HAMMY WENT OFF SOMEWHERE
One day towards
evening Hammy suddenly got very sad. He felt very sorry
for himself for some
reason. So sorry, he could almost cry. It happens
sometimes, doesn't it?
So Hammy got out of his hole and set off somewhere. He
walked along, not knowing where he was going.
In a field he met his friend Goph.
Where're you going, Hammy?"
"Somewhere," replied Hammy and walked on.
"It's probably a long way" said Goph anxiously.
"It'll soon get dark. Don't go."
Hammy took no notice of him.
In a grove he met Fatty Hare.
"Where're you going?" he asked. "Following
your nose?"
"No," replied Hammy. "Only
somewhere."
"Just as it's getting dark," said Hare
disapprovingly. "Go home. You can set off in the
morning."
But Hammy took no notice of him either.
Near the stream he met Old Man Hedgehog.
Where might you be going, Hammy?" he asked,
anxiously.
Somewhere," replied Hammy.
"Do you know the way alright?" Old Man Hedgehog
was worried about Hammy.
"No, I don't know it at all," said Hammy.
"Then where are you going? At nightfall. Go
home!"
"I've decided to go somewhere, and I'm going!"
Just everyone stopped him, felt sorry for him and wished
him well: preening Kingfisher, hard-working Woodpecker,
worried Badger and even short-sighted Granny Fox. She was
sorry to see plump little Hammy leaving these parts.
On the way Snipe invited him to drop in and praised his
marsh.
"You won't want to go any further!"
But Hammy plodded on and on—somewhere. Perhaps to a
dense, endless forest. Perhaps somewhere else.
It began to get dark.. Hammy walked past a barn on the
edge of a village. Speckled Hen saw him.
"Tut-tut, where you going? Tut-tut," she
clucked.
Hammy stopped and began to have second thoughts.
"Perhaps I really should go home?" he wondered.
"No one's told me to go anywhere. So why should I?
Say I leave in the morning and make up for lost time.
eh?"
"Shall I go on or not?" Hammy shouted into the
darkness.
Corncrake called back from the river meadow:
"Bed-time, bed-time!"
Hammy turned round. He went back to his hole and straight
to bed. And next morning he didn't go anywhere at all.
HOW HAMMY AND GOPH LOOKED INTO THE WATER
