by A. A. Milne
"Some one who tells the right from the wrong," answered the Rake. "Listen, Mr. Stuffed Elephant! Get up on that box, for a Judge must be above every one else, and we will tell you what the trouble is."
The Elephant got up on a strong, empty onion crate, and stood there with the Shovel, the Rake and the Pick standing in a row in front of him.
"You must say 'Ahem!' and bang on the box, like a real Judge," said the Shovel.
"Ahem!" coughed the Elephant, as loudly as he could. Then he took up a piece of wood in the end of his trunk, and banged on the side of the onion crate.
"Now this is like a real court," said the Rake, "and we shall have our quarrel settled."
"Oh, have you three been quarreling?" asked the Elephant Judge.
"Well, not exactly; and the quarrel is not an angry one," replied the Shovel. "You see," he went on, "we three tools work in the garden. Or, rather, Jake, the man, uses us when he works. Now I claim I am the most useful of the three. Jake always takes me out when there is a bit of ground to be spaded up, or turned over, when he wants to make the garden in the spring. So I think, Mr. Judge Elephant, Your Honor, that I am entitled to the prize."
"Hum! Let me see now," said the Elephant, trying to look very wise. "I suppose I must listen to what the others have to say."
"Oh, yes, indeed!" exclaimed the Rake. "We must each state our case, as in a real court, and then you shall decide who is right. Now, for myself—Oh, by the way, had you quite finished?" he asked of the Shovel, politely.
"Yes," was the answer, "I think I said enough to have the Elephant Judge give me the prize. Go on, Mr. Rake."
"Well," said the Rake, smiling a little to show his teeth, "I claim to be more useful than the Shovel. It is true Jake uses him to turn the ground over. But before the ground can be turned Jake uses me to take away the dead leaves and sticks that are not wanted. And even after the Shovel is used to turn the ground over, no seeds can be planted, and the garden can not really be made, until I am used again to smooth things over. So I claim to be the most useful tool."
The Rake stepped back in line with the others, and they all waited for the Elephant to speak.
"Ahem!" said the animal judge very loudly. "There is one more to be heard. Proceed, Mr. Pick."
The Pick, who had at least two good points in his favor, stepped forward, made a stiff little bow with his handle, and said:
"What my friends Rake and Shovel have told you, of course is true. They are useful, each in his own way. But I do the really hard work of the garden. When the earth is packed hard and dry, so that neither the Shovel nor the Rake can be used, Jake always comes and gets me. I am larger and stronger than either the Rake or the Shovel, though of course the Rake has a longer handle. But it is a very thin handle, and if Jake struck as hard a blow with the Rake as he strikes with me, the Rake's handle would break. And no matter how hard he digs the Shovel into the hard ground, no earth can be turned over until I first loosen it. So I claim the prize."
The Pick stepped back in line with the other two, all three bowed politely and waited.
"What am I to do now?" asked the Elephant.
"You must act as Judge and tell which of us is the most useful, to decide who gets the prize," said the Rake.
"That is it," chimed in the Pick and the Shovel.
"This is very hard—very hard indeed," sighed the Elephant. "In fact I never before knew how hard it was to decide between right and wrong. Let me think a minute."
He passed his trunk over his head, which was beginning to ache with all the talk he had listened to.
"Hum! Let me see now," the Elephant spoke slowly. "It is true, Mr. Shovel, that you are very useful. Without you the ground could not be turned."
"There! See! I told you I'd get the prize!" cried the Shovel.
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" trumpeted the Elephant. "I have not finished. It is also true," he went on, "that the Rake is very useful. Before the Shovel can be used the ground must be raked clean, and after the Shovel has spaded the earth, it must be raked smooth."
"There! I knew it! Oh, what a fine Judge! He is going to say I am entitled to the prize!" exclaimed the Rake, laughing.
"Not yet! Wait a minute!" cried the Elephant. "I have not finished! I want to say that the Pick used very good arguments. He is right when he says without him, in case the ground is hard, nothing can be done. And he certainly is the strongest, so I think——"
"Oh, ho! What did I tell you! I get the prize!" cried the Pick.
