The Tale of Daddy Longlegs Part 9

XXI

JUST A NOTION

IN common with all the other youngsters that went to school in the little red school-house, Johnnie Green thought that Daddy Longlegs and every one of his relations had a strange power.

Yes! Johnnie believed that if you happened to be lost in the woods, you would need only to find Daddy Longlegs--or one of his cousins--and he would point out the way home for you, if you asked him. Or if you wanted to recover something you had lost, you could surely find it with the help of any one of Daddy Longlegs' family.

So that was the reason why Johnnie Green was glad to see Daddy just at that time. Having lost his new jackknife, Johnnie was determined that Daddy should tell him where to find it.

"Now, you listen to me!" Johnnie commanded, frowning severely at Daddy.

"I've dropped my knife somewhere and you must point towards it if you want me to let you go.

"I'll tell you what it's like," he continued, "so you won't make any mistake. It has two blades, and a saw, and a corkscrew, and a gimlet, and a leather-punch, and a hook to use on a horse's hoof. It's the best knife I've ever owned. And I'd be pretty angry if you sent me off the wrong way to find a jackknife that wasn't nearly so good."

Now, Daddy Longlegs was angry himself. He thought that Johnnie Green had no business to make him a prisoner. And as for knowing where the lost knife was, he hadn't the faintest idea where it could be.

"I can't tell you anything about your old jackknife!" Daddy cried. (It was really a new knife, as Johnnie had explained to him. But you must remember that Daddy Longlegs was in a terrible temper.)

Unfortunately Daddy's voice was entirely too tiny for Johnnie Green to hear. And meanwhile Daddy continued to tug and twist, trying to free himself from Johnnie Green's grasp. His eight legs kept reaching out in all directions for firmer footholds.

Silly Johnnie Green thought that he was trying to point the way to the missing knife!

"Stop!" Johnnie cried. "Take your time and don't get excited! If you keep motioning with all your legs at once you can't expect me to understand what you mean."

Soon after that Daddy became quieter, though it was only because he grew tired from his efforts to escape. But he was so angry and so worried that one of his legs kept twitching; and it felt so queer that Daddy Longlegs had to stretch it again and again.

"Ah! That's better!" Johnnie Green exclaimed then. "Now you're pointing plainly enough. I know now that you're trying to tell me to walk right towards the sweet apple tree if I want to find my knife. And I'm obliged to you, Mr. Daddy Longlegs! Thank you very much!"

Then Johnnie let go his prisoner, who crept quickly into a crevice of the stone wall, where he stayed for a long time.

As for Johnnie Green, he scrambled spryly over the wall and began to move in a bee line toward the sweet apple tree. He walked slowly and searched the ground with great care. But he saw no sign of his precious knife.

Beneath the sweet apple tree Johnnie paused mournfully.

"He was only fooling me!" he exclaimed. "That old Daddy Longlegs played a trick on me!"

Johnnie just couldn't help feeling disappointed. And he just couldn't help feeling hungry as well. Luckily there were apples on the old tree.

So he began to shin up into its branches.

And then all at once he saw his beautiful knife sticking into the tree-trunk right before his eyes.

Johnnie remembered then that he had visited the sweet apple tree soon after breakfast that very day, when he had happened to feel hungry. And he had stuck the knife there himself and gone off and forgotten it.

With a shout of joy he gripped its horn handle and pulled it out.

"Old Daddy Longlegs knew what he was about after all!" he shouted.

And Johnnie Green never guessed that his finding his jackknife was nothing but an accident. Daddy had never even seen it. And if he had, he wouldn't have known what it was.

But after that Johnnie was more convinced than ever that Daddy Longlegs had a strange power.

XXII

WHY DADDY WAS CHANGED

IT was after his adventure with Johnnie Green that Daddy Longlegs'

neighbors first noticed something queer about him.

They knew that he was not the same. But strangely enough, no two of them could agree as to what had changed him. Chirpy Cricket said that he thought that Daddy was wearing a new coat, for his coat-tails seemed to flap differently when he walked. Buster b.u.mblebee claimed that Daddy had bought himself a new hat which tipped at an unusual angle. And little Mrs. Ladybug insisted that Daddy's odd look was due to nothing more or less than some new checked trousers. She remembered (she said) that he had always worn striped ones before.

Those were the opinions of only three of Daddy's friends. It seemed as if everybody in Pleasant Valley had his own idea about the reason why Daddy was changed.

Naturally, many disputes arose, because everyone declared that his own notion was the right one. And at last several excited persons went to old Mr. Crow and asked him to settle the trouble.

But Mr. Crow would have nothing to do with the affair. He did not like Daddy Longlegs. And he said he preferred not to think about him at all.

That was something of a setback for the company, until somebody said, "Let's go and ask Solomon Owl! There's no one in Pleasant Valley that looks so wise as he!"

So they hurried off to the hemlock woods where Solomon Owl lived. He was at home. And he listened carefully to each of his callers--although they all talked at once.

At last he shouted loudly for silence, though it was some time before he had it.

"Hush! hush!" some of the quieter ones said. "We want to hear what wise Mr. Solomon Owl says."

And then Solomon Owl spoke:

"If you want to know what's the matter with Daddy Longlegs why don't you go and ask him?"

Everybody exclaimed at once that that was a splendid plan. And thanking Mr. Owl for his excellent advice, the party hurried away.

When they reached the stone wall, later, they found Daddy Longlegs sunning himself. He seemed glad to see his callers. And when they asked him what it was that made him appear different, he threw back his head, as far as he could, and laughed heartily.

"Why--don't you know?" he said. "Can't you see I've lost a leg?"

Daddy's news made everyone gasp. And for a few moments not a soul could speak. But the callers all stared at Daddy. And then each one of them began to count aloud: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven----"

They were counting Daddy's legs. And after they had counted seven they all saw that his eighth leg was missing--that is, all but Buster b.u.mblebee. Being a blundering sort of person, he made a mistake and counted one leg twice. But the other callers soon set him right.

"It's no wonder you look different," Daddy's friends began telling him.

"How did you meet with such an awful accident?"

"I lost my leg trying to escape from Johnnie Green," Daddy explained.

"Either he pulled the leg off my body, or I pulled my body off the leg--I haven't been able to decide which way it happened."