WHAT THE LITTLE RED MAN TOLD TONY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 213, 8 September 1926, Page 18

WHAT THE LITTLE RED MAN TOLD TONY.

"Now, you sit there," said Nurse, gently pushing Tony into a large and comfortable chair in front of a tine fire in ths nursery; "I shan't be long, and if you get tired of your book you can look for pictures in the fire.' , Tony very soon got tired of his book, and he found it much more interesting to look for pictures in the fire. At first he couldn't see anything, but he knew that it often took a few minutes for one's eyes to get used to the red glow. As his eyes got used to the bright light he made out the face of a tiny little man, sitting on a piece of coal, and apparently thirking very hard indeed, for his brows were drawn together into quite a frown. Before Tony had time to notice anything more about this queer little man, ihere was a bang, and a small piece of coal was shot out into the hearth. This had sometimes happened before, so Tony fetched the tongs to put the coal back; but, just as he was going to lift the coal up, he saw something which made him drop the tongs in surprise. There, on the top of the piece of coal, -at tlit' tiny man that he had seen in the lire a few moments ago. A» the tongs clattered down, the wee man, who had been rearranging his rather torn clothes, jumped nervously and looked up. ami, seeing Tony, exclaimed crossly —"You might be more careful in future. I am feeling quite queer after being shot out in such a startling way." Tuny was so anin/ed and confused at being scolded by thin s-trangp little man of the fire that he could hardly explain that he wanted to put the piece of coal fun which the man had been sitting) into the fire again. "You can just leave the coal where it is for a while," replied the Man of the Fire. "I shall need it to sit on for some time yet. I daren't go back until things are a little quieter." "0, don't go back just yet," pleaded Tony, "do stay and tell mc what all the fuss was about." "It all began because of the Great Quarrel," said the Man of the Fire, looking very surprised that Tony didn't know that without being told. "You look as though you had never heard of the Great Quarrel," said the Man of the Fire in slightly shocked ; tones, and Tony had to admit that he hadn't. "Well, you are a stupid creature, if you have never heard of the Great Quarrel between sparks and mc. Everyone knows about it. It has made mc quite famous in my own way." As he said this, the queer Man of the Fire drew himself up and looked thoroughly pleased with himself. Tony continued to look mystified, so the little man went on. "I suppose," he said, "I had better tell you all about it, for it seems to mc that you don't know anything at all about it" —in wliich, of course, be ' was perfectly right. "My name," he "is Crackles, and the Great Quarrel Hegan over the bod. It is a lovely bed, and really ought to belong to mc. I.,saw it first, when it was not quite ready to be slept in. The night that it was ready. Sparks saw it too, and, although he knew that by rights it was mine, he went up the chimney to bed before " "Wenfcup the chimney to bed? ,, said Tony in amazement. "Really, really, you are the most aggravating person; you are surprised at the most ordinary things. Of course, one goes up the chimney to bed when the fire dies down. Where else would one get a bed? Not in the grate, certainly— nasty, gritty thing it is—soot makes a beautiful bed." Tony thought that soot would make a rather dirty bed, but, since Crackles was already quite black, he supposed it didn't make any difference to him. "Now, where was I?, You've quite upset mc by your silly interruptions. Now, I remember! Sparks went up the chimney to bed earlier than the rest of us, and, if you will believe mc, he actually got into the bed which I had discovered first. "Of course, the rules say that the one who sleeps first in a bed shall have the bed forever, so my beautiful bed belongs to Sparks. However, I paid him out last night. I went up to, bed before all the others, and got into his bed. "He came up to bed after the others, so he knew that in wakening mc he would arouse the others also, and they wouldn't exactly like that. Sparks liad to sleep in my bed last night. "The Great Quarrel went on all day, and then, when I was sitting on a piece of coal trying to think of some new ways of annoying Sparks, he must have got behind the coal, and the next thing T knew was that I was out here. So he "wins." And Crackles sighed regretfully. Tony didn't quite see why he won, but apparently it was one of the rules that, if you got shot out on the hearth, you lost in the fight. Crackles was now standing on tiptoe, trying to see into the fire, but was not tall enough. After listening for some time, he said —"You might please be good enough to help mc back; they will be wondering what has happened to mc. I am so sorry the Great Quarrel is over; I did enjoy it so." Tony tried hard to get Crackles to stay a while longer, but he would not: he would only promise to come out another day and tell Tony some of the many things that he wanted to know about the life of the queer folk in the fire. Crackles held tight on to the coal, and I'ony lifted it up in the tongs and put it back in the fire. Almost at once he saw Crackles begin to turn red- again: and he was soon hidden in the heart of the fire.