Missing moomin
Sorry about that! Here’s Friday’s moomin, again we’re reading from Finn Family Moomintroll and this is taken from Chapter IV, “In which owing to the Hattifatteners’ night attack the Snork Maiden loses her hair, and in which the most remarkable discovery is made on Lonely Island.”
The Hattifatteners were all clinging to the barometer and had clambered up onto the Hemulen so as to reach it better; the smell of burning was very strong now.
Sniff woke up and began to whimper, and at the same time there was a piercing scream. A Hattifattener had trodden on the Hemulen’s nose.
In a moment everybody was awake and on their feet. Pandemonium broke loose. Hattifatteners were trodden on; Sniff got an electric shock; the Hemulen rushed about screaming with terror, and then entangled himself in the sail so that the whole tent collapsed on top of them. It was quite frightful.
Sniff maintained afterwards that it was at least an hour before they had found their way out of the sail. (Perhaps he exaggerated a bit.)
But by the time they had all sorted themselves out the Hattifatteners had disappeared into the wood with the barometer. And nobody had the least desire to follow them.
The Hemulen, moaning piteously, thrust his nose into the sand. “This has gone too far!” he said. “Why can’t a poor innocent botanist live his life in peace and quiet?”
“Life is not peaceful,” said Snufkin, contentedly.
