, and rubbed
the skin nice and smooth. Then he went to fetch the herbs to stuff it
with. In the store-room he noticed a half-opened cupboard which he did
not remember having seen before. He peeped in and saw a lot of baskets
from which came a strong and pleasant smell. He opened one and found a
very uncommon herb in it. The stems and leaves were a bluish green, and
above them was a little flower of a deep bright red, edged with yellow.
He gazed at the flower, smelt it, and found it gave the same strong
strange perfume which came from the soup the old woman had made him. But
the smell was so sharp that he began to sneeze again and again, and at
last--he woke up!

There he lay on the old woman's sofa and stared about him in surprise.
'Well, what odd dreams one does have to be sure!' he said to himself.
'Why, I could have sworn I had been a squirrel, a companion of guinea
pigs and such creatures, and had become a great cook, too. How mother
will laugh when I tell her! But won't she scold me, though, for sleeping
away here in a strange house, instead of helping her at market!'

He jumped up and prepared to go: all his limbs still seemed quite stiff
with his long sleep, especially his neck, for he could not move his head
easily, and he laughed at his own stupidity at being still so drowsy
that he kept knocking his nose against the wall or cupboards. The
squirrels and guinea pigs ran whimpering after him, as though they would
like to go too, and he begged them to come when he reached the door, but
they all turned and ran quickly back into the house again.

The part of the town was out of the way, and Jem did not know the many
narrow streets in it and was puzzled by their windings and by the crowd
of people, who seemed excited about some show. From what he heard, he
fancied they were going to see a dwarf, for he heard them call out:
'Just look at the ugly dwarf!' 'What a long nose he has, and see how his
head is stuck in between his shoulders, and only look at his ugly brown
hands!' If he had not been in such a hurry to get back to his mother, he
would have gone too, for he loved shows with giants and dwarfs and the
like.

He was quite puzzled when he reached the market-place. There sat his
mother, with a good deal of fruit still in her baskets, so he felt he
could not have slept so very long, but it struck him that she was sad,
for she did not call to the passers-by, but sat with her head resting on
her hand, and as he ca