Kernel Cob And Little Miss Sweetclover

Jackie was a little boy and he had a little sister named Peggs, and they lived with their Aunt who was very old, maybe thirty-two.

And it was so very long since she had been a little girl, that she quite forgot that children need toys to play with and all that.

So poor little Jackie and Peggs had no soldiers or dolls but could only play at make-believe all day long.

They lived in a little white house nearly all covered with honeysuckle, and a little white fence with a little white gate in it ran all about and at the back of the little white house was a little garden with beautiful flowers growing in it.

And once, when they were making pies in the garden, Peggs began to cry and Jackie ran and put his arms about her, for he loved his little Peggs very dearly; and he said to her:

"What's the matter, Peggsie? Did a spider bite you?"

"No," says Peggs, "it didn't."

"Was it a naughty worm?"

"No," says Peggs, "it wasn't."

"Well, what was it?" says Jackie.

"It weren't anything that bit me, only I want a doll," and away she cried again.

"Huh!" says Jackie, "that's nothing. You don't want a doll any mor'n I want a soldier," and he sat down beside her and began to cry, too.

And after they had cried for a long time, maybe four hours or two, they stopped.

"I tell you what!" says Jackie.

"What?" says Peggs, drying her eyes on her pinafore.

"If no one will give us a soldier"...

"But I don't want a soldier," says Peggs. "I want a doll."

"Let's make one," says Jackie.

"That's a good way," says Peggs.

"You bet," says Jackie, and he slapped one of his legs the way sailors do in tales of the sea.

"What'll we make it of?" asked Peggs.

"Things," says Jackie. "Goodie!" says Peggs.

And they went in search of the things they would make the dolls of. And pretty soon, Peggs made the most wonderful doll of flowers that ever a child could see.

The head was of Sweetclover, the dress was a purple morning-glory turned upside-down so it looked like a bodice and a skirt, and it was tied to the head so that they wouldn't come apart. And perched on the top of the head was a little bonnet, only it wasn't really a bonnet, you know, but a little four o'clock.

And she called it Little Miss Sweetclover and it was the dearest little doll and as fresh as the morning dew.

In the meantime, Jackie had been busy, you may be sure; but he couldn't find anything to make a soldier of except sticks of wood, but he had no jack-knife, much as he had always wanted one.

"Whatever shall I do?" thought Jackie, as he looked about the garden, and just then he saw an ear of corn and he picked it up.

"Maybe this will do," and he picked all the kernels off except two for the eyes, one for the nose, two more for the ears and a row for the teeth.

And he ran to Peggs to have her sew some clothes for his soldier.

"What do you think of Little Miss Sweetclover?" says Peggs, holding it up for Jackie to see.

"I think she's very pretty," says Jackie, "only she needs legs." And while Peggs cut out and sewed a uniform for the soldier, Jackie went in search of legs for Sweetclover.

And these he made of two stems of a flower, bent at the ends to look like feet. And he ran back to Peggs with them.

"Here are the legs for Sweetclover with green shoes and stockings on." And he tied them to the rest of Sweetclover so that when she walked, they wouldn't come off.

By this time Peggs had finished the uniform for Jackie's soldier and a hat of newspaper with a great plume of cornsilk and a lot of medals which were cut from the gold leaf that comes on a card of buttons. And when they were all sewed on the jacket, he cut out a sword from the gold leaf and made hands and feet from the corn husk. And he colored the eyes with black ink and the lips with red, and, much before you could say "Crickety," the soldier was all finished.

"What'll we call him?" asked Jackie.

And they thought, and thought, and thought.

"I have it!" said Jackie.

"What?" asked Peggs.

"We'll call him Kernel Cob," says Jackie.

"Goodie!" says Peggs, clapping her hands with glee.

And you will see what wonderful dolls they were, and what wonderful things they did, and how they helped Jackie and Peggs to find ... but never mind.

You will see.

* * *

And one day, when Jackie and Peggs were playing in the garden with Kernel Cob and Sweetclover, the sun was very hot, so Peggs ran and got a parasol and put it over the dolls so they wouldn't wilt.

"I'd like Kernel Cob to be a great general," said Jackie as he put up the parasol, "and fight in all the wars of the world and lead his soldiers with a sword in his hand and get wounded and all that. Not very much wounded, though. Or I'd like to have him be an Admiral and sail all around the world. What do you think of that?"

