Little Folks (December 1884) Part 14

"The little cat was in the house, and the house moved away. It must have been an enchanted house and an enchanted cat."

"What are you saying?" asked the old gentleman. "That is not on the paper."

Then the boy looked up and said--

"If I'd seven-leagued boots, I'd go after them."

"That is certainly not written down there," answered the old gentleman.

"Of what are you thinking, Ulick?"

"Of the house that stood close by this house. I had a dream last night that it moved away, and that the little cat with which I played had also gone, and I want to go after them."

"You talk nonsense, Ulick. How can a house made of bricks and mortar and heavy beams of wood move away?"

"That I know not; but it is gone. I hear it now rumbling away in the distance, as if it were on great wheels--I do really," answered Ulick.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE MOTHER ... WAS KNEELING BESIDE A LITTLE CHILD" (_p.

361_).]

The old gentleman, who often came to chat with Ulick, and to try to teach him various things, felt quite vexed, and he folded up his paper, and shut up his camp-stool and went away.

When he had gone an old hen turned round and spoke to Ulick.

"You can hear us, for you have the right sort of ears, but the old man cannot. It is quite true: the house has gone."

"Where?"

The rabbits were listening, with their long ears erect.

"That I cannot tell, but Nan is going after it."

"Nan! but she is so small."

"Is she?" exclaimed the hen. "You should see her now that she has eaten the porridge: she is much taller than her mother, and her legs are so long that she can skim over the ground like an ostrich."

"Then she will get the cat."

"Perhaps. One does not know," answered the hen.

"I hope she will," said a young rabbit.

"I hope she won't," said an old rabbit, "for then she will bring her back here."

There was a groan amongst the rabbits and the poultry. And then the Virginian creeper, that was twisting and turning and throwing its leaves about all over the trellis, began to quiver and shake as if it were trying to say something, and at last a very tiny voice came from one of the shoots, and said--

"Should Nan the flying house o'ertake, She will with it long journeys make, And come back here no more."

The fowls and rabbits were glad to hear this, but Ulick said--

"Nan shall not overtake the house; Nan shall not have the dear little cat."

IV.

"Nan will soon be tired," said Ulick; "besides, she does not know where to go."

"Do you?"

Ulick started, for he could see no one. Still he was not surprised, for since the rabbits and fowls and Virginian creeper had begun to talk there was no reason why other things should not also. It must have been some sensible creature; and he began to consider the point.

No, he did not know where the house had gone; he did not suppose that even the top of the tallest chimney would be visible, or even the smoke from it. The house might have gone along the straight road, or have turned to the right or left, he could not tell. And Ulick sat down upon a large moss-covered stone, and felt very despondent.

"What's the matter, little man?" asked his big brother Ben, who happened to come up at the moment. And Ulick told him of his difficulty.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "SHE WAS SO HIGH UP" (_p. 361_).]

"Oh! if that is all," said big Ben, "I will start you on your journey, for I know which way the house went. I saw it rumbling along the road, and then it turned off to the right and kept a straight line over the country; nothing stopped it, hedges, ditches, or anything else."

And he took Ulick's hand, and went out upon the road with him. Ulick half turned and kissed his hand to his own home.

"What is that for?" asked Ben.

"For 'good-bye,' if I don't come back again. The house might take me away altogether, you know."

Ben laughed.

"Well, then, boy, start off, for there in the distance over the corn-fields you can just see the house. There, there--do you see it--moving along?"

"No--yes--no--yes, yes I do. But what is that?"

V.

"What is that? why, a pole with a flag on the top," said Ben.

"No, no," said Ulick, "that----"

"Why, it's Nan flying along. What long legs she has! She goes so fast that she seems as if she were in two places at once."

"There are two girls running," said Ulick, "and one seems to be overtaking the other all the time."

"No, there is but one," answered Ben, "but she is here and there so quickly that you seem to see her in two places at once--you understand what I mean. And it looks exactly like two people."

"I don't know," said Ulick; "I am sure there are two Nans. What long legs!"

"Yes, porridge has done that. You should have had some porridge. You'll never overtake her."

But Ulick started off. Ben watched him out of sight, and then went home.