A mouse adventure [short story]

Title

Language

English

Year

1940

Subject

Short stories, Philippine (English)

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

[When Mousie came home from a journey, the Mouse family asked him to tell them what had happened. And he told them of his adventure in a blue vase.]

Fulltext

August, 1940 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 295 A MOUSE ADVENTURE WHEN Mousie came home from a journey, the Mouse family asked him to tell them what had happened. And he told them o{ his adventure in a blue vase. "I saw a little house in a forest," he said. "I looked at it. I sat there alone in the night and wished and .wished I could get into that little house. I was very hungry. Then, suddenly, the door opened. A man stood in the doorway. He looked up at the stars and down at the water, and he breathed' the air, d e e p. He said, 'What a lovely night!' and just stood there." "Well," said Auntie Mouse, "a night beside the water is nice." "Then I "Well, there I was," Mousie Mouse said. "The man came in and closed the door. And there· on a big chair was a great white cat." . "0-oh !" squealed little brother Mou$e. "A great white cat! What did you ·do, Mousie?" "It was a very lazy cat.. He just didn't bother to come after rne--at first." "Maybe he didn't even notice you, Mousie. Some cats haven't much sense," sniffed Auntie Mouse. "I think the cat saw me, Auntie. You know, I was dreadfully frightened! I couldn't move. I just stood still and the cat and I stared straight at each other." slipped right into the house," sque~led Mousie Mouse, "just as easy! The man never saw "A Mouser said the cat. ''A mouse is fun." "Staring at a cat!" ex cl aimed Madame Mouse. me." "Was. there any way to get out?" asked M'adamt Mouse. "That's just it, Mother," said Mousie Mouse. "There wasn't any way to get out." ,"That was one time you didn't use your head, Mousie," said his mother. Mousie cast down his eyes. "No, Mother, I forgot everything you had taught me. You see,·I smelled cheese." "Oh!" said Auntie Mouse. "The cat had big shining eyes. He looked ·at me as· if I were nothing at all. Then he stretched. out his paws, lazier than ever. 'I don't care for mice,' he saicj. 'But I'll catch him after a while!' He yawned. He had very sharp teeth." "That house was a trap!" said Madame Mouse. "Just a trap I And a son of mine walked right into it!" · "But Mother, I got out. I did use my head!" squealed Mousie Mouse. "There was only one large room to that house, 296 THE YOUNG CITIZEN August, 1940 and a little kitchen. Well, of course I slipped into the kitchen right away." "Cheese!" Auntie Mouse settled her glasses directly over her eyes. "Cheese I" "Yes, .cheese and crackers, too, Auntie Mouse, but I ate very little. I knew if I ate very much I might get sleepy. After I had eaten, I went into the large room again, and there was the cat, sitting there looking at me with. his big shining eyes. "Ptetty soon ~he man put down the book he had been reading. He locked the door. He put the cat down on the floor and went to bed. The chair was his bed, you see.". "Oh, Mousie!'' cried Madame Mouse. '"And then the cat----." "The cat went off to a much smaller chair that was his bed,'' Mousie explained. "He doubled himself up comfortably. 'A mouse!' )le said. 'I haven't had a mouse in the house-well, never in this house. A mouse is fun'." "Fun!" sniffed Auntie Mouse with a great leap in the air. '"But I'm so sleepy!' the cat said. 'I think I ate too much liver for supper. Well, he can't get out. Time enough'. "] ust as soon as 1 thoughfit was safe,'' Mousie went on, "I tried the windows·of the little house. The~ were tightly fastened. There was no way to get out of the house. Then I began to plan. I said to myself, 'The man will io out in the morning, and I'll go out, too'." "But there was the whole night with that old cat!" exclaimed Auntie Mouse. "I can't think what cats are good for, anyway.'' "Well, the big cat on the chair went to sleep," said Mousie. "I thought and thought I had noticed a shelf, up rather high, and on it was a blue vase. I said to myself, 'The cat can't get iQ that vase and I can. In the morning I can get out again.' So I climbed up to the shelf and sat close to the blue vase. "The night seemed to get blacker and blacker. I could hear some water out. side making a kind of rushing nois~. Then a wind began to blow about the little house. It seemed a long time before anything happened. Everyone in the place was sleeping except .me, and I felt sle~py, too. I 'just had to keep my eyes open, and it was not easy to do it. Then I saw the great white cat moving-movjng-" "0-ooh I" cried little brother Mouse. "'There he is,' said the cat, 'up on the shelf.