AND WHILST WERE ON THE SUBJECT OF
TOY ANIMALS - - - HAVE YOU HEARD THE ONE ABOUT
THE
CROCODILE'S TALE OF WOE by Stephen
Southwold.
"The
first thing I remember about anything at
all." said the India Rubber Crocodile, "was opening
my eyes early one fine morning, and finding myself
on a chair by the bedside of a little boy who was
fast asleep. "With me on the chair were a box
of lead soldiers (very fierce, ugly fellows they
were, and I didn't want anything to do with them);
a teddy bear, who kept rolling his eyes at me in a
very frightful fashion; a clockwork engine that I
knew would run over me in a minute; and a - and a -
and ---- " (Here he began to sob, and he made such
queer gulping noises that I grew
alarmed.) "Do stop
crying," I said at last, "or you'll make me cry
too. And a what was it you were going to
say?" "And a beautiful pink doll baby,"
he managed to say after a while. "Beautiful, pink
and shiny. Of course I fell in love with her at
once. And you would have done too, So I crept very
close to her and began to whisper to her. She was
very pleased to see me, and we had such a happy,
jolly talk. "The
teddy-bear tried to interrupt several times,, but
at last i puffed myself up and hissed at him so
fiercely that he fell off the chair in
alarm. He fell on the floor with such a
bump that the little boy woke up, and as soon as he
saw us he gave such a squeal of delight, and took
us all into bed with him. "He
seemed to like the teddy-bear and the soldiers
best, but I did not care. I just snuggled down
under the clothes with my little pink darling and
told her about all the brave deeds I would do for
her sake. She did not say much, but she looked so
sweetly at me that I knew she was pleased. And then
that terrible boy jumped out of the bed like an
elephant with kangaroo legs, seized me in one hand,
and my beautiful doll in the other and away we went
into a room where there was a bath of
water. "He threw us in with a splash,
and in another moment he was in with us. " I just
loved it, but my poor little beauty seemed very
strange and quiet; and when the boy had gone out
and left us both lying by the side of the bath I
understood her
unhappiness. " Oh, it was dreadful! She was no
longer beautiful, her dear face was all washed
away, and indeed she was only half as big as she
had been. "
All that day, and during the night as well, we lay
there, I tried to comfort
her. " Just
as the sun rose next morning she seemed a little
more cheerful, when in came that dreadful boy
again. " By the time he had
finished washing my beautiful one was no more than
a tiny little round knob. "Later in the day he
took us both into the garden, and placing my poor
one in a mug, he stirred her round and round and
round, and then with a magic pipe he turned her
into a great silver balloon, which glittered in the
sun, and then flew up into the air, away and away
for ever. "And I have
never seen her since," he finished, beginning to
cry again. And the tears ran down his face
so fast that had they not been crocodile's tears,
they would have flooded the
bathroom.
Posted 15:39
|
Crocodile Tears, a very strange little tale written by Stephen Southwold. 
