Kneeknock Rise by Natalie Babbitt Read Free Book Online Page A

my verses. I’ve been interested for years in this problem of kings and fools. Now here I am with a perfect example of the question and I really don’t know the answer.” He sat down on the ground beside Annabelle and stared off into the mist, rubbing his chin. “For me it’s always been important to find out the why of things. To try to be wise. But I can’t say it’s ever made me happier. As for those people down below, they’ve had their Megrimum for years and years. And I don’t know as I want to spoil it all for them. There’s always the possibility that they’re happier believing. Kind of a nice idea, this Megrimum.” He stood up and pulled his jacket close around his chest, breathing the mist deeply. “Yes, it’s kind of a nice idea in an odd kind of way,” he said. “Do as you like about it. If I knew what was best, I’d certainly tell you, but the fact is I don’t. Well, come along, Annabelle. Goodbye, Nephew. A pleasure to have seen you.”
    He started off and then he paused and stood thinking for a moment. At last he turned and came back. “I’ve just had another thought on the matter,” he said. “It came to me in rhyme. Thoughts often come to me that way—I don’t seem to be able to help it:
    The cat attacked a bit of string
    And dragged it by the head
    And tortured it beside the stove
    And left it there for dead .
    “Excuse me, sir,” I murmured when
    He passed me in the hall ,
    “But that was only string you had
    And not a mouse at all!”
    He didn’t even thank me when
    I told him he was wrong .
    It’s possible—just possible—
    He knew it all along .
    “Well, there it is, for what it’s worth. Goodbye.” Uncle Ott smiled and then, with Annabelle wagging at his side, he turned and vanished into the mist.

    When his uncle was gone, Egan went back again to the mouth of the cave and stood near the hot steam, listening to the gurgle of the spring and thinking. Then at last he said to himself, “Uncle Ott is pretty foolish after all. They don’t know about this cave. They couldn’t know and act the way they do. They’ll be glad when I tell them the truth.” He smiled. “I did slay the Megrimum, in a way. Or at least I’ll slay it now.” He picked up a good-sized rock that lay at the entrance to the cave and heaved it into the mist inside. There was a hollow, heavy clink and at once the gurgling stopped. Egan listened and then he grinned with elated surprise. “That’s a pretty good shot,” he crowed to himself. “That old rock will stop up the hole and there’ll be no more moaning from this Megrimum!”
    He realized all at once that he was wet to the skin and very hungry. He turned away from the cave and ran through the mist, emerging from its fringes into a cold, clear night. The moon was high and bright and below him the windows of Instep glowed snugly within the winking arc of the visitors’ campfires. He stood looking down, clutching himself with pleasure over the news he was bringing, the great and staggering news. “I’ll be famous,” he whispered breathlessly. “They’ll tell about what I did for years to come.” A twinge of qualifying honesty nudged him and he added, “Of course, Uncle Ott will be famous, too. He came up first. And Annabelle!” He shivered and remembered again that he was wet and hungry. “Egan and Ott and Ann -a-belle,” he sang under his breath as he bounded down the side of the Rise toward Instep. “Egan and Ott and Ann -a-belle; Annabelle, Egan, and—OOF!” For he had bumped unseeing right into the arms of Uncle Anson.
    “Egan! Egan, are you all right? Thank goodness I found you. Nephew—you didn’t go all the way to the top, did you? Where’s the dog?”
    “Uncle Anson! Listen, Uncle Anson, listen! I did go all the way to the top! And guess who I found! Your brother was up there. Uncle Ott. And listen, Uncle Anson—I went and looked. There’s nothing but a spring up there! A spring in a cave! There isn’t any Megrimum