Wee Willie Winkie

“ She showed a readiness to weep afresh, which steadied Wee Willie Winkie, who had been brought up to believe that tears were the depth of unmanliness. Still, when one is as great a sinner as Wee Willie Winkie, even a man may be permitted to break down,
"Winkie," said Miss Allardyce, "when you've rested a little, ride back and tell them to send out something to carry me back in. It hurts fearfully." ”

“ But the liveliest of twelve-two ponies can do little against the long canter of a Waler. Miss Allardyce was far ahead, had passed through the crops, beyond the Police-posts, when all the guards were asleep, and her mount was scattering the pebbles of the river-bed as Wee Willie Winkie left the cantonment and British India behind him. Bowed forward and still flogging, Wee Willie Winkie shot into Afghan territory, and could just see Miss Allardyce a black speck, flickering across the stony plain. ”

“ The moon shone bright as day;
"I'll run through the town myself," said he,
"And see if they all asleep can be—
I think they are all at play!"
Wee Willie Winkie—no shoes on his feet,
No hat on his head—ran down the street,
And he called at every lock:
"Are your babies asleep in their cradles now?
Do your lilies asleep in the night-wind blow?
For 'tis now ten o'clock!"
Wee Willie Winkie in his nightgown,
Little fat, rosy boy, ran thro' the town,
His curly head damp with dew:
Original "Are the robins and babies and rosies all
Abed and asleep?" ”

“ No regimental penalties could break Wee Willie Winkie of this habit. He lost his good-conduct badge for christening the Commissioner’s wife “Pobs”; but nothing that the Colonel could do made the Station forego the nickname, and Mrs. Collen remained “Pobs” till the end of her stay. So Brandis was christened “Coppy,” and rose, therefore, in the estimation of the regiment.
If Wee Willie Winkie took an interest in any one, the fortunate man was envied alike by the mess and the rank and file. And in their envy lay no suspicion of self-interest. ”

“ Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Up stairs and down stairs in his night-gown,
Tapping at the window, crying at the lock,
"Are the children in their bed, for it's past ten o'clock?" ”

“ Now the cantonment in which the 195th lay was bounded on the north by a river—dry in the winter. From his earliest years, Wee Willie Winkie had been forbidden to go across the river, and had noted that even Coppy—the almost almighty Coppy—had never set foot [Pg 202] beyond it. Wee Willie Winkie had once been read to, out of a big blue book, the history of the Princess and the Goblins—a most wonderful tale of a land where the Goblins were always warring with the children of men until they were defeated by one Curdie. ”

“ Certainly beyond the river, which was the end of all the Earth, lived the Bad Men. And here was Major Allardyce's big girl, Coppy's property, preparing to venture into their borders! What would Coppy say if anything happened to her? If the Goblins ran off with her as they did with Curdie's Princess? She must at all hazards be turned back.
The house was still. Wee Willie Winkie reflected for a moment on the very terrible wrath of his father ”

“ You didn't tell when I twied to wide ve buffalo ven my pony was lame; and I fought you wouldn't like."
"Winkie," said Coppy, enthusiastically, shaking the small hand, "you're the best of good fellows. Look here, you can't understand all these things. One of these days—hang it, how can I make you see it!—I'm going to marry Miss Allardyce, and then she'll be Mrs. Coppy, as you say. If your young mind is so scandalized at the idea of kissing big girls, go and tell your father."
"What will happen?" said Wee Willie Winkie, who firmly believed that his father was omnipotent. ”

“ Better to send a man back to take the message and get a reward. I say that this child is their God, and that they will spare none of us, nor our women, if we harm him."
It was Din Mahommed, the dismissed groom of the Colonel, who made the diversion, and an angry and heated discussion followed. Wee Willie Winkie, standing over Miss Allardyce, waited the upshot. Surely his "wegiment," his own "wegiment," would not desert him if they knew of his extremity.
The riderless pony brought the news to the 195th, though there had been consternation in the Colonel's household for an hour before. ”

