurling their silver-green fronds and spreading their
-slender arms abroad! How sweetly the birds were singing! How pleasant,
-how kind, how friendly was everything in the sweet green wood!
-
-And here at last was the oak-tree, and at the foot of it there stood the
-yellow toadstool, looking as if it did not care about anything or
-anybody, which in truth it did not: Breathless with haste and eagerness,
-Eileen tapped the toadstool three times with a bit of holly, saying
-softly, "Slanegher Banegher! Skeen na lane!" And, lo! and, behold! there
-sat the Green Man, just as if he had been there all the time, fanning
-himself with his scarlet cap, and looking at her with a comical twinkle
-in his sharp little eyes.
-
-"Well, Eily," he said, "is it back so soon ye are? Well, well, I'm not
-surprised! And how do ye like yer gift?"
-
-"Oh, yer Honor's Riverence--Grace, I mane!" cried poor Eily, bursting
-into tears, "av ye'll plaze to take it away! Sure it's nearly kilt I am
-along av it, an' no plazure or coomfort in ut at all at all! Take it
-away, yer Honor, take it away, and I'll bliss ye all me days!" and, with
-many sobs, she related the experiences of the past three days. As she
-spoke, diamonds and pearls still fell in showers from her lips, and
-half-unconsciously she held up her apron to catch them as they fell, so
-that by the time she had finished her story she had more than a quart of
-splendid gems, each as big as the biggest kind of pea.
-
-The Green Man smiled, but not unkindly, at the recital of Eileen's
-woes. "Faith, it's a hard time ye've had, my maiden, and no mistake! But
-now 'tis all over. Hold fast the jewels ye have there, for they're the
-last ye'll get." He touched her lips with his cap, and said, "Cabbala
-ku! the charm is off."
-
-Eily drew a long breath of relief, and the fairy added,--
-
-"The truth is, Eily, the times are past for fairy gifts of this kind.
-Few people believe in the Green Men now at all, and fewer still ever see
-them. Why, ye are the first mortal child I've spoken to for a matter of
-two hundred years, and I think ye'll be the last I ever speak to. Fairy
-gifts are very pretty things in a story, but they're not convenient at
-the present time, as ye see for yourself. There's one thing I'd like to
-say to ye, however," he added more seriously; "an' ye'll take it as a
-little lesson-like, me dear, before we part. Ye asked me for diamonds
-and pearls, and I gave them to ye; and now ye've seen the worth of that
-kind for yourself. But there's jewels and jewels in the world, and if
-ye choose, Eily, ye can still speak pearls and diamonds, and no harm to
-yourself or anybody."
-
-"How was yer Honor maning?" asked Eily, wondering. "Sure, I don't
-undershtand yer Honor at all."
-
-"Likely not," said the little man, "but it's now I'm telling ye. Every
-gentle and loving word ye speak, child, is a pearl; and every kind deed
-done to them as needs kindness, is a diamond brighter than all those
-shining stones in your apron. Ye'll grow up a rich woman, Eily, with the
-treasure ye have there; but it might all as well be frogs and toads, if
-with it ye have not the loving heart and the helping hand that will make
-a good woman of ye, and happy folk of yer neighbors. And now good-by,
-mavourneen, and the blessing of the Green Men go with ye and stay with
-ye, yer life long!"
-
-"Good-by, yer Honor," cried Eily, gratefully. "The saints reward yer
-Honor's Grace for all yer kindness to a poor silly colleen like me! But,
-oh, wan minute, yer Honor!" she cried, as she saw the little man about
-to put on his cap. "Will Docthor O'Shaughnessy be King av Ireland? Sure
-it's the wicked king he'd make, intirely. Don't let him, plaze, yer
-Honor!"
-
-Green Jacket laughed long and heartily. "Ho! ho! ho!" he cried. "_King_,
-is it? Nothing less would suit him, sure enough! Have no fears, Eily,
-alanna! Dr. O'Shaughnessy has come into his kingdom by this time, and I
-wish him joy of it."
-
-With these words he clapped his scarlet cap on his head, and vanished
-like the snuff of a candle.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Now, just about this time Dr. Michael O'Shaughnessy was dismounting from
-his gig at his own back door, after a long and weary drive. He thought
-little, however, about his bodily fatigue, for his heart was full of joy
-and triumph, his mind absorbed in dreams of glory. He could not even
-contain his thoughts, but broke out into words, as he unharnessed the
-rusty old pony.
-
-"An' whin I coom to the palace, I'll knock three times wid the knocker;
-or maybe there'll be a bell, loike the sheriff's house (bad luck to um!)
