it was sunday morning, and merrimeg was always good on sunday.
everybody was in church,—everybody but merrimeg. her mother had let her stay at home as a reward, because she had done her sweeping so neatly.
the house was empty, and there was not a soul in the village street.
merrimeg was sitting at the front window, looking at pictures in a book and telling herself stories about them. sometimes she would gaze out of the open window at the sunshine.
after a while she stopped talking to herself, and looked up and listened. she was sure that she heard a sound in the street. it was a kind of clop-clop! and it seemed to be coming nearer. she peeped around the corner of the window and looked out.
[30]two pairs of wooden shoes, quite small, were coming down the street side by side, towards her house. each pair of wooden shoes was walking along in the usual way, but the astonishing thing was that there were no feet in them. there was nobody at all in them. they were walking along all by themselves.
merrimeg opened her eyes wide. she had never seen such a sight as that before. clop-clop! went the wooden shoes on the hard ground, just as if two people were stepping down the street. but no, there was nothing anywhere in the street but those two pairs of shoes, coming along clop-clop!
merrimeg held her breath and watched to see the shoes go by her window. clop-clop! they came, sounding plainer and plainer; clop-clop! right up to the door of her house; and when they came to the door, there they stopped.
merrimeg drew her head back a little, getting ready to run if she had to, but she watched them with both eyes.
“i think this is a house,” said a voice.
[31]“i believe it is, brother, i believe it is,” said another voice.
merrimeg looked all around, but she could see nobody. the voices seemed to be coming from the spot where the shoes were standing.
“what if she should be cross to-day?” said the first voice.
“then she wouldn’t help us, brother,” said the other voice, “and what on earth would we do then?”
“but it’s sunday,” said the first voice, “and they aren’t cross on sunday, hardly ever.”
“that’s so, brother, that’s so,” said the other voice. “you do think of everything.”
“how would it do to knock?” said the first voice.
“i was just thinking about that myself,” said the other voice.
merrimeg was listening with both ears, and she heard, as plain as could be, three knocks on the front door; but what it was that was knocking at the door, she couldn’t see. all that she could see was that two pairs of wooden[32] shoes moved up onto the doorstep, and stood there.
while she was wondering about it the knock sounded again, and without stopping to think any more she jumped up and ran to the door and opened it, not very wide, and looked down at the shoes.
“it’s herself, brother nibby,” said a voice in the doorway.
“so it is, brother malkin, so it is,” said the other voice.
“why, it’s the two gnomes!” cried merrimeg. “but where are you?”
“she can’t see us, of course,” said the first voice.
“no, of course not,” said the second voice. “i forgot that.”
“if you’re there,” said merrimeg, “come in!” and she opened the door wide.
the two pairs of shoes stepped into the room, and stood with their toes towards merrimeg.
“do you suppose she’ll be willing to help us?” said the voice of malkin the gnome.
[33]“just what i’m wondering, brother,” said the voice of nibby.
“of course i’ll help you!” said merrimeg. “what’s the matter?”
“she’s pretty good to-day,” said malkin’s voice.
“i can see that, brother,” said nibby’s voice.
“i can’t see anything at all!” cried merrimeg. “where are you, anyway? are you here, or where?”
“of course she doesn’t know what the witch has done to us,” said the voice of malkin.
“no, she doesn’t know that the witch has taken away our bodies,” said the voice of nibby.
“and we want to get them back,” said malkin’s voice.
“and we want her to help us,” said nibby’s voice.
“it’s a frightful nuisance being without a body,” said malkin’s voice.
“she ought to know that without being told, i should think,” said nibby’s voice.
[34]“how can i help you?” said merrimeg. “i’ll do anything i can.”
“she isn’t cross at all to-day,” said malkin’s voice.
“no, it’s sunday,” said nibby’s voice.
“she’d better come along with us at once, then,” said malkin’s voice.
“yes,” said nibby’s voice, “they’ll throw our bodies down the well if we don’t hurry.”
“suppose you tell her, then.”
“oh, no, brother, you’re the one to tell her.”
“oh dear no, brother nibby, you are the one to——”
“i’ll come!” said merrimeg. “never mind telling me. go ahead, and i’ll follow you!”
the two pairs of wooden shoes turned and went out of the open door, and merrimeg followed them as they went clop-clopping down the street.
the clop-clop shoes went on into the woods
they left the village and went into the woods. they found a path which merrimeg had never seen before, and they walked along this path, under the trees and bushes, and across little[35] streams, for a long, long time; and the woods grew thicker and thicker, so that at last they could not see the sun, and it was very dark; and all the while the two pairs of little shoes went on before, and merrimeg followed behind.
