CHAPTER IV.
The Poker Tells His Story
"I suppose," said the Poker, after the Andirons had passed out of hearingdistance, "I suppose you think it a very extraordinary thing that I, whoam nothing but a Poker, should be satisfied with my lot. Eh?"
"Oh, I don't know," said Tom, snuggling down on the cloud which he foundto be deliciously soft and comfortable. "If you were a Poker who couldonly poke it might seem queer. But you can talk and sing and travel about.You don't have to do any work in summer time, and in winter you have anice warm spot to stay in all the day long. I don't think it's verystrange."
"But I'm not different from any other Poker," said Tom's companion, "Theyall do pretty much what I do except that most of them are always growlingat their hard lot, while I do very little but sing and rejoice that I amwhat I am, and the story I was going to tell you was how I came to be sowell satisfied to be a Poker. Would you like to have me do that, Dormy?"
"Yes," said Tom. "Very much. Were you always a Poker?"
"Not I," said the Poker, with a shake of his head. "I've been a Poker onlytwo years. Before that I had been a little of everything. What do yousuppose I began life as?"
"A railroad track," said Tom, bound to have a guess at the right answer,though he really hadn't the slightest notion that he was correct.
"A POKER WHO COULD ONLY POKE."]
"You came pretty near it," said the Poker, with a smile. "I began life asa boy."
"I don't see how a boy is pretty near a railroad track," said Tom.
"The boy I began life as lived right next door to a railroad," explainedthe Poker. "See now?"
"Yes," said Tom. "But why didn't you stay a boy?"
"Because I wasn't contented," said the Poker, with a sigh. "I ought tohave been, though. I had everything in the world that a boy could want. Myparents were as good to me as they could possibly be. I had all the toys Iwanted. All I could eat--plenty of pudding and other good things as oftenas they were to be had. I had two little sisters, who used to doeverything in the world for me. Plenty of boy friends to play with, and,as I said before, a railroad right next door--and oh, the trains, andtrains, and trains I used to see! It was great fun. I can see, now that Ilook back on it, and yet I never was satisfied. I used to cry my eyes outsometimes because I hadn't wings like a bird, so that I could fly. Atother times I'd get discontented that I couldn't run as fast as a dog--Inever went to bed without feeling envious of somebody or something.
"Finally one night I'd gone to bed feeling particularly unhappy because abig eagle I had seen flying about in the sky could do things I couldn't.My nurse, thinking I had fallen asleep, went out of the night nursery andleft me alone. Just as she went out of one door the other door opened anda very beautiful lady came in.
"'Is that you, mama?' I asked.
"'No,' said she. 'I am not your mother. I am a Fairy.'
"I had been crying pretty hard, I can tell you," said the Poker, with ashake of his head, "but as soon as I heard the lady say she was a Fairy mytears dried up as quick as lightning.
"I am not your mother; I am a fairy."]
"'I am a Fairy,' she repeated, coming to the side of my little bed andstroking my forehead kindly. 'My duty is to seek out one discontentedperson each year and see if I can't do something to help him. I have cometo help you if I can. Don't you like being a boy?'
"'Not very much,' said I. 'It's awfully hard work. I have to go to schoolevery day and learn lots of things I don't care to know about, and most ofthe time I'm kept in an hour or two just because I can't remember how muchseven times two are, or whether c-a-t spells dog or horse, and I don'tlike it.'
"'But you are strong and well. Your father and mother are very good to youand you have more good times than unhappy ones, don't you?'
"DOESN'T HAVE TO LIVE IN A BATHTUB."]
"'I never counted,' said I. 'I don't believe I do, though. I'm strong andwell, but so is that eagle I saw today, and he can fly, and I can't. Thenthere's my little dog--he's as well as can be, and my father and motherare kind to him just as they are kind to me. He doesn't have to botherwith school. He's allowed to go anywhere he wants to, and never getsscolded for it. Besides, he doesn't have to be dressed up all the time andlive in a bathtub the way I do.'
"'Then you think you would be happier as Rollo than you are as yourself?'said she.
"'Very much,' said I.
"'Then it shall be so,' said she. 'Good-by!'
"She went out as quietly as she had come, and I turned over and afterthinking over what she had said I fell asleep. Then the queerest thinghappened. I slept right through until the morning, dreaming the strangestdream you ever heard of. I dreamed that I had been changed into Rollo--andoh, the fun I had! Life was nothing but play and liberty, and then Iwaked. I tried to call my father and tell him I was ready for the morningstory, but what do you suppose I did instead?"
"Give it up," said Tom. "What?"
"I barked," said the Poker, "and when I barked I looked down at my feet.Sure enough I was Rollo, and Rollo was I lying asleep in my bed. I was onthe floor at the foot of the bed. Then the nurse came in and slapped mefor barking and I had the pleasure of being sent down stairs to thecellar, while Rollo himself, who had been changed into me went into myfather's room and got the story."
"Mercy!" said Tom. "I guess you were sorry about that."
"I was, a little," said the Poker. "But after I had been down in thecellar an hour or two I saw a beautiful piece of steak in the ice-box andI ate it all up. It wasn't cooked at all, but being a little dog I likedit all the better for that. Then I drank up a panful of milk and had alovely time teasing the cat, until the cook came down, when my troublesbegan. I never knew when I was a boy that Rollo had troubles, but I foundout that day that he had. The cook gave me a terrible whipping because Ihad eaten the steak, and I had hardly recovered from that when Rollo, whowas now what I had been, took me up into the nursery and played with mejust as I had always played with him. He held me up by the tail; heflicked me with his handkerchief; he harnessed me up to a small cart andmade me drag his sisters' doll babies about the room for one whole hour,and then when lunch time came the waitress forgot me and I had to gohungry all the afternoon. Every time I'd try to go into the kitchen thecook would drive me out with a stick for fear I would eat the other thingsin the cellar--and oh, dear, I had a miserable time of it.
"The worst of it came two or three days later," continued the Poker. "Itwas Rollo's bath day, and as I was Rollo of course I had to take Rollo'sbath, and my, wasn't it awful! I'd rather take a hundred such baths as Ihad when I was a boy than one like Rollo's. The soap got into my eyes andI couldn't say a word. Then it got into my mouth, and bah! how fearful itwas. After that I was grabbed by all four of my legs and soused into thewater until I thought I should drown, and rubbed until my fur nearly cameoff.
"I wished then that I had asked the Fairy to leave her address so that Icould send for her and have her come back and let me be a boy again. Allthe fun of being Rollo was spoiled by the woes that were his to bear--woesI had never dreamed of his having until I took his place.
"I must have been Rollo a month when the Fairy came back one night to seehow I was getting along. Rollo lay asleep in my crib, while I was curledup in a dog basket at the foot of it.
"'Well,' said the Fairy as she entered the room, 'how do you both do?'
"'I like it first-rate,' said Rollo. 'Being a boy is ever so much nicerthan being a dog.'
"'I think so, too," said I. 'And if you don't mind I'd like to be a boyagain.'
"'What boy do you want to be?' she asked.
"'What boy?' said I. 'Why, myself, of course. Who else?'
"'What has Rollo to say about that?' said the Fairy, turning to him--and Itell you, Dormy, it made my heart sick to hear that Rollo had anything tosay about it, for there couldn't be much doubt as to how he woulddecide."