-at Kilmagore. And the gossoon'll open the dure, and--
-
-"'Phwhat's yer arrind?' says he.
-
-"'It's Queen Victory I'm wantin',' says I. 'An' ye'll till her King
-Michael av Ireland is askin' for her,' I says.
-
-"Thin whin Victory hears that, she'll coom roonnin' down hersilf, to bid
-me welkim; an' she'll take me oop to the best room, an'--
-
-"'Sit down an the throne, King Michael,' says she. 'The other cheers
-isn't good enough for the loikes of ye,' says she.
-
-"'Afther ye, ma'm,' says I, moinding me manners.
-
-"'An' is there annythin' I can du for ye, to-day, King Michael?' says
-she, whin we've sat down an the throne.
-
-"An' I says, loight and aisy loike, all as if I didn't care, 'Nothin' in
-loife, ma'm, I'm obleeged to ye, widout ye'd lind me the loan o' yer
-Sunday crownd,' says I, 'be way av a patthern,' says I.
-
-"An' says she--"
-
-But at this moment the royal meditations were rudely broken in upon by a
-wild shriek which resounded from the house. The door was flung violently
-open, and Mrs. O'Shaughnessy rushed out like a mad woman.
-
-"She's gone!" she cried wildly. "The colleen's gone, an' me niver
-shtirrin' from her side! Och, wirra, wirra! what'll I do? It must be the
-witches has taken her clane up chimley."
-
-Dr. O'Shaughnessy stood for a moment transfixed, glaring with speechless
-rage at the unhappy woman; then rushing suddenly at her, he seized and
-shook her till her teeth chattered together.
-
-"Ye've been ashlape!" he yelled, beside himself with rage and
-disappointment. "Ye've fell ashlape, an' laved her shlip out! Sorrow
-seize ye, ye're always the black bean in me porridge!" Then flinging her
-from him, he cried, "I don't care! I'll _be_ it! I'll be king wid
-what's in there now!" and dashed into the house.
-
-He paused before the door of the best room, lately poor Eily's prison,
-to draw breath and to collect his thoughts. The door was closed, and
-from within--hark! what was that sound? Something was stirring, surely.
-Oh, joy! was his wife mistaken? Waking suddenly from her nap, had she
-failed to see the girl, who had perhaps been sleeping, too? At all
-events the jewels were there, in shining heaps on the floor, as he had
-last seen them, with thousands more covering the floor in every
-direction,--a king's ransom in half a handful of them. He would be king
-yet, even if the girl were gone. Cautiously he opened the door and
-looked in, his eyes glistening, his mouth fairly watering at the thought
-of all the splendor which would meet his glance.
-
-What did Dr. O'Shaughnessy see? Oh, horror! Oh, dismay, terror, anguish!
-What did he see? Captive was there none, yet the room was not empty.
-Jewels were there none, yet the floor was covered; covered with living
-creatures,--toads, snakes, newts, all hideous and unclean reptiles that
-hop or creep or wriggle. And as the wretched man stared, with open mouth
-and glaring eye-balls, oh, horror! they were all hopping, creeping,
-wriggling towards the open door,--towards him! With a yell beside which
-his wife's had been a whisper, O'Shaughnessy turned and fled; but after
-him--through the door, down the passage and out of the house--came
-hopping, creeping, wriggling his myriad pursuers.
-
-Fly, King Michael! stretch your long legs, and run like a hunted hare
-over hill and dale, over moss and moor. They are close behind you; they
-are catching at your heels; they come from every side, surrounding you!
-Fly, King O'Shaughnessy! but you cannot escape. The Green Men are
-hunting you, if you could but know it, in sport and in revenge; and
-three times they will chase you round County Kerry, for thrice three
-days, till at last they suffer you to drop exhausted in a bog, and
-vanish from your sight.
-
-And Eily? Eily went home with her apron full of pearls and diamonds, to
-tell her story again, and this time to be believed. And she grew up a
-good woman and a rich woman; and she married the young Count of
-Kilmoggan, and spoke diamonds and pearls all her life long,--at least
-her husband said she did, and he ought to know.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-
-"EGGS! eggs!" cried Toto, springing lightly into the barn, and waving a
-basket round his head. "Mrs. Speckle, Mrs. Spanish, Dame Clucket, where
-are you all? I want all the fresh eggs you can spare, please!
-directly-now-this-very-moment!" and the boy tossed his basket up in the
-air and caught it again, and danced a little dance of pure enjoyment,
-while he waited for the hens to answer his summons.
