Time passed rapidly on, and the autumn drew near. The young squirrels
were now become so strong and active, and so fond of scampering about,
that their parents could hardly prevent them from rambling away by
themselves much further than was safe for them. One morning Brush was
almost certain that he had seen their terrible enemy in a distant tree,
and as his children happened to be unusually frolicsome just then, and
determined to have their own way, he thought he would try to keep them
at home, by relating a little story which he had heard at different
times, from Leatherwing.
The old fellow said, that, one evening, as he was flying about in a
garden, he observed a very young lady sitting in a summer-house,
holding in her hand the smallest mouse he had ever seen, fastened by a
string and a leather collar round its neck. So, as the bat was of a
very inquisitive, prying disposition, he hung himself up to the ceiling
of the summer-house, determined to overhear the conversation that was
going on below. It appeared that the mouse was relating his adventures
to his mistress. Now to tell you the truth, this little history has no
connexion with the other parts of my tale; so if you are in a very
great hurry to get to the end of the book, you can skip it altogether,
but I hope you will not behave so rudely to a poor author, who has
really done his best to entertain his readers.
Leatherwing's tale was called--
SOME PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF THE SMALLEST QUADRUPED IN THE
WORLD.[9]
[9] When this was written, I was not aware that there existed in
other countries a quadruped still more diminutive than our little
harvest-mouse. However, as "Minimus" declares that he was much
smaller than others of his species, the title of his history may
still be correct.
"Don't push and squeeze so Tiney! you take up more room than three or
four of us."
"What a story! It is you Softsides, that want to have half the nest for
yourself."
"Yes," squeaked sister Sleek, "and he has almost scratched my poor eye
out,--the cross creature! only because I asked him to let me suck when
he had had enough, and he knew how dreadfully thirsty I was."
"Be quiet children, will you?" said mamma; "and let me go to sleep. You
forget what a terrible headache I have, and how tired I am with running
away from that frightful weasel that chased me almost to death this
morning. I should like to know what you would have done if he had
caught me! Now mind! if I hear any more quarrelling, as surely as a
grain of wheat has a husk, I will kick some of you out of the nest, and
let the weasel or the owl make a meal of you."
This little specimen of a family quarrel, which took place when my
brothers and sisters and myself were a few days old, and were not so
large as hazel-nuts, is the earliest circumstance of my life of which I
have any recollection. At this time we were eight in number, and though
all of the same age, I was much the smallest and weakest of the brood,
for which reason I suppose they called me "Mini-mus," or "the little
mouse." My brothers and sisters despised me so for my poor health, and
were so cross and tyrannical, that I verily believe I should have
perished in infancy if my mother had not taken pity on me, and allowed
me to suck sometimes out of my turn. The truth is, I was rather a
favourite with my dear mamma; why, I cannot imagine, for I was a
miserable looking little object, and was often very cross and rude to
her. But since I have seen more of the world, I find that mothers of
your species, my dear mistress, often show the strongest attachment to
those children who are the most worthless in mind and body, and the
least deserving of their affection.
Well! thanks to my dear mother's care, I got through my infancy pretty
well, though I am still much smaller than the rest of my family. But if
you could have seen my poor brother Softsides! oh, he was a noble
animal! Will you believe it? he was nearly twice my size, and such a
runner and leaper! He made nothing of jumping up to our nest at one
bound, without taking the trouble to climb up in the usual way. But I
must leave Softsides for the present, and tell you what sort of a house
our careful mother had provided for us.
It was built on the top of a thistle at a little distance from the
ground, and was nicely sheltered from the wind and rain by a high close
hedge. It was as round as a ball, and was made entirely of the blades
of grass and small straws, carefully woven together like basket-work,
while the inside was as smooth and warm as possible; for there was only
one very small opening, and even that was closed at night, and in the
daytime when the weather was cold. A most delightfully warm, snug house
it was, I assure you; but as we increased in size, it became rather too
small for us, and, as I have already mentioned, we sometimes squabbled
a little for want of room. Indeed I once heard mamma saying to herself,
when she thought we were all asleep, "Well, if I had known that I
should have had such a large family I would have built a bigger house."
