The Fairy Godmothers and Other Tales Page 10

the Genie had spoken. Nay, even his Mother'swords had nearly faded from his mind, and he had forgotten the youngKing, and his own wishes to be like him. It was a pity it was so; butso it was! Poor Joachim! he was a very good fellow, and kind also inreality; but first the pleasure of making his companions laugh, andthen the pleasure of being a sort of little great man among them, werefast misleading him. For instance, though at first he amused them byimitating dogs, and cats, and pigs, he next tried his powers atimitating any thing queer and odd in the boys themselves, and, for atime, this was most entertaining. When he mimicked the awkward walk ofone boy, and the bad drawl of another, and the loutish carriage of athird, the school resounded with shouts of laughter, which seemed toour Hero a great triumph,--something like the cheers which had greetedthe good young King as he left the fishing-town. But certainly thecause was a very different one! By degrees, however, it must beadmitted, that Joachim's popularity began a little to decrease; for,though a boy has no objection to see his neighbour laughed at, he doesnot like quite so well to be laughed at himself, and there are veryfew who can bear it with good humour. And now Joachim had given suchway to the pastime, that he was always hunting up absurdities in hisfriends and neighbours, and _no one felt safe_.

  It was a long time before Joachim found out the change that was takingplace, for there were still plenty of loud laughers on his side; butonce or twice he had a feeling that all was not right: for instance,one day when he mimicked the awkward walker to the boy who spoke badlyand stuttered, and then in the afternoon imitated the stutterer to theawkward boy, he had a twinge of conscience, for it whispered to himthat he was a sneak, and deceitful; particularly, as both these boyshad often helped him in doing his sums and lessons when he was tooidle and _too funny_ to labour at them himself. In fact, he had beenso much helped that he was sadly behind hand in his books, for all theschool had been willing to assist "that good fellow '_Joke him_,'" asthey called him.

  At last a crisis came. A new boy arrived at the school; very big forhis age, and rather surly tempered, but a hard working, perseveringlad, who was striving hard to learn and get on. He had one defect. Helisped very much, which certainly is an ugly trick, and sounded sillyin a great stout boy, nearly five feet high: but he had this excuse;--his mother had died when he was very little, and his good Father hadmore important business on hand in supporting his family, of whichthis boy was the eldest, than in teaching him to pronounce his S'sbetter. It is perhaps only Mothers who attend to these little matters.Well;--this great big boy was two or three days at the school beforeJoachim went near him. There was something serious, stern, and unfunnyin his face, and when Joachim was making the other boys laugh, thegreat big boy never even smiled, but fixed his eyes in a ratherunpleasant manner upon Joachim as he raised them from his books. Stillhe was an irresistible subject for the Mimic; for, though he learnthis lessons without a mistake, and always obtained the Master'spraise, he read them with so strong a lisp, and this was rendered soremarkable by his loud, deep voice, that it fairly upset what littleprudence Joachim possessed; and, as he returned one day to his seat,after repeating a copy of verses in the manner I have described,Joachim, who was not far off, echoed the last two lines with suchaccuracy of imitation, that it startled even the Master, who was atthat moment leaving the school-room.

  But no laugh followed as usual, for all eyes were suddenly turned onthe big boy, who, crimson with indignation, and yet quiteself-possessed in manner, walked up to Joachim and deliberatelyknocked him down on the floor. Great was Joachim's amazement, you maybe sure, and severe was the blow that had levelled him; but still moresevere were the words that followed. "Young rascal," exclaimed the bigboy, "who has put _you_ in authority over your elders, that you are tobe correcting our faults and failings, instead of attending to yourown. You are beholden to any lad in the school who will do your sums,and write your exercises for you, and then you take upon yourself toridicule us if we cannot pronounce our well learnt lessons to yourfancy! You saucy imp, who don't know what labour and good conduct are,and who have nothing to boast of, but the powers which a monkeypossesses to a greater extent than yourself!" Fancy Joachim's rage!_He_, the admired wit! the popular boy! nothing better than a monkey!He sprang up and struck his fist into the face of his antagonist withsuch fury, that the big boy, though evidently unwilling to fight oneless than himself, was obliged to bestow several sharp blows before hecould rid himself of Joachim's passion.

