When the children arrived home, however, early in May, and Cuthbert toldMarian all about them, she said at first that she wouldn't believe inthem, because Cuthbert hadn't believed in Mr Jugg. But Cuthbert hadgrown wiser and less conceited, and he told Marian that he had changedhis mind. So Marian believed in them, and her daddy was rather pleased,because there were more things under the earth, he said, than mostpeople imagined.
Not a twig that learned to climb In the babyhood of time,
Not a bud that broke the air In the days before men were,
Not a bird that tossed in flight Ere the first man walked upright,
Nor a bee with craftier cell Than a Roman citadel,
But, with all its pride and pain, Into dust crept back again.
Oh, what wisdom there must be Hidden in the earth and me!
UNCLE JOE'S STORY
Bella at Eden]
IV
UNCLE JOE'S STORY
Marian's mummy used to read the Bible to her, so that she knew all aboutAdam and Eve; but she never knew that Eve had a little daughter untilUncle Joe told her this story. Next to her mummy and daddy, Marian lovedUncle Joe better than anybody in the whole world. He lived in a littlehouse tucked into a sort of dimple on the side of Fairbarrow Down, and aman called Mr Parker lived with him and helped to keep the place tidy.Uncle Joe had been a soldier in a lot of queer countries a long way off;and when Marian and Cuthbert asked him what he had fought for, hegenerally used to tell them that it was for lost causes. In between warshe had done lots of other things, such as trying to find out what causeddiseases, or whether plants that grew in some places could be made togrow in others. Mr Parker had been a soldier too--a soldier ofmisfortune, he used to say--and he had saved Uncle Joe's life threetimes, and Uncle Joe had saved his life twice.
Uncle Joe's face was yellowish brown, because he had been in the sun somuch and had fever; but Mr Parker's face was red, and one of his eyeswas made of glass. Mr Parker used to call himself a lone, lorn orphan,though he was much fatter than Uncle Joe, and afterward he used to spitand say that it was rough weather in the Baltic.
It was about a fortnight after Cuthbert and Doris had come back from theArctic Circle that Uncle Joe told Marian this story, while they weresitting under one of his apple-trees. Some of the apple-petals had begunto drop, leaving the tiny, weeny, baby apples behind them, and the onlyreally ripe apples in Uncle Joe's garden were the two apples in Marian'scheeks.
"But those aren't real apples," said Marian.
"Well, it all depends," said Uncle Joe, "on what you mean by real."
"You see," said Mr Parker, who had just come out to mow the lawn,"there's more kinds of apples than a few. There's eating apples andcooking apples and pineapples and crab-apples; and there's oak-applesand Adam's apples and the apples what you sees in little girls' cheeks."
"Kissing apples," said Uncle Joe. "They're one of the most importantkinds."
He began to fill his pipe.
"And now that I come to think of it," he said, "they're one of theoldest kinds too."
"As old as Mr Jugg," asked Marian, "or the little ice-men?"
"Well," said Uncle Joe, "I don't know about that. But they're certainlyas old as Eve's little girl," and then he began to tell Marian all abouther.
"I'm not quite sure," he said, "what her name was. It might have beenGretchen or Olga, or it might have been Seraphine or Marie-Louise, but Irather think that it was Bella. Of course you remember what happened inthe Garden of Eden, and how Adam and Eve had to leave it, not becausethe good Lord God wanted to turn them out, but because He knew that theycould never be happy there any more. Every hour that they stayed theywould have become more and more miserable; and if they had come back itwould have broken their hearts, so He had to put two angels to guard thegate. You see, He had wanted them to be sort of grown-up babies in theloveliest nursery ever imagined, and to be able to go there and playgames with them whenever He was tired of ruling the universe. But whenonce they had heard about growing up, and choosing for themselves, andthings of that sort, they could never have been babies any more, and itwould have been cruel to keep them in the nursery.
