THE FINE YOUNG RAT AND THE TRAP
The Mice were having a great frolic in the corn-crib. The farmer's manhad carelessly left a board leaning up against it in such a way thatthey could walk right up and through one of the big cracks in the side.It was the first time that some of them had ever been here. When thefarmer built the crib, he had put a tin pan, open side down, on top ofeach of the wooden posts, and had then nailed the floor beams of thecrib through these pans. That had kept the hungry Mice from getting intothe corn.
This was a great day for them, and their gnawing-teeth would certainlybe worn down enough without giving them any extra wear. That, you know,is one thing about which all Rats and Mice have to be very careful, fortheir front teeth are growing all the time, and they have to gnaw hardthings every day to keep them from becoming too long.
There was only one thing that ever really troubled these Mice, and thatwas the Cat. They did not feel afraid of Hawks and Owls because theylived indoors. Weasels did not often come up to the barn, and men madeso much noise when they were around that any wide-awake Mouse couldeasily keep out of their way. With the Cat it was different. She wasalways prowling around in the night-time, just when they had theirfinest parties; and many a young Mouse had been scared away from amidnight supper by seeing her eyes glowing like balls of fire in thedarkness. By daylight it was not so bad, for they could see her coming,and besides, she slept much of the time then.
They were talking about her when in the corn-crib. "Have any of you seenthe Cat to-day?" asked the Oldest Mouse.
Nobody answered. Then one young fellow, who was always worrying, said:"Supposing she should come out of the barn now! Supposing she shouldcome right toward this corn-crib! Supposing she should stand right underthe floor! Supposing she should catch us as we jumped down!Supposing----"
But here the other young Mice all squeaked to him to stop, and one ofthem declared that it made her fur stand on end to think of it. TheOldest Mouse spoke quite sharply. "Supposing," said he to the firstyoung Mouse, "you should eat more and talk less. There are enoughpleasant things to speak about without scaring all your friends in thisway."
The young Mouse who said that her fur stood on end couldn't eat anythingmore, she was so frightened. "What could we do," she said, "if the Catshould come?"
"Stay right where we are," answered her mother. "She couldn't reach uswith the door closed. Now go on with your eating and don't be foolish."
A Rat ran up the board. "Good-morning," said he. "Have you heard thenews?"
"No, no!" cried the Mice, hurrying to that side of the corn-crib, andpeeping through the crack.
"The Yellow Kitten has been hunting with her mother, and they say thather brother is going to-night."
"Well," said a mother Mouse, "I knew we would have to expect it, but Idid hope they would wait a while. Now, children," she added, "do becareful! I know that when you are looking for food you have to go intodangerous places, but don't stop there to talk or to clean your fur.Find safe corners for that, or I shall worry about you all the time."
"We will," squeaked all the little Mice together. "We will be very, verycareful."
"Thank you for the news," said the Oldest Mouse to the Rat. "We will tryto send you word of new dangers when we hear of them."
The Rat, who was a fine young fellow, ran down the board and away. Theycould not ask him in to lunch, because he was too large and stout tosqueeze through the cracks, but he understood how it was, and knew thathe could find food elsewhere. Now he ran to the Pig-pen to snatch ashare of the breakfast which the farmer had just left there. He oftendid this as soon as the farmer went away, and the Pigs never troubledhim. Perhaps that was because they knew that if they drove him away whenhe came alone, he would bring all his sisters and his cousins and hisaunts, and his brothers and his uncles too, the next time, and wouldeat every bit of food they had.
After he had taken a hearty breakfast, he ran under the edge of the barnto clean himself. He was always very particular about this. His motherhad taught him when very small that he must keep his fur well brushedand his face washed, and he did it just as a Cat would, by wetting hispaws and scrubbing his face and the top of his head. He brushed his furcoat with his paws also.
While he was here, one of his cousins came from the barn above. She randown the inside of the wall, head foremost, and her hind feet wereturned around until they pointed backward. That let her hold on with herlong, sharp claws, quite as a Squirrel does, and kept her from tumbling.She was much out of breath when she reached the ground, but it was notfrom running.
"What do you think that farmer has done now?" she cried. "It was badenough for him to nail tin over the holes we gnawed into his grain-bins,but this is worse still. It needn't make us so much trouble, but ithurts my feelings."
"What is it?" asked her cousin.
"A trap!" said she. "A horrible, shining trap. The Rat from the otherfarm told me about it. It lies open and flat on the floor of agrain-bin,--the very one you and I gnawed into last night,--and there isa lovely piece of cheese in the middle of it. The Rat who told me aboutit says that as soon as one touches the cheese, the trap springs shut onhim."
"Bah!" exclaimed the young Rat who had just eaten breakfast in thePig-pen. "Let it stay there! We don't have to touch it, although I domean to look at it some time. I believe in knowing about things."
"I wish you wouldn't look at it," said his cousin, who was very fond ofhim.
