In Midsummer Days and Other Tales | Page 4

that all the knots were visible. And the knots in the
knot-holes looked for all the world like so many eyes.
"Oh! Just look at all the eyes, mammy," exclaimed the little girl.
Yes, there were eyes of every description; big eyes, eloquent eyes,
grave eyes; little shining baby eyes, with a lurking smile in the corner;
wicked eyes, which showed too much white; frank and candid eyes,
which looked one straight into the heart; and, over there, a big, gentle
mother's eye, which regarded the dead girl lovingly; and a transparent
tear of resin trembled on the lid, and sparkled in the setting sun like a
green and red diamond.
"Is she asleep?" asked the child, looking into the face of the dead girl.
"Yes, she is asleep."
"Is she a bride, mammy?"
"Yes, darling."
The mother had recognised her. It was the girl who was to be a bride on
Midsummer day, when her sailor lover would return home; but the

sailor had written to say that he would not be home until the autumn,
and his letter had broken her heart; for she could not bear to wait until
the autumn, when the leaves would drop dead from the trees and the
winter wind have a rough game with them in the lanes and alleys.
She had heard the song of the dove and taken it to heart.
The young mother left the cottage; now she knew where she would go.
She put the heavy basket down outside the gate and took the child into
her arms; and so she walked across the meadow which separated her
from the shore.
The meadow was a perfect sea of flowers, waving and whispering
round her ankles, and the pollen water was calm and blue; and
presently it was not water through which they sailed, but the blue
blossoms of the flax, which she gathered in her outstretched hands.
And the flowers bent down and rose up again, whispering, lapping
against the sides of the boat like little waves. The flax-field before them
appeared to be infinite, but presently a white mist enveloped them, and
they heard the plashing of real waves, but above the mist they heard a
lark singing.
"How does the lark come to sing on the sea?" asked the child.
"The sea is so green that the lark takes it for a meadow," answered the
mother.
The mist had dispersed again. The sky was blue and the lark was still
singing.
Then they saw, straight before them, in the middle of the sea, a green
island with a white, sandy beach, and people, dressed all in pure white,
walking hand in hand. The setting sun shone on the golden roof of a
colonnade, where white fires burnt in sacred sacrificial vessels; and the
green island was spanned by a rainbow, the colour of which was
rose-red and sedge-green.

"What is it, mammy?"
The mother could make no reply.
"Is it the Kingdom of Heaven of which the dove sang? What is the
Kingdom of Heaven, mammy?"
"A place, darling, where all people love one another," answered the
mother, "where there is neither grief nor strife."
"Then let us go there," said the child.
"Yes, we will go," said the tired, forsaken little mother.

THE BIG GRAVEL-SIFTER
An eel-mother and her son were lying at the bottom of the sea, close to
the landing-stage, watching a young fisherman getting ready his line.
"Just look at him!" said the eel-mother, "there you have an example of
the malice and cunning of the world . ... Watch him! He is holding a
whip in his hand; he throws out the whip-lash--there it is! attached to it
is a weight which makes it sink--there's the weight! and below the
weight is the hook with the worm. Don't take it in your mouth,
whatever you do, for if you do, you are caught. As a rule only the silly
bass and red-eyes take the bait. There! Now you know all about it."
The forest of seaweed with its shells and snails began to rock; a
plashing and drumming could be heard and a huge red whale passed
like a flash over their heads; he had a tail-fin like a cork-screw, and that
was what he worked with.
"That's a steamer," said the eel-mother; "make room!"
She had hardly spoken these words when a furious uproar arose above.
There was a tramping and stamping as if the people overhead were
intent on building a bridge between the shore and the boat in two

seconds. But it was difficult to see anything on account of the oil and
soot which were making the water thick and muddy.
There was something very heavy on the bridge now, so heavy that it
made it creak, and men's