TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
TOMMY SMITH’S ANIMALS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
TOMMY SMITH’S OTHER ANIMALS
JACK’S INSECTS
[Illustration: “_HE_ MAY HAVE FOUND _ANOTHER_ HARE”]
TOMMY SMITH’S
ANIMALS
BY
EDMUND SELOUS
WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY
G. W. ORD
TWELFTH EDITION
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published_ _October_ _1899_
_Second Edition_ _December_ _1900_
_Third Edition_ _December_ _1902_
_Fourth Edition_ _September_ _1905_
_Fifth Edition_ _April_ _1906_
_Sixth Edition_ _September_ _1906_
_Seventh Edition_ _January_ _1907_
_Eighth Edition_ _April_ _1907_
_Ninth Edition_ _November_ _1907_
_Tenth Edition_ _May_ _1908_
_Eleventh Edition_ _September_ _1909_
_Twelfth Edition_ _September_ _1912_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE MEETING 1
II. THE FROG AND THE TOAD 11
III. THE ROOK 25
IV. THE RAT 39
V. THE HARE 54
VI. THE GRASS-SNAKE AND ADDER 74
VII. THE PEEWIT 96
VIII. THE MOLE 115
IX. THE WOODPIGEON 143
X. THE SQUIRREL 166
XI. THE BARN-OWL 187
XII. THE LEAVE-TAKING 205
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
“HE MAY HAVE FOUND ANOTHER HARE” _Frontispiece_
“THAT IS WHY I AM SO WISE” 9
“I SHALL KEEP AWAKE TILL THE RAT COMES” 39
PAT, PAT, PAT. “DO YOU HEAR?” 41
“BITE HIM!” 51
“ALL HAPPY (EXCEPT THE HARE)” 63
“THERE ARE THREE FROGS IN MY STOMACH AT THIS MOMENT” 79
“WE MOLES ARE VERY HEROIC” 141
TOMMY SMITH’S ANIMALS
CHAPTER I.
THE MEETING
“_The owl calls a meeting, and has an idea:
They all think it good, though it SOUNDS rather queer._”
THERE was once a little boy, named Tommy Smith, who was very cruel to
animals, because nobody had taught him that it was wrong to be so. He
would throw stones at the birds as they sat in the trees or hedges; and
if he did not hit them, that was only because they were too quick for
him, and flew away as soon as they saw the stone coming. But he always
_meant_ to hit them—yes, and to kill them too,—which made it every
bit as bad as if he really had killed them. Then, if he saw a rat, he
would make his dog run after it, and if the poor thing tried to escape
by running down a hole, he and the dog together would dig it out, and
then the dog would bite it with his sharp teeth until it was quite
dead. It never seemed to occur to this boy that the poor rat had done
_him_ no harm, and that it might be the father or mother of some little
baby rats, who would now die of hunger. Even if the rat got away, he
would whip the dog for not catching it, yet the dog had done his best;
for, of course, dogs must do what their masters tell them, and cannot
know any better. It was just the same with hares or rabbits, squirrels,
rooks, or partridges. Indeed, this boy could not see any animal playing
about, and doing no harm, without trying to frighten it or to hurt it.
When the spring came, and the birds began to build their nests, and to
lay their pretty eggs in them, then it is dreadful to think how cruel
this Tommy Smith was. He would look about amongst the trees and bushes,
and when he had found a nest, he would take all the eggs that were in
it, and not leave even one for the poor mother bird to sit on when she
came back. Indeed, he would often tear down the nest too, after he had
taken the eggs. Perhaps you will wonder what he did with these eggs.
Well, when he had brought them home and shown them to his father and
mother, who never thought of scolding him, or to his little brothers
and sisters (for he was the eldest of the family), he would throw them
away, and think no more about them. If he had left them in the nest,
then out of each pretty little egg would have come a pretty little
bird. But now, for every egg he had taken away, there was one bird less
to sing in the woods in the spring and summer.
At last this boy became such a nuisance to all the animals round about,
that they determined to punish him in some way or other. They thought
the first thing to do was for all of them to meet together and have a
good talk about it. In a wood, not far off, there was a nice open space
where the ground was smooth and covered with moss. Here they all agreed
to come one fine night, for they thought it would be nice and quiet
then, and that nobody would disturb them, as, perhaps, they might do in
the daytime.
So, as soon as the moon rose, they began to assemble, and I wish you
could have been there too, to see them all come, sometimes one at a
time, and sometimes two or three together.
The rat was one of the first to arrive, and then came the hare and the
rabbit arm in arm, for they knew each other well, and were very good
friends. The frog was late, for he had had a good way to hop from the
nearest pond, where he lived, so that his cousin, the toad, who was
slower, but lived nearer, got there before him. The snake had no need
to make a journey at all, for he lived under a bush just on the edge
of the open space. All the little birds, too, had gone to roost in the
trees and bushes close by, so as to be ready in good time; and, when
the moon rose, they drew out their heads from under their wings, and
were wide awake in a moment. The rook and the partridge, and other
large birds, were there as well, and the squirrel sat with his tail
over his head, on the branch of a small fir tree. Then there were
weasels, and lizards, and hedgehogs, and slow-worms, and many other
animals besides.
