Comet in Moominland (11 page)

A howl of terror was heard from the spectators when one of the green arms twisted itself round Moomintroll's nose. But it changed to a triumphal war-cry when he chopped off the arm with a single blow. Then the fight became more violent; the bush was trembling all over, and Moomintroll was quite red in the face with fury and effort. For a long time you could see nothing but a whirl of arms, tail and legs.

The Snork maiden found a big stone, which she threw into the middle of the fight, but as the stone hit Moomintroll in the tummy it didn't help much.

'Oh dear! Oh dear!' moaned the Snork maiden, 'I've killed him!'

'Just like a girl!' said Sniff.

But Moomintroll wasn't dead yet. He came up fighting harder than ever and cut off one after another of the Angostura's arms. When nothing but a tree-stump was left he folded up his knife and said - in a rather superior manner, Sniff thought - 'Well! That's that!'

'Oh, how brave you are!' whispered the Snork maiden.

'Oh, I do that sort of thing nearly every day,' said Moomintroll airily.

'Do you?' said Sniff. 'I've never...' But he got no farther than a squeak because Snufkin had trodden on his toe.

'What was that?' asked the Snork maiden with a start, because she was rather nervous after her dreadful experience.

'Don't be frightened,' said Moomintroll. 'I'm here to protect you. I've got a little present for you too,' and he produced the gold ankle-ring.

'Oh!' exclaimed the Snork maiden, turning quite pink with pleasure. 'I thought I'd lost it. Oh, how wonderful!' She put the ring on at once, and then turned and twisted, trying to see the effect.

'She's been fussing about that ring for two days,' said the Snork.' She could hardly eat. And now, if you are all willing, I suggest we go on to a little glade that I know, and hold a meeting. I think we have more important things than rings to discuss.' So the Snork led them to his glade and there they sat in a circle and waited.

'Well,' said Moomintroll, 'what are we going to talk about?'

'About the comet, of course,' answered the Snork, glancing fearfully at the red sky. 'First of all I elect myself president and secretary of this meeting. Are there any objections?' Nobody had any objections, and the Snork tapped the ground three times with his pencil. The Snork maiden thought he was killing an ant.

'Was it a poisonous one?' she asked with interest.

'Hush! You're disturbing the meeting!' said her brother. 'It will fall on the seventh of October at 8.42 p.m. Perhaps four seconds later.'

'What? the poisonous ant?' asked Moomintroll, who was a bit mixed up, what with the battle with the bush and the Snork maiden's beauty.

'No, no, the comet,' said the Snork impatiently. 'Now we must ask ourselves what should be done?'

'We thought we'd go home as quickly as possible,' said Moomintroll. 'I hope you and your sister will come with us.'

'I shall have to think it over,' answered the Snork. 'We can go more deeply into the question at the next meeting.'

'Listen,' interrupted Snufkin, 'this has got to be decided at once. It's the fourth of October today, and it's already afternoon. We have exactly three days to reach Moomin Valley.'

'Do you live there?' asked the Snork maiden.

'Yes,' said Moomintroll. 'It's a wonderful valley. And just before we left I made a swing, and Sniff has discovered a magnificent cave that I shall show you...'

'Wait a minute,' said the Snork, tapping the ground again, 'keep to the point please. Now is it possible for us to reach there before the comet, and if so can we be safe in this valley of yours?'

'It's been all right up to now,' said Sniff.

'Mamma will think of something,' said Moomintroll. 'You must see the cave where I've buried my pearls!'

'Pearls!' burst out the Snork maiden excitedly. 'Could ankle-rings be made out of pearls?'

'I should just think they
could,'
said Moomintroll. 'Ankle-rings and nose-rings and ear-rings and engagement rings...'

'That's a question for later,' the Snork cut in, thumping furiously with his pencil. 'Be quiet now! My dear sister, there
are
more important things in the world than nose-rings.'

'Not if they're made of pearls,' said the Snork maiden. 'Now you've broken the point of your pencil again. Doesn't anybody want to eat this evening?'

'Yes, I do!' shouted Sniff.

'We will adjourn the meeting until tomorrow morning,' said the Snork with a sigh. 'There's never any order when girls are about.'

'Don't take it so seriously,' said his sister, and began to take plates out of a little basket. 'It would be much better if you collected some wood for me. Besides we shall be quite safe in this cave in Moomin Valley, so what are you worrying about?'

'Why, what a wonderful idea!' exclaimed Moomintroll, looking at her in admiration. 'How clever of you to think of it. Of course! We can hide in the cave when the comet comes!'

