“NOW, Merrimeg,” said Merrimeg’s mother, “take this basket and go to the brook in the woods, and bring me back a basketful of water cress for supper. And be sure to come straight back.” “Yes, mother,” said Merrimeg. And she went off down the village street singing, with her basket on her arm. But first she put in her pocket the blue saltcellar from the kitchen, full of salt.
She walked a long way into the woods, and at last she came to a little brook running along over the stones. There in the clear water she found plenty of fresh green water cress growing. She pulled it up by the handful and filled her basket with it.
She knew that she ought to go straight home, but this was not one of her days for being good.[76] She left the basket on the grass, and took out of her pocket the saltcellar with the salt in it. Then she looked around for birds.
A blue bird came hopping by on the ground, and Merrimeg stole up behind it on tiptoe, and sprinkled a little salt right down over its tail. But just at that minute the bird flew up into a tree, and Merrimeg was too late.
Off went the bird from tree to tree, and Merrimeg ran after it as fast as she could, holding out her saltcellar. Pretty soon the bird hopped down onto the ground again, and Merrimeg tiptoed up behind it and sprinkled her salt down over its tail. But she was just a bit too late, and the bird flew up into a tree.
Merrimeg followed the bird a long, long way, and whenever it hopped down onto the ground she tried to sprinkle a little salt on its tail; but she was always just a wee bit too late.
At last, when she was at the foot of a hill that rose up out of the woods, she stamped her foot and cried out:
“Oh, you good-for-nothing naughty bird!”
[77]“Naughty bird!” came back her own voice to her from the top of the hill.
Merrimeg was astonished. She had never heard an echo before.
She thought she would try it again, so she called out:
“Oh, you naughty bird, come down here!”
Her own voice came back to her from the same place up the hill, but it didn’t quite repeat her words; it said:
“Come on down!”
The echo must have made a mistake. Merrimeg was more than ever astonished. She waited a minute, and then the same voice came down to her from the top of the hill, and it said:
“Down here!”
The echo had got it right this time. Evidently it must have been a very young echo indeed.
Merrimeg forgot all about the blue bird, and she began to climb the hill to find out who it was that was mocking her.
She didn’t know it, but there was an Echo Dwarf who lived in a cave near the top of the[78] hill, and there lived with him his little boy, a very little boy, who was just learning how to make echoes. Big Hark was the father’s name. Little Hark was the little boy’s name. Big Hark had a great deal of trouble in teaching Little Hark to make echoes, for Little Hark often forgot, and instead of calling back the same words he had heard, he would often call back words of his own. Besides, if the words he had to call back were big words, he always got them mixed up. His father never knew when he was going to make a mess of everything. And when he did that, it made Big Hark so angry he could hardly speak.
Merrimeg went on up the hill, and pretty soon she called out again:
“Why couldn’t I catch the bird with my salt?”
“Too slow!” came back the voice from the top of the hill.
Merrimeg couldn’t understand this at all. She listened for a minute, and then she heard another voice up above her:
[79]
 
[80]
“OXTRAGOB BORGS, GOOBLIK!”
 
[81]“My salt! Oxtragob borgs, gooblik!”
This was Little Hark’s father, and when he said “Oxtragob borgs, gooblik!” he meant, in the private language of the Echo Dwarfs, “Wrong again, stupid!”
Big Hark and Little Hark were standing in front of their cave, and Big Hark was letting Little Hark practice at making echoes, as Merrimeg came up the hill. Not many people came that way, and Big Hark was glad of the chance to give his little boy a lesson.
Merrimeg came on further and further up the hill, and after a while she stopped and called out again:
“Are you still there?”
“Still there!” came back the voice.
This made her quite angry. She did not like to be mocked every time she opened her mouth. She cried out:
“Stop mocking me!”
“Mocking me!” came back the voice.
This made her very angry indeed. Without saying anything more she clambered on up the[82] hill and stopped all out of breath on a little ledge before the mouth of a cave. There a little further on along the path was standing Little Hark himself, with his hands up to his mouth, all ready to shout back an echo. His father had gone inside the cave.
Little Hark was very small indeed, and Merrimeg looked quite like a giant beside him. She ran to him and stood over him and shook her finger at him and said:
“What do you mean by mocking me all the time?”
“All the time?” said Little Hark, looking very much frightened.
“Yes, all the time!” said Merrimeg. “What do you mean by it?”
“Mean by it?” said the little Echo Dwarf.
“Don’t you dare repeat everything I say to you!” cried Merrimeg. “You naughty thing, you’re mocking me!”
“You’re mocking me!” said Little Hark, beginning to cry.
 
“HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING? HOW DARE YOU?”
 
“Why, you awful little thing, I’m not!” cried[83] Merrimeg. “How dare you say such a thing? How dare you?”
“How dare you?” said Little Hark, crying harder.
This made Merrimeg very angry, so angry that she could not say another word. She seized hold of Little Hark’s arm and shook him. There she was shaking him, pretty hard too, and Little Hark was bawling out loud, when Big Hark, his father, came out of the cave and hurried towards them to see what was the matter.
Big Hark was very strong, though he was not very big. He threw his arms around Merrimeg and dragged her away from Little Hark and hauled her along to the cave and pulled her into it. Before she knew it her arms were bound up tight with tough vines which Big Hark had snatched down from the wall.
Big Hark made her sit down on the floor with her back against the wall, and he and Little Hark stood before her. Little Hark looked at his father and said:
[84]“Kormsdee lokspit calliper?”
This meant, in the private language of the Echo Dwarfs, “What are you going to do with her?”
“Lokspit meegs,” said Big Hark, “doomdog askbiddle beddagog diskorfunjax krissmuss.”
This meant, “I am going to keep her here for seven Christmases, for you to practice your echo lessons on.”
“Snexterbean?” asked Little Hark. This meant, “What then?”
“Lokspit snexter,” said Big Hark, “flambilly noformikin beskeem.” This meant, as you may imagine, “I am then going to give her to the Fire Bubbles at the back of the cave.”
Merrimeg tried to get her arms loose, and cried out:
“I want to go home! I want to go home!”
Big Hark nudged Little Hark, reminding him to practice his echo, and Little Hark ............