Mr. Rabbit at Home - Joel Chandler Harris (beach books .txt) 📗
- Author: Joel Chandler Harris
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“Then the Man in the Moon called to the leaders of his army of lantern bearers, and waved his hands. They, in turn, waved their tiny lanterns, and in a moment all were out of sight, and Smat was left alone. For some time afterwards he felt both lonely and uneasy, but this feeling passed away as soon as he went into his house. He was so astonished by what he saw in there that he forgot to feel uneasy. He saw that, although the house was newly built,—if it had been built,—it was in fact old enough inside to seem like home. Every room was finely furnished and carpeted, and in one part of the house, in a sort of shed-room, he found that a shoemaker’s shop had been fixed up. There he saw the awl and the axe, and the shoemaker’s wax, with the pegs and the leather that were found close together.
“He thought to himself that all that was very nice, but he knew, too, that he was not much of a shoemaker, and this bothered him not a little. Anyhow, he made himself comfortable and waited to see what was going to happen.
“One day a head officer of the kingdom chanced to pass that way. He saw the house and rubbed his eyes. He was so astonished that he went and told another officer, and this officer told another, and finally all the officers in the kingdom knew about it. Now, if you’ve ever noticed, those who hold government offices have less to do and more time to do it in than any other day laborers. So they went about and caucussed among themselves, and examined into the books, and found that no taxes had ever been gathered from the owner of such a house. There was great commotion among them. One of them, more meddlesome than the rest, took a big book under his arm and went to Smat’s house to make inquiries. The first question he asked was the last.
“Says he, ‘How long have you been living in this precinct?’
“Says Smat, ‘Ever since the house was built and a little while before.’
“The officer looked at the house and saw that it was a very old one, and then he tucked his big book under his arm and went off home. At last the king—the same King Stuff whose name you’ve heard me mention—heard about the new house that was old, and of the shoemaker who didn’t know how to make shoes. So he concluded to look into the matter. He summoned his high and mighty men, and when they had gathered together they went into a back room of the palace and shut the door, and had a long talk together. All this took time; and while the king and his high and mighty men were confabbing together, other things were happening, as you shall presently see.
“It seems that in that kingdom there was a beautiful girl who went wandering about the country. If she had any kinsfolk, nobody knew anything about it, and, indeed, nobody cared. She had lost one of her shoes, and she went about from place to place hunting for it. Some pitied her, and some laughed at her, which is the way of the world, as you’ll find out; but nobody tried to help her. Some said that one shoe was better than no shoe, and others said that a new shoe would do just as well as an old shoe.”
“That’s where they made a big mistake,” said Mrs. Meadows. “I’ve tried it, and I ought to know. A new shoe is bound to hurt you a little at first, I don’t care how well it fits.”
“Well, I’m only telling you what they said,” replied little Mr. Thimblefinger. “From all I can hear, new shoes hurt the ladies a great deal worse than they do the men. But that’s natural, for their toes and their heels are a good deal tenderer than those of the men folks. Anyhow, this beautiful girl had lost one of her shoes, and, rather than buy another one or a new pair, she went hunting it everywhere. One day she came by Smat’s house. He, sitting by one of the windows, and wishing that he could see his father and brother, paid no attention to the passers-by. But this beautiful girl saw him at the window and spoke to him.
“HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING OF A STRAY SHOE?”
“‘Kind sir,’ she said, ‘have you seen anything of a stray shoe? I have lost one of mine, and I’m in great trouble about it.’
“Smat looked at the girl, and she was so beautiful that he couldn’t help but blush. Seeing this, the girl began to blush. And so there they were, two young things a-blushing at one another, and wondering what was the matter.
“‘I have seen no stray shoe,’ said Smat; ‘but if you’ll come in and show me the one you have on, I think I’ll know its fellow when I see it.’
“The girl went into the house and sat on a chair, and showed Smat the shoe that she hadn’t lost. She had the smallest and the neatest foot he had ever seen.
“‘I hope you are no kin to Cinderella,’ said Smat, ‘for then you couldn’t get a shoe to fit your other foot until some kind fairy made it.’
“‘I never heard of Cinderella,’ the girl replied. ‘I only know that I have lost my shoe, and I’m afraid I’ll never get another just like it.’
