The drop of water
I suppose you know what a magnifying glass
is – a sort of round eye-glass that makes everything a hundred
times bigger than it is? If you take it and hold it in front
of you and look at a drop of water out of the pond, you
can see any number of strange looking creatures that you
would otherwise never see in the water; yet, sure enough,
there they are. It looks rather like a plateful of shrimps
happing about among each other; and they are so ferocious
that they tear off each other’s arms and legs, buttocks
and thighs – though in spite of that, they are quite pleased
and cheerful in their own way.
Now there was once an old man whom everybody
called Creepy-Crawly, because that was his name. He always
would have the best of everything and, if other means failed,
then he got what he wanted by magic.
Well, one day he sat holding his magnifying
glass in front of him and looking at a drop of water that
came from the puddle in the ditch. Goodness, what a lot
of creeping and crawling there was! Hundreds of little creatures
were all hopping around and tugging at each other and eating
each other.
"Really it’s quite repulsive," said
old Creepy-Crawly. "Can’t they be made to live in peace
and quiet and mind their own business?" And he puzzled
and puzzled, but it all came to nothing, and so he was forced
to use magic. "I must color them to make them stand
up more clearly," he said; and he poured the merest
drop of red wine into the drop of water. But it was witch’s
blood, the very finest kind at two pence a drop. Then all
those weird little creatures turned pink all over; they
might have been a whole townful of naked savages.
"What have you got there?" asked
another old magician who hadn’t got a name – and that was
just what made him so distinguished. "Well, if you
can guess what it is," said Creepy-Crawly. "I’ll
make you a present of it. But it isn’t easy to find out,
if you don’t know."
And the magician who hadn’t got a name took
a peep through the magnifying glass. It looked exactly like
a whole town where everybody was running about without anything
on. It was horrible; but still more horrible was the sight
of people pushing and elbowing each other, wrestling and
wrangling, snapping and snarling. Those at the bottom should
be on top, and those at the top should be down at the bottom.
"Look there! His leg is longer than mine. Pooh! Away
with it! And here’s a chap with a little pimple behind his
ear, a harmless little pimple, but it hurts him, and it
shall hurt him still more." And they slashed at it
and pulled him about, and they ate him for the sake of the
little pimple. Another was sitting there as still as a maiden
might, wanting nothing but peace and quiet; but the maiden
had to come forward and be pulled and tugged, till finally
they ate her right up! "That’s extremely funny,"
said the magician.
"Yes, but what do you make of it all?"
asked Creepy-Crawly. "Have you any idea what it is?"
"It’s plain enough," said the other.
"It must be Copenhagen or some other big city, for
they’re all alike. A big city anyway."
"It’s ditch-water," said Creepy-Crawly.
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n
lourd soleil tombait d'aplomb sur le lavoir;