THE GIANT BADORFUL.
"Goblin," said Davy, very seriously, as the little man jumped down from
off his back, "if you are going to play such tricks as _that_ upon me I
should like to go home at once."
"Where's the harm?" said the Goblin, sitting down on the grass with his
back against a wall and smiling contentedly.
"The harm is that I thought it was Gobobbles," said Davy, indignantly.
"Oh, you needn't be afraid of Gobobbles!" said the Goblin. "He's got all
that he can attend to, taking care of himself. You see, he's wanted for
Christmas, but why anybody should want _him_ to eat is more than I can
understand. Why, he's seventy years old if he's a day, and as
indigestible as an old cork."
Just at this moment a loud, rumbling noise, like distant thunder, came
from behind the wall against which the Goblin was leaning, followed by a
tremendous sneeze, that fairly shook the ground.
"What's that?" whispered Davy to the Goblin, in great alarm.
"It's only Badorful," said the Goblin, laughing. "He's always snoring
and waking himself up, and I suppose it's sleeping on the ground that
makes him sneeze. Let's have a look at him;" and the Goblin led the way
along the wall to a large grating.
Davy looked through the grating, and was much alarmed at seeing a giant,
at least twenty feet in height, sitting on the ground, with his legs
crossed under him like a tailor. He was dressed in a shabby suit of red
velveteen, with a great leathern belt about his waist and enormous
boots, and Davy thought he looked terribly ferocious. On the grass
beside him lay a huge club, thickly studded at one end with great iron
knobs; but Davy noticed, to his great relief, that some little creeping
vines were twining themselves among these knobs, and that moss was
growing thickly upon one side of the club itself, as though it had been
lying there untouched for a long time.
The giant was talking to himself in a low tone, and after listening
attentively at the grating for a moment, the Goblin shrieked: "He's
making poetry!" and, throwing himself upon the ground, kicked up his
heels in a perfect ecstasy of delight.
"Oh, hush, hush!" cried Davy, in terror. "Suppose he hears you!"
"Hears me!" said the Goblin, discontinuing his kicking and looking very
much surprised. "What if he does?"
"Well, you know, he _might_ not like being laughed at," said Davy,
anxiously.
[Illustration: "JUST LISTEN TO THIS."]
"There's something in that," said the Goblin, staring reflectively at
the ground.
"And, you see," continued Davy, "a giant who doesn't like what's going
on must be a dreadful creature."
"Oh! there's no fear of _him_" said the Goblin, contemptuously,
motioning with his head toward the giant. "He's too old. Why, I must
have known him, off and on, for nearly two hundred years. Come in and
see him."
"Will he do anything?" said Davy, anxiously.
"Bless you, no!" said the Goblin. "He's a perfect old kitten;" and with
these words he pushed open the grating and passed through, with Davy
following tremblingly at his heels. Badorful looked up with a feeble
smile, and merely said, "Just listen to this:"--
_My age is three hundred and seventy-two,
And I think, with the deepest regret,
How I used to pick up and voraciously chew
The dear little boys whom I met._
_I've eaten them raw, in their holiday suits;
I've eaten them curried with rice;
I've eaten them baked, in their jackets and boots,
And found them exceedingly nice._
_But now that my jaws are too weak for such fare,
I think it exceedingly rude
To do such a thing, when I'm quite well aware
Little boys do not like to be chewed._
_And so I contentedly live upon eels.
And try to do nothing amiss,
And I pass all the time I can spare from my meals
In innocent slumber--like this._
Here Badorful rolled over upon his side, and was instantly fast asleep.
"You see," said the Goblin, picking up a large stone and thumping with
it upon the giant's head, "you see, he's quite weak _here_; otherwise,
considering his age, he's a very capable giant."
At this moment a farmer, with bright red hair, thrust his head in at the
grating, and calling out, "Here comes Gobobbles!" disappeared again; and
Davy and the Goblin rushed out, and were just in time to see Gobobbles
go by like a flash, with a crowd of people armed with pitchforks in hot
pursuit. Gobobbles was going in fine style, bounding over the hedges and
stone-walls like a kangaroo, and thumping vigorously, as usual, with his
wings, and Davy and the Goblin were just setting off on a run to join in
the chase, when a voice said, "Ahem!" and, looking up, they saw Badorful
staring at them over the top of the wall.
"How does _this_ strike you?" he said, addressing himself to Davy:--
_Although I am a giant of the exhibition size,
I've been nicely educated, and I notice with surprise
That the simplest rules of etiquette you don't pretend to keep,
For you skurry off to races while a gentleman's asleep._
_Don't reply that I was drowsy, for my nap was but a kind
Of dramatic illustration of a peaceful frame of mind;
And you really might have waited till I woke again, instead
Of indelicately pounding, with a stone, upon my head._
_Very probably you'll argue that our views do not agree,--
I've often found that little boys have disagreed with me,--
But I'm properly entitled, on the compensation plan,
To three times as much politeness as an ordinary man._
Davy was greatly distressed at having these severe remarks addressed to
him.
"If you please, sir," he said earnestly, "_I_ didn't pound you."
At this the giant glared savagely at the Goblin, and continued:--
_My remarks have been directed at the one who, I supposed,
Had been violently thumping on my person while I dozed;
By a simple calculation, you will find that there is due
Just six times as much politeness from a little chap like you._
"Oh! you make me ill!" said the Goblin, flippantly. "Go to sleep."
Badorful stared at him for a moment, and then, with a sickly smile,
murmured, "Good-afternoon," and disappeared behind the wall.
Davy and the Goblin now hurried off in pursuit of Gobobbles, and
presently came upon the crowd of farmers who had joined hands in a ring,
and were dancing around a large white object lying on the ground. Davy
pushed his way eagerly through the crowd, expecting to see Gobobbles;
but the white object proved to be the Cockalorum hemmed in by a ring of
pitchforks sticking in the ground, and with his feathers more rumpled
than ever.
"Dear me!" exclaimed Davy, perfectly amazed, "I thought we were chasing
Gobobbles!"
"Of course you did," said the Goblin, complacently; "but in this part of
the world things very often turn out to be different from what they
would have been if they hadn't been otherwise than as you expected they
were going to be."
"But you thought so yourself," began Davy, when, to his distress, the
Goblin suddenly faded into a dull pinkish color, and then disappeared
altogether. Davy looked about him, and found that the Cockalorum and the
dancing farmers had also disappeared, and that he was quite alone in a
dense wood.
[Illustration: "COCKALORUM HEMMED IN BY A RING OF PITCHFORKS."]