Now you must know that she was only one year old herself, and we were
her first brood of young ones. But though this was the first nest she
had ever made, she had shown great judgment in choosing a situation,
which was not, as is usually the case with our tribe, in a corn-field,
where both the nests and the inhabitants are often destroyed by the
reapers. Fearful of this dreadful disaster, our mother had built her
nest on a grassy bank, in an unfrequented meadow, in which there was no
public path, and where a few quiet sheep were our only companions. The
field adjoining ours was a wheat-field, and so we had an abundant
supply of food on the other side of the hedge.
For the first week or two we never left the nest; but mamma soon began
to feed us with seeds, and when our teeth were too weak to nibble hard
grains, she brought us the soft, unripe wheat, which was delicious
juicy food for tender infants.
Never shall I forget the terrible fright I was in the first time I
ventured to leave the nest, and clamber down the thistle-stalk to the
ground! My brothers and sisters had been down the day before, and
laughed at my timidity; and then they boasted that they had scrambled
up the bank, and looked through the hedge, into the wheat-field, where
they had seen the reapers at work; and they told me that they had been
terribly frightened by the barking of a large dog. But Softsides said
that _he_ was not frightened a bit, and that he only came back to the
nest because he wanted his dinner; and he declared that he would fight
the dog the next time he saw him.
Then they told me that they had seen a little girl in the wheat-field,
gathering flowers, and that they had heard her sing most
divinely--something about "Trip with me," and "the moon shining
bright." And Softy said that he had learned part of the song, and that
if we would give over prating so, and would listen to him, he would
sing it as sweetly as the little girl did. So he sat up on his hinder
parts, and began, "Trip with me, trip with me," but he made such a
funny whistling noise through his long front teeth, that we all laughed
till we cried. Then brother Softsides was angry, and bit my ear till I
cried most bitterly, without laughing at all.
The next day, with the help of mamma, I managed to get down to the
ground, and to climb up the bank; and in the wheat-field was the little
girl again, singing her pretty song, and gathering wild-flowers in the
hedge. But either because she had had more practice in singing than
Softy, or because her front teeth were not so long as his, her
performance was much more pleasing, to my ears at least, and I did not
feel at all inclined to laugh at her. Presently, another little girl,
who had been all the morning gleaning, came up to her, crying, and
complaining that somebody had stolen a large bunch of wheat that she
had collected and hid in a corner of the field. Then we saw that the
young lady with the sweet voice had a sweet disposition also, for she
gave the little gleaner her last sixpence, and sent her home as happy
as a bird.
[Illustration: THE HARVEST-MICE. Page 134.]
I was dreadfully tired with this expedition, and was quite lame for
several days after, with a thorn in my left hind-foot, but at last
mamma sucked it out for me. When it got well, I took courage to leave
the nest again, and joined my brothers and sisters in their games of
play, among the high grass, at the foot of the thistle, while mamma
would sit on the nest, keeping watch lest some enemy should approach.
As we became stronger and more courageous, we rambled further from
home, and when the distance was not too great, I generally joined the
party. All my family were now very kind to me, and I hope that I was
less pettish in my behaviour to them, for mamma had convinced us how
silly and wicked it is for brothers and sisters to quarrel with each
other.
And now I must tell you of the dreadful fate of brother Softsides. Poor
fellow! he was very vain of his running and leaping abilities, and at
last he perished miserably by his rashness. One fine afternoon, when we
were more than half grown, Softsides, Tiney, and Sleek set off for a
very long ramble along the hedge, nearly to the bottom of the field. I
was too weak to join the party, but sister Sleek gave me a particular
account of this unfortunate expedition. Softy was in very high spirits,
and was trying to make Tiney lay wagers of so many grains of corn,
about the distance he could leap. Fine fun they had, jumping and
tumbling about; but at last they came to a place where some labourers
had been dining, and had left a basket, with bread and cheese in it,
and a small keg of beer, or cider. Our party made a glorious meal on
the cheese, which was quite new food to them; and then Softsides said
he would try to leap on to the keg, to enjoy the beautiful prospect.
