THE CARRIAGE CLOUD.
"GOOD evening to you all!" I said, as I stepped in at the nursery
window. "This is a night for a journey, if you please. All the rough and
unruly Winds are out of the way, for there is to be a match to-night
between the North-east wind and a Southern tornado, to see which can
blow the harder, and all their relations have gone to look on. But our
seven little friends have no liking for such rough bear-play, and they
are waiting outside, with a carriage-cloud which will hold you all. So
jump up, and call Nibble and Brighteyes. But first, I must know why my
Fluff has been crying. You must have cried yourself to sleep, my mouse,
and that will never do. Tell your old Moonman what has happened, for I
have been watching a battle in Zululand all day, and have seen neither
mice nor mouse-trap."
"We have had a very melancholy day, Mr. Moonman!" replied Fluff, "Vashti
Ann has been hanged, and it is a terrible thing to hang your own child,
even if Nibble does it for you." "Vashti Ann hanged!" I exclaimed.
"Dear! dear! how very distressing! what had she done, pray, and how did
it all happen?" "We don't think she meant to do it," said Puff gravely;
"but Nibble said she ought to be hanged all the same. You see, we had
just dressed the baby"--"and she was Vashti Ann's _own_ child!" Fluff
broke in impressively.
[Illustration: FLUFF.]
[Illustration]
"Please do not interrupt me, Fluffy!" said Puffy with dignity. "And we
set her down in front of her mother, and told her to say her lesson like
a good baby, only she can't really say it, you know, but we play she
does. So then Fluffy went for a walk with the other dolls, but I had to
darn a hole in my stocking. Mrs. Posset is teaching me to darn, and it
is my duty, but I don't like my duty. So I was sitting by the window,
and nobody was doing anything at all, when suddenly Vashti Ann fell
right down on the baby's head and"--"and killed her!" cried Fluff,
bursting into tears. "Killed her all dead into little pieces!" "How
very, very shocking!" I said. "And was the wretched mother hurt
herself?" "No!" answered Puff. "Her head was china, Mr. Moonman, and the
baby's was wax, you see." "I see!" said I. "The brass pot and the
earthen one!" "If you had ever seen Vashti Ann, Mr. Moonman," said Fluff
through her tears, "you would not call her such names as a brass pot.
Her hair was gossy as the raven's wing, like the lady in the ballad that
Uncle Jack read to us last night; and I never wanted to call her Vashti
Ann, but I wanted to call her Isidora Vienna, but Uncle Jack said her
name was Vashti Ann when he buyed her, so I couldn't help it." And
Fluff dried her eyes with the end of the pillow-case, and looked very
mournful. "Well! well!" I said. "This is certainly very painful. So then
you hanged Vashti Ann?" "No, Nibble hanged her," said Fluff, "with a
clothesline, and it was a terribul scene, Uncle Jack said it was. And
then we buried them both together under a rose bush. We are going to
have a monument over them, but Nibble wants to put 'the Murdered and the
Murderess' on it, and I won't have it." "I certainly would not!" said I.
"But now you must call Nibble, and Brighteyes too, for the little Winds
are growing impatient, and we must be off. Dry your eyes, little one,
and think what a fine ride you are going to have!"
Nibble and Brighteyes were summoned; and in a few minutes all the five
mice were sitting comfortably in the very softest, fattest, whitest
cloud that the whole sky could produce. How it curled up round their
shoulders, and wrapped itself about them! and how they did enjoy the
luxurious softness! then the seven Winds puffed at it, and away it went
like a ball of thistledown through the air! "Where shall we go, my
pets?" I asked, as I rode along, beside them. "You have the wide world
to choose from, und shall go just where you please." "I want to go to
the North Pole, Mr. Moonman!" cried Nibble. "You promised us to take us
there, you remember, the last time you came. I want to see the icebergs,
and the white bears, and all the wonderful things there are there!" "To
the North Pole it is, then!" I replied. "It is just the night for it, as
all the savage Winds are away."
So we flew northward, far and far away, over cities and hamlets, over
vast plains and shaggy forests. By the margin of a pond that we passed
a tall night-heron was standing on one leg. He looked up at us, and was
so much astonished that he toppled over and fell into the water with a
loud splash. How all the mice laughed, and the merry Winds with them!
all, that is, except my little Fluff, who looked sad, and was still
thinking of Vashti Ann. "Fluffy," I said, "I must see you smile again.
