"Old lady? Comforted?" repeated the little wooden horse.
"She looked very sad!" said the bat. "There were tears on her cheeks as if she had been crying, and the cat’s fur was quite damp in patches. I felt quite sorry for her!"
"But did you speak to Gobbolino?" pleaded the little wooden horse.
"Oh, I did! I did!" the bat said. "I flew round him a number of times, woke him up, and gave him your message, but he only shook his head. And when he moved the witch clutched him so tightly in her sleep that he could not have got away if he had tried."
Panic seized the heart of the little wooden horse.
He hardly heard the bat's plea to occupy the caves now that its mission was done. He left the busy little creatures surging out of the rabbit holes and taking possession of their new homes, while he galloped up the path to the summit as fast as he could go.
12 THE WITCH FINDS OUT
By THE TIME HE arrived at the entrance to the witch’s cave the afternoon was nearly over, and the little wooden horse knew it was already too late to begin their journey before nightfall. But in his busy mind a plan was forming. They would go as far as the church in the village that night, and ask the old priest to let them shelter there till dawn. He did not believe the witch would follow them inside the church, and they would wait till she went back to the mountain before they made a run for the stream.
It all depended on rescuing Gobbolino as quickly as possible. He did not believe the bat’s tale that his friend did not want to leave the witch. He was afraid Gobbolino must be under some kind of enchantment, and what it was he would make it his business to find out as fast as he could.
He did not trouble to quieten the noise of his wheels, but galloped up the rough path, kicking stones to left and to right as he ran.
Sure enough, Gobbolino was sitting on the witch’s lap, but unlike the witch, he was not asleep. His blue eyes were wide open to welcome the little wooden horse, and a smile of pure joy and surprise spread across his whiskers.
"Oh, my friend! My own true and loyal friend!" Gobbolino purred, with tears of joy in his beautiful blue eyes.
He leapt gently to the floor, and licked the little wooden horse all over with a pink and grateful tongue. The sleeping witch made a feeble grab at him, moaned a little and sank into a deeper sleep.
"Come along! Come this instant!. We must leave immediately!" said the little wooden horse, for it seemed as if there was nothing to prevent Gobbolino from making his escape that very minute.
"No! No!" said Gobbolino. "You don’t understand, my kind little friend! The poor old lady is breaking her heart at the loss of her own cat, my sister Sootica.
…Gobbolino was sitting on the witch's lap...
If you could have seen her tears you would understand that I can’t possibly run away and leave her all alone!"
"So she knows?" said the little wooden horse.
"Indeed she does!" said Gobbolino. "In fact, she recognized me quite quickly, and although she knows I am no good as a witch’s cat I think I was able to give her a little comfort in her grief. If she woke up and found me gone as well I really think she might die of sorrow. She has become so old and frail. She told me herself that she can no longer make any real spells without my sister’s help. There is no harm in staying just a short while to comfort her until she gets used to the idea of living without Sootica. You go back, my dear friend, and tell my family that I am coming, but that I have had to postpone it for a few days. And if you can find a black cat who is willing to keep a poor old woman company for the rest of her life, then I can leave her with a quiet conscience."
The little wooden horse’s heart was touched, but then he remembered the two anxious homes waiting for them far away in the forest. Uncle Peder would be waking each day with the hope that his little friend would arrive before dark, and the children at the farm would be going to bed in tears every night, because their beloved Gobbolino had neither come back nor sent them any message.
The little wooden horse was standing with bowed head in the middle of the floor when he heard an exclamation, and there was the witch sitting bolt upright on her stool and staring at him.
"And what in the name of all wonders can you be?" she exclaimed in astonishment. "Did you bring it with you, Gobbolino?"
"Yes, ma’am!.. No, ma’am!.. This is my friend, ma’am!" said Gobbolino in some agitation, for he was not at all sure how the witch would receive the little wooden horse. She might immediately turn him into something dreadful, or simply throw him down the mountainside on to the terrible rocks below.
But she did not seem inclined to touch him. Instead, she got up and walked round and round him as Sootica had done.
"Wooden head! Wooden body! Four wooden legs and wooden wheels!" she chanted. "What a strange sight to be sure! And do you know my faithless cat, Sootica, my little wooden friend?"
"I met her for the first time last night, ma’am!" replied the little wooden horse quite truthfully.
"Well, well!" the witch repeated, shaking her grey head. "Kitchen cats and wooden horses in my cave! Here’s a pretty kettle of fish!"
The witch was no longer crying, neither did she seem revengeful or angry. She even seemed to welcome Gobbolino and the little wooden horse. She offered them food, but they were too nervous to eat it, after which she fanned the ashes of the fire under the cauldron into a warm blaze.
"Make yourselves at home!" she told them, agreeably. "I have to go out for an hour or two, round about the mountainside, but I shall be back before long. If I find my cat Sootica I shall give her the drubbing of her life, but you have been kind and good to me, little Gobbolino, in all my troubles, and I shall not harm you. You won’t be lonely with your friend to talk to, and by nightfall I shall be home."
She tottered out of the cave into the twilight, dragging her broomstick behind her.
Even the little wooden horse was hesitant to leave after such trust and confidence, and the two of them were glad of the chance to talk together and make a plan for the future.
They lay down together beside the fire, very glad to have one another’s company.
"My sister has betrayed us tool" Gobbolino said sadly when the witch was gone. "For she told me for certain the witch would not wake up till sundown, but she did. Only, if I had escaped while she was asleep, as Sootica suggested, just think of the poor old lady waking up all alone! I really can’t bear to think of if! Wicked she may have been, but now she is past all that, and what is to become of her?"
"It is just as bad as I said," the little wooden horse agreed. "For she brought up your sister, and taught her all she knew, and now Sootica has deserted her. I told her how wrong it was, and she wouldn’t listen. But what about your own happy home, Gobbolino? Have you thought about that?"
"Why yes, of course I have!" said Gobbolino. "And I don’t mean to stay here for ever. Just for a day or so, or even less. I must let the witch settle down and get over the shock. Then I will ask her permission to leave, and I will go to find my sister Sootica, who in my opinion is never likely to make a good kitchen cat at her age. She is quite likely to be tired of it already! And do you go home ahead of me first thing in the morning, my dear friend, and I promise to follow you as soon as I can!"
But when the witch came back she was no longer unhappy but chuckling with glee.
"Nobody can leave me now!" she gloated. "Nobody can come in or go out! I have painted a magic ring with my broomstick all the way round the foot of the mountain! Down there in the caves the bats are sealed in as tight as little bunnies! The goats on the crest are up there for good, not that the goats want to be anywhere but on the tops of the hills. And nobody can come up the mountain either, unless they have witch’s powers or can undo my spell! We will all live happily together, my dear little friends, and nobody shall disturb us ever again!"