THE BRONZE WOMAN.
The bronze woman held a brown jar on her head and stood on a rug in
Dorothy’s parlor. One night just before bedtime Dorothy sat on the rug
and tried to talk to the bronze woman, but she remained very silent, so
after awhile Dorothy said “good night” and went with her nurse to bed.
When she was alone, all tucked nicely in her little white bed she felt
a draft of cold air blow right in her face and at the same time her
window opened. There stood the bronze woman on the window-sill with her
brown jar on her head looking at Dorothy.
“Where are you going?” asked the child, watching the woman in the
moonlight.
“I’m going for water,” was the answer almost in a whisper.
“Can I help you?” asked Dorothy, who was a dear little maid, willing to
help everybody.
“No, thank you,” said the bronze woman, “I am used to carrying it, but
I’ll give you a ride on my head.”
“How good that would be!” exclaimed Dorothy, and she got into the jar
which held her nicely and away she went with the bronze woman.
Her head came up to the top of the jar and she could look up at the
stars and moon and wondered if she were going up to them.
But they did not seem to be going towards the sky as they passed along
through the air. After awhile it grew so very dark that Dorothy could
not see where she was going. However, she was not at all afraid, as
she was safe in the brown jar, and enjoyed the queer ride very much.
It seemed a very long time to her before it grew light again, but at
last it was brighter, and the bronze woman stopped and sat down on the
ground.
“Now, little girl,” said the bronze woman, “you may run about and play,
while I go for the water.”
Dorothy was very glad to come out of the jar, because her legs were a
little cramped. For several minutes she ran about, jumping and skipping
to limber them up. At last she stopped and found herself on the bank of
a very wide river. There was something that looked like a great black
fish on top of the water, and Dorothy going nearer, saw that it was a
crocodile. She had a picture of it at home, and papa had told her all
about it.
While she was looking, a great many crocodiles, large and small,
appeared on the surface of the water, and then came to the bank and
sat in a row. Dorothy hid behind a small tree and watched them, and
very soon more crocodiles came out of the water. Last of all, a long
crocodile appeared, and he took a seat facing all the others.
“Why, it looks just like a school,” said Dorothy to herself, and in a
few minutes she saw that it really was a school.
“It seems so funny to see crocodiles at school,” said the little girl,
and she crept softly a little nearer. One large crocodile sat apart
from the others with a great dunce-cap on his head.
Suddenly the teacher opened a book and said to the first crocodile,
“Spell your name.”
“C-r-o-c-k-o-d-i-l-e,” spelled the crocodile who sat in the No. 1 seat.
“Wrong,” said the teacher. “Who can spell it?”
“I can,” said Dorothy, jumping up from her hiding-place. She forgot all
about being afraid, and stood before the crocodiles and spelled the
word correctly. It was Dorothy’s pet word and she often spelled it for
papa.
“That is right,” said the teacher, “and you may stand at the head.”
The poor little crocodile who failed had to go to the foot of the
class. He began to cry so hard that Dorothy felt very sorry for the
poor thing and almost wished that she had not taken his place, but a
great crocodile who stood beside her whispered in her ear:
“Those are only crocodile tears, you know,” and Dorothy felt better.
“Now tell me, what is the shape of the earth?” said the teacher to a
small crocodile.
“Flat,” was the answer, and the teacher said, “_very_ flat.”
This did not seem just right to Dorothy, and she was trying to think
where she had heard that the earth is round. All at once it came to her
mind that mamma had told her.
“The earth is round like an orange,” said Dorothy, jumping out of her
place.
“It isn’t,” shouted a great fat crocodile, “the earth is flat and I’ll
prove it.”
When he stood the whole school groaned, and the teacher said: “Sit
down,” in a terrible voice. Somebody tried to pull the fat crocodile
down in his seat, and several mud-balls were thrown at him. There was
a great uproar for several minutes, and the teacher jumped up calling
“order.”
