{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7898/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7898","id":"gutenberg_7898","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7898","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Humour","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Cats -- Juvenile fiction","Storytelling -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tonya Allen and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Mouser Cat walked up to Aunt Amy with a mouse in her\nmouth]\n\n\nMOUSER CATS' STORY\n\nBy AMY PRENTICE\n\n\nWith Thirty-Five Illustrations and a Frontispiece in Colors\n\nBY J. WATSON DAVIS\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMOUSER CAT'S STORY.\n\n\nOn that day last week when it stormed so very hard, your Aunt Amy was\nfeeling very lonely, because all of her men and women friends in the\nhouse were busy, and it was not reasonable to suppose any of her bird or\nanimal acquaintances would be out. As she sat by the window, watching\nthe little streams of water as they ran down the glass, she said to\nherself that this was one of the days when she could not hope to be\nentertained by story-telling.\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Mouser Cat.]\n\n\"You don't seem to care whether Mrs. Man makes the pickles properly, or\nnot,\" a voice from the doorway said, and, looking around in surprise,\nyour Aunt Amy saw Mrs. Mouser Cat, an animal with whom she was very well\nacquainted, but who had never before ventured to speak with her.\n\nConsiderably astonished, because it had not come into her mind that Mrs.\nMouser might prove to be as entertaining as any of the other animals she\nhad talked with, your Aunt Amy asked:\n\n\"What about the pickles, Mrs. Mouser?\"\n\n\"Why, Mrs. Man is putting them up; didn't you know it?\" the cat replied,\nand your Aunt Amy said with a sigh:\n\n\"Oh, yes indeed, Mrs. Mouser, I know that, and you also know it is not\npossible for me to do any work around the house, owing to my illness.\nThat is why I am idle on this day when the storm makes it seem very,\nvery lonely.\n\n\"You can sit out of doors all the afternoon with a foolish old duck, or\ntalk by the hour with Mr. Turtle, who hasn't got sense enough to go in\nwhen it rains, and yet you never invited me for an afternoon's\nstory-telling,\" and Mrs. Mouser arched her back as if she was angry.\n\n\"Do you know any stories?\" your Aunt Amy asked, surprised again, and\nMrs. Mouser replied quickly:\n\n\"It would be funny if I didn't. I've lived on this farm more than six\nyears, and have known pretty much all that has happened around here in\nthat time.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHY CATS CATCH MICE.\n\n\n\"I wish you could think of a story to tell me now,\" your Aunt Amy said.\n\"I am just in the mood for hearing one.\"\n\n\"It is the hardest thing in the world to stand up and begin telling a\nstory without anything to start one going,\" Mrs. Mouser said\nthoughtfully, as she brushed her whiskers with her paw. \"After you once\nget into it, of course, they come easy enough. How would it do if I\nshould explain why it is that cats catch mice?\"\n\n\"Was there ever a time when they didn't catch mice?\" your Aunt Amy\nasked, surprised for the third time.\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Pussy Cat Visits her Cousin]\n\n\"Oh, yes indeed,\" Mrs. Mouser said in a matter-of-fact tone. \"All cats\nused to be good friends with the mice, once upon a time, and it happened\nthat because an old Mrs. Pussy, who lived in the city, didn't have\nanything in the house to eat, the cats took up catching mice. You see it\nwas in this way: A cat that had always lived in the country, made up her\nmind one day to go and see her cousin in the city, so she put on her\nbonnet and shawl, wrapped some fried fish in a paper, and started.\n\n\"When she got there her cousin saw the fish, and it made her ashamed\nbecause she hadn't anything in the house to offer the visitor, so she\nasked, turning up her nose considerably:\n\n\"Do you cats in the country eat fish?' and Mrs. Pussy replied:\n\n\"Why, yes, of course we do; don't you?\"\n\n\"Certainly not; it is thought to be a sign of ill-breeding to eat such\nvulgar food,' and then remembering that she could not offer her cousin\nthe least little thing, she said, never stopping to think very much\nabout it. We eat mice here. They are delicious; you would be surprised\nto know what a delicate flavor they have.\"\n\nThat surprised the country cousin, and nothing would do but that she\nmust go right out hunting for mice. Of course some one had to go with\nher, and then it was that the city cat found she hadn't made any such a\nvery great mistake after all, for mice or rats, take them any way you\nplease, cooked or raw, are very nice indeed.\n\n\n\n\nTHE KITTY WHICH THE SNOW BROUGHT.\n\n\n\"Do you think that is a true story?\" your Aunt Amy asked, and Mrs.\nMouser replied:\n\n\"I can't really say; but I think it is as true as that the snow brought\na white cat to Dolly Man.\" Your Aunt Amy knew Miss Dolly's kitten very\nwell; but she had never heard any such thing as Mrs. Mouser intimated,\ntherefore, as a matter of course, she was curious regarding the affair,\nand asked that it be explained to her.\n\n\"I was in the house when this happened, so there is no mistake about the\nstory part of it,\" Mrs. Mouser began. \"It was snowing one day, and\nDolly, standing by the window, said to her mother that she wished the\nsnow-flakes would turn into a pretty, little, white kitten, so she could\nhave something to play with. She hadn't hardly more than spoken, when\nthey heard a cat calling from out of doors, and Dolly ran into the\nhallway, believing the snow-flakes had really turned into a pet for her.\nNow it is kind of odd, but true just the same, that when she opened the\ndoor there stood a white kitten, the same one we call Kitty Snow.\n\n\"She was the forlornest little stray kitten you could ever imagine, and\nas white then as she is now, from her nose to the tip of her tail, but\nso nearly frozen when Dolly took her in, that they had to wrap her in a\nblanket, and keep her near the fire two or three hours before she thawed\nout.\"\n\n\"I believe that you and Kitty Snow are not very good friends,\" your Aunt\nAmy said.\n\n[Illustration: Dolly and Kitty Snow.]\n\n\"Well, I can't say that we are,\" Mrs. Mouser replied thoughtfully. \"That\nwhite cat has been petted so much that she really isn't of any very\ngreat service about the house. I don't believe she has caught a mouse in\nsix months, and yet I heard her tell Mr. Towser Dog no longer ago than\nyesterday, that she was of more value around this farm than I. Just\nthink of it! And it has been proven that I have a good deal more sense\nthan Mr. Fox, cunning as he thinks he is.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHEN MR. FOX WAS FOOLISH.\n\n\nAs a matter of course, your Aunt Amy asked her what she meant, and Mrs.\nMouser sat down at one side of the fireplace, as if making ready for an\nafternoon of story-telling.\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Mouser Flatters Mr. Fox.]\n\n\"It was like this;\" she said. \"I was down in the meadow looking for\nfield mice one day, and met Mr. Fox. You know some animals think that he\nand I are relations; but whether we are or not, we have always been good\nfriends. So he sat down for a chat, and we talked of first this thing\nand then that, until finally I said, just to make myself agreeable:\n\n\"'Do you know, Mr. Fox, I think you are very smart.'\n\n\"Well now, would you believe it, that puffed him way up with pride, and\nhe said, grinning in a way that was enough to make any cat laugh:\n\n\"'Indeed I am, Mrs. Mouser. There isn't an animal around here who can\nhold a candle to me for smartness.'