WHY THE ROCKING HORSE RAN AWAY.
"I could tell you lots of stories," said the Rocking Horse, stumbling
and limping forward, as lightly as he could with his mutilated members,
"for I have really seen so much of life, and have had so many little
riders in turn. There was my first owner, dear bright golden-haired
Charlie, "Bonnie Prince Charlie," as he was called by all, with his
bright smile, and sunny eyes, and his musical laugh. He was going to be
a knight-errant, and ride about all over the country, rescuing
distressed damsels, and setting captives free, and fighting at least ten
people at once! There was a pretty little girl, who used to come
sometimes to spend the day with his sisters, and Charlie was very fond
of her, calling her his princess. Little Julia was a nice child, and was
never better pleased than when she was mounted on me behind Charley,
with her fat arms clasped tight round his waist. The stories that boy
used to invent, surpassed anything I ever heard before or since; I am
sure he must have read a good deal, and remembered it all too, to be
able to describe the things he did. And Julia used to cuddle up to him,
and say what he bid her, for she was a sweet, docile little thing, but
she did not understand a tenth part of what he told her, and she used to
get so frightened, and cling so tight, and call out 'O Charlie, don't
rock so hard, please,' when he grew excited and set me off at first rate
speed. And then Charlie used to say, 'You must not say that, Judy; you
ought to say, Pray lessen your speed, gallant knight, your war charger
is so fleet!' and Julia would say so, and all went smoothly enough till
Charlie went off again full pelt, and then the whole thing was gone over
again. But one day, one warm summer evening, Charlie was a little more
wild than usual, and forgetting what he was about, he rocked too
furiously, and down we all came together. It did not much matter to
Charlie and me, for it was neither our second nor third tumble, and he
used only to jump up again, and rush to see whether I was damaged,
before he looked at his own bruised knees, and say, 'That was a horrid
spill, old boy, but never mind, we haven't damaged _your_ knees,
anyhow!'
"But this time it was a more serious case, and I lay uncared for, while
Charlie scrambled hastily up, and, like a brave boy, looked first after
his poor little playmate. She was more hurt than either, and lay moaning
piteously, till Charlie ran in a fright and fetched his mother. When the
doctor came, as he did pretty quickly, he said poor Julia's little fat
arm was broken, and she could not be removed, even home. Oh, what a sad
time that was; the whole household seemed to watch night and day over
the little patient sufferer, and poor Charlie roamed about in a
miserable and distracted way that was quite sad to see. She was
delirious and in some danger for a time; and while it lasted Charlie
came and sat by me and told me all his sorrow in the most disconsolate
way in the world.
"'You've broken _your_ leg, gallant grey,' he said to me; 'but then the
carpenter can mend that with no great ado, and _I've_ sprained my ancle,
but that's nothing, for it does not hurt much, and I can easily bear
that; but I wish we had both broken all our legs, before dear little
Julia had been hurt. I'm afraid I shall never be a good knight now!'
"And then he laid his head on his knees, and actually cried bitterly.
But all turned out better in the end, for the doctor cured Julia, and
when the patient little girl grew better, all her care was to comfort
Charlie, and she left her own mother (who had come to nurse her), no
peace until she had formally forgiven Charlie. But poor contrite Charlie
could not so readily forgive himself, and as a proof of his real wish to
cure himself of his careless habits, he gave me away to Philip Reeves,
an old friend of his, taking tender care to have me effectually mended
up, and bidding me a most affectionate farewell. I did not like my new
home very much, for though I had carried double before, little Julia was
a mere feather weight, and Charlie rode very lightly; but the Reeves's
children mounted me two and three at a time played rude, practical jokes
and treated me with all sorts of indignities. Once the little wretches
actually set Tom on me with his face to my tail, and then called me a
donkey, and shouted out, 'Gee up, Neddy!' And as for falls, we were
always tumbling about,--my entire occupation was tumbling about. They
dragged off all my pretty harness in tatters, by way of hauling me up
again, and then replaced it with a horrid lot of common rope. As for my
tail, oh, that was too bad! That abominable little Annie, the baby, got
hold of me after one of my falls, and by the help of nurse's scissors,
which had been dropped just by, she managed to shear all the hair off
close to the stump, and disfigured me for life. Then another of my legs
was broken, past mending. And so I lost all my good looks by degrees. To
finish my troubles, the two younger boys took it into their heads that I
wanted rubbing down, and they set to work with a vengeance, with the
help of the nursery bath and a hard hair brush, and by the time they
were found out, the nursery was swimming, and my poor complexion gone
for ever!
"No one could stand that, and patience won't last for ever, so you
cannot be surprised at my running away, and I think I managed my escape
pretty luckily. One Saturday night, when the workwoman was there, her
son came to fetch her home, and she somehow smuggled him into the empty
nursery to wait until she was ready to go home with him. The children
had all been put in their bath, and packed off early to bed, and Susan,
the nursemaid, had run downstairs for a few minutes' gossip in the
kitchen. Bob, the boy, began to eye me with great attention, and at last
he drew near and began to play with me. His mother went to put on her
bonnet and shawl, and Bob seized the opportunity.
