Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Nature -- Juvenile fiction; Self-reliance -- Juvenile fiction
But now a new idea came into her mind. She had succeeded in making
him happy during the last few days; but she wished to do more--she
wished to make him fear and hate the sea so that he would never grow
discontented with his life on the hills nor wish to leave her. So now,
one morning, when the mist was out over the land, she said to Martin
when he woke, "Get up and go out on to the hill and see the mist;
and when you feel its coldness and taste its salt on your lips, and
see how it dims and saddens the earth, you will know better than to
wish for that great water it comes from."
So Martin got up and went out on the hill, and it was as she had said:
there was no blue sky above, no wide green earth before him: the
mist had blotted all out; he could hardly see the rocks and bushes a
dozen yards from him; the leaves and flowers were heavy laden with
the grey wet; and it felt clammy and cold on his face, and he tasted
its salt on his lips. It seemed thickest and darkest when he looked
down and lightest when he looked up, and the lightness led him to
climb up among the dripping, slippery rocks; and slipping and
stumbling he went on and on, the light increasing as he went, until
at last to his delight he got above the mist. There was an immense
crag there which stood boldly up on the hillside, and on to this he
managed to climb, and standing on it he looked down upon that vast
moving sea of grey mist that covered the earth, and saw the sun, a
large crimson disc, rising from it.
It was a great thing to see, and made him cry out aloud for joy: and
then as the sun rose higher into the pure, blue sky the grey mist
changed to silvery white, and the white changed in places to shining
gold: and it drifted faster and faster away before the sun, and
began to break up, and when a cloud of mist swept by the rock on
which he stood it beat like a fine rain upon his face, and covered
his bright clothes with a grey beady moisture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account