“ So E Company, in its shirt-sleeves mainly, doubled for the dear life, and in the rear toiled the perspiring Sergeant, adjuring it to double yet faster. The cantonment was alive with the men of the 195th hunting for Wee Willie Winkie, and the Colonel finally overtook E Company, far too exhausted to swear, struggling in the pebbles of the river-bed. ”

“ They were followed by the far more sensitive and searching Plain Tales from the Hills, Under the Deodars and The Phantom 'Rikshaw, which contains two of the best and most convincing ghost-stories in recent literature.
These tales, however, display only one side of Kipling's extraordinary talents. As a writer of children's stories, he has few living equals. Wee Willie Winkie, which contains that stirring and heroic fragment "Drums of the Fore and Aft," is only a trifle less notable than his more obviously juvenile collections. ”

“ It is just a bridle like any racing bridle only, like I said, it is goldish-looking in a unnoticeable manner.
He gets it one year when we is finishing up the circuit down in Tijuana. This is before he hits his stride. When he is going along, like me, not snaffling no tall money nor nothing but knocking off his percentages. He is plain Jimmie Winkie then. The newspapers has not tagged that there Wee Willie on to him yet and he is not endorsing no leather jackets, nor saying as how he likes Puffie Wuffies because they is superroasted and rolled on hoops. ”

“ Miss Biddums, it must be confessed, spoilt him as much as his nature admitted, in some sort of recompense for what she called "the hard ways of his Papa and Mamma". She, like her charge, knew nothing of the trouble between man and wife—the savage contempt for a woman's stupidity on the one side or the dull, rankling anger on the other. Miss Biddums had looked after many little children in her time, and served in many establishments. ”

“ Only, she didn’t want to play alone!
“Please come on and slide with me,” begged Winkie of Blinkie.
“No, indeed!” answered the other woodchuck girl. “It’s too warm. I’m going to sleep.”
“Well, I’ll have to go by myself then,” said Winkie, a bit sadly. “Will you play after you wake up, Blinkie?”
“Maybe—maybe,” answered Blinkie, sleepily.
“Oh, I never saw such creatures!” murmured Winkie, as she ran along, giving a look toward her sister and a glance over into the next field where Blunk was nibbling clover. “All they think about is eating and sleeping! I’m going to do something! ”

“ But here's a waukrife laddie, that winna fa' asleep. Onything but sleep, ye rogue!—glowrin' like the moon, Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an airn spoon, Rumblin', tumblin' roun' about, crawin' like a cock, Skirlin' like a kenna-what—wauknin' sleepin' folk! Hey, Willie Winkie! the wean's in a creel! Waumblin' aff a bodie's knee like a vera eel, Ruggin' at the cat's lug, and ravellin' a' her thrums: Hey, Willie Winkie!—See, there he comes! William Miller [1810-1872]
THE SANDMAN The rosy clouds float overhead, The sun is going down ”

“ But Blunk was wide awake. He was sitting up on his haunches, as a dog sits up to beg, and he was slowly nipping off the sweet clover tops and the tender leaves, chewing them very contentedly.
“Hello, Winkie! So you came over, after all, to get something to eat, did you?” asked Blunk.
“No, I came to see you,” replied Winkie. “Tag! You’re it!” she suddenly cried, tapping her brother with an extended paw, and then springing away before he could touch her. “Come on! Chase me!” ”

“ You are sort of running away, you know.”
“Yes, I ran away from that big noise,” admitted Winkie. “But what has that to do with it?”
“Running away always brings adventures,” answered Don. “At least it did to me. I was once a runaway dog. But I was glad to get back again, and I am very happy now.”
“Are you one of the farmer’s dogs that barked at my father and mother?” asked Winkie.
“No,” replied Don. “I never bark at woodchucks. I like them, and so does my master, who is very kind. But some men don’t like you ground-hogs, and they are always sending their dogs after you. ”