"'You be a tidy pony!' said he, 'will you go along with me?'
"As I made no objection, and indeed was glad to go, he whipped me up in
his arms, ran down the back stairs and off with me like a shot. I was in
a dreadful fright for fear we should be found out, I can tell you, for
there was a wretched small woolly toy-dog, an old enemy of mine, and the
little horror barked with all his might, and tried to give the alarm.
But luckily for me, little Annie had that day poked a pin through the
kid over his sound-hole, and so he had almost lost his voice, and was
not heard at all. When I came to reflect on the matter calmly, I must
own it _was_ rather an undignified method of running away, but I was too
anxious at the time to escape, and did not think much about it. Bob
hurried down some back lanes and byeways till he reached his own door,
and then he rushed in, and running upstairs, hid me under his bed. He
was up in the morning long before his mother, and got me out into the
back-yard, hiding me behind the old water-butt. Bob's mother happened to
be that week very busy, and away every day, so that he easily kept me
out of the way. There was a nice hue and cry at the Reeves's when the
children found out I had vanished, and Bob's mother came home each day,
giving him a full history of the loss, little suspecting he was
concerned in it.
"But evil deeds seldom meet with thorough success, and so Bob found out,
for a playfellow of his, it seems, had watched enough of his proceedings
to find out that all was not right, and one day he attacked him on the
subject. Bob was in a terrible fright, and at last made up his mind to
take me back to the Reeves's again, hoping to smuggle me in after the
same fashion he had brought me away. I was not much improved, as you may
fancy, after being stabled so long behind that dirty tarred barrel.
Indeed, I think the Reeves's children might almost have met me without
recognising me. But they were not destined to be put to the trial, for
just as Bob got near to the door, out sallied a whole tribe of the young
ones, bound for a late walk. Bob beat a precipitate retreat, and pitched
me headlong into a big laurel hedge, near the gate. As it proved
afterwards, the children had not seen me, and so there I lay all night,
when a drenching rain came down, and washed off all the paint I had
left. I was now a poor wreck of a thing, and did not look as if I was of
any value, and I was so out of heart and miserable, that I did not care
what became of me. So when I was picked out of the hedge by Bill Soames,
and carried to his cottage-home as a precious treasure, I was resigned
to my fate. Horses, said I to myself, are peculiarly liable to these ups
and downs of life, for, as we all know, the spirited racer that wins the
Challenge Cup, may end his days harnessed to a cart. And so why should I
lament my fate! I dare say, Bill Soames will be kind to me, and he looks
as if he could ride. And so he could too, and many a prance we had on
the brick floor of that old cottage, for in spite of my lame legs and
docked tail, there was a little life and spirit left still in the poor
old nag. And through all my life, I have been _very_ lucky in one thing,
my foundations were good! Let what would happen to my legs or tail, at
any rate, my rockers never came off! So I could get on pretty fairly
even now, and Bill was as proud of me as if I had been a real flesh and
blood steed.
"Many and many a box on the ears did he get from his mother, for picking
her lilac or her roses to stick in my ears; and the day when she gave
him some old scraps of dirty ribbon was a joyous day for him. The only
pity was that his wish to adorn me to the best advantage led him in a
weak moment to accept the proposal of George Hall, the little painter,
who offered to make me as good as new! I can't bear to think of it, much
less describe _that_ operation, and you may take my word for it I should
have run away again, if I had not been tied up to the leg of the great
wooden table. Bill remarked that he had seen the farrier singe and clip
horses, and he always took good care to tie them up tight first. And so
there I was at their mercy, and I came out of their hands such a figure,
that I only wonder the nervous old cat, who lived there too, did not
have a fit at the first sight of me. I had been painted black, with
great white spots, just like big white wafers plentifully besprinkled
all over me; and they had picked out my eyes and nose with such bright
red borders, that it looked as if I breathed fire and flame, and I
should have made a capital steed for the Fire-King in the pantomime.
Bill was so delighted with me, that when I was dry and fit to be
touched, he took more pains and care of me than ever. He stabled me in a
corner, always offered me a share of his supper (but, as you may
suppose, I don't eat bread and cheese), and covered me over from the
dust with the counterpane of his own bed.
"So I was obliged to make the best of it, and bear my terrible
disfigurement as well as I could, for the sake of the good, warm-hearted
lad, who loved me so very dearly. And at last I got used to my new
colour, and even the atrocious spots, for everybody round was always
admiring me, and praising my beauty; and I began to think I was not so
very bad after all, till one day, when the memory of all my reverses and
troubles seemed to come back over me like a thunderbolt. I was standing
out on the little green space before the cottage, in the sun, as I often
did, for Bill was very fond of mounting and riding in the sight of all
passers by. There was a low green quickset hedge dividing the cottage
garden from the road, and a open wooden gate. I heard a voice say, 'I'll
be shot if that ain't the very likeness of him. If he were only of a
dirty white, and hadn't no spots, I'd say for certain it were he.
There's a lump in his hind leg looks uncommon like the jine where he
were broken!'
