FOR
MY TWO PLAYMATES
J. H.
AND
S. W. F.
I - The Meadow
II - The Sea
III - The mountains
Historical Note
I
THE MEADOW
Flowers have faded,
Butterfly wings are weary,
And far off is the charting of the
eternal sea.
In a little brown shingled cottage
on one of the foothills of Mount Varcrobis, there lived with her
father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Eigleen, a little girl named Eepersip.
She was rather lonely. She kept advising Mr. and Mrs. Eigleen to
make a beautiful garden, where flowers would bloom year after year,
and to which birds and butterflies would come back again and again.
Accordingly all three set to work with a will, and in a few years they
had made the most beautiful garden that was ever seen. Around its
borders bloomed apple-trees, pear-trees, and peach-trees, and inside
them bloomed azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias, lilacs, honeysuckle,
and fire-blossoms. Next came the ground flowers. There were seven kinds
of roses, and there was a whole corner devoted to early spring flowers:
crocuses, daffodils, squills, and narcissi. Another corner was carpeted
with tender anemones, all snow-white. In the centre of the garden there
was a circular bed filled with iris of all kinds and colours. Clematis
and morning-glory vines climbed over the wooden benches, and near the
centre was a tall arch with ramblers climbing all over it. Another bed
was thickly clustered with great purple violets. The paths through the
garden had gracefully bending ferns on each side.
For the first few months Eepersip was delighted with her flowers, and the
butterflies and birds pleased her even more. But she was not a child who could
be contented easily, and pretty soon she began to feel lonely again. One
July day a fresh idea came into her head. She packed some sandwiches
and some crackers in a small lunch-basket. Without telling a soul,
the next morning before dawn she slipped out of bed, dressed, and
picked up her basket; then she stole out of the cottage and away. She
went east from her home on a shady path through beautiful woodlands,
with here and there a grove of great massive pines. And as she walked
she sang merrily.
After quite a while she stepped out of the
woodlands on to a large lawn. Close to the path there was a pool with
some tiny goldfishes swimming about in it. Then she knew that she was
nearing a house, and instead of pacing slowly along the path she began
to run; for she was afraid that someone would see her and send her
back home. But after a few minutes she grew tired and settled down to
a reasonable pace. And as she slowed down she came into an enormous
field of rhododendrons, lavender, white, and brilliant red. Oh, what
a gorgeous place that was! As Eepersip walked along, an oriole sang
from a bush; she peeped into a humming-bird's nest with two tiny white
eggs in it; she startled a vireo from its nest in a low clump of grass,
and, peeping into it, found three baby birds. The farther she went the
more her heart began to leap within her for joy of the life she was
finding for herself. Her loneliness decreased, and she was as free and
happy as the birds or butterflies.
Soon the red and lavender
rhododendrons dropped out, leaving only the white; then the white ones
too lessened in thickness until there were none left. All this while
she had been slowly climbing Mount Varcrobis itself. At last she came
into a small open glade, still walking east from the cottage--which
she was not thinking about just then, so happy was she at thought of
the new, interesting life she had found. This glade was near the top
of the mountain, only one high peak towering above it. Across it ran
a little brook, tinkling through the ferns and bracken.
She paused on the path suddenly, then drew back; for a doe and her daisied
fawn were grazing close by. Eepersip took from her basket a lump of
sugar, and held it out to the beautiful creatures. Very hesitatingly
the doe moved forward, followed by her fawn, and at last took the lump
of sugar from Eepersip's fingers.
Eepersip had not expected
this. On the contrary, she had thought that they would be startled
and would bound away out of sight in the woods. She gazed silently at
the doe, who had begun to graze again without a sign of fear. Could
it be a dream? she thought. Eepersip had experienced the delightful
sensation of the doe's slightly rough tongue around her fingers; and
suddenly, she felt as if she could never leave them--as if she must
stay always and play with the woods. Already she had become acquainted
with a doe and a fawn, and they were not afraid of her! She sat down
on the grass, and the fawn lay beside her. She cuddled it close in
her arms.
