Part 6 (1/2)
Will you not obey, she said, there is nothing else to do but to tie you up, or you will lose your life somewhere.
Taking him to the meadow, she pulled a hair from her head and tied him to a great thistle. Tom was so overcome by the sweet juice of the monkshood, that he lay down and immediately fell asleep.
When he awoke after a while, he had a severe headache. He thought over what he had done and was very much ashamed that he had allowed himself to be misled by the drunken b.u.mble-bee. He saw that he had been tied up and felt very sorry, wondering how he should excuse himself to his G.o.dmother when she should return to him.
In the meantime, Speckle, the cow, who had been grazing not far away, was all the while coming nearer and nearer to the spot where Tom had been fastened. He was lying flat on his back, gazing up into the sky, when suddenly a great mouth opened above him, extending from the earth to the sky, and--presto--as if a strong wind had blown, everything around him disappeared.
With a great rattle, the jaws with their powerful teeth closed over him and Tom found himself in complete darkness. All doubled up behind one back tooth, he screamed l.u.s.tily; but Speckle was moving her tongue and grinding the gra.s.s and did not feel Tom at all. Holding his breath, he waited until Speckle opened her mouth, when he ran quickly out on her lip and up on her nose to her forehead, where he held himself by grasping the hair between her horns. He gave a great sigh of relief as he saw that he was saved.
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When Speckle turned her head, Tom sat quietly, then got up and started for a walk along her neck and head.
It happened that the G.o.dmother turned and saw Speckle just as she bit the thistle. Oh Tom, Tom, you poor little child, she cried, running towards Speckle as fast as she could. She thought surely that the cow had swallowed him and that would be the last that she should see of him; but, as she came close, she heard a little voice calling from Speckle's back, Here I am, G.o.dmother, here I am.
She took him carefully in her hand and carried him off to the meadow where she was at work. There she seated him in one of her wooden shoes and saying, Now you must not move from here until I come, off she went to her work again; for she had to hurry with the hay, as dark clouds were coming up in the sky.
Little Tom sat quietly in the shoe for a while. It was like a big hut to him. Then he thought he would have a look around, so he clambered down the side of the shoe and started to walk a little way on the meadow, when a big rain drop splashed on him and made him all wet. He was greatly surprised, as he did not know what it was that came down in such a flood and splashed on the ground all around him. With the rain came hail stones, like rocks of ice, larger than Tom's head. They bounded away and then came down so thickly, that Tom did not know which way to run.
He turned back toward the shoe and ran for it with all his might, but on the way a great hailstone hit him and nearly killed him. He managed to clamber over the side of the shoe and fall inside, fainting. With such strength as he had left, he crawled away up in the toe of the shoe where he could hide. The hail rattled down like cannon b.a.l.l.s and very soon the whole shoe was filled with the little b.a.l.l.s of ice. When the G.o.dmother came hurrying up, she could hardly find Tom who was curled up among the hailstones in the far end of the shoe, half frozen and completely exhausted. Taking him carefully in her warm hand, she hurried home with him.
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Thus, his expedition with his G.o.dmother turned out very sadly and she saw that, even when he was with her, he could not be sure of his life.
When they had thoroughly dried themselves and eaten their supper, the G.o.dmother said, There is nothing to do, Tom, except for you to stay at home and study and not try for yourself to see the wonders of the world.
It is a miracle that you did not die today.
Little Tom himself realized that, outside in the great world, there was no happiness for him and he readily promised that he would stay at home.
But it made him sad to think how terrible and cruel the world is, and that in it there seemed to be no safe place for him.
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CHAPTER SEVEN.
LITTLE TOM AND CHRYSOMELA.
SEVEN SPOT'S VISIT.
LITTLE TOM IS INVITED TO PAY A VISIT TO THE KINGDOM OF THE SEVEN SPOTS.
HE SETS OUT ON A DRAGONFLY AND COMES TO THE POOL IN THE FOREST.
THE BANQUET ON THE LEAF OF THE WATER-ROSE.
LITTLE TOM IS PROCLAIMED KING OF THE KINGDOM OF THE SEVEN SPOTS.
HE MEETS CHRYSOMELA AGAIN. THE FESTIVAL.
THE VISIT TO THE WOOD-BUGS.
THE DWELLING IN THE HOLLOW BEECH-TREE.
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