"Wait a minute! I have not finished!" said the Elephant Judge. "What I was going to say was that before I could decide who wins I must see the prize. What is the prize? Bring it here that I may see it, and then I will decide who is to get it."
"Oh, the prize!" cried the Shovel.
"That's so, we forgot all about it!" gasped the Rake.
"What was the prize to be?" asked the Pick. "I declare we did not settle on any. How stupid!"
"Until I see the prize I cannot give judgment," said the Elephant; "so the case will have to 'go over,' as I believe they say in Court, until the prize is brought here. Stop disputing now, and get me the prize!"
"Yes! Yes! The prize! The prize!" cried the Rake, the Shovel and the Pick, and away they scurried.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed another voice in the corner whence had come the three tools.
"What silly chaps!" came in another voice.
"To forget the most important thing of all—the prize!" added another.
"Who are you, if you please?" asked the Elephant, stepping down off the onion crate.
"I'm the Hoe," was the answer of the first. "If I had wished I could have told how useful I am. In fact, I think I will have a try for the prize."
"I'm just as much entitled to it as you are," some one else said. "You needn't think you can get ahead of me!"
"Who are you?" asked the Elephant.
"The Wheelbarrow," was the reply. "You ought to see the loads I carry. I ought to get the prize!"
"What about me?" asked a third voice.
"Who are you?" asked the Elephant.
"The Lawn Mower. Just think what an ugly place this estate would be unless I kept the grass trim and neat. It should be my prize."
"Oh, my goodness!" exclaimed the poor Elephant. "If there are to be more disputes, and more evidence in this case, I shall go mad. Stop!" he cried, as the Wheelbarrow, the Hoe, and the Lawn Mower came forward, all talking at once. "Stop! I will do nothing until I see the prize! Court is adjourned!"
And as the Elephant said this the sound of loud barking sounded through the barn.
"Oh, maybe that is Nip coming to carry me back," thought the Elephant. "I certainly hope so!"
Out In The Rain
You remember that Nip, the big dog, had carried away the Stuffed Elephant when Archie set his Christmas toy down on the barn floor for a moment. And, coming back, after having gone to look for the nest of a cackling hen, Archie did not find his Elephant awaiting him as he expected to.
"Oh, Elsie!" exclaimed the little boy. "Didn't I leave my Elephant right here?" and he pointed to the place where he had set it.
"Why, yes, I think you did," Elsie answered. "I saw you put it there. I was going to leave my Doll there, too, but she isn't feeling very well, and has a little cold, so I carried her in my arms. I have her here now," she added, as she held up her Christmas toy.
"Well, my Elephant is gone!" exclaimed Archie. "And I know I left it here! Yes, you can see where his feet stood," he added, as he pointed to some marks in the dust of the barn floor.
Elsie, holding her Doll, stooped down beside her brother and looked at the dust.
"There are lots of marks," said the little girl. "Your Elephant must have been walking around. Oh, Archie!" she cried, with shining eyes, "maybe he came to life and walked away!"
"Nope! He couldn't do that!" Archie said. Of course he knew nothing of what the toys did after dark—how they made believe come to life, talked, and had fun among themsel
ves.
"But now I know what has happened!" Archie exclaimed. "I can tell by the marks in the dust."
"What did happen?" asked Elsie.
"Nip has been here," went on the little boy. "I can tell his paw marks in the dust. It wasn't my Elephant walking around, it was Nip! And Nip has carried off my Elephant!"
"Oh, just as he did once with my old Rag Doll!" cried Elsie.
"That's it!" her brother said. "Nip has carried away my Elephant. Come here, Nip! Where are you?" called Archie.
Now Nip was always ready to come when Archie called, for he and the little boy had many good times together, romping and playing tag in the yard. So, when he heard his name called, Nip came running into the barn to where Elsie and Archie were standing.
"Nip!" sternly said Archie, as he shook his finger at his big dog, "did you take my Elephant? Did you carry him away?"
Now Nip understood a great deal that was said to him. He knew when he was being scolded for having done wrong, and he knew he was being scolded now. He also knew that he had taken away the Elephant. So, when Archie talked this way, Nip hung his head and put his tail between his legs.