-
-Mrs. Speckle and Dame Clucket, who had been having a quiet chat together
-in the mow, peeped cautiously over the billows of hay, and seeing that
-Toto was alone, bade him good-morning.
-
-"I don't know about eggs, to-day, Toto!" said Dame Clucket. "I want to
-set soon, and I cannot be giving you eggs every day."
-
-"Oh, but I haven't had any for two or three days!" cried Toto. "And I
-_must_ have some to-day. Good old Clucket, dear old Cluckety, give me
-some, please!"
-
-"Well, I never can refuse that boy, somehow!" said Dame Clucket, half to
-herself; and Mrs. Speckle agreed with her that it could not be done.
-
-Indeed, it would have been hard to say "No!" to Toto at that moment, for
-he certainly was very pleasant to look at. The dusty sunbeams came
-slanting through the high windows, and fell on his curly head, his
-ruddy-brown cheeks, and honest gray eyes; and as the eyes danced, and
-the curls danced, and the whole boy danced with the dancing sunbeams,
-why, what could two soft-hearted old hens do but meekly lead the way to
-where their cherished eggs lay, warm and white, in their fragrant nests
-of hay?
-
-"And what is to be done with them?" asked Mrs. Speckle, as the last egg
-disappeared into the basket.
-
-"Why, don't you know?" cried the boy. "We are going to have a party
-to-night,--a real party! Mr. Baldhead is coming, and Jim Crow, and
-Ger-Falcon. And Granny and Bruin are making all sorts of good
-things,--I'll bring you out some, if I can, dear old Speckly,--and these
-eggs are for a custard, don't you see?"
-
-"I see!" said Mrs. Speckle, rather ruefully.
-
-"And Coon and I are decorating the kitchen," continued he; "and Cracker
-is cracking the nuts and polishing the apples; and Pigeon Pretty and
-Miss Mary are dusting the ornaments,--so you see we are all very busy
-indeed. Ho! ho! what fun it will be! Good-by, Mrs. Speckle! good-by,
-Cluckety!" and off ran boy Toto, with his basket of eggs, leaving the
-two old hens to scratch about in the hay, clucking rather sadly over the
-memories of their own chickenhood, when they, too, went to parties,
-instead of laying eggs for other people's festivities.
-
-In the cottage, what a bustle was going on! The grandmother was at her
-pastry-board, rolling out paste, measuring and filling and covering, as
-quickly and deftly as if she had had two pairs of eyes instead of none
-at all. The bear, enveloped in a huge blue-checked apron, sat with a
-large mortar between his knees, pounding away at something as if his
-life depended on it. On the hearth sat the squirrel, cracking nuts and
-piling them up in pretty blue china dishes; and the two birds were
-carefully brushing and dusting, each with a pair of dusters which she
-always carried about with her,--one pair gray, and the other soft brown.
-As for Toto and the raccoon, they were here, there, and everywhere, all
-in a moment.
-
-"Now, then, where are those greens?" called the boy, when he had
-carefully deposited his basket of eggs in the pantry.
-
-"Here they are!" replied Coon, appearing at the same moment from the
-shed, dragging a mass of ground-pine, fragrant fir-boughs, and
-alder-twigs with their bright coral-red berries. "We will stand these
-big boughs in the corners, Toto. The creeping stuff will go over the
-looking-glass and round the windows. Eh, what do you think?"
-
-"Yes, that will do very well," said Toto. "We shall need steps, though,
-to reach so high, and the step-ladder is broken."
-
-"Never mind!" said Coon. "Bruin will be the step-ladder. Stand up here,
-Bruin, and make yourself useful."
-
-The good bear meekly obeyed, and the raccoon, mounting nimbly upon his
-shoulders, proceeded to arrange the trailing creepers with much grace
-and dexterity.
-
-"This reminds me of some of our honey-hunts, old fellow!" he said,
-talking as he worked. "Do you remember the famous one we had in the
-autumn, a little while before we came here?"
-
-"To be sure I do!" replied the bear. "That was, indeed, a famous hunt!
-It gave us our whole winter's supply of honey. And we might have got
-twice as much more, if it hadn't been for the accident."
-
-"Tell us about it," said Toto. "I wasn't with you, you know; and then
-came the moving, and I forgot to ask you."
-
-"Well, it was a funny time!" said the bear. "Ho! ho! it was a funny
-time! Coon, you see, had discovered this hive in a big oak-tree, hollow
-from crotch to ground. He couldn't get at it alone, for the clever bees
-had made it some way down inside the trunk, and he couldn't reach far
-enough down unless some one held him on the outside. So we went
-together, and I stood on my hind tip-toes, and then he climbed up and
-stood on my head, and I held his feet while he reached down into the
-hole."
