THE GIRL AND HER SWEEP There are all sorts of wonderful things a person might see very early in the morning You might see your parents sleeping You might see an ambitious bird catching a worm You might see an unclaimed penny on the sidewalk or the first rays of dawn And if you are very very lucky you might even catch a glimpse of the girl and her Sweep Look Here they are now approaching through the early fog a thin man with a long broom over one shoulder the end bobbing up and down with every step And trailing behind him pail in hand a little girl who loves that man more than anything in the world The girl sticks to the man like a shadow If he hops over a puddle she hops too If he skips along a rail she does the same It is clear just by looking looking at them that the little girl belongs to the man just as the man belongs to the little girl And as they pass between sleeping houses they sing at the top of their lungs With brush and pail and soot and song A sweep brings luck all season long
The song is not particularly special Their voices are not particularly sweet But when they sing the most unusual thing happens Instead of people snapping their windows shut to block out the sound they rise from their beds one by one throw back the curtains and decide to love the world just a little bit more Parents suddenly feel the urge to hug their children Children suddenly feel the urge to let them And every person young and old spends the rest of the day softly humming the song of the girl and her Sweep For as long as the girl could remember the Sweep had been at her side First he carried her in a sling over his back and fed her bottles of milk When she got a bit older he would let her ride upon his shoulders and pick apples from the trees they passed And when she got older yet they walked together like true equals The Sweep shared everything with the girl If he had a scarf he would let her wear it during the cold days and take it for himself on the hot ones If they found a loaf of bread the girl would eat half and pass the rest to the Sweep he would eat half of what remained and then give it back to the girl then she would eat half again and so on They would trade the loaf back and forth like this until the bread was gone and their bellies were full The Sweep let the girl share in his work too First he just had her scoop ashes from the hearth but when the girl became a bit stronger he let her climb chimneys with him From the start the girl was a natural climber PART ONE INNOCENCE
THE GIRL AND HER SWEEP She had long limbs just like the Sweep and her thin frame could wriggle through even the tiniest flues Being inside a chimney is a frightening thing it’s so dark and cramped that one can scarcely tell which way is up And so when the girl and her Sweep climbed inside a chimney they would sing to each other The Sweep who always went up first would brush out soot and nests and cobwebs singing all the while And the girl knew that all she had to do was follow his voice and she would be safe Eventually the two of them would emerge from the top of the flue filthy and triumphant The view from a chimney stack is a truly majestic thing For miles in every direction all you can see are rooftops and more rooftops like tiny dunes stretching to the horizon Many times the Sweep remarked that kings and lords couldn’t wish for a better view and he should know because he had swept a few palaces in his day Of course life was not always easy for the girl and her Sweep Many nights were cold and wet Many days were humid and hungry More than once they entered a new town and quickly found themselves surrounded by a band of disgruntled local sweeps Whenever this happened the Sweep would ask the girl to watch the tools while he and the other sweeps talked things through in the alley He would emerge a few minutes later limping slightly his clothes a little torn but smiling as broadly as ever He would report to the girl that the other sweeps had told him of a neighborhood just a few miles of with some particularly good houses In thanks for this
