THE APRIL FOOL
Kenneth looked at it angrily, then turned over the other pages. They
were just the same as the first one. He tore up the sheets and threw
them on the ground. It was only an April Fool letter, after all!
“April Fool!” cried a voice, echoing the same hateful words. “April
Fool! Ha! ha! What a joke!” It was a funny little voice, louder than
those of the flowers, and, instead of being silvery sweet like theirs,
it was harsh and disagreeable. Kenneth glanced up, and there, perched
on the railing of the summer-house, was the queerest little fellow,
making the most horrible faces. With a bound the figure sprang inside,
and Kenneth saw him more clearly. He was certainly a fairy, for he
had wings, gauzy and beautiful, growing from his shoulders. But his
dress was unlike that of any fairy whom Kenneth had met. It reminded
him, however, of pictures that he had sometimes seen in books. This
fairy wore a suit half of red and half of yellow; one leg and one shoe
were red and the other yellow. His doublet was divided likewise, and
likewise the funny hood which he wore about his shoulders. The borders
of his costume were cut into points, and from every point hung a little
bell that jingled and jangled mischievously whenever the imp moved
about--which was continually. His cap had two long pointed ears, and in
his hand he carried a wand, on the end of which was a copy of himself
dressed in red and yellow, and tinkly with many bells. He was a very
funny figure, and his mouth stretched from ear to ear in a grin which
made Kenneth laugh, too. But Kenneth soon stopped laughing; for there
was something about the imp’s smile that was not kindly, and that made
one half afraid.
“Who are you?” asked Kenneth, trying to seem very bold. “And what are
you laughing at? I don’t see anything so very funny at this moment.”
“Oh, don’t you?” grinned the imp. “April Fool! I do. I am April Fool.
Why, don’t you know me?” And turning around he showed Kenneth a large
placard, such as he had himself often made, pinned to one of the
points of the imp’s doublet. “APRIL FOOL!” it read. Kenneth began to
understand.
“Oh, you are April Fool, are you?” he said. “I never saw you before.”
“Ho! You never _saw_ me? No, but you have used my name often enough.
You remember April Fool’s day every year? Aha! Those were good tricks
you played, though to be sure most of them were old enough--old as I
am, and that _is_ old indeed, I can tell you, my little joker. But they
are good jokes, are they not? One never tires of them, does one?” And
again he grinned at Kenneth maliciously.
[Illustration: “I AM APRIL FOOL”]
“N-no,” said Kenneth, doubtfully, looking again at the pieces of the
torn April Fool letter and rubbing his eyes, which still smarted from
the snuff. “But I think jokes are funnier when one looks on, don’t you?”
“Ha! ha!” laughed the imp. “That is the best joke of all. Why, some
folk seem to think as you do. But not I! Now I love a good joke for its
own sake better than anything else in the world. I am always in it, for
_I am_ the joke itself. Ha, ha!”
“Then it is you who have made all these things happen to me,” said
Kenneth angrily. “What do you mean by it?”
“Ha! ha! Don’t you know what night it is? To-morrow is the first of
April! What can you expect in Fairyland except the very biggest of
jokes? This is my night. But come, now, don’t be sulky. It is only a
joke after all, and you are such a joker yourself that you ought to
take these little matters very cheerfully. Come with me.”
“I don’t want to come with you,” said Kenneth, hanging back. “I want
to go home.”
“Nonsense, you cannot go home yet,” answered the imp. “It is not nearly
morning. Now that you have come you must stay here until the time is
up.”
“Then I want my good Fairy guide,” said Kenneth.
“Ho!” cried the other in scorn. “She is too silly-kind, too
goody-goody. She has no real sense of fun, poor thing.”
“I like her fun best,” insisted Kenneth. “Please take me to her.”
“Oh, very well,” said April Fool carelessly. “If you insist I will
bring you to her. But first you must have something to eat, for it is a
long journey. Are you not hungry, poor boy?”
