"Auntie," he said seriously, "perhaps you can tell me better than Olive can. Are there really countries of dwarfs, and are they a kind of fairies, Auntie?"
Auntie looked rather puzzled.
"Dwarfs, Rex?" she said; "countries of dwarfs? How do you mean?"
Olive hastened to explain. Auntie was very much amused.
"Certainly," she said, "we have already seen so many strange things in our travels that it is better not to be too sure what we may not see.
But any way, Rex, you may be quite easy in your mind, that if ever you come across any of the dwarfs, you will find them very good-natured and amiable, only you must be very respectful--always say "Sir," or "My lord," or something like that to them, and bow a great deal. And you must never seem to think anything they do the least odd, not even if they propose to you to walk on your head, or to eat roast fir-cones for dinner, for instance."
Auntie was quite young--not so very much older than Olive--and very merry. Olive"s rather "grown-up" tones and manners used sometimes to tempt her to make fun of the little girl, which, to tell the truth, Olive did not always take quite in good part. And it must for Olive be allowed, that Auntie did sometimes allow her spirits and love of fun to run away with her a little too far, just like pretty unruly ponies, excited by the fresh air and sunshine, who toss their heads and gallop off. It is great fun at first and very nice to see, but one is sometimes afraid they may do some mischief on the way--without meaning it, of course; and, besides, it is not always so easy to pull them up as it was to start them.
Just as Auntie finished speaking the door opened and their uncle came in. He was Auntie"s elder brother--a good deal older--and very kind and sensible. At once all thoughts of the dwarfs or what Auntie had been saying danced out of Rex"s curly head. Like a true boy he flew off to his uncle, besieging him with questions as to what sort of a carriage they were to go on in--_was_ it an ox-cart; oh, mightn"t they _for once_ go in an ox-cart? and might he--oh, might he sit beside the driver in front?
His uncle laughed and replied to his questions, but Olive stayed beside the sofa, staring gravely at her aunt.
"Auntie," she said, "you"re not _in earnest_, are you, about there being really a country of dwarfs?"
Olive was twelve. Perhaps you will think her very silly to have imagined for a moment that her aunt"s joke could be anything but a joke, especially as she had been so sensible about not letting Rex get anything into his head which could frighten him. But I am not sure that she was so very silly after all. She had read in her geography about the Lapps and Finns, the tiny little men of the north, whom one might very well describe as dwarfs; there might be dwarfs in these strange Thuringian forests, which were little spoken of in geography books; Auntie knew more of such things than she did, for she had travelled in this country before. Then with her own eyes Olive had seen a dwarf, and though she had said to Rex that he was just an odd dwarf by himself as it were, not one of a race, how could she tell but what he might be one of a number of such queer little people? And even the blue dwarfs themselves--the little figures in the china manufactory--rather went to prove it than not.
"They may have taken the idea of dwarfs from the real ones, as Rex said," thought Olive. "Any way I shall look well about me if we go through any of these forests again. They must live in the forests, for Auntie said they eat roast fir-cones for dinner."
All these thoughts were crowding through her mind as she stared up into Auntie"s face and asked solemnly--
"Auntie, were you in earnest?"
Auntie"s blue eyes sparkled.
"In earnest, Olive?" she said. "Of course! Why shouldn"t I be in earnest? But come, quick, we must get our things together. Your uncle must have got a carriage."
"Yes," said he, "I have. _Not_ an ox-cart, Rex. I"m sorry for your sake, but for no one else"s; for I don"t think there would be much left of us by the end of the journey if we were to be jogged along the forest roads in an ox-cart. No! I have got quite a respectable vehicle; but we must stop an hour or two on the way, to rest the horses and give them a feed, otherwise we could not get through to-night."
"Where shall we stop?" said Auntie, as with the bundles of shawls and bags they followed the children"s uncle to the door.
"There is a little place in the forest, where they can look after the horses," said he; "and I daresay we can get some coffee there for ourselves, if we want it. It is a pretty little nook. I remember it long ago, and I shall be glad to see it again."
Olive had p.r.i.c.ked up her ears. "A little place in the forest!" she said to herself; "that may be near where the dwarfs live: it is most likely not far from here, because of the one we saw." She would have liked to ask her uncle about it, but something in the look of her aunt"s eyes kept her from doing so.
"Perhaps she _was_ joking," thought Olive to herself. "But perhaps she doesn"t know; _she_ didn"t see the real dwarf. It would be rather nice if I did find them, _then_ Auntie couldn"t laugh at me any more."
They were soon comfortably settled in the carriage, and set off. The first part of the drive was not particularly interesting; and it was so hot, though already afternoon, that they were all--Olive especially, you may be sure--delighted to exchange the open country for the pleasant shade of a grand pine forest, through which their road now lay.
"Is it a very large forest, Uncle?" said Olive.
"Yes, very large," he replied rather sleepily, to tell the truth; for both he and Auntie had been nodding a little, and Rex had once or twice been fairly asleep. But Olive"s imagination was far too hard at work to let her sleep.
"The largest in Europe?" she went on, without giving much thought to poor Uncle"s sleepiness.
"Oh yes, by far," he replied, for he had not heard clearly what she said, and fancied it was "the largest hereabouts."
"Dear me!" thought Olive, looking round her with awe and satisfaction.
"If there are dwarfs anywhere, then it must be here."
And she was just beginning another. "And please, Uncle, is----?" when her aunt looked up and said lazily--
"Oh, my dear child, do be quiet! Can"t you go to sleep yourself a little? We shall have more than enough of the forest before we are out of it." Which offended Olive so much that she relapsed into silence.