\n\n\"'What about the dogs?' I asked, thinking to joke him a little, and he\nturned up his nose as he said:\n\n\"'I don't give a snap of my claws for all the dogs there are around this\nplace! Even if four or five of them should come right up here this\nminute, it wouldn't bother me any. You may not think it; but Mr. Towser\nis actually afraid of me.\n\n\"Well now, do you know that made me laugh again, because in the first\nplace I knew it wasn't true; but what was the use of saying anything of\nthe kind to him? He was swelled way out with pride, so I changed the\nconversation, and began talking about mice, when suddenly there was a\nterrible commotion down the lane, and up came Mr. Towser, Miss Spaniel\nand four or five other dogs, barking and yelping.\n\n\"Oh me, oh my, how frightened I was! Up a tree I scurried as fast as my\nlegs would carry me, and not until I was safe on the highest limb did I\nlook around to see Mr. Fox, who didn't care the snap of his claws for\ndogs; but, bless you, he was going toward the meadow with his tail\nhanging straight out behind him, while the dogs were gaining on him at\nevery jump. Mr. Towser told me afterward that they made Mr. Fox just\nabout as sick as Mrs. Toad made the bugs.\"\n\n\"What was it Mrs. Toad did?\" your Aunt Amy asked, and Mrs. Mouser\nreplied with a grin:\n\n\"Perhaps you never heard that Mr. Crow is a great hand at making\npoetry?\"\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Crow.]\n\n\"I have indeed,\" your Aunt Amy replied, and it was only with difficulty\nshe prevented herself from laughing aloud. \"I have heard of his poetry\nfrom every bird and animal around this farm.\"\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Fox forgets how bold he was as the dogs chase him\nthrough the field.]\n\n\n\n\nA WET-WEATHER PARTY.\n\n\n\"Then perhaps you don't care to hear any more?\" Mrs. Mouser said\ninquiringly.\n\n\"Indeed I do,\" your Aunt Amy replied, \"if it is anything new, and I\nsurely have never heard of a wet-weather party.\"\n\n[Illustration: Mr. and Miss Cricket.]\n\nMrs. Mouser stroked her whiskers a moment, and then began to repeat the\nfollowing:\n\n  A little Black Ant was journeying home\n    From a marketing visit to town,\n  When down came the ram, pitter-patter, so fast,\n    It threatened to spoil her best gown.\n\n  She wandered about till she quite lost her way,\n    Till at last a big Toadstool she found,\n  \"Ah, here I can rest!\" said the little Black Ant,\n    And she wearily sank to the ground.\n\n  And as she sat resting, a light she espied,\n    And a Glow-worm came twinkling by.\n  \"Dear me!\" exclaimed he, with a gasp and a sob,\n    \"I don't think I'll ever be dry!\"\n\n  \"Come in, sir, come in,\" said the little Black Ant,\n    \"Here is plenty of room, sir, for two.\n  Pray bring in your light, sir, and sit down by me,\n    Or else you'll be surely wet through.\"\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Stag-Beetle and the Newspaper Reporter.]\n\n  The Glow-worm agreed, and soon brought in his light,\n    When a cricket appeared on the scene\n  With her fiddle and bow (she's a minstrel, you know)\n    --To a concert in town she had been.\n\n  \"Come in, ma'am, come in!\" said the little Black Ant,\n    \"Here is shelter and light for us all!\n  And if you could play us a nice little tune,\n    We might fancy we were at a ball.\"\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Beetle Arrives.]\n\n  \"Hear, hear!\" said the voice of the Stag-Beetle bold,\n    Who just then was passing that way;\n  \"And if there is dancing, I hope, dear Miss Ant,\n    That you will allow _me_ to stay!\"\n\n  \"Come in, sir, come in!\" said the little Black Ant,\n    \"The more, sir, the merrier we!\n  And here, I declare, is my friend Mrs. Snail,\n    As busy as ever, I see!\"\n\n  \"Come in, Mrs. Snail,\" said the little Black Ant,\n    \"Come join our small party to-night!\n  Here's the Beetle and Cricket all quite snug and dry,\n    And the Glow-worm to give us some light!\"\n\n  So the Snail came and joined them, still knitting away,\n    And the Cricket her fiddle got out;\n  And then--well, you just should have seen how they\n      danced,\n    How they jumped and all capered about!\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Toad Breaks up the Party.]\n\n  The Little Black Ant did a skirt-dance quite well;\n    The Beetle a gay Highland fling;\n  And as for the Glow-worm, he just jigged about,\n    And _danced_ really nothing at all.\n\n  But all of a sudden a croaking was heard,\n    And who should appear but a Toad,\n  Who hoarsely demanded their business, and why\n    They were all gathered in her abode?\n\n  Then what a commotion! The little Black Ant\n    Went from one fainting fit to another;\n  The Snail simply shut herself up in her house,\n    And thought she'd escape all the bother!\n\n  The Beetle and Glow-worm soon took themselves off,\n    And the Cricket and Ant with them too,\n  And once more these poor creatures were out in the rain,\n    And didn't know what they should do.\n\n  But they presently came to the trunk of a tree,\n    And there they all stayed for the night;\n  But they never forgot that old, cross Mrs. Toad,\n    Who gave them so dreadful a fright!\"\n\n\"Mrs. Toad certainly succeeded in raising quite a disturbance,\" your\nAunt Amy said, feeling it necessary to make some comment, and Mrs.\nMouser replied thoughtfully:\n\n\n\n\nMR. THOMAS CAT'S NARROW ESCAPE.\n\n\n\"Yes, almost as much as Mr. Man did when he tried to drown Mr. Thomas\nCat the other day. It seems that Mr. Thomas had been out in the stable\nstealing the food which was left for Mr. Towser, and one of the maids,\nseeing it, told Mr. Man, so then and there it was decided that Mr.\nThomas must be drowned. Mr. Man called him up, as if he was the best\nfriend he ever had, and when Mr. Thomas got near enough, he caught him\nby the tail, starting off at once for the stream.\n\n[Illustration: Dragging Mr. Thomas to his Fate.]\n\n\"'What are you going to do with me?' Mr. Thomas cried, and Mr. Man said:\n\n\"'You wait and see. I'll teach you to steal Mr. Towser's food! You are\nno good, that's what's the trouble with you--you are no good!'\n\n\"So he took a rope out of his pocket and tied it around Mr. Thomas'\nneck, after they got near the water. Then bent down over the bank to get\na big rock, when his foot slipped, and in he went splashing and howling\nuntil you might have heard him on the next farm, for he couldn't swim a\nstroke, and the water was deep where he went in.\n\n\"Of course Mr. Thomas wasn't able to do anything to help him, so off he\nstarted for the house the best he knew how, with the rope dragging on\nbehind, and when he got there, Mrs. Man couldn't help seeing him.\nKnowing what her husband had counted on doing she mistrusted that\nsomething was wrong, so down she ran to the stream, getting there just\nin time to pull Mr. Man out of the water before he drew his last breath.\n\n\"'How did you know where I was?' Mr. Man asked after the water had run\nout of his mouth.\n\n\"'Why the cat just the same as told me, when he came back with a rope\naround his neck.'\n\n\"'Well, he was some good after all,' Mr. Man said.' I had begun to think\nall cats were useless, but it seems Mr. Crow was right in that poetry of\nhis, after all.'\n\n\"Then Mr. Man went up to the house, and since then Mr. Thomas has been\nallowed to stay round the farm, just as he pleases.\"\n\n\n\n\nMR. CROW'S FANCY.\n\n\n\"What did he mean by saying Mr. Crow was right?\"\n\n\"Oh, that was on account of a piece of poetry he wrote about me. There\nisn't much of it, and perhaps you had just as soon I would repeat it.