-
-"Dear me!" said the grandmother, "that was very dangerous, Bruin. I
-wonder you allowed it."
-
-"Well, you see, dear Madam," replied the bear, apologetically, "it was
-really the only way. I couldn't stand on Coon's head and have him hold
-_my_ feet, you know; and we couldn't give up the honey, the finest crop
-of the season. So--"
-
-"Oh, it was all right!" broke in the raccoon. "At least, it was at
-first. There was such a quantity of honey,--pots and pots of it!--and
-all of the very best quality. I took out comb after comb, laying them in
-the crotch of the tree for safe-keeping till I was ready to go down."
-
-"But where were the bees all the time?" asked Toto.
-
-"Oh, they were there!" replied the raccoon, "buzzing about and making a
-fine fuss. They tried to sting me, of course, but my fur was too much
-for them. The only part I feared for was my nose, and that I had covered
-with two or three thicknesses of mullein-leaves, tied on with stout
-grass. But as ill-luck would have it, they found out Bruin, and began to
-buzz about him, too. One flew into his eye, and he let my feet go for an
-instant,--just just for the very instant when I was leaning down as far
-as I could possibly stretch to reach a particularly fine comb. Up went
-my heels, of course, and down went I."
-
-"Oh, oh!" cried the grandmother. "My _dear_ Coon! do you mean--"
-
-"I mean _down_, dear Madam!" repeated the raccoon, gravely,--"the very
-downest down there was, I assure you. I fell through that hollow tree as
-the falling star darts through the ambient heavens. Luckily there was a
-soft bed of moss and rotten wood at the bottom, or I might not have had
-the happiness of being here at this moment. As it was--"
-
-"As it was," interrupted the bear, "I dragged him out by the tail
-through the hole at the bottom. Ho! ho! I wish you could have seen him.
-He had brought the whole hive with him. Indeed, he looked like a hive
-himself, covered from head to foot with wax and honey, and a cloud of
-bees buzzing about him. But he had a huge piece of comb in each paw, and
-was gobbling away, eating honey, wax, bees and all, as if nothing had
-happened."
-
-"Naturally," said the raccoon, "I am of a saving disposition, as you
-know, and cannot bear to see anything wasted. It is not generally known
-that bees add a slight pungent flavor to the honey, which is very
-agreeable. Ve-ry agreeable!" he repeated, throwing his head back, and
-screwing up one eye, to contemplate the arrangement he had just
-completed. "How is that, Toto; pretty, eh?"
-
-"Very pretty!" said Toto. "But, see here, if you keep Bruin there all
-day, we shall never get through all we have to do. Jump down, that's a
-good fellow, and help me to polish these tankards."
-
-When all was ready, as in due time it was, surely it would have been
-hard to find a pleasanter looking place than that kitchen. The clean
-white walls were hung with wreaths and garlands, while the great
-fir-boughs in the corners filled the air with their warm, spicy
-fragrance. Every bit of metal--brass, copper, or steel--was polished so
-that it shone resplendent, giving back the joyous blaze of the crackling
-fire in a hundred tiny reflections. The kettle was especially glorious,
-and felt the importance of its position keenly.
-
-"I trust you have no unpleasant feeling about this," it said to the
-black soup-kettle. "Every one cannot be beautiful, you know. If you are
-useful, you should be content with that."
-
-    "Hubble! bubble! Bubble! hubble!
-     Some have the fun, and some have the trouble!"
-
-replied the soup-kettle. "My business is to make soup, and I make it.
-That is all I have to say."
-
-The table was covered with a snowy cloth, and set with glistening
-crockery--white and blue--and clean shining pewter. The great tankard
-had been brought out of its cupboard, and polished within an inch of its
-life; while the three blue ginger-jars, filled with scarlet
-alder-berries, looked down complacently from their station on the
-mantelpiece. As for the floor, I cannot give you an idea of the
-cleanness of it. When everything else was ready and in place, the bear
-had fastened a homemade scrubbing-brush to each of his four feet, and
-then executed a sort of furious scrubbing-dance, which fairly made the
-house shake; and the result was a shining purity which vied with that
-of the linen table-cloth, or the very kettle itself.
-
-And you should have seen the good bear, when his toilet was completed!
