The boat sailed on with stretched sails at a furious speed. Sometimes they saw a mermaid dance by on the crests of the waves, sometimes they glimpsed a whole flock of little sea-trolls. The thunder rumbled louder and the lightning ran criss-cross over the sky.

  'Now I'm sea-sick, too,' said the small creature, and then he was sick while Moominmamma held his head. The sun had set long ago, but in the gleam of the lightning they noticed a sea-troll that kept trying to keep abreast of the boat.

  'Hello there!' cried Moomintroll through the storm, to show that he was not afraid.

  'Hello, hello,' said the sea-troll. 'You look as though you might be a relation.'

  'That would be nice,' cried Moomintroll, politely. (But he thought it was probably a very distant relation, because Moomintrolls are a much species than sea-trolls.)

  'Jump into the boat,' Tulippa called to the sea-troll, 'otherwise you'll be left behind!'

  The sea-troll took a leap over the edge of the boat and shook the water off himself like a dog. 'Grand weather,' he said. 'Where are you bound for?'

  'Anywhere, as long as we can go ashore,' groaned the small creature, who was quite green in the face with sea-sickness.

  'In that case I had better take the helm for a bit,' said the sea-troll. 'If you keep to this course, you'll go straight out to sea.'

  And then he took over from the Hattifattener who sat at the helm, and made the boat alter course. It was strange how much easier it was now that they had the sea-troll with them. The boat danced along, and sometimes it made long leaps over the tops of the waves.

  The small creature began to look more cheerful, and Moomintroll shouted with delight. Only the Hattifatteners sat staring indifferently at the horizon. They did not care about anything except travelling on from one strange place to the other.

  'I know a fine harbour,' said the sea-troll. 'But the entrance is so narrow that only superior navigators like myself can manage it.' He laughed loudly and made the boat make a mighty leap over the waves.

  Then they saw land rising out of the sea under the forked lightning.

  Moominmamma thought it was a wild and dismal land. 'Is there anything to eat?' she asked.

  'There's anything you like,' said the sea-troll. 'Hold on, now, for we're going to sail right into the harbour now!'

  At that same moment the boat rushed into a black ravine where the storm howled between the enormously high faces of rock. The sea foamed white against the rocks and it looked as though the boat was plunging straight towards them. But it flew light as a bird into a large harbour where the transparent water was calm and green as in a lagoon.

  'Thank goodness,' said Moominmamma, for she had not really trusted the sea-troll. 'It certainly looks nice here.'

  'It depends on how you judge it,' said the sea-troll. 'I suppose I like it more when a storm is raging. I'd best be off out there again before the waves get smaller.' And then he somersaulted down into the sea, and was gone.

  When the Hattifatteners saw an unknown land before them, they livened up; some began to furl the slack sails and others put out the oars and rowed eagerly towards the flowering green shore. The boat put in at a meadow that was full of wild flowers, and Moomintroll jumped ashore with the mooring-rope.

  'Now bow and thank the Hattifatteners for the voyage,' said Moominmamma. And Moomintroll made a deep bow, and the small creature wagged his tail gratefully.

  'Thank you very much,' said Moominmamma and Tulippa, and they curtsied down to the ground. But when they all looked up again, the Hattifatteners had gone on their way.

  'I expect they made themselves invisible,' said the small creature. 'Funny folk.'

  Then all four of them went in among the flowers. The sun was rising now, and there was a glittering and gleaming in the dew. 'I should like to live here,' said Tulippa. 'These flowers are even more beautiful than my old tulip. Besides, my hair never really matched it properly.'

  'Look, a house made of real gold!' shouted the small creature suddenly, pointing. In the middle of the meadow stood a tower with the sun reflecting itself in its long row of windows. The top storey was made entirely of glass, and the sunlight gleamed in it like burning red gold.

  'I wonder who lives there,' said Moominmamma. 'Perhaps it's too early to wake them.'

  'But I'm so horribly hungry,' said Moomintroll.

  'Me too,' said the small creature and Tulippa, and then they all looked at Moominmamma.

