Chapter 11 11.big lady jumping around

At the foot of the ridge that leads from Solsborough to Chiddang, there lived a witch.Anthony knew she was a witch because Bertie Davis said so.One day he and Berti were lying in the sun on a boulder on a ridge, and for the first time noticed a small farmhouse near the foot of the mountain.At one end of the farmhouse stood a chimney as high as the walls and gables put together; from the boulder you could see only the back of the farmhouse, and a small bush grew from below to the A broken wall and a crumbling door there.A very tall tree grew on the hill, and the thick branches on the top bent down, just level with the skylight on the roof.A small wisp of cooking smoke swirled like a stray gray hair from the chimney.

"Who lives there, Berti?" Anthony asked.He wished he could occupy the farmhouse without anyone living in it.If there is no master there, what a place for him to play! "The jumping lady lives in it," Berti said, "and she's a witch." "Is it really a witch, Berti?" "Mom took me to her, and she cast a spell to remove the warts on my hands." "How did she get rid of them?" Anthony asked. "She took out something she had been chewing on and put it on my wart, and as I was about to leave, she whispered some mantras in my ear."

"What did she read?" "I don't know what she read, but it made my ears itch. After a month, my warts were gone." "What does she look like?" "It's just an old woman. If you want to see it, you can sneak a look at her in the back. She can be fierce and jump on you. She doesn't like people looking at her. But I looked at her." "Did she jump at you?" "She never sprang at me after she bewitched my warts. She'll come out and drive him out of a child she didn't do anything to. You can come down with me if you want to see it. "

While Anthony was thinking about it, a black and white magpie flew up from the top of the tree by the skylight.In fact, Anthony almost thought it was coming out of that window. "Is that her, Berti?" Anthony asked. "No, look how stupid you are," Berti laughed, "That's just her magpie." "Her magpie?" "I think so. That's a very naughty bird. Shall we go down and look at her?" Anthony decided not to look around that morning.He wanted to go, but he didn't want to.He longed to see what her crumbling house looked like on the other side.But the skylight on the roof was blinking at him in the sun, and it was probably the eyes of the hopping lady.That gray puff of smoke wafting from the top of the chimney was probably her hair.And the magpie, if it wasn't the Witch herself, might have been a mischievous child a long time ago, who went to look at her, and made her jump out and bewitch her into this way.Because if the witch could change the wart on Berti's hand by reciting a few spells lightly in Berti's ear, what else could she not change?

Anthony went home, still thinking about the witch.He wanted more and more to see the inside of the little farmhouse, and the more difficult it was, the more he wanted to see.Two or three times a week, without knowing it, he wandered by the boulder that looked down on the back door of the jumping lady.At one point he even set off and walked down the hill towards it.But before he got there, the magpie flew over his head and flew to the tree by the skylight in the roof.It saw him, and it was loudly reporting to her.Anthony ran away in a hurry. After a while, he tried again.This time the magpie did not appear.But suddenly the Witch herself came out of the rickety door.She was old and thin and stooped, and she wore a tattered dress with a black apron over her shoulders and a small black scarf that she had crocheted.She held some firewood in her hand.As soon as Anthony saw her, he was turned into a stone statue.Before he could move his limbs, he looked up and saw that it was broken, she had already seen him!She threw the firewood to the ground, raised her two skinny arms, and waved them towards him like two featherless wings.It was this odd movement that caused her black shawl to fall up and down over her shoulder blades and sent her thinning hair flying in all directions.She didn't say anything, just stood there waving Anthony away.The magic rose from his lower limbs, and he turned around and ran away desperately.He never wanted to look at the farmhouse again.

