V
SOLOMON OWL INTERRUPTS
Plump little Mr. Meadow Mouse
wished he had stayed
away from Grumpy Weasel's hunting ground.
He would have
scampered off, had he not known that Grumpy could overtake
him before he had made three leaps.
So he saw no way out of
his trouble,
though he could think of nothing less agreeable
than trying to slip through a small hole with Grumpy Weasel
close at hand, watching him narrowly.
Then all at once Mr. Meadow Mouse had an idea.
"You
go first!" he said politely. "Go through any hole you choose
and then I'll try my luck."
But Grumpy Weasel was too crafty to do that.
"You'd try your luck at running away," he snarled.
"You are the one to go first; and we'll have no words about
it."
Well, Mr. Meadow Mouse began to shake more than ever.
"Don't you think," he quavered, "that we'd better
wait a few days until I'm a bit smaller?
I'm afraid I've been
overeating lately and I might get stuck in a hole.
And of
course that would be awkward."
"Ha, ha!" Grumpy Weasel actually laughed. But it was
not what any one could call a hearty, wholesome, cheerful
sort of laugh. On the contrary, it sounded very cruel and
gloating.
"Hoo, hoo!" Another laugh---this one weird and
hollow---boomed out from the hemlock tree just above Mr.
Meadow Mouse's head.
He jumped, in spite of himself---did Mr. Meadow
Mouse.
And so, too, did Grumpy Weasel. Both of them leaped
for the old stone wall.
And each flashed into a crevice
between the stones,
though Grumpy Weasel was ever so much the
quicker of the two. They knew Solomon Owl's voice too well to
mistake his odd laughter.
"What's your hurry, gentlemen?" Solomon called to
them.
Mild Mr. Meadow Mouse made no reply.
But from Grumpy
Weasel's hiding place an angry hiss told Solomon Owl that one
of them, at least, had heard his question.
"Come out!" said Solomon Owl. "Don't be shy! I've
dined already."
Well, that made the two in the wall feel somewhat
bolder.
And soon they ventured to peep out and gaze at
Solomon, to see whether he looked like a person who had just
enjoyed a good meal.
"You're not as hollow as you sound, I hope," Grumpy
Weasel remarked with some suspicion in his tone.
As for Mr. Meadow Mouse, he wouldn't dream of making
so rude a remark.
"It's a fine evening and I hope you're feeling
happy," he piped.
"Oh, very! Very!" said Solomon Owl solemnly.
Mr. Meadow Mouse was a trusting sort of chap
He was
all ready to leave his cranny. But Grumpy Weasel was not yet
satisfied.
"Which one of us are you answering?" he demanded of
Solomon.
"Him!" said Solomon.
"Did you say, 'Ahem?'" Grumpy Weasel wanted to know.
"No, no!" Solomon assured him.
"I said, 'him.' I was
answering your friend."
Grumpy Weasel made a wry face, as if he did not care
to have anybody speak of Mr. Meadow Mouse as a friend of his.
And he did not quit the stone wall
until he had seen Mr.
Meadow Mouse venture forth in safety.
"Just by accident I overheard your remarks a few
minutes ago," Mr. Owl explained.
"I'd like to watch this
hole-crawling contest.
And I'll stay here and be the
umpire---and see that there's fair play."
Sysop: | Keyop |
---|---|
Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
Users: | 374 |
Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
Uptime: | 28:31:30 |
Calls: | 7,969 |
Files: | 13,014 |
Messages: | 5,817,099 |