Part 25 (1/2)
”What is your name, and where do you live?” enquired the farmer's wife.
”My name is Miss m.u.f.fet, and I live in a big city,--but where, I do not know.”
And that was all she could tell them, so the woman said at last,
”We must keep her till some one comes to claim her, and she can earn her living by helping me make the cheeses.”
”That will be nice,” said Miss m.u.f.fet, with a laugh, ”for Nurse Holloweg never lets me do anything, and I should like to help somebody do something.”
So they led her into the house, where the farmer's wife wondered at the fine texture of her dress and admired the golden chain that hung around her neck.
”Some one will surely come for her,” the woman said to her husband, ”for she is richly dressed and must belong to a family of some importance.”
Nevertheless, when they had eaten dinner, for which Little Miss m.u.f.fet had a wonderful appet.i.te, the woman took her into the dairy and told her how she could a.s.sist her in curdling the milk and preparing it for the cheese-press.
”Why, it 's really fun to work,” said the girl, at first, ”and I should like to live here always. I do hope Nurse Holloweg will not find me.”
After a time, however, she grew weary, and wanted to rest; but the woman had not yet finished her cheese-making, so she bade the girl keep at her tasks.
”It 's time enough to rest when the work is done,” she said, ”and if you stay with me you must earn your board. No one is allowed to idle in this house.”
So Little Miss m.u.f.fet, though she felt like crying and was very tired, kept at her work until at length all was finished and the last cheese was in the press.
”Now,” said the farmer's wife, ”since you have worked so well I shall give you a dish of curds and whey for your supper, and you may go out into the orchard and eat it under the shade of the trees.”
Little Miss m.u.f.fet had never eaten curds and whey before, and did not know how they tasted; but she was very hungry, so she took the dish and went into the orchard.
She first looked around for a place to sit down, and finally discovered a little gra.s.sy mound, which is called a tuffet in the country, and seated herself upon it. Then she tasted the curds and whey and found them very good.
But while she was eating she chanced to look down at her feet, and there was a great black spider coming straight towards her. The girl had never seen such an enormous and hideous-looking spider before, and she was so frightened that she gave a scream and tipped backward off the tuffet, spilling the curds and whey all over her dress as she did so. This frightened her more than ever, and as soon as she could get upon her feet she scampered away to the farmhouse as fast as she could go, crying bitterly as she ran.
The farmer's wife tried to comfort her, and Miss m.u.f.fet, between her sobs, said she had seen ”the awfulest, biggest, blackest spider in all the world!”
This made the woman laugh, for she was not afraid of spiders.
Soon after they heard a sound of wheels upon the road and a handsome carriage came das.h.i.+ng up to the gate.
”Has anyone seen a little girl who has run away?” asked Nurse Holloweg, leaning out of the carriage.
”Oh, yes” answered Little Miss m.u.f.fet; ”here I am, Nurse. And she ran out and jumped into the carriage, for she was very glad to get back again to those who would care for her and not ask her to work making cheeses.”
When they were driving back to the town the Nurse said,
”You must promise me, Miss m.u.f.fet, never to run away again. You have frightened me nearly into hysterics, and had you been lost your mother would have been quite disappointed.”
The little girl was silent for a time; then she answered,
”I will promise not to run away if you will let me play as other children do. But if you do not allow me to run and romp and dig in the ground, I shall keep running away, no matter how many horrid spiders come to frighten me!”