\"\n\nThen, without waiting for permission, Mrs. Mouser recited the following:\n\n  Some people love the gay giraffe\n  Because his antics make them laugh\n    (I've never found him witty),\n  Others prefer the cockatoo--\n  He does things I should hate to do;\n    He's vulgar--more's the pity!\n\n  An ostrich draws admiring throngs\n  Whenever he sings his comic songs,\n    And, really, it's no wonder!\n  The dormouse has been highly rated\n  (and justly) for his celebrated\n    Mimicking of thunder.\n\n  I know some friends who'd journey miles\n  To see a bat's face wreathed in smiles,\n    They say it's grandly funny!\n  To see a buzzard drink port wine\n  Another eager friend of mine\n    Would pay no end of money.\n\n  But that which most appeals to me--\n  I know my taste may curious be--\n    Is--not a mouse in mittens.\n  It is to see a homely cat,\n  Dressed up in an old battered hat,\n  A-walking with her kittens!\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Tabby and Her Kittens.]\n\n\"One would think from the verses, that you and Mr. Crow were very good\nfriends,\" your Aunt Amy suggested, and Mrs. Mouser said with a purr of\ncontent:\n\n\"We have always got along very well together, and I hope we always\nshall, for really, say what you please about that old bird, it wouldn't\nbe pleasant to have him making sport of you in his verses. We are\nneither of us as much in love with ourselves as were the peacock and the\ncrane, therefore I don't fancy we shall ever have any very serious\ntrouble.\"\n\n\n\n\nA QUESTION OF BEAUTY.\n\n\n\"What about the peacock and the crane?\" your Aunt Amy asked, not\ndisposed to let slip any opportunity of hearing a story.\n\n\"Oh, that's something very, very old--why, my grandmother used to tell\nabout it. You know the crane thinks he has got a pretty tail, and I'm\nnot saying anything against it, for it is handsome; but this crane my\ngrandmother used to tell about, had the idea that he was the finest\nlooking bird who ever came out of an egg. He went around making a good\ndeal of such talk as that, and one day he met with a peacock for the\nfirst time. Strangely enough, he had never heard about such a bird, so\nhe strutted back and forth as usual, and after they had talked a while\nof the weather, and all that sort of thing, Mr. Crane said:\n\n[Illustration: As Mr. Peacock spread his tail, Mr. Crane flew off in\ndisgust]\n\n\"'People tell me I am one of the handsomest birds that ever lived.\nThere's nothing in this world that quite comes up to my tail feathers,\nand that much I can say without risk of being thought vain.'\n\n\"'You have some very pretty feathers,' Mr. Peacock said, keeping his own\ntail folded up so it couldn't be seen very well. 'But do you really\nthink they are more beautiful than can be found on any other bird?'\n\n\"'I don't _think_ so, I know it,' Mr. Crane said, spreading the\nlong plumes of his tail out so they would show to the best advantage,\nand just then Mr. Peacock unfolded his tail to its full size.\n\n\"If you ever saw an astonished bird, it was Mr. Crane. He looked at the\nbeautiful feathers spread out like a great, big fan, and then started to\nfly away.\n\n\"'Where are you going?' Mr. Peacock asked.\n\n\"And Mr. Crane answered, while he was in the air:\n\n\"'Off somewhere to hide until I have got sense enough to hold my tongue\nwhen I don't know what I'm talking about.'\n\n\"Since that time I have never heard any of the cranes doing very much\nbragging, and it is a pity that there are yet others around this place\nwho ought to get just such a lesson, for many of the animals here need\nit sadly.\"\n\n\"You among the rest?\" your Aunt Amy asked laughingly, and Mrs. Mouser\nCat replied:\n\n\"Thank goodness, I am not proud, and perhaps it is because I haven't\nvery much to take pride in. But I have lived long enough in this world\nto know that one of us is of just about as much importance as another,\nand the animal or the bird who thinks this world couldn't move very well\nwithout him, is making a big mistake. There is nobody whose place cannot\nbe filled when it becomes necessary; there would even be somebody to run\nthis farm as well as Mr. Man does, if he should die to-morrow.\"\n\n\n\n\nMENAGERIE POETRY.\n\n\n\"What I have in mind is told, in a foolish kind of a way, I suppose, by\nMr. Crow, who wrote the verses when Mr. Man's little girl Dolly wanted a\npet, and no matter how much she thought of one, if it died, or got lost,\nthe next that came along suited her almost as well.\n\n\"Of course I don't want you to suppose I think this is anything but\nnonsense; but at the same time it carries out the idea of what I have\nbeen trying to say,\" and then Mrs. Mouser repeated the following:\n\n  I once possessed an Elephant\n    Who fed on potted grouse;\n  One day I lost him, but I think\n    He's somewhere in the house.\n\n[Illustration: The Delicate Pet.]\n\n  I had a Hippopotamus\n    Who really was quite slim;\n  He caught a chill, and so I thought\n    I'd best get rid of him.\n\n  I also had a gay Giraffe,\n    Whose antics made me wince;\n  He went a walk to Brooklyn town,\n    I've never seen him since.\n\n[Illustration: The Pet Who Went to Brooklyn.]\n\n  The Puffing Fish that I possessed\n    Would fill my heart with pride;\n  But ah! one day I made a joke--\n    He laughed so that he died.\n\n  You should have seen my Polar Bear,\n    He was a lively beast;\n  But what became of him at last\n    I've no idea, the least.\n\n[Illustration: The Very Sociable Pet.]\n\n  My Grizzly Bear was certainly\n    By all my friends admired.\n  He tried to climb the Monument,\n    And when he failed, expired.\n\n  Perhaps the dearest of them all\n    Was James, my Cockatoo--\n  He took to stopping out at nights;\n    I gave him to the Zoo\n\n[Illustration: The Lively Pet]\n\n  So now I haven't anything;\n    It's lonely, I must own.\n  I'll get a little calf, I think--\n    I cannot live alone!\n\n\"I don't wonder you call that 'Menagerie Poetry,'\" your Aunt Amy said\nwhen Mrs. Mouser ceased speaking; \"but I think I understood, even\nwithout the aid of the verses, the moral you intended to draw.\"\n\n\"I should hope you did; but I remembered those lines, and it seemed to\nme they came in just right. There is a story he tells about the Elephant\nand the Bee, which teaches the same kind of a lesson.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHEN MR. ELEPHANT AND MR. BEE HAD A QUARREL.\n\n\n\"I certainly would like to hear it,\" your Aunt Amy said when Mrs. Mouser\nCat ceased speaking, as if waiting for some such permission.\n\n\"Well, in the first place you must understand that there was once an\nElephant and a Bee that were the very best of friends,\" Mrs. Mouser Cat\nsaid as she curled her tail around her fore paws to prevent them from\nbeing chilled by the draft. \"One day the Elephant had walked a long\ndistance, and thought he would sit down to rest for a little while. Now\nit seems the Bee had been flying around there, and he had got tired too,\nso he laid down on the grass and went to sleep.\n\n\"Now what do you think? When Mr. Elephant sat down he happened to hit\nMr. Bee's hind foot, and then there was a time! Mr. Bee talked\ndisgracefully, so it is said, to Mr. Elephant, and you would have\nthought they never had been friends; but Mr. Elephant didn't answer him\nback, because he was a peaceable kind of an animal, and knew that the\nleast said is the soonest mended.\n\n\"When Mr. Bee got through scolding, they went on their journey again. I\ndon't know where they were traveling, but that doesn't make any\ndifference in the story. Off they started, and after a while it seemed\nas if Mr. Bee got to feeling better, and Mr. Elephant said:\n\n\"'I'm glad to see that you've got over being cross, for it was all an\naccident, my hitting your foot.'