At the inn, sure enough, they found a driver who was going with a big
wood-wagon to Château d’Æux. He was ready to take the boy with him and
thought he would be able to find someone to take him farther, if the boy
knew his way down there on the French side. The farmer said Sami had been
brought up there and wanted to go back, he knew where.
Now the driver was ready. Sami’s bundle was thrown into the wagon and the
boy seated on it.
“Good luck!” said the farmer, gave Sami his hand and went away.
Then the driver swung himself up on his seat and the two strong horses
started off. Although the wood-wagon was far less handsome and easy than
the coach in which Sami had come, still he sat much happier in his hard
seat than when he had left his grandmother lying so alone and had to go
away, without knowing where. Now he was going home, where he knew
everything and where everything was dear to him, every tree and every
wall by the way; and although he wouldn’t see his grandmother any longer,
he would find all the places where he had been with her and where it was
more beautiful than anywhere else. With these thoughts a multitude of
questions arose in Sami’s mind: Would everything be still the same as
before? Would the ash-trees still be standing there by the wall? and the
red and yellow flowers be growing on the hillside? And Sami had so much
to think about that he didn’t notice how the time was passing. So he was
very much astonished when the wagon stopped, for they had come to a large
village, and the driver took firm hold of him, lifted him up and set him
down on the street. Sami looked around him. They had stopped in front of
an inn, above which a big brown bear stood for a sign and which was
surrounded by all kinds of vehicles. But he couldn’t look around any
longer, for the driver had already seized him again and lifted him
together with his bundle into another team and then went away. Soon he
came back with a large piece of bread and said:
“There, eat; you still have far to go.”
“Are we yet in Château d’Æux?” asked Sami.
“Yes, to be sure, but you are going farther,” was the reply; then the
driver disappeared.
Sami was now sitting in a small country wagon to which an enormous horse
was harnessed. No one was as yet up in the high seat, but Sami was seated
with his bundle back in the empty space on the floor. Then two big, stout
men climbed up on the high seat, and they started away. After a short
time Sami’s eyes closed involuntarily, he slipped off on the floor of
the wagon, his head fell over on his bundle, and he sank into a deep
sleep. When he woke again, he was still in the wagon on the floor, but
everything was quiet around him; he did not hear the horse trotting; the
wagon was no longer moving forward. It looked very strange all around
him. He looked, and looked again, until he realized what had happened.
The wagon was standing without horse or driver in a shed; they had
forgotten Sami and left him lying there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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