“Smat scratched his head, and then he thought about the awl and the axe and the shoemaker’s wax, and the pegs and the leather that were found close together. So he said to the beautiful girl:—
“‘Just sit here a little while, and I’ll see if I can’t get you a shoe to fit your foot. But I must have the other shoe as a pattern to work by.’
“At first the girl didn’t want to trust him with the shoe, but she saw that he was in earnest, and so she pulled off the only shoe she had and placed it in Smat’s hands. He saw at once that the leather he had was a match for that in the shoe, and he set to work with a light heart,—with a light heart, but his hand was heavy. And yet, somehow or other, he found that he knew all about making shoes, although he had never learned how. The leather fitted itself to the last, and everything went smoothly. But the beautiful girl, instead of feeling happy that she would soon have a mate to her shoe, began to grow sad. She sat in a corner with her head between her hands and her hair hanging down to her feet, and sighed every time Smat bored a hole in the leather with his awl or drove in a peg. Finally, when he handed her the shoe entirely finished, she looked at it, sighed, and let it fall from her hands.
“‘Of course,’ said Smat, ‘I don’t feel bad over a little thing like that. But you don’t have to pay anything for the shoe, and you don’t have to wear it unless you want to.’
“‘Oh, it is not that,’ cried the beautiful girl. ‘The shoe will do very well, but the moment I put it on, your troubles will begin.’
“‘Well,’ replied Smat, ‘we must have troubles of some sort anyhow, and the sooner they begin, the sooner they’ll be ended. So put on your shoe.’
“Now, it happened that just as the girl put on the shoe, which fitted her foot exactly, King Stuff and his councilors came driving up to the door. King Stuff was not a large man, but he was very fierce-looking. He called out from his carriage of state and asked what sort of a person lived in that house that he couldn’t come out and salute when the king and his councilors went riding by. Smat went to the door and bowed as politely as he could, and said that he would have been glad to bow and salute, if he had known his royal highness and their excellent excellencies intended to honor his poor house even so much as to pass by it. The king and his councilors looked at one another and shook their heads.
“‘This man is none of us,’ said the oldest and wisest of the councilors. ‘We must be careful.’
“‘How long have you lived here?’ asked the king.
“‘Longer than I wanted to,’ replied Smat. ‘My house is so far from the palace that I have not been able to call and pay my respects to your majesty.’
“‘I see you are a maker of shoes,’ remarked the king, seeing the awl in Smat’s hand.
“‘No, your majesty, not a maker of shoes, but simply a shoemaker. Thus far I have succeeded in making only one shoe.’
“At this the king and his councilors began to shake and tremble. ‘What was the prophecy?’ cried the king to the oldest and wisest. ‘Repeat it!’
“The oldest and the wisest closed his eyes, allowed his head to drop to one side, and said in solemn tones:—
“Smat felt very much like laughing at the solemn way in which the oldest and wisest councilor repeated this prophecy, or whatever it might be called. ‘Your majesty needn’t be worried about that prophecy,’ said he. ‘It’s the easiest thing in the world to break the force of it.’
“‘How?’ asked the king.
“‘Why, having made one shoe, I’ll go to work and make another,’ replied Smat.
“The oldest and wisest of the councilors said that was a pretty good plan,—anyhow, it was worth trying. Smat promised to make another shoe, and have it ready in two days. But this was easier said than done. In the first place, he had used nearly all his leather in making a shoe for the beautiful girl. In the second place, the awl point wouldn’t stay in the handle. In the third place, the pegs split and broke every time he tried to drive them, and the shoemaker’s wax wouldn’t stick. Everything went wrong at first and grew worse at last, so that when the king sent his officers for the shoe it was no nearer done than it had been before Smat began.
“The beautiful girl had not gone very far away, and she came every day to see how Smat prospered in making the second shoe. She was watching him when the king’s officers came for the shoe, and when she saw them she began to weep. But Smat looked as cheerful as ever, and even began to whistle when the officers knocked at the door.
“‘We are in a fix,’ said he, ‘but we’ll get out of it. Lend me the shoe I made for you. I’ll send that to the king and then get it back again.’
“The girl tried to take the shoe from her foot, but nothing would move it. ‘That is a sign,’ said Smat, ‘that it ought not to come off. I’ll just go to the king myself and tell him the facts in the case. That is the best way.’
“So he gathered the awl and the axe and the
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