\n\n\"'Oh yes,' Mr. Bee answered, as if he intended to be friendly again.\n'We'll try to forget all about it. Have you seen anything of my collars\nand cuffs since we started?'\n\n\"'Why, no,' replied Mr. Elephant. 'Have you lost them?'\n\n\"'I haven't seen them since we left home, and I believe they must be in\nyour trunk.'\n\n\"'I think not,' Mr. Elephant said; 'but you can go in and look for them,\nif you choose.'\n\n\"Now Mr. Bee hadn't got over his cross fit a little bit, and he was only\nwaiting for a chance to pay Mr. Elephant back. Well, he crawled into the\ntrunk just as far as he could get, and then he gave poor Mr. Elephant\nthe very hardest sting you ever dreamed about.\n\n[Illustration: When Mr. Elephant Sneezed.]\n\n\"'Oh me, oh my!' Mr. Elephant howled. 'What a wicked little thing you\nare! I'll fix you for that!' and then he hunched himself together, and\ngave the biggest kind of a big sneeze. Now if you never saw anything of\nthe kind, you can't have an idea what a commotion it made when Mr.\nElephant did that, and, bless your heart, that was the last of Mr. Bee.\nI don't know what became of him, and neither does anybody else. He must\nhave been dashed to pieces in the terrible wind that was raised, and it\nserved him good and right, too, for he deserved it just as much as ever\nMr. Bear did when he got so worn out by Mr. Man's boy Tommy.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHEN TOMMY GOT THE BEST OF MR. BEAR.\n\n\n\"Is that another story?\" your Aunt Amy asked, and Mrs. Mouser replied\nwith a laugh:\n\n\"Yes, and it is a good one, too. Last year there was an old Mr. Bear\nliving near this farm, who was the most quarrelsome animal you ever saw,\nand besides that, he was wicked. Do you know, he made up his mind that\nhe would bite a big piece out of Mr. Man's boy's leg, just because Tommy\ndrove him away when he was stealing honey. So one night he crept up to\nthe well, and got into the bucket, letting himself way down to the\nbottom where he could float around until Tommy came out to get a pail of\nwater.\n\n\"'I'll have him sure,' Mr. Bear said to himself, 'for when he pulls up\nthe bucket in the morning, I'll jump out and grab him, so he can't get\naway.'\n\n\"Well, Tommy went to the well at just about the same time as usual, and\nwhen he started to raise the bucket with the windlass, he found it was\nterribly heavy. He thought some one must have been putting rocks in it\nto play a joke on him, so he kept on turning the crank around until the\nbucket was nearly to the top, and then he saw what was the matter:\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Bear Makes a Mistake.]\n\n\"'My goodness!' he cried. 'There's Mr. Bear, and it's water I'm after,\nnot bear!'\n\n\"Then Tommy Man let go of the windlass, and of course down went Mr. Bear\nto the bottom of the well with a bump that nearly shook him to pieces.\n\n\"Now almost anybody might have thought that Tommy would run away after\nthat; but no, he made up his mind to serve Mr. Bear out good and hard,\nso he went to work winding up the windlass again. Then, when he had\nhauled Mr. Bear nearly to the top, he let him go back with a worse bump\nthan before, and so he kept on doing this same thing thirteen or fifteen\ntimes, until Mr. Bear was so sore and bruised that he couldn't do much\nof anything more than hold himself on to the edge of the bucket.\n\n\"By that time Tommy had got all the sport he wanted, and he let Mr. Bear\ncrawl out of the bucket. I have heard it said that it was more than two\nweeks before the old fellow could get out of bed, and the lesson did him\nas much good as the one Mr. Donkey gave the Wild Hog, for he wasn't\nquarrelsome again, and behaved himself decently well forever after.\"\n\n\n\n\nMR. DONKEY'S LESSON IN GOOD MANNERS.\n\n\n\"I think the story about the donkey must be one which I have never\nheard,\" your Aunt Amy said. \"Although the animals on the farm have told\nme quite a lot about Mr. Donkey, I have never thought of him as a\nteacher.\n\n\"It isn't what you might rightly call a story; but only something that\nhappened when Mr. Donkey showed his good sense. Now I don't understand\nwhy Mr. Man tells about any one being as stupid as a donkey. Why, our\nNeddy is as wise as anybody on this farm, and you will think so when I\nhave told this story about him.\n\n\"It was one night after supper, and he thought he would take a stroll up\nthe road, because he hadn't been working very hard that day, and the\nexercise might do him good. He was going along, minding his own\nbusiness, when Mr. Wild Hog came out from the bushes, and into the road.\n\n\"Mr. Donkey stepped over one side so as to give him plenty of room,\nsaying 'good evening' politely, and was walking on when Mr. Wild Hog\nbristled up to him, showing both his big tusks, and said:\n\n\"'Why don't you turn out when you meet anybody of consequence?'\n\n\"'Perhaps I do when I meet them,' Mr. Donkey replied, and that made Mr.\nHog terribly angry. \"'Do you know I have a mind to give you a lesson in\ngood manners?' growled Mr. Hog, and Mr. Donkey said with a grin:\n\n\"'Why not go off somewhere alone, and give yourself a lesson or two?'\n\n\"Of course that made Mr. Hog more angry than ever, and he said:\n\n\"'Do you know what I do when stupid animals like you try to be too\nsmart?'\n\n\"'No; I don't care either,' Mr. Donkey replied; 'but I will show you\nwhat I do when animals make bigger hogs of themselves than is natural.'\n\n\"Just as he said this he turned around, swung up both heels, struck Mr.\nHog under the chin, and knocked him over and over as many as six times.\nThen Mr. Donkey trotted off slowly, with a smile on his face that was\nfor all the world like Mr. Crocodile's after he had been to the\ndentist's.\"\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Wild Hog tries to give Mr. Donkey a lesson in good\nmanners.]\n\n\n\n\nWHEN MR. CROCODILE HAD HIS TEETH EXTRACTED.\n\n\n\"Why did he go to the dentist?\" your Aunt Amy asked, thinking to hear\nanother story.\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Crocodile in Pain.]\n\n\"I had better repeat the poetry Mr. Crow wrote about it, for that tells\nthe whole story, and without further delay Mrs. Mouser Cat recited the\nfollowing:\n\n  Come, listen, and I'll sing awhile\n  About a winsome crocodile,\n  Who had a most engaging smile\n     Whene'er he smole.\n\n  His basket with fresh fish to fill\n  Each day he'd tramp o'er vale and hill,\n  For he possessed quite wondrous skill\n     With rod and pole.\n\n  But as he fished, one summer's day,\n  A toothache chased his smiles away;\n  No longer could he fish and play\n     His favorite role.\n\n[Illustration: Not a Tooth in His Head.]\n\n  He stamped and growled, the pain was vile,\n  No more he grinned, Sir Crocodile,\n  (And he'd a most engaging smile\n     Whene'er he smole.)\n\n  So straight he to the dentist went,\n  On stopping or extraction bent,\n  His soul was with such anguish rent;\n     He reached his goal.\n\n  \"Come sit down in the chair awhile;\n  Open your mouth, Sir Crocodile!\"\n  (He had a most engaging smile\n     Whene'er he smole.)\n\n  \"Which is the tooth?\" the dentist said;\n  \"Dear, dear! You must have suffered--\n  You've not a sound tooth in your head,\n     Not one that's whole!\"\n\n  He pulled them out; it took some while,\n  And then that toothsome crocodile\n  Had not quite such a pleasing smile\n     Whene'er he smole.\n\n\"How do you suppose Mr. Crocodile felt when he was hungry, and wanted to\neat something?\" your Aunt Amy asked.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DISSATISFIED CAT.