CHAPTER XII
THE LITTLE PEOPLE UNDERGROUND
When he awoke Martin found himself lying on a soft downy bed in adim stone chamber, and feeling silky hair over his cheek and neckand arms, he knew that he was still with his new strange mother, thebeautiful Lady of the Mountain. She, seeing him awake, took him upin her arms, and holding him against her bosom, carried him througha long winding stone passage, and out into the bright morningsunlight. There by a small spring of clearest water that gushed fromthe rock she washed his scratched and bruised skin, and rubbed itwith sweet-smelling unguents, and gave him food and drink. The greatspotted beast sat by them all the time, purring like a cat, and atintervals he tried to entice Martin to leave the woman's lap andplay with him. But she would not let him out of her arms: all dayshe nursed and fondled him as if he had been a helpless babe insteadof the sturdy little run-away and adventurer he had proved himselfto be. She also made him tell her the story of how he had got lostand of all the wonderful things that had happened to him in hiswanderings in the wilderness--the people of the Mirage, and oldJacob and the savages, the great forest, the serpent, the owl, thewild horses and wild man, and the black people of the sky. But itwas of the Mirage and the procession of lovely beings about which hespoke most and questioned her.
"Do you think it was all a dream?" he kept asking her, "the Queenand all those people?"
She was vexed at the question, and turning her face away, refused toanswer him. For though at all other times, and when he spoke ofother things, she was gentle and loving in her manner, the moment hespoke of the Queen of the Mirage and the gifts she had bestowed onhim, she became impatient, and rebuked him for saying such foolishthings.
At length she spoke and told him that it was a dream, a very veryidle dream, a dream that was not worth dreaming; that he must neverspeak of it again, never think of it, but forget it, just as he hadforgotten all the other vain silly dreams he had ever had. Andhaving said this much a little sharply, she smiled again and fondledhim, and promised that when he next slept he should have a good dream,one worth the dreaming, and worth remembering and talking about.
She held him away from her, seating him on her knees, to look at hisface, and said, "For oh, dear little Martin, you are lovely andsweet to look at, and you are mine, my own sweet child, and so longas you live with me on the hills, and love me and eall me mother,you shall be happy, and everything you see, sleeping and waking,shall seem strange and beautiful."
It was quite true that he was sweet to look at, very pretty with hisrosy-white skin deepening to red on his cheeks; and his hair curlingall over his head was of a bright golden chestnut colour; and hiseyes were a very bright blue, and looked keen and straight at youjust like a bird's eyes, that seem to be thinking of nothing, andyet seeing everything.
After this Martin was eager to go to sleep at once and have thepromised dream, but his very eagerness kept him wide awake all day,and even after going to bed in that dim chamber in the heart of thehill, it was a long time before he dropped off. But he did not knowthat he had fallen asleep: it seemed to him that he was very wideawake, and that he heard a voice speaking in the chamber, and thathe started up to listen to it.
"Do you not know that there are things just as strange undergroundas above it?" said the voice.
Martin could not see the speaker, but he answered quite boldly:"No--there's nothing underground except earth and worms and roots.I've seen it when they've been digging."
"Oh, but there is!" said the voice. "You can see for yourself. Allyou've got to do is to find a path leading down, and to follow it.There's a path over there just in front of you; you can see theopening from where you are lying."
He looked, and sure enough there _was_ an opening, and a dim passagerunning down through the solid rock. Up he jumped, fired at theprospect of seeing new and wonderful things, and without looking anymore to see who had spoken to him, he ran over to it. The passagehad a smooth floor of stone, and sloped downward into the earth, andwent round and round in an immense spiral; but the circles were sowide that Martin scarcely knew that he was not travelling in astraight line. Have you by chance ever seen a buzzard, or stork, orvulture, or some other great bird, soaring upwards into the sky inwide circles, each circle taking it higher above the earth, until itlooked like a mere black speck in the vast blue heavens, and atlength disappeared altogether? Just in that way, going round andround in just such wide circles, lightly running all the time, withnever a pause to rest, and without feeling in the least tired,Martin went on, only down and down and further down, instead of upand up like the soaring bird, until he was as far under the mountainas ever any buzzard or crane or eagle soared above it.
Thus running he came at last out of the passage to an open room orspace so wide that, look which way he would, he could see no end toit. The stone roof of this place was held up by huge stone pillarsstanding scattered about like groups of great rough-barked trees,many times bigger round than hogsheads. Here and there in the roof,or the stone overhead, were immense black caverns which almostfrightened him to gaze up at them, they were so vast and black. Andno light or sun or moon came down into that deep part of the earth:the light was from big fires, and they were fires of smithiesburning all about him, sending up great flames and clouds of blacksmoke, which rose and floated upwards through those big black cavernsin the roof. Crowds of people were gathered around the smithies, allvery busy heating metal and hammering on anvils like blacksmiths.Never had he seen so many people, nor ever had he seen such busy menas these, rushing about here and there shouting and colliding withone another, bringing and carrying huge loads in baskets on theirbacks, and altogether the sight of them, and the racket and thesmoke and dust, and the blazing fires, was almost too much for Martin;and for a moment or two he was tempted to turn and run back into thepassage through which he had come. But the strangeness of it allkept him there, and then he began to look more closely at the people,for these were the little men that live under the earth, and theywere unlike anything he had seen on its surface. They were very stout,strong-looking little men, dressed in coarse dark clothes, coveredwith dust and grime, and they had dark faces, and long hair, andrough, unkempt beards; they had very long arms and big hands, likebaboons, and there was not one among them who looked taller thanMartin himself. After looking at them he did not feel at all afraidof them; he only wanted very much to know who they were, and whatthey were doing, and why they were so excited and noisy over theirwork. So he thrust himself among them, going to the smithies wherethey were in crowds, and peering curiously at them. Then he began tonotice that his coming among them created a great commotion, for nosooner would he appear than all work would be instantly suspended;down would go their baskets and loads of wood, their hammers andimplements of all kinds, and they would stare and point at him, alljabbering together, so that the noise was as if a thousand cockatoosand parrots and paroquets were all screaming at once. What it wasall about he could not tell, as he could not make out what they said;he could only see, and plainly enough, that his presence astonishedand upset them, for as he went about among them they fell backbefore him, crowding together, and all staring and pointing at him.
