George MacDonald
At the Back of the North Wind (Musaicum Christmas Specials)
Christmas Specials Series
Published by
Books
- Advanced Digital Solutions & High-Quality eBook Formatting -
2020 OK Publishing
EAN 4064066385149
Table of Contents
CHAPTER IX. HOW DIAMOND GOT TO THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND
CHAPTER X. AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND
CHAPTER XI. HOW DIAMOND GOT HOME AGAIN
CHAPTER XII. WHO MET DIAMOND AT SANDWICH
CHAPTER XVI. DIAMOND MAKES A BEGINNING
CHAPTER XVIII. THE DRUNKEN CABMAN
CHAPTER XIX. DIAMOND'S FRIENDS
CHAPTER XX. DIAMOND LEARNS TO READ
CHAPTER XXII. MR. RAYMOND'S RIDDLE
CHAPTER XXIV. ANOTHER EARLY BIRD
CHAPTER XXVI. DIAMOND TAKES A FARE THE WRONG WAY RIGHT
CHAPTER XXVII. THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
CHAPTER XXVIII. LITTLE DAYLIGHT
CHAPTER XXXI. THE NORTH WIND DOTH BLOW
CHAPTER XXXII. DIAMOND AND RUBY
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE PROSPECT BRIGHTENS
CHAPTER XXXV. I MAKE DIAMOND'S ACQUAINTANCE
CHAPTER XXXVI. DIAMOND QUESTIONS NORTH WIND
CHAPTER XXXVIII. AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND
CHAPTER I.
THE HAY-LOFT
I HAVE been asked to tell you about the back of the north wind. An old Greek writer mentions a people who lived there, and were so comfortable that they could not bear it any longer, and drowned themselves. My story is not the same as his. I do not think Herodotus had got the right account of the place. I am going to tell you how it fared with a boy who went there.
He lived in a low room over a coach-house; and that was not by any means at the back of the north wind, as his mother very well knew. For one side of the room was built only of boards, and the boards were so old that you might run a penknife through into the north wind. And then let them settle between them which was the sharper! I know that when you pulled it out again the wind would be after it like a cat after a mouse, and you would know soon enough you were not at the back of the north wind. Still, this room was not very cold, except when the north wind blew stronger than usual: the room I have to do with now was always cold, except in summer, when the sun took the matter into his own hands. Indeed, I am not sure whether I ought to call it a room at all; for it was just a loft where they kept hay and straw and oats for the horses.
And when little Diamond—but stop: I must tell you that his father, who was a coachman, had named him after a favourite horse, and his mother had had no objection:—when little Diamond, then, lay there in bed, he could hear the horses under him munching away in the dark, or moving sleepily in their dreams. For Diamond's father had built him a bed in the loft with boards all round it, because they had so little room in