At the Back of the North Wind | Page 2

what o'clock it was, or at least what was to
be done next, which was--to go to sleep again as fast as he could!
Often there was hay at little Diamond's feet as he lay in bed, and hay at
his head, piled up in great heaps to the very roof. Sometimes there was
none at all. That was when they had used it all and had not yet bought

more. Soon they bought more, and then it was only through a little lane
with two or three turnings in it that he could reach his bed at all.
Sometimes when his mother undressed him in her room and told him to
trot away to bed by himself, he would creep into the heart of the hay
first. There he would lie, thinking how cold it was outside in the wind
and how warm it would be inside his bed; and how he would go to his
bed when he pleased; only he wouldn't just yet; he would get a little
colder first. As he grew colder lying in the hay, his bed seemed to him
to grow warmer. Then at last, he would scramble out of the hay, shoot
like an arrow into his bed, cover himself up, snuggle down, and think
what a happy boy he was!
He had not the least idea that the wind got in at a chink in the wall and
blew about him all night. But the back of his bed was of boards only an
inch thick, and on the other side of them was the north wind. Now these
boards were soft and crumbly, and it happened that a soft part in them
had worn away.
One night after he lay down, little Diamond found that a knot had come
out of one of them and the wind was blowing in upon him. He jumped
out of bed again, got a little wisp of hay, twisted it up and folded it in
the middle. In this way, he made it into a cork and stuck it into the
knot-hole to keep the wind out. But the wind began to blow loudly and
angrily. Just as Diamond was falling asleep, out blew his hay cork and
hit him on the nose!
It was just hard enough to wake him up and let him hear the wind
whistling through the hole. He searched about for his hay cork, found it,
and stuck it in harder. He was just dropping off to sleep once more,
when pop! with an angry whistle behind it, the cork struck him again,
this time on the cheek. Up he rose once more, got some more hay to
make a new cork, and stuck it into the hole as hard as ever he could.
But he was scarcely laid down again, before pop! it came on his
forehead. So he gave it up, drew the bed-clothes over his head, and was
soon fast asleep.
[Illustration: AGAINST THIS HE LAID HIS EAR, AND THEN HE

HEARD THE VOICE QUITE DISTINCTLY]
Next day, little Diamond forgot all about the hole. But his mother
found it when she was making up his bed and pasted a piece of thick
brown paper over it. So when Diamond snuggled down into his bed
that night, he did not think of it at all. But before he dropped asleep, he
heard a queer sound and lifted his head to listen. Was somebody talking
to him? The wind was rising again and beginning to blow and whistle.
Was it the wind? He moved about to find out who or what it was, and
at last, happened to put his hand upon the knot-hole with the paper
pasted over it. Against this he laid his ear and then he heard the voice
quite distinctly.
"What do you mean, little boy, by closing up my window?"
"What window?" asked Diamond.
"You stuffed hay into it three times last night! I had to blow it out again
three times!"
"You can't mean this little hole? It isn't a window. It is a hole in my
bed."
"I did not say a window. I said it was my window!"
"But it can't be a window!" said Diamond. "Windows are holes to see
out of."
"Well, that is just what I made this window for."
"But you are outside," answered Diamond. "You can't want a window."
"You are quite mistaken. Windows are to see out of, you say. Well, I
am in my house, and I want windows to see out of."
"But you have made a window into my bed."
"Well, your mother has three windows into my dancing hall, and you
have three into my garret."

"Dear me!" said Diamond. "Still you can hardly expect me to keep a
window in my