The Book of Betty Barber/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII
THE END OF THE BOOK
“The holiday fairies were laughing and joking as they came through the wood, dragging after them a very fat bag. It did not seem very heavy, for when Easter jumped on the top of it, Summer and Christmas were still able to move it, and did not appear to mind the extra weight the least bit.
“We’ll take it to the tree,” said Summer, “then we’ll open it.”
“I wonder, oh, I wonder what’s inside,” said Christmas.
Half-term came tumbling down out of a tree.
“Hullo!” he said. “What have you got there? Let me look.”
“No, we found it,” said Easter.
“Would you quite say, ‘found’ it?” asked Christmas.
“Scarcely, perhaps,” said Summer.
And then all three fairies, shouting with laughter, picked up their prize, carried it to the tree, and sat down on it.
“What’s the joke? What’s the joke?” called several voices, as Ellessdee, Sois, Miss Crimson Lake, Lucy, Minora, and the others came scrambling, jumping, and tumbling to the ground.
“There are the holiday fairies,” cried Ellessdee, “just in time too.”
“If it’s up a tree, which tree is it up?” shouted Sois.
“It seems to me you’ve all been up a tree,” laughed Christmas.
“Up several trees,” said Easter.
And then they all laughed louder than ever.
“But we can’t find the piece of the jacket,” said Ellessdee. “Can’t you really remember on which tree you fastened it?”
Thirteen-fourteenths came tumbling down to the ground, almost on the top of the fairies.
“What?” he cried. “Did you steal the piece of my jacket?”
“Dear, dear,” said Christmas. “He was up a tree, too; now, we didn’t know that.”
“Would you say ‘steal’?” said Easter.
“Scarcely, perhaps,” said Summer.
“Don’t you think you’d say ‘borrowed’?” said Christmas.
At that moment a most remarkable noise echoed through the wood. All the figures jumped, Miss Crimson Lake turned pinker than ever, the fairies rose from their seats, and even Thirteenth-fourteenths looked a bit scared. But Lucy only smiled, she had heard the noise before.
“It’s all right,” she said, “it’s only Father William yawning. He must have fallen asleep; and I’m not surprised, for somehow I feel sleepy myself.”
The three holiday fairies looked at one another rather anxiously.
“Is Father William an old gentleman?” asked Christmas.
Lucy nodded. “He looks very old,” she said, yawning.
“Then don’t you think?” asked Easter.
“I do,” said Summer.
“So do I,” said Christmas.
And then, before the others had realised what they were going to do, with a skip and hop and jump, the three fairies disappeared through the trees.
“So they stole the piece of my jacket, the little scamps,” said the Fraction, “I never did like them.”
“Perhaps, if you had, they never would have taken it,” said Ellessdee, “and they didn’t mean to lose it, I know; they meant to hide it to tease you, and then they forgot on which tree they put it.”
“If three fairies hide one piece of jacket” began Sois.
But at that moment Father William, with his white hair standing up straight, his eyes almost staring out of his head, his hands thrown up in the air, came hurrying down the path.
As soon as he saw Lucy he threw himself down before her.
“Forgive me, forgive me,” he cried. “It is gone! Gone! Gone!”
“Not the book?” cried Thirteen-fourteenths.
“Don’t say the book is lost again,” said Lucy. “What shall we do? It seems to be bewitched.”
“I always thought it was,” said Minora. “I always said it was.”
“I must say I hope it is lost,” whispered Tare to Tret.
Father William sat down on the ground, and sobbed aloud.
“I went back to Nonsense Land,” he groaned, “and I found them all at the Grand Panjandrum’s Court. They had the book, the Grand Panjandrum himself had the book when I first got there,” and Father William burst out crying once more and could not get any further.
Lucy felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, and, indeed, every one of them felt sorry to see the poor old man in such trouble.
Half-term went to him and held out both hands.
“I say,” he said, “you cheer up; it’ll all come right in the end. That book seems to be always getting lost, but it always turns up again, and I believe it will turn up this time. Let me help you up, don’t sit there, sit under the tree.”
Father William stopped crying, and let Half-term help him up.
“Look, there’s an old bag full of something, sit on that,” said Half-term.
Father William gave a loud shout, and, instead of sitting on the bag, picked it up, hugged it tightly in his arms, and began jumping up and down.
“Dear me, what a queer old gentleman,” said Ellessdee.
“He always was queer,” whispered Minora.
“What is it, Father William?” asked Lucy, “do you know what is in the bag?”
“Know what is in the bag?” cried Father William. “Why, of course I do, didn’t I pack that bag my own self? Sit down, all of you, and listen. I will sit down on the bag. I won’t lose it again.
So they all sat down beneath the tree, and Father William began—
“Question one—Where did the bag come from? Question two—Where did it go to? Question three—What is in the bag?”
“We haven’t any paper,” objected Ellessdee, “we can’t take the questions down.”
“Question one,” said Father William, “I’ll answer myself. Can anyone answer Question two?”
“I can answer one of the questions,” said the Fraction. “I saw the holiday fairies dragging that bag through the wood.”
“The young monkeys,” said Father William, “then they stole it whilst I was asleep.”
“The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood,” cried a mocking voice up in the tree.
“Would you say ‘stole’ it?” asked another voice.
“Scarcely, perhaps,” said a third voice.