But sister Sleek begged him not to make the attempt, saying that she
was sure he would come to some mischief if he did. Now I must tell you,
that Sleek, though very demure and quiet in her manners, was considered
to be much the most sensible of all our family; and indeed mamma, who
was confined at home that day by a sprained ankle, had made her join
this exploring party, in the hopes that she would keep the boys out of
mischief.
"Now what harm can there possibly be in trying to jump on to this keg,
I should like to know?" said Softsides; "but sister Sleek, or _Meek_,
if you like that name better, you are always spoiling my fun."
"You may call me what name you like, Softy," replied his sister, "but I
feel quite convinced in my own mind that if you don't take my advice,
something dreadful will happen."
And sure enough something dreadful did happen--something very dreadful
indeed: for poor brother Softsides, taking a run of about a couple of
feet, jumped on to the fatal keg, pretty easily, but, alas! he never
jumped down again! for the heat of the sun had forced the bung out,
though we could not see this from the ground. Poor Softy saw it, when
too late, for he could not save himself from tumbling down headlong
into the keg, where he was soon drowned, while his brother and sister
were horrified by hearing him screaming for assistance, which they
could not possibly give him, and lamenting that he had not taken
Sleek's advice.
So Tiney and his sister came back, frightened and sorrowful enough, and
our cheerful home became a house of mourning. Mamma was in hysterics
all night, and I verily thought we should have lost her. But sister
Sleek, who knew something of the virtues of herbs, sent two of the boys
into the wheat-field for a red poppy-head, which she persuaded mamma to
eat, and soon after she became quiet, and slept all the next day and
night. Then we were terribly afraid that she had taken so much of this
powerful medicine that she would never wake again; and though Sleek
said that she was not at all alarmed, I am sure she seemed very nervous
and agitated, till at last our dear mother opened her eyes, and asked
for some food.
In one corner of our field was an old deserted stable, which we
sometimes visited, partly for the sake of a few horse-beans which we
found on the floor, and partly to have a chat with a very odd creature
who had taken up his abode there, and with whom we had formed a sort of
acquaintance. This creature was an immense _toad_, a very strange
companion, you will say, for a family of little mice. Certainly, he
_was_ an odd fellow, and a very ugly fellow too; but then he had the
most beautiful eyes in the world, and I am sure he gave us very good
advice, if we had been wise enough to have attended to it, instead of
laughing at his croaking voice, and formal manner of talking.
The first time we visited the hermit, as we called him, after the loss
of our brother, we were almost afraid to tell him of the accident,
expecting he would say that poor Softsides was rightly served, and that
we should all perish like him, by our folly, if we did not pay a little
more attention to the advice of our elders. But Toady had a more
feeling heart than you would have supposed from his manners and
appearance, and when he had heard the sad tale to an end, and we were
expecting a terrible lecture, he closed his searching eyes for a minute
or two, and then said,
"Children, I commiserate your distress. My spirit is pained, yea, what
if I say, sorely troubled and grieved, at this sad catastrophe!
Unfortunate Softsides! truly he was a handsome juvenal, and active of
limb withal. Know, my children, that he found favour in my sight, more
especially inasmuch as I have sometimes thought that I resembled him
not a little, both in feature and disposition, in the joyous days of my
youth. Leave me now to meditate for a season upon this grievous
visitation. In that corner you will find a few beans which I have
collected for you. Peradventure, when you have finished them, I may
relate some little tale or fable for your amusement. Yea, and for your
instruction also, if you will receive it."
So when we had finished the luncheon which the good hermit had provided
for us, we seated ourselves around the entrance of his hole, when,
after a few minutes' recollection, and his usual preparation for a
speech, by closing his eyes for a time, he related the following
FABLE OF THE SUNFLOWER AND THE MIGNIONETTE.