  At last, however, other boys separated them; but Joachim, who wasquite unused to fighting, and who had received a very severe shockwhen he first fell, became so sick and ill that he was obliged to gohome. His Mother asked what was the matter. "He had been quizzing agreat big boy who lisped, and the boy knocked him down, and they hadfought." His Mother sighed; but she saw he was too poorly for talking,so she put him to bed and nursed him carefully.

  Now, you may say, what had this Mother been about, not to have foundout and corrected Joachim's fault before? First, he was very little athome, and as owing to the help of others, his idleness had not becomenotorious, she had heard no complaints from the Masters, and thinkinghe did his lessons well, she felt averse to stopping his fun andamusements in holiday hours. Still, she had latterly begun to havemisgivings which this event confirmed. In a few days Joachim wasbetter, and came down stairs, and his Aunt and two or three Cousinscalled to enquire after him. Their presence revived Joachim's flaggingspirits, and all the boys got together to talk and laugh. Soon theirvoices echoed through the house. Joachim was at his old tricks again,and the Schoolboys, the Ushers and the Master all furnished food formirth. His Cousins roared with delight. "Clever child!" exclaimed hisAunt, "what a treasure you are in a house! one could never be dullwhere _you_ are!" "Sister, Sister!" cried Joachim's Mother, "do notsay so!" "My dear," said the Aunt, "are you dull enough to be unableto appreciate your own child's wit; oh, I wish you would give him tome. Come here, my dear Joachim, and do the boy that walks so badlyonce more for me; it's enough to kill one to see you take him off!"Joachim's spirits rose above all control. Excited by his Aunt'spraise and the sense of superior ability, he surpassed himself. Hegave the bad walker to perfection; then imitated a lad who hadcommenced singing lessons, and whose voice was at present broken andbad. He even gave the big boy's lisp once more, and followed on with aseries of pantomimic exhibitions.

  All at once, he cast his eyes on his Mother's face--that face so fullof intelligence and the mild sorrow of years of widowhood, borne withresigned patience. Her eyes were full of tears, and there was not asmile on her countenance. Joachim's conscience--he knew notwhy--twinged him terribly. He stopped suddenly; "Mother!"

  "Come here, Joachim!" He came.

  "Is that boy whom you have been imitating--your Aunt says socleverly--the _best_ walker of all the boys in your school?"

  "The _best_, Mother?" and the puzzled Joachim could not suppress asmile. His Cousins grinned.

  "Dear Mother, of course not," continued Joachim, "on the contrary, heis the very worst!"

  "Oh--well, have you no _good_ walkers at your school?"

  "Oh yes, several; indeed one especially; his father was a soldier, hewalks beautifully."

  "Does he, Joachim? Let me see you walk like him, my dear."

  Joachim stepped boldly enough into the middle of the room, and drewhimself up; but a sudden consciousness of his extreme inferiority tothe soldier's son, both in figure, manner and mode of walking, madehim feel quite sheepish. There was a pause of expectation.

  "Now then!" said Joachim's Mother.

  "I cannot walk like _him_, Mother," said Joachim.

  "Why not?"

  "Because he walks so _very well_!"

  "Oh,"--said Joachim's Mother.

  There was another pause.

  "Come, Joachim," continued the Widow, "I am very anxious to admire youas much as your Aunt does. You are not tired; let us have some moreexhibitions. You gave us a song just now horribly out of tune, andwith the screeching voice of a bagpipe."

  "I was singin
g like Tom Smith," interrupted Joachim.

  "Is he your best singer?" enquired the Mother. Another laugh followed.

  "Nay, Mother, no one sings so badly."

  "Indeed! How does the Singing Master sing, Joachim?"

  "Oh, Mother," cried Joachim, "so beautifully, it would make the tearscome into your eyes with pleasure, to listen to him."

  "Well, but as I cannot listen to him, let me, at all events, have thepleasure of hearing my clever son imitate him," was the reply.

  Joachim was mute. He had a voice, though not a remarkable one, but hehad shirked the labour of trying to improve it by practice. He madeone effort to