A Kid for Two Farthings Read Free

find one in the zoo, so it is in life.
    ‘At one time unicorns were common as carthorses: wherever you went in the streets you would see half a dozen. In those days no one was poor. You needed something, so, all right, you just reached out your hand and there it was: a glass of lemon tea, a new hat. Then, when people became poor, all the unicorns had their horns stolen and sold. You can imagine what that did to them. Could a lion live without his jaws, could a squirrel swing from the trees without his tail, could an elephant go on without a shower-bath, could I eat if I stopped making trousers? Of course not. So how could a unicorn live without his horn?
    ‘Ah, Joe, they died in their thousands, the lovely unicorns. They gathered together in dusty yards and at the bottom of those streets which lead nowhere. They nuzzled one another for comfort, and closed their eyes so as not to be reminded of what they had lost. Their fine white coats became spotted, their beautiful sleek muscles slipped away into twisted sinew. They pined, they shrank, they faded, they died, and their death was sad, for they had been eaten up by poverty, swallowed in the darkness of a pit with no bottom, so that no one ever saw them again.’ Mr Kandinsky sighed as he bent to throw his cold goose-iron on to the gas-ring. He looked at Joe with big eyes and sighed. ‘This was the pity of it, my Joe,’ he said. ‘The unicorns passed away, but poverty was still in the world, poverty and sickness. Strong men have wasted away, beautiful girls have grown ugly, children have been lost before they could yet walk, the unicorns are all gone and yet poverty is still here. Don’t ask me why. What do I know?’ He sighed again, then put his hand on Joe’s shoulder, pressing so as to feel the small fine bone. ‘Never mind,’ he said. ‘Sometimes, in spite of everything, a child grows well, a man goes from strength to strength, a woman’s face does not fade. In the same way some unicorns must have lived. They were the clever ones. They saw how things were going and didn’t waste time blaming men or cursing life, or threatening God, or any other foolishness. Instead they came forward and said to the rest, “Listen, friends. If we don’t do something soon there will be no unicorns left in the world."
    ‘“Be quiet,” some of them shouted. “Can’t you see we are too unhappy to do anything?”’
    ‘“Don’t be blasphemous,” others cried. “It’s the will of God.” ’
    ‘ “Don’t interrupt us when we are crying,” others said. “It is the only thing left for us to enjoy.” ’
    ‘But some gathered together to escape, some with hope in their hearts, some with doubt, a few with the spirit which does not care either for hope or doubt. These said, “Living means waste, but let who wants to live, live.” ’
    ‘One old unicorn who had been told about Africa when he was a baby had never forgotten. He told them, and to Africa they went that very night. In Africa they are today, although their terrible experiences made them careful about being seen by men, so that nowadays you don’t see them so often. But they are even bigger now, and stronger even, and so fierce they fight at the drop of a hat. Without doubt, Joe,’ said Mr Kandinsky, ‘without doubt, Shmule, you wrestler,’ he said, ‘there is absolutely no reason why there shouldn’t be unicorns in Africa.’
    ‘What do I know?’ asked Shmule.
    ‘Could you get a unicorn into the house?’ Joe asked.
    ‘A small unicorn,’ Mr Kandinsky said, ‘certainly. There is no reason why a small unicorn couldn’t be got into the house. Would you like another spoonful, Joe?’ He stirred the carrots in the saucepan on his gas-ring so that a great cloud arose.

2
    After Kandinsky the day-old chick died, Joe went to the animal market, because if you wanted a unicorn the best place in the world to look for it was Club Row.
    Joe had his own way of walking through the market. It made it much larger