Painting by Shawn Mc Lean

The quilt cover

The kind old man slept in a big bed, under a quilt with a flower-patterned cover. He lived alone in a little red hut, deep inside the woods and hadn't seen a living person since his wife died - and that was many years ago.

At night he dreamt that he was visited by a lady: "Yes, oh yes," he shouted stretching his arms out in the air. "Come to me, and be my companion." But when he woke he sighed heavily, because his arms were as empty as before.

Nobody can find me out here, he thought and got out of bed. I have no telephone and the postman never comes. I don't have a flagpole either. He made his big bed while he gazed out of the open window. A light autumn breeze blew by. Some of it blew in to the bedroom and made the quilt cover flapped. That gave him an idea.

I may not have a flag, and no flagpole. But I do have my quilt cover and a whole wood to pick from. ""Hurrah," the old man shouted and pulled the quilt out of the cover. "You will be my flag and bring me a lady," he said and kissed the quilt cover while he went out of the house with a coil of rope under his arm.

He chose the highest spruce, threw the rope over a branch, fastened it to the quilt cover and ran it to the top. The wind filled the cover and made it wave against the blue sky. The old man smiled and rubbed his hands. I'll tidy up the house now, and make some coffee for my new friend, he thought and went in.

In the meantime the flower-patterned quilt cover was looking for a lady. But the quilt cover couldn't see anything but trees and more trees. The old man sat outside his house waiting all evening. He looked really sad when he drank the last cup of coffee. No woman will ever come to me, he thought while throwing the coffee grounds in the flowerbeds. I'll probably be alone for the rest of my life.

He was so disappointed that he didn't bother to pull down his quilt cover. It hung in the top of the tree while the darkness flooded the woods. Poor old man, it thought. And poor me that has to hang here all night.

That night it started to blow violently. The wind pulled the quilt cover until it loosened. Filled with wind the cover flew over the dark woods. This is the end then, the cover thought. I'll be caught in a tree and rot.
But that's not what happened.

By the morning, when the shops opened, the quilt cover flew in over small-town. It caught sight of an old woman with a shopping caddy and landed on her. The old woman got the quilt cover over her head and fought with it to get it off. "Where did this come from?" she said irritably and threw it away. She had a quick glance around to see if anybody had noticed her fighting with a quilt cover. Then she hurried on.

But the quilt cover did not give in. I've found a lady, I've found a lady, it thought happily and sneaked into her bag without her noticing. The lady went into a butcher's shop to buy chops. When she went to pay, she opened her bag and saw the quilt cover. She pulled it out and dropped it on the floor, hoping the butcher didn't notice. But he did.

"Madam, madam, you've lost your quilt cover," he shouted when she turned to go. "It is certainly not mine," the lady replied and went out of the door. But the butcher stopped here. "I saw it fall out of your bag," he said and smiled.

The lady took the quilt cover reluctantly, rounded the corner of the house and dropped it again. Then she ran as fast as she could to get away. But the quilt cover followed her to the marketplace.

She bought carrots and opened the lid of her shopping caddy. When the lady caught sight of the quilt cover lying on the bottom of the caddy she started to scream: "You are following me, dirty little quilt cover," she said and threw it on the ground. She was so angry that she jumped on it. "If you continue to follow me I'll cut you up in pieces."

This made the people in the marketplace start laughing. They had to hold on to each other, pointing at the old lady shaking with mirth. The lady became so embarrassed that she started to cry and ran away from her bag and shopping caddy and everything.

That's just the kind of lady my old man in the woods wants the quilt cover thought and brushed away the dirt. It picked up the lady's bag and pushed the shopping caddy to follow her again. But this time it kept good distance while it followed her to the little red hut in the forest where the old lady lived

It sat down outside her door, watching her through the keyhole. She was washing her floors, and noticed that someone was watching her. Carefully she opened the door and looked out. She couldn't see anything, but when she saw the quilt cover lying on her doorstep she leapt into the air, slipped on the wet floor and hurt herself. "Au, au," she moaned. "I can't move." The quilt cover forced itself underneath her. The old lady waved her arms. "No, please no, don't harm me, don't kill me."

While she was crying the quilt cover lifted her of the ground. "Help. What are you doing?" she gasped, but she had too much pain to resist. She lay still while the quilt cover flew her up in the air and over the woods.

The old man sat outside his house mumbling over his dear quilt cover that had blown away during the night. "Oh, bother," he said again and again while stamping his feet on the ground. That way he didn't see the quilt cover coming flying over the treetops and landing on the terrace in front of him. He didn't notice until the woman whimpered: "Please, please don't hurt me, please."

The old man stared at the woman lying on his quilt cover. He was so bewildered that he couldn't get up, until the old lady rose on her elbow and said: "All though I asked you not to hurt me, I wouldn't say no to some help." The old man reacted, got to his feet and helped the old lady down on his couch. "I can tell you this much," the lady said. "That your quilt cover is the most pushing I've ever met."

"Oh," the man said. "Has it behaved badly?" The lady smiled and shook her head. "Badly? It attacked me, sneaked after me, frightened me so that I hurt myself and finally kidnapped me." When the man heard that he picked up a pair of scissors. "No, no, don't do that," the lady shouted. The man dropped the scissors and watched her. She smiled at him. "Why don't you put the quilt back into the cover and lie it over me here while I recover."

The lady recovered quickly, and the two old people became the best of friends before the day was over. Now they lie in the bed sleeping with the big quilt and flower patterned cover over them.

© Martin Nygaard