FOLLOWING A SUNBEAM.
"AUNTIE," said Downy, one morning, "I'v dere any people in de fun?"
"In the fun, dear child?" answered Mrs. Wilton. "What do you mean?
people are often in fun. Is that it?"
[Illustration]
"Oh! no, Auntie!" said Fluff, who was sitting beside Downy on the broad
window-sill, eating her porridge, "I know what he means. He means 'in
the sun,' but he cannot say 's,' you know, so he says 'f' instead."
"Oh!" said Aunt Grace. "In the sun; of course. I understand now. Well,
Downy boy, I have never been in the sun, so I really cannot tell you. I
heard of a little boy who did go once, however. Fluffy, tell Downy the
little story I told you the other day, about the sunbeam. I would tell
it to him myself, but I must speak to cook about dinner."
"Well, Downy," said Fluff, in an important tone, as she settled herself
more comfortably on the window-sill, "Once upon a time there was a
little boy, and his name was Wynkyn."
"Nebber heard dat name!" interrupted Downy.
[Illustration]
"Well, it was his name just the same," said Fluff, "for Auntie said so.
So he wanted to know what was in the sun. So somebody told him--"
"Whobody was it?" inquired Downy.
"Oh! I don't know! anybody!" said Fluff. "I wont tell it if you
interrupt me, Downy."
"I wont adain!" said Downy. "Do on, Fluffy!"
"Somebody told him," continued Fluff, "that if he put his foot on the
end of a sunbeam, it would turn into a golden ladder and lead to the
sun. So he did, and so it did,--turned into a ladder, I mean; all
shining gold, going right up into the sun. So he went up, and up, and
up, and the upper he went the brighter the ladder grew. At last he came
to the sun, and there were ever so many little boys and girls, all made
of gold, running about and playing, and having a splendid time. And they
all came and played with Wynkyn, and gave him all sorts of lovely
presents to take back to the earth.
A golden hat and a golden coat,
A golden ball and a golden boat,
A slate all covered with golden sums,
And a golden pudding with diamond plums.
So he was very happy, and thought he would stay there all his life. But
while he was running after one of the little golden boys, he tumbled off
the sun, and fell down the ladder, turning somersaults all the way. And
when he came down to the earth again he had lost all the presents except
the pudding, but he had held that all the way down. So he sold it to a
man for forty million hundred dollars; and then he was so rich that they
made him King of Siam, and he rode on a white elephant with pink ears
all the rest of his life."
"Iv dat all?" asked Downy.
"Yes, that's all," replied Fluff. "I made up the last part of it,
because I couldn't remember just what Auntie told me after he came down
the ladder. And now, Downy, pet," she continued, "I must go, for old
Margaret has promised to show me the new chickens. Finish your porridge,
and then you can come too!" and away ran Fluff, leaving the Downy mouse
alone, looking very thoughtful over his porringer. He was silent for
some time; then laying down his spoon, he said with an air of decision,
"I'm doin' to do!" With that, he slid down from the window sill, and
trotted out of the house as fast as his little fat legs would carry him.
I knew perfectly well that his intention was to go up to the sun, but I
did not think he would get very far. On the lawn he paused, and looked
about him. Plenty of sunbeams there; every blade of grass had one, for
the little sparklers, who are very vain, had come to look at themselves
and admire their own brightness in the drops of dew which lay on every
leaf and flower and spear of grass. Downy ran here and there, putting
his foot down wherever he saw a flash, and then looking expectantly up
into the air. But no golden ladder appeared, and at length I heard the
little mouse say, "Deve ivn't de right kind of funbeamv. I'll do
fomewhere elfe." So off he went, pattering over the grass and over the
gravel paths, still stamping on every spot of sunshine, and still
looking up for the golden ladder. I was just beginning to think it was
time some one came to look after the mouse, when I heard a loud scream
from the farm-yard. Turning my eyes in that direction, I saw something
that was really shocking.
Fluff had gone, as you know, with old Margaret, Mrs. Wilton's good
housekeeper, to see a new brood of chickens which had just been hatched.
