The Brownie and the Gnome
The Brownie and the Gnome
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The brownie Beppy and the gnome Noggle were having a fierce quarrel. It was the gnome's fault.
He said that the brownie had stolen the yellow brooch that he, Noggle, always wore in the front of his coat, and Beppy the brownie, who was a very honest little fellow, declared a hundred times that he hadn't!
'Well,' said Noggle fiercely, 'you were the only person walking with me when I missed the brooch, weren't you? We were walking through the woods together, and suddenly I felt the pin of my brooch open and the brooch fell – but when I looked on the ground for it, it wasn't there. So somehow or other, you, Beppy, must have picked it up and pocketed it!'
'I didn't, I didn't!' shouted Beppy, dancing about in a rage.
'Well, I warn you, Beppy,' said Noggle, pointing his finger at the brownie in a very nasty manner, 'I warn you – I shall come in the middle of one night and take something of yours. Yes, I shall! Something you like very much, just to pay you out for stealing my brooch. I expect I shall take your green necklace.'
'You won't, you shan't!' said Beppy angrily. 'Anyway, I shall hear you and chase you away.'
'I shall come so quietly that you won't hear a sound!' said Noggle. 'I shall get a Silent Spell from my aunt Dame Whispers. Then my feet won't make the tiniest noise at all.'
He did just what he said. He went to Dame Whispers and bought a Silent Spell, and then he planned to go to Beppy's and take his green necklace. He thought he had better wait until the moon was out of the sky, for the nights were just then very bright with moonlight. So he waited for six days and nights, and then decided to creep to the brownie's at midnight.
He looked at the little silver watch on his wrist. It was eleven o'clock. He would go in twenty minutes' time, then he would arrive at Beppy's just about the middle of the night when the brownie would be sound asleep. He wouldn't wake him because the Silent Spell would be in his feet, and they wouldn't make a single sound.
In twenty minutes' time he went to the door and looked out. The night was very dark indeed. There wasn't even a small moon – in fact, the sky was so dark with clouds that Noggle felt certain it would soon rain. So he thought he would take his umbrella with him.
He took it out of the hall-stand, looked at his watch again, and decided that it was time to start.
Out he went into the darkness, glad to think he was going to punish Beppy for stealing his brooch. It wasn't raining yet, so he didn't put up his umbrella. He walked along the lane, his feet making no sound at all. The Silent Spell was a very good one.
It was just midnight when he reached Beppy's cottage. Without a sound he opened a window and crept inside. He made his way up the stairs, without a single creak, to the brownie's bed-room. He opened the door and stood inside the room, listening to see if the brownie was asleep.
Beppy was asleep. He heard no sound of footsteps. He heard no creak. He heard no shuffling-but in his dreams he heard something else. His sharp little brownie ears heard the sound of a watch ticking! The watch that Noggle the gnome wore on his wrist had rather a loud tick, and the Silent Spell wasn't made for watches- only for feet. So the watch ticked out in the darkness and came to the sleeping brownie's ears.
He woke up. He listened to the little tick-tick-tick that he could hear quite plainly. What could it be? It wasn't loud enough for a clock, and anyway, there wasn't a clock in the bedroom. It must be a watch. But Beppy had taken his watch to be mended that very day, so it couldn't be his watch ticking.
Then it must be someone else's – and that someone else must be standing in his bedroom in the dark! Ooh!
Beppy was just going to shout loudly when he thought: 'Ah! It must be Noggle, come to steal my necklace! He has a Silent Spell in his feet, but he forgot about his watch! I'll give him a fright.'
Beppy sat up quietly in bed.
'I see you, Noggle,' he said, in an awful hollow voice. 'I see you. You're standing over there in the dark, thinking I can't see or hear you. But I can! And I'm going to put a spell on you! I'm going to turn on a tap behind you and make you wet from head to foot. Look out!'
As he spoke Beppy took up a glass of water by his bedside and threw the water at the corner where he could hear the tick- tick of the watch.
It fell on Noggle's head and wetted him. He really thought a tap had been turned on behind him, and, howling in fright, he turned and ran down the stairs, almost falling over in his fear.
When he got outside it was pouring with rain.
He put up his umbrella at once – and something fell out of it on to the ground. What could it be? Noggle lit a match and looked. Goodness, gracious, it was his little yellow brooch!
Noggle looked at it in surprise. Then he went very red. He guessed at once what had happened. When it had fallen from his coat in the wood, it had tumbled into his umbrella, and neither he nor Beppy had thought of looking there! So Beppy hadn't taken it after all!
'Beppy! Beppy! I've found my yellow brooch!' cried Noggle, rushing back into the cottage. 'It had fallen into my umbrella. I've just found it. Oh, do forgive me for being so nasty.
And do tell me how you knew I was in your bedroom tonight.'
Beppy lit his lamp and the two looked at the yellow brooch. They began to laugh – and how they laughed! Noggle poked Beppy in the ribs and Beppy poked Noggle, and they teased one another and forgot all about their silly quarrel.
'Well, next time you want to come and take my green necklack, remember to leave your watch at home!' said Beppy. 'I heard it ticking and that's how I knew you were there!'
'There won't be any next time,' said Noggle.
'We'll be good friends now.'
And so they are!'
