MASTER MEADOW MOUSE had rambled about the meadow without paying much
heed to safety. Although he still seemed to listen politely whenever his
mother gave him a lecture on dangerous birds or beasts, half the time he
didn't know what she was saying. He had decided that her fears were
foolish. He was sure that nothing could harm him.
He was thinking that very thought one day when he came face to face
suddenly with a huge, furry creature. At least the stranger seemed
terribly big in the eyes of Master Meadow Mouse, though it was only a
kitten belonging to Miss Kitty Cat, who lived at Farmer Green's house.
Like Master Meadow Mouse, the kitten was exploring the meadow. To her,
as to him, it was a new world.
It would be hard to say which of the two was the more surprised.
"Oh!" Master Meadow Mouse squeaked right out loud. "I--I--I wish I'd
stayed at home."
"Ho!" the kitten mewed. "I'm glad I came a-hunting."
The kitten sprang at Master Meadow Mouse. But when he didn't run she
stopped in her tracks and stared at him. She had expected him to flee,
as the mice at the farmhouse always did whenever a body met them.
"What's the matter with you?" the kitten asked him. "Don't you know that
you ought to run when I jump at you?"
Master Meadow Mouse made no reply. How could he know that the mice at
the farmhouse were ever so much sprier than he was and that they always
trusted to their legs to get them out of harm's way? His family had
always done differently. Unless there was a hole near-by, big enough for
them but too small for a pursuer, they had ever stood their ground when
attacked and fought while they could. Master Meadow Mouse knew no other
way. It was something that had been handed down to him along with his
short tail and his reddish-brown back.
Somehow, as she stood and gazed at Master Meadow Mouse the kitten
thought he was growing bigger every moment. She began to feel uneasy
about pouncing on him. It was one thing to clap a paw down on the back
of somebody that was running away from her. And it was an entirely
different matter to seize a person that didn't try to escape, but faced
her almost boldly.
"Hunting isn't so much fun as I expected," she muttered. For a moment or
two she was tempted to scamper back to the farmhouse. And then she
thought how pleased her mother would be if she brought that fat fellow
home in her mouth and laid him at her mother's feet--how pleased and how
proud!
To help her courage the kitten began to lash her tail, jerking it from
side to side as she had seen her mother move her own. And she crouched
her chubby body lower in the grass.
Then the kitten jumped. And the moment she was within his reach Master
Meadow Mouse gave her a smart nip on the nose with his sharp little
teeth.
The kitten squalled. And she backed hastily away. "You'd better run!"
she advised Master Meadow Mouse. "I shall not give you another chance!"
But he stood fast. And the kitten didn't give him another chance, either
to run from her, or to bite her nose again. She fell into a sudden panic
and bounded awkwardly away toward the farmhouse.
And then Master Meadow Mouse ran. He ran home as fast as he could go.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
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