It's Your Fairy Tale, You KnowJackson, Elizabeth Rhodes
Science
It's Your Fairy Tale, You Know
Jackson, Elizabeth Rhodes
Boston (Mass.) -- Juvenile fiction; Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Fairy tales
Wendell took a chance and jumped for the window. Just in time! As he
landed on the porch roof, the window was slammed behind him. He went
backwards down the trellis, and just before his eyes dropped below the
level, he saw the Giant pass the window again, pursuing the scent, which
doubtless still lingered. Spent and breathless though he was, fright
urged the boy on, and he ran two blocks, then dropped under a tree in a
garden and lay at full length on his back with the Cloak around him. He
lay there a long while, slowly recovering from his terrible exhaustion
and gradually getting his nerve back. At length he rose, took off and
folded his Cloak, put on his cloth cap, which he had stuffed into his
pocket on entering the Giant’s house, and walked on to the electric car.
He had quite forgotten the Cap of Thought, which he was still wearing
under his own cap,--and that single fact shows how dazed the encounter
with the Giant had left him. But as soon as he got on the car, he was
reminded of the Cap by the babel of thoughts that greeted him. The
undercurrent was a low expressionless hum blending indistinctly from
minds intent upon the newspapers; but other thoughts reached him clearly
and stridently:--“If the stores aren’t closed, I’ll try to get some of
that blue denim for Jackie’s overalls.” “If he does ask me to the next
dance, I really think I ought to have a new pink georgette.” “I can’t
account for that dollar--let me see, fifteen cents for the cigar,
seventeen cents for the soda, that leaves sixty-eight and five”--. Above
them all, one insistent thought reiterated, savagely, “If he calls me
that again, I’ll show him where he gets off!”
Wendell was very anxious to examine the Cap of Thought more closely. The
brief time that he had held it in his hands in the Giant’s house had
been so crowded with other impressions that he had but an indistinct
conception of his new treasure. He went straight to his room and took it
off and was delighted with its beauty. At first sight it seemed to be
made of gray cobwebs closely woven together into an almost colorless
fabric, but in certain lights it looked as if woven of strands of glass
in rainbow colors. As there was no one upstairs to try its magic
properties on, Wendell decided to wear it in the library after dinner,
and find out what his family was thinking about. He noticed in the
glass, with great satisfaction, that the Cap took on the color of his
own brown hair, so that it was barely visible.
There was a pleasant group in the library when he joined them after
dinner. They were all very quiet. His mother was darning stockings, his
father reading the _Transcript_ and occasionally reading some item
aloud, and his Latin School brother playing checkers with Cousin
Virginia. Yet the room was filled, to Wendell’s sensitive consciousness,
with a fine hum, as of conversation. He sat down quietly behind his
mother, who had not heard him come in.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account