"Of course, they didn't understand that, and they thought it very hard,and very often they used to grumble; and when they had learned to writethey used to send Him angry letters and say bad things about Him inbooks. That was chiefly because they had to work and learn to look afterthemselves; but that was the only way, as the good Lord God saw, inwhich they could ever be happy again. 'They weren't content,' Hethought, 'just to be My playthings, so now they must learn to be Mycomrades; and perhaps in the end that'll be the best for everybody,though it'll be a long, long time before they've learnt how.' And thenHe sighed as He saw the empty nursery and all the animals that they usedto play with, just as fathers and mothers sigh now when their babiesgrow up and have to go to school. So Adam and Eve had to leave theGarden, and just outside it there was a big town, full of houses andfactories and chimneys, and men and women who worked all day long. Whowere those men and women, and where did they come from? Well, it'srather hard to explain. You see, Adam and Eve, through never havinggrown up, had been in the Garden for thousands and thousands of years.But outside the Garden there were seas and deserts and thick, hotjungles full of wild animals. Some of these animals had looked throughthe railings and been very struck with Adam and Eve, and sort of wishedin the bottoms of their hearts that they could have children just likethem. Some of them wished so hard that their next lot of childrenactually did become a little like them, and their grandchildren becameliker still, and at last their great-great-grandchildren became real menand women. Of course they weren't Garden men and women, like Adam andEve; they were just jungle men and women, running wild.
"Well, after thousands of years these jungle men and women became soclever that they cleared away the jungle, and then they dug fields andplanted hedges and sowed corn and built towns; and those were the peoplethat Adam and Eve found when they left the Garden and began to look forwork. Later on Adam and Eve's children married the children of thejungle people; so that now all the people in the world are half Gardenand half jungle."
"Even clergymen?" asked Marian.
Uncle Joe nodded.
"Yes, and policemen and postmen too."
"And lone, lorn orphans," said Mr Parker, "and the man what comes tomend the bath."
"But that's jumping forward," said Uncle Joe, "a long time, for whenAdam and Eve left the Garden they didn't even know what children were,and their hearts were full of bitterness against the good Lord God. Thatwas one of the reasons why He thought it would be so nice for them tohave a little girl of their own, because then in time they might beginto guess, He thought, something of what He felt toward themselves.
"So about a year after they had left the Garden little Bella was born,and they both thought that she was the loveliest baby that had ever beenseen since the world began. Poor Adam and Eve were then living in a darkstreet on the outskirts of the town, and all that they could afford wasone room on the top floor at the back.
"Adam had got work at one of the factories where they made boots andshoes, but he was only a beginner, of course, and hadn't learnt much,and so his wages were very small. Sometimes Eve took in a littlewashing, or got a job from somebody of darning socks, but she did herbest to keep their home tidy and some fresh flowers on the mantelpiece.Every day, too, she put crumbs on the window-sill, and soon she had madefriends with the birds that came and ate them, and sometimes a birdwould fly from the Garden, and feed from her hand, and tell her thenews. Both Adam and Eve, you see, knew the birds' language throughhaving lived with them for so long. But they were never able to teach itto their children, and since they died no one has ever learnt it.
"Soon after Bella was born Adam got a rise in wages, but soon after thatEve had another baby; and then she had some more, and though they rentedanother room or two they were always poor and often hungry. But after awhile they began to think less often
of their old life in the Garden ofEden, and sometimes they would even wonder whether they would go backthere if the good Lord God gave them the chance. You see, in spite oftheir poverty and their hard work and the noise and smells of the greattown, they had learnt what it meant to have children, and to bend overtheir cots and kiss them good-night.
"When Bella was eight she was rather a fat little girl, with dark eyesand an impudent mouth, and she wore her hair in a long pigtail, and hernose was ever so slightly turned up. Adam and Eve thought that she wasvery beautiful, but everybody else thought her quite ordinary, and shespent most of her time in the streets, though she was always punctualfor meals. She had lots of friends, most of them boys, but every now andthen she would get tired of them all; and those were the times when shewould go exploring and generally end up by hurting herself. Eve was toobusy ever to bother much about what Bella did or where she went, and theGarden of Eden was the only place that she had strictly forbidden herto go near. It was one of the rules, of course, that nobody was to gonear it, and there were angels at the gate with swords of flame; andthis was a rule, Eve thought, that it would be very much worse for oneof _her_ children to break than for anybody else.