\n\n\n\"Most likely much the same as did old Mrs. Pussy Cat up on the next\nfarm.\"\n\n\"How was that?\" your Aunt Amy asked.\n\n\"Well, you see, she was partly black and partly white, and not being a\nvery neat cat, the white hair got dirty so often that she believed it\nwould be a great thing if it was all black. So she got the idea into her\nhead that if she should shave off the white hair, it would be the color\nshe wanted when it grew out again.\n\n\"Well, now what do you suppose that poor foolish thing did? Why she went\nto the barber's, and had him shave all the white hair off of her body.\nShe actually frightened the ducks and the geese when she came home, she\nlooked so queer; but you couldn't have made her believe it. She thought\nshe was a perfect beauty, and when she came over to this farm that\nevening, Mr. Thomas Cat said to her:\n\n\"'Why you are a perfect sight, that's what you are, with those tufts of\nblack hair all over you!'\n\n\"'That's all the style,' Mrs. Pussy Cat said, and I think she really\nbelieved that she was as handsome as any cat you could find.\n\n\"Well, things went along all right while the weather was warm, but in\nthe course of ten days we had a heavy frost, and dear me, dear me, how\ncold it grew all of a sudden! Poor Mrs. Pussy Cat was almost frozen to\ndeath the first night of the cold snap, when she tried to stay with the\nrest of us to a concert, and went home moaning:\n\n\"'Oh, give me back my hair! Give me back my hair!'\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Pussy Cat in Style.]\n\n\"Of course that couldn't be done, because she had to wait for it to grow\nagain; but Mrs. Man on the next farm wrapped her up in an old shawl, and\nshe had to stay in a basket until her hair grew, else she'd have frozen\nto death, for we had a terrible hard winter that season. When the hair\ndid come out it was uneven, of course, and she was the worst looking cat\nyou ever saw.\n\n\"Mr. Man was shaving the first morning Mrs. Pussy Cat came out of the\nbasket, and he hadn't seen her since she had been to the barber's.\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Man is Disturbed.]\n\n\"She jumped up on a chair by the side of him, thinking he would stroke\nher fur as he always used to do, when the poor man got one glimpse of\nher, and it nearly scared him into hysterics. I suppose he thought it\nwas a ghost, or something like that, for she looked bad enough to be\nalmost anything.\n\n\"He gave a yell, and jumped in the air. That scared Mrs. Pussy Cat, and\nshe screamed as she leaped out of the chair. Then Mr. Man went after her\nwith that big razor in his hand.\n\n\"I don't know how far he chased her; but Mr. Towser said that Mrs. Pussy\nCat ran more than five miles before she stopped, and when she sneaked\nback home that night, I'm thinking she felt a good deal as Mr. Crow did\nwhen he tried to make folks believe peacock feathers were growing in his\ntail.\"\n\n\n\n\nMR. CROW'S DECEIT.\n\n\n\"I have heard a great many stories which Mr. Crow has told; but never\none about him,\" your Aunt Amy interrupted. \"If he tried to deceive the\nother birds, I surely would like to know about it.\"\n\n\"Well, he did,\" Mrs. Mouser Cat said emphatically, sitting bolt upright;\n\"but of course he doesn't like to have the story told, so I had rather\nyou wouldn't let him know I mentioned it.\n\n\"I don't know how he happened to get it into his head to do such a\nthing, for, as a rule, he spends the most of his time over in the big\ntree telling stories or making poetry; but he grew foolish once, and\nwhenever anybody came where he was, he said he had strange growing\nfeathers, and the doctor believed he was turning into a peacock.\n\n\"Of course that made a good deal of excitement around here, among all of\nus, for it would be a strange thing for a crow to change in that way,\nand he had twice as many visitors as he ever had before, all wanting to\nknow about the new feathers.\n\n\"Well, of course he couldn't keep saying that they were coming, and not\nshow any signs of them, so one day he said he felt terribly sick and\nguessed he should go into the hospital. Then we didn't see anything of\nhim for most a week, until little Redder Squirrel came around and said\nMr. Crow was all right; that he had as many as six peacock feathers\ngrowing right out of his tail.\n\n\"Well, now, you can believe we were astonished, and more excited over it\nthan we had been since young Mr. Thomas Cat painted the canary yellow.\nOf course we asked Redder Squirrel where we could see him, and he said\nMr. Crow had agreed to come out on the hill, just under the tree, that\nafternoon.\n\n\"If we animals around here were anxious to see him, you can guess that\nthe peacocks were just about wild, and when the time came for Mr. Crow\nto show himself, all the peacocks for as many as five miles around were\ngathered under the big tree. Mr. Crow didn't know anything about their\ncoming, until he marched right out in the midst of them.\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Crow showing his new feathers to the peacocks.]\n\n\"Now Mr. Crow is really a wise bird, and how it happened that he was so\nfoolish as to do what he did, beats me. Anybody with half an eye could\nsee that he had simply stuck these feathers in his tail, and was trying\nto make us believe they had grown there. If he had stayed on the tree\nwhere we couldn't get very near him, there might have been some chance\nof deceiving us; but there he was right down where we could put our paws\non him if we wanted to. And the peacocks! Angry? Oh me, oh my, don't say\na word!\n\n\"One big one reached over with his beak, and pulled a feather from Mr.\nCrow's tail.\n\n\"'The next time you set yourself up for one of us, it would be a good\nidea to tie the feathers in, else they may drop out, as this one has,'\nthe peacock said, and I expected to see Mr. Crow almost faint away with\nshame. But bless you, he never thought of doing anything of that kind.\nHe took the feather as bold as a lion, looked at the end of it, and then\nhe said, careless-like:\n\n\"'Well, I declare! I guess I must be moulting,' and with that, off he\nflew. We didn't see him again for as much as two weeks, and then he\nagreed not to write any poetry about us if we wouldn't tell the story of\nthe feathers; but young Mr. Thomas Cat couldn't hold in, and reported it\nfar and near, till Mr. Crow paid him back in good shape.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHEN YOUNG THOMAS CAT PAINTED A CANARY.\n\n\n\"But what about painting a canary?\" your Aunt Amy asked. \"You spoke of\nsuch a thing a moment ago.\"\n\n\"Yes, and it is what I am telling you about. Mr. Crow wrote the poetry\nwhich tells the story, and you shall hear it.\"\n\nThen Mrs. Mouser Cat repeated the following:\n\n  For he was such a knowing puss--\n          Oh yes, he was!\n  A really clever, sharp young puss--\n          Oh yes, he was!\n  He wouldn't do as others do,\n  He said, \"I know a thing or two,\n          _I_ do!\n\n  \"To-morrow is the great bird show--\n          I think it is;\n  The far-renowned canary show--\n          Of course it is.\n  Some yellow ochre, so I've heard,\n  Will wondrously improve a bird,\n          I've heard\n\n[Illustration: Thomas Cat Paints the Canary]\n\n  \"I think I'll enter at that show--\n          I think I will,\n  Just make one entry for that show--\n          By Jove, I will.\n  And if my bird don't get the prize,\n  Why it will be, as I surmise,\n          A surprise!\"\n\n  The show was held--a great success--\n          Of course it was!\n  By all 'twas called a huge success--\n          Indeed it was!\n  The judges were experienced cats;\n  They wore tail-coats, and large top-hats--\n          _Such_ hats!