'In
my
cave,' squeaked Sniff proudly. 'We'll roll stones across the opening, and cover the hole in the roof, and take lots of food down there, and a lantern. Won't it be exciting?'

'Well, now we'll have to have a meeting anyway,' said the Snork. 'We must organize a working party.'

'Yes, yes,' said his sister impatiently. 'How about that wood? And, Sniff, will you go and fetch some water from the marsh please?'

Sniff and the Snork set off and the Snork maiden went on laying the table. 'Moomintroll, will you pick some flowers for the table?' she said.

'What colour would you like?' he asked.

The Snork maiden looked at herself and saw that she was still pink. (This had come over her when Moomintroll gave back the ring, you remember.) 'Well,' she said, 'I think blue flowers would suit me best.' So Moomintroll trotted off to find some.

'And what can
I
do?' asked Snufkin.

'Play something for me please!' said the Snork maiden.

So Snufkin took out his mouth-organ and played a song about the blue horizon.

It was a long time before the Snork came back with the wood. 'Well, there you are at last,' said his sister.

'It took quite a time,' said the Snork, 'because of course I had to find pieces that were all exactly the same length.'

'Is he always so particular?' asked Snufkin.

'He was born like that,' said the Snork maiden. 'Where's Sniff with that water?'

But Sniff hadn't found any water. The marsh was dried up; only a little mud lay at the bottom, and all the poor water-lilies had died. He went farther into the wood and found a stream, but that was dry too. It was most extraordinary. At last Sniff returned crest-fallen to the camp.

'I think all the water in the world must have dried up,' he said.

'We must discuss the matter,' said the Snork. But his sister had a better idea. 'Sniff, didn't you have a bottle of lemonade?' she asked, and when he brought one out she emptied it into the saucepan with some berries, and produced the most wonderful fruit-soup that you could imagine.

'But soup isn't the only thing we have to worry about,' said the Snork thoughtfully. 'There must be some reason why all the water has dried up.'

'It's probably because the sun is so hot,' said Snufkin.

'Or else the comet,' said Sniff, and they all looked up at the sky. It was a dull red in the gathering darkness, and there, just above the tree-tops, something shone. A little

red spark like a distant star. It didn't move, but it seemed to flicker and burn as if it were very hot.

The Snork maiden shivered and crept nearer to the fire. 'Oh dear,' she said, 'it doesn't look very friendly.' And her colour slowly changed from pink to mauve.

While they sat and looked at the comet Moomintroll came puffing up with a bunch of bluebells. 'It wasn't very easy to find them,' he said.

'Thank you very much,' said the Snork maiden, 'but I should really have asked for yellow flowers - you see I've changed colour again!'

'Oh, deary me!' said Moomintroll sadly, 'Shall I find you some others?' And then he too caught sight of the comet shining over the tree-tops.

'No, no, don't bother,' answered the Snork maiden, 'but please hold my paw! I'm frightened!'

'You mustn't be,' comforted Moomintroll. 'We know it won't hit the earth for three days, and by that time we shall be home, and snug in the cave. Now we'll eat your marvellous soup and then go to sleep.'

So the Snork maiden ladled out the soup, and when they had eaten they all curled up together on the mat which she had woven out of grass.

The fire slowly died - but above the dark silent wood the comet shone red and ominous.

CHAPTER 8

Which is about the Village Stores and a party in the forest.

T
HE
whole of the next day they travelled through the wood, straight towards Moomin Valley, and Snufkin went in front playing his mouth-organ to keep their spirits up. At about five o'clock in the afternoon they came to a little path which had a big notice beside it, with an arrow, saying:

DANCING TO-NIGHT
This way!
VILLAGE STORES

'Oh, I want to dance!
Couldn't we
dance?' cried the Snork maiden, clapping her paws. 'I haven't been dancing for ages and ages.'

'We haven't time for that sort of thing now,' said the Snork.

'Perhaps we could buy some lemonade at that village stores,' said Sniff. 'I'm so thirsty.'

'Anyway the path goes in exactly our direction,' said Moomintroll.

'We could just have a look at the dancing as we go by,' suggested Snufkin.

The Snork sighed. 'You're quite hopeless all of you,' he said with a resigned air.

It was a funny little path, winding here and there, dashing off in different directions, and sometimes even tying a knot in itself from sheer joy. (You don't get tired of a path like that, and I'm not sure that it doesn't get you home quicker in the end.)

Snufkin cut a flag pole and hoisted his precious flag once again. Sniff carried it while Snufkin played, and the Snork maiden frisked in and out between the trees picking flowers to match whatever mood she happened to be in, and putting them behind her ears.