“i suppose we’d better tell her the right word now,” said the voice of malkin, “before we meet old verbum sap.”
“yes, before we meet old sappy,” said nibby’s voice.
“dear me!” said malkin’s voice. “blest if i haven’t forgotten the word myself!”
“oh, mercy on us, whatever will we do now?” said nibby’s voice.
“oh dear, oh dear!” said malkin’s voice. “if i could only remember the word! isn’t it something like cat-tails?”
“no, no, brother, nothing like that!”
“can’t you remember the word, brother nibby?”
“oh, me? oh dear yes, brother, i know what the word is. but you’ve forgotten it, brother malkin! whatever shall we do now? we’ll[36] never get our bodies back without the word, never, never!”
“but don’t you know what it is, brother nibby?”
“oh yes, brother malkin, but what good will that do, if you don’t know what it is?”
“that’s so, that’s so. i never thought of that. oh dear me, i’m sure i don’t know what we’re going to do about it.”
merrimeg very nearly lost all patience at this.
“why don’t you tell him what it is, then?” she said.
“i do hope she isn’t going to be cross,” said malkin’s voice. “but anyway, that’s a pretty good idea. suppose you tell me what the word is? isn’t it something like cat-tails?”
“nothing like that, brother, nothing like that!”
“what is it, then?”
“it’s kitten-tails!”
“then we’d better tell her now, before old sappy comes up, so she’ll know the word.”
[37]“which one of us had better tell her?”
“i think you should be the one to tell her, brother nibby——”
“oh bother!” said merrimeg. “i know what the word is now. it’s kitten-tails.”
“she’s getting cross, she’s getting cross, brother nibby,” said malkin’s voice. “do you think we’d better go back?”
“i’m not cross,” said merrimeg. “please excuse me. i won’t speak so any more.”
“i believe it’s all right, brother nibby,” said malkin’s voice. “now you’d better tell her about the word. whatever they say to her, she must use that word, and she mustn’t use any other; tell her that, brother nibby. she mustn’t say anything else to them, because if she does they’ll take her body away from her too, and we’ll never get our bodies back; tell her that, brother nibby. and we mustn’t speak at all, because that would spoil everything. and whatever she does, she mustn’t let them take her shoes off. tell her, brother.”
“excuse me,” said merrimeg, very politely,[38] “i heard what you said, so he needn’t tell me, if you please.”
“now that’s what i call very clever of her,” said malkin’s voice.
“very, very,” said nibby’s voice.
in a few minutes they came to a place where the vines and brambles hung down so low over the path that merrimeg had to crawl on her hands and knees; and just then malkin said, in a very low voice:
“there’s old sappy.”
right in the middle of the path before them stood a great gray owl, staring at them with his big round eyes. the shoes stopped still, and merrimeg sat up on her heels. the owl seemed to be staring straight at her. he opened his beak, and a hoarse voice came out of his mouth, sounding as if he had a bad cold, and the voice said:
“what do you want here, child?”
“kitten-tails,” said merrimeg, remembering that she wasn’t on any account to say anything else.
[39]the owl ruffled his feathers and winked one of his eyes, very slowly. he stared at merrimeg for a moment, then he turned around and walked off down the path before them. the wooden shoes stepped along after him, and merrimeg followed on her hands and knees.
old sappy, if that was his name, led them a long way under the vines and brambles, and stopped at the end of the path before a green wall of leaves, very tall, made of vines matted thick together. at the bottom of this leafy wall was a little opening, and after looking behind him for a moment old sappy went in, and after him stepped the two pairs of shoes, and last of all in crawled merrimeg.
when she was inside, she stood up. she was standing on a floor which looked like green marble, very hard and shiny, and as she moved her feet on it her shoes began to pinch her feet painfully. all around her, in a circle, was the high wall of green leaves, and overhead the branches of the trees hung down, making a green roof.
