No wonder the poor farm hand suddenly confronted by such an apparition
on the wilds of Salisbury Plain had bolted! Suddenly I thought of Jamaro
Bumblelily again. I would try to give him a message for the Doctor. If
the moth could not understand me, I’d write something for him to carry
back. I set out in search. But I never saw him again. Whether the mists
misled me in direction or whether he had already departed moonwards
again I never found out.
So, here I was, a giant dressed like a scarecrow, no money in my
pockets—no earthly possessions beyond a piece of reindeer horn, with a
pre-historic picture carved on it. And then I realized of course that
the farm laborer’s reception of me would be what I would meet with
everywhere. It was a long way from Salisbury to Puddleby, that I knew. I
must have coach-fare; I must have food.
I tramped along the road a while thinking. I came in sight of a
farmhouse. The appetizing smell of frying bacon reached me. I was
terribly hungry. It was worth trying. I strode up to the door and
knocked gently. A woman opened it. She gave one scream at sight of me
and slammed the door in my face. A moment later a man threw open a
window and leveled a shotgun at me.
“Get off the place,” he snarled—“Quick! Or I’ll blow your ugly head
off.”
More miserable than ever I wandered on down the road. What was to become
of me? There was no one to whom I could tell the truth. For who would
believe my story? But I must get to Puddleby. I admitted I was not
particularly keen to do that—to face the Dolittle household with the
news. And yet I must. Even without the Doctor’s last message about the
old horse and the fruit trees, and the rest, it was my job—to do my
best to take his place while he was away. And then my parents—poor
folk! I fear I had forgotten them in my misery. And would even they
recognize me now?
Then of a sudden I came upon a caravan of gipsies. They were camped in a
thicket of gorse by the side of the road and I had not seen them as I
approached.
They too were cooking breakfast and more savory smells tantalized my
empty stomach. It is rather strange that the gipsies were the only
people I met who were not afraid of me. They all came out of the wagons
and gathered about me gaping; but they were interested, not scared. Soon
I was invited to sit down and eat. The head of the party, an old man,
told me they were going on to a county fair and would be glad to have me
come with them.
I agreed with thanks. Any sort of friendship which would save me from an
outcast lot was something to be jumped at. I found out later that the
old gipsy’s idea was to hire me off (at a commission) to a circus as a
giant.
But as a matter of fact, that lot also I was glad to accept when the
time came. I had to have money. I could not appear in Puddleby like a
scarecrow. I needed clothes, I needed coach-fare, and I needed food to
live on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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