Then it grew dark. The sun was sinking, and at last
it went behind a thin, filmy cloud, producing wonderful colours, red,
gold, silver, and purple. Like fire it glowed and quivered, and through
it all could be seen the ball of the sun, growing clearer as it sank,
and growing larger too. And as Eepersip sprang to her feet and watched
it glow and quiver, she saw, away off, an enormous range of mountains;
and where the mountains left off there was the edge of the ocean, with
the light of the dying day reflected in it, in purples, reds, and
yellows.
And then, being very tired, she lay down on the grass
beside the two deer; and in a few seconds she was sound asleep.
The next morning Eepersip was surprised to find herself lying
there on the grass between the doe and her fawn; she had forgotten
about running away. The first thing she thought of was her breakfast;
for, not having anything to eat the day before except a few handfuls
of delicious red berries which she had found growing on a thick vine,
she was very hungry. Not a sandwich in her basket had she touched; she
had been so fascinated with her adventure that she had not thought of
them. But now she ate three whole ones, ever and again breaking off
bits and feeding them to the deer.
When she had finished, she
set off in a great hurry to explore her surroundings. First she walked
in the direction of the beautiful sunset she had seen, a little off
the direction of the path by which she had ascended, and came to a
great rocky precipice, the side of the mountain. She looked down; and
far off she saw a shining river, winding about in the valley below,
sometimes twisting back upon itself, then straightening out again. But
it made her giddy to look too long, and she turned and started back to
where she had slept. The doe and her fawn were grazing quietly when
Eepersip returned. She threw herself on her back and gazed at the clear
blue sky. In it swallows with their snowy breasts were circling, and
when the sun shone full on them their white wings glimmered like the
ice on a winter's day. A great desire came over Eepersip. She wanted
to fly and swoop through the air like the swallows. She thought to
herself that they had always been her favourite birds. She had always
marvelled at their flight, as now they twisted in giant corkscrews and
now swerved so as to turn almost completely over.
A butterfly
flew over her head--a little yellow butterfly who danced and glimmered
before her. Her brown eyes sparkled with delight. A cricket hopped
and twittered; a bird burst into song. Almost without knowing what
she did, Eepersip leaped into the air and began to dance, with the
swallows circling above her head and the leaves fluttering about her.
Then suddenly she sat down, breathless. She began stripping off her
shoes and stockings. Her feet were tender, and every stick she stepped
on hurt; but she was determined to get her feet toughened so as to go
barefoot all the time.
Now, directly east of this fairy glade
there was steep slope which ascended to the very summit of Mount
Varcrobis, called Eiki-ennern Peak. Eepersip had a fascinated eye for
this slope and longed to see what was at the top of it, but she would
not leave the deer just yet, and also she was determined not to put
on her shoes and stockings again. So she decided to stay in the soft
grass until her feet were toughened; and she thought that then she
could go up that wonderful peak over which the sun rose in clouds of
glory every morning.
Before Eepersip had danced long she walked
down toward the great precipice again, with her shoes and stockings
under her arms. The instant the got there a madness came upon her,
and _whizz!_ two shoes and two stockings were flying through the
air at a tremendous rate. They landed in the trees far below, while
Eepersip, glad to get rid of them, coolly returned to the glade,
thinking that her feet were already tougher than before because of that
bold act. When she got back she decided to rest a while, then walk in
the opposite direction and see what was at the northern end of the
glade. So when she got rested she started off that way, with the doe
and the fawn trotting beside her. At last she came to the slope of the
mountain on that side. But this, instead of being a sheer precipice,
was a gradually falling grassy bank, down which they went. The doe
and the fawn followed some distance; then they turned back, letting
Eepersip go on alone. But when she got part way to the bottom she began
to see houses; and so, deciding that that wasn't the side for her,
she ran back as fast as she could.
Meanwhile Mr. and Mrs.
Eigleen were wondering in vain where their poor child had gone. At
first they hadn't thought much about her, for she had been lost in the
woods several times before and had always found her way home safely.
