The Wind on the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

shall we have to do? Oh, do hurry up and tell me, Dinah!’
    â€˜You can carry this, if you like,’ said Dinah, and gave her sister a little box made of plaited grass. ‘But take care of it, because it’s very valuable.’
    â€˜Did Mrs. Grimble give it you? Is it magic?’ asked Dorinda.
    â€˜Yes,’ said Dinah, and they both sat down between the roots of the oak-tree.
    â€˜Now, listen,’ said Dinah, ‘and I’ll tell you just what happened. Well, to begin with, I found Mrs. Grimble at home. She was having a cup of tea, and talking to Willy her billy-goat and Moses her magpie. I don’t quite know what they were talking about, but it had something to do with one of the animals in Sir Lankester Lemon’s zoo. The golden puma, I think.’
    â€˜I’ve seen it,’ said Dorinda. ‘It’s the most beautiful puma I’ve ever seen.’
    â€˜You haven’t seen very many, of course,’ said Dinah.
    â€˜Neither have you,’ said Dorinda.
    â€˜That’s true,’ said Dinah regretfully, ‘but it doesn’t matter at the moment, because we’re talking about Mrs. Grimble, not pumas. Well, she made Willy and Moses go outside, and she gave me a cup of wild-strawberry juice, which was very nice, and I told her about everything that had happened to us. I told her that you wanted revenge on the village people, and she said that showed you had a proper spirit, and that some day I could take you to see her.’
    â€˜How lovely!’ said Dorinda in great excitement. ‘When shall we go? To-morrow?’
    â€˜Not till you’re a lot older,’ said Dinah firmly. ‘I never dreamt of going to see Mrs. Grimble when I was your age.’
    â€˜It’s horribly unfair, the way people take advantage of being two years older than somebody else,’ said Dorinda.
    â€˜No, it isn’t,’ said Dinah. ‘It’s quite natural.’
    â€˜It’s unfair,’ repeated Dorinda.
    â€˜You won’t think so in two years’ time, when you’ll be as old as I am now,’ said Dinah.
    â€˜Yes, I shall,’ said Dorinda, ‘because you’ll still be two years older, and taking advantage of me in some other way.’
    Dinah thought about that for nearly half a minute, and then she said: ‘But think what will happen when we’re quite old. When you’re ninety, I shall be ninety-two, and at ninety-two it wouldn’t be at all surprising if I were on my death-bed. But you, being only ninety, will still be going to parties, and taking a little walk in the morning, and having a good lunch, and telling your great-grandchildren about all the things you did when you were a girl. You’ll be enjoying yourself when I’m on my deathbed, and that will be terribly unfair to me. So everything will be evened-up in time.’
    â€˜I suppose you’re right,’ said Dorinda, ‘but I’ve got a good many years to wait. Well, tell me more about Mrs. Grimble.’
    â€˜She said that once when she was away from home some of the village boys had thrown stones at her house, and broken a window. So she was very glad when she heard that we wanted to frighten them, and promised to help us in any way she could. Then I told her about the grizzly bear that went into Mr. Horrabin the ironmonger’s, and how he frightened everyone so badly. And I asked her for a magic draught that would turn us into grizzly bears.’
    â€˜Not for always?’ asked Dorinda.
    â€˜No, just for a few days, of course.’
    â€˜I wouldn’t like to be a grizzly bear for the rest of my life,’ said Dorinda.
    â€˜Well, you’re not going to be one at all,’ said Dinah,’ because Mrs. Grimble didn’t think it a good idea. A grizzly bear has a very thick coat, and we would feel hot and uncomfortable, she said. We would probably come out in heat-spots under the skin, she thought. So she