-The scrubbing-brushes had been applied to his own shaggy coat as well as
-to the floor, and it shone, in its own way, with as much lustre as
-anything else; and in his left ear was stuck a red rose, from the
-monthly rose-bush which stood in the sunniest window and blossomed all
-winter long. It is extremely uncomfortable to have a rose stuck in one's
-ear,--you may try it yourself, and see how you like it; but Toto had
-stuck it there, and nothing would have induced Bruin to remove it. And
-you should have seen our Toto himself, carrying his own roses on his
-cheeks, and enough sunshine in his eyes to make a thunder-cloud laugh!
-And you should have seen the great Coon, glorious in scarlet
-neck-ribbon, and behind his ear (_not_ in it! Coon was not Bruin) a
-scarlet feather, the gift of Miss Mary, and very precious. And you
-should have seen the little squirrel, attired in his own bushy tail,
-and rightly thinking that he needed no other adornment; and the parrot
-and the wood-pigeon, both trim and elegant, with their plumage arranged
-to the last point of perfection. Last of all, you should have seen the
-dear old grandmother, the beloved Madam, with her snowy curls and cap
-and kerchief; and the ebony stick which generally lived in a drawer and
-silver paper, and only came out on great occasions. How proud Toto was
-of his Granny! and how the others all stood around her, gazing with
-wondering admiration at her gold-bowed spectacles (for those she usually
-wore were of horn) and the large breastpin, with a weeping-willow
-displayed upon it, which fastened her kerchief.
-
-"Made out of your grandfather's tail, did you say, Toto?" said the bear,
-in an undertone. "Astonishing!"
-
-"No, no, Bruin!" cried the boy, half pettishly. "Made out of his _hair_!
-Surely you might know by this time that we have no tails."
-
-"True! true!" murmured the bear, apologetically. "I beg your pardon,
-Toto, boy. You are not really vexed with old Bruin?"
-
-Toto rubbed his curly head affectionately against the shaggy black one,
-in token of amity, and the bear continued:--
-
-"When Madam was a young grandmother, was she as beautiful as she is
-now?"
-
-"Why, yes, I fancy so," replied Toto. "Only she wasn't a grandmother
-then, you know."
-
-"How so?" inquired Bruin. "What else could she be? You never were
-anything but a boy, were you?"
-
-"Oh, no, of course not!" said Toto. "But that is different. When Granny
-was young, she was a girl, you see."
-
-"I don't believe it!" said the bear, stoutly. "I--do--_not_--believe it!
-I saw a girl once--many years ago; it squinted, and its hair was frowzy,
-and it wore a hideous basket of flowers on its head,--a dreadful
-creature! Madam never can have looked like _that_!"
-
-At this moment a knock was heard at the door. Toto flew to open it, and
-with a beaming face ushered in the old hermit, who entered leaning on
-his stick, with his crow perched on one shoulder and the hawk on the
-other.
-
-Then, what greetings followed! What introductions! What bows and
-courtesies, and whisking of tails and flapping of wings! The hermit's
-bow in greeting to the old lady was so stately that Master Coon was
-consumed with a desire to imitate it; and in so doing, he stepped back
-against the nose of the tea-kettle and burned himself, which caused him
-to retire suddenly under the table with a smothered shriek. (But the
-kettle was glad.) And the hawk and the pigeon, the raccoon and the crow,
-the hermit and the bear, all shook paws and claws, and vowed that they
-were delighted to see each other; and what is more, they really _were_
-delighted, which is not always the case when such vows are made.
-
-Now, when all had become well acquainted, and every heart was prepared
-to be merry, they sat down to supper; and the supper was not one which
-was likely to make them less cheerful. For there was chicken and ham,
-and, oh, such a mutton-pie! You never saw such a pie; the standing crust
-was six inches high, and solid as a castle wall; and on that lay the
-upper-crust, as lightly as a butterfly resting on a leaf; while inside
-was store of good mutton, and moreover golden eggballs and tender little
-onions, and gravy as rich as all the kings of the earth put together.
-Ay! and besides all that there was white bread like snow, and brown
-bread as sweet as clover-blossoms, and jam and gingerbread, and apples
-and nuts, and pitchers of cream and jugs of buttermilk. Truly, it does
-one's heart good to think of such a supper, and I only wish that you and
-I had been there to help eat it. However, there was no lack of hungry
-mouths, with right good-will to keep their jaws at work, and for a time
-there was little conversation around the table, but much joy and comfort
-in the good victuals.
-
-The good grandmother ate little herself, though she listened with
-pleasure to the stirring sound of knives and forks, which told her that
-her guests were well and pleasantly employed. Presently the hermit
-addressed her, and said:--
-
-"Honored Madam, you will be glad to know that there has been a great
-change in the weather during the past week. Truly, I think the spring is
-at hand; for the snow is fast melting away, the sun shines with more
-than winter's heat, and the air to-day is mild and soft."