\n\n  Young Tom was there--he'd brought his bird--\n         Just think! he had!\n  He'd really dared to bring that bird--\n         Oh yes, he had!\n  He said, \"No one will ever know\n  That my canary's all no go,\n         Oh no!\"\n\n[Illustration: The Spry Old Judge]\n\n  But one old judge was rather spry--\n         Oh yes, he was!\n  You'd not have thought him half so spry,\n         But oh, he was!\n  He said, \"Why really, on my word!\n  Disqualify that shocking bird!--\n         Absurd!\"\n\n  So Tom's bird was disqualified--\n         Of course it was!\n  Disgracefully disqualified,\n         Ah yes, it was!\n  And Tom, although he thought he knew\n  A thing or two, found others too\n         Who knew.\n\n\"Mr. Thomas must have believed that honesty was the best policy, before\nhe got through with the bird show,\" your Aunt Amy suggested, and Mrs.\nMouser Cat laughed as she replied:\n\n\"It would have shamed almost any cat; but it didn't seem to make a bit\nof difference with young Thomas. He was just as pert as ever the next\nday, and went around telling about the prize he would have taken if the\njudge hadn't discovered the fraud. It would have served him right if he\nhad been punished as was Mr. Fox.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHEN MR. FOX WAS TOO CUNNING.\n\n\n\"Is that another story?\" your Aunt Amy asked.\n\n\"Yes, it is,\" Mrs. Mouser said reflectively, \"and it shows that there\nare times when even a fox can be too cunning. One day while Mr. Fox, who\nused to live down in the swamp, was sneaking around behind the barn on\nthis farm, he saw a bag hanging on the limb of a tree just over the\nwater barrel.\n\n\"'Now I wonder what that is?' he said to himself, as he stopped and\nlooked first at the bag and then at the barrel. 'It smells good, and I\nbelieve there's meat somewhere around here.'\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Fox Hits Upon a Plan.]\n\n\"Then he climbed upon the barrel, and saw that it was half full of\nwater, so he began to wonder what the meaning of it was.\n\n\"'It must be a trap Mr. Man has set for me,' he said rubbing his ear as\nif he thought himself very wise. 'He thinks I'll jump up for the bag,\nand fall into the water. Now he's got to find a younger fox than I am,\nif he wants to make that plan work, for I'm going to know what's hanging\nup there, and I won't take any chances of getting drowned, either,\nbecause I'll drink all the water first. Then that will settle it.'\n\n\"Well, he began to drink, and drink, and drink, until he swelled up\namazingly; but there was plenty of water still left in the barrel. Then\nhe drank some more; ran around a few moments, came back and drank again,\nuntil he was all swelled out, and couldn't swallow another drop; but the\nbarrel appeared to be as full as when he commenced.\n\n\"By this time it wasn't possible for him to run the least little bit,\nand he was feeling a good deal as his father did after he had found the\ncrab, when along came Mr. Man, who said:\n\n\"'Hello! here's a nice fat fox! I guess I'll take his skin,' and the\nnext day, lo and behold, there was Mr. Fox's hide nailed up on the barn,\nshowing that sometimes it is dangerous to be too cunning.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHEN SONNY BUNNY RABBIT WAS RASH.\n\n\n\"I never saw an animal who didn't get into trouble when he thought he\nknew everything,\" Mrs. Mouser went on thoughtfully, giving no heed to\nthe fact that your Aunt Amy was on the point of interrupting her. \"Now\nthere is Sonny Bunny Rabbit, he got it into his head that he was the\ngreatest ever lived; that he could do just as he wanted to around this\nneighborhood, because he led Mr. Fox into a trap one day.\n\n\"Why, that foolish little rabbit used to sit out in the field at night,\nand tell me, who am old enough to be his grandmother at the very least,\nthat he could do anything he pleased; that there was no animal around\nhere who could get the best of him.\n\n\"Well, Sonny Bunny kept that idea in his mind, and one day Mr. Hawk came\nsailing along just when Sonny Bunny was talking with Redder Squirrel,\nand Redder he screamed:\n\n\"'Run, Sonny Bunny! Run for your life!'\n\n\"'You don't catch me running away from any old hawk,' Sonny Bunny said,\nas bold as a lion. 'I'm going to stay right here, and kick dirt in his\nface if he comes where I am.'\n\n\"'Run, Sonny Bunny, run!' Redder Squirrel cried, and for once he showed\nmore sense than usual.\n\n\"But Sonny Bunny was so puffed up with what he thought he could do, that\nhe stood still, and got ready to kick dirt, while old Mr. Hawk came\nsailing round, and round, and round, making ready to light on him. If\nyou'll believe it, that foolish rabbit stayed right there until down\ncame Mr. Hawk, and then, oh me, oh my, how Sonny did kick dirt!\n\n[Illustration: When Sonny Bunny was an Invalid.]\n\n\"I'm willing to admit that part of his plan was all right. He blinded\nMr. Hawk, but at the same time didn't save all of his own skin, for the\nold fellow's claws went into Sonny Bunny's back so far, as his mother\ntold me, that you could almost see the bones, and the foolish rabbit\nlaid in bed three or four weeks before he was fit to go out of doors\nagain.\"\n\n\"It seems to me as if I had heard something like that before,\" your Aunt\nAmy said, and Mrs. Mouser replied:\n\n\"Very likely you've heard the same story, for all the animals around\nhere know about it.\"\n\n\"But what was it you said about Mr. Fox's father meeting a crab?\" your\nAunt Amy asked.\n\n\n\n\nMR. FOX AND MISS CRAB.\n\n\n\"Well, that isn't what you might really call a story; it's only\nsomething which happened to old Mr. Fox when he went down to the\nseashore for his health, and met young Miss Crab. He had never seen\nanybody of the kind, and didn't know whether she was an animal, or a\nfish, or a bird.\n\n\"'Good morning,' he said very politely, and Miss Crab answered him back\nas nice as you please.\n\n\"'Are you out for a walk?' he asked.\n\n\"'Oh no, indeed,' she said. 'I am here taking the sea air for my health.\nThe doctor recommends it, but I am not allowed to move around very much\nbecause I'm so feeble.'\n\n[Illustration: Old Mr. Fox trying to coax Miss Crab out of her shell.]\n\n\"Now old Mr. Fox was puzzled. He put his paw on her shell, and it was\nhard; but whether it was the house she lived in, or a part of herself,\nhe couldn't for the life of him tell.\n\n\"Well, after a time he made up his mind that the shell must be her\nhouse, so he said:\n\n\"'Why don't you come outside where you can get purer air than you do in\nthere?' and she replied, just as a gull went sailing by:\n\n\"'I don't dare to for fear some of those rude birds will eat me.'\n\n\"That settled old Mr. Fox. He thought if the birds liked Miss Crab well\nenough to eat her, she would make a good supper for him. So he began to\ncoax and coax her to come out, and after a long time, finding that she\nwould not do as he wanted, he began trying to bite the shell into\npieces. Then she caught hold of his tongue with one of her big claws,\nand bit as much as an inch and a half right straight off the end of it.\n\n\"Oh me, oh my, how old Mr. Fox did howl! I'm told that he went home in a\nmost dreadful rage, with the blood streaming out of his mouth, and when\nhis wife asked him what the matter was, he couldn't say a word, of\ncourse not, because his tongue was gone. I don't know how long it was\nbefore he got well; but they do say he was the most shamefaced looking\nanimal that was ever seen, whenever any one spoke to him about crabs, or\nthe seashore.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE BABY ELEPHANT.