A gigantic Sunflower reared his many-headed stem very far above all the
other plants in the parterre, and affected not a little to despise
their lowly condition and insignificance. A bed of Mignionette, which
grew close to him, particularly excited the anger of this arrogant
fellow. And "what," exclaimed he, "could the stupid gardener be
thinking of, when he planted such miserable, little half-starved
wretches as you in the same border as a kingly Sunflower! Does not my
very name declare my rank and noble origin, in token whereof, I never
fail to pay my respects to the glorious lord of the skies, by turning
my head towards him, whenever he deigns to remove the misty veil from
his countenance? But as for you---- By the by, do you ever mean to
blossom, or have you the vanity to say, that those yellowish tufts
(which at this height I can hardly distinguish from leaves) deserve the
name of flowers? Ridiculous! I have a great mind to say, that if the
mistress of this garden does not remove you, and some other of your
vulgar companions, a little further off, I won't expand another blossom
this summer; I'll kill myself in spite! I will, I declare!"
The Mignionette plants were so diverted at this threat, that for some
time they could not reply to his abusive speech. At length one of them
quietly said, "Vain babbler! to be angry at thy impertinence would
prove that we were as silly as thyself. But know this, thou
empty-pated, and worthless one,--though mean in appearance, and
dwarfish in stature, we are nevertheless especial favourites with our
mistress, who is so delighted with the rich perfume of our 'yellowish
tufts,' as thou hast the impertinence to call them, that she frequently
honours them with a place in her bosom. Flowers must be very scarce
before any of thy huge gaudy-coloured blossoms attain to that envied
situation, I trow. But thy pride will soon be humbled, for yesterday I
overheard our mistress complaining of thy encroaching shade, and
directing the gardener to root thee up, and cast thee forth, to rot
like a vile weed upon the dunghill, that the more humble inhabitants of
the flower-bed may benefit by the life-bestowing rays of that being
whom we all worship, though we are not honoured, like thyself, by
bearing his name. Lo! while I speak, the gardener draweth near with his
spade, and thy destruction is at hand."
* * * * *
Our hermit was explaining to us how we might derive instruction from
this fable, when suddenly a fierce weasel and a half-grown young one
bounced in through the open doorway; but fortunately for us poor
little mice they did not see us for half a minute, and this delay
enabled the worthy Toady to save our lives. Scrambling out of his
hole, with a great deal more activity than could be expected in such a
corpulent old gentleman, he exclaimed, "Enter speedily, my children!"
For once we followed his advice, without asking for a reason why; but
we had hardly time to take refuge, when Mother Weasel espied the last
tail whisking into the hole, and screeching out to her son, "A prey!
a prey! I thought I smelt mice!" at a single bound she reached the
entrance. She was too late, for our protector had backed his fat body
into the hole, which he fitted so exactly, that the smallest beetle
could hardly have passed him. "Friend Weasel," said he, "I dispute not
that thou mayst have _smelt_ mice, but this day shalt thou _taste_
none, if my protection availeth anything. Verily, it appeareth to me
that for once in thy life thou art baulked."
Now you must know that most animals are rather afraid to attack a toad,
believing that he is a magician, and has the power of injuring his
enemies by spitting at them. Whether this be true or not I cannot say,
but I am sure that our friend was the most quiet, inoffensive creature
on earth. But Mrs. Weasel seemed to think differently, for bounding
away towards the door-way, she said to her son, "Come along, my boy! my
nose tells me that they are nothing but little miserable harvest-mice.
Let us try if we cannot meet with some of the great fat field-mice in
the wheat-field, they are six times as large as these little wretches.
For my part I am not at all hungry, but 'tis glorious fun hunting them
to death."