“ Slowly, because she was now very fat, Winkie sat up on her hind quarters. This is easy for woodchucks to do, since they often sit that way outside their burrows to watch for danger.
“Look! She’s begging!” laughed Larry. “And here’s your piece of turnip!” he added. “Isn’t that a good trick, Alice?”
“A lovely one! I wish I could teach Winkie some tricks!”
“Maybe you can,” said Larry. “Here, see if she’ll beg for you.” And Winkie, who was standing with all four feet on the ground, again stood up as Alice held out a bit of carrot and told her to “beg!” ”

“ One day, when Larry and Alice came home from school, they ran out toward the woodchuck pen, for Larry had said he was going to teach Winkie a new trick. As brother and sister neared the pen they heard the loud barking of a dog, and the frightened whistling and teeth-clattering of the little ground-hog. ”

“ When you came up here you wouldn’t think of such a thing.”
“Well, I’ll think of it now, and I know hundreds more, too. All men swear,” answered Willie, with two red streaks in his cheeks. “All men swear, and I’m going to, too. I’m not going to be an old ninny.”
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Willie!” said Eva.
“Well, I’m not, then. I’m not a bit ashamed, and another thing, I wish you’d stop calling me Willie. It’s nothing but Willie, Willie, Willie, all over the place. Willie’s an old woman’s name. It’s just like an old woman with half a dozen kids.” ”

“ AMONG THE WINKIES
The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of happy and contented people who are ruled by a tin Emperor named Nick Chopper, who in turn is a subject of the beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz. But not all of the Winkie Country is fully settled. At the east, which part lies nearest the Emerald City, there are beautiful farmhouses and roads, but as you travel west, you first come to a branch of the Winkie River, beyond which there is a rough country where few people live, and some of these are quite unknown to the rest of the world. ”

“ Men are stupid creatures. It is only by accident that he could find this burrow.”
“Maybe his dog could,” suggested Winkie.
“Yes, a dog is smarter than a man when it comes to that,” said Mr. Woodchuck. “But don’t worry any more right away. Eat the good things I brought home, and I will think what is best to do.”
The three woodchuck children, Winkie, Blinkie, and Blunk, soon forgot their troubles in eating the sweet carrots and turnip. Even though Blunk had eaten so much clover he could hardly run, he was now ready for the good things his father had brought home. ”

“ Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some till the fields and grow grains for food, and it was at one of these far-west Winkie farms that the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook first arrived after they had descended from the mountain of the Yips. ”

“ Tiny was too weak to reply. He stood shivering in the rain, yet he was grateful that he had learned the value of friendship. Winkie, who enjoyed dreadful encounters, pushed him back into the stump that he might protect him through the night. There they remained until daybreak.
“Now, forget about the lynx and don’t be so cast down,” were the first words that Winkie said on the following morning. “Don’t hold any ill-will towards him. He was only thinking what a fine meal you would make. All animals are looking out for themselves.” ”

“ At first Winkie was a bit timid about taking these chunks of carrot. But they smelled so good, and she was so hungry, that she at last ventured to nibble one. Then, finding no harm came to her, she grew bold and took more. She limped a little on the leg that had been caught [92] in the trap, but it was quickly getting over its soreness.
“Oh, isn’t Winkie cute!” cried Alice, as she watched the woodchuck eat.
“Yes,” agreed Larry. “And I want to teach her soon to eat out of my hand.”
“We want to be careful that she doesn’t bite us,” said his sister. “See what sharp teeth she has.” ”

“ And speaking of bones makes me hungry. I think I’ll trot to my kennel and get a bone.”
“What’s a kennel?” asked Winkie.
“My! I never knew any one to ask as many questions as you, unless it might be Mappo, the merry monkey,” barked Don. “A kennel is a house in which I live.”
“We call our house a burrow,” said Winkie. “Only we haven’t any now.”
“It wouldn’t do for all of us to live in the same kind of houses,” Don said. “I’d feel rather silly in a nest, and yet a nest is a home for a bird. Well, I’m going to trot along, Winkie. ”