Kenneth confessed that he was very hungry. “Then we will go to the
kitchen garden,” replied the imp; “and there you can feast as much as
you like.”
“Oh, yes! I have been to the kitchen garden,” cried Kenneth,
brightening. “The good Fairy took me there; it is a lovely place!”
He followed April Fool out of the summer-house into a narrow path
leading on and on and on between green hedgerows full of blossoms.
Overhead the birds sang sweetly, and the sky was blue. Kenneth began
to feel very happy. At last, in the distance, he caught sight of the
kitchen garden, as he well remembered it, with its tall pie-fruit
trees, its cooky bushes, its eclair plants, and its ice-cream
fountains. The glimpse made him so hungry that he could hardly wait to
be there, and he ran ahead, outstripping April Fool himself.
“That is right! Hurry, my boy!” cried the imp heartily. And Kenneth
skipped on happily. But suddenly _bump_! went his head and his knee
against something hard, and he came to a dizzy stop, hardly knowing
what had happened. There lay the kitchen garden just beyond, but
something had stopped him and would not let him pass, something which
he could not see.
“Ha! ha! April Fool again!” laughed the imp, holding his sides for
merriment. “Don’t you see through this joke? Why, it is perfectly
transparent.”
Sure enough! Kenneth put out his hand, and found that it was a wall of
glass, which stretched across the path from hedge to hedge; a gateless
wall which he could by no means climb over, but through which he could
plainly see all the dainties on the other side. Kenneth groaned. “Oh, I
am so hungry! What a cruel, cruel joke!”
“Jokes do seem cruel sometimes,” admitted April Fool; “but they are
_such_ fun! Oh, my, oh, my! How queer you did look when you bumped
against that wall!” and he burst out laughing once more.
“Well, are you going to let me in?” asked Kenneth, trying to keep his
temper, though he thought the joke in very poor taste, like most of
April Fool’s tricks.
[Illustration: KENNETH FOUND THAT IT WAS A WALL OF GLASS]
“Oh, no, we cannot enter here,” said the imp. “This is only an
impracticable window. We shall have to go around by another way, a
détour of some miles. But this time I really promise to take you to the
kitchen garden.”
Kenneth was very angry, but he began to suspect that he must let April
Fool have his own way on this night. They turned back down the narrow
path and began a long, tiresome journey round about and round about to
the garden which they had already seen so near.
And what a journey that was! beset by so many surprises, shocks, and
practical jokes that Kenneth was nearly frantic before they had seen
the end. They were crossing a bridge over a pretty little stream, when
in the middle--_crash_! The whole structure gave way, and down they
fell, with a sickening sinking feeling--fully three feet! Then the
bridge came to rest on the magic springs which were made to complete
this jouncy joke. After this their way led through a pitch-black
cavern, which was so silent that Kenneth could hear his heart beat as
he felt his way along. Suddenly there was an awful roar, like the growl
of hundreds of wild beasts let loose. Kenneth screamed with fright, but
the imp cried out, “April Fool!” And immediately the cave was filled
with light, showing only an innocent sound-machine which had made all
this commotion.
They came within sight of a broad brook, which the imp said they must
cross. Kenneth took off his shoes and stockings to wade and stepped
down to the margin. But what was his anger to find that it was only
a wide mirror over which they were able to pass dry-shod. That was a
famous joke, to judge by the imp’s shrieks of laughter when he saw
Kenneth put out his foot to wade into the glassy stream. But Kenneth
had become so tired of such fun that he did not even smile.
Kenneth grew thirsty, and they stopped to drink at a fountain which
gushed clear and sparkling by the wayside. But at the first draught
Kenneth found his mouth full of horrid, briny water, such as one
swallows by mistake when one is bathing in the sea. Poor boy! This made
him all the thirstier, but he was resolved not to show April Fool how
wretched and unhappy he really was.