In fact, if you had seen them all together, you would have wondered
how one little boy could have found time to plague and worry so many
different creatures. But you must remember that even a very _little_
boy can do a _great_ deal of mischief. Perhaps there were some animals
there that little Tommy Smith had not hurt, because he had not yet seen
them, but these came because they knew he _would_ hurt them as soon
as he could; and, besides, they were angry because their friends and
companions had been ill-treated by him.
At last it seemed as if there was nobody else to come, and that
everything was ready. Still, they seemed waiting for something, and
all at once a great owl came swooping down, and settled on a large
mole-hill which was just in the middle of the open space. Now, the owl,
as perhaps you know, is a very wise bird, and, for this reason, all the
other animals had chosen him to be the chief at their meeting, and to
decide what was best to be done, in case they should not agree amongst
themselves. He at once showed _how_ wise he was, by saying that before
he gave his own opinion he would hear what everybody else had to say.
Then everybody began to talk at once, and there was a great hubbub,
until the owl said that only one should speak at a time, and that the
hare had better begin, because he was the largest of all the animals
there.
So the hare stood up, and said he thought the best way to punish Tommy
Smith was for every one of them to do him what harm he could. For his
part, he was only a timid animal, and not at all accustomed to hurt
people. Still, he had very sharp teeth, and he thought he might be able
to jump as high as Tommy Smith’s face and give him a good bite on the
cheek or ear, and then run off so quickly that nobody could catch him.
The rabbit spoke next, and said that he was just as timid as the hare,
and not so strong or so swift. All _he_ could do was to go on digging
holes, and he hoped that some day Tommy Smith would fall into one of
them. The hedgehog then got up, and said he would hide himself in one
of these holes and put up his prickles for Tommy Smith to fall on. This
would be sure to hurt him, and perhaps it might even put one of his
eyes out. The rat thought it would be better if the hedgehog were to
get into Tommy Smith’s bed, so as to prick him all over when he was
undressed; but the hedgehog would not agree to this, as he did not
understand houses, and thought he would be sure to be caught if he went
into one.
“Well, then,” said the rat, “if you are afraid I will go myself, for I
know the way about, and am not at all frightened. In the middle of the
night, when it is quite dark, and when Tommy Smith is fast asleep, I
will creep up the stairs and into his room, and then I can run up the
counterpane to the foot of his bed and bite his toes.”
“Why his toes?” said the weasel. “_I_ can do much better than that, and
if you will only show me the way into his room, I will bite the veins
of his throat, and then he will soon bleed to death.”
“That would be taking too much trouble,” said the adder, coming from
under his bush. “You all know that _my_ bite is poisonous. Well, I
know where this bad boy goes out walking, so I will just hide myself
somewhere near, and when he comes by I will spring out and bite his
ankle. Then he will soon die.”
The birds, too, had different things to suggest. Some said they would
scratch Tommy Smith’s face with their claws, and others that they
would peck his eyes out. The frog wanted to hop down his throat and
choke him, and the lizard was ready to crawl up his back and tickle
him, if they thought _that_ would do any good.
At length, when everyone else had spoken, the owl called for silence,
and then he gave his own opinion in these words:—“I have now heard
what every animal has had to say, and I have no doubt that we could
easily hurt this boy very much, or perhaps even kill him, if we really
tried to. But would it not be a better plan, first to see if we cannot
make little Tommy Smith a better boy? Many little boys are unkind to
animals because they know nothing about them, and think that they are
stupid and useless. If they knew how clever we all of us really are,
and what a lot of good we do, I do not think they would be unkind to
us any more. I am sure that they would then have quite a friendly
feeling towards us. But they cannot know this without being taught.
Tommy Smith’s father and mother _ought_, of course, to teach him, but
as they will not do so, why should not we teach him ourselves? To do
this, we shall have to speak to him in his own language, as he does not
understand ours; but that is not such a difficult matter to us animals.
I myself can speak it quite well when I want to, for I often sit on
the trees near old houses at night, or even on the houses themselves,
and I can hear the conversations coming up through the chimneys. That
is why I am so wise. So I can easily teach all of you enough of it to
make _you_ able to talk to a little boy. My idea, then, is to _teach_
little Tommy Smith before we begin to _punish_ him, and it will be
quite as easy to do the one as the other. Only let the next animal that
he is going to kill or throw stones at, call out to him, and tell him
not to do so. This will surprise him so much that he will be sure to
leave off, and then each of us can tell him something about ourselves
in turn. In this way he will get such a high idea of all of us, that he
will never annoy us any more, but treat us with great respect for the
future.”
[Illustration: “THAT IS WHY I AM SO WISE”]
All the other animals thought this was a very clever idea of the owl’s,
and they agreed to do what he said, before trying anything else. So
they begged him to begin teaching them the little-boy language at once
(all except the rat, for he knew it too), so that they should lose no
time. This the owl was quite ready to do, and he taught them so well,
and they all learnt so quickly, that when little Tommy Smith got up
next morning to have his breakfast, there was hardly an animal in the
whole country that was not able to talk to him.