Everychild | Page 9

She had left her spinning wheel somewhere. Now she carried the crook of a shepherdess. One hand rested lightly on the limb of a tree. And there were sheep not far away. Some were lying on the grass resting; and some were moving about, their eyes and noses seemingly very much alive--and their tails. They wiggled their tails with the greatest energy.
"I didn't expect to see you here," said Everychild.
The Masked Lady replied, again with that queer smile about her lips, "I am very often near when you think I am far away."
And then Everychild perceived another person standing not far from the Masked Lady: a little man wearing large spectacles and thread-bare clothes. He was looking at nothing whatever save a note-book which he carried in his hand, and he was scribbling intently. Occasionally he lifted his hand high and touched the note-book with his pencil, and drew the pencil away with a precise movement. This was when he was making a period.
"And the--the gentleman," said Everychild. "Is he somebody who belongs to you?"
The Masked Lady seemed surprised by this question, until she perceived the little man with the note-book. Then she replied lightly--"Oh--him! That's Mr. Literal. No, he doesn't belong with me. Quite the contrary. Though I believe he likes to be seen in my company."
Everychild stared at the little man called Mr. Literal. "I don't like his looks at all," he admitted. "Maybe he'll go away after awhile?"
The Masked Lady aroused herself slightly. "I can tell you something about him," she said. "He's . . . you know the kind of boy who is forever tagging along--when you want to go anywhere, I mean? Who is forever disagreeing with you, and wanting things done in a different way? Who winds up by tattling? A tattle-tale I think perhaps you call it."
Everychild nodded his head. "You mean a snitch?" he asked.
The Masked Lady flinched a little, though she smiled too. "Is that the word?" she asked. "Well, I've no doubt it's as good as another. If you like you may think of Mr. Literal as a--a snitch."
The little man made a period on his note-book and drew his pencil away with a precise movement. He looked at the Masked Lady with a smug smile. "That word snitch," he said. "It's entirely out of place, you know--after you've once introduced Aladdin and Hansel and Grettel in your story. And a giant. It's slang, and it came into use long after the race of giants became extinct."
The Masked Lady replied calmly: "The race of giants has never become extinct."
Mr. Literal had not ceased to smile in his smug fashion. "Ah, well," he said; and he began to scribble again, and while he did so he wandered away. You'd have said he had not the slightest idea where he was. He had not even seen Hansel and Grettel!
Everychild looked after the retreating Mr. Literal until he remembered suddenly that he had asked Hansel and Grettel to go along with him. Then he heard Grettel say in a really eager voice: "A quest of Truth! That sounds very interesting to me!"
But Hansel had to spoil it all by saying: "It would sound more interesting to me if he said he was looking for something to eat."
Grettel said, "Oh, Hansel!" in such a tone that Everychild regarded her more closely. She was really quite charming in her wooden shoes, and her ample blue skirt, somewhat short, and her waist of terra-cotta color, with white sleeves. She had on a linen cap shaped somewhat like a sunbonnet. She turned to her brother and spoke with a good deal of emphasis. "Anyway, it's plain you'll not find any sausages growing on the trees. For my part, I'd rather go somewhere. Especially since we've got a nice boy to go with us. Anything would be better than spending another night in the woods. I simply don't believe I could bear it. The noises . . . there's something dreadful about the noises, when you can't bar a door between you and them."
Hansel grunted very inelegantly. "Noises!" he retorted. "That's just like a girl. The only noise that bothers me is the rumbling of my insides. I'm hungry."
Grettel closed her eyes as if this were really too much. She seemed unable to think of a word to say.
Then Hansel said to Everychild: "I don't mind going with you. Only, you'll have to let Grettel go along too and you can't go very far with a girl without something happening."
"Of course, she'd go along," said Everychild. "As for something happening, it might be something nice more likely than not."
At this Grettel clasped her hands in ecstacy. "What a nice boy!" she exclaimed.
But Hansel only gave her a lofty look. "I haven't seen him do anything great," he said.