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'Ha aside as a cluster of punching, kicking Feegles rolled past 'Aye, and he'll coer,' shouted Rob over the din 'Can ile hurtled over his head The others looked at him 'Swim it? How can im there fra' here, yer daftie?' said Rob Anybody 'It's just worth consid'ring, that's all,' said Wullie, looking hurt 'I wuz just tryin' to make a contribution, ye ken? Just wanted to shoillin''

'The big wee hag left in a cart,' said Big Yan 'Aye, so what?' said Rob

'Weel, mebbe we could?'

'Ach, no!' said Rob 'Showin' oursels tae hags is one thing, but not to other folks! You reot spotted by that lady uz painting the pretty pictures doon in the valley? I dinnae want to have theain!'

'I have an idea, Mister Rob It's uise oursels' Awf'ly Wee Billy Bigchin Mac Feegle always announced himself in full He seemed to feel that if he didn't tell people who he was, they'd forget about hirown pictsies you're really short; round He was the new gonnagle A gonnagle is the clan's bard and battle poet, but they don't spend all their lives in the same clan In fact, they're a sort of clan all by the sure the songs and stories get spread around all the Feegles Awf'ly Wee Billy had co Lake clan, which often happens He was very young for a gonnagle, but as Jeannie had said, there was no age liled And Awf'ly Wee Billy knew all the songs and could play the mousepipes so sadly that outside it would start to rain 'Aye, lad?' said Rob Anybody kindly 'Speak up, then'

'Can we get hold o' some human clothes?' said Awf'ly Wee Billy 'Because there's an old story about the big feud between the Three Peaks clan and the Windy River clan and the Windy River boys escaped by ht it was a bigjob and kept oot o' its way' The others looked puzzled, and Awf'ly Wee Billy remembered that they were le 'A scarecrow?' he said 'It's like a bigjob hten away the birdies fra' the crops? Now, the song says the Windy River's kelda used ic to th' He sang about it They listened He explained how to make a human that would walk They looked at one another It was a erous and risky and would require treth and bravery to reed to it instantly Tiffany found that there was h There hat Miss Level called 'filling what's e what's full' Usually only one of Miss Level's bodies went out at a tiht Miss Level ins, and she made sure they continued to do so, but she found it a little bit safer all round to keep the bodies apart Tiffany could see why You only had to watch both of Miss Level when she was eating The bodies would pass plates to one another without saying a word, sometimes they'd eat off one another's forks, and it was rather strange to see one person burp and the other one say 'Oops, pardonwhat's full' es and the isolated fares to change or expectant mothers to talk to Witches did a lot ofwhat's full', but Miss Level, wearing her pointy hat, had only to turn up at a cottage for other people to suddenly co, by sheer accident And there was an awful lot of gossip and tea-drinking Miss Level h Tiffany noticed that she picked up a lot more than she passed on It seemed to be a world made up entirely of women, but occasionally, out in the lanes, a man would strike up a conversation about the weather and soet handed over Tiffany couldn't quite work out how Miss Level got paid Certainly the basket she carried filled up e and a wo out with a fresh-baked loaf or a jar of pickles, even though Miss Level hadn't stopped there But they'd spend an hour so of a faret a cup of tea and a stale biscuit It didn't seem fair 'Oh, it evens out,' said Miss Level, as they walked on through the woods 'You do what you can People give what they can, when they can Old Slapwick there, with the leg, he's ascut of beef on my doorstep before the week's end, you can bet on it His ill see to it And pretty soon people will be killing their pigs for the winter, and I'll getup than a family could eat in a year'

'You do? What do you do with all that food?'

'Store it,' said Miss Level 'But you-'

'I store it in other people It's ahed at Tiffany's expression 'I mean, I take what I don't need round to those who don't have a pig, or who're going through a bad patch, or who don't have anyone to remember them'

'But that ht! And so it just keeps on going round It all works out'

'I bet some people are too mean to pay-'

'Not pay,' said Miss Level, severely 'A witch never expects payment and never asks for it and just hopes she never needs to But, sadly, you are right' y And then what happens?'

