Mr. Rabbit at Home - Joel Chandler Harris (beach books .txt) 📗
- Author: Joel Chandler Harris
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“Johnny would have thanked the woman, but in the twinkling of an eye she was gone without making a sound, and not a blade of grass shook to show that she had been there. Johnny turned in his tracks and started home the way he came. Before he had gone far he stopped to look back, but the strange country was nowhere to be seen—only the old familiar hills and trees that he had always known.
“When he got home there was a strange woman cooking and fixing his father’s supper. The table was set, and everything was almost as neat and as tidy as it used to be when his mother was alive. Even his own little plate was in its place, and his mug, with the picture of a blue castle painted on it, was by the plate. But Johnny had no appetite. He went to the door and looked in, and then went to the stable. Once there, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to drive the cow in from the pasture. He went running to get her, but found her coming along of her own accord, something she was not in the habit of doing.
A LADY, RICHLY DRESSED, CAME OUT OF THE WOODS
“Johnny wondered a little at this, but it soon passed out of his mind, and he got behind the cow and made her go faster. He drove the cow into the lot, and waited awhile for the woman to come and milk. But she delayed so long that he went to the house and found his father eating supper. Instead of going to the table, he went and sat by the fire.
“‘Have something to eat?’ said the woman.
“‘I am not hungry,’ he replied.
“‘Have a glass of fresh milk, then?’ she said.
“‘Not to-night,’ he answered. ‘I have just driven the cow in from the pasture.’
“‘I brought her from the pasture myself,’ said the woman, ‘milked her, and turned her out again.’
“Johnny said nothing to this, but he knew the cow had not been milked, and he wondered where the woman got the milk that his father was drinking. He thought it over, and forgot all about his grief. He noticed that as soon as his father drank the milk he began to smile at the woman. He smiled at the woman, but was cross to Johnny.
“After supper the woman went out, and after a while Johnny went out, too, leaving his father sitting by the fire smoking his pipe. Johnny went to the lot, thinking the woman had gone there. He wanted to see whether she would milk the cow. He crept along the side of the fence, and soon he was near enough to peep through a crack without being seen. He saw the woman rubbing the cow on the back while the calf was getting all the milk.
“‘You see how good I am to you, sister,’ said she. ‘Now I want you to be good to me. When that boy Jack goes after you to the pasture, I want you to lead him a chase. I saw him beating your calf to-day. But see how good I am to your calf, sister. I give it all the milk.’
“The cow shook her horn and switched her tail, and Johnny, sitting in the fence corner, wondered what it all meant.
“‘I see,’ said the cow, after a while. ‘You want to marry the boy’s father, and the boy is in the way. But suppose they find you out. What then?’
“‘Trust me for that, sister,’ said the woman; ‘trust me for that.’
“Johnny waited to hear no more, but crept away and went to bed. He was dressed and out by sun-up next morning, but the woman was up before him, and had breakfast nearly ready. Johnny asked her if she had milked the cow, and she replied that she had milked and forgotten about it. Johnny saw the milk-pail setting on the shelf, and when he looked at it he knew the cow had not been milked, else the sides of the pail would have been spattered.
“But the cow had been turned out, and the calf was sleeping contentedly in the fence corner, instead of nibbling the grass. Johnny drank no milk at breakfast, but his father did, and smiled at the woman more than ever. During the day Johnny forgot all about the cow, but when night came he knew she must be brought up, so he went to the pasture after her. She was not to be found. He hunted over the hills and fields, and then, not finding her, began to cry.
“Suddenly the lady he had seen the day before stepped out of the wood and spoke to him. She held in her hand a tiny lantern.
“‘Take this,’ she said, holding out the lantern. ‘You wouldn’t call me, and so I came to you.’
“‘I forgot,’ whispered Johnny.
“‘Don’t forget any more,’ said the lady. ‘Take this lantern and run to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill. You’ll find your cow tied there. Drive her home, and don’t spare her.’