Shall I sing you a song that I heard to-day?" "Yes, if you please, Mr.
Moonman!" said Fluff meekly. "It is a funny little song," I said. "I
heard an Irish mother singing it to her baby. She was sitting by the
door of her cottage with the baby in her lap, and she was paring
potatoes, and all the parings fell into the baby's face, but he did not
seem to mind it at all, so I suppose it was all right."
[Illustration]
Eight little gurrls wid their aprons on,
Wint out to get some wather,
But niver a dhrop could be found at ahl,
By any mother's daughter.
"Now well-a-day!" said the eight little gurrls,
"If we git no wather we shall die!"
"Oh! the very best way," said the eight little gurrls;
"Will be for us ahl to cry!"
So they cried and cried, the eight little gurrls,
And they cried and they cried all day,
And when evening came, there was wather enough
For to fill up the salt, salt say!
Fluff laughed a little; and presently she said shyly, "I can sing a song
too, Mr. Moonman, if you would like to hear it. It is a song about some
dogs, and perhaps if you would learn it, you could sing it to your dog
when you get home." "Let us have the song, by all means," I said. "My
dog is very fond of music, and has himself a powerful voice."
[Illustration]
So Fluffy sang her little song; and in case any of you children should
like to sing it for yourselves, I will write down the music as well as
the words.
[Illustration: Music]
1. Jippy and Jimmy were two little dogs,
They went to sail on some floating logs,
The logs roll'd over: the dogs roll'd in,
And they got very wet, for their clothes were thin.
2. Jippy and Jimmy crept out again,
They said, "the river is full of rain!"
They said, "the water is far from dry,"
Ki-hi! ki-hi! ki-hi-yi! ki-hi!
3. Jippy and Jimmy went shivering home,
They said, "on the river no more we'll roam!
And we won't go to sail until we learn how,"
Bow-wow! bow-wow! bow-wow-wow! bow-wow!
"Bravo! Fluff," I said. "That is a good song, and they were sensible
little dogs. It is well to be sure about understanding a thing before
one attempts it, as Master Nibble would find out, if he were once
mounted on this frisky moonbeam, at which he is casting such longing
eyes." "It does look so delightful!" sighed Nibble. "But after all, the
cloud is delightful too, and I suppose I should be cold if I were not
wrapped up in it. How far north are we now, Mr. Moonman?" "Somewhere
near the coast of Labrador," I replied. "Little Winds, lower the cloud a
bit, that the mice may see the fishing fleet. The fishermen are all
asleep, but the boats are a pretty sight, when they can be seen through
the fog."
[Illustration]
Lightly and softly the cloud floated downward, and as they descended,
the merry Winds blew the wreaths of fog away, so that we could see the
bare brown coast, and the hundreds of fishing-smacks lying at anchor.
Lights gleamed at bow and stern. They danced about, as the little
vessels rocked gently on the waves, which seemed to be half asleep,
singing soft lullabies to each other.
"Ripple blue and ripple green,
Foaming crest and silver sheen,
Sleep beneath the moon!
Till the daylight comes again,
Waking us to restless pain
All too soon."
[Illustration]
"Yes," I said, "this is a holiday-time for the waves, and still more for
the fish. All day long the poor creatures have a hard time of it, for
hundreds and hundreds of skilful and eager fishermen are on the look-out
for them. But at night their only enemies are those who live in the
water, and I have heard that the whale and the swordfish go to bed at
ten o'clock regularly, and never stir from their trundle-beds till six
o'clock in the morning. I do not state that as a fact, however, because
I am not positively sure about it." "Dear me!" said Brighteyes. "Just
fancy a whale in a trundle-bed! how very queer he would look!" "Does he
spout when he's asleep?" inquired Fluff anxiously. "Because the
bedclothes would get wet, you know, and he would take cold!"
Here, I am sorry to say, the other mice laughed, and Fluffy does not
like to be laughed at, so she was silent. Then said one of the seven
Winds, "I never saw any of them in bed, but I have seen their races, and
very funny they are. They have hurdle-races every Tuesday afternoon,
jumping over the fragments of wrecks which are strewn all over the
bottom of the sea. They lead a merry life, those whales; what with
hurdle-races and fish hunts and spouting matches. If one could not live
in the air, the next best thing would be to live in the water, I think.
Hi! yonder is a fleet of icebergs. Look, little Heavyones! that is a
sight worth seeing."
