the Good Wolf said, "there issomething else to be done. If your mother were to see a wolfgalloping off into the forest with her boy she would not know hewas a Good Wolf and she would be frightened, and if we met a hunterin the forest he would not know I was a good wolf and he wouldshoot me. So I must change myself into something else."
"Can you?" cried Barty, and his eyes grew as big as saucers, he wasso delighted.
"Just you watch me!" said the Good Wolf.
Once he shook himself--twice he shook himself--three times he shookhimself--and then something very funny happened. While he wasshaking himself he shook so fast that he looked as if he werestanding in a white mist. Then he stopped quite suddenly and stoodstill. And actually instead of being a wolf he had changed into agreat big dog the kind of big dog that drags sleds over the snowfor the Esquimau people--but he was as white as the snow was.
He was so furry and handsome that Barty ran to him and hung roundhis neck hugging him. He had so wanted a dog and this was exactlythe kind he had dreamed about.
"Put on my harness. Put it on!" said the Good Wolf. "I will showyou how."
He showed him how to do it all, and when he was harnessed to thesled and stood ready with the scarlet leather straps and goldbuckles and jingling gold bells shining out against his thick furrywhite coat, he looked like a picture--so did the sled--so did Bartyin his red coat and cap, dancing up and down with his whip in hishand.
"Take the reins and jump on," said the Wolf.
And Barty did take the reins and jump on, and the Good Wolf beganto trot, and the scarlet harness shone, and the bells jingled andjingled, and off they went gliding over the sparkling snow into theforest--the deep, deep forest where things built nests, and thingsburrowed under the earth and made long passages and little warmcaves to live in.
CHAPTER TWO
IF you never drove over the sparkling snow in a red sled drawn by abig, furry, white dog (who is really a Good Wolf in disguise) youdon't know how delightful it was to Barty and how he laughed withjoy to hear the gold bells jingle, jingle, jingling on the harness.When they trotted and jingled and slid into the forest the groundwas covered with a thick white carpet over which the sled wentflying. The branches of the trees were piled with white softnessand the tiny pines and cedars, which were only just big enough tostick their heads above the deep snow, wore crowns and garlands andicicle diamonds. And everything seemed so still so still that youcould hear a whisper a mile off.
"Where are the things that build nests and the things that burrowunder the earth?" asked Barty.
"They are keeping out of the way. They are very careful when thesnow is on the ground. You see it is so white that when they comeout to hop or run about on it, men with guns and dogs can see themand that is very dangerous. But I am going to take you to a placewhere you will see plenty of them. You are going to see a SnowFeast. I am taking you now."
"What is a Snow Feast?" Barty asked, getting quite red withpleasure. "It does sound esciting." (He meant to say exciting.)
"It is exciting," answered the Good Wolf. "No little boy in theworld has ever seen it."
"Has any big boy seen it?" asked Barty.
"No. Not one person in all the world has seen it. It is thegreatest secret there ever was. If I were not a Good Wolf I couldnot see it. Only the very nicest people are allowed. It's the wayyou behave when knots are combed out of your hair, that lets youin."
Barty was so joyful that he wriggled on his sled and the bells onthe reins jingled and jingled.
"I think I'll trot rather faster," the Good Wolf said.
"Would you mind trotting as fast as ever you can?" said Barty.
"I'll trot very fast," the Good Wolf answered. "I'm excitedmyself."
So he trotted faster and faster and faster and faster, and the sledwhizzed over the snow and wound in and about between the treetrunks like lightning, but it never struck against anything, orupset or even joggled. It was simply wonderful. And the forest waswonderful. It was so much bigger than Barty had ever dreamed of itsbeing. They went on and on and on and on, past strange trees, andstrange dells, and strange caves, and the glittering snow was piledeverywhere, and the sky grew bluer and bluer, and the sun shonebrighter and brighter.
"It must be a Fairy Wood!" cried out Barty as they went flyingalong.