But there was another animal close at hand, who was also very fond of
hunting, and for the same reason; because he thought it was "_glorious
fun_." This was the little terrier dog "Pepper," whose master, Farmer
Winter, had come into the meadow that morning, to see how his sheep
were getting on. Now it so happened that "Pep" took it into his random
head to visit the stable, and he entered exactly as Mistress and Master
W. were going out. Of course our situation prevented us from witnessing
this interesting meeting, but we heard a scuffle, and two loud squeaks,
which our protector, who saw the whole affair from the mouth of his
den, informed us were the last sounds ever uttered by the long-backed
mother and son. But though Pepper had kindly shaken our enemies to
death, we did not like to trust ourselves in his power, thinking that
he would most likely serve us in the same manner; so we remained
quietly in the hole, till our kind friend had seen that the coast was
clear, and then, having thanked him for his protection, we ran home as
fast as possible.
We passed by the dead bodies of the weasels, and found that they were
much handsomer animals than we had supposed, for though their backs
were ridiculously long, their colours were very pretty; a beautiful
reddish brown on the upper parts, but underneath they were as white as
snow, or as your frock, my dear mistress. The hermit informed us
afterwards, that they are the boldest animals for their size in the
world, and that they will sometimes kill even young rabbits and hares.
He said, that when a weasel attacks an animal so much larger than
himself, he sticks fast to his neck, and though the poor creature runs
away, he cannot get rid of his tormentor, but is soon exhausted and
killed. Toady said, he once saw a weasel seized by a kite, and carried
up into the air. After a little while, however, the bird began to fly
very oddly, as if in pain, and at last fell down quite dead, close to
the spot where the hermit was sitting. While he was in the air the
weasel had killed the kite by gnawing a great hole in his side. So they
both came down together, but the conqueror was not at all injured by
his fall.
After our fortunate escape, nothing worth relating occurred till the
day I was caught by that cruel boy from whose hands you so kindly
rescued me. Being now nearly full grown our mother allowed us to take
care of ourselves in the daytime, but she made two of my sisters and
myself sleep in the nest with her at night.
One morning, wishing to see a little of the world, I set off by myself
across the meadow, intending to visit a pleasant little wood we could
just see from the bank above our house. But I had hardly reached the
middle of the field, when a tremendous hail-storm came on. Oh! what a
dreadful predicament I was in! The sheep had eaten down the grass so
close that it gave me no shelter whatever, neither could I find any
hole or crack to creep into, till the storm was over. So I made the
best of my way back again, though dreadfully bruised by the
hail-stones, and at last a very heavy one struck me such a blow on the
top of my head, that I was quite stunned; and I can remember nothing
more, till I found myself in the hands of your papa's stable-boy, Tom.
He had picked me up, when looking for mushrooms in the meadow, and
thought perhaps that I should make a nice breakfast for his kitten. But
when he found me come to life again, he said he would tame me, and make
me draw a little pasteboard cart to amuse his sister Jenny. You cannot
think how cruelly he used me, and how he made my lips bleed by forcing
an iron bit into my mouth. And then he almost killed me by trying to
make me swallow raw meat, which is a sort of food none of our species
can abide. Truly, I should never have lived to have related this
history, if you had not come into the stable-yard to see the young
rabbits. Most fortunately for me, you were singing your favourite song.
I remembered the words and the sweet clear voice instantly, and I said
to myself, "Perhaps the young lady that was so kind to the little
gleaner, may have compassion on a poor harvest-mouse." You know the
rest: I squeaked with all my might; you heard me, and soon persuaded
Tom to give up his prize in exchange for a dozen fine apples from your
own little tree.
And now, my dear kind mistress, will you not fulfil your promise, and
give me my liberty? I have been very happy with you, but I long
exceedingly to return to the beautiful green bank again, and to see
dear mamma, who must be dreadfully anxious about me, for it is now six
days since I left the nest. Hold me up to your face, and let me read my
fate in your beautiful eyes, which I declare are almost as bright and
dark as my mother's. Bring me closer, quite close, for I am rather
near-sighted. That will do. Oh joy! I see by those sweet sparklers,
that my petition is granted, and that I shall sleep to-night by my
mother's side in the downy nest on the thistle.
* * * * *
When this history was finished, Leatherwing said, that the little girl
pressed her captive to her lips, and then, putting on her straw hat,
she immediately walked out into the fields, with Minimus perched upon
her hand.