"The Rat from the other farm says it is very dangerous to even look attraps, especially if your stomach is empty."
"Then the Rat from the other farm might better keep away," said thisyoung fellow, as he put one paw up to see that his whiskers were allright. "I don't think very much of him anyway. He thinks he knowseverything because he has travelled. I wish you would have nothing to dowith him. I dare say you were in the grain-bin with him when you saw thetrap."
"Yes," said she, "I was."
"Well," said he, "you both got away safely, and I shall too. I may notbe very clever, but I think I do know enough to keep out of a trap."Then he turned into his hole and went to sleep. He had been runningaround all night, and was very tired. He was cross, too. This was thesecond time that his cousin had told him what the Rat from the otherfarm had said, and he thought she liked him altogether too well.
When he awakened, it was night again and he was aroused by the stampingof the Dappled Gray on the floor above his head. For a minute he couldhardly think where he was. Then it all came to him. He was in his owncozy little hole under the barn, and it was night. He rememberedsomething about the Yellow Kitten. What was it? Oh yes, she had begunhunting. Well, he was not afraid of her yet. But there was somethingelse--the trap! He wondered if his cousin were in that bin again. Aslike as not her friend, the Rat from the other farm, was showing her thetrap now. He would go up there himself, and at once, too.
He ran up the wall, through an opening, and across the barn floor to thegrain-bin. It was a moonlight night and the barn was not very dark. Thecover of the bin was raised. Perhaps the farmer's man had forgotten toclose it. Perhaps there was so little grain left in it that the mandidn't care to. At any rate, he could now see the trap quite plainly.There was nobody else in the bin, and he went close to it.
"I would not touch it for anything," said he, as he entered the bin,"but it will not hurt me to look at it."
When he went nearer, he was very careful to see that his tail did noteven brush against the chain which held the trap down. "So that is theterrible, dangerous trap?" said he. "It doesn't look particularlydreadful. That is fine-smelling cheese though." He sniffed two or threetimes. "I have tasted cheese only once in my whole life," said he, "andI am almost starved now. I wouldn't mind a nibble at that." He looked atit and thought about it until it seemed to him he could not go away andleave that cheese there.
Then he thought, "If I am very careful to step over these shining steelthings and rest my feet only on the floor, it cannot spring the trap.Then I will snatch the cheese an
d jump.... I am pretty sure I can doit.... Why, yes, I know I can." So the Rat who had come just to look atthe trap, began to lift first one foot and then another over the shiningcurved bars, and got all ready to catch up the cheese and run.
"Now!" he cried. "One, two, three!" He did snatch it and jump, but thetrap jumped, too, in its own trappy way, and the Rat who got the cheeseleft the three tip rings of his tail to pay for it. "Ouch!" he cried."My tail! My tail! My beautiful, long, bony tail, all covered withscales and short hair!" He did not care at all for the cheese now. Hedid not want to see it, for he would rather have had the point on histail again than to eat a whole binful of cheese.
"How it will look!" said he. "So stumpy and blunt. And it has been sovery useful always. I could wind it around a stick to hold myself upwhen my paws were full, and many a time I have rolled eggs across thefloor by curling it around them." Then he heard Rat voices and scamperedout and down to his own hole.
His cousin and the Rat from the other farm came into the bin. "Don'tlook at the trap," he was saying, "but just eat your grain from thefarther corner."
"I won't," she answered, and she half closed her eyes to keep fromseeing it. He was beside her and they stumbled over the cheese, whichnow lay on the floor away from the trap. "How does this happen?" saidhe. "We will eat it first and then find out." By this advice he showedthat he was a Rat of excellent sense.
When they had eaten it, they began to look toward the trap. As there wasno longer any cheese in it to tempt them, they felt perfectly safe indoing so. They found that it had been sprung, and there lay the lastthree rings of some Rat's tail.
"How dreadful!" she exclaimed. "I hope that was not lost by any of ourfriends."
"Hum-hum!" said the Rat from the other farm. "Now, whom have I seenwearing that? I have certainly seen that tail before--it was yourcousin!"
"Poor fellow!" said she. "I must go to see him."
"Oh, don't go now," cried the Rat from the other farm. "I think he mightwant to be alone for a while. Besides," he added coaxingly, "you haven'ttasted of the grain yet, and it is very good."
"W-well," answered she, "perhaps my cousin would just as soon not haveme come now." So she waited, and the Rat from the other farm told herwonderful stories of his travels, and they had a very fine supper.
When her cousin began to run around again, he was a much sadder andwiser Rat. Sometimes the younger Rats would ask him how he lost the tipof his tail. "By not turning it toward a tempting danger," he wouldanswer, very solemnly. Then, after he had told them the story, he alwaysadded, "The time to turn your tail toward a tempting danger is theminute you see it, for if you wait and look and long for something youought not to take, there is sure to be trouble, and many a Rat has lostmore than the tip of his tail in just that way."
Among the Farmyard People Page 17
