Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Toys -- Juvenile fiction
"Another time," said the unfairy, ignoring Jimmieboy's remark, "I turned
myself into a horse-fly and bothered a lame horse; then I changed into a
bull-dog and barked all night under the window of a man who wanted to go
to sleep, but my regular trick is going around to hat stores and taking
the brushes and brushing all the beaver hats the wrong way. Sometimes
when people get lost here in the woods and want to go to
Tiddledywinkland, I give them the wrong directions, so that they bring
up on the other side of the country, where they don't want to be; and
once last winter I put rust on the runners of a little boy's sled so
that he couldn't use it, and then when he'd spent three days getting
them polished up, I pushed a warm rain cloud over the hill where the
snow was and melted it all away. I hide toys I know children will be
sure to want; I tear the most exciting pages out of books; I spill salt
in the sugar-bowls and plant weeds in the gardens; I upset the ink on
love-letters; when I find a man with only one collar I fray it at the
edges; I roll collar buttons under bureaus; I--"
"Don't you dare tell me another thing!" cried Jimmieboy, angrily. "I
don't like you, and I won't listen to you any more."
"Oh, yes, you will," replied the unfairy. "I am just mean enough to make
you, and I'll tell you why. I am very tired of my business, and I think
if I tell you all the horrid things I do, maybe you'll tell me how I can
keep from doing them. I have known you for a long time, only you didn't
know it."
"I don't believe it," said Jimmieboy.
"Well, I have, just the same," returned the dwarf. "And I can prove it.
Do you remember, one day you went out walking, how you walked two miles
and only met one mud-puddle, and fell into that?"
"Yes, I do," said Jimmieboy, sadly. "I spoiled my new suit when I fell,
and I never knew how I came to do it."
"I made you do that!" said the unfairy, triumphantly. "I grabbed hold of
your foot, and upset you right into it. I waited two hours to do it,
too."
"You did, eh?" said Jimmieboy. "Well, I wish I had an axe. I'd chop that
tree down, and catch you and make you sorry for it."
"I am sorry for it," said the dwarf. "Real sorry. I've never ceased to
regret it."
"Oh, well, I forgive you," said Jimmieboy, "if you are really sorry."
"Yes, I am," said the dwarf; "I'm awfully sorry, because I didn't do it
right. You only ruined your suit and not that beautiful red necktie you
had on. Next time I'll be more careful and spoil everything. But let me
give you more proof that I've known you. Who do you suppose it was bent
your railway tracks at Christmas so they wouldn't work?"
"You!" ejaculated Jimmieboy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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