  'Well - all right, then,' she said, and then she went up to the tower and knocked on the door. After a little while a hatch in the door opened and a boy with completely red hair looked out. 'Have you been shipwrecked?' he asked.

  'Almost,' said Moominmamma. 'But we're quite certainly hungry.'

  Then the boy opened the door wide and invited them to come in. And when he caught sight of Tulippa, he made a deep bow, for he had never seen such beautiful blue hair before. And Tulippa curtseyed just as deeply, for she thought his red hair was quite charming. Then they all followed him up the spiral staircase, all the way to the top storey made of glass, where they could see out over the sea in all directions. In the midst of the tower-room was a table on which there was an enormous, steaming sea-pudding.

  'Is it really for us?' asked Moominmamma.

  'Of course,' said the boy. 'I keep look-out here when there's a storm out at sea, and all who escape into my harbour are invited to sea-pudding. That's how it's always been.'

  Then they sat round the table and after a very short while the whole basin was empty. (The small creature, who sometimes did not have very good manners, took the bowl with him under the table and licked it completely clean.)

  'Thank you very, very much,' said Moominmamma. 'You must have invited a lot of people up here for sea-pudding, I should think.'

  'Oh yes,' said the boy. 'People from every corner of the world. Snufkins, Sea-ghosts, Little Creeps and Big Folk, Snorks and Hemulens. And the odd angler fish, too.'

  'I suppose you haven't seen any Moomins, by any chance?' asked Moominmmma, and she was so excited that her voice quivered.

  'Yes, one,' said the boy. 'That was after the cyclone last Monday.'

  'I wonder if that could have been Papa?' cried Moomintroll. 'Did he keep putting his tail in his pocket?'

  'Yes, he did, actually,' said the boy. 'I remember it quite particularly, because it looked so funny.'

  Then Moomintroll and his mother were so happy that they fell into each other's arms, and the small creature jumped up and down and cried 'hurrah'.

  'Where did he go?' asked Moominmamma. 'Did he say anything particular? Where is he? How was he?'

  'Fine,' said the boy. 'He took the road to the south.'

  'Then we must go after him at once,' said Moominmamma. 'Perhaps we'll catch up with him. Hurry, children. Where's my handbag?' And then she rushed down the spiral staircase so fast that they could scarcely follow her.

  'Wait!' cried the boy. 'Wait a bit!' He caught up with them in the doorway.

  'You must forgive us for not saying goodbye properly,' said Moominmamma, who was hopping with impatience. 'But you see...'

  'It's not that,' said the boy. 'Fair Tulippa, I suppose you wouldn't like to stay with me, would you?'

  'Oh yes,' replied Tulippa at once, and looked happy. 'All the time I was sitting up there, I was thinking how well my hair might shine for seafarers in your glass tower. And I'm very good at making sea-pudding.' But then she became a little anxious, and looked at Moominmamma. 'Of course I would terribly like to help you to look, as well...' she said.

  'Oh, we'll manage, I expect,' said Moominmamma. 'We'll send you both a letter and tell you what happened.'

  Then they all hugged one another goodbye and Moomintroll went on his way southwards with his mother and the small creature. All day they walked through the flowering landscape, which Moomintroll would have liked to explore on his own. But his mother was in a hurry and would not let him stop.

  'Have you ever seen such funny trees?' asked the small creature. 'They've got such terribly long trunks and then a little puff on top. I think it they look silly.'

  'It's you who's silly,' said Moominmamma, who was nervous. 'Actually, they're palm trees and they always look like that.'

  'By all means!' said the small creature, and was offended.

  It had become very hot late in the afternoon. Everywhere the plants drooped, and the sun shone down with a dismal red light. Even though Moomins are very fond of warmth, they felt quite limp and would have liked to rest under one of the large cactuses that grew everywhere. But Moominmamma would not stop until they had found some trace of Moomintroll's Papa.

  They continued on their way, even though it was already beginning to get dark, always straight southward.

  Suddenly the small creature stopped and listened. 'What's that pattering around us?' he asked.

  And now they could hear a whispering and a rustling among the leaves. 'It's only the rain,' said Moominmamma. 'All the same, we must crawl in under the cactuses.'

