Part 5 (1/2)

When the G.o.dmother returned for lunch, she looked for Tom in the room in vain. Calling him, she hunted in all of the corners, through the wood by the hearth, and even in the clock, but all to no purpose. Tom was nowhere to be seen.

Very sadly, she went back into the black kitchen for the potatoes and spied a c.o.c.kroach by the oven. She was about to sweep it across the floor, when something sparkled under it. It was Little Tom's golden cap.

She placed the poor little fellow in her palm and carried him tenderly into the great room, calling him by his name until he wakened; but even then he did not recognize her. He had a fever and would only say, Go away from me, you ugly devil. He kept waving his hands and reaching for his sword screaming as if defending himself.

It was some time before he came to himself and recognized his G.o.dmother, so that he could tell her what he had experienced. She thought that he was still in fever and did not know what he was saying.

She forgot what she had been telling him about Paradise and the place of the wicked spirits. Only when he had quite recovered and could walk about in his garden by Castle Easter Egg did she learn what had happened to him.

She then realized that she could not keep Little Tom at home all the time and that the room could not satisfy his brave, curious little soul.

So she decided that she would take him out and show the world to him, in order that he might have pleasure under the great sky and gain some experience of life.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER SIX.

LITTLE TOM'S EXCURSIONS.

LITTLE TOM'S EXPEDITION BEFORE THE COTTAGE.

HIS WALK THROUGH THE CORN-FIELD.

THE COBWEB AND THE FIGHT WITH THE SPIDER.

LITTLE TOM FINDS HIMSELF IN THE COURT-YARD AMONG CHICKENS.

HE RUNS AWAY AND IS PURSUED BY ROVER.

HE TUMBLES INTO A BROOK AND IS GOBBLED UP BY A TROUT, WHICH SPITS HIM OUT AGAIN INTO THE GRa.s.s.

HE TAKES A WALK ON THE MEADOW WITH HIS G.o.dMOTHER.

THE b.u.mBLE-BEE TALKS LITTLE TOM INTO GETTING DRUNK.

LITTLE TOM IS BEING TIED TO A THISTLE AND FINDS HIMSELF IN THE MOUTH OF A COW.

HE IS PUT INTO A WOODEN SHOE BY HIS G.o.dMOTHER, BUT IS ENDANGERED BY A HAILSTORM.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

One bright summer morning, as his G.o.dmother was getting herself ready to go to the village, she said to him, Dear Little Tom, if you want to see what G.o.d's world is like, I will let you come out in front of the hut; although I am afraid that you will lose your way, or that some animal will harm you.

Tom encouraged her by saying that he would put on his weapons and that he knew how to defend himself. She did not give much thought to his valour but she felt that, because of his small size, no animal would notice him; so she took him in her hand and carried him outside in front of the hut, through the garden and barn to the brook, pointing out everything of interest and telling him the name of objects and places so that he could recognize them again. Then she put him on the ground before the door and told him, in a severe voice, that he should not run far away; she hoped to return soon and, in the meantime, he would not meet with any misfortune.

When she had crossed the bridge, she turned around, but no longer saw him. He had absolutely disappeared among the stones of the path. He was very pleased that he could make an exploration on his own account and felt that he was now much more clever. He understood what a human dwelling was, a garden, a path, a brook and a lime tree; and he was not afraid of anything. He decided to go over the same way his G.o.dmother had taken him around the hut, so that he might see for himself all its surroundings.

First, he went around the fence to the field, crossed the path and pa.s.sed into the thick, rustling grain. He felt he was in a vast, old forest. Above him buzzed wasps, flies, gnats and gadflies. All around him were worms, insects and caterpillars, which took no notice of him whatsoever, but kept diligently about their own work. He seemed to be in a new world and found so many strange objects and animals, that he had not time to look at all of them carefully.

He strode forward into the grain, but was careful not to go too far and lose his way. As he walked along the edge of the path, he looked at the grain, thinking that he would like to cut down one of the stalks and make a good, light lance out of it. While he was trying to select one that would suit him, he came upon a cobweb stretched between two thistles. It was beautifully woven of thin, well-tied threads, and seemed to Tom to be a powerful net which some hunter had placed there as a trap for wild game.

He wished to see the hunter and learn how game is caught, so he sat down in some wild thyme not far away and waited; but nothing happened. Then he got up and went nearer, feeling the lines with his hand to see how tightly they were drawn. But no sooner had he touched the net than he felt it shake and saw, running across it, a great, eight-footed creature, with a cross on its back and horrible jaws, rus.h.i.+ng straight at him.