Chapter Ten.
Nearly at the Clock.
Before Lemmy could ask what the Cuckoo meant by a Daisy Chain, a purple uniformed man appeared. "The next set of daisies is almost here. Please stand to one side until the chain stops, then sit on the daisy of your choice."
Puzzled Lemmy looked round, and sure enough, along the path was a line of daisies. As he watched, they moved along. The uniformed man rang a bell, and the line stopped.
"Pick your daisy," the man said. Lemmy sat down on the nearest daisy to him. The petals on the daisy immediately folded up around him and held him in place.
The Daisy Chain.
The Cuckoo sat on the next daisy in the chain. The man rang the bell twice and the line of daisies began to move, slowly at first, then quicker until it was going at a fast walking speed.
Lemmy looked down He was moving along with his feet about six inches off the ground.
He could not see how the daisy that he was sitting on was kept off the ground or what was making it move. The chain stretched in front of him, and when he twisted round in the daisy seat, he could see that there was a line of daisies behind him. too.
"This is the Daisy Chain," said the Cuckoo. "And if you don't mind, I am going to close my eyes now."
"Why?" asked a very puzzled Lemmy.
"I really do not like having my feet off the ground," said the Cuckoo.
"But we are only a few inches off the ground," protested Lemmy.
In a quivering voice, the Cuckoo said, "Six inches, six feet, six miles, it is all the same to me. I really, really hate using the Daisy Chain."
"But, your feet were off the ground on the bandwagon, the Train of thought, and the raft of ideas. You weren't scared then," protested Lemmy.
"There was something to put my feet on when we were on those," replied the Cuckoo. "Here they just dangle in the open air."
Lemmy turned around and looked around him. The scenery was the same whitish grey and blue sky. "I wish I still had those rose-tinted spectacles," he said. "It would be nice to have something to look at other than the same boring blue sky all the time."
"That cannot be helped," said the Cuckoo. "Since you are from down there, you see up here as it really is, not as the people from up here see it."
"How do you see it?" Lemmy inquired. "That is when you are not too scared to open your eyes."
"I see it both ways," the Cuckoo said. "If I was brave enough to open my eyes now, I would see green fields, hills, distant mountains, sheep, cows, horses, farms, and a scattering of towns. But at the same time, I would see just a whitish grey and a blue sky."
The Cuckoo stopped and took a shuddering breath. "I would also see that my feet are not on the ground as I would prefer them to be.
"Isn't it a bit confusing to be able to see Cloud Cuckoo Land both ways?" Lemmy was trying to keep the bird's mind off its fear.
"You have to remember that birds have an extra set of eyelids. If I close one set, I see the land as it is, and if I open them, I see the land as people think it is," said the Cuckoo. "Simple really."
"I would love to have had more time to explore the land," said Lemmy.
"There are some really nice parts." agreed the Cuckoo. "You would have really enjoyed the Odd Woods."
"Odd Woods?" inquired Lemmy.
"There are a lot of strange trees there. I can think of the Pastree, which has fruit that looks like Danish pastries. Sadly, they taste awful, but they are very pretty. Then there is the Moneytree."
"Money doesn't grow on trees," scoffed Lemmy. That was another of his mother's sayings, which she trotted out whenever Lemmy wanted something from the shops.
"It does here," the Cuckoo said." Though you cannot actually spend it as it is a False Money tree."
"Are there any other trees?" asked Lemmy.
"There is the Infantree," said the Cuckoo. "That is where people get their children from in Cloud Cuckoo Land."
"I think you are just pulling my leg," sniffed Lemmy. "Next you will be telling me that people here get cooking things from a Pantree."
"This is Cloud Cuckoo Land," said the Cuckoo gently. "You would be astonished at how different it is up here compared to down there. My land, my rules, don't forget. "
"I still have no idea how I am going to fix the clock," said Lemmy. "I was hoping you might know what to do."
"I'm sorry," the Cuckoo said. "All I know is that it has to be done by someone from below, and you are the only downer in Cloud Cuckoo Land, so it has to be you. Hopefully you will think of something when we reach the clock. And I hope that it is soon.
Lemmy could think of nothing else to say. He sat on the daisy and watched the ground below his feet move past and tried to see how the Daisy Chain actually moved.
The ride did not last much longer, The Daisy Chain slowed down. A purple uniformed man stepped out from behind a barrier. "End of the line," he said. "Please stand when your daisy stops moving. The petals will let you go. Step away from the Daisy Chain. Unless you wish to go all the way round again." He rang a bell, and the chain stopped.
