Little Mr. Thimblefinger and His Queer Country

by Joel Chandler Harris

“As time went on, Valentine grew to be a handsome young man, but he was still poor. He went to see Geraldine sometimes, but as she grew older, she grew shyer. Valentine couldn’t understand this, but he thought it was because she was old enough to know that she was rich and he was poor.

“He said to her one day. ‘You are not as friendly as you used to be.’

“‘Oh, yes I am,’ she replied. ‘I shall always be friendly with you.’

“‘No,’ said he, ‘you have changed.’

“‘No more than you,’ was her answer.

“‘I changed?’ he cried. ‘I love you more than I ever did.’

“With that Geraldine hung her head to hide her blushes, but Valentine thought she was angry. He turned on his heel and would have gone away, but she called him back, and told him not to go away angry—and then they made it up somehow. Valentine said he would speak to Geraldine’s father. This he did, but the father shook his head.

“‘You want to take her to a hut?’ he cried. ‘Why she might as well have stayed in the Conjurer’s cave. Go and get you a fortune, and then come back, and maybe we’ll talk the matter over.’

“Valentine went away very sad. He never turned his head, although Geraldine was watching him from a window, ready to wave her hand and throw him a kiss. He wandered off into the woods until he came to the bank of the River, and there he sat watching the water go by. He watched it until he almost forgot his own trouble. It went along slowly and majestically, and sometimes it seemed to come eddying back to kiss the bank at his feet. For a little while it smoothed the wrinkles in his mind. He wondered where the River came from and where it was going to. It was always coming and always going, and there was never an end to it. All day long it went by, sometimes laughing and playing in the shallows and sometimes sighing a little under the willows.

“Valentine watched it and listened to the pleasant sounds it made until he began to feel as if the River was something like a friend and companion. It soothed his grief and drove away his loneliness. Being alone, he began to speak his thoughts aloud.