But when it came to being gone two or three whole days, why, they were
not sure that they were awake! The child must be starving, and who
knew what a tender morsel to some prowling animal she might be by this
time? So they began to grieve greatly over their loss, for they dearly
loved Eepersip.
Before they has missed her very long, a poor old
woman and her husband had climbed that part of Mount Varcrobis. Nobody
in the village down below cared much for Mr. and Mrs. Ikkisfield, as
they were called; and they had decided to go elsewhere and see if
they could find some friends. The Eigleens took pity on them, and at
last persuaded them to live in the brown cottage in the woods, and
to let the Eigleens themselves go to the house of friends of theirs,
the Wraspanes. It was the Wraspanes' rhododendron field that Eepersip
had thought so beautiful.
The Eigleens, being exceedingly kind
people, gladly gave up their cottage and their beautiful garden to Mr.
and Mrs. Ikkisfield. Indeed, these things were no joy to them, now
that they had lost Eepersip, for whose sake they had made the garden.
The old couple were delighted, and, thanking the Eigleens very kindly,
they moved in that same evening, the Eigleens leaving some of their
belongings with them.
Eepersip stayed for many days with the
doe and her fawn, and then, her feet having become tough, she crossed
the brooklet and went on up Eiki-ennern Peak. Near the top, in a small
sheltered place, she found a dear little pool surrounded with moss and
ferns, amongst which some iris bloomed. It had a sandy bottom, over
which swam tiny silver minnows. When they turned over and the sun shone
on their bellies Eepersip saw a streak of silver. At last, when she got
to the top, she saw that on one side it was a vast daisied slope, down,
down; and on another it was wooded to the foot. From where she stood,
range after range spread out before her, lake after lake beneath her,
with the crimson of the now setting sun gloriously reflected in them.
It was like fairyland. And when Eepersip turned southward, she beheld
the almighty ocean with the exquisite sunset colours reflected in it as
in the lakes. That night she slept on a soft bed of moss in a hollow
down near the pool.
The next morning, after she had made a good
breakfast on the juicy root of a plant which she found, she lay down by
the pool and gazed at the sky, the way she had done on the second day
of her wildness. And as she lay there it grew so quiet that a chipmunk
stole out of a tiny hole that he had dug between the roots of a tree.
He came to her, sniffed at a cracker she was munching, and tickled her
cheek with his nose; whereupon she cautiously put out her hand with a
piece of the cracker on it. The chipmunk was frightened and ran away.
But the piece of cracker looked very tempting, and before long he
lost his fear and ventured close again. Step by step he crept along,
until, with a frightened squeal, he seized the piece and disappeared.
Eepersip waited, laughing. In a few minutes he came back again, and
this time he took the piece that she held out to him, running only a
few steps. The third time he took it calmly and deliberately and ate
it without running at all, evidently convinced that Eepersip was a
friend. And the fourth time he was even more bold, going so far as
to sit on her stomach while he ate. But by that time, between them,
they had licked the platter clean--the cracker was gone.
"Just
like the doe and her fawn," Eepersip thought. How fearless he was,
the fuzzy brown little creature! It seemed to happy Eepersip that all
the wild was ready to make friends, as if nothing were afraid of her.
She felt more than ever that she could never leave these entrancing
forests. She could never, never go back, she mused. How wonderful it
was to lie there watching the things that were happening, and actually
to have one of the inhabitants of these woods--a timid one that was
usually afraid--come up to her and eat from her hand! This adventure
had certainly tightened in her heart the desire to stay always and
become acquainted with more and more creatures--with the swallows she
loved so well, and with the little fairy butterflies.
Whenever
she went down to the sheltered spot by the pool, she saw so many
beautiful things here and there that she never knew what to do in her
delight. Iris blossomed in gold and blue; butterflies danced overhead
like yellow rose-petals flying in the breeze. Once, running over to
the pool, she found a tiny beach, about fifteen inches long and half
a foot wide--no more than a handful of sand completely hidden in a
forest of ferns. Across it ran the chipmunk's footprints, and the marks
of his wee claws could be plainly seen in the damp sand. That little
beach was the earth's dear treasure, so it seemed to Eepersip, alone
in that wild place. In the fields all around, thousands of buttercups
blossomed, and great beds of daisies whitened the earth's brown
surface.
