I had been at work but a few moments,when I heard small voices near me,and presently the Little Ones,as I soon found they called themselves,came creeping out from among the tiny trees that like brushwood filled the spaces between the big ones.In a minute there were scores and scores about me.I made signs that the giants had but just left me,and were not far off;but they laughed,and told me the wind was quite clean.
"They are too blind to see us,"they said,and laughed like a multitude of sheep-bells.
"Do you like that rope about your ankles?"asked one.
"I want them to think I cannot take it off,"I replied.
"They can scarcely see their own feet!"he rejoined."Walk with short steps and they will think the rope is all right."As he spoke,he danced with merriment.
One of the bigger girls got down on her knees to untie the clumsy knot.I smiled,thinking those pretty fingers could do nothing with it,but in a moment it was loose.
They then made me sit down,and fed me with delicious little fruits;after which the smaller of them began to play with me in the wildest fashion,so that it was impossible for me to resume my work.When the first grew tired,others took their places,and this went on until the sun was setting,and heavy steps were heard approaching.
The little people started from me,and I made haste to put the rope round my ankles.
"We must have a care,"said the girl who had freed me;"a crush of one of their horrid stumpy feet might kill a very little one!""Can they not perceive you at all then?"
"They might see something move;and if the children were in a heap on the top of you,as they were a moment ago,it would be terrible;for they hate every live thing but themselves.--Not that they are much alive either!"She whistled like a bird.The next instant not one of them was to be seen or heard,and the girl herself had disappeared.
It was my master,as doubtless he counted himself,come to take me home.He freed my ankles,and dragged me to the door of his hut;there he threw me on the ground,again tied my feet,gave me a kick,and left me.
Now I might at once have made my escape;but at length I had friends,and could not think of leaving them.They were so charming,so full of winsome ways,that I must see more of them!I must know them better!"To-morrow,"I said to myself with delight,"I shall see them again!"But from the moment there was silence in the huts until I fell asleep,I heard them whispering all about me,and knew that I was lovingly watched by a multitude.After that,I think they hardly ever left me quite alone.
I did not come to know the giants at all,and I believe there was scarcely anything in them to know.They never became in the least friendly,but they were much too stupid to invent cruelties.Often I avoided a bad kick by catching the foot and giving its owner a fall,upon which he never,on that occasion,renewed his attempt.
But the little people were constantly doing and saying things that pleased,often things that surprised me.Every day I grew more loath to leave them.While I was at work,they would keep coming and going,amusing and delighting me,and taking all the misery,and much of the weariness out of my monotonous toil.Very soon I loved them more than I can tell.They did not know much,but they were very wise,and seemed capable of learning anything.I had no bed save the bare ground,but almost as often as I woke,it was in a nest of children--one or other of them in my arms,though which I seldom could tell until the light came,for they ordered the succession among themselves.When one crept into my bosom,unconsciously I clasped him there,and the rest lay close around me,the smaller nearer.It is hardly necessary to say that I did not suffer much from the nightly cold!The first thing they did in the morning,and the last before sunset,was to bring the good giant plenty to eat.
One morning I was surprised on waking to find myself alone.As Icame to my senses,however,I heard subdued sounds of approach,and presently the girl already mentioned,the tallest and gravest of the community,and regarded by all as their mother,appeared from the wood,followed by the multitude in jubilation manifest--but silent lest they should rouse the sleeping giant at whose door Ilay.She carried a boy-baby in her arms:hitherto a girl-baby,apparently about a year old,had been the youngest.Three of the bigger girls were her nurses,but they shared their treasure with all the rest.Among the Little Ones,dolls were unknown;the bigger had the smaller,and the smaller the still less,to tend and play with.
Lona came to me and laid the infant in my arms.The baby opened his eyes and looked at me,closed them again,and fell asleep.
"He loves you already!"said the girl.
"Where did you find him?"I asked.
"In the wood,of course,"she answered,her eyes beaming with delight,"--where we always find them.Isn't he a beauty?We've been out all night looking for him.Sometimes it is not easy to find!""How do you know when there is one to find?"I asked.
"I cannot tell,"she replied."Every one makes haste to tell the other,but we never find out who told first.Sometimes I think one must have said it asleep,and another heard it half-awake.When there is a baby in the wood,no one can stop to ask questions;and when we have found it,then it is too late.""Do more boy or girl babies come to the wood?""They don't come to the wood;we go to the wood and find them.""Are there more boys or girls of you now?"
I had found that to ask precisely the same question twice,made them knit their brows.
"I do not know,"she answered.
"You can count them,surely!"
"We never do that.We shouldn't like to be counted.""Why?"
"It wouldn't be smooth.We would rather not know.""Where do the babies come from first?"
"From the wood--always.There is no other place they can come from."She knew where they came from last,and thought nothing else was to be known about their advent.
"How often do you find one?"