Wood Magic: A Fable
not meddle with politics. Still I cannot help thinking that if he had,
instead, of his royal bounty and benevolence, given the wood-pigeons an
increase of territory, seeing how near they sometimes came to a famine,
that they would have been disarmed and their discontent turned to
gratitude; but he ordered in his rage and terror that they should be
decimated, and let loose the whole army of his hawks upon them, so that
the slaughter was awful to behold, and the ground was strewn with their
torn and mangled bodies. Yet they remained faithful to Choo Hoo, and not
one traitor was found among these loyal barbarians.
"But Choo Hoo, deeply distressed in mind, said that he would relieve
them from the burden of his presence rather than thus be the cause of
their sorrow. He therefore left those provinces and flew out of the
country, leaving word behind him that he would never return till he had
seen the raven, and recovered from him those ancient prophecies that had
so long been lost. He flew away, and disappeared in the distance; the
days and weeks passed, but he did not return, and at last Kapchack,
relieved of his apprehensions, recalled his murderous troops, and the
pigeons were left in peace to lament their Choo Hoo.
"A twelvemonth passed, and still Choo Hoo did not come; the people said
he had been called to the happy Forest of the Heroes, and averred that
sometimes they heard his voice calling to them when no one was near.
There was no doubt that he had gone with the raven. The raven, you must
know, my dear Sir Bevis, was once the principal judge and arbiter of
justice amongst us, so much so that he was above kings, and it is
certain that had he been here we should not have had to submit to the
sanguinary tyranny of Kapchack, nor condemned to witness the scandalous
behaviour of his court, or the still greater scandal of his own private
life. But for some reason the raven mysteriously left this country about
a hundred years ago, leaving behind him certain prophecies, some of
which no doubt you have heard, especially that upon his return there
will be no more famine, nor frost, nor slaughter, nor conflict, but we
shall all live together in peace.
"However that may be, the raven has never come back; the learned hold
that he must have died long since, for he was so aged when he went away
no one knew his years, hinting in their disbelief that he went away to
die, and so surround his death with a halo of mystery; but the common
people are quite of a different opinion, and strenuously uphold the
belief that he will some day return. Well, as I told you, a twelvemonth
went by, and Choo Hoo did not come, when suddenly in the spring (when
Kapchack himself was much occupied in his palace, and most of his spies
were busy with their nests, and the matter had almost been forgotten)
Choo Hoo reappeared, bringing with him the most beautiful young bride
that was ever beheld, as he himself was, on the other hand, the
strongest and swiftest of the wood-pigeons.
"When this was known (and the news spread in a minute) the enthusiasm of
the barbarians knew no bounds. Notwithstanding it was nesting-time, they
collected in such vast numbers that the boughs cracked with their
weight; they unanimously proclaimed Choo Hoo emperor (for they disdained
the title of king as not sufficiently exalted), and declared their
intention, as soon as the nesting-time was over, and the proper
season--the autumn--for campaigning arrived, of following him, and
invading the kingdom of Kapchack.
"Choo Hoo told them that, after many months of wandering, he had at last
succeeded in finding the raven; at least he had not seen the raven
himself, but the raven had sent a special messenger, the hawfinch, to
tell him to be of good cheer, and to return to the wood-pigeons, and to
lead them forth against Kapchack, who tottered upon his throne; and that
he (the raven) would send the night-jar, or goat-sucker, with crooked
and evil counsels to confound Kapchack's wisdom. And indeed, Bevis, my
dear, I have myself seen several night-jars about here, and I am rather
inclined to think that there is some truth in this part at least of what
Choo Hoo says; for it is an old proverb, which I daresay you have heard,
that when the gods design the destruction of a monarch they first make
him mad, and what can be more mad than Kapchack's proposed marriage with
the jay, to which he was doubtless instigated by the night-jars, who,
like genii of the air, have been floating in the dusky summer twilight
round about his palace?
"And they have, I really believe, confounded his council and turned his
wisdom to folly; for Kapchack has been so cunning for so many, many
years, and all his family have been so cunning, and all his councillors,
that now I do believe (only I do not meddle with politics) that this
extreme cunning is too clever, and that they will overreach themselves.
However, we shall see what is said at the council by-and-by.
"Choo Hoo, having told the pigeons this, added that he had further been
instructed by the raven to give them a sacred and mystic pass-word and
rallying cry; he did not himself know what it meant; it was, however,
something very powerful, and by it they would be led to victory. So
saying, he called 'Koos-takke!' and at once the vast assembly seized the
signal and responded 'Koos-takke!' which mystic syllables are now their
war-cry, their call of defiance, and their welcome to their friends. You
may often hear them shouting these words in the depths of the woods;
Choo Hoo learnt them in the enchanted Forest of Savernake, where, as
every one knows, there are many mighty magicians, and where, perhaps,
the raven is still living in its deep recesses. Now this war-cry
supplied, as doubtless the raven had foreseen, the very link that was
wanting to bind the immense crowd of wood-pigeons together.