A few months after that event, Anthony fell ill.At first his mother took care of him by herself, giving him some usual medicines.During this period of time he was very irritable, and he was unwilling to recuperate properly in bed. Baba scolded him for not taking medicine properly, for refusing to apply a poultice properly, and told him that he could not be a disobedient child.Later, he no longer cared about recuperating in bed. In fact, he didn't pay attention to when the poultice was applied, when it was removed, and when the doctor came.Sometimes Anthony saw the doctor standing by the bed, and sometimes Baba or Lara sitting by the bed; his father came often, but his mother never seemed to leave the room.Anthony himself seemed to leave the room a lot, wandering around the house, but whenever he came back his mother was there smiling at him.Once when he came back suddenly, his mother didn't smile, but cried and cried, but she didn't make a sound.Then the room was full of people, his mother, his father, and Baba and the doctor, all walking around, and sometimes they got mixed up and faded away among the daisies on the wallpaper.Sometimes Anthony heard whispers in the room, but couldn't make out a word, and after a while the room was filled with chatter again.He wished the voice would stop, but they kept talking, talking, talking!The sound gave him a terrible headache, ah, why didn't they stop?He wants to sleep, but he just can't because of this chatter all the time.

When he raised his eyes to look, he saw the aunt jumping up and down sitting beside his bed.He saw her so clearly that he had never seen a person so clearly in many, many years.Her black eyes seemed to see through his whole body, but he was not afraid of them at all.Although the eyes weren't smiling at all, they seemed to see it all, which was always a comfort.She put one of her hands on his forehead, and leaning down, she whispered in his ear. "Now, boy, Anthony must go to bed," she whispered. "But I can't go to sleep, the chatter is so loud here." Anthony said irritably.

"Then stop talking." "Is it me talking?" "Of course it's you, you magpie. How's Anthony going to sleep if you're talking all the time? Come on, come on now!" She kept whispering, whispering in his ear until the magpie came out of Anthony's head to listen to her.It flew out, out of Anthony's ear, and landed on the shoulders of the bouncing aunt's crocheted shawl.Anthony looked at the bed, and saw a boy exactly like him lying on the bed very quietly. "Is he asleep?" asked Anthony, who had turned into a magpie. "I suppose so, and now he's got rid of you, you naughty bird. Come with me, and I'll put you somewhere where you can talk enough."

The jumping old lady went out of the house, down the path, and over the hill to her farmhouse.Anthony was finally able to see the farmhouse from the other side and peer in.What a surprise it was for him!It turned out that side of the house wasn't shabby at all.There were no bushes there, but in their place a little pretty flower-bed of brightly colored flowers grew under the two window frames on either side of the clean green door.The rooms inside have red brick floors, white walls, and gray oak beams, some of which are bent and some of which are straight.There were many flower pots on the windowsill, and a brightly colored rug in front of the fire.Bunches of dried herbs hang from the chimney walls.The fireplace was as deep as a small room, and a black pot hung from a hook on a pile of firewood.An indescribable smell emanated from the jar, a pleasant smell, and a stream of smoke rose up the long chimney.On the carpet sat a smoke-gray cat with golden eyes.

"I've brought you a playmate, Malkin," said the bouncing old lady, and she put Anshone on the rug.The gray cat walked slowly towards the magpie and soon became friends with Anthony.They played games all over the room, and the hopping lady tended to her jars. "What are you doing there?" asked the magpie. "Make something for Anthony." "Can I try it too?" "No, you can't, it's just for Anthony." "Then can I bring it to him?" "Sure No, Anthony is better off without you." "But am I not Anthony?" Magpie asked. "You are nothing but a naughty bird." The hopping aunt replied.

