The History of Gutta-Percha Willie | Page 4

being out, as he so often was, upon
Scramble the old horse, and Tibby, their only servant, being busy with
the ironing, Willie ran off to Widow Wilson's, and was soon curled up
in the chair, like a little Hindoo idol that had grown weary of sitting
upright, and had tumbled itself into a corner.
Now, before he came, the old woman had been thinking about him, and
wishing very much that he would come; turning over also in her mind,

as she spun, all her stock of stories, in the hope of finding in some nook
or other one she had not yet told him; for although he had not yet begun
to grow tired even of those he knew best, it was a special treat to have a
new one; for by this time Mrs Wilson's store was all but exhausted, and
a new one turned up very rarely. This time, however, she was
successful, and did call to mind one that she had not thought of before.
It had not only grown very dusty, but was full of little holes, which she
at once set about darning up with the needle and thread of her
imagination, so that, by the time Willie arrived, she had a treat, as she
thought, quite ready for him.
I am not going to tell you the story, which was about a poor boy who
received from a fairy to whom he had shown some kindness the gift of
a marvelous wand, in the shape of a common blackthorn walking-stick,
which nobody could suspect of possessing such wonderful virtue. By
means of it, he was able to do anything he wished, without the least
trouble; and so, upon a trial of skill, appointed by a certain king, in
order to find out which of the craftsmen of his realm was fittest to aid
him in ruling it, he found it easy to surpass every one of them, each in
his own trade. He produced a richer damask than any of the
silk-weavers; a finer linen than any of the linen-weavers; a more
complicated as well as ornate cabinet, with more drawers and quaint
hiding-places, than any of the cabinetmakers; a sword-blade more
cunningly damasked, and a hilt more gorgeously jewelled, than any of
the swordmakers; a ring set with stones more precious, more brilliant in
colour, and more beautifully combined, than any of the jewellers: in
short, as I say, without knowing a single device of one of the arts in
question, he surpassed every one of the competitors in his own craft,
won the favour of the king and the office he wished to confer, and, if I
remember rightly, gained at length the king's daughter to boot.
For a long time Willie had not uttered a single exclamation, and when
the old woman looked up, fancying he must be asleep, she saw, to her
disappointment, a cloud upon his face-amounting to a frown.
"What's the matter with you, Willie, my chick?" she asked. "Have you
got a headache?"

"No, thank you, Mrs Wilson," answered Willie; "but I don't like that
story at all."
"I'm sorry for that. I thought I should be sure to please you this time; it
is one I never told you before, for I had quite forgotten it myself till this
very afternoon. Why don't you like it?"
"Because he was a cheat. He couldn't do the things; it was only the
fairy's wand that did them."
"But he was such a good lad, and had been so kind to the fairy."
"That makes no difference. He wasn't good. And the fairy wasn't good
either, or she wouldn't have set him to do such wicked things."
"They weren't wicked things. They were all firstrate-everything that he
made-better than any one else could make them."
"But he didn't make them. There wasn't one of those poor fellows he
cheated that wasn't a better man than he. The worst of them could do
something with his own hands, and I don't believe he could do anything,
for if he had ever tried he would have hated to be such a sneak. He
cheated the king, too, and the princess, and everybody. Oh! shouldn't I
like to have been there, and to have beaten him wand and all! For
somebody might have been able to make the things better still, if he had
only known how."
Mrs Wilson was disappointed-perhaps a little ashamed that she had not
thought of this before; anyhow she grew cross; and because she was
cross, she grew unfair, and said to Willie-
"You think a great deal of yourself, Master Willie! Pray what could
those idle little hands of yours do, if you were to try?"
"I don't know, for I haven't tried," answered Willie.
"It's