Tales From Moominvalley (16 page)

jumped aboard one of the white boats, hoisted sail and put straight out to the stormy sea.

He was himself once again, he had his own thoughts about things, and he longed to be home.

Just think, never to be glad nor disappointed, Moominpappa mused while the boat was carried along in the gale. Never to like anyone and get cross at him and forgive him. Never to sleep or feel cold, never to make a mistake and have a belly-ache and be cured from it, never to have a birthday party, drink beer and have a bad conscience...

How terrible.

He felt happy and drenched and not in the least afraid of the thunderstorm. At home they would never have electric light, he decided, they'd keep the old kerosene lamps.

Moominpappa longed for his family and his verandah. All of a sudden he thought that at home he could be just as free and adventurous as a real pappa should be.

Cedric

Now, afterwards, it is hard to understand how that small beast, Sniff, could ever have been persuaded to give Cedric away.

Never before had Sniff done such a thing, rather the reverse. And furthermore Cedric really was quite wonderful.

Cedric wasn't alive, he was a thing - but what a thing! At first sight he was just a small plush dog, rather bald and love-worn, but a closer look showed that his eyes were nearly topazes and that he had a small genuine moonstone on his collar just beside the clasp.

And furthermore he carried an inimitable expression on his face, an expression that no other dog could ever have. Possibly the jewels were more important to Sniff than the expression, but in any case he loved Cedric.

And as soon as he had given Cedric away he regretted it to desperation. He neither ate nor slept nor talked. He only regretted.

'But dearest Sniffy,' Moominmamma said worriedly, 'if you really did love Cedric so much, then why didn't you at least give him to someone you like and not to Gaffsie's daughter?'

'Pooh,' Sniff mumbled, staring at the floor with his poor reddened eyes, 'it was Moomintroll's fault. He told me that if one gives something away that one really likes, then one will get it back ten times over and feel wonderful afterwards. He tricked me to it.'

'Oh,' Moominmamma said. 'Well, well.' She didn't find anything better to say. She felt she had to sleep on the matter.

Evening fell, and Moominmamma went to bed. Everybody said good night, and the lights were put out, one after the other. Only Sniff lay awake, staring up at the ceiling, where the shadow of a large branch was moving up and down in the moonlight. Through the open window he could hear Snufkin's mouth organ playing in the warm night down by the river.

When Sniff's thoughts became too black he jumped out of bed and padded to the window. He climbed down the rope ladder and ran through the garden where the peonies gleamed white and all the shadows were coal-black. The moon was high, far away and impersonal.

Snufkin was sitting outside his tent.

He didn't play any complete tunes tonight, only small shreds of music that resembled questions or those small concurring sounds one makes when one doesn't know what to say.

Sniff sat down beside him and looked disconsolately into the river.

'Hullo,' Snufkin said. 'Good thing you came. I've been sitting here thinking about a story that might interest you.'

'I'm not interested in fairy tales tonight,' Sniff mumbled, wrinkling himself up.

'It's no fairy tale,' Snufkin said. 'It's happened. It happened to an aunt of my mother's.'

And Snufkin started his story, sucking at his pipe and now and then splashing with his toes in the dark river water.

*

'Once upon a time there was a lady who loved all her belongings. She had no children to amuse or annoy her, she didn't need to work or cook, she didn't mind what people said about her and she wasn't the scared sort. Also she had lost her taste for play. In other words, she found life a bit boring.

'But she loved her beautiful things and she had collected them all her life, sorted them and polished them and made them more and more beautiful to look at. One really didn't believe one's eyes when one entered her house.'

'She was a happy lady,' Sniff nodded. 'What kinds of things did she have?'

'Well,' Snufkin said. 'She was as happy as she knew how to be. And now don't interrupt me, please. Then, one night it happened that this aunt of my mother's went down to her dark scullery to eat a cold cutlet, and she swallowed a large bone. She felt funny for several days afterwards, and when she didn't get any better she went to her doctor. He tapped her chest and listened to it and X-rayed her and shook her about, and at last he told her

that this cutlet bone had stuck crosswise somewhere inside her. It was impossible to prise it loose. In other words, he feared the worst.'

'You don't say,' Sniff said, showing a little more interest in the story. 'He thought the lady was going to kick the bucket but he didn't dare tell her?'

'That's about it,' Snufkin agreed. 'But this aunt of my mother's wasn't easily scared, so she made him tell her how much time she had left, and then she went home to think. A few weeks wasn't very much.

'She suddenly remembered that in her youth she had wanted to explore the Amazonas, to learn deep sea diving, to build a large nice house for lonely children, to see a volcano and to arrange a gigantic party for all her friends. But all that was too late now, of course. Friends she had none at all, because she had only collected beautiful things, and that takes time.

'She grew more and more sad while she wandered around in her rooms. Her wonderful belongings gave her no comfort. On the contrary, they only made her think of the day when she'd go to heaven and leave them all behind her.

'And the thought of starting a new collection up there didn't make her at all happy, whatever the reason.'

'Poor lady!' Sniff cried. 'Couldn't she take the least little thing along with her?'

'No,' Snufkin said. 'It's not allowed. But now dry up, please, and listen. One night this aunt of my mother's lay awake looking up at the ceiling and brooding. All around her stood lots of beautiful furniture, and all over it were lots of beautiful knick-knacks. Her things were everywhere, on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling, in her cabinets, in her drawers - and suddenly she felt about to suffocate among all those belongings that gave her no comfort at all. And now an idea came to her. It was such a funny idea that this aunt of my mother's began to laugh where she lay. All at once she was feeling fit, and she rose and dressed and started to think.

'She had hit upon the idea to give away everything she owned. That would give her more breathing space, and it's something you need if you've a large bone stuck in your stomach and want to be able to think of the Amazonas.'

'How silly,' Sniff said disappointedly.

'It wasn't silly in the least,' Snufkin objected. 'She had lots of fun while she sat thinking out what things to give away to whom.

'She had many relations and knew still more people, you see, that's quite possible even if you've no friends. Well, she thought of everyone, one after the other, and wondered what he or she would like best. It was like a game.

'And she wasn't stupid. To me she gave the mouth organ: Perhaps you haven't known it's gold and rosewood? Well. She thought it out so wisely that everybody got exactly the thing that suited him and that he had dreamt of.

'This aunt of my mother's also had a turn for surprises. She sent all the things in parcels, and the receivers had no idea of who the sender was (they had never been in her home, because she had always been afraid they'd break things).