William Bowen

“ They sat down at the table, but Merrimeg couldn’t eat; and after supper Rags and Merrimeg went to bed together in a little bed in the back room. The stars shone in through the window.
“To-morrow,” said Rags, pulling the covers up over Merrimeg, “we’ll have a grand play in the woods all day. Oh, won’t I be happy, though! I know where there’s a lot of wild strawberries, and a brook with crawly things on the bottom, and—oh, I’m so glad you’ve come! And father won’t ever let you leave me as long as you live! Oh, isn’t it jolly! I’ll never be lonely any more!” ”

“ They stopped beside the pool where Merrimeg had once tried to wash the black from her face. The trees were wide apart here, and Merrimeg, looking up, could see the bare spot in the sky directly overhead, where the lost star belonged.
“Where are you taking us?” said Pennie.
“I’m taking you to the gnomes’ house,” said Merrimeg. “We’ll soon be there. It’s two gnomes who’ve been very good to me; I know where they live. They’re the ones to help us.”
“Is one of them named Malkin?” said Florrie.
“And the other one Nibby?” said Pennie. ”

“ He always has to start out each time with a new coach, because the old one is broken to pieces by the time he gets to the end of the road. But the less you think about it the better. Just look at those buttercups in the meadow! I know how to tell whether you like butter.”
The coach sped merrily along, and the little girls chattered gaily. Once there sprang up beside the road an ugly little imp with big ears, who threw a stone after them; but Old Porringer whipped up the ponies, and the stone missed the coach. ”

“ That was what saved Merrimeg. The wind that sprang up from the wind bags was twice as [9] strong as it has been before. It caught her, and tore her loose, and picked her up, and whirled her up the chimney, right up to the top of it and out.
There she was, standing in the bright sunshine, on the roof of her own house, looking down into the cabbage garden. ”

“ The door of the little house opened, and a little girl, smaller than Merrimeg, stood in the doorway. She was a very ragged little girl, and her face was dirty and sad. She looked at Merrimeg with big solemn eyes.
“I’ve brought you one at last!” cried the Rag-Bone Man. “Here she is! I’ve got one for you at last! Somebody to play with! Here she is, and she’s going to stay with you and play with you, and never go home any more! Now we’ve got her we’ll keep her. Now you’ll have company! Ain’t she a pretty one, though? Ain’t I a good father? ”

“ Her mother kissed her, and went into the kitchen; and Merrimeg, carrying the wet handkerchiefs, walked over to the apple orchard, thinking about apples, and forgetting all about the rose bushes. She always liked to eat apples just before meals. ”

“ I suppose you’d like to do nothing all day but eat and be outdoors, and never have to bother about washing and dressing and sweeping and dusting and running errands,—I suppose that’s what you’d like?”
“Well,” said Merrimeg, “I would like it pretty well. I hate to sweep and——”
“All right!” cried the Apple-Seed Elf, and he sprang from her hand onto a branch near her shoulder. “I’ll fix it for you! I’ll see to it! You’ll never have to dress or do any lessons any more,—now then! Caterpillar! Go away, child, and come up, caterpillar! Come up, caterpillar! Come, come, come!” ”

“ As she said this, a great dark figure rose up beside the road, and hurled with both hands a mighty rock straight at the coach. The mirror and all the front of the coach were struck into a thousand splinters. Merrimeg laughed gently. “Nothing can harm me,” she said.
“That’s the last,” said Myrma. “Now we’ve escaped them all. We’ll get to the end of the road in safety.”
“I can’t help thinking,” said the old lady, [157] “that it’s rather a frail coach for such a hard journey. It really ought to be made of iron.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ But he hadn’t any more than said these words than Malkin and Nibby, the two gnomes, rushed across the stream of fire, knocking the Fire Bubbles right and left with their hands, and Malkin picked up Little Hark, slung him on his shoulder, and ran back with him across the stream of fire, knocking the Fire Bubbles right and left as he ran.
“Ishkameerz! O ishkameerz!” cried Big Hark, and he let go of Merrimeg and rushed down to the stream of fire, holding out his hands towards the little boy on the other side. But he did not dare go near the fire. ”