At that very minute they stopped. They were in a big circle withtrees growing thick and tall all round it. The snow looked as ifthere were a great many tiny hillocks under its whiteness.
"I believe this is a rabbit warren," Barty said. "That is why thesnow looks lumpy."
"You wanted to see what the things that burrow under the earth aredoing and I am going to show you," answered the Good Wolf. "Get offthe sled and take my harness off."
"But rabbits are afraid of dogs," said Barty.
"They are not afraid of me," said the Good Wolf. "If I did not goto their Snow Feast, they would be perfectly miserable. I'm alwaysinvited. Take my harness off." Barty took it off very politely.
"Now put it on the sled and come along," the Good Wolf ordered.
"But rabbits are afraid of boys," said Barty.
"They are not afraid of boys who are a blessing and a privilege.Come on."
They went to the largest hillock and stood by it. There was a holein it, and Barty saw that it was an opening into a burrow.
"Is that the way in to the Snow Feast?" he asked. "We are too big toget in there."
"Watch me," said the Good Wolf.
Once he shook himself, twice he shook himself, three times he shookhimself, and each time he did it he got smaller and smaller untilafter the third time he was as small as a rabbit.
"But I am too big," said Barty.
"Shake yourself once, shake yourself twice, shake yourself threetimes," said the Good Wolf, "and you will see what will happen."
Once Barty shook himself, twice Barty shook himself, three timesBarty shook himself, and he did see what happened. He was as smallas a rabbit, and as he stood in the snow in his red coat and capand his tiny rubber boots, he was too pretty for anything.
"Now for the Snow Feast," the Good Wolf said. "Just follow me."
Barty did follow him, and in a minute he found himself in a placelike a wonderful little town under the earth. There were hundredsof long narrow passages like corridors, which crossed each otherand ran this way and that, and seemed to have no end at all. Thewalls and roofs were smooth and brown, and were lighted bythousands and thousands of glow-worms that had fastened themselvesin beautiful festoons and patterns overhead and along the sides ofthe corridors. It was like the most lovely illumination.
"Every glow-worm in the forest comes to the Snow Feast," the GoodWolf explained. "They can't dance but they like to look on. That istheir way of enjoying themselves. They polish their lamps up formonths before the Feast time."
They were so beautiful to look at that Barty could not have takenhis eyes from them if the Good Wolf had not been in such a hurry."We must not stop here," he said. "We mustn't really. We must getto the Hall of the Snow Feast. Trot along--trot along--trot along."
So they trotted and trotted round corners into other passages, andround other corners into other passages, in and out and farther andfarther in the most wonderful and amusing way. The festoons andgarlands of glow-worms lighted everything brilliantly, andpresently they began to see all sorts of interesting little animalstrotting along too as if they were all going to the same place. Thedelightful thing was that no animal was bigger than a small rabbitand there seemed to be every kind of animal Barty had ever heard ofin his life or had ever seen pictures of. There were littleelephants and little rhinoceroses, and little lions and tigers andleopards and giraffes, and wolves and foxes and bears, and tinyhorses and sheep and cows, and they were all trotting along as ifthey were as happy as possible.
"Oh!" Barty cried out. "It looks as if a Noah's Ark had come alive.Look at that tiny elephant trotting by the lion! Why don't theyfight?"
"Nothing fights at the Snow Feast. Every one is quite t
ame. Lionsand lambs talk things over, and cats and robins are intimatefriends. Trot along--trot along."
Barty trotted along, but he could not help asking questions. He wasso happy and excited.
"How did they make themselves so little?" he said. "Did they shakethem selves before they came down into the burrow?"
"Yes."
Barty looked at the elephant, and remembering how monstrously bigelephants are when you see them at a circus, he could not helplaughing aloud.
"Once he shook himself, twice he shook himself, three times heshook himself, and then he grew as little as that," he said. "Oh! Iwish I could take him home to play with."
"We will
The Good Wolf Page 2