-
-At these words there was a subdued but evident excitement among the
-company. The raccoon and the squirrel exchanged swift and significant
-glances; the birds, as if by one unconscious impulse, ruffled their
-feathers and plumed themselves a little. But boy Toto's face fell, and
-he looked at the bear, who, for his part, scratched his nose and looked
-intently at the pattern on his plate.
-
-"It has been a long, an unusually long, season," continued the hermit,
-"though doubtless it has seemed much shorter to you in your cosey
-cottage than to me in my lonely cavern. But I have lived the
-forest-life long enough to know that some of you, my friends," and he
-turned with a smile to the forest-friends, "must be already longing to
-hear the first murmur of the greenwood spring, and to note in tree and
-shrub the first signs of awakening life."
-
-There was a moment of silence, during which the raccoon shifted uneasily
-on his seat, and looked about him with restless, gleaming eyes. Suddenly
-the silence was broken by a singular noise, which made every one start.
-It was a long-drawn sound, something between a snort, a squeal, and a
-snore; and it came from--where _did_ it come from?
-
-"Was it you?" said one.
-
-"No! was it you?"
-
-"It seemed to come," said the hawk, who sat facing the fire, "from the
-wall near the fireplace."
-
-At this moment the sound was heard again, louder and more distinct, and
-this time it certainly _did_ come from the wall,--or rather from the
-cupboard in the wall, near the fireplace.
-
-"Yaw-haw! yaw-ah-hee!" Then came a muffled, scuffling sound, and finally
-a shrill peevish voice cried, "Let me out! let me out, I say! Coon, I
-know your tricks; let me out, or I'll tell Bruin this minute!"
-
-The bear burst into a volcanic roar of laughter, which made the hermit
-start and turn pale in spite of himself, and going to the cupboard he
-drew out the unhappy woodchuck, hopelessly entangled in his worsted
-covering, from which he had been vainly struggling to free himself.
-
-Oh, how they all laughed! It seemed as they would never have done
-laughing; while every moment the woodchuck grew more furious,--squeaking
-and barking, and even trying to bite the mighty paw which held him. But
-the wood-pigeon had pity on him, and with a few sharp pulls broke the
-worsted net, and begged Bruin to set him down on the table. This being
-done, Master Chucky found his nose within precisely half an inch of a
-most excellent piece of dried beef, upon which he fell without more ado,
-and stayed not to draw breath till the plate was polished clean and
-dry.
-
-That made every one laugh again, and altogether they were very merry,
-and fell to playing games and telling stories, leaving the woodchuck to
-try the keen edge of his appetite upon every dish on the table.
-By-and-by, however, this gentleman could eat no more; so he wiped his
-paws and whiskers, brushed his coat a little, and then joined in the
-sport with right good-will.
-
-It was a pleasant sight to see the great bear blindfolded, chasing Toto
-and Coon from one corner to another, in a grand game of blindman's buff;
-it was pleasant to see them playing leap-frog, and spin-the-platter, and
-many a good old-fashioned game besides. Then, when these sat down to
-rest and recover their breath, what a treat it was to see the four birds
-dance a quadrille, to the music of Toto's fiddle! How they fluttered and
-sidled, and hopped and bridled! How gracefully Miss Mary courtesied to
-the stately hawk; and how jealous the crow was of this rival, who stood
-on one leg with such a perfect grace!
-
-Ah! altogether that was a party worth going to. And when late in the
-evening it broke up, and the visitors started on their homeward walk,
-all declared it was the merriest time they had yet had together, and all
-wished that they might have many more such times. And yet each one knew
-in his heart,--and grieved to know,--that it was the last, and that the
-end was come.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-
-YES, the end was come! The woodchuck sounded, the next morning, the note
-which had for days been vibrating in the hearts of all the wild
-creatures, but which they had been loth to strike, for Toto's sake.
-
-"Come!" he said. "It is time we were off. I don't know what you are all
-thinking of, to stay on here after you are awake. I smelt the wet earth
-and the water, and the sap running in the trees, even in that dungeon
-where you had put me. The young reeds will soon be starting beside the
-pool, and it is my work to trim them and thin them out properly;
-besides, I am going to dig a new burrow, this year. I tell you I must be
-off."
