Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson Page A

bare skeleton of the wood.
    'What dreadful creatures!' exclaimed Snufkin, and the little procession trudged dejectedly on through the silent desolation that the grass-hoppers had made.
    'I'm thirsty!' wailed the Snork maiden. 'Aren't we nearly there yet? Snufkin, do play the Higgely-piggely song. It's just how I feel now.'
    'The mouth-organ is broken,' protested Snufkin. 'There are only a couple of notes that will play at all.'
    'Then let's have it with them,' said the Snork maiden, and Snufkin played:
    Higg - -, pig - -,
Path - - wigg - -,
- - - four.
Almost - -
On little - -;
- - - door.
    'I didn't think much of that,' said the Hemulen. And they plodded on, their feet more tired than ever.
    Meanwhile far off in Egypt a tornado had been born, and now it was flying on black wings across the desert, whistling ominously as it went, whirling up sticks and straws, and growing blacker and stronger every minute. It began sweeping trees away and lifting the roofs from the houses in its path. Then it threw itself across the sea and, climbing over the mountains, came at last to the place where the Valley of the Moomins lay.
    Sniff, who had long ears, heard it first. 'It must be another swarm of grass-hoppers,' he said.
    They all raised their noses and listened.
    'It's the storm this time,' said the Snork maiden. And she was right. It was the great storm the grass-hopper had warned them about.
    The heralds of the tornado came howling through the bare tree trunks. They tore off Moomintroll's medal and blew it right into the top of a fir tree, they bowled Sniff over four times and tried to take Snufkin's hat away from him. The Hemulen clutched his stamp album, cursing and

    muttering, and the whole lot of them were blown through the wood and out on to an open moor.
    'This ought to be arranged a little better,' shouted the Snork. 'A fine wind like this and nothing to sail with!'
    'Nothing to sail in either,' said Snufkin, 'which is more important.'
    They crept down under the roots of a tree to discuss things.
    'I made a glider when I was small,' said Moomintroll. 'It flew very well...'
    'A balloon wouldn't be such a bad idea,' said the Snork maiden. 'I had a sausage one once. Yellow.'
    Just then a baby tornado dived under the tree roots and took hold of the Hemulen's stamp album, whirling it high up in the air. With a howl of anguish he leapt to his feet and set off after his treasure. He staggered and fluttered, and the wind got under his wide skirt and carried him off over the heather. He flapped away like a great kite.
    The Snork looked thoughtfully after him and said: 'I think I've got an idea. Follow me all of you.'
    They found the Hemulen some distance away, sitting and moaning to himself quite overcome with despair.
    'Hemul,' said the Snork. 'This is all a terrible catastrophe, but will you be kind enough to lend us your dress for a short time. We want to make a balloon out of it.'
    'Oh! My stamp collection!' wailed the Hemulen.' My life's work, my magnificent collection! Rare, unique, irreplaceable! The best in the world!'

    'Listen, take off your dress for a minute will you?' said the Snork.
    'What?' said the Hemulen. 'Take off my dress ?'
    'Yes,' they all shouted. 'We want to make a balloon out of it.'
    The Hemulen went red with anger. 'Here I sit in distress,' he said, 'after a terrible accident caused only by your rotten old catastrophe. And now you want to take my dress!'
    'Listen,' said the Snork. 'We'll save your stamp album if you'll only do what we say. But hurry up! This is only the beginning of the tornado - like a gale warning. When the real thing comes it's safest to be up in the air.'
    'I don't care a straw about your tornado or your comet,' shouted the Hemulen who had worked himself up into a real rage. 'When it concerns my stamps...'
    But he got no farther, for they all threw themselves on top of him and in a twinkling they had pulled his dress over his head. It was a very large dress with a frill round the