BROWNIE AND THE COOK

: The King Of The Golden River; Or, The Black Brothers
: Types Of Children's Literature

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik





There was once a little Brownie who lived--where do you

think he lived?--In a coal cellar.



Now a coal cellar may seem a most curious place to choose to

live in; but then a Brownie is a curious creature--a fairy, and

yet not one of that sort of fairies who fly about on gossamer

wings, and dance in the moonlight, and so on. He never dances;

a d as to wings, what use would they be to him in a coal cellar?

He is a sober, stay-at-home household elf--nothing much to look

at, even if you did see him, which you are not likely to do--only

a little old man, about a foot high, all dressed in brown, with a

brown face and hands, and a brown peaked cap, just the color of a

brown mouse. And like a mouse he hides in corners--especially

kitchen corners, and only comes out after dark when nobody is about,

and so sometimes people call him Mr. Nobody.



I said you were not likely to see him. I never did, certainly, and

never knew anybody that did; but still, if you were to go into

Devonshire, you would hear many funny stories about Brownies in

general, and so I may as well tell you the adventures of this

particular Brownie, who belonged to a family there; which family he

had followed from house to house, most faithfully, for years and

years.



A good many people had heard him--or supposed they had--

when there were extraordinary noises about the house; noises which

must have come from a mouse or a rat--or a Brownie. But nobody

had ever seen him, except the children, the three little boys and

three little girls--who declared he often came to play with them when

they were alone, and was the nicest companion in the world, though

he was such an old man--hundreds of years old! He was full of

fun and mischief and up to all sorts of tricks, but he never did

anybody any harm unless they deserved it.



Brownie was supposed to live under one particular coal, in the

darkest corner of the cellar, which was never allowed to be

disturbed. Why he had chosen it nobody knew, and how he lived there,

nobody knew either; nor what he lived upon. Except that, ever

since the family could remember, there had always been a bowl of

milk put behind the coal cellar door for the Brownie's supper.

Perhaps he drank it--perhaps he didn't: anyhow, the bowl was

always found empty next morning.



The old Cook, who had lived all her life in the family, had never

once forgotten to give Brownie his supper; but at last she died, and a

young Cook came in her stead, who was very apt to forget everything.

She was also both careless and lazy, and disliked taking

the trouble to put a bowl of milk in the same place every night for

Mr. Nobody. "She didn't believe in Brownies," she said; "she

had never seen one, and seeing's believing." So she laughed at the

other servants, who looked very grave, and put the bowl of milk in

its place as often as they could, without saying much about it.



But once, when Brownie woke up, at his usual hour for rising--

ten o'clock at night, and looked round in search of his supper--

which was in fact his breakfast, he found nothing there. At first

he could not imagine such neglect, and went smelling and smelling

about for his bowl of milk--it was not always placed in the same

corner now--but in vain.



"This will never do," said he; and being extremely hungry, began

running about the coal cellar to see what he could find. His eyes

were as useful in the dark as in the light--like a pussycat's; but

there was nothing to be seen--not even a potato paring, or a dry

crust, or a well-gnawed bone, such as Tiny the terrier sometimes

brought into the coal cellar and left on the floor. Nothing, in short,

but heaps of coals and coal dust, which even a Brownie cannot eat,

you know.



"Can't stand this; quite impossible!" said the Brownie, tightening

his belt to make his poor little inside feel less empty. He had been

asleep so long--about a week, I believe, as was his habit when there

was nothing to do---that he seemed ready to eat his own head, or his

boots, or anything. "What's to be done? Since nobody brings my

supper I must go and fetch it."



He spoke quickly, for he always thought quickly and made up

his mind in a minute. To be sure it was a very little mind, like his

little body; but he did the best he could with it, and was not a bad

sort of old fellow after all. In the house he had never done any

harm--and often some good, for he frightened away all the rats,

mice, and black beetles. Not the crickets--he liked them, as the

old Cook had done: she said they were such cheerful creatures, and

always brought luck to the house. But the young Cook could not

bear them, and used to pour boiling water down their holes, and set

basins of beer with little wooden bridges up to the rim, that they

might walk up, tumble in, and be drowned.



So there was not even a cricket singing in the silent house when

Brownie put his head out of his coal cellar door, which, to his

surprise, he found open. Old Cook used to lock it every night;

but the young Cook had left that key, and the kitchen and pantry

keys too, all dangling in the lock, so that any thief might have got

in and wandered all over the house without being found out.