"That's good," said Peggs.

"You bet," said Jackie. And he stood on his tippy toes to look bigger.

"And I'd like Sweetclover to be a mother," says Peggs, "and have hundreds and hundreds of children so she could give them all the dolls that ever they wanted."

"That would be noble," said Jackie.

"It's terrible for children to have no father or mother isn't it?" asked Peggs looking far off at nothing in the sky.

"Yes," said Jackie.

"I would rather have a mother and father than everything else in the world," says Peggs.

"Better'n little Sweetclover?" asked Jackie.

"Yes," answered Peggs, "for I could make another doll, but you can only have one mother and one father."

"Maybe you're right," said Jackie, "but I love Kernel Cob very much, just the same."

"Of course!" says Peggs.

Now, all of this was heard by Kernel Cob and Sweetclover, for all flowers and vegetables understand the language of people, but people do not understand the language of flowers and vegetables; and when Kernel Cob and Sweetclover talked, Jackie and Peggs couldn't hear them because flowers whisper very softly, and even if the children could hear them they couldn't understand them, you see, because it's a different kind of language and they never had heard it.

Sometimes, if you are a child, and sit in the garden when the wind is blowing, and listen, you may hear a kind of whispering among the flowers. And if you look very closely, you will see them sway toward each other and smile and nod their heads. Well, that is when they whisper in each other's ears just as if they were children.

And all vegetables are like that too, only the corn has a louder voice, because the wind loves to blow through its ears and make it wave so it looks like a great green ocean.

"Did we have a mother and father?" asked Peggs.

"Of course!" answered Jackie, "Everybody has to have a mother and a father, except orphans."

"Are we orphans?" asked Peggs.

"I guess we must be," said Jackie, "I heard Auntie tell somebody, the other day, that both our parents were lost."

Just then the wind blew Sweetclover toward Kernel Cob, and, if you'd been there, you could have heard a whispering sound, and, if you'd been a flower, you would have heard Sweetclover say to Kernel Cob:

"Poor little Peggs!" and if you had looked very closely you would have seen dew drops in her eyes.

"What did she do?" asked Kernel Cob, and his voice was slow, for you must remember that it took him a long time to think, because his head was heavy and so filled up with corn cob. But, like most people who are slow, he was very determined, and once he made up his mind to do a thing you might be sure he would do it, no matter what.

"She lost her motheranfather," said Sweetclover.

"Did Jackie lose his motheranfather too?" asked Kernel Cob.

"Of course," answered Sweetclover. "Don't you know that Jackie and Peggs are brother and sister?"

"Sure," said Kernel Cob.

"Well then," said Sweetclover.

"You didn't tell me," said Kernel Cob.

"Tell you what?" asked Sweetclover.

"If Jackie lost his motheranfather," said Kernel Cob.

"Jackie's motheranfather are the same as Peggs'," explained Sweetclover.

"Doesn't everybody have his own motheranfather?" asked Kernel Cob.

"Not always," says Sweetclover. "Why?" asks Kernel Cob.

"Please keep quiet," said Sweetclover, "I can't hear what they are saying."

"If our mother and father are lost," says Peggs, "why doesn't Auntie try to find them?"

"I wish she would," says Jackie.

"Did you hear that?" says Sweetclover.

"What?" asked Kernel Cob.

"That they would like to find their motheranfather," says Sweetclover.

"Are they lost?" asks Kernel Cob.

"Yes," says Sweetclover.

"Who lost them?" asks Kernel Cob.

"Hush!" says Sweetclover.

For a long time nobody spoke and pretty soon a little breeze swayed Kernel Cob over toward Sweetclover and he said:

"Let's try to find Jackie and Peggs' motheranfather. Let us pray to the fairies that something will come along to help us."

"Good!" said Sweet clover, and they prayed and prayed and prayed.

And just then a great wind came and raised the parasol from the ground, and the hook of the handle caught in Kernel Cob's belt and pulled him up with it and Sweetclover was just in time to catch hold of him as he sailed away. And Jackie and Peggs sat upon the grass and cried because they had lost their little dolls.

