Comet in Moominland (19 page)

'Take my watch so that you can keep an eye on the time,' said the Snork. 'And be as quick as you can. It's a quarter past eight already.'

'Then I've got twenty-seven minutes,' said Moomintroll. He hugged his anxious mamma, swallowed the last bit of cake, and dived under the blanket.

It was like walking into an enormous oven with the heat full on. The trees hung limp and motionless, while the comet burnt so brightly that you couldn't look at it. Moomintroll ran across the sand and into the wood, shouting at the top of his voice: 'Ahoy! Silk-monkey! Where are you? Silk-monkey!

In the red gloom under the trees not a breath of life stirred: all the small creatures had hidden themselves underground and were cowering there, silent and afraid. Only Moomintroll ran through the wood. He stopped and called, then listened and ran on again. At last he stood still and looked at the watch. He only had twelve minutes left: he would have to go back.

He gave one last yell, and this time to his joy a faint sound came back in reply. He put his paws to his mouth and called again, and the answer came nearer. A moment later the silk-monkey swung down from a tree in front of him.' Well, 'well, she chattered, 'fancy meeting you. I was just wondering...'

'We haven't time to talk now,' interrupted Moomintroll. 'Just follow me to the cave as quickly as you can, otherwise something terrible will happen to us.'

They set off as fast as they could, the silk-monkey laughing and screaming and asking questions without the faintest notion of what was happening. 'Is it something exciting?' she babbled, throwing herself from branch to branch in great glee. She thought it was all very amusing - some kind of race perhaps.

Moomintroll had never run so fast in his life. Now and then he looked at the watch and that seemed to be going faster than usual as well. Only four minutes left!

They came out on to the beach... three minutes! Oh

how difficult it was to run on the sand. Moomintroll clutched the silk-monkey's paw and together they made a last headlong dash.

Moominmamma was waiting outside the cave, and when she caught sight of them she started waving her arms and shouting: 'Quickly children! Run! Run!'

They scrambled wildly up the rock, and Moominmamma caught hold of them and pushed them through the opening in front of her.

'Oh, thank goodness!' gasped the Snork maiden, and she slowly began to get her normal colour back, because she had been pink with worry for the last twenty minutes. 'You got back in time - my own Moomintroll!'

Then they all heard a dreadful sound outside - a great hissing roar.

All of them except the Hemulen, who was occupied with his stamps, and the Muskrat who was stuck in the basin of hot water, threw themselves flat on the floor in a heap. The lamp went out and they were in complete darkness.

The comet was diving headlong to earth. It was exactly forty-two minutes and four seconds past eight. There was a rush of air as if a million rockets were being let off at once, and the earth shook. The Hemulen fell on his face among the stamps, Sniff yelled at the top of his voice, and Snufkin pulled his hat even farther down over his nose for protection.

The comet roared with its flaming tail right through the valley, across the forest and the mountains, and then disappeared again over the edge of the world.

If it had come a tiny bit nearer to the earth I am quite sure that none of us would be here now. But it just gave a whisk of its tail and swept off to another solar system far away, and it has never been seen since.

But in the cave they didn't know all this. They thought everything had been burnt up or smashed to atoms when the comet came down, and that their cave was the only thing left in the whole world. They listened and listened, but all they heard was silence.

'Mamma,' said Moomintroll, 'is it all over now?'

'Yes, it's over, my little Moomin-child,' said his mother. 'Now everything is all right, and you must go to sleep. You must all go to sleep, my dears. Don't cry Sniff, there's no danger now.'

The Snork maiden was trembling. 'Wasn't it dreadful?' she said.

'Don't think about it any more,' said Moominmamma. 'Cuddle up to me, little silk-monkey, and keep warm. I'm going to sing you all a lullaby.' And this is what she sang:

Snuggle up close, and shut your eyes tight,
And sleep without dreaming the whole of the night.
The comet is gone, and your mother is near
To keep you from harm till the morning is here.

And presently they dropped off to sleep, one by one, until at last it was quite quiet and peaceful in the cave.

CHAPTER 12

Which is about the end of the story.

M
OONMINTROLL
was the first to wake up next morning. For a long time he couldn't remember where he was, and when it all came back to him he got up at once, tiptoed cautiously to the mouth of the cave, gingerly lifted the blanket and looked out.

What a sight met his eyes! The sky was no longer red, but a beautiful blue once again, and the morning sun shone in its usual place, looking as though it had been freshly polished. Moomintroll sat down and turned his face up to it, shutting his eyes and heaving a deep sigh of happiness.

After a time the Snork maiden came creeping out of the cave and sat down beside him.

'Well, the sky, the sun and the rocks are still here anyway,' she said solemnly.

'And look! The sea is coming back,' whispered Moomintroll. And there it was rolling tirelessly in towards them, glittering and gleaming like soft blue silk, the same old sea that they had always loved!

All the little sea creatures came out of the mud where they had taken refuge and darted happily up to the surface; the seaweed and water plants slowly began to grow towards the sun, and out to sea a flock of sea-gulls appeared and were soon circling over the beach.

In the cave they were waking up one by one and blinking with surprise. The night seemed to them like a terrible black and red dream, and the Hemulen was really the only one who wasn't amazed at the sunshine and blue sea. He just carried his stamps down on to the sand and said: 'Now I'm going to put my watermarks in order for the seventh time, and woe-betide anyone who disturbs me - be he of the Moomin, Snork or Snufkin tribe.'

The Muskrat snorted, gave his whiskers a brushing, and wandered off to see if his hammock was still about.

'Now I've got a new chapter for my memoirs,' said Moominpappa. 'My goodness! That book is going to be exciting when it's finished.'

'It certainly is, dear,' said Moominmamma. 'But so many exciting things happen to us that I'm afraid the book will never get finished. Oh, what a joy it is to see the sun again!'

Sniff danced with his tail in a bow and held his dagger up to the sun so that the opals shone. Then he set off with the silk-monkey to see if there were any crabs left after the catastrophe.

Meanwhile Snufkin had taken out his mouth-organ and was giving it another try. All the notes had come back, even the little ones, so that he could play to his heart's content.

Moomintroll went into the cave, dug up his pearls and lay them in the Snork maiden's lap.

'These are for you,' he said, 'so that you can decorate yourself all over the place, and be the most beautiful Snork maiden in the world.'

But the biggest pearl of all he gave to his mother to wear in her nose.

'Oh Moomintroll! How beautiful!' she said. 'But now I want to know what has happened. Do you think the wood is still there, and the house, and the kitchen-garden?'

'I think everything is still there,' said Moomintroll. 'Come with me and have a look.'

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9