The Tales of Tiptoes Lightly (7 page)

“SQUALK!” cawed Pumpkin Crow.

“CAW!” squawked Mr. Crow.

“OOOFF! OOOFF!” grunted Pine Cone and Pepper Pot.

“SQUEEK!” squealed Jeremy Mouse.

Tiptoes covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.
She was too nimble and had flitted out of the way when they all fell down.

“I’m free! I’m free!” cried Pumpkin Crow, flapping his
wings up and down and dancing round and round. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you
for pulling me out.”

“But how did you get your head stuck inside?” asked
Pine Cone, picking himself up and dusting off his trousers.

“The pumpkin had a soft spot,” said Pumpkin Crow, “so
I pecked it. And my pecking made a hole, and the hole showed me all those
delicious pumpkin seeds. My head went inside to get some, but it wouldn’t come
out again.”

“But how can you do the same silly thing twice?”
scolded Mr. Crow, exasperated. He was most annoyed by the whole thing. He was
sure the story would get around the entire countryside.

“Pumpkin seeds are so yummy—I just couldn’t resist
them,” said Pumpkin Crow. “But I promise I’ll never do it again,” and he flew
away towards the forest.

“What a goose!” muttered Mr. Crow, and flew after him.

This will make a good Telling Tale for winter nights,”
exclaimed Pine Cone. He loved good Telling Tales.

“Yes, yes!” agreed Pepper Pot, rubbing his hands with
glee. “A fine good Telling Tale.”

Tiptoes looked around. “Where’s Jeremy Mouse?” she
asked. “Where did he go?”

Jeremy Mouse had vanished.

“Jeremy Mouse, Jeremy Mouse,” she called loudly.

“Jeremy Mouse, Jeremy Mouse,” called the gnomes.

“Here I am,” he said, sticking his head out of the
hole in the pumpkin. “These seeds are yummy. No wonder Pumpkin Crow wanted
some,” and he disappeared inside the pumpkin again.

“Bring some out,” called Pepper Pot. “We’ll roast them
by the fire tonight; they taste even better with a bit of salt.”

Jeremy Mouse brought seeds to the opening, and the gnomes
filled their pockets. When he finally came out of the pumpkin Jeremy Mouse was
bright orange and looked a little soggy. His tummy was fat and round.

“Let’s go home and build a fire,” said Pepper Pot to
Jeremy Mouse. “You can dry off properly while we roast the seeds,” and off they
went to the forest.

Tiptoes stayed for a while. She sat on the pumpkin and
watched the sun setting in the west. It glowed deep red, and gray clouds hung
low in the sky. Soon mist was rising from the ground. A silvery moon-sliver
sailed high in the heavens, and the air felt chill and damp.

“Summer really is over,” thought Tiptoes, and she sang
an autumn moon-song:

“Autumn moon sailing high,

Do you love the stars so bright?

Do you love the fields of mist,

And golden trees by red light kissed?”

Then she flew after her friends.

A fire was blazing in the hearth when Tiptoes arrived
at Pine Cone and Pepper Pot’s house. Pine Cone was roasting the pumpkin seeds
in a large pan. Jeremy Mouse had washed himself clean and sat quietly on the
hearth rug. He looked sleepy.

It was dark outside and Owl was whoo-whooing in the
woods when Pine Cone lit a candle and put it on a ledge in the wall. They
munched on the roasted pumpkin seeds and felt safe and dry in the gnome’s home.

“Tell us a tale, Tiptoes,” said Pine Cone.

“Yes, tell us a tale,” said Jeremy Mouse, curling up
closer to the fire.

“What story should I tell?” she asked.

“Tell the Tale of Crystal Fire,” said Pine Cone. “I
like that one.”

“Yes, yes,” said Pepper Pot, “it’s one of my favorites
too.”

Tiptoes smiled and settled her hands on her lap.
“Once, a long time ago,” she said, “there was only one fire in the world. It
was hidden inside a mountain underneath the sea. It was guarded by a fire
spirit called Fire Flame, and he always stayed by its side. The fire burned in
a crystal bowl and never went out. It fed Fire Flame and kept him warm. Its
light let him see all things under the earth, and all things upon the earth,
and he was happy.

One day, after many, many years, Fire Flame looked
around the world and saw a marsh nymph playing in the moonlight.

‘Oh, how beautiful she looks,’ thought Fire Flame. ‘I
would like to visit her.’

From that day on Fire Flame was no longer happy. He
loved the only flame in the world and he loved the marsh nymph, and never was
he at peace. His heart was torn and he grew sad, and as he grew sad the only
fire in the world became smaller and smaller in its crystal bowl. Fire Flame
realized the fire was dying and that he could no longer care for it properly.
So he took it up onto the earth and placed it on the ground.

Then he went to the marsh nymph and they were happy
together and had many children. Even to this day you can see marsh-fire
children glowing and flickering in swampy places.

“And what happened to the bowl of fire?” asked Jeremy
Mouse.

“Well,” said Tiptoes, “creatures from all over the
world came to see this strange sight—for they had never seen such a thing as
fire. Some were afraid of it and ran away. Some touched it and were hurt. They
never touched it again. And some, like the moths, thought it so beautiful they
flew into it, but the fire burned them up. And so it went for all the
animals—none of them could live with the fire.

One day, two human beings came along. They were young,
a man and a woman. They sat by the fire for a long time and looked at it. Then
they took it away.  Now, all over the world, men have fire and know how to use
it.”

“But what about the crystal bowl?” asked Jeremy Mouse.

“Men were not interested in the crystal bowl and lost
it,” said Tiptoes. “But Karnak, King of the Gnomes, found it and learned its
secrets. Now gnomes know how to grow crystals and make them in every shape and
color. And if you look carefully inside crystals you’ll see flames glittering
and glistening. That’s because they remember the fire that once burned in the
crystal bowl, long, long, ago.”

“And that,” said Tiptoes, “is the end of the story.”

Then she folded her wings, cuddled up next to Jeremy
Mouse, and fell asleep.

Pepper Pot woke in the night. It was dark, and a
bright star shone in his window. The star was calling. She was telling him it
was time to get up and work in his garden.

Pepper Pot unwound his beard from around his
head—gnomes sleep with their beards wrapped round their heads—tucked it in his
belt and pulled on his red boots. Then he opened the cellar door and climbed
down the stairs.

Down, down he went. The cellar steps were cut into the
rock and wound round and round. Far underground the stairs ended and he
followed a narrow passageway. First the passage went up a bit, and then it went
down a bit; at last it opened out into a cave. Here Pine Cone and Pepper Pot
grew their crystal garden.

The cave was wide, but not very high. If you stood on tiptoe
you could almost touch the ceiling. The floor and walls, even the ceiling, were
covered with crystals of all kinds: blue ones and green ones, sour yellow ones
and purple ones called amethyst. Some were big and some were small, some were
wide and some were very, very tall.