[Illustration]
Surely, it was very beautiful, though terrible. My silver beams lighted
up the huge masses of ice, till they looked like mountains of crystal,
moving slowly over the face of the water. The children gazed at them,
half frightened, half-admiring, and wrapped themselves more closely in
the warm, fleecy cloud. The icebergs formed a huge circle, and midway in
it the cloud floated, rocking like an airy vessel as the Winds breathed
softly on it. We were all silent for a time: then Brighteyes asked in a
half-whisper. "Is this the North Pole, Mr. Moonman?" "Why, no,
Brighteyes!" said Puff. "It can't be the Pole, for there isn't any pole
for it to be!" "Yes," I said, "that is one way of putting it. We have
not reached the North Pole, my mice, and indeed I think we shall hardly
go so far to-night, for I see that these icebergs are waiting for the
North Wind to blow them home, and that is a sign that he will soon be
here. He is a disagreeable fellow, and might be rude to you, so we will
fly over to Greenland instead, and see some little friends of mine
there. Will that suit you just as well?" "Oh! yes," cried the five
voices. "It will be better, for we want to see what the people are like
in these strange places." So we floated low till we came to a certain
small Esquimaux village on the west of Greenland. "What are all those
queer humps of snow on the ground?" asked Fluff. "Oh!" cried Nibble,
clapping his hands. "_I_ know! they are houses, for I have seen pictures
of them. See! there is smoke coming out of the top of one. And now
somebody is coming out of the doorway. Oh! it is a bear, Mr. Moonman! do
they have tame bears? And he is brown, and I thought they were all
white." "Gently, Nibble!" I said, "your eyes are very sharp usually, but
it is shocking that you should not know a boy from a bear. That is
Nayato, one of the young friends of whom I spoke just now. There comes
his brother Kotchink, and the small figure creeping out of the next
house is Polpo, the friend and playmate of the two other boys. Now they
will have fine sport, for this is their play-time, and they are as fond
of play as any of you." The five mice leaned over the edge of the cloud
as far as they dared, and watched the Esquimaux boys with breathless
interest. They were queer little fellows, clad in furs from head to
foot, and were fat and oily-looking, as indeed anyone might be who ate
blubber three times a day: but otherwise they were apparently much like
boys all over the world. They chased each other, and played
hide-and-seek behind blocks of ice and snow, and amused themselves in
all kinds of ways. Their only playthings were some bones of the seal and
walrus, nicely polished, but they seemed to have just as much fun with
them as if they had been the finest marbles or the most superlative tops
that the world could produce. "How jolly they look!" said Nibble. "I
wish I could jump down and play with them! and oh! don't they talk
strangely, Brighteyes? 'Wogglety wagglety, chacka-chacka punksky'--what
are they saying, Mr. Moonman?" "Nayato is telling Polpo of the narrow
escape his father had yesterday," I replied. "It seems that he was out
on the flat ice looking out for seals. He had just harpooned a fine
fellow, and was just on the point of putting him on his sledge, when he
heard a loud snuffling noise behind him; and turning round, saw to his
horror a huge white bear, squatting on the ice within a few yards of
him, and apparently trying to decide whether the seal or the seal-hunter
would make the more savory meal. Wallop, however, (that is the man's
name,) had no doubt about the matter. He flung the seal towards his
Polar Majesty, and took to his heels, fortunately reaching his
reindeer-sledge in time to escape being made the second course of
Bruin's dinner. 'Chacka-chacka punksky' means 'I will kill that bear
when I am a man.'"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"Oh! how exciting that must have been!" cried Nibble. "I think I should
like to be an Esquimaux, Mr. Moonman! Couldn't you leave me here for a
week or two?" "To live in a snow hut, and eat blubber and drink
train-oil?" I asked in return. "No, my mouse, I could not, or at least I
would not. And that reminds me that we must be flying home again, for
morning will soon be here. Blow, little Winds, blow the cloud back as
fast as you can."
How the seven little fellows puffed out their cheeks, and flapped their
wings! and how the cloud flew through the air! The mice looked back
regretfully, but the Esquimaux boys were already out of sight. Southward
and still southward we flew, the Winds striving with might and main to
keep up with my swift beam. Over land and sea, mountain and valley,
forest and meadow, till at last the great linden trees around the
Mouse-trap were shaking their heads at us, and the tall chimneys pointed
at us, and said, "look at those children! they have been out all night,
which is shocking. That vagrant Moonman is teaching them the worst
possible habits!"