"Nip!" went on Archie, "where is my Stuffed Elephant? Go get it! Bring back my Elephant! Go on, Nip!"
Nip gave a little bark. He sprang up, barked again, louder than before, and off he ran to a dim and distant part of the barn.
"Is he going after your Elephant?" asked Elsie.
"I hope so," her brother answered. "We'll follow him and see where he goes."
But Nip ran too fast for the children to follow. Down the stairs, into the dark corner of that part of the barn where the garden tools were kept, ran Nip. He knew he had been found out, and that he must bring back Archie's Elephant.
So, just as the Shovel, the Rake and the Pick had hurried away to look for the prize, and while the Wheelbarrow, the Hoe and the Lawn Mower were fussing to see why they couldn't have a chance to win, Nip pounced down on the Elephant, lifted him up, and started back with him to Archie.
"Oh, I'm so glad you came to get me!" said the Elephant. "I was just going to try to find my way back myself, for I have had a most dreadful time trying to settle a dispute among the garden tools. Oh, I never should like to be a Judge!"
Nip did not answer, because he had the Stuffed Elephant in his mouth.
"I hope we are going to be friends, Mr. Nip," went on the Elephant. "Please don't carry me away again."
Nip wanted to say that he would not, for he felt sorry because of the trick he had played. But just then Elsie and Archie came running up, and the dog could not talk, nor could the Elephant pretend to be alive, for the eyes of the children were upon them.
"Oh, he has my Elephant!" joyfully cried Archie. "I guess you must have hidden him, Nip, for you knew where to find him! Bring my Elephant here!"
Nip put the Elephant down on the barn floor at Archie's feet, and then the dog wagged his tail.
"He's asking you to forgive him," said Elsie.
"And I will," promised Archie. "But don't do it again!" he added, shaking his finger at Nip.
"Bow wow!" barked the dog, and perhaps that meant he would not.
"Oh, I'm so glad to have my Elephant back!" said Archie, as he began playing with his toy.
"And I'm glad to be back," thought the Elephant. "That Judge business was a great trial!"
Through the spring and into the summer Archie had fun with his Christmas Elephant. Then one day something very exciting happened. Archie was playing out in the back yard, near a little brook, with his Elephant, when along the front road came a hand-organ man and a monkey. Archie and his sister ran to hear the music and see the monkey, and Archie left his Elephant in the grass.
Soon after this it began to rain very hard and the children hurried into the house. Going up the steps Archie fell and bumped his head, making his nose bleed, and there was so much excitement for a time that the Elephant was forgotten. He was left out in the storm, and the rain came down harder and harder, making little puddles and tiny brooks in the yard; brooks that flowed into the large one.
"Oh, this is dreadful!" thought the poor Elephant, as the rain pelted down on him. "Of course if I was real I wouldn't mind the rain, for real Elephants like water. But I'm getting soaking wet! It's beginning to come through my stuffing. I'm feeling like a sponge!
"Oh, why doesn't Archie come and get me, or at least give me an umbrella! I think I'll try to walk under a toadstool to keep out of the wet. If I can only find one large enough."
As no one was watching him, the Elephant had a chance to move about and make believe come to life. But he had waited too long. The rain had soaked into his cotton stuffing making him so heavy that now he could not move.
"Oh, what is going to happen?" he thought.
He tried to lift first one leg, then another, but it was hard work. The water was beginning to rise about him. His feet were in mud puddles. He struggled hard to pull them out, and then, all at once, he lurched to one side, and fell over flat—right into a pool of water!
A Voyage Home
Down pelted more and more rain, harder and harder, until the back yard, where Archie had been playing with the Stuffed Elephant, was almost a little lake of water. The puddle rose higher and higher around the Stuffed Elephant as he lay on his side, unable to move because he was so soaked with water—like a sponge.
Inside the house where Archie lived there was trouble, because the little boy was hurt worse in his fall than was at first supposed. They had to send for the doctor, and of course no one thought of the poor Elephant.
