Tove Jansson - Tales from Moominvalley

Snufkin mumbled something and pulled his hat over his eyes. Someone flew across the brook on long pointed wings and gave a long, sad cry among the trees: Yo-yooo, yo-ooo, tee-woo

You cant ever be really free if you admire somebody too much, Snufkin suddenly said, I know.

I know you know everything, the little creep prattled on, edging closer still. I know youve seen everything. Youre right in everything you say, and Ill always try to become as free as you are So now youre on your way to Moominvalley to have a rest and meet your friends The hedgehog told me that Moomintroll started waiting for you as soon as he wakes from winter sleep Isnt it a nice thing to know that someones longing for you and waiting and waiting to see you again?

Im coming when it suits me, Snufkin cried violently. Perhaps I shant come at all. Perhaps I will go somewhere else.

Oh. Then hell be sad, said the creep.

Its fur was beginning to dry and becoming light brown and soft. It picked at the knapsack once again and asked cautiously:

Would you perhaps You who have travelled so much?

No, Snufkin said. And he thought angrily: Why cant they ever let my wanderings alone?! Cant they understand that Ill talk it all to pieces if I have to tell about it. Then its gone, and when I try to remember what it really was like, I remember only my own story.

There was a long silence, and the night bird cried again.

The creep arose and said in a small voice:

Well, I must be off, I think. Cheerio.

Cheerio, Snufkin said, fidgeting a little. Listen. Er. That name you asked for. What about Teety-woo, for instance. Teety-woo, dont you see, a light beginning, sort of, and a little sadness to round it off.

The little creep stared at him with yellow eyes in the firelight. It thought its name over, tasted it, listened to it, crawled inside it, and finally turned its snout to the sky and softly howled its new name, so sadly and ecstatically that Snufkin felt a shiver along his back.

Then a brown tail disappeared in the brambles, and all was silent.

Golly, Snufkin said and kicked at an ember. He rapped out his pipe. Then he rose and shouted: Hullo. Come back.

But the wood was silent. Oh, well, Snufkin thought.

You cant always be friendly. Its impossible, there isnt the time. And at least this creep has got a name.

He sat down again and listened to the brook and the silence, and waited for his tune to come back. But it didnt come. He knew at once that it had moved too far away to be caught. Perhaps hed never catch it. The only thing he seemed to hear was the eager and shy voice of the creep, talking and talking and talking.

Why dont they keep at home with their mothers, Snufkin said crossly and threw himself on his back on to the fir twigs. After a while he sat up and shouted once more. He listened for a long time, then he pulled his hat over his snout and went to sleep.

*

The next morning Snufkin continued his march. He was tired and cross and trudged northwards without looking right or left. And not even the faintest beginning of a tune moved under his hat.

He simply could not think of anything but the creep. He remembered every single word it had said and every word he had said himself, and he chewed them over and over until he felt sick and had to sit down and rest.

Whats come over me, Snufkin thought, angry and bewildered. Ive never felt like this before. I must be ill.

He rose and continued his way, and it started all over again, everything the creep had told him and all he had said in reply.

Finally he had to stop. In the afternoon he turned about and started back.

After a while he felt better. He went faster and faster, he bubbled as he ran. Little tunes flitted about his ears but he hadnt the time to catch them. Towards evening he was back in the birch wood and started to call.

Teety-woo! he cried. Teety-woo! And the night birds awoke and answered him, tee-woo, tee-woo, but he heard nothing from the creep.

Snufkin walked back and forth, looking and calling and listening, until dusk had fallen. The new moon rose in a clearing, and Snufkin stood looking at it and feeling quite at a loss.

I ought to make a wish, he thought. Its a new moon.

He was about to wish for the usual thing: a new tune, or, as he sometimes did: a new road. But now he hastily corrected himself and said aloud: To find Teety-woo.

Then he turned around three times and crossed the clearing, went into the wood and up a hill. Something rustled in the bushes, something light brown and furry.

Teety-woo! Snufkin called softly. Ive come back for a chat.

Oh. Hello, Teety-woo replied and stuck out his head from the bushes. Thats splendid, because Ive got something to show you. Look! A name plate! With my own name on it, to hang on my door when I get a house of my own.

The creep showed him a piece of bark with an owners mark on it, and continued importantly:

Neat, isnt it? Everybody thinks so.

Very! Snufkin said. So youll have a house of your own?

Indeed! the creep said excitedly, Ive moved away from home and begun living! Its so exciting! You see, before I had a name I just used to hop around, and perhaps feel this or that about this or that, and everything was simply happening around me, sometimes nice things and sometimes not nice, but nothing was real, dont you see?

Snufkin started to reply, but the creep continued: Now Im a person, and everything that happens means something. Because it doesnt only happen, it happens

to me, Teety-woo. And Teety-woo may think this or think that about it, as the case may be if you see what I mean?

Certainly, I see, said Snufkin. Thats good for you.

Teety-woo nodded and started to rummage in the bushes.

Know what, Snufkin said, Im on my way to Moomintroll still. As a matter of fact I really want to see him.

Oh? said Teety-woo, Moomintroll? Yes.

Perhaps youd like to hear some tunes before I have to start, Snufkin continued, Or maybe a few stories?

The creep stuck out its head and said:

Stories? Oh, yes. Later tonight, perhaps. Just at the moment Im in quite a hurry Im sure you dont mind

The light brown tail vanished in the heather, and after a while Teety-woos ears came to view a bit further away, and he called out:

Cheerio, and give my greetings to Moomintroll! Ill have to live as fast as I can, because Ive lost a lot of time already!

Then he was gone.

Snufkin scratched his head.

So, he said to himself. Yes. I see.

He stretched out on his back and looked up into the spring sky. It was a clear dark blue straight above him and sea green over the tree tops. Somewhere under his hat the tune began to move, one part expectation, and two parts spring sadness, and for the rest just a colossal delight at being alone.

O NE calm and cloudless evening, towards the end of April, Snufkin found himself far enough to the north to see still unmelted patches of snow on the northern slopes.

He had been walking all day through undisturbed landscapes, listening to the cries of the birds also on their way northwards, home from the South.