CHAPTER X
THE AWAKENING
The grandfather's clock in Tyl the woodcutter's cottage had struck eight; and his two little Children, Tyltyl and Mytyl, were still asleep in their little beds. Mummy Tyl stood looking at them, with her arms akimbo and her apron tucked up, laughing and scolding in the same breath:
"I can't let them go on sleeping till mid-day," she said. "Come, get up, you little lazybones!"
But it was no use shaking them, kissing them or pulling the bed-clothes off them: they kept on falling back upon their pillows, with their noses pointing at the ceiling, their mouths wide open, their eyes shut and their cheeks all pink.
At last, after receiving a gentle thump in the ribs, Tyltyl opened one eye and murmured:
"What?... Light?... Where are you?... No, no, don't go away...."
"Light!" cried Mummy Tyl, laughing. "Why, of course, it's light.... Has been for ever so long!... What's the matter with you?... You look quite blinded...."
"Mummy!... Mummy!" said Tyltyl, rubbing his eyes. "It's you!..."