A CHESTNUT STORY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 230, 17 December 1927, Page 27 (Supplement)

A CHESTNUT STORY

Whizz-z-! Bang! A large chestnut flew through the air and landed with a thud on the soft ground. x _ He lay stunned for a moment, then with a shiver he came to, and looked round to see what had happened. The first thing he discovered was that his prickly green overcoat had burst open as he fell, and that he now lay dressed in a beautiful shiny brown suit. Suddenly he became aware that someone was speaking to him, and looking round he saw an enormous black spider. She was in an awful ra se- . “Great, clumsy brute! she cried “You’ve gone and upset my egg, and how shall I ever collect my two hundred children acrain. You’ve no business to fall down like that without any warning." . And she glared at him very savagely and stamped her eight long legs at him all at once. Charlie, the chestnut, was about to apologise when something large and hard came down upon him and the next instant Mrs. Spider, green grass and sunshine had vanished, ana j ho felt himself being pushed down and , down and being pressed tightly into ! damp, soft substance. . Of course, Charlie did not know that a cow had put her foot on him and i pressed him into the earth. Then someone passed him. “Who are you?” cried Charlie, and can vou please tell me where I am. “I’m Cedric the Centipede,’ said a voice. “And you’re in my way. And he pushed past Charlie and rustled away. .. Then Charlie learnt from the passers-by that he had been planted and that he wouldn’t see the sun again for ages. . . . Then strange things began to happen. He felt himself swelling, and growing all soft. He felt very dizzy, too, and one morning he burst! Long, thin things grew out beneath him, while at tho same time his neck became longer and longer, pushing its way through the soft earth. He was terribly excited and at that moment Mr. Walter Worm passed by. “Oh, do please stay and talk to me! cried Charlie. “Do tell me where I am going, and how long it will be before I see the sun.” Walter Worm was kind-hearted, also he was lazy, so he stopped to chat with Charlie. “My dear old thing,” he said, “you re growing very fast. If you will stay quite still for a few seconds I’ll measure how far you are from the sun.” He slid noiselessly past Charlie as he spoke, and next instant he had balanced himself on the chestnut’s head, on the tip of his tail. Then Walter Worm slid down again.

“You haven’t very far to go_ now,” he announced cheerfully. “When 1 was standing on your head, on the tip of my tail, my head was above ground." Charlie made great efforts after that and soon he felt the earth getting warm and dry about him. And then one morning there was a dazzling light, and he found himself out in the sunshine again. He looked down and saw a pale green stalk, with two tiny emerald-coloured leaves; and, with a thrill of joy he realised that he had turned into a little tree, and his new life had begun.