'What do youtheenuinely shocked 'You can't not help people just because they're stupid or forgetful or unpleasant Everyone's poor round here If I don't help therandmother said someone has to speak up for them as has no voices,' Tiffany volunteered after a moment 'Was she a witch?' I'm not sure,' said Tiffany 'I think so, but she didn't know she was Shehut up on the downs'

'She wasn't a cackler, was she?' said Miss Level, and when she saw Tiffany's expression she said hurriedly, 'Sorry, sorry But it can happen, when you're a witch who doesn't know it You're like a ship with no rudder But obviously she wasn't like that, I can tell'

'She lived on the hills and talked to them and she knew more about sheep than anybody!' said Tiffany hotly 'I'm sure she did, I'm sure she did-'

'She never cackled!'

'Good, good,' said Miss Level soothingly 'Was she clever at medicine?' Tiffany hesitated 'Urnonly with sheep,' she said, calood Especially if it involved turpentine Mostly if it involved turpentine, actually But always shewasjustthere Even when she wasn't actually there 'Yes,' said Miss Level 'You knohat I mean?' said Tiffany 'Oh, yes,' said Miss Level 'Your Granny Aching lived down on the uplands-'

'No, up on the downland,' Tiffany corrected her 'Sorry, up on the downland, with the sheep, but people would look up so she was there so do?" or "What would Granny Aching say if she found out?" or "Is this the sort of thing Granny Aching would be angry about?"' said Miss Level 'Yes?' Tiffany narrowed her eyes It was true She re had hit a pedlar who'd overloaded his donkey and was beating it Granny usually used only words, and not e that he'd stood there and taken it It had frightened Tiffany, too Granny, who seldo about it for ten minutes beforehand, had struck the wretched man twice across the face in a brief blur ofthe Chalk For a while, at least, people were a little entle with their animalsFor months after that moment with the pedlar, carters and drovers and far a whip or a stick, and think: Suppose Granny Aching is watching? But- 'How did you know that?' she said 'Oh, I guessed She sounds like a witch to ood one, too' Tiffany inflated with inherited pride 'Did she help people?' Miss Level added The pride deflated a bit The instant answer 'yes' ju hardly ever caswatch and the early lae unless the pedlar who sold Jolly Sailor tobacco was late on his rounds, in which case she'd be down in a hurry and a flurry of greasy black skirts to cadge a pipeful off one of the old men But there wasn't a person on the Chalk, fro to Granny And what they owed to her, she made them pay to others She always kneas short of a favour or two 'She made them help one another/ she said 'She made them help themselves' In the silence that followed, Tiffany heard the birds singing by the road You got a lot of birds here, but she hed 'Not ood, ouldn't be going to visit old Mr Weavall again' Tiffany said 'Oh dear' inside Most days included a visit to Mr Weavall Tiffany dreaded them Mr Weavall's skin was paper-thin and yellowish He was always in the sae that smelled of old potatoes and was surrounded by a ht, his hands on talking sticks, wearing a suit that was shiny with age, staring at the door 'I h he eats like a bird,' Miss Level had said 'And old Widow Tussy down the lane does his laundry, such as it is He's ninety-one, you know' Mr Weavall had very bright eyes and chatted away to and at them as they tidied up the room The first time Tiffany had met hirabbed her wrist with surprising force as she walked pastIt had been a real shock, that claw of a hand suddenly gripping her You could see blue veins under the skin 'I shan't be a burden on anyone/ he'd said urgently 'I got o My boy Toby won't have nothin' to worry about I can pay ht? With the black horses and the plumes and the mutes and a knife-and-fork tea for everyone afterwards I've written it all down, fair and square Check in ing around here!' Tiffany had given Miss Level a despairing look She'd nodded, and pointed to an old wooden box tucked under Mr Weavall's chair It had turned out to be full of coins, mostly copper, but there were quite a few silver ones It looked like a fortune, and for a moment she'd wished she had as much money There's a lot of coins in here, Mr Weavall,' she'd said Mr Weavall relaxed 'Ah, that's right,' he'd said 'Then I won't be a burden' Today Mr Weavall was asleep when they called on hi with hisBut he awoke in an instant, stared at the to see I Sat'day'

'That's nice, Mr Weavall,' said Miss Level, pluet the place nice and tidy'