CHAPTER VIIITHE MAGIC ROCKING-CHAIR

CHAPTER VIIITHE MAGIC ROCKING-CHAIRHear the rain, April rain!Falling on the windowpane;Pitter, patter, all day long;Can you hear the raindrops’ song?“We call the flowers to bloom again,They are refreshed by April rain.”Said the Ink-Bottle Babies, “Without any doubt,It is time to get our umbrellas out!”

Hear the rain, April rain!Falling on the windowpane;Pitter, patter, all day long;Can you hear the raindrops’ song?“We call the flowers to bloom again,They are refreshed by April rain.”Said the Ink-Bottle Babies, “Without any doubt,It is time to get our umbrellas out!”

Hear the rain, April rain!

Falling on the windowpane;

Pitter, patter, all day long;

Can you hear the raindrops’ song?

“We call the flowers to bloom again,

They are refreshed by April rain.”

Said the Ink-Bottle Babies, “Without any doubt,

It is time to get our umbrellas out!”

When the Ink-Bottle Babies woke up next morning they cried, “Oh Ma! Oh Pa! It is raining!”

Sure enough, the rain came splash, not a gentle patter, but splash! splash! splash!

“Oh! oh! oh!” cried all the Ink-Bottle Babies. “How can we get to school in the rain?”

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “I will get your umbrellas.”

The Ink-Bottle Papa said, “I will get your rubbers.”

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies said, “Hurrah for rubbers and umbrellas! Hurrah for a rainy day!”

“The little dwarf called ‘Halt!’”

How funny they looked going along the street with their twenty-five little umbrellas bobbing up and down.

As they went along they heard a voice cry,

“In and out, without a doubt,I will keep dry if I but try!”

“In and out, without a doubt,

I will keep dry if I but try!”

The Babies looked down and there stood a little dwarf. He had a long white beard that came to the ground. He bobbed in and out among theBabies and skipped first under this umbrella, and then under that umbrella, and it kept the Babies quite busy looking for him.

“Are you going to school with us?” asked Molly.

“Do you know where the magic pitcher is?” asked Polly.

Then the most surprising thing happened!

The little dwarf called “Halt!” and every one of the Ink-Bottle Babies stood still in the pouring rain.

Then the little dwarf said,

“The magic pitcher has melted away;Don’t tell the secret, I beg you, pray!”

“The magic pitcher has melted away;

Don’t tell the secret, I beg you, pray!”

Then Molly said, “How could it melt away?”

Then the little dwarf said,

“The magic pitcher is safe and sound,Perhaps you will find it underground.”

“The magic pitcher is safe and sound,

Perhaps you will find it underground.”

Then Polly said, “I believe you do not know anything about the magic pitcher; you are only guessing!”

“Isn’t guessing allowed?” asked the dwarf. Then he shouted, “Forward! march!” and theyall went on to school. When they came to school the dwarf said,

“I hardly dare to go inside,Unless I find a place to hide!”

“I hardly dare to go inside,

Unless I find a place to hide!”

Then the Ink Bottle Babies suggested various places for the little dwarf to hide in, but none of the places pleased him, so he said,

“If you stay till afternoon,I will come back very soon!”

“If you stay till afternoon,

I will come back very soon!”

Then in a twinkling of an eye he was gone.

The teacher was so surprised to see all the Ink-Bottle Babies on such a rainy day that she let them sit wherever they pleased. They went to the blackboard and did neat little sums, and they all got their answers right.

At noon the teacher went home for dinner, and the Babies took out their twenty-five little dinner pails, and began to eat their lunch.

The rain came down harder and harder, and the Babies said, “We wonder if the little dwarf got drowned?”

Soon there was heard a rap-a-tap at the window, and a voice called,

“The rain is rather wet to-day;Will you open your window a little way?”

“The rain is rather wet to-day;

Will you open your window a little way?”

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies ran and opened the window and let the little dwarf in.

Such a sputtering and fussing you never heard! He shook the rain from his coat and said,

“With no umbrella, how do you suppose,I could keep dry in my little clothes?”

“With no umbrella, how do you suppose,

I could keep dry in my little clothes?”

Then he danced, and he hopped, and he skipped about until he was quite dry.

He tasted something out of every one of the twenty-five dinner pails.

Then he climbed up on the window sill and said, “What shall we play, ‘I-Spy’?”

The Ink-Bottle Babies said, “There really is no place to hide. Please tell us a story instead!”

“Tell about the magic pitcher, or the magic spoon,” cried Molly and Polly!

Then the little dwarf said,

“If you really, truly do not care,I prefer The Magic Rocking-Chair!”

“If you really, truly do not care,

I prefer The Magic Rocking-Chair!”

“Tell us about it! Tell us about it!” cried the Babies.

The little dwarf waited until the Babies were still; then he began the tale of The Magic Rocking-Chair! Here is the story he told:

Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived with his grandparents in the woods.

The grandparents were so old and feeble that the little boy had all the wood to cut and the water to bring in. He was kept busy working from morning till night.

One evening, as his grandparents fell asleep by the fire, the little boy said, “I wish I had some one to play with me. I do wish I could have some fun once in a while!”

