The Pig Brother, and Other Fables and Stories

So he turned out to the left, and waited till No. 45 came along. The latter was a middle-aged comet, very large, and with an uncommonly long tail, – quite preposterously long, our little No. 73 thought, as he shook his own tail and tried to make as much of it as possible.

“Good morning, Mr. Long-Tail!” he said as soon as the other was within speaking distance. “Would you be so very good as to tell me what you are travelling for?”

“For six months,” answered No. 45 with a puff and a snort. “Started a month ago; five months still to go.”

“Oh, I don’t mean that!” exclaimed Short-Tail No. 73. “I mean why are you travelling at all?”

“Comet Master sent me!” replied No. 45, briefly.

“But what for?” persisted the little comet. “What is it all about? What good does it do? Why do we travel for weeks and months and years? That’s what I want to find out.”

“Don’t know, I’m sure!” said the elder, still more shortly. “What’s more, don’t care!”

The little comet fairly shook with amazement and indignation. “You don’t care!” he cried. “Is it possible? And how long, may I ask, have you been travelling hither and thither through space, without knowing or caring why?”

“Long enough to learn not to ask stupid questions!” answered Long-Tail No. 45. “Good morning to you!”

And without another word he was off, with his preposterously long tail spreading itself like a luminous fan behind him. The little comet looked after him for some time in silence. At last he said: —

“Well, I call that simply disgusting! An ignorant, narrow-minded old – ”

“Hello, cousin!” called a clear merry voice just behind him. “How goes it with you? Shall we travel together? Our roads seem to go in the same direction.”

The comet turned and saw a bright and sparkling meteor. “I – I – must not speak to you!” said No. 73, confusedly.

“Not speak to me!” exclaimed the meteor, laughing. “Why, what’s the matter? What have I done? I never saw you before in my life.”

“N-nothing that I know of,” answered No. 73, still more confused.

“Then why mustn’t you speak to me?” persisted the meteor, giving a little skip and jump. “Eh? tell me that, will you? Why mustn’t you?”

“I – don’t – know!” answered the little comet, slowly, for he was ashamed to say boldly, as he ought to have done, that it was against the orders of the Comet Master.

“Oh, gammon!” cried the meteor, with another skip. “I know! Comet Master, eh? But a fine high-spirited young fellow like you isn’t going to be afraid of that old tyrant. Come along, I say! If there were any real reason why you should not speak to me – ”

“That’s just what I say,” interrupted the comet, eagerly. “What IS the reason? Why don’t they tell it to me?”

“’Cause there isn’t any!” rejoined the meteor. “Come along!”

After a little more hesitation, the comet yielded, and the two frisked merrily along, side by side. As they went, No. 73 confided all his vexations to his new friend, who sympathized warmly with him, and spoke in most disrespectful terms of the Comet Master.

“A pretty sort of person to dictate to you, when he hasn’t the smallest sign of a tail himself! I wouldn’t submit to it!” cried the meteor. “As to the other orders, some of them are not so bad. Of course, nobody would want to go near that stupid, poky Earth, if he could possibly help it; and the planet Bungo is – ah – is not a very nice planet, I believe.” [The fact is, the planet Bungo contains a large reform-school for unruly meteors, but our friend made no mention of that.] “But as for the Sun, – the bright, jolly, delightful Sun, – why, I am going to take a nearer look at him myself. Come on! We will go together, in spite of the Comet Master.”

Again the little comet hesitated and demurred; but after all, he had already broken one rule, and why not another? He would be punished in any case, and he might as well get all the pleasure he could. Reasoning thus, he yielded once more to the persuasions of the meteor, and together they shot through the great space-world, taking their way straight toward the Sun.

When the Sun saw them coming, he smiled and seemed much pleased. He stirred his fire, and shook his shining locks, and blazed brighter and brighter, hotter and hotter. The heat seemed to have a strange effect on the comet, for he began to go faster and faster.

“Hold on!” said the meteor. “Why are you hurrying so? I cannot keep up with you.”

“I cannot stop myself!” cried No. 73. “Something is drawing me forward, faster and faster!”

On he went at a terrible rate, the meteor following as best he might. Several planets that he passed shouted to him in warning tones, but he could not hear what they said. The Sun stirred his fire again, and blazed brighter and brighter, hotter and hotter; and onward rushed the wretched little comet, faster and faster, faster and faster!

“Catch hold of my tail and stop me!” he shrieked to the meteor. “I am shrivelling, burning up, in this fearful heat! Stop me, for pity’s sake!”

But the meteor was already far behind, and had stopped short to watch his companion’s headlong progress. And now, – ah, me! – now the Sun opened his huge fiery mouth. The comet made one desperate effort to stop himself, but it was in vain. An awful, headlong plunge through the intervening space; a hissing and crackling; a shriek, – and the fiery jaws had closed on Short-Tail No. 73 forever!

“Dear me!” said the meteor. “How very shocking! I quite forgot that the Sun ate comets. I must be off, or I shall get an æon in the Reform School for this. I am really very sorry, for he was a nice little comet!”

And away frisked the meteor, and soon forgot all about it.

But in the great court-yard in front of the Comet House, the Master took a piece of chalk, and crossed out No. 73 from the list of short-tailed comets on the slate that hangs on the door. Then he called out, “No. 1 Express, come forward!” and the swiftest of all the comets stood before him, brilliant and beautiful, with a bewildering magnificence of tail. The Comet Master spoke sharply and decidedly, as usual, but not unkindly.

“No. 73, Short-Tail,” he said, “has disobeyed orders, and has in consequence been devoured by the Sun.”

Here there was a great sensation among the comets.

“No. 1,” continued the Master, “you will start immediately, and travel until you find a runaway meteor, with a red face and blue hair. You are permitted to make inquiries of respectable bodies, such as planets or satellites. When found, you will arrest him and take him to the planet Bungo. My compliments to the Meteor Keeper, and I shall be obliged if he will give this meteor two æons in the Reform School. I trust,” he continued, turning to the assembled comets, “that this will be a lesson to all of you!”

And I believe it was.

DAY DREAMS

White wings over the water,
Fluttering, fluttering over the sea,
White wings over the water,
What are you bringing to me?
A fairy prince in a golden boat,
With golden ringlets that fall and float,
A velvet cap, and a taffety cloak,
This you are bringing to me.

Fairy, fairy princekin,
Sailing, sailing hither to me,
Silk and satin and velvet,
What are you coming to see?
A little girl in a calico gown,
With hair and eyes of dusky brown,
Who sits on the wharf of the fishing-town.
Looking away to sea.

Golden, golden sunbeams,
Touch me now with your wands of gold;
Make me a beautiful princess,
Radiant to behold.
Blue and silver and ermine fine,
Diamond drops that flash and shine;
So shall I meet this prince of mine,
Fairer than may be told.