"Hurrah, here's luck!" cried Brownie, tossing his cap up in

the air, and bounding right through the scullery into the kitchen.

It was quite empty, but there was a good fire burning itself out--

just for its own amusement, and the remains of a capital supper

were spread on the table--enough for half-a-dozen people being

left still.



Would you like to know what there was? Devonshire cream, of

course; and part of a large dish of junket, which is something like

curds and whey. Lots of bread and butter and cheese, and half an

apple pudding. Also a great jug of cider and another of milk,

and several half-full glasses, and no end of dirty plates, knives, and

forks. All were scattered about the table in the most untidy fashion,

just as the servants had risen from their supper, without thinking to

put anything away.



Brownie screwed up his little old face and turned up his button

of a nose, and gave a long whistle. You might not believe it, seeing

he lived in a coal cellar, but really he liked tidiness and always

played his pranks upon disorderly or slovenly folk.



"Whew!" said he, "here's a chance! What a supper I'll get

now!"



And he jumped on to a chair and thence to the table, but so quietly

that the large black cat with four white paws, called Muff, because

she was so fat and soft and her fur so long, who sat dozing in front

of the fire, just opened one eye and went to sleep again. She had

tried to get her nose into the milk jug, but it was too small; and

the junket dish was too deep for her to reach, except with one paw.

She didn't care much for bread and cheese and apple pudding, and

was very well fed besides; so after just wandering round the table

she had jumped down from it again, and settled herself to sleep on

the hearth.



But Brownie had no notion of going to sleep. He wanted his

supper, and oh! what a supper he did eat! first one thing and then

another, and then trying everything all over again. And oh! what

a lot he drank!--first milk and then cider, and then mixed the two

together in a way that would have disagreed with anybody except a

Brownie. As it was, he was obliged to slacken his belt several times,

and at last took it off altogether. But he must have had a most

extraordinary capacity for eating and drinking--since, after he

had nearly cleared the table, he was just as lively as ever, and

began jumping about on the table as if he had had no supper at all.



Now his jumping was a little awkward, for there happened to be

a clean white tablecloth! as this was only Monday, it had had no time

to get dirty--untidy as the Cook was. And you know Brownie lived

in a coal cellar, and his feet were black with running about in coal

dust. So wherever he trod, he left the impression behind; until at

last the whole tablecloth was covered with black marks.



Not that he minded this; in fact, he took great pains to make the

cloth as dirty as possible; and then laughing loudly, "Ho, ho, ho!"

leaped on to the hearth, and began teasing the cat; squeaking like a

mouse, or chirping like a cricket, or buzzing like a fly; and altogether

disturbing poor Pussy's mind so much, that she went and hid herself in

the farthest corner, and left him the hearth all to himself, where he

lay at ease till daybreak.



Then, hearing a slight noise overhead, which might be the servants

getting up, he jumped on to the table again--gobbled up the

few remaining crumbs for his breakfast, and scampered off to his

coal cellar; where he hid himself under his big coal, and fell asleep

for the day.



Well, the Cook came downstairs rather earlier than usual, for she

remembered she had to clear off the remains of supper; but lo and

behold, there was nothing left to clear! Every bit of food was

eaten up--the cheese looked as if a dozen mice had been nibbling

at it, and nibbled it down to the very rind; the milk and cider were

all drunk--and mice don't care for milk and cider, you know: as for

the apple pudding, it had vanished altogether; and the dish was

licked as clean as if Boxer the yard dog had been at it, in his

hungriest mood.



"And my white tablecloth--oh, my clean white tablecloth!

What can have been done to it?" cried she in amazement. For it

was all over little black footmarks, just the size of a baby's foot--

only babies don't wear shoes with nails in them, and don't run about

and climb on kitchen tables after all the family have gone to bed.



Cook was a little frightened; but her fright changed to anger

when she saw the large black cat stretched comfortably on the

hearth. Poor Muff had crept there for a little snooze after Brownie

went away.



"You nasty cat! I see it all now; it's you that have eaten up all

the supper; it's you that have been on my clean tablecloth with

your dirty paws."



They were white paws, and as clean as possible; but Cook never

thought of that, any more than she did of the fact that cats don't

usually drink cider or eat apple pudding.



"I'll teach you to come stealing food in this way; take that--

and that--and that!"