Auntie was a truer prophet than she knew; for when they got to the little hamlet in the wood, where they were to rest, something proved to be wrong with one of the horse"s shoes; _so_ wrong, indeed, that after a prolonged examination, at which all the inhabitants turned out to a.s.sist, it was decided that the horse must be re-shod before he could go any farther; and this made it impossible for the party who had come in the carriage to go any farther either. For the nearest smithy was two miles off; the horse must be led there and back by the driver, which would take at least two, if not three, hours. It was now past six, and they had come barely half way. The driver shook his head, and said he would not like to go on to the town till morning. The horse had p.r.i.c.ked his foot; it might cause inflammation to drive him farther without a rest, and the carriage was far too heavy for the other horse alone, which had suddenly struck the children"s uncle as a brilliant idea.
"There would be no difficulty about the harnessing, any way," he said to Auntie, laughing; "for all the vehicles hereabouts drawn by one horse have the animal at one side of a pole, instead of between shafts."
But Auntie thought it better to give in.
"It really doesn"t much matter," she said; "we can stay here well enough. There are two bedrooms, and no doubt they can give us something to eat; beer and sausages, and brown bread any way."
And so it was settled, greatly to Olive"s satisfaction; it would give her capital opportunities for a dwarf hunt! though as to this she kept her own counsel.
The landlady of the little post-house where they had stopped was accustomed to occasional visits of this kind from benighted or distressed travellers. She thought nothing of turning her two daughters out of their bedroom, which, it must be owned, was very clean, for Auntie and Olive, and a second room on the ground-floor was prepared for Rex and his uncle. She had coffee ready in five minutes, and promised them a comfortable supper before bedtime. Altogether, everything seemed very satisfactory, and when they felt a little refreshed, Auntie proposed a walk--"a good long walk," she said, "would do us good. And the landlady says we get out of the forest up there behind the house, where the ground rises, and that there is a lovely view. It will be rather a climb, but it isn"t more than three-quarters of an hour from here, and we have not walked all day."
Uncle thought it a good idea, and Rex was ready to start at once; but Olive looked less pleased.
"Don"t you want to come, Olive?" said Auntie. "Are you tired? You didn"t take a nap like the rest of us."
"I am a little tired," said Olive, which was true in one sense, though not in another, for she was quite fit for a walk. It struck her that her excuse was not quite an honest one, so she added, "If you don"t mind, I would rather stay about here. I don"t mind being alone, and I have my book. And I do so like the forest."
"Very well," said her uncle; "only don"t lose yourself. She is perfectly safe," he added, turning to her aunt; "there are neither wolves, nor bears, nor robbers nowadays, in these peaceful forests."
So the three set off, leaving Olive to her own devices. She waited till they were out of sight, then she made her preparations.
"I"d better take my purse," she said to herself, "in case I meet the dwarfs. Auntie told me to be very polite, and perhaps they would like some of these tiny pieces; they just look as if they were meant for them." So she chose out a few one-pfennig copper coins, which are much smaller than our farthings, and one or two silver pieces, worth about twopence-halfpenny each, still smaller. Then she put in her pocket half a slice of the brown bread they had had with their coffee, and arming herself, more for appearance"s-sake than anything else, with her parasol and the book she had with her in her travelling bag, she set off on her solitary ramble.
It was still hot--though the forest trees made a pleasant shade. Olive walked some way, farther and farther, as far as she could make out, into the heart of the forest, but in her inexperience she took no sort of care to notice the way she went, or to make for herself any kind of landmarks. She just wandered on and on, tempted first by some mysterious little path, and then by another, her mind full of the idea of the discoveries she was perhaps about to make. Now and then a squirrel darted across from one tree to another, disappearing among the branches almost before Olive could be sure she had seen it, or some wild wood birds, less familiar to the little foreigner, would startle her with a shrill, strange note. There were here and there lovely flowers growing among the moss, and more than once she heard the sound of not far off trickling water. It was all strangely beautiful, and she would greatly have enjoyed and admired it had not her mind been so full of the queer fascinating idea of the blue dwarfs.
At last--she had wandered about for some time--Olive began to feel tired.
"I may as well sit down a little," she thought; "I have lots of time to get back. This seems the very heart of the forest. They are just as likely to be seen here as anywhere else."
So Olive ensconced herself in a comfortable corner, her back against the root of a tree, which seemed hollowed out on purpose to serve as an arm-chair. She thought at first she would read a little, but the light was already slightly waning, and the tree shadows made it still fainter.
Besides, Olive had plenty to think of--she did not require any amus.e.m.e.nt. Queer little noises now and then made themselves heard--once or twice it really sounded as if small feet were pattering along, or as if shrill little voices were laughing in the distance; and with each sound, Olive"s heart beat faster with excitement--not with fear.
"If I sit very still," she thought, "who knows what I may see? Of course, it would be much nicer and prettier if the dwarfs were quite tiny--not like the little man we saw in the street at that place--I forget the name--for he was not pretty at all--but like the blue dwarfs at the manufactory. But that, I suppose, is impossible, for they would be really like fairies. But they might be something between: not so big as the little man, and yet bigger than the blue dwarfs."
And then Olive grew a little confused in trying to settle in her mind how big, or how small rather, it was possible or impossible for a nation of dwarfs to be. She thought it over till she hardly seemed sure what she was trying to decide. She kept saying to herself, "Any way, they could not but be a good deal bigger than my thumb! What does that mean?
Perhaps it means more in German measures than in English, perhaps----"
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BLUE DWARFS
"They were sliding down the branches of the tree in all directions." P.