Little Tom

by Václav Tille

Brave Little Tom waved his sword; this frightened the spider, which drew back. At once he cut the ropes around him, tore himself out of the net and ran, beside himself with fear, until he fell rolling on the gravel in the path. He expected the monster to rush out after him and eat him; but when the spider saw that his prey had escaped him, he started to repair his net and paid no further heed to Tom.

Tom was glad to have escaped so easily and no longer wished to go in the field and cut down a stalk. He went back very rapidly along the path, deciding that he would remain near the hut. He wanted to see his Godmother's farm, so he passed through the gate to the little grassy place beyond among the daisies and dandelions. As soon as he reached the spot, a lot of little yellow chickens came running to him and, gathering around him, looked at him with surprised eyes; for that kind of a worm these little chicks had never seen before.

Little Tom was frightened, for these birds appeared to him as large as the ostriches his Godmother had shown him in the natural history book, only they were yellow. The chickens looked at him sideways, peeping and calling the mother hen. She was scratching in some sweepings not far away and when she heard the peeping, she hurried up, all a flutter, to see what was the matter and who the enemy was. When she saw only Little Tom, she pecked at him angrily with her bill, then picked him up, but let him drop as he did not seem good for eating. Scolding her chicks, she drove them away in search of real worms.

Tom was so badly hurt that he fell down as if dead. His coat was torn and his hand was bleeding. After a moment, he struggled to his feet and fled out of the yard, away from such terrible enemies. In front of the yard, the Godmother's woolly-haired dog, Rover, was running about. Without seeing Tom he stepped on him with his great, hard foot. When Tom cried out in pain, Rover stopped, turned around and smelled at Tom with his moist nose.

Little Tom was overcome with another great fear. He was dusty, bruised and bleeding and so unhappy that he did not know what to do. He ran on, stumbling and limping, while Rover, thinking he was some strange insect, ran after him, barking and jumping around him, until he drove him to the brook. Little Tom wanted to hide himself among the leaves near the water; but, as he stepped on them, he slipped and fell head first into the brook.

The water refreshed him and, knowing how to swim very well, he was at first pleased to think he had escaped this enemy; but the brook, which seemed to him a river, was carrying him away. He had no idea that he could reach the shore. He already felt himself lost, believing that the waves would dash him against a stone, when, suddenly, a trout came out of the water and gobbled him up in his great mouth. But the trout did not like this morsel and spat him out again into the grass under the bridge.

Catching hold of a grass stem, Tom pulled himself into the bushes and sat there, shaking as with a chill. Wet through and cold, with hands bruised and bleeding, he could hardly hold himself on the grass which the wind waved back and forth.

As he became weaker and weaker and was about to give up hope that he would ever come of his adventure alive, he suddenly heard his Godmother calling to him. She was coming across the little foot-bridge and calling loudly, so that she might not by mistake step on him. Tom immediately answered as loud as he could shout, »Here I am Godmother. Here I am«. But she had to look a long while before she discovered whence came the thin, little voice. Then she promptly rescued him from his perilous position. Poor Little Tom was so worn out from his bruises and his tremendous exertion, that he could hardly feel anything and it was only after he had eaten well and drunk some milk, that he could tell his Godmother about all the terrible adventures that had befallen him. How in the deep forest of the grain he had been ensnared by the terrible robber in his frightful net; how the great, yellow ostriches had pursued him and, when he was escaping from them, how a rough, hairy dragon had come upon him and chased him into the river, where he was first swallowed by an enormous whale and then cast out upon the shore.

The kind Godmother was very, very sorry for poor Little Tom and began to realize the danger of leaving him alone, outside the hut, so she promised him that she herself would take him to the field. Tom no longer wanted to travel alone amid such terrible dangers and was pleased that he could accompany his Godmother; but they did not know in just what way they could accomplish this. She thought of taking him in her pocket, but Tom was afraid of such a dark place, among crumbs of bread and huge keys.