"So she had always told Bella never even to go up the street that ledinto the fields just outside the Garden; and if Bella hadn't beenfeeling bored on this particular day--it was just a week after herbirthday--and if it hadn't been so hot, and the sun so scorching, andthe streets so dusty, and everybody so cross, and if Bella hadn't beeninquisitive just like her mother used to be, and if she hadn't sort ofhappened to be walking up that street, and if the fields at the end ofit hadn't seemed so cool and so inviting, and if Bobby Gee, who was agreat friend of hers, hadn't dared her to do it--well, there's nosaying, but perhaps after all Bella wouldn't have stood looking at thosedreadful gates.
"There was now only a strip of grass between her and the Garden, and shecould see it stretched there beyond the railings. It was the middle ofthe afternoon, and so heavy was the sunshine that the leaves of thetrees were all pressed down by it. None of them stirred. There was nosound. The lawns beneath them looked like wax. And where were theangels? Bella held her breath. There were none to be seen. There wereonly the sentry-boxes.
"Very cautiously she took a step or two forward. Her bare feet made nonoise. The bars of the gate quivered in the heat. Then she stopped againand listened. At first she heard nothing, but then, very, very faint,there came to her ears the ghost of a sound. It came and died, and cameand died, like the waves of a sea hundreds of miles off. She creptnearer and listened again, and now there were two sounds, rising andfalling. They came from the sentry-boxes, one on each side of the gate.The angels inside were fast asleep. Bella bit her lip and crept forward.She could feel her heart jumping like a mouse in a cage. The scents ofthe Garden came to meet her. She could see its curved and vanishingpathways.
"But what caught her eyes and made them grow round was a bending treejust inside the gate. With her hands on the bars she stood looking atit, and presently her mouth began to water. For from every branch of itthere hung such apples as she had never seen in all her life, and fromthe lowest bough there hung an apple that was the biggest and mostbeautiful of them all. And then another thing happened, for as shepressed against the bars the great gate began to move. Very slowly itswung open, and still the angels were fast asleep. Her heart was beatingnow like two clocks at once--what an apple it would be to eat! Abright-coloured bird hopped across the grass, and stood looking up ather with an inquiring eye. She glanced round about her and over hershoulder, but there was nobody in sight. Dared she go in? She thoughtabout the rules, and what her mother had said, and then she rememberedBobby Gee. The angels were still breathing lightly and regularly. Thebright-coloured bird had flown away.
"Then she took a bold step and went into the Garden and tiptoed softlyup to the tree. The apple was so ripe that it was nearly ready to drop,and it was just on a level with the tip of her nose. It smelt likehoney, and when she touched it it was as cool as marble. Then shetouched it again, and caught hold of it, and somehow or other it cameoff the tree. She lifted it to her lips, and it felt like a kiss; andthen a Voice behind her said--
"'Well?'
"She jumped round, almost dropping the apple. It was the good Lord Godwho stood looking at her.
"'What are you doing?'
"She hid the apple behind her, but His eyes shone through her, likelight through a window. She hung her head.
"'Are you Eve's little girl?' He asked.
"Bella nodded. She couldn't say a word.
"'I thought you must be,' He said. He put His finger under her chin.There came a sound like the rushing of a great wind. The two angels hadheard His voice, and drawn their swords, and leapt into the Garden. Inanother moment, Bella thought, they would have killed her. But the goodLord God held up His hand. The two angels stood one on each side of Him,leaning on their swords and looking rather downcast. Bella held out herhand. The good Lord God bent forward and took the apple away from her.
"'Well, what excuse have you,' He said, 'for stealing My apples?'
"Bella considered for a moment. Then she thought of one.
"'Please, sir, mother did it. She told me so.'
"'But you knew the rules,' said the good Lord God.