She quickly went out with her boil in a vial, leaving Malkin and the magpie to eat.They sat together at a small round table of black-painted oak.Malkin ate a plateful of butter, and Magpie a bowl of beans.When the hopping lady came back, the magpie asked, "How is Anthony?" "He's better off now that you've got rid of him," said the hopping lady. "Come, to your room." She took him up a winding staircase to her own little room on the roof. go.There was nothing there except a three-legged stool and a narrow bed with a patched quilt.The magpie recognized the patches as cloth torn from women's and children's blouses or aprons, and some were brightly colored handkerchiefs, all of which were used by the people of the village of Anshone.It also showed that one of the patches had been ripped from Berti's shirt. "What an interesting quilt!" said the magpie. "It takes all sorts of stuff to make a quilt like this," said the hopping lady, "and we'll have a piece of Anthony's before we're done." "When will we finish?" Magpie asked. "Whenever you go home, bring Anthony to me and it's over." "When will that be?" "It's not seven years yet," said the hopping lady. "Seven years is the time I keep a bird. Then you can go back. But you have to pay the bill before I let you go back." Me. This is your room." She opened the skylight on the roof, and the magpie saw a lovely green house, filled with sunlight and speckled shadows, the room's walls and ceiling were leaves, and there were twigs to squat on, and A nest can sleep in it.One side of the nest was leaning against a tree hole, and looking down, there was an empty tree trunk. The magpie saw a bunch of shining babies under the tree hole. "What are those?" it asked. "That's what you naughty birds catch me," said the hopping lady. "Thieves and collectors, that's what you are. That's why I like you. Wouldn't it be nice for a witch Don't pay the bill?" "Then you are a witch?" said Magpie. "I'm not a witch, who else can I be!" said the aunt who was jumping around proudly. The magpie lived in the tree by her skylight for seven years.Those seven years were a good time for him. He played with the cat, ate the ready-made food, flew under the moon and the sun, listened to the gossip in the village, and when the old lady was jumping around making medicine, he took these things. Tell her the words.She didn't know anything that happened for miles around.Sometimes the magpies saw children climbing down from the ridge and coming towards the back door of the jumping aunt, and saw the aunt jumping out and waving her arms at them, and they ran away. "They are all afraid of you, big lady who jumps around." Magpie laughed. "No, you little fools!" she said. "Well, that's no wonder," said the magpie, "you jumped at them so fiercely!" "Then they shouldn't come from behind!" said the hopping lady, "Everything has a right side and a wrong side." Every night the magpie asked, "How is Anthony?" Every night she answered, "It's much better." At the end of the seventh year, Magpie asked the question again, and she replied, "Anshone is all right. You can pay your bill and go home." "What am I going to pay you, jumping lady?" "You slipped into Anthony's ear and found a sharp pebble in his brain. It was that pebble that made trouble in his body. You have to break the casserole and ask the bottom of what you say, and I will I tell you, that stone has my name written on it. That's what I want you to pay me. But you must slip it into the ear very, very lightly, so as not to wake him." The magpie flew directly to Anthony's house.After seven years, it is very strange there.The bedroom window was open, and it flew in like a shadow, so softly that even Baba, who was sitting by the fire, didn't notice it.Anthony, who was lying quietly on the bed, didn't notice either.The magpie slipped into his ear, searched in his mind, and found the sharp pebble.There is a sentence written on it: "I am afraid of the aunt who jumps around." "It's this one!" said the magpie.When the magpie took it back, the witch said, "That's the one!" She took a needle and made a "no" on the stone.As soon as she finished, the pointy pebble turned into a rose-shaped sapphire. "This is very strange!" said the magpie. "It's not surprising at all," said the Witch. "Everything has two sides. You can leave it in the hollow tree and go home." "Baba," Anthony said, sitting up in bed, "how old am I now?" "God bless us!" cried Baba, running to kiss him. "Lie down, my darling." "How old am I, Baba?" "You don't even remember this? Your last birthday was seven years old." "How much is two sevens, Baba?" "That's fourteen, duckling. But don't bother with that. Turn around, and Baba will fetch you something nice to drink." When he finished his good drink, Anthony asked, "Has the jumping lady been here?" "Here it comes again!" said Baba. "I don't need to tell you, you have seen her. But, my little lamb, didn't she come that night seven days ago?" "Are you sure I'm not fourteen, Baba?" "I couldn't be more sure! But close your eyes now, this is my little lamb." When Anthony was able to get up again, his mother took him to see the jumping aunt.They entered the house from the other side, and there was a green door on this side of the house, and the hopping lady came out to meet them.She was beautiful in a new gray dress, with a flowered apron over it.They had tea with her, and she gave Anthony lots of cake and let him play with the gray cat with the golden eyes.Before they left, she asked Anthony's mother if she could ask her for one of Anthony's colored handkerchiefs to pin on her patched quilt.She said it was a hobby of hers.She took them upstairs to her room under the roof, and Anthony looked out the window at the green tree while his mother admired the patchwork quilt.He knew that somewhere in the root of this tree lay a rose-shaped sapphire with a shining sentence: "I'm not afraid of aunts who jump around."