"Just at this moment, George Hall and Bill came out of the cottage door,
and the speaker shuffled off rather fast, but not until I had managed to
catch a glimpse of him, and had recognised my old friend Bob, with whom
I had first eloped. And the very next day, when I was out as usual, who
should come by but "Bonnie Prince Charlie," hand in hand with little
Julia. I declare the few hairs of my mane and tail fairly stiffened at
the sight of them, and I longed to be able to trot out like a fairy
horse and ask them to get on my back, and let me carry them off to some
delightful island, and make them a real prince and princess! Dear little
Julia, she had not quite got back her nice rosy fat cheeks, but her eyes
were as bright, and her merry voice as sweet as ever, as she prattled
merrily to Charlie, who watched over her in the most careful way,
guarding the poor lame arm quite jealously from harm. I heard them
before I saw them, and knew their dear voices, bless them! in a moment.
"'You shall have a carriage and pair, Judy, at least,' said Charlie,
'and a gentle mare for riding on, with a long tail and flowing mane. And
you will be able to plait them up with ribbons, as Camilla did, you
know, for Black Auster.'
"'I would rather have a little Shetland pony,' said Julia, 'I'm _so_
afraid of big horses, Charlie!'
"'Why a pony is the most dangerous of all, Julia,' replied Charley with
a learned air; 'it is so much more frisky, and apt to run away. But
we'll take care to have one that's warranted to carry a lady.'
"'But I'm not a real grown-up lady yet, am I?' said the innocent little
girl, turning her blue wondering eyes full on Charlie, who she evidently
thought the most wonderful hero in the world. Charlie laughed, and
pulled her curls, and said he hoped _he_ should be able to take better
care of her when he was bigger, 'better than I _have_ done, Ju,' he
added, somewhat dolefully; 'I shall not forget that spill with Gallant
Grey in a hurry. What a jolly horse he was too, and how delighted I was
when Papa let me choose him at that lovely shop in London, where they
sell nothing but horses, and a little girl sits and rocks on one in the
window, you know. Poor old Gallant Grey, I wonder how he's getting on,
and whether Phil Reeves has had as many spills as I have. But halloa,
Ju, here's a queer thing! why, if there is not a rocking-horse in that
little garden!'
"As Bonnie Prince Charlie and his little princess stood hand-in-hand at
the gate and peeped at me with surprise through the rails, I could have
eaten my head with vexation to think I could not even neigh a "how d'ye
do?" to them.
"'My eyes,' said Charlie, as he slowly turned away, 'what an old nag
_that_ is! not a bad made animal, but what a colour, and what spots!
What can he be? Perhaps they're going to have Guy Faux on horseback, and
are getting ready the steed!'
"And off went Charlie and Julia, and I could hear their merry voices
ringing with laughter, for a long way down the lane. If it had only been
in my nature to cry, I should have shed red hot tears of vexation,
enough to burn up the little grass plat I stood on. I never saw Charlie
and Julia again, and lived for a long while a sort of humdrum existence
with Bill Soames. But life seemed very flat after that sad
mortification, and I never went on the little grass plat again without
remembering it. And time passed on, and when Bill grew bigger and went
out to work, he gave me away to another chum, who was a horrid sailor
boy, and had no more notion of riding than a teaspoon. He soon grew
tired of me, and passed me on to some one else. And so have I served
many masters, and have in my time been kept in some very queer stables.
But I never cared for any of my subsequent owners so much as I did for
Charlie, and Bill Soames, for they were all dull, uninteresting boys,
who treated me as a mere toy, and cared less for me than a top or a
kite.
"When I came to Harry Spenser, however, I began to think I was going to
have a sort of second life, and be happy once more. The first thing that
made me take to him was that he saved up his pocket money till he could
afford to have me re-painted. I was now a bright bay, with a white star
on my forehead, and though I bore a good many marks of ill usage and
former accidents, and both my knees were broken, still at a distance I
looked pretty well. Harry's little brother, Frank, thought me
perfection, and christened me "Bay Middleton," and had many a pleasant
ride on me. But Harry was just in all the delight of the perusal of the
Arabian nights, and could think of nothing but the Enchanted Horse, and
he played at being Prince Firouz Schah, till I was quite tired of it. He
drove two huge nails in my neck to serve for the two pegs that he was to
turn, the one to raise him up among the clouds like a bird, and the
other to lower him to earth once more. The latter peg is still here, as
you may see, behind my ear, but they never performed that feat with me,
for Harry was not magician enough to endow me with flying powers. He
tried very hard to get Celia to play the part of the Princess of Bengal,
but though she was very willing and obliging, and tried to do what he
wished, she was too big to ride behind him, and he did not think her
quite majestic enough for the part. At last, when Harry went off to
Eton, I was put away here, and though for a time I indulged in a faint
hope that he might look for me on his return for the holidays, I was
disappointed, and even Frank has never looked for me since. And so now,
my friends, I have given you a history of all that has befallen me,
including the famous episode of my running away."
The Toys, who had been much amused by the relation of the Rocking Horse,
more particularly by the grave manner in which he spoke, to which his
very rackety and dilapidated appearance lent a ludicrous effort, now
thanked him very heartily for his story, and proceeded to call on the
Skipping-rope for the next story.
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