  All night it rained, and in the morning it was simply pouring down in bucketfuls. When they looked out, everything was grey and melancholy.

  'It's no good, we must go on,' said Moominmamma. 'But here is something for you which I've been saving until it was really needed.' And then she produced a large bar of chocolate from her handbag.

  She had taken it with her from the old gentleman's wonderful garden. She split it in two and gave them each a piece.

  'Aren't you going to have some?' asked Moomintroll.

  'No,' said his mother. 'I don't like chocolate.'

  Then they walked on in the pouring rain all that day and all the next day, too. All they found to eat were a few sopping wet yams and one or two figs. On the third day it rained even harder than ever and each little rivulet had become a foaming torrent. It became more and more difficult to make any progress, the water rose ceaselessly, and at last they had to climb up on to a small rock so as not to be snatched away by the current.

  There they sat, watching the rushing eddies come closer and closer to them, and feeling that they were catching cold. Floating around everywhere were furniture and houses and big trees that the flood had carried with it.

  'I think I want to go home!' said the small creature, but no one listened to him. The others had caught sight of something strange that was dancing and whirling towards them in the water.

  'They've been shipwrecked!' cried Moomintroll, who had sharp eyes. 'A whole family! Mamma, we must rescue them!'

  The thing that was lurching towards them was an upholstered armchair; sometimes it got caught in the tree-tops that stuck up out of the water, but was pulled free by the current and went drifting on. In the chair sat a wet cat with five equally wet kittens around her.

  'Poor mother!' cried Moominmamma, and she jumped out into the water all the way up to her waist.

  'Hold on to me, and I'll try to catch them with my tail!'

  Moomintroll took a steady hold of his mother, and the small creature was so excited that it did not manage to do anything at all. Now the armchair was eddying by; Moominmamma tied her tail lightning fast in a half-hitch round one of the armrests, and then she pulled. 'Heave-ho!' she cried.

  'Heave-ho!' cried Moomintroll.

  'Hey, hey!' squeaked the small creature. 'Don't let go!' Slowly the chair swayed in towards the rock, and then a helpful wave came and guided it up on to the land. The cat picked up her kittens by the scruff of their necks, one by one, and put them in a row to dry.

  'Thank you for your kind help,' she said. 'This is the worst scrape I've ever been in. By all the cats in hell!'

  And then she began to lick her children.

  'I think the weather's clearing up,' said the small creature, who wanted to make them think about something else. (He was embarrassed because he had not managed to help in the rescue.) And it was true - the clouds were moving apart and one shaft of sunlight flew straight down, and then another - and all of a sudden the sun was shining over the enormous, steaming surface of the water.

  'Hurrah!' cried Moomintroll. 'Now everything will be all right, you'll see!'

  A small breeze arose and chased the clouds away and shook the tree-tops that were heavy with rain.

  The agitated water calmed down, somewhere a bird began to chirp and the cat purred in the sunshine.

  'Now we can go on,' said Moominmamma, firmly.'We don't have time to wait until the water sinks away. Get up into the armchair, children, and then I'll push it out into the lake.'

  'I think I'll stay here,' said the cat, and yawned. 'One should never get involved in needless fuss. When the ground is dry I'll walk home again.' And her five kittens, who had recovered in the sunshine sat up and yawned, too.

  Then Moominmamma pushed the armchair out from the shore. 'Go carefully!' cried the small creature.

  He was sitting on the backrest and looking around, for it had occurred to him that they might find something valuable floating in the water after the flood. For example, a casket full of jewels. Why not?

  He kept a sharp watch, and when he suddenly saw something gleaming in the water, he shouted loudly with excitement. 'Go that way,' he cried. 'There's something shining over there!'

  'We haven't got time to fish up everything that's floating around,' said Moominmamma, but she paddled that way all the same, because she was a nice Mamma.

  'It's just an old bottle,' said the small creature, disappointed, when he had hauled it up with his tail. 'And no nice sweet drink in it either,' said Moomintroll.

  'But don't you see?' said his mother, seriously. 'It's something very interesting, it's a message in a bottle.

