in, spying. And suddenly I felt it was unbearable that I had no one to whom I could say “I’ve had such a dreadful dream,” or — or “Hide me from the dark.” I even covered my face for a minute. And then there came a little “Sweet! Sweet!” His cage was on the table, and the cloth had slipped so that a chink of light shone through. “Sweet! Sweet!” said the darling little fellow again, softly, as much as to say, “I’m here, Missus! I’m here!” That was so beautifully comforting that I nearly cried.
... And now he’s gone. I shall never have another bird, another pet of any kind. How could I? When I found him, lying on his back, with his eye dim and his claws wrung, when I realised that never again should I hear my darling sing, something seemed to die in me. My heart felt hollow, as if it was his cage. I shall get over it. Of course. I must. One can get over anything in time. And people always say I have a cheerful disposition. They are quite right. I thank my God I have.... All the same, without being morbid, and giving way to — to memories and so on, I must confess that there does seem to me something sad in life. It is hard to say what it is. I don’t mean the sorrow that we all know, like illness and poverty and death. No, it is something different. It is there, deep down, deep down, part of one, like one’s breathing. However hard I work and tire myself I have only to stop to know it is there, waiting. I often wonder if everybody feels the same. One can never know. But isn’t it extraordinary that under his sweet, joyful little singing it was just this — sadness? — Ah, what is it? — that I heard.
SOMETHING CHILDISH, AND OTHER STORIES
Something Childish but Very Natural
How Pearl Button was Kidnapped
A little bird was asked: Why are your songs so short?
He replied: I have many songs to sing, and I should like to singthem all.
—Anton Tchehov
To
H. M. Tomlinson
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
MOST of the stories and sketches in this collection were written in the years between the publication of Katherine Mansfield's first book, "In a German Pension," in 1911 and the publication of her second, "Bliss and other Stories," in 1920. There are a few exceptions. The first story, The Tiredness of Rosabel, was written in 1908 when Katherine Mansfield was nineteen years old, and the three stories following also were written before "In a German Pension" was published: while Sixpence and Poison were written after Bliss had appeared. Sixpence was excluded from "The Garden-Party and Other Stories" by Katherine Mansfield because she thought it "sentimental"; Poison was excluded because I thought it was not wholly successful. I have since changed my mind: it now seems to me a little masterpiece.
I have no doubt that Katherine Mansfield, were she still alive, would not have suffered some of these stories to appear. When she was urged to allow "In a German Pension" to be republished, she would always reply: "Not now; not yet—not until I have a body of work done and it can be seen in perspective. It is not true of me now: I am not like that any more. When the time for a collected edition comes—" she would end, laughing. The time has come.
The stories are arranged in chronological order.
SOMETHING CHILDISH BUT VERY NATURAL
WHETHER he had forgotten what it felt like, or his head had really grown bigger since the summer before, Henry could not decide. But his straw hat hurt him: it pinched his forehead