They were the prettiest little downy things in the world, and Fluff's
happiness was complete when Margaret put them all in her apron, and told
her she might carry them to the new coop which had just been made for
them and their mother. Now Billy, the donkey, was in the shed, by which
Fluff was standing, and for some minutes he had been looking out of the
window, deeply interested in my mouse's straw bonnet. Was it good to
eat, or was it not? that was the question which was agitating Billy's
mind at that moment. On the whole, he thought the only way to decide the
matter was to try it; so stretching his head quietly out of the window,
he seized the bonnet in his teeth, and tearing it from Fluff's head, he
proceeded to chew it as calmly as if it had been a wisp of hay instead
of a Tuscan straw. It was Fluff's scream that I heard, and I found the
little mouse overcome with grief at the loss of her bonnet, the last
fragment of which was just disappearing between Billy's capacious jaws.
[Illustration]
"Never mind, Miss Fluffy, dear!" said Margaret, soothingly; "come in to
Auntie with me, and we'll tell her all about it. She'll buy you a new
bonnet, I promise you, or make you one out of Master Billy's ears."
So they went into the house, after putting the chickens carefully in
their coop, and told Mrs. Wilton about the sad misfortune. Aunt Grace
could not help laughing at first; but she comforted Fluff, who was
really very much cast down, and promised to make her the prettiest
bonnet that heart could desire.
"But where is Downy?" she asked; "did you leave him in the farm-yard,
Margaret?"
[Illustration]
"Sure, ma'am, I have not seen the child this morning!" said Margaret.
"Why, I left him in the dining-room, finishing his porridge!" exclaimed
Fluff. "Isn't he there now, Auntie?"
"No!" replied Mrs. Wilton. "He is not anywhere in the house, and I
thought he had gone with you. Where can the child be?"
Then there was a great hurry-scurry, in the house and out of it. All the
other children were summoned, but none of them had seen Downy: so they
all started off to look for him, Mrs. Wilton and Margaret, Nibble and
Brighteyes, Fluff and Roger, all going in different directions, and
callings as they went: "Downy! Downy boy! where are you, Downy?" but no
Downy answered.
If people only knew a little more, how much better they would get on! at
every step the children might have found out where Downy was, if they
had only taken the trouble to listen. The old Drake quacked to them in
his loudest tones: "down by the brook! down by the brook! stupid
creatures! down by the brook!" the fir-trees on the lawn pointed their
long green fingers towards the brook. The birds sang, the dogs barked,
the leaves whispered, the hens cackled, and each and all said the same
thing, over and over again! "Down by the brook! down by the brook!" and
so the whole family looked on the beach, and in the orchard, and up and
down the road, and all over the barn and the stable, and in the pig-sty.
If you will believe me, it was not till after a two-hour's hunt that
they found the little fellow, curled up in the long grass by the side of
the brook, fast asleep.
[Illustration]
You may imagine how Aunt Grace caught him up, and kissed and petted and
scolded him all in a breath. But Downy struggled to get down, and cried
out "Don't take my foot off! don't take my foot off! naughty Auntie!
a-a-a-ah! a-a-ah!"
"What is it, dear?" said his aunt. "Wake up, Downy dear! you have been
asleep, and we all thought you were lost, and were dreadfully frightened
about you. What is the matter with your foot, my precious?"
Downy rubbed his eyes and looked about him, seeming very much puzzled.
"Why, where'v ve ladder?" he asked. "And where'v my dolden puddin? I
didn't want to tome down from de fun! a-a-a-ah! I want to be de King of
Fiam, and wide on a white elephant!"
Well, they all told him he had been asleep and dreaming; and they petted
and consoled him, and took him into the house, and Aunt Grace gave him
an apple almost as big as his own head. But all day long Downy was very
melancholy. He smarted under a sense of injury, and could not forgive
his aunt for taking his foot off the ladder; and it was many a day
before he forgot the golden pudding and the white elephant.