In one place, among dark ferns, grew columbine, gay
little gypsies curtseying in the breeze. Their colours spoke to her of
dawn, gold sunset and white clouds, snow-banks fringed with icicles,
night sky entwined with moonbeams, black clouds and radiant sun, or
orange, yellow, and scarlet leaves--autumn leaves. She gathered some,
and made a rainbow wreath of blossoms; and curling about her hair,
they danced again.
Beneath the branches of a white pine grew
blushing lady-slippers, which Eepersip had never seen before. "Dawn
comes to earth sometimes," she thought, "bringing her flower-clouds and
clasping them with pearl seeds."
Eepersip was anxious to know
what was on the southern slope of this highest peak of Mt. Varcrobis.
So one day along she went, happily singing, until she came to it. Then
she was surprised to find that this slope, instead of being a rocky
precipice as the one had been at the foot of Eiki-ennern Peak, went
down steeply for a little way and then broadened out into an enormous
field, on the farther side of which was a herd of deer. Away, away,
Eepersip could just see to the edge of this plain-like field. With a
shout, down she dashed; and, dancing as she had never danced before,
she sang like a nightingale for joy of her discovery. And yet, she
thought to herself, what if it should be a dream? She was quite sure
that it was not, though, for she had felt decidedly awake when she
started off. But, because she had started before anyone else was up or
even awake, she thought that she might be asleep herself. Anyhow, if
it was a dream, it was a lovely one, and she need not worry
But now let us return to the grieving parents of Eepersip, who were
consulting the Wraspanes about a plan to search for her. At last
Mrs. Eigleen said: "Something very queer has happened to our child.
She must have seen something or other that has made her want to go
off. But I will tell you what we can do. We'll take the Wraspanes' big
tent, and, fetching the Ikkisfields, we can camp near where one of us
sees Eepersip; for I'm sure that she wouldn't leave Mount Varcrobis
unless absolutely compelled to. We can learn what habits Eepersip has
got into, and perhaps we can catch her by some plan. My husband and
you, Mr. Wraspane, are the spry ones, and perhaps you can hide behind
trees and catch her when she goes past."
"What a grand idea!" cried
everybody else in one voice; and without further ado they decided to
carry it out.
So the very next day Mr. Eigleen and Mr. Wraspane
set off to explore, on the chance of finding Eepersip or discovering
where she was living. They reasoned out that Eepersip must have gone
through the Wraspanes' land when running off; because on the western
side of the Eigleens' little cottage there was a dense wood, of which
Eepersip had always been rather afraid, it was so dark and mysterious.
They went through the field of rhododendrons, on the selfsame path, and
at last came out in the same small glade in which Eepersip had seen
the deer, with the same brooklet running across it. They hunted all
over it, but no trace of Eepersip could they find. They began to feel
foolish. They decided to go back and tell the waiting folks that they
had not seen a glimpse of her, when a glorious burst of singing reached
their ears. Immediately they turned and ran in the direction of the
voice. But still they didn't see her, for they never dreamed that she
had gone up the steep slope of Eiki-ennern Peak. And they began to feel
still more foolish.
At last, after a lot of aimless wandering
through forests, glades, and fields, they decided to give it up for
just then and tell the folks that they had heard her, but couldn't
find her. So back they went, feeling very foolish indeed.
"We
were looking for her everywhere," said Mr. Eigleen, "and after we had
searched for a long time we heard this excellent singing, better than
I thought she could utter, and we went in its direction, but couldn't
find her. So I am beginning to think that 'twasn't she at all--either
she or a fairy."
"Fairy!" exclaimed Mrs. Eigleen, indignantly
--"fairy! There is no such thing as 'fairy'--stupid!"
Mr. Eigleen cast a wink at his partner hunter, Mr. Wraspane. "Anyhow," said
he, "fairy or none, we heard the singing."