[40]on one of these branches was perched a great black ugly bird, very like a buzzard. its little sharp eyes were looking hard at merrimeg.
around the walls, on the ground, was a row of gray owls,—dozens of them, all staring at merrimeg with their big round eyes.
in the middle of the floor was a dark opening, like the mouth of a well; and alongside of it were lying the bodies of the two gnomes, on their backs, with their eyes closed. they had no shoes on their feet. the two pairs of wooden shoes walked across the floor and stood beside the bodies.
old sappy stopped beside the well and looked up at the ugly black bird over his head, and ruffled his feathers as if he were shivering.
the bird overhead perked its head down side-wise, and gave a croak and said:
“it’s nearly time!”
“time for what? time for what?” croaked all the owls together.
“time to put the bodies in the well!” said the ugly bird.
[41]
[42]
around the walls was a row of gray owls
[43]“what shall we do first?” said the owls together.
“get me another body for the well!” said the bird overhead.
“there are only two bodies!” sang out the owls.
“i see another, i see another!” said the bird on the branch.
then the bird in the tree began to croak and grumble to itself, and old sappy stared at merrimeg and said:
“what must she do?”
“she must come to the well!” said all the owls together.
“how must she come?”
“she must walk! she must walk!”
“who’ll take off her shoes?” said old sappy.
“we will, we will!” cried all the owls together, and they all ran towards her, opening their beaks and squawking as they crowded in around her feet.
but merrimeg kicked out right and left and scattered them in every direction. she found[44] herself standing before the well and the ugly black bird overhead gave an angry screech.
“what shall we do with her?” said old sappy.
“the riddle! the riddle!” screamed the ugly black bird overhead.
“the riddle! the riddle!” sang out all the owls together.
“answer the riddle!” said old sappy. but as he said it he gave a slow wink with his right eye. “answer the riddle, and answer it right! or else,—or else,—off come your shoes, off come your shoes!”
“what is the riddle?” cried all the owls.
“this is the riddle, and answer it right,” said old sappy. “what is it that has no feet and runs away on four feet and is chased by the same four feet, and lives on food and drink and never eats nor drinks?”
“what is it? what is it?” croaked all the owls.
“kitten-tails!” said merrimeg, sobbing with fright as she said it.
[45]the black bird overhead gave a piercing scream, spread its wings, and tried to fly away. but before it could fly, while it was flapping and struggling, a change came over it, and in its place was a horrible little old woman, hanging on to the branch and kicking and screaming, and trying to keep from falling down out of the tree. she was much heavier than the bird had been, and the branch was not strong enough to bear her; it snapped in half under her, and down she fell, still kicking, directly into the opening of the well. she was gone.
merrimeg heard a splash far down in the well, and at the same time the green walls disappeared, and the well-opening was covered over, and the green marble floor turned into soft green moss, raised in the middle like a roof, and the owls flew away among the trees.
merrimeg looked down at the bodies of the two gnomes, lying on the bright green moss. one of them opened his eyes and yawned and stretched his arms; and the other yawned and stretched his arms and opened his eyes; and they[46] both got up together, and looked down at their feet.
“i suppose we’d better put on our shoes,” said one of them.
“i suppose we had, brother,” said the other one.
they put on their wooden shoes quickly, and then they noticed merrimeg.
“oh, yes,” said one of the gnomes, “i remember everything now. brother nibby, we ought to thank her for helping us get our bodies back.”
“that we ought, brother, that we ought, indeed,” said nibby.
“which one of us should tell her?” said malkin.
“i think you could do it much better,” said nibby. “you’re always so clever.”
[47]“please don’t bother about thanking me,” said merrimeg. “i’m so glad i could help you.”
“really, she isn’t rude at all to-day,” said malkin.
“not a bit, brother malkin, not a bit,” said nibby.
“then we’d better go home,” said malkin. “why, bless me, we’re home right now! this is the roof of our own house!”
“now it’s queer i didn’t notice that before,” said nibby. “how you do notice everything, brother!”
“good-by,” said merrimeg. “i must get home before mother comes back from church. good-by.”
“brother nibby,” said malkin, “will you ask her to stay and have dinner with us in our own house?”
“i’m sorry,” said merrimeg, “but i can’t stay now. thank you ever so much. i must hurry home. good-by.”
she didn’t wait for an answer. away she ran, and it wasn’t very long before she was in the[48] village street again. in a few minutes she was sitting quietly at the front window of her house with the picture book on her knee, and there she was sitting when her mother came home from church.
“that’s what i call a good little girl,” said her mother, “—sitting there quietly with your book, just as i left you.”
“yes’m,” said merrimeg.