* * *

And the parasol went up and up in the sky all the afternoon, and, try as he would, Kernel Cob could not get it to stop.

"I wonder what the fairies are sending us up here for?" shouted Kernel Cob.

"Maybe they're in Heaven," said Sweetclover, and just then the parasol went skimming through a beautiful white cloud, and the sun was dancing on it, making it look like pink eiderdown.

And soon they came out of the cloud and were in the blue sky again.

And up and up they sailed. And the sun dipped down in the sea, and its light went out, and the stars came out and began to peep through the sky like little fire-flies, and the moon came up, too, to see what was going on, and it grew bigger and bigger till it was nearly as big as the old Earth.

And then they came to the Moon and could see little people running around the edge waving their hands excitedly, and they were all dressed in silver clothing, and when Kernel Cob and Sweetclover were landed the Moonpeople ran to them and wondered.

And everything about them was silver. Churches and houses and rocks and rivers and trees and everything.

And the Moonpeople ran ahead in great confusion to show them the way.

And Kernel Cob formed them into line and put himself at the head of the column, as a general does, and they marched in step and everything until they came to the Palace of the King, which was of silver with turrets and spires of diamonds, and glittered so you could scarcely see.

And the King and the Queen were sitting on thrones, and when the King saw how Kernel Cob had formed his people in order, he was greatly pleased and said to himself, "Here is a fine General. I will put him at the head of all my armies."

And Kernel Cobb and Sweetclover were invited to a great banquet, as splendid as ever you could imagine.

And when they were seated, Sweetclover saw some flowers on the banquet table which were very beautiful, white with silver calyx, and they were called Silverfloss, and Sweetclover whispered to Silverfloss:

"Do you understand Earth talk?"

"Ting-a-ling," answered Silverfloss, and it sounded like the tinkling of a little silver bell.

"What did she say?" asked Kernel Cob.

"It must be Moonflower talk," said Sweetclover, and she looked about and saw some Edelweiss and she was very glad and said: "Edelweiss, Edelweiss, how came you here?"

Now you must know the Edelweiss is a little white flower that grows away up in the snow of the mountains of Switzerland.

"One night I was blown up here in a great snow storm and I've been here ever since," said Edelweiss.

"Can you speak Moonflower talk?" asked Sweetclover.

"Yes," said Edelweiss.

"Very well," said Kernel Cob, "we are trying to find Jackie and Peggs' motheranfather and we came all the way from the Earth on a parasol to do so. Maybe you can help us."

"I would if I could," replied Edelweiss. "But I am afraid they are not here. I've been here over four seasons and I've never seen a human being, and even if they were here they couldn't live here because it's too cold."

"You bet it is," said Kernel Cob, and he shivered till the medals on his coat rattled.

"Maybe they could be here in some other part of the Moon!" said Sweetclover. "Would you mind looking?"

"I would be glad to look," said Edelweiss, for he was a very polite little flower and had very pretty manners.

And turning to Silverfloss he asked her if she had seen two earth-people on the Moon.

"Ting-a-ling," answered Silverfloss and you would have thought it was two bells tinkling.

"She says there never was a human being on the Moon," said Edelweiss.

"Well if they are not here," said Kernel Cob, "we had better go before we freeze to death," and his teeth chattered.

"How'll we get off?" asked Sweetclover.

"I'll tell Silverfloss to weave you a strand of silver," and he turned to Silverfloss and said some tinkling words to her.

"She's doing it," he said. "It's a thread of silver so thin that it can't be seen and yet it is so strong that it can easily bear your weight."

"But I can't climb all the way down," said Kernel Cob.

"You won't have to," said Edelweiss. "All you have to do is to catch hold of the end of the silver thread and hang on to it, and, as Silverfloss weaves the thread it gets longer and longer, until you have reached the Earth. You'd better start now, if you are going."

So Kernel Cob wound the silver thread around his waist, and, lifting Sweetclover, was ready to start. "Good-bye," said Kernel Cob. "Good-bye," said Sweetclover.

"Good-bye," said Edelweiss, "Hold on tight!"

"All right," said Kernel Cob.

"Thank you very much," cried Sweetclover.

And down they went, Kernel Cob hanging to the silver thread and Sweetclover snuggled close against his jacket.

* * *