-
-And the squirrel with a chuckle, and the wood-pigeon with a sigh, and
-the raccoon with a strange feeling which he hardly understood, but
-which was not all pleasure, echoed the words, "We must be off!" Only the
-bear said nothing, for he was in the wood-shed, splitting kindling-wood
-with a fury of energy which sent the chips flying as if he were a
-saw-mill.
-
-So it came to pass that on a soft, bright day in April, when the sun was
-shining sweetly, and the wind blew warm from the south, and the buds
-were swelling on willow and alder, the party of friends stood around the
-door of the little cottage, exchanging farewells, half merry, half sad,
-and wholly loving.
-
-"After all, it is hardly good-by!" said the squirrel, gayly. "We shall
-be here half the time, just as we were last summer; and the other half,
-Toto will be in the forest. Eh, Bruin?"
-
-But Bruin rubbed his nose with his right paw, and said nothing.
-
-"And you will come to the forest, too, dear Madam!" cried the raccoon,
-"will you not? You will bring the knitting and the gingerbread, and we
-will have picnics by the pool, and you will learn to love the forest as
-much as Toto does. Won't she, Bruin?"
-
-But Bruin rubbed his nose with his left paw, and still said nothing.
-
-"And when my nest is made, and my little ones are fledged," cooed the
-wood-pigeon in her tender voice, "their first flight shall be to you,
-dear Madam, and their first song shall tell you that they love you, and
-that we love you, every day and all day. For we do love you; don't we,
-Bruin?"
-
-But the bear only looked helplessly around him, and scratched his head,
-and again said nothing.
-
-"Well," said Toto, cheerily, though with a suspicion of a quiver in his
-voice, "you are all jolly good fellows, and we have had a merry winter
-together. Of course we shall miss you sadly, Granny and I; but as you
-say, Cracker, we shall all see each other every day; and I am longing
-for the forest, too, almost as much as you are."
-
-"Dear friends," said the blind grandmother, folding her hands upon her
-stick, and turning her kindly face from one to the other of the
-group,--"dear friends, merry and helpful companions, this has indeed
-been a happy season that we have spent together. You have, one and all,
-been a comfort and a help to me, and I think you have not been
-discontented yourselves; still, the confinement has of course been
-strange to you, and we cannot wonder that you pine for your free,
-wildwood life. Coon, give me your paw! it is a mischievous paw, but it
-has never played any tricks on me, and has helped me many and many a
-time. My little Cracker, I shall miss your merry chatter as I sit at my
-spinning-wheel. Mary, and Pigeon Pretty, let me stroke your soft
-feathers once more, by way of 'good-by.' Woodchuck, I have seen little
-of you, but I trust you have enjoyed your visit, in your own way.
-
-"And now, last of all, Bruin! my good, faithful Bruin! come here and let
-me shake your honest, shaggy paw, and thank you for all that you have
-done for me and for my boy." She paused, but no answer came.
-
-"Why, where _is_ Bruin?" cried Toto, starting and looking round; "surely
-he was here a minute ago. Bruin! Bruin! where are you?"
-
-But no deep voice was heard, roaring cheerfully, "Here, Toto boy!" No
-shaggy form came in sight. Bruin was gone.
-
-"He has gone on ahead, probably," said the raccoon; "he said something,
-this morning, about not liking to say good-by. Come, you others, we must
-follow our leader. Good-by, dear Madam! See you to-morrow, Toto!"
-
-"Good-by!"
-
-"Good-by!"
-
-"Good-by!" cried all the others.
-
-And with many a backward glance, and many a wave of paw, or tail, or
-fluttering wing, the party of friends took their way to the forest home.
-
-Boy Toto stood with his hands in his pockets, looking after them with
-bright, wide-open eyes. He did not cry,--it was a part of Toto's creed
-that boys did not cry after they had left off petticoats,--but he felt
-that if he had been a girl, the tears might have come in spite of him.
-So he stared very hard, and puckered his mouth in a silent whistle, and
-felt of the marbles in his pockets,--for that is always a soothing and
-comforting thing to do.
-
-"Toto, dear," said his grandmother, "do you think our Bruin is really
-_gone_, without saying a word of farewell to us?"
-
-"So it seems!" said the boy, briefly.
-
-"I am very much grieved!" cried the old lady, putting her handkerchief
-to her sightless eyes,--"very, very much grieved! If it had been Coon,
-now, I should not have been so much surprised; but for Bruin, our
-faithful friend and helper, to leave us so, seems--"
-
-"_Hello!_" cried Toto, starting suddenly, "what is that noise?"
-
-Both listened, and, lo! on the quiet air came the sharp crashing sound
-of an axe.
