The Dutch Twins Page 2

  II

  MARKET DAY WITH FATHER

  One afternoon Kit and Kat were playing around the kitchen doorstep,while their Mother sat on a bench by the door, peeling some onions forsupper. It was not yet supper-time, but Vrouw Vedder was always aheadof the clock with the work.

  Kit and Kat had a pan of water and were teaching their ducklings toswim. They each had one little fat duckling of their very own. Theducklings squawked when Kit lifted them over the edge of the pan intothe water.

  "Don't do that, Kit," said Kat. "The ducklings don't like it. Youdidn't like it when you fell into the water, did you?"

  "But I'm not a duck," said Kit.

  "Well, anyway, they're tired and want to go to their mother," said Kat."Let's do something else! I'll tell you what! Let's go out to thegarden and help Father get the boat loaded for market."

  "All right," said Kit. "May we, Mother?"

  "Yes," said Vrouw Vedder; "and you may ask Father if he will take youto market with him to-morrow if it's fair. Tell him I said you couldask."

  "Oh, goody, goody!" said Kit and Kat, both at once; and they ran asfast as their wooden shoes would take them out into the garden.

  They found their father cutting cabbages and gathering them into piles.He was stopping to light his pipe, when they reached him.

  "O Father!" said Kit and Kat both together. "May we go on the boat tomarket with you to-morrow morning? Mother said we might ask!"

  Father Vedder blew two puffs from his pipe without answering.

  "We'll help you load the boat," said Kit.

  "Yes," said Kat, "I can carry a cabbage."

  "I can carry two," said Kit. "We'll both be good," said Kat.

  "Very well," said Father, at last. "We'll see how you work! Andto-morrow morning, if it's fair, I'll see! But you must go to bed earlyto-night, because you'll have to get up very early in the morning, ifyou go with me! Now you each take a cabbage and run along."

  Father Vedder went back to his work.

  Kit and Kat ran to the cabbage-pile. Kat took one, and Kit tooktwo--just to show that he could.

  "When Father says 'I'll see,' he always means 'yes,'" Kat said to Kit.

  Perhaps it seems queer to you that they should go to market in a boat,but it didn't seem queer at all to the Twins.

  Your see, in Holland there are a great many canals. They cross thefields like roadways of water, and that is what they really are. Littlecanals open into big ones, and big ones go clear to the sea.

  It is very easy for farmers to load their vegetables for market righton a boat. They can pull the boat out into the big canal, and then awaythey go to sell their produce in the town.

  The canals flow through the towns, too, and make water streets, whereboats go up and down as carriages go here.

  The Twins and their father worked like beavers, washing the vegetablesand packing them in baskets, until their good old boat was filled withcabbages and onions and beets and carrots and all sorts of good thingsto eat.

  By that time it was nearly dark, and they were all three very hungry;so they went home.

  They found that Mother Vedder had made buttermilk porridge for supper.The Twins loved buttermilk porridge. They each ate three bowls of it,and then their mother put them to bed.

  This is a picture of the bed! It opened like a cupboard right into thekitchen, and it was like going to bed on a shelf in the pantry.

  The very next thing the Twins knew, it was morning, and there was VrouwVedder calling to them.

  "It's market day, and the sun is almost up. Come Kit and Kat, if youwant to go with Father," she said.

  The Twins bounced out like two rubber balls. They ate some breakfastand then ran to the boat.

  Father was there before them. He helped them into the boat and put themboth on one seat, and told them to sit still. Then he got in and tookthe pole and pushed off.

  Vrouw Vedder stood on the canal bank to see them pass.

  "Be good children; mind Father, and don't get lost," she called afterthem.

  Kit and Kat were very busy all the way to town, looking at the thingsto be seen on each side of the canal.

  It was so early in the morning that the grass was all shiny with dew.Black and white cows were eating the rich green grass, and a fewlaborers were already in the fields.

  They passed little groups of farm buildings, their red-tiled roofsshining in the morning sun; and the windmills threw long, long shadowsacross the fields.

  The blue blossoms of the flax nodded to them from the canal bank; andonce, they saw a stork fly over a mossy green roof, to her nest on thechimney, with a frog in her mouth.

