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when you are many times your proper size. Robert groaned, and asked for more bread. But Martha
would not go on giving more bread for ever. She was in a hurry, because the keeper intended to call on
his way to Benenhurst Fair, and she wished to be dressed smartly before he came.
'I wish WE were going to the Fair,' said Robert.
'You can't go anywhere that size,' said Cyril.
'Why not?' said Robert. 'They have giants at fairs, much bigger ones than me.'
'Not much, they don't,' Cyril was beginning, when Jane screamed 'Oh!' with such loud suddenness
that they all thumped her on the back and asked whether she had swallowed a plum-stone.
'No,' she said, breathless from being thumped, 'it's - it's not a plum-stone. it's an idea. Let's take
Robert to the Fair, and get them to give us money for showing him! Then we really shall get something
out of the old Sammyadd at last!'
'Take me, indeed!' said Robert indignantly. 'Much more likely me take you!'
And so it turned out. The idea appealed irresistibly to everyone but Robert, and even he was brought
round by Anthea's suggestion that he should have a double share of any money they might make. There
was a little old pony-trap in the coach-house - the kind that is called a governess-cart. It seemed
desirable to get to the Fair as quickly as possible, so Robert - who could now take enormous steps and
so go very fast indeed - consented to wheel the others in this. It was as easy to him now as wheeling the
Lamb in the mail-cart had been in the morning. The Lamb's cold prevented his being of the party.
It was a strange sensation being wheeled in a pony-carriage by a giant. Everyone enjoyed the journey
except Robert and the few people they passed on the way. These mostly went into what looked like
some kind of standing-up fits by the roadside, as Anthea said. just outside Benenhurst, Robert hid in a
barn, and the others went on to the Fair.
There were some swings, and a hooting tooting blaring merry-go-round, and a shooting-gallery and
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coconut shies. Resisting an impulse to win a coconut - or at least to attempt the enterprise - Cyril went up
to the woman who was loading little guns before the array of glass bottles on strings against a sheet of
canvas.
'Here you are, little gentleman!' she said. 'Penny a shot!'
'No, thank you,' said Cyril, 'we are here on business, not on pleasure. Who's the master?'
'The what?'
'The master - the head - the boss of the show.'
'Over there,' she said, pointing to a stout man in a dirty linen jacket who was sleeping in the sun; 'but I
don't advise you to wake him sudden. His temper's contrary, especially these hot days. Better have a
shot while you're waiting.'
'It's rather important,' said Cyril. 'It'll be very profitable to him. I think he'll be sorry if we take it
away.'
'Oh, if it's money in his pocket,' said the woman. 'No kid now? What is it?'
'It's a GIANT.'
'You ARE kidding?'
'Come along and see,' said Anthea.
The woman looked doubtfully at them, then she called to a ragged little girl in striped stockings and a
dingy white petticoat that came below her brown frock, and leaving her in charge of the 'shooting-gallery'
she turned to Anthea and said, 'Well, hurry up! But if you ARE kidding, you'd best say so. I'm as mild as
milk myself, but my Bill he's a fair terror and -'
Anthea led the way to the barn. 'It really IS a giant,' she said. 'He's a giant little boy - in Norfolks like
my brother's there. And we didn't bring him up to the Fair because people do stare so, and they seem to
go into kind of standing-up fits when they see him. And we thought perhaps you'd like to show him and
get pennies; and if you like to pay us something, you can - only, it'll have to be rather a lot, because we
promised him he should have a double share of whatever we made.'
The woman murmured something indistinct, of which the children could only hear the words, 'Swelp
me!' 'balmy,' and 'crumpet,' which conveyed no definite idea to their minds. She had taken Anthea's
hand, and was holding it very firmly; and Anthea could not help wondering what would happen if Robert
should have wandered off or turned his proper size during the interval. But she knew that the
Psammead's gifts really did last till sunset, however inconvenient their lasting might be; and she did not
think, somehow, that Robert would care to go out alone while he was that size.
When they reached the barn and Cyril called 'Robert!' there was a stir among the loose hay, and
Robert began to come out. His hand and arm came first - then a foot and leg. When the woman saw the
hand she said 'My!' but when she saw the foot she said 'Upon my civvy!' and when, by slow and heavy
degrees, the whole of Robert's enormous bulk was at last completely disclosed, she drew a long breath
and began to say many things, compared with which 'balmy' and 'crumpet' seemed quite ordinary. She
dropped into understandable English at last.
'What'll you take for him?' she said excitedly. 'Anything in reason. We'd have a special van built -
leastways, I know where there's a second-hand one would do up handsome - what a baby elephant had,
as died. What'll you take? He's soft, ain't he? Them giants mostly is - but I never see - no, never! What'll
you take? Down on the nail. We'll treat him like a king, and give him first-rate grub and a doss fit for a
bloomin' dook. He must be dotty or he wouldn't need you kids to cart him about. What'll you take for
him?'
'They won't take anything,' said Robert sternly. 'I'm no more soft than you are - not so much, I
shouldn't wonder. I'll come and be a show for to-day if you'll give me' - he hesitated at the enormous
price he was about to ask - 'if you'll give me fifteen shillings.'
'Done,' said the woman, so quickly that Robert felt he had been unfair to himself, and wished he had
asked thirty. 'Come on now - and see my Bill - and we'll fix a price for the season. I dessay you might
get as much as two quid a week reg'lar. Come on - and make yourself as small as you can, for gracious'
sake!'
This was not very small, and a crowd gathered quickly, so that it was at the head of an enthusiastic
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procession that Robert entered the trampled meadow where the Fair was held, and passed over the
stubbly yellow dusty grass to the door of the biggest tent. He crept in, and the woman went to call her
Bill. He was the big sleeping man, and he did not seem at all pleased at being awakened. Cyril, watching
through a slit in the tent, saw him scowl and shake a heavy fist and a sleepy head. Then the woman went
on speaking very fast. Cyril heard 'Strewth,' and 'biggest draw you ever, so help me!' and he began to
share Robert's feeling that fifteen shillings was indeed far too little. Bill slouched up to the tent and
entered. When he beheld the magnificent proportions of Robert he said but little - 'Strike me pink!' were
the only words the children could afterwards remember - but he produced fifteen shillings, mainly in
sixpences and coppers, and handed it to Robert. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]