And, looking up, they saw the three mischief-making, mischief-loving fairies up in the tree above their heads.
“Come down,” said Father William.
“Come down,” called Thirteen-fourteenths.
“Thanks awfully,” said Summer, “but I think”
“So do I,” said Christmas.
“We’ll stay where we are,” said Easter.
“We’re up a tree this time,” they cried in chorus.
“Take no notice of them, Father William,” said Lucy. “You’ll go to sleep if you do. They always make me feel sleepy. Tell us about the book.”
“To begin at the beginning of all things,” said Father William, “in my youth”
A large branch tumbled bang on his head.
“Oh, yes, dear me, yes,” he said quickly. “As I was saying, I
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“Began Jumping Up and Down” (p. 123) |
were fighting over the one page, all the others pulled the bag first one way, then the other, each trying to get at the string to untie it. The holiday fairies sat up in the tree and laughed.
When the bag began to come to pieces, and the bits of paper began to fall out, they laughed louder than ever.
But Lucy, who had spent most of her time watching the struggle, pushed her way into the middle of the group, and called out loudly:
“Stop, stop. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves.”
“We ought,” said Thirteen-fourteenths.
And the figures hung their heads, Minora covered her face with her hands, and the others stood still thinking.
“It isn’t your fault,” said Easter.
“It’s Betty Barber’s,” cried Summer.
“Listen to me for one moment,” said Lucy, as she picked Father William up from the ground.
“I always said it was a popular work,” he said, as he leant back against the tree, and prepared to go to sleep once more.
“Ellessdee, Thirteen-fourteenths, Minora, all of you,” said Lucy. “This book must be destroyed, it causes nothing but mischief.”
“Excuse me interrupting you,” said Half-term, “but to which book do you refer? It appears to me that there is no book.”
And, indeed, Half-term was right. There was no book, and the bits of it were scattered all over the ground, most of them so trampled on and dirty that they did not look like bits of paper.
“We couldn’t put the bits together again,” said Ellessdee.
“Queen Harmony won’t want to see those dirty little pieces of paper,” said Minora.
“Let us pick up all the pieces we can find, and bury them,” said the Fraction.
“No, your first plan was a good one,” said Lucy. “Let each pick up as many pieces as possible, carry them to the top of a tree, and scatter them to the winds.”
“If you want the place swept up,” said Christmas, “why, of course.”
“THEY JOINED HANDS.”
“Of course,” said Easter.
“One moment,” said Summer.
And the three fairies swung themselves down from the tree and hurried away.
“Where are they off to, this time?” said the Fraction. “They only mean mischief, let us all set to work to pick up the bits before the fairies come back.”
And all the figures, Lucy, Minora, and Miss Crimson Lake set to work with a will.
“I think,” said Half-term, sitting down, for once, “you are wasting your time. My charming sisters have gone to fetch a friend, who will do the work much better. Ah, I thought so. Here he comes. If you will take my advice, you will all lie flat on your faces.”
Father William lay down, but the others took no notice.
Then, suddenly, the pieces of paper began to run along the round.
“A wind getting up,” said Thirteen-fourteenths.
But as he spoke the wind grew stronger and stronger. The trees tossed their branches, showers of twigs and leaves tumbled to the ground, the wind howled and whistled; but through all the noise the shouting and laughing of the three sisters could be heard.
Lucy, Minora, and all the others were glad to take Half-term’s advice, and lie flat on the ground.
“What a wind!” whispered Thirteen-fourteenths.
“It is going away,” whispered Lucy.
And, as suddenly as it had risen, the wind died away.
“It’s all right, he’s gone,” cried Half-term.
And one after another Lucy, the Fraction, Minora, and the others raised their heads, and looked about them.
“What’s that?” cried Ellessdee, pointing to something black and white lying on the ground beneath a tree.
“I believe it’s the piece of my jacket,” said Thirteen-fourteenths. “The wind has blown it down.”
He ran quickly to pick it up, and shouted, “Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
And Ellessdee, Tare and Tret, Repeater, and Sois shouted, “Hurrah!” too.
“Then let us be off to Sum Land,” said Ellessdee.
“You certainly can’t pick up the pieces of the book,” said Lucy, “there’s not a bit to be seen anywhere. We ought to thank the holiday fairies.”
“And I ought to thank them,” said Thirteen-fourteenths, “their friend has found the piece of my jacket. Where are they?”
“You won’t see them any more at present,” said Half-term, “when Mr. Wind is out with three Holidays, they all have a good time and enjoy themselves.”
“Then let us go to Sum Land,” said Thirteen-fourteenths, “and I’ll try always to remember that holidays are good for something.”
“I’ll go back to Music Land,” said Minora, “and tell Queen Harmony there is no Book of Betty Barber.”
“Before we separate,” said Lucy, “let us all join hands in a circle round the tree, and say together, ‘The Book of Betty Barber is gone. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!’”
And they joined hands, and cheered heartily, then they clapped hands; and then they all jumped and ran, shouting and singing, down the path to the cross-roads, each to find his or her own way home.
As they disappeared through the wood there was a fluttering among the branches of the tree, and the White Owl flew down the trunk to her old quarters.
“Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!” she said, as she settled herself comfortably. ‘I shall have peace at last, the Book of Betty Barber is gone—gone—gone! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
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