  They went under bridges and by little canals that opened into the maincanal. They passed so close to some of the houses that Kit and Katcould see the white curtains blowing in the windows, and the pots ofred geraniums standing on the sill. In one house the family waved theirhands to Kit and Kat from the breakfast table, and a little farther onthey passed a woman who was washing clothes in the canal. Other boatsfilled with vegetables and flowers of all colors passed them. And theywere going to market too. Only no other boat had twins in it.

  "Good day, neighbor Vedder," one man called out. "Are you taking a pairof fat pigs to market?"

  By and by they came to the town. There were a great many boats in thecanal here, and people calling back and forth to each other from them.

  Kit and Kat saw a boat that the Captain's family lived in. It was likea floating house.

  The Twins thought it must be grand to live on a boat like that, justgoing about from town to town, seeing new sights every day.

  "We should never have to go to school at all," said Kit.

  They wished their own boat were big enough to move about in; but Fathertold them they must sit very, very still all the time.

  There were houses on each side of the canal, in the town, and peoplewere clattering along over the pavement in their wooden shoes.

  The market-place was an open square in the middle of the town. It hadlittle booths and stalls all about it. The farmers brought their freshvegetables and flowers, or whatever they had to sell, into thesestalls, and then sat there waiting for customers.

  Kit and Kat helped their father to unload the boat. Then they sat downon a box, and Father gave them each some bread and cheese to eat; forthey were hungry again. They put the cheese between slices of bread andtook bites, while they looked about.

  Soon there were a good many people in the square. Most of them werewomen with market baskets on their arms. They went to the differentstalls to see what they would buy for dinner.

  A large woman with a big basket on her arm came along to the stallwhere Kit and Kat were sitting.

  "Bless my heart!" she said. "Are you twins?"

  "Yes, Ma'am," said Kit and Kat. And Kat said, "We're five years old."

  "O my soul!" said the large woman. "So you are! What are your names?"

  "Christopher and Katrina, but they call us Kit and Kat for short." Itwas Kat who said this. And Kit said,

  "When we are four feet and a half high, we are going to be calledChristopher and Katrina."

  "Well, well, well!" said the large woman. "So you are! Now my name isVrouw Van der Kloot. Are you helping Father?"

  "Yes," said the Twins. "We're going to help him sell things."

  "Then you may sell me a cabbage and ten onions," said Vrouw Van derKloot.

  Father Vedder's eyes twinkled, and he lit his pipe. Kit got a cabbagefor the Vrouw.

  "You can get the ten onions," he said to Kat. You see, really Kitcouldn't count ten and be sure of it. So he asked Kat to do it.

  Kat wasn't afraid. She took out a little pile of onions in a measure,and said to Vrouw Van der Kloot,

  "Is that ten?"

  Then Vrouw Van der Kloot counted them with Kat, very carefully. Therewere eleven, and so she gave back one. Then she gave Kat the money forthe onions, and Kit the money for the cabbage.

  Father Vedder said, "Now Kit and Kat, by and by, when you g
et hungryagain, you can go over to Vrouw Van der Kloot's stall and buy somethingfrom her. She keeps the sweetie shop."

  "Oh! Oh!" cried Kit and Kat. "We're hungry yet! Can't we go now?"

  "No, not now," said Father. "We must do some work first."

  The Twins helped Father Vedder a long time. They learned to count tenand to do several other things. Then their father gave them the moneyfor the cabbage and the ten onions they had sold to Vrouw Van derKloot, and said,

  "You may walk around the market and look in all the stalls, and buy thething you like best that costs just two cents. Then come back here tome."

  Kit and Kat set forth on their travels, to see the world. They eachheld the money tightly shut in one hand, and with the other hand theyheld on to each other.

  "The world is very large," said Kit and Kat.

  They saw all sorts of strange things in the market. There were tablespiled high with flowers. There was a stall full of birds in cages,singing away with all their might. One cage had five little birds init, sitting in a row.

  "O Kit," cried Kat, "let's buy the birds!"

  They asked the woman if the birds cost two cents, and she said,

  "No, my angels; they cost fifty cents."