"Bella hung her head again. She knew them quite well.
"'And the rules must be obeyed,' He said.
"Bella began to tremble.
"There was a moment's silence. The two angels stood like statues, stillleaning on their swords. Then the good Lord God spoke again.
"'Look at Me,' He said.
"Bella lifted her eyes and saw the World without End. He gave her backthe apple.
"'Well, you may keep it,' He went on, 'on condition that you give halfof it to Bobby Gee.'
"Bella said, 'Thank you, sir.'
"'But that's not all,' He continued.
"He bent forward and touched her cheeks.
"'For I hereby ordain,' He said, 'that now and for ever every littlegirl and every little boy shall wear apples in their cheeks inremembrance of what you have done. They shall be known as the brand ofEden--the brand of Eden for little thieves--and their parents must seeto it, on pain of My displeasure, that they shall never be allowed tofade away.'
"Then He bent still lower and gave Bella a kiss, and the tall angels ledher outside the gate; and that's why it is that the apples in littlegirls' cheeks are almost the oldest kind in the world."
Uncle Joe lit his pipe. From where they were sitting they could see thecountry for miles and miles. Down below them the town looked quitesmall, and the spire of St Peter's Church just like a toy spire. Farbehind it, beyond the level cornlands, the sun was dropping into theevening mists. It grew rosier and rosier, until it almost looked like anapple itself. Mr Parker winked at Marian.
"Rough weather," he said, "in the Baltic."
Then he spat in his hands and rubbed them together.
"Well, I must be getting along," he said, "with this here lawn-mowing."
Eden had an apple-tree, Eve a little daughter, Tried to do as mother did, But the Good Lord caught her.
"Wherefore 'tis ordained," He said, "Here and in all places, Children shall henceforward wear Apples in their faces."
BEARDY NED
Beardy Ned's Fire]
V
BEARDY NED
Near Uncle Joe's house there was a small pool which was really thebeginning of a river; and this river ran into a bigger one that flowedthrough the town in which Marian and Cuthbert lived. The big river wasrather muddy, but the little one was nearly always clear, and it wasquite easy to paddle across it, though there were some pools in it sixfeet deep.
Up in the downs, where it began, it was hardly more than a bubblytrickle, but lower down it grew wider and wider, and ran between thereeds at the edges of the meadows. Close to Captain Jeremy's farmhouse,where it joined the big river that flowed through the town, it ran foralmost a quarter of a mi
le through the middle of a sort of wood. It wasunder the roots of some of these trees, as they pushed through the waterinto the soil beneath, that the biggest of the trout had their nests,where fishermen with flies couldn't reach them. But there were some bigtrout, too, that lived under the meadow banks, and used to put up theirnoses in the summer evenings, and suck down the flies that fell on thewater when they were tired of dancing in the air.
Cuthbert and Marian and Doris and Gwendolen were all very fond of thisriver, and when they had finished paddling or bathing in the pools (forthey had all learnt to swim) they used to lie on the bank and keep verystill and watch the trout having their evening meal. They would see anorange-coloured fly or a blue fly or a fly with pale wings like adistant rain-cloud floating down on the top of the water and probablywondering where it had got to; and then they would hear a little noiselike grown-up people make with the tips of their tongues against theroofs of their mouths; and then the fly would be gone, and there wouldbe a tiny wave on the water, shaped like a ring, and growing bigger andbigger. That meant that a trout had been lying in wait, with his eyecocked on the surface of the stream, and had seen the fly, and liked thelook of him, and suddenly decided to swallow him up.
Sometimes a fisherman would come quietly along and kneel down on oneknee, and, after he had seen a trout rise, would open a little box andtake out a fly like the one that the trout had eaten. But this would bea sham fly, made of feathers and silk, cunningly tied round a sharphook, and he would thread it on to a piece of gut so thin that theycould hardly see it. Then he would tie the gut to a sort of string thatwas hanging down from the point of his fishing-rod; and then he wouldswish his rod until the fly flew out straight and fell upon the stream,just as the real one had done.
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