  There's a letter inside.' And then she took a corkscrew out of her handbag and uncorked the bottle. With trembling hands she spread out the letter on her knee and read aloud:

  'Dear finder, please do what you can to rescue me! My beautiful house has been swept away by the flood and now I am sitting hungry and cold in a tree while the water rises higher and higher.

  An unhappy Moomin.'

  'Lonely and hungry and cold,' said Moominmamma, and she cried. 'Oh, my poor dear Moomintroll, your father probably drowned long ago!'

  'Don't cry,' said Moomintroll. 'He may be sitting in a tree somewhere very close. After all, the water is subsiding as fast as can be.' And so it was.

  Here and there hillocks and fences and roofs were already sticking up above the surface of the water, and now the birds were singing at the tops of their voices.

  The armchair bobbed slowly along towards a hill where a lot of people were running about, pulling their belongings out of the water. 'Why, there's my armchair,' cried a big Hemulen who was gathering his dining-room furniture together on the shore. 'What do you think you're doing sailing around in my armchair?'

  'And a rotten boat it made, too!' said Moominmamma, crossly, and she stepped ashore. 'I wouldn't have it for anything in the world!'

  'Don't annoy him,' whispered the small creature. 'He may bite!'

  'Rubbish,' said Moominmamma. 'Come along now, children.' And on they walked along the shore, while the Hemulen examined the wet stuffing in his chair.

  'Look!' said Moomintroll, pointing to a marabou stork who was walking around, scolding to himself. 'I wonder what he's lost - he looks even angrier than the Hemulen.'

  'My dear impudent child,' said the marabou stork, for he had good ears. 'If you were nearly a hundred years old and had lost your spectacles, you wouldn't exactly look pleased, either.' And then he turned his back to them and continued his search.

  'Come along now,' said Moominmamma. 'We must look for your father.'

  She took Moomintroll and the small creature by the hand and hurried on. After a while they saw something gleaming in the grass where the water had subsided. 'I bet it's a diamond!' cried the small creature. But when they looked more closely, they saw that it was only a pair of spectacles.

  'Do you think they're the marabou stork's, mother?' asked Moomintroll.

  'Of course,' she said. 'I suppose you had better run back and give them to him. But hurry up, for your poor father is sitting somewhere hungry and wet and all alone.'

  Moomintroll ran as fast as he could on his short legs, and far away he saw the marabou stork poking about in the water. 'Hallo, hallo!' he cried. 'Here are your spectacles, Uncle Stork!'

  'Really?' said the marabou stork, very pleased. 'Perhaps you are not such an impossible little child after all.' And then he put on his spectacles and turned his head this way and that.

  'I'm afraid I must go at once,' said Moomintroll. 'You see, we're out looking too.'

  'Well, well, I see,' said the marabou stork in a friendly voice. 'What are you looking for?'

  'My father,' said Moomintroll. 'He's up a tree somewhere.'

  The marabou stork thought for a long time. Then he said firmly: 'You will never manage it alone. But I will help you, because you found my spectacles.'

  Then he picked up Moomintroll in his beak, very carefully, and put him on his back, flapped his wings a few times and sailed away over the shore.

  Moomintroll had never flown before, and he thought it was tremendous fun, and a little uncanny. He was also quite proud when the marabou stork landed beside his mother and the small creature.

  'I am most indebted to you for your inquiries, madam,' said the marabou stork, bowing to Moominmamma. 'If the family will climb on board we shall effect our departure at once. And then he lifted first her and then the small creature, who squeaked with excitement. 'Hold on tight,' said the marabou stork. 'We're going to fly out over the water now.'

  'I think this is the most wonderful thing we've been through so far,' said Moominmamma. 'Why, flying is not nearly as frightening as I thought. Now keep a good look out for Moominpappa in all directions!'

  The marabou stork flew in wide circles and came in low over each treetop. They saw a lot of people sitting amidst the branches, but none of them was who they were looking for. 'I shall have to rescue those creeps over there later on,' said the marabou stork, whom the rescue expedition had made positively cheerful. He flew to and fro above the water for a long time, the sun began to set, and everything seemed quite hopeless.

 

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