“ It was the Rag-Bone Man. Everybody said that if you didn’t look sharp he’d snatch you up and stuff you in his sack and carry you off and never, never bring you back any more; so all the children in that village were terribly afraid of him, and whenever they saw him coming they simply took to their heels and fled.
“Rags! bones! old iron!” cried the Rag-Bone Man.
[96] “Oh, pshaw,” said Merrimeg, “I’m not afraid.”
She went out into the street and watched him coming. He came on nearer and nearer. He reached the house next door and stopped there and stared at Merrimeg.
“Rags! bones! old iron!” ”

“ Myrma the fairy opened her mouth, and the sound she made was exactly the little song of a brook, and it seemed to come from the brook itself. She stopped, and the brook was silent again.
“It’s terribly tiresome,” said Myrma, “but I only have to do it when there’s somebody around to hear it. You don’t think the brook sings all the time, do you?”
“I didn’t know,” said Merrimeg.
“When there’s nobody to hear it, what’s the use? But I’m supposed to keep it up as long as there’s anybody around. Oh, dear, I get so [144] tired hiding away behind the waterfall when people come. ”

“ They looked over at the top of the Great Snow Mountain, and picked Merrimeg up and swung her back and forth several times. Then Malkin cried “Now!” and they gave her a mighty toss and fling and away she flew through the air towards the mountain of snow; and she lit on the very top of it, and sank down and down in the soft snow until she was out of sight.
“We mustn’t forget to fix the roof,” said Malkin. “We’d better put some boards under the moss.”
“I suppose so, brother; you always know best,” said Nibby. ”

“ Merrimeg would say, and then she would go on with her sweeping and singing.
She was very happy, but this wasn’t her day to be good; for she was in a great hurry to be out in the garden in the sunshine, and she forgot all about what her mother had said to her; so instead of wasting time on the dustpan, she swept all the dust into the nice clean fireplace, a very large fireplace, big enough to roast a pig in. An iron pot was hanging there, but there wasn’t any fire, and her mother had just cleaned off the hearth so that it was as spotless as new brick. ”

“ The scent of honeysuckle came on the cool breeze.
“Isn’t it lovely!” said Merrimeg.
“Of course,” said Myrma. “It’s always lovely in springtime. I think he’ll be here in a minute.”
“Who?” said Merrimeg.
“Old Porringer. He runs the stage-coach. He ought to be here by this time—Here he comes!”
Down the road came a little glass coach, drawn by a pair of tiny white ponies. On the coachman’s seat was a little old man with a white beard. “Whoa!” he piped up, and drew in the ponies. ”

“ Are you lost?”
“You’d—better—tell her—who we are, Pennie,” said the one who had been crying, choking back her sobs.
“We aren’t lost,” said the one who hadn’t yet spoken. “We’re looking for our star.”
[53] “We’ve lost it,” said the one who had been crying, breaking out into sobs again.
“Don’t cry, Winnie,” said the one who had her arms about her. “She’ll help us find it, I know she will.”
“Why is she crying?” said Merrimeg again.
“She’s Winnie, and I’m Florrie,” said the one who had just spoken, “and this one’s Pennie. Don’t you know who we are?” ”

“ The water sprite was so astonished that he forgot he was angry.
“Who are they?” he said, in a kind of whisper.
“They’re the starlight fairies,” said Merrimeg. “They hang out the stars each night, and to-night they dropped that star by accident, and it fell into your pool. If they don’t get it back they can’t go home.”
“But they killed my children and——”
At that moment the lost star appeared over the tree tops, coming on towards them in a streak of white light, and in another moment the three [68] starlight fairies stood on the ground, and Winnie was swinging the star in her hand. ”

“ Inside, in a little room, a little old man with a long white beard and goggle-eyes was sitting behind a little table. On the table before him was row after row of acorn cups, hundreds of them, each one filled with a colored powder, and every color different from all the others. The little old man was a Painter of Butterflies. ”

“ If they break it to pieces before he gets to the end of the road, it’ll be a bad thing for you. They do, sometimes. You never can tell.”
“Oh!” said Merrimeg, a little alarmed.
“All you have to do is to have a good time, and leave it to him. ”