But at length he began to make out what they were saying; they wereall exclaiming and talking about him. "Look at him! look at him!"they cried. "Who is he? What, Martin--this Martin? Never. No, no, no!Yes, yes, yes! Martin himself--Martin with nothing on! Not ashred--not a thread! Impossible--it cannot be! Nothing so strangehas ever happened! _Naked_--do you say that Martin is naked? Oh,dreadful--from the crown of his head to his toes, naked as he wasborn! No clothes--no clothes--oh no, it can't be Martin. It is, it is!"And so on and on, until Martin could not endure it longer, for hehad been naked for days and days, and had ceased to think about it,and in fact did not know that he was naked. And now hearing theirremarks, and seeing how they were disturbed, he looked down athimself and saw that it was indeed so--that he had nothing on, andhe grew ashamed and frightened, and thought he would run and hi
dehimself from them in some hole in the ground. But there was no placeto hide in, for now they had gathered all round him in a vastcrowd, so that whichever way he turned there before him theyappeared--hundreds and hundreds of dark, excited faces, hundreds ofgrimy hands all pointing at him. Then, all at once, he caught sightof an old rag of a garment lying on the ground among the ashes andcinders, and he thought he would cover himself with it, and pickingit hastily up was just going to put it round him when a great roarof "No!" burst out from the crowd; he was almost deafened with thesound, so that he stood trembling with the old dirty rag of cloth inhis hand. Then one of the little men came up to him, and snatchingthe rag from his hand, flung it angrily down upon the floor; then asif afraid of remaining so near Martin, he backed away into the crowdagain.
Just then Martin heard a very low voice close to his ear speaking tohim, but when he looked round he could see no person near him. Heknew it was the same voice which had spoken to him in the cave wherehe slept, and had told him to go down into that place underground.
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"Do not fear," said the gentle voice to Martin. "Say to the littlemen that you have lost your clothes, and ask them for something toput on."
Then Martin, who had covered his face with his hands to shut out thesight of the angry crowd, took courage, and looking at them, said,half sobbing, "O, Little Men, I've lost my clothes--won't you give mesomething to put on?"
This speech had a wonderful effect: instantly there was a mighty rush,all the Little Men hurrying away in all directions, shouting andtumbling over each other in their haste to get away, and by-and-byit looked to Martin as if they were having a great struggle orcontest over something. They were all struggling to get possessionof a small closed basket, and it was like a game of football withhundreds of persons all playing, all fighting for possession of theball. At length one of them succeeded in getting hold of the basketand escaping from all the others who opposed him, and running toMartin he threw it down at his feet, and lifting the lid displayedto his sight a bundle of the most beautiful clothes ever seen bychild or man.
With a glad cry Martin pulled them out, but the next moment a veryimportant-looking Little Man, with a great white beard, sprangforward and snatched them out of his hand.
"No, no," he shouted. "These are not fit for Martin to wear! Theywill soil!" Saying which, he flung them down on that dusty floorwith its litter of cinders and dirt, and began to trample on them asif in a great passion. Then he snatched them up again and shook them,and all could see that they were unsoiled and just as bright andbeautiful as before. Then Martin tried to take them from him, but theother would not let him.
"Never shall Martin wear such poor clothes," shouted the old man."They will not even keep out the wet," and with that he thrust theminto a great tub of water, and jumping in began treading them downwith his feet. But when he pulled them out again and shook thembefore their faces, all saw that they were as dry and bright asbefore.
"Give them to me!" cried Martin, thinking that it was all right now.
"Never shall Martin wear such poor clothes--they will not resist fire,"cried the old man, and into the flames he flung them.
Martin now gave up all hopes of possessing them, and was ready toburst into tears at their loss, when out of the fire they werepulled again, and it was seen that the flames had not injured ortarnished them in the least. Once more Martin put out his arms andthis time he was allowed to take those beautiful clothes, and thenjust as he clasped them to him with a cry of delight he woke!
His head was lying on his new mother's arm, and she was awakewatching him.
"O, mother, what a nice dream I had! O such pretty clothes--why didI wake so soon?"
She laughed and touched his arms, showing him that they were stillclasping that beautiful suit of clothes to his breast--the veryclothes of his wonderful dream!