\n\n\n\"Speaking of the seashore reminds me of another piece of Mr. Crow's\npoetry, and if you can stand any more, I wish you would, because I think\nthis is really good.\"\n\nAs a matter of course your Aunt Amy could do no less than say she would\nbe pleased to hear it, and Mrs. Mouser recited that which is set down\nhere:\n\n  To little John Adolphus Chubb\n    Your kind attention I invite;\n  Oh, how he loves to bathe and scrub,\n    Each day at noon and eke at night.\n\n  Now John Adolphus William Chubb\n    A fine young elephant is he;\n  And when he's in his little tub,\n    Oh, 'tis a pleasant sight to see!\n\n  His nurse,--a motherly old thing--\n    No need to coax the rogue has she;\n  Adolphus, when he sees her bring\n    The water, trumpets in his glee.\n\n[Illustration: Johnny Chubb.]\n\n  Oh, how he loves the cold, cold stream\n    Descending on him in the tub!\n  He feels as if he'd like to scream--\n    He loves it so--does William Chubb.\n\n  And then, the evening's washing o'er\n    (Though he could wish it lasted still),\n  His nurse will gay, \"Come, come, no more;\n    You've had enough now, Master Will!\"\n\n  So swift he's dried, his night-gown on,\n    A night-cap tied upon his head,\n  And to the rattle's music,\n    John Adolphus William goes to bed.\n\n[Illustration: Johnny Goes to Bed.]\n\n\"I don't think that is very nice poetry,\" your Aunt Amy said when Mrs.\nMouser had come to the end of the verses. \"It is too ridiculous.\"\n\n\"That may be; but I have heard some of your friends, like Mr. Turtle,\nfor example, tell you even worse than that,\" and Mrs. Mouser spoke quite\nsharply. \"Now if you want a really pretty little story, that hasn't got\nmuch fun in it, I can tell you one about two mice, and it must be true,\nbecause I had it from a cat friend of mine who was on the spot.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF SQUEAKY MOUSE.\n\n\nYour Aunt Amy said to Mrs. Mouser that she would be very much pleased to\nhear it, and, telling the story as if she did not entirely approve of it\nherself, Mrs. Mouser began:\n\n\"Mother Mouse had two little daughters, Meeky and Squeaky. Meeky was a\ngood little mouse, and did everything her mother told her. Squeaky was\nvery brave and daring, but she was the torment of everybody's life.\n\n\"One day Mother Mouse was too ill to go out and do her own marketing.\n\n\"'I wish you children would go and get me a little lump of cheese,' she\nmoaned.\n\n\"Away scampered the two little mice to a high shelf they knew of; their\nmother had warned them against traps and cats, so they were careful not\nto linger on the pantry floor. When they found the cheese, Meeky began\nat once rolling up a little lump to take home to her mother, but Squeaky\nfilled her mouth as full as it would hold, and ran up and down the\nshelf, making a great clatter.\n\n\"'Be careful,' said her sister. 'The cat will hear you.'\n\n[Illustration: Squeaky sees Mrs. Cat.]\n\n\"Squeaky looked down and saw the cat on the pantry shelf; she knew it\ncouldn't get up to her, and she could not resist calling: \"'Peekaboo!'\n\n\"Dear me, how Mrs. Cat glared!\n\n\"'Oh,' said Meeky, 'how are we to get down with mother's cheese now?'\n\n\"Squeaky said they would wait till the cat went to sleep, and pretty\nsoon this seemed to be the case. But Mrs. Cat was only shamming, for the\nminute Squeaky reached the floor she pounced upon her, and while the\nmouse was carried shrieking away, Meeky made her escape.\n\n\"Of course, Mother Mouse and Meeky felt badly for a while, but the other\nmice said it was just what might have been expected, and just what\nhappened to young mice who would not mind what their elders told them.\"\n\n\"Don't you ever feel badly, Mrs. Mouser, when you have caught a mouse,\nto think that it had a mother, and brothers and sisters, in its hole,\nwaiting for it to come back?\" your Aunt Amy asked.\n\n\"Why should I?\" and Mrs. Cat spoke sharply. \"Mice were made for cats to\neat, and even if they were not, unless I killed all I could, Mr. Man's\nhouse would be over-run with them.\"\n\n\n\n\nA SAUCY MOUSE.\n\n\n\"Of course I can't do very much in the daytime, because they don't come\nout of their holes; but I work all night, and it would surprise you to\nknow how many there are in the house, I don't kill off a tenth part of\nthem, and they seem to think they have more rights here than I have.\n\n\"Why, it is only last week that I happened to look up on the broad shelf\nin the dining-room closet, and there were six mice, sitting around as\nbold as you please. Five ran for their lives the minute they saw me; but\nwhat do you think the other one did? Why, he sat on his tail with his\npaws behind him, and actually scolded because I had come around there.\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Mouse is angry.]\n\n\"I really believe the foolish creature thought he could frighten me, for\nhe kept right on scolding and sputtering until I got my paw on his neck,\nand of course that settled him. I left him a good deal worse off than\nMrs. Lioness did Mr. Rat, when she wanted to play with him.\"\n\n\n\n\nFATAL SPORT.\n\n\n\"That must be a new story,\" your Aunt Amy said, and Mrs. Mouser looked\nsurprised as she replied:\n\n\"Well, well, I don't understand what all the animals around here have\ntalked about! This is the third or fourth very old story that you\nhaven't heard, and when I came in here to visit this afternoon, I had an\nidea that everything I might offer to tell, you had heard from some of\nthe others.\"\n\n\"Suppose you tell me what Mrs. Lioness did to Mr. Rat?\" your Aunt Amy\nsuggested, and Mrs. Mouser began:\n\n\"Once upon a time--you can see from the beginning how old this story\nis--Mr. Rat ate his way into the place where they keep animals to show\nthem off--a Zoological Garden, I believe Mr. Man calls it. Well, after\nMr. Rat got in he found a Mrs. Lion who was all alone, and feeling as\nthough she really needed company. She was just as kind to Mr. Rat as she\ncould be, and asked him why he didn't make his home there with her.\n\n\"'I would like to,' Mr. Rat said, 'for you seem to be a very nice kind\nof a Mrs. Lion; but when Mr. Man, who owns this place, comes along, he\nwill kill me if he can.'\n\n\"'I would like to see Mr. Man try to hurt any one who was visiting me!'\nMrs. Lion said sharply, as she held up her paw. 'Do you see that? I\ncould kill Mr. Man with it in a minute if I struck him.'\n\n\"As she spoke she laid her paw on Mr. Rat in play, just to show him what\nshe could do, and the 'play' was so rough that the breath of life was\nsqueezed out of Mr. Rat in a jiffy.\n\n\"Now you might have supposed that Mrs. Lion would feel badly because she\nhad killed Mr. Rat without meaning to; but instead of that she said,\nlooking at his body:\n\n\"'What a poor kind of a creature he must be, when he allows himself to\nbe killed with what was no more than a love pat!'\n\n\"And a little mouse, who was sitting in a hole in the wall, having seen\nall that happened, squeaked with a nervous snicker:\n\n\"'A lion's sport is altogether too strenuous for such as us, and if Mr.\nRat had been wise, he would have kept well outside the cage, fearing\nyour play even more than your anger.'\n\n[Illustration: \"What a poor creature Mr. Rat is to be killed with a love\npat, said Mrs. Lion.]\n\n\"'It seems to me he was a wise little mouse,' your Aunt Amy said, and\nMrs. Mouser replied with a sneer:\n\n\"He was a good deal like many others I know of, exceeding wise after\nthey have seen the result of another's folly. But it seems to me that we\nare talking altogether too much about mice.\"\n\n\n\n\nA CAT'S DREAM.