Thenceforward they had a common sign and pass-word, and were no longer
scattered.
"In the autumn Choo Hoo crossed the border with a vast horde, and
although Kapchack sent his generals, who inflicted enormous losses, such
as no other nation but the barbarians could have sustained, nothing
could stay the advance of such incredible numbers. After a whole autumn
and winter of severe and continued fighting, Choo Hoo, early in the next
year, found that he had advanced some ten (and in places fifteen) miles,
giving his people room to feed and move. He had really pushed much
farther than that, but he could not hold all the ground he had taken for
the following reason. In the spring, as the soft warm weather came, and
the sun began to shine, and the rain to fall, and the brook to sing more
sweetly, and the wind to breathe gently with delicious perfume, and the
green leaves to come forth, the barbarians began to feel the influence
of love.
"They could no longer endure to fly in the dense column, they no longer
obeyed the voice of their captain. They fell in love, and each marrying
set about to build a nest, free and unmolested in those trees that Choo
Hoo had promised them. Choo Hoo himself retired with his lovely bride to
the ancestral ash, and passed the summer in happy dalliance. With the
autumn the campaign recommenced, and with exactly the same result. After
a second autumn and winter of fighting, Choo Hoo had pushed his frontier
another fifteen miles farther into Kapchack's kingdom. Another summer of
love followed, and so it went on year after year, Choo Hoo's forces
meantime continually increasing in numbers, since there were now no
restrictions as to nest trees, but one and all could marry.
"Till at last he has under his sway a horde of trained warriors, whose
numbers defy calculation, and he has year by year pushed into Kapchack's
territory till now it seems as if he must utterly overwhelm and destroy
that monarch. This he would doubtless have achieved ere now, but there
is one difficulty which has considerably impeded his advance, as he came
farther and farther from his native province. This difficulty is water.
"For in the winter, when the Long Pond is frozen, and the brook nearly
covered with ice, and all the ponds and ditches likewise, so vast a
horde cannot find enough to satisfy their thirst, and must consequently
disperse. Were it not for this Choo Hoo must ere now have overwhelmed
us. As it is, Kapchack shivers in his claws, and we all dread the
approaching autumn, for Choo Hoo has now approached so near as to be at
our very doors. If he only knew one thing he would have no difficulty
in remaining here and utterly destroying us."
"What is that?" said Bevis.
"Will you promise faithfully not to tell any one?" said the squirrel,
"for my own existence depends upon this horde of barbarians being kept
at bay; for, you see, should they pass over they will devour everything
in the land, and there will certainly be a famine--the most dreadful
that has ever been seen."
"I will promise," said Bevis. "I promise you faithfully."
"Then I will tell you," went on the squirrel. "In this copse of mine
there is a spring of the clearest and sweetest water (you shall see it,
I will take you to it some day) which is a great secret, for it is so
hidden by ferns and fir-trees overhanging it, that no one knows anything
about it, except Kapchack, myself, the weasel, and the fox; I wish the
weasel did not know, for he is so gluttonous for blood, which makes him
thirsty, that he is continually dipping his murderous snout into the
delicious water.
"Now this spring, being so warm in the fern, and coming out of ground
which is, in a manner, warm too, of all the springs in this province
does not freeze, but always runs clear all the winter. If Choo Hoo only
knew it, don't you see, he could stay in Kapchack's country, no matter
how hard the frost, and his enormous army, whose main object is plunder,
would soon starve us altogether. But he does not know of it.
"He has sent several of his spies, the wood-cocks, to search the
country for such a spring, but although they are the most cunning of
birds at that trick, they have not yet succeeded in finding my spring
and thrusting their long bills into it. They dare not come openly, but
fly by night, for Kapchack's hawks are always hovering about; well
enough he knows the importance of this secret, and they would pay for
their temerity with their lives if they were seen. All I am afraid of is
lest the weasel or the fox, in their eagerness for empire, should betray
the secret to Choo Hoo.
"The fox, though full of duplicity, and not to be depended upon, is at
least brave and bold, and so far as I can judge his character would not,
for his own sake (hoping some day to regain the kingdom), let out this
secret. But of the weasel I am not so sure; he is so very wicked, and so
cunning, no one can tell what he may do. Thus it is that in the highest
of my beech trees I do not feel secure, but am in continual fear lest a
wood-cock should steal in, or the weasel play the traitor, for if so a
famine is imminent, and that is why I support, so far as I can without
meddling with politics, the throne of Kapchack, as the last barrier
against this terrible fate.
"Even now could he but be brought to reform his present life something
might be hoped for, for he has a powerful army; but, as you have seen,
this affair with the jay has caused ambitious ideas to spring up in the
minds of his chief courtiers, some of whom (especially, I think, the
crow and the weasel) are capable of destroying a country for their
private and personal advantage. Therefore it is that I look forward to
this council, now about to be held, with intense anxiety, for upon it
will depend our future, the throne of Kapchack, our existence or
destruction. And here comes the rook; the first as usual."
CHAPTER IX.
THE COUNCIL.