-
-"He's there!" cried the boy. "He _isn't_ gone! I'll go--" and with that
-he went, as if he had been shot out of a catapult.
-
-Rushing into the wood-shed, he caught sight of the well-beloved shaggy
-figure, just raising the axe to deliver a fearful blow at an unoffending
-log of wood. Flinging his arms round it (the figure, not the axe nor the
-log), he gave it such a violent hug that bear and boy sat down suddenly
-on the ground, while the axe flew to the other end of the shed.
-
-"Oh, Bruin, Bruin!" cried Toto, "we thought you were gone, without
-saying a word to us. How could you frighten us so?"
-
-The bear rubbed his nose confusedly, and muttered something about "a few
-more sticks in case of cold weather."
-
-But here Toto burst out laughing in spite of himself, for the shed was
-piled so high with kindling-wood that the bear sat as it were at the
-bottom of a pit whose sides of neatly split sticks rose high above his
-head.
-
-"You old goose!" cried the boy. "There's kindling-wood enough here to
-last us ten years, at the very least. Come away! Granny wants you. She
-thought--"
-
-"There will be more butter to make, now, Toto, since that new calf has
-come," said the bear, breaking in with apparent irrelevance.
-
-"I suppose there will!" said the boy, staring. "What of it?"
-
-"And that pig is getting too big for you to manage," continued Bruin, in
-a serious tone. "He was impudent to _me_ the other day, and I had to
-take him up by the tail and swing him, before he would apologize. Now,
-you _couldn't_ take him up by the tail, Toto, much less swing him, and
-there is no use in your deceiving yourself about it."
-
-"Of course I couldn't!" cried Toto. "No one could, except you, old
-monster. But what _are_ you thinking about that for, now? Come along, I
-tell you! Granny will think you are gone, after all." And catching the
-bear by the ear, he led him back in triumph to the cottage-door, crying,
-"Granny, Granny! here he is! Now give him a good scolding, please, for
-frightening us so."
-
-But the grandmother never scolded. She only stroked the shaggy black
-fur, and said, "Bruin, dear! my good, faithful, true-hearted Bruin! I
-could not bear to think that you had left me without saying good-by.
-That hurt me very much. But you would not have done it, would you,
-Bruin? We ought to have known you better."
-
-The bear looked about him distractedly, and bit his paw severely, as if
-to relieve his feelings. "Yes I would!" he cried. "At least, if I meant
-to say good-by. I wouldn't say it, because I couldn't. But I don't mean
-to say it,--I mean I don't mean to do it. If you don't want me in the
-house,--being large and clumsy, as I am well aware, and ugly too,--I can
-sleep out by the pump, and come in to do the work. But I cannot leave
-the boy, please, dear Madam, nor you. And the calf wants attention, and
-that pig _ought_ to be swung at least once a week, and--and--"
-
-But there was no need of further speech, for Toto's arms were clinging
-round his neck, and Toto's voice was shouting exclamations of delight;
-and the grandmother was shaking his great black paw, and calling him
-her best friend, her dearest old Bruin, and telling him that he should
-never leave them.
-
-And, in fact, he never did leave them. He settled down quietly in the
-little cottage, and washed and churned, baked and brewed, milked the cow
-and kept the pig in order. Happy was the good bear, and happy was Toto,
-in those pleasant days. For every afternoon, when the work was done,
-they welcomed one or all of their forest friends; or else they sought
-the green, beloved forest themselves, and sat beside the fairy pool, and
-wandered in the cool green mazes where all was sweetness and peace, with
-rustle of leaves and murmur of water, and chirp of bird and insect. But
-evening found them always at the cottage door again, bringing their
-woodland joyousness to the blind grandmother, making the kitchen ring
-with laughter as they related the last exploits of the raccoon or the
-squirrel, or described the courtship of the parrot and the crow.
-
-And if you had asked any of the three, as they sat together in the
-porch, who was the happiest person in the world, why, Toto and the
-Grandmother would each have answered, "I!" But Bruin, who had never
-studied grammar, and knew nothing whatever about his nominatives and his
-accusatives, would have roared with a thunder-burst of enthusiasm,
-
-    "ME!!!"
-
-
-
-
-    University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Transcriber's Notes:
-
-Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
-
-Page 44, illustration caption, "Wah-song! Wah-song!" changed to
-"Wah-Song! Wah-Song!" (Golden Dragon. "Wah-Song! Wah-Song! Awake!")
-
-Page 194, "gigantie" changed to "gigantic" (statement, the gigantic)
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's Toto's Merry Winter, by Laura E. Richards
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