"I'm glad I'm not out in this rain with my Doll," said Elsie, as she sat at the window after the doctor had gone.
"Yes, it is a regular flood," said Mother, sadly thinking of her little boy.
And still no one thought of the Elephant out in all the storm.
If Elsie remembered anything at all, she probably thought that Archie had brought his Elephant into the house. As for Archie, the doctor had given him something to make him sleep, and the little boy was too ill even to dream of his Christmas toy.
As for the Elephant; well, he was in a sad state! The wet cotton stuffing inside him was cold and clammy. His trunk was like a wet piece of paper, and he feared his wooden tusks would come out, if the glue that held them in got too much soaked.
"Oh, dear! What am I to do?" thought the poor toy.
Now it happened that Jeff, the colored boy who had once taken the China Cat from Mr. Mugg's store after a fire, lived not far from Archie's home. Jeff and his folks had moved to the country from the city. And about this time Jeff's mother sent him to the store.
"Has Ah done gotta go in all dis rain?" asked the little colored boy.
"Yo' suah has, Honey!" replied his mother. "Yo' isn't salt or sugah, an' yo' won't melt. Put on yo' ole coat an' go to de sto'!"
So Jeff went. He took a "short cut" which led across the Dunn's back yard, and Jeff passed the place where the poor Elephant lay in a puddle of water.
"Oh, golly!" cried Jeff, his white teeth glistening against his funny black face as he laughed. "Ah'd done gone an' found annuder playtoy! Only dis one Ah done found in de rain, but de udder one was in a fiah! Ah knows whut Ah's gwine to do. I'll put dis Leffelant on a board till Ah comes back from de sto'. Den Ah'll take him home wif me!"
Jeff looked around until he found a flat board, large enough to hold the elephant. Putting the toy on this board, Jeff laid it to one side, and ran on to the store. He did not want to take the Elephant with him for fear some one would see it and ask him about it.
But Jeff was not to have that Elephant. While the colored boy was at the store the rain came down harder than ever, making so much water that the little brook in Archie's back yard rose higher and higher.
So high did the brook rise that the water reached the board on which the limp and soaking Elephant was lying on his side. And then the water lifted up the board, Elephant and all, and floated them down stream.
"Oh, my!" though
t the poor Stuffed Elephant. "This is the last of me! I am going on a long voyage! I shall never see Archie again!"
Down the stream he floated on the board which was like a boat. Once a fish poked his head out of the water and called:
"Who are you and where are you going?"
Before the Elephant could answer the swift current had carried him farther downstream and away from the fish.
Once the board with the Elephant on it bumped against a big Water Rat.
"Be careful who you're bumping!" snarled the Rat.
"Excuse me," replied the Elephant. "I didn't mean to."
The Rat tried to bite the Elephant's trunk, but again the swift current carried the boat downstream.
Finally the rain stopped, after a day or so, but by that time the Elephant had been carried a long way down the brook, at last coming to a stop when the board was caught in the roots of an overhanging tree. By now the Elephant was almost glued fast to the board, so wet and soaking was he.
The rain stopped, the brook went down, the sun came out, and the Elephant dried. But he still lay on the board, on the bank of the stream, under the roots of the tree.
A man, who happened to be passing, saw the Elephant, picked him off the board, and, seeing that he was an expensive toy, took the plaything to his home.
"What a fine Elephant!" said the man's wife. "I'll put him on the mantel, over the stove, so he'll dry out more. Some child lost this. We haven't any children small enough to want to keep it. I wish I could find out who owned this Elephant."
"I wish so, myself," thought the Elephant. "Oh, shall I ever get back to Archie?"
It was a day or so after the big storm that Archie was able to be up and around, and the first thing he thought of, when he could go outdoors, was his Elephant.
"Oh, where is he?" cried the little boy. "I 'member I left him in the yard when we heard the hand-organ music and ran to see the monkey. And then it rained and I fell down and bumped my nose. Oh, where is my Elephant?"
"If you left him out here in the yard I fear the Elephant has floated away," said Mrs. Dunn. "The brook rose very high—almost up to our back steps—and it probably carried your Elephant away."