“What a very unruly school,” thought Dorothy, and just then the teacher
turned to her and said:
“How much are five and five?”
“Five and five are ten,” answered Dorothy promptly.
“Wrong,” said the teacher; “next.”
But before the crocodile could answer, Dorothy said in great excitement:
“If you please, Miss Crocodile, five and five are ten, because five and
five couldn’t be anything else, you know.”
Then all the crocodiles giggled and the teacher looked very cross. But
Dorothy stood very straight and said:
“Just look at my fingers,” holding up her dear little hands. “I have
five fingers on this hand, and five on the other, and now I’ll count
them.” She did it very nicely, and then said: “Now, don’t you see that
five and five are ten?”
“But, little girl,” replied the crocodile teacher in a very solemn
voice, “perhaps to boys and girls, five and five make ten, but to
crocodiles five and five make----”
“_Trouble_,” shouted the crocodile with the dunce-cap on, who had been
watching something else all the time.
At this word the whole school darted into the river, and not a trace of
them could be seen. Dorothy looked around to see if she could find the
cause of their hasty flight, and she beheld five little brown men, with
long spears, dancing in the moonlight. Behind them came five others,
and they all danced up to the edge of the river, waving their spears
over their heads. Suddenly they stopped, and looking into the water
gave a deep grunt saying:
“They have gone again.”
Dorothy kept very quiet, and the little brown men did not seem to
notice her at all. After a while they danced away and were soon out of
sight.
No sooner had the little men disappeared than Dorothy heard a great
noise, and almost immediately a baby elephant came running up to
her. He stared at Dorothy and began crying “boo-ho-o-oo!” in a most
heart-rending manner. Dorothy sat on the ground, and tucking her
night-dress under her toes, said: “What are you crying for?”
“I’ve lost my mamma,” cried the elephant louder than ever.
“You’re a big baby,” said Dorothy scornfully.
“What do you mean?” roared the elephant in a very angry voice.
“I mean you’re the largest baby I’ve ever seen,” answered Dorothy,
smiling.
“Say what you mean,” said the elephant gruffly. Dorothy did not like
to see anybody crying, not even a baby elephant, so she tried to talk
to him.
“Excuse me,” said Dorothy, “but haven’t I seen you before--at the
circus, you know.” She regretted the words as soon as spoken, because
the elephant set up such a terrible roar and cried louder than ever.
“You never saw me at the circus,” he cried between sobs and boo-hoos,
“it was my brother.”
“Well, never mind,” replied Dorothy cheerfully; “all babies, I mean
elephants, look alike to me.”
Just then another elephant came along and Dorothy was glad to see that
he was laughing. He stood right beside the crying elephant and he
laughed so heartily that his sides shook. It was a very funny sight.
Dorothy did not know just what to do, so she remained perfectly quiet
and looked at them.
After a while the laughing elephant stopped a minute and making a very
funny face, he said to the crying elephant:
“Tan’t oo find oo mammer?” Then he gave Dorothy a very naughty wink
and laughed again. Dorothy could not help smiling at him. Suddenly
he rolled on his back and the crying elephant ran away as fast as he
could. Dorothy was very glad when he had gone and hoped he would find
his mamma.
However, she was so very much interested in the funny elephant that
she forgot about the other. The good-natured elephant did all kinds of
wonderful tricks for her, laughing all the time. He stood on his head
and put his hind feet right up in the air. Dorothy clapped her hands,
and asked the elephant to do it again.
All at once he caught the little girl in his trunk and placed her
carefully on his back. They trotted around and Dorothy had a splendid
ride. Then he put her on the ground and tramped away. “O do come
back!” she called after him, but just then the bronze woman with her
jar appeared. “Did you get the water?” asked Dorothy.
“Yes, my child, and I carried it to my master’s house, now you must go
home.” Dorothy got snugly into the jar again and the woman placed it on
her head. Away they went through the still air towards home, and when
they reached it the bronze woman tucked Dorothy in her little bed and
left her.