· But who ever heard of a mouse getting away from a cat?' '.'Well, I had, but I didn't care to argue just at that moment. In another second that horrid cat jumped up to the shelf, and I was tucked away in the ·blue vase. It was a vase with a narrow top, and wider underneath. I knew that the cat couldn't get his paw into the opening. . But my heart beat pretty fast. 'Ha! Ha!' said the cat. I could just hear the cat's voice echoing through that vase. 'In the vase-think of that!' said the cat. 'What a wise little mouse I' He gave oqe push with his paw, and the vase went-bang~ down to the floor I" "Oh, Mou s i e I" exclaimed Auntie Mouse. "It was a long fall, .A:untie, but ohly the neck of the vase broke. I was stunned. I just stayed in the lower part of that vase, trembling. I simply couldn't move. "Then the man jumped up. He made a light, and said·to the cat in a cross voice, 'There! you've knocked my vase off the shelf and broken it. Aren't you ashamed!' (Please turn to page 317.) August, 1940 TURTLE AND DEER (Continued from page 297) "You must sit here in the grass, wife, and when the deer. comes up, you must say, 'How slow you are'! I have been waiti.ng for you at least ten minutes!'" T.hen the turtle trudged to the start.ing point of the race where al) the animals ·were assembled to· witness the unusual event. THE YOUNG CITIZEN ponent in the race.) "About face, and return,'' said the . surprised deer. And he started back, running faster ·than ever. When the turtle saw the deer coming a long distance away, he started to waddle back to the starting point. He arrived there just a few feet ahead of the deer. He sank down under the great tree, and pretended to be all out of breath from hard "Caw I. Caw! Maybe the turtle will · win! Caw I running. Caw! Maybe the turtle will When the deer saw the win I" croaked the wise old turtle fanning himself all crow. out of breath, he felt so Old Judge Billy Goat ashamed that he did not was there to start them off. wait to hear the decision of The two contestants lined old Judge Billy Goat. He up. turned and ran toward the "One! Get ready. Two.! forest, not daring to show Get set. Three! Go." Like .his face any more. a flash the deer sped away "Caw! Caw! I told you at a terrific spe¢d. The tur- the turtle would win! Caw! tie waddled along a short Caw! I told you the turtle distance until the tall grass would win!" ~roaked the hid him from view, and wise old crow: then he squatted dovyn to. And all the animals await the· return of the shouted, "Hurrah for old deer. Slow Foot! He is not so The deer ran with all his slow after all!" might until presently he Thousands of years ago neared the large rock which Aesop, the wise Greek, told was the turning point of the this same .. story, only in his contestants. version the hedgehog and To his amazement the the hare were the contestturtle's wife stood· up as he ants. approached, and said, At the end of the story "How slow you are! I have Aesop said, "It is not albeen waiting for you at least ways the swiftest who wins ten minutes." (The deer the race; sometimes the thought this was his op- qukkest ·witted wins." 317 'A MOUSE ADVENTURE (Continued from page 296) " 'There's a mouse in it I' said the big white cat. "But the man didn't understand what the cat said. He picked up ihe two pieces o~ the blue vase, pulled the door open, and threw the pieces of vase right toward the water." "And you were in one of them, Mousie!" ·Madame Mouse cried. "The minute the man picked up . the pieces,'' Mousie saicj, "my head began to work. It worked hard and quickly, Mother. I knew t.hat if I reached the 'water in that piece of blue glass I'd sink to the bottom and. probably drown. So just as the man threw ·the pieces toward the water, I jumped. · "I landed on the branch of a tree that was hanging over the water. The wind whirled the branch this way and that way, but I hung on. Pretty soon I was safe on the ground. I ran up to the window' sill of the little house, and I said to the cat, 'Whoevec heard of a mouse getting away from a cat!' Then I laughed, jumped ·down, and ran as hard as I could for home. And here I am." Wasn't that a mouse adventure!

pages

295-296,317

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