VISIT TO OLD SHADOW
On Ground-Hog day in February, Dot cried, “Oh, Ma, may we go to visit Old
Shadow, the Ground-Hog?”
Tot cried, “Oh, Ma, may we go out with our little travelling bags?”
Trot stood first on one foot, then on the other, and said, “Ma cannot
hear herself think if we all talk at once.”
Twinkle Toes said, “I think we can all take our travelling bags.”
Mother Kit-Cat looked severely at the Three Little Kittens and said, “You
may go, if you will only remember to wear your mittens.”
[Illustration: IT GREW DARKER AND DARKER IN OLD SHADOW’S BURROW]
“Mittens, mittens, I will wear my magic mittens,” said Twinkle Toes.
By this time Mother Kit-Cat had finished the mittens for Twinkle Toes.
He put on his mittens and the Three Little Kittens all put on theirs, and
followed Twinkle Toes with a hop and a skip and a bound.
It was a cold day in February, and the wind was blowing.
Suddenly Dot, and Tot and Trot cried, “We are tired, we wish we were at
our journey’s end.”
Twinkle Toes rubbed his mittens together and said, “I wish we were at Old
Shadow’s hole.”
Then the funniest thing happened.
In the twinkling of an eye, they were at Old Shadow’s hole, and there he
was, busily digging.
He said,
“Three Little Kittens I’m glad you came,
But old Woodchuck is my real name,
Now if “Old Shadow” you like better,
Call me that to the very letter.”
Just then he caught sight of Twinkle Toes and said,
“Here is a friend that everyone knows,
Our dear little, queer little Twinkle Toes.”
The Three Little Kittens made a bow and said,
“Old Shadow, answer the Three Little Kittens,
Did you ever wear our three pairs of mittens?”
At that, the strangest thing happened, Old Shadow ran into his hole
calling,
“You speak of mittens, you scare me so,
I do not know which way to go.”
The Kittens all ran after him.
The hole was funnel-shaped, and the passage-way grew smaller, and
smaller, and smaller, and wound in and out.
By and by they saw Old Shadow at the far end, and he called,
“Come inside, and take your ease,
But don’t disturb my digging, please.”
By and by he stopped digging, and said, “Ha, ha, ha, let us measure
whiskers.”
He had very long whiskers and was proud of them.
“Come, help me dig, for we may then find some clover roots. How I do like
clover roots!”
Twinkle Toes waltzed round and round and then began to dig with a will,
to please Old Shadow.
Dot soon said, “I must stop, for my paws are tired.”
Tot said, “Oh dear, my paws were not made for digging.”
Trot said,
“We are Three Little Kittens,
Who once lost our mittens.”
At the mention of the word, “mittens,” the most remarkable thing
happened.
[Illustration: ALL THE ANIMALS WERE MARCHING, RIGHT FOOT, LEFT FOOT]
Old Shadow took out his watch and cried, “It is quarter to spring, it is
quarter to spring. I must hurry, hurry, hurry or I will be too late to
meet Lady Spring.”
Whisk! bound! He was out of his burrow before you could wink an eye lash!
It was dark in the strange burrow, and Twinkle Toes and the Three Little
Kittens ran this way, and that way, trying to find the way out.
The burrow had several rooms and they kept losing themselves every few
minutes.
They could always hear the tinkle, tinkle, tinkle of the little bell that
hung from Twinkle Toes’ neck.
Dot and Tot began to cry, but brave little Trot said,
“Cheer up, kittens do not cry,
There’s a way out, if you but try.”
It grew darker and darker in Old Shadow’s burrow, and I don’t know what
in the world they would have done, if Twinkle Toes had not thought of his
Magic Mittens.
He thought of his mittens, and rubbed them gently saying, “I wish the
Little Old Man of the Fire would appear.”
No sooner said, than done.
The Little Old Man of the Fire appeared in his green cap and jacket of
yellow.
His jacket shone with light and he sang,
“Ha, ha, ha, I can’t help but sing,
It is planting time, and almost spring.”
“Not in February,” said Dot.
“Not in February,” said Tot.
Brave little Trot said,
“Don’t be alarmed Sir, we’re only kittens,
Who once on a time lost all our mittens.”
Twinkle Toes said never a word, but his little bell went, “tinkle,
tinkle, tinkle,” every step he took.
The Little Old Man of the Fire said, “I came upon you so suddenly, you
almost scared me out of a year’s growth.
“I see Twinkle Toes, and Three Little Kittens, big as life and half as
natural. Ho, ho, so you do not think it is time for spring? Look above
you, see the roots growing.”
Dot said, “Please show us the way out.”
Tot said, “We are afraid of the dark, lead the way out.”
Brave Little Trot said, “We will do a kindness for you, kind Sir, if you
will light us home.”
Twinkle Toes waltzed round and round.
The Little Old Man of the Fire was full of mischief and he said
“Once or twice most every year,
I naturally just disappear,
Your eyes as big as saucers, I see,
They are light enough for you and me.”
Without another word the Little Old Man of the Fire disappeared.
Dot and Tot began to cry softly into their little pocket handkerchiefs
and even Trot got his little pocket handkerchief out, but Twinkle Toes
waltzed round and round.
Twinkle Toes said,
“A misfortune is often what we make it,
Hark! to footsteps, I don’t mistake it.”
Then he rubbed his Magic Mittens and wished for Uncle Mouser.
They all listened.
For steps were coming nearer, and nearer every minute.
Uncle Mouser appeared at the opening of the burrow with the Little Old
Man of the Fire, whom he had caught, and now carried inside a lantern!
Uncle Mouser shouted,
“Have you seen three Kittens
Who once lost their mittens?
I’m looking also for Twinkle Toes,
There’s a bell that tinkles wherever he goes.”
They all shouted, “Hurrah Uncle Mouser, here we are, here we are!”
They lost no time getting out of Old Shadow’s burrow you may be sure,
and the Little Old Man of the Fire hopped merrily about in the lantern
singing,
“It is fun away to roam,
But there is no place like home!”
Uncle Mouser said, “It is not safe to go into deep burrows. Let me count,
are you all here?”
[Illustration: THEY WERE MAKING A FLAG]
[Illustration: THEY DREAMED THEY WERE SAILING AWAY]
Twinkle Toes and the Three Little Kittens were so pleased to see Uncle
Mouser, they hugged and kissed him so hard, and jumped about so much, he
could not count them to save his life.
He kept saying anxiously, “I hope I have you all here, two, three, or
four.”
Old Mother Kit-Cat stood in the doorway looking for them and she said,
“Oh Uncle Mouser, your red plush-lined basket is waiting for you.”
She hugged and kissed Twinkle Toes, and the Three Little Kittens and gave
them some milk, and put them to bed.
They talked a good deal in their sleep that night and Twinkle Toes said,
“With travelling bags now we have found,
’Tis safe to journey underground,
But very happy are the kittens,
Because I wore my Magic Mittens!”
The Magic Mittens were very busy that night, they dusted everything in
Twinkle Toes’ room. They said in a sing-song kind of way.
“You may know some things about Three Kittens,
But you know very little of Magic Mittens.”
I wonder what the Magic Mittens meant, don’t you?