“Johnny found the cow tied to the poplar sure enough, and he made her gallop home as fast as she could. He blew out his tiny lantern before he got in sight of the house, but it dropped from his hand and he could find it no more. He ceased to hunt for it after a while, and drove the cow to the lot, where the woman was waiting.
“‘Go get your supper,’ she said to Johnny.
“‘Yes ’m,’ replied Johnny, but he went off only to creep back to see what the woman would do.
“She abused the cow terribly. He could see that she was angry. ‘You are a nice sister,’ she exclaimed, ‘to let that boy bring you home so early.’
“‘Don’t “sister” me,’ moaned the cow. ‘I’m nearly famished, and that boy has nearly run me off my legs. Somebody that I couldn’t see caught me and tied me to a tree this morning, and there I’ve been all day. We’d better go away from here. That boy will find you out yet.’
“Then Johnny crept away, ate his supper, and went to bed. He slept late the next morning, but when he awoke he found that his father, instead of being at work, as was his habit, was smoking his pipe and talking to the woman, and both were smiling at each other very sweetly. That afternoon, Johnny went to bring the cow home before sundown, but he couldn’t find her. He hunted and hunted for her until long after dark, and then he went to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill, and said:—
“Instantly Johnny heard a cow lowing in the valley, and saw a light glimmering faintly in the distance. In a little while he heard a tremendous clatter of hoofs up the hill, and the rushing of some large animal through the bushes. It seemed to have one eye only and that eye shone as fiercely as a flame of fire as its head swayed from side to side. It came rushing to the poplar-tree where Johnny stood, and stopped there. Johnny peeped from behind the tree and saw that the frightful animal was nothing more than his cow, with a tiny lantern hanging on her horn. She stood there panting and trembling. Johnny waited to see if the Keeper of Cows that roam in the night would make her appearance, but he waited in vain. Then he drove the cow home, turned her into the lot, and went in the house to get his supper. His father and the woman were sitting very close together.
“‘Have you brought the cow?’ the woman asked.
“‘She’s in the lot,’ replied Johnny.
“‘You are a smart boy,’ said the woman.
“‘Thanky, ma’am,’ exclaimed Johnny.
“So it went on day after day. The woman would make the cow wander farther and farther away from home, and Johnny would go to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill and call for the beautiful lady, the Keeper of the Cows that roam in the night, and soon the cow would come running and lowing. Then Johnny would drive her home by the light of his little lantern. This happened so often that the neighbors, and indeed the people in all that country, when they saw a light bobbing around at night, would shake their heads and say, ‘There goes Jack with his lantern,’ and then after a while they called him ‘Jack of the Lantern.’
“One day he heard two of the neighbors talking about him, saying it was a pity that so bright a boy should have such a stepmother as the woman his father was about to marry. Then Johnny (or Jack, as he was sometimes called) knew that his father was preparing to marry the woman who was keeping house for him, and it made the boy feel very wretched to think that this woman was to take the place of his mother.
“That very day he went to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill and called for the Keeper of the Cows that roam in the night. The lady made her appearance, and then Johnny told her his troubles. The lady smiled for the first time. Then she told Johnny that if he would follow her directions his troubles would disappear. She gave him a roll of blue ribbon, and told him what to say when he presented it to the woman just before the marriage took place. She told him also what to do with his little lantern. Johnny went home feeling very much better, and that night his father told him he was to have a new mother the next day. He said nothing in reply, but smiled as if the news pleased him.
“Johnny lay awake that night a long time, and once he thought the woman came and leaned over his bed as if to listen, but just then a cow not far away lowed once, twice, thrice. Then the woman went away muttering something.
“The next day the invited guests began to assemble early, and after a while the preacher came. The women neighbors would have the bride to stand up in the middle of the floor to admire her just before the ceremony, and when she stood up Johnny began to march around her, waving his lantern and his blue ribbon and singing:—
“Johnny threw the
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