Cook got hold of a broom and beat poor Pussy till the creature ran

mewing away. She couldn't speak, you know--unfortunate cat!

and tell people that it was Brownie who had done it all.



Next night Cook thought she would make all safe and sure; so,

instead of letting the cat sleep by the fire, she shut her up in the

chilly coal cellar--locked the door, put the key in her pocket, and

went off to bed; leaving the supper as before.



When Brownie woke up and looked out of his hole, there was as

usual no supper for him, and the cellar was close shut. He peered

about, to try and find some cranny under the door to creep out at,

but there was none. And he felt so hungry that he could almost

have eaten the cat, who kept walking to and fro in a melancholy

manner--only she was alive, and he couldn't well eat her alive:--

besides he knew she was old, and had an idea she might be tough;

so he merely said, politely, "How do you do, Mrs. Pussy?" to

which she answered nothing--of course.



Something must be done, and luckily Brownies can do things

which nobody else can do. So he thought he would change himself

into a mouse, and gnaw a hole through the door. But then he suddenly

remembered the cat, who, though he had decided not to eat

her, might take this opportunity of eating him. So he thought it

advisable to wait till she was fast asleep, which did not happen for

a good while. At length, quite tired with walking about, Pussy

turned round on her tail six times, curled down in a corner, and fell

fast asleep.



Immediately Brownie changed himself into the smallest mouse

possible; and, taking care not to make the least noise, gnawed a hole

in the door, and squeezed himself through--immediately turning

into his proper shape again, for fear of accidents.



The kitchen fire was at its last glimmer; but it showed a better

supper than even last night, for the Cook had had friends with her,

a brother and two cousins, and they had been exceedingly merry.

The food they had left behind was enough for three Brownies at least,

but this one managed to eat it all up. Only once, in trying to cut

a great slice of beef, he let the carving knife and fork fall with

such a clatter, that Tiny the terrier, who was tied up at the foot of

the stairs, began to bark furiously. However, he brought her her

puppy, which had been left in a basket in a corner of the kitchen,

and so succeeded in quieting her.



After that he enjoyed himself amazingly, and made more marks

than ever on the white tablecloth--for he began jumping about

like a pea on a trencher, in order to make his particularly large

supper agree with him.



Then, in the absence of the cat, he teased the puppy for an hour

or two, till, hearing the clock strike five, he thought it as well to

turn into a mouse again, and creep back cautiously into his cellar.

He was only just in time, for Muff opened one eye, and was just

going to pounce upon him, when he changed himself back into a

Brownie. She was so startled that she bounded away, her tail growing

into twice its natural size, and her eyes gleaming like round

green globes. But Brownie only said, "Ha, ha, ho!" and walked

deliberately into his hole.



When Cook came downstairs and saw that the same thing had

happened again--that the supper was all eaten, and the tablecloth

blacker than ever with extraordinary footmarks, she was greatly

puzzled. Who could have done it all? Not the cat, who came mewing

out of the coal cellar the minute she unlocked the door. Possibly

a rat--but then would a rat have come within reach of Tiny?



"It must have been Tiny herself, or her puppy," which just came

rolling out of its basket over Cook's feet. "You little wretch! You

and your mother are the greatest nuisance imaginable. I'll punish

you!"



And quite forgetting that Tiny had been safely tied up all night,

and that her poor little puppy was so fat and helpless it could

scarcely stand on its legs--and so was unlikely to jump on chairs

and tables, she gave them both such a thrashing that they ran howling

together out of the kitchen door, where the kind little kitchen maid

took them up in her arms.



"You ought to have beaten the Brownie, if you could catch him,"

said she in a whisper. "He'll do it again and again, you'll see, for

he can't bear an untidy kitchen. You'd better do as poor old Cook

did, and clear the supper things away, and put the odds and ends

safe in the larder; also," she added mysteriously, "if I were you,

I'd put a bowl of milk behind the coal-cellar door."



"Nonsense!" answered the young Cook and flounced away. But

afterwards she thought better of it, and did as she was advised,

grumbling all the time, but doing it.



Next morning, the milk was gone! Perhaps Brownie had drunk

it up, anyhow nobody could say that he hadn't. As for the supper,

Cook having safely laid it on the shelves of the larder, nobody

touched it. And the tablecloth, which was wrapped up tidily and

put in the dresser drawer, came out as clean as ever, with not a

single black footmark upon it. No mischief being done, the cat

and the dog both escaped beating, and Brownie played no more

tricks with anybody--till the next time.