  You see, now that the Twins could count ten, they knew they couldn'tget the birds for two cents when they cost fifty. So they went to thenext place.

  There, there were chickens and ducks for sale. But the Twins had plentyof those at home. There were stalls and stalls of vegetables just likeFather's, and there were booths where meat and fish and wood and peatwere sold. But the Twins couldn't find anything they wanted that costexactly two cents.

  At last, what should they see but Vrouw Van der Kloot's fat facesmiling at them from a stall just full of cakes and cookies and bread,and chocolate, and honey cakes, and goodies of all kinds.

  The Twins held up their money.

  There on the counter was a whole row of St. Nicholas dolls with curranteyes, and they knew at once that there was nothing else in all themarket they should like so much!

  "Do these cost two cents apiece, dear Vrouw Van der Kloot?" asked Kat.

  "No," said Vrouw Van der Kloot; "they cost one cent apiece."

  The Twins were discouraged.

  "I don't believe there's a single thing in this whole market that costsjust two cents," said Kat.

  "Keep still!" said Kit. "Let me think."

  They sat down on the curb. Kat kept still, and Kit took hold of hishead with both hands and thought hard. He thought so hard that hescowled all over his forehead!

  "I tell you what it is, Kat," he said at last. "If those St. Nicholasdolls cost one cent apiece, I _think_ we could get two of them for twocents."

  "O Kit," said Kat, "how splendidly you can think! Does it hurt youmuch? Let's ask Vrouw Van der Kloot."

  They went back to the good Vrouw, who was selling some coffee bread toa woman with a basket.

  "O Vrouw Van der Kloot," said Kat, "Kit says that if those St. Nicholasdolls cost one cent apiece, he _thinks_ we could get two for two cents.Do you think so?"

  "Of course you can," said Vrouw Van der Kloot; and she winked at thelady with the bread.

  "But you've got two cents, and I've got two," said Kat to Kit. "If youshould get two Nicholas dolls, why, I should have my two cents left;shouldn't I? Oh! dear, it won't come out right anyway!"

  "Let me think some more," said Kit; and when he had thought some more,he said,

  "I'll tell you what let's! You get two with your two cents, and I'llget two with mine! And I'll give my other one to Mother and you cangive your other one to Father!"

  "That's just what we'll do," said Kat.

  They went back to Vrouw Van der Kloot.

  "We'll take _four_ dolls," said Kat.

  "Well, well, well!" said the Vrouw. "So you've figured it all out, haveyou?" And she counted out the dolls--"One for Kit, and one for Kat, andone for Father, and one for Mother, and an extra one for good measure!"

  "O Kit, she's given us one more!" said Kat. "Let's eat it right now!Thank you, dear Vrouw Van der Kloot."

  So they ate up the one more then and there, beginning with the feet.Kit bit one off, and Kat bit the other; and they took turns until theSt. Nicholas doll was all gone.

  Then they took the four others, said good-bye to the good Vrouw, andwent back to Father's stall. They found that Father had sold all histhings and was ready to go home.

  They carried their empty baskets back to the boat, and soon were ontheir way home. The Twins sat on one seat, holding tight to theirdolls, which were growing rather sticky.

  The boat was so light that they went home from market much more quicklythan they had come, and it did not seem long before they saw their ownhouse. There it was, with its mossy roof half hidden among the trees,and Vrouw Vedder waiting for them at the gate.

  Dinner was all ready, and the Twins set the four St. Nicholas dolls ina row, in the middle of the table.

  "There's one for Father, and one for Mother, and one for Kat, and onefor me," said Kit.

  "O Mother," said Kat, "Kit can think! He thought just how many dolls hecould buy when they were one for one cent! Isn't it fine that he can dothat?"

  "You've learned a great deal at the market," said Vrouw Vedder. But Kitdidn't say a word. He just looked proud and pleased and put his handsin his pockets.

  "By and by, when you are four and a half feet high and are calledChristopher, you can go with Father every time," said Vrouw Vedder.

  "I can think a little bit, too," said Kat. "Can't I go?"

  "No," said Vrouw Vedder. "Girls shouldn't think much. It isn't good forthem. Leave thinking to the men. You can stay at home and help me."