A little dwarf stuck his head in at the door and said, softly,

“Little boy, if you do not care,I’ll give you a magic rocking-chair!”

“Little boy, if you do not care,

I’ll give you a magic rocking-chair!”

There stood the little dwarf in the doorway. He carried a beautiful red rocking-chair. The chair was so heavy and large for the dwarf it was all he could possibly carry.

“Kept rocking until they arrived in China”

He set it down in the doorway and said in a whisper,

“Wherever you think you’d like to go,Just sit in the chair and rock to and fro.”

“Wherever you think you’d like to go,

Just sit in the chair and rock to and fro.”

Then in the twinkling of an eye the little dwarf was gone. The little boy lost no time trying the chair, you may be sure.

He said, “I think I would like to go to China.”And he began to rock to and fro. He rocked so hard that he rocked right out of the house. Then the chair sailed away up over the tree-tops, and he kept rocking all the way until they arrived in China.

The chair stopped outside of a fine house, and said, “I will wait for you.”

Then the little boy went into the house and the Chinamen were very polite to him. They taught him to eat with chopsticks, and they gave him a pound of tea to take home with him. They tied the tea up in a fine silk handkerchief.

A great clock struck twelve and the little boy remembered that the chair did not want to wait later than twelve, so he bade his new friends good-bye and went outside.

He stepped into the chair and said, “Home again, home again,” and they rode along homeward.

The chair said, “I know one little verse the dwarf keeps whispering to himself when he uses this magic chair. It is this,

“‘When ’tis midnight heed the hour,Or the chair may lose its magic power.’”

“‘When ’tis midnight heed the hour,

Or the chair may lose its magic power.’”

“Thank you, I will remember that,” said thelittle boy, and whizzing along they went on home.

There sat the old people just as he had left them, nid-nid-nodding by the fire.

“Good-bye,” said the chair, “I will hide outside.”

The little boy took his tea and his silk handkerchief with him to his own room and he soon fell asleep.

His work seemed easy to him next day. He said, “I wonder where I shall go to-night. I believe I will go to Holland if the chair comes around.”

Next evening the old people fell asleep as before and there was a gentle tap at the door. The little dwarf had brought the chair again, but he wanted a present this time.

He begged so hard for a present that at last the little boy gave him the red silk handkerchief. The little dwarf tied the handkerchief about him as a sash and went off singing in the moonlight.

The little boy said, “I will go to Holland.”

He rocked away across the sea and he had a fine time, you may be sure.

The people in Holland gave him a cheese and a pair of wooden shoes to take home.

At exactly twelve o’clock he stepped into the chair and rocked home.

Night after night the little boy rode away in the rocking-chair, and all went well until the night he went to the circus.

The clown said so many funny things he forgot about the time. It struck twelve o’clock, and one o’clock, and then the circus was over.

The little boy stepped out of the tent and his chair was nowhere to be seen, so he had to walk all the way home.

The next evening the little dwarf came without the chair. He looked very sad and he said,

“Of course, little boy, you meant no harm,But you have broken the magic charm.”

“Of course, little boy, you meant no harm,

But you have broken the magic charm.”

Then the dwarf explained that the chair would rock no longer because the little boy overstayed his time. He said with tears in his eyes that the chair now would not rock across the room.

“The clown said so many funny things”

Then the boy said, “Dry your eyes, I will tell you what to do.”

He took the little dwarf by the hand and they ran to the house of the crossest giant in the land. They persuaded the giant to come and look at the rocking-chair and mend it, for he was very clever about such things.

The giant made the chair as good as new; then he turned to the little boy and said fiercely, “I have not had a good meal to-day. I will just eat you up!”

Then the chair grew very angry. It grew so large suddenly that the giant could sit in it, and it said,

“Come have a ride, and rock to and fro;I am sure I know where you want to go!”

“Come have a ride, and rock to and fro;

I am sure I know where you want to go!”

The giant forgot how hungry he was and he sat down in the chair. The chair rocked him down to the river and threw him in.

He was not drowned, of course, but he was awfully scared, and the chair rocked back to the little dwarf.

The little boy had many rides in the chair after that, but he took the little dwarf with him, so that they would be sure to remember the time, and not stay out after midnight.

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “Is that the end?Surely that is not the end. There must be more.”

The little dwarf did not want to answer, so he said, “It is raining so hard the teacher may not come back to school.”

“Please tell the end of the story,” begged the Babies.

Then the little dwarf cried, “What! ho! Here comes the farmer to take you home!”

Sure enough, there was the farmer in his big wagon. He had come to take the Ink-Bottle Babies home.

“Was that the end of the story?” called Molly and Polly.

The little dwarf smiled and said,

“If you should ever want a ride,Come to my house and step inside!”

“If you should ever want a ride,

Come to my house and step inside!”

“Oh! oh! oh!” cried the Ink-Bottle Babies clapping their hands. “Do you own the magic rocking-chair? Will you please take us to ride?”

The little dwarf ran out in the rain, laughing as he went.

How were the Ink-Bottle Babies to guess whether he owned the rocking-chair or not?

Back to Index Next