"No thank-you," said the Cuckoo, and it quickly hopped off the daisy and on to the ground.
It heaved a great, big sigh of relief. "You really do not know how much I hate not having my feet on the ground."
Lemmy put his feet on the floor and, as promised, the daisy petals let him go. He stood up and moved to one side. The Cuckoo came and stood next to him.
"Away we go," said the uniformed man, and rang his bell twice. The Daisy Chain began to move. Just below where Lemmy had alighted, the chain went round a wheel.
Lemmy watched as the daisy he had sat on moved back along the path. He knelt down and looked under the daisies. There did not appear to be any wheels under it, just what looked like a fishing net full of fluff.
"I give up, he said, "I have to ask how does the Daisy Chain work?"
The uniformed man puffed his chest out. "We are very proud of the Daisy Chain," he said proudly. "It may only run for a few months, but it is very popular. We only charge a small fee to ride up to the top and back."
"Yes, I am sure," said Lemmy, "But how does it work?"
The Cuckoo responded. "Did you see those fishing nets underneath?"
Lemmy gave a nod. "They looked to be filled with fluffy stuff. "
"They are," went on the Cuckoo. "It is a mixture of dandelion and thistle down. When a dandelion and a thistle flower finish, they make seed heads that float off into the sky. You must have seen them."
Lemmy gave a nod. "My mother calls them "sugar stealers" because they always seem to land in the sugar bowl. But I thought they were the seeds and they land in Mum's garden and grow where she does not want them."
Dandelion and Thistle seeds.
"That is exactly what they are, but the plants make millions upon millions of them and only a few land on the ground and grow. The rest of them just float up into the sky." The uniformed man nodded as the Cuckoo carried on explaining. "
"Very brave people stand right on the edge of Cloud Cuckoo Land and use nets to catch them. It is very skilled work. They have to catch just the right number or they are in trouble."
Lemmy had seen pictures of men catching fish in nets, so he said. thoughtfully. "Too heavy and they might fall over the edge."
"Oh no," said the Cuckoo with a shake of its head. "Too light and the fishermen float away, never to be seen again."
"Oh," said Lemmy.
"Then the seeds are taken off the fluffy bits and dropped over the edge back onto the ground below. The fluffy bits are then packed into bags. The bags are sewn under the daisies in the Daisy Chain. Each bag has just enough fluff in it to make the daisy float, " said the Cuckoo. "Too much and the daisy would fly away and break the chain. Too little and the passenger would bounce along on the floor."
"Making the bags is skilled work," added the uniformed man. "Making them is very popular with students and young people who want a summer job."
The Cuckoo nodded, "It is light work," he said.
"But why daisies?" Lemmy wondered.
The man said, "Daisy Chains are very easy to make," said the man, "And they fold their petals when the middle of the flower is in the dark, so they hold passengers safely in place."
"If you pick the flowers, then they don’t last very long," pointed out Lemmy.
"That's correct," the man agreed. "That is why it only works for a short time, while daisies are in flower."
"I see how they float," said Lemmy, "But that does not explain how the chain moves."
"Hamsters," the man replied. "At the top of the hill is a wheel, and a team of hamsters take turns running round in it pulling the chain."
Hamster waiting to get on the wheel.
" Isn't that a bit cruel?" asked Lemmy. "Making the hamsters run around in a wheel."
"They get well paid and there is always a queue of them ready to take over," said the Cuckoo. "But we had better get a move on. He walked off down the path.
Lemmy joined him. "Are we there yet?" he asked, with a grin.
"Almost," the Cuckoo replied. "Look over there." It pointed with a wing.
On the side of the path was a sign which read, "To the Great Grandfather Clock. Follow the dotted line"
Lemmy laughed. "There is a lot to be said for signing on the dotted line."
Sign on the dotted line.
The Cuckoo took the lead. They followed the dotted line down into a small valley. Lemmy could now see the clock at the far end.
"It looks like the one in our hall," he remarked.
"Good," the Cuckoo said. "In that case, you should be able to put it right."
As they followed the dotted line and got closer to the clock, Lemmy realised that this was a lot bigger than his father's clock.
The dotted line stopped at the bottom of the clock. Lemmy looked up. He could only just see the clock face high above him. The tock-tick here was almost deafening.
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