\n\n\n\"I have been wanting to repeat to you what I call some very nice poetry,\nwhich Mr. Crow made about a dream of mine. It is really the best thing\nhe ever wrote, and although I the same as promised not to ask you to\nlisten to anything more of his, I am very anxious for you to hear it.\"\n\n\"Don't think that I object so severely to what Mr. Crow writes,\" your\nAunt Amy replied. \"I have heard a number of things he wrote which I\nthought were very good indeed.\"\n\nThen Mrs. Mouser Cat repeated the following:\n\n  Kitty cat, kitty cat, asleep on the rug,\n  With velvet paws beneath your head nice and snug,\n  What are you dreaming of? What do you think\n  When out slips your little tongue so soft and pink?\n\n  When you flick your ears, and your whiskers quiver so,\n  And you give an eager cry like a whisper low;\n  When your tail pats the rug so intent, and you seem\n  Just ready for a spring, tell me what do you dream?\n\n[Illustration: When Mrs. Mouser Dreams.]\n\n  \"Oh, I have a fairy-land I visit in my sleep,\n  Where the mice don't expect me and are playing bo-peep;\n  Down I pounce upon them, they are not so quick as I,\n  And I smile as I regale myself upon a mouse pie;\n\n  \"There are pantries where the pans of milk are brimming o'er,\n  Where I lap the rich cream and spill no drop upon the floor;\n  Loveliest custards, daintiest bits of fragrant cheese;\n  And I help myself without a word as often as I please.\n\n  \"Then I walk along the fences and I grandly wave my tail;\n  My whiskers are so fierce all the other cats turn pale;\n  When Pug and Towser eye me, suspiciously, I know,\n  I give a spring upon them and off in fright they go.\n\n  \"And in my pretty fairy-land no cruel boys appear;\n  Only black eats and white cats, and purrs and mews to hear.\n  And these are what my visions are, oh little mistress sweet;\n  Sure any cat would need to smile asleep here at your feet.\"\n\n[Illustration: A Cat's Dreamland.]\n\n\"Now I really think that is good, Mrs. Mouser,\" and your Aunt Amy spoke\nno more than the truth. \"I don't seriously object to Mr. Crow's nonsense\nverses; but at the same time I never really enjoy them.\"\n\n\n\n\nBLOOD RELATIONS.\n\n\n\"Of course there's a difference in tastes,\" Mrs. Mouser said\nthoughtfully. \"Some of the things which Bunny Rabbit thinks are good, I\ndon't like at all, and perhaps he objects to what I believe is very\nfine. Now here is a story Mr. Crow has got about Mr. Man's boy Tommy.\nMamma Speckle thinks there was nothing like it ever told. He says that\nTommy Man, one night after he had been tucked up in his crib, was\nawakened by a strange, humming, buzzing sound close to his head, and\nwhen he got out the sand that the 'sand-man' had put in his eyes, he\nstared about him. There on the bottom of the bed was a fearful\nhobgoblin, so Tommy Man thought, with big round eyes, awfully long legs\nand wings, and a beak that looked like a trooper's sword.\n\n\"'Are you one of those angels that my mamma said took care of little\nboys at night?' asked Tommy Man, trembling.' 'Cause if you are I guess I\ncan get along by myself all right; you needn't stay.'\n\n\"But the mosquito made a jab with his bill at the bed-clothes over\nTommy's chin, and said, loudly:\n\n\"'Cousin-n-n-n-n, Cousin-n-n-n.'\n\n\"'Oh, you're a cousin, are you? I wonder which one?'\n\n\"'Z-z-i-m m-m,' answered the mosquito, buzzing about Tommy Man's head.\n\n[Illustration: The Unexpected Visitor.]\n\n\"'Zim? Oh, I guess you must be that soldier cousin of mother's by the\nlooks of the sword you carry; his name was Jim.'\n\n\"'Cousin-n-n-n-n!' buzzed the mosquito sharply. 'Don't you know your own\nrelations?'\n\n\"'You my relation?' Tommy asked in amazement. 'How do you make that\nout?'\n\n\"'Oh, easy. Relations are those who have the same blood in them, ain't\nthey?'\n\n\"'Yes,' assented Tommy.\n\n\"'Well, you and I have the same blood. You had it, and now I've got it.\nI just tapped you, you know.'\n\n\"Tommy didn't know anything of the kind, and he was terribly frightened,\nso he just covered up his head, and trembled until Mr. Mosquito flew\naway.\"\n\n\"Those are what I call nonsense stories,\" your Aunt Amy said when Mrs.\nMouser ceased speaking, and she replied quite sharply:\n\n\"Of course they are, and that is about all the animals on this farm\nknow.\"\n\n\"I am certain you make a mistake, Mrs. Mouser Cat, for you have told me\nseveral this afternoon which teach a good lesson,\" your Aunt Amy said,\nand for a moment it seemed very much as if Mrs. Mouser was angry, but\nher face brightened an instant later, as she cried:\n\n\"I've got the very story for you, although it's about a mouse, and I\ndon't really believe in talking of them so much, for it makes it appear\nas if they were of great importance, when all they are fit for is to\nfurnish food for us cats.\n\n\"Once upon a time there was a miller who lived in his mill, and on a\ncertain morning, when he was opening the sacks of grain, out hopped a\nlittle mouse.\n\n\"'Oh, wife, wife!' he cried as if he had seen some horrible animal.\n'Bring me the butcher knife so that I can kill this mouse!'\n\n\"But the little mouse put her paws together and begged for her life. She\npromised to keep the mill free from mice if the miller would spare her\nlife. Well, after a good deal of talk the miller agreed that she should\nbe allowed to live in the mill, and for a whole month she kept her word\nso well that not even a mouse's tail was seen anywhere around the place.\nThen, one morning the miller heard a faint squeaking, and he cried out\nangrily:\n\n\"'What's this, Mrs. Mouse? You have forgotten your promise, and let in\nsome of your friends.'\n\n\"No,' answered the little mouse, 'I have kept my promise. Those are my\nthree babies, who were born last night,' and she led the way proudly to\nher nest, where the three squirming little mouse babies lay.\n\n\"'So this is the way you keep your word, is it?' the miller cried\nangrily. 'You promised to drive all other mice away from this mill, and\nhere are three who have come to get their living from me!'\n\n\"Then he picked up the babies and threw them into the river. Oh, but the\nlittle mouse was angry! Yet she was only a mouse, and he was a man, so\nshe said nothing; but after that, whenever she got a chance, she gnawed\nand gnawed and gnawed at the outer post of the mill, sometimes working\nthe whole night long.\n\n\"Then came a big storm, and the river rose very high; the posts which\nwere half gnawed through, broke, and the mill fell over into the river.\n\n\"'Save me! Save me!' shouted the miller as the swiftly-running current\ncarried him down the stream.\n\n\"'I am sending you to find my lost babies,' squeaked the little mouse as\nshe ran to and fro on the bank.\n\n\"There's a good lesson in that story, if you know how to find it,\" Mrs.\nMouser said as she curled herself into a little ball near the fireplace,\nmuch as though she had come to an end of her story-telling; but just at\nthat moment a mouse showed his nose in one corner of the room.\n\nIn an instant Mrs. Mouser Cat was on her feet looking as if she had\nnever thought of such a thing as taking a nap, and in a very few seconds\nshe had the mouse in her claws.\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Mouser Cat Catches a Mouse.]\n\n\"I guess this breaks up my visit,\" she said, going toward the door. \"I\nmust give the kittens a chance to learn how a mouse should be caught,\nand it isn't likely I'll have time to come back here this afternoon.\"\n\nThen Mrs. Mouser Cat disappeared through the half-opened door, and your\nAunt Amy was left alone, wondering which, of all the animals on the\nfarm, would be the next to provide her with an afternoon's\nentertainment.\n\nTHE END.","title":"Mouser Cat's Story","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":11117}