The Brownies were sorrowful, more sorrowful than they had ever been in
their lives before, and that is saying a great deal, for Brownies you
know, live such a long, long while, and the saddest part of all was that
there seemed no way out of their trouble. The Brownies who lived in the
apple orchard saw it first and when they told their friends, all with one
voice, cried out, “The wrong must be righted!”
Now this was the trouble. Farmer Grump had bought the Old Clover Farm
where the Brownies had lived happily for years, and now each day was
full of trials and discomforts, for this cruel farmer seemed always to
be finding a way to make the life of his stock miserable. The cows had
great boards tied over their eyes--so large that they could not see and
so heavy that when the poor creatures went to crop the grass, Bang! Bang!
went the board against their noses.
[Illustration]
The pigs suffered too. Into their noses had been driven rings that almost
made them bleed when rooting in the ground. And what happiness do you
suppose life holds for a pig if he cannot root?
The Brownies liked the donkey for he seemed such a patient, long
suffering animal but the farmer’s children made his life wretched--they
beat him, they stoned him, they even took their naughty little feet and
kicked him.
The sheep suffered, and the horses as they dragged the plough through the
hard earth or hauled heavy loads along the sandy roads felt constantly
the slash, slash of the farmer’s cow-hide whip.
Everything on the place suffered, so do you wonder the Brownies looked
sorrowful?
At last they could stand it no longer, and all met one night at the “Seek
us further” tree where the oldest Brownies lived. He had gotten up in
the limbs so that all might hear, or at any rate see him, and announced
that they had long witnessed these scenes of cruelty in silence, but
now something must be done, and they wanted all the Brownies to help.
He thought it would be a good plan if they went when no one was around
and whispered in the sufferers ear that the time had come when they must
rebel. They must stand up for their rights.
“Hurrah!” and “Three Cheers,” cried the Brownies in chorus, as they waved
their funny little hats. The farmer heard the noise but he thought it was
only the wind blowing through the trees in the apple orchard.
[Illustration]
The meeting was dismissed, and quietly and carefully the Brownies went
about their work--and they did it well, too, for the next morning when
the farmer went to harness his horses, and as usual brought the cruel
whip down on their back--he found that two could play at the same game
for up went the horses heels and sorry trouble Farmer Grump had to get
them harnessed.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Then the pigs took their turn. They showed their long white tusks and
acted so savagely that the farmer left them in fright. Even Ned the
patient donkey, kicked up his heels, galloped away and no one could come
near him. Everything seemed possessed with the same spirit and Farmer
Grump went to his breakfast the most puzzled man you could possibly
find. But the animals won the day, for that very afternoon the farmer
went to town and when he came back he was carrying a large board painted
in great big letters telling all the neighbors that his stock was to be
sold the very next day. This he hung up by the road side, and as it was
market day, the farmers learned the news, as their tired horses jogged
slowly along towards home. They decided that they would attend the sale,
and were on hand bright and early the next day. The old farm place was
crowded with buyers, anxious to get horses and pigs and other animals for
little money.
[Illustration]
How happy the Brownies were as they crowded around, for the new owners
had thrown the cruel devices of Farmer Grump away. They were happy when
they thought of the good homes these poor animals had found--but gladdest
of all where they when they thought of Ned, for Widow Love had bought him
to cart to market the beautiful butter that she made every week. They
knew that she would be very kind and gentle to their old friend. That he
would have the softest of straw for his bed at night, and the finest of
oats for his dinner, while there would be no cruel children to beat and
kick him and make his life miserable. Ned lived a long while to enjoy
this beautiful home, and the Brownies always found him a faithful servant.
[Illustration]