Merrimeg went on up the hill, and pretty soon she called out again:
“Why couldn’t I catch the bird with my salt?”
“Too slow!” came back the voice from the top of the hill.
Merrimeg couldn’t understand this at all. She listened for a minute, and then she heard another voice up above her:
[Illustration: “OXTRAGOB BORGS, GOOBLIK!”]
This was Little Hark’s father, and when he said “Oxtragob borgs, gooblik!” he meant, in the private language of the Echo Dwarfs, “Wrong again, stupid!”
Big Hark and Little Hark were standing in front of their cave, and Big Hark was letting Little Hark practice at making echoes, as Merrimeg came up the hill. Not many people came that way, and Big Hark was glad of the chance to give his little boy a lesson.
Merrimeg came on further and further up the hill, and after a while she stopped and called out again:
This made her quite angry. She did not like to be mocked every time she opened her mouth. She cried out:
This made her very angry indeed. Without saying anything more she clambered on up the hill and stopped all out of breath on a little ledge before the mouth of a cave. There a little further on along the path was standing Little Hark himself, with his hands up to his mouth, all ready to shout back an echo. His father had gone inside the cave.
Little Hark was very small indeed, and Merrimeg looked quite like a giant beside him. She ran to him and stood over him and shook her finger at him and said:
“What do you mean by mocking me all the time?”
“All the time?” said Little Hark, looking very much frightened.
“Yes, all the time!” said Merrimeg. “What do you mean by it?”
“Mean by it?” said the little Echo Dwarf.
“Don’t you dare repeat everything I say to you!” cried Merrimeg. “You naughty thing, you’re mocking me!”
“You’re mocking me!” said Little Hark, beginning to cry.
“Why, you awful little thing, I’m not!” cried Merrimeg. “How dare you say such a thing? How dare you?”
[Illustration: “HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING? HOW DARE YOU?”]
“How dare you?” said Little Hark, crying harder.
This made Merrimeg very angry, so angry that she could not say another word. She seized hold of Little Hark’s arm and shook him. There she was shaking him, pretty hard too, and Little Hark was bawling out loud, when Big Hark, his father, came out of the cave and hurried towards them to see what was the matter.