RATS AND MICE 333 



" Do yon lenieniber how anxiinis the Mayor of Hainelin 

 was to get rid of tlie rats, and what a mean trick he 

 phiyed on the Pied Piper? Also, how the blind mice 

 chased the farmer's wife nntil, in self-defence, ' She cnt 

 off their tails with a carving knife ! ' And they've been 

 in mischief ever since." 



" I wonder why the first farmer's wife didn't kill 

 them instead of cutting off their tails," said Dodo. " I 

 think she was cruel." 



" Perhaps they all hid in a crack and their tails hung 

 out, and so she cut them off to punish them, and remind 

 them not to chase lier again," suggested Olive. 



'^ This Meadow Mouse is one of the tribe who ate 

 the lily bulbs last spring," continued the Doctor, '' and 

 Avho, following in the jNIole's tunnel, gnawed the juicy 

 roots of the geraniums so that they broke off a little be- 

 low the ground. I have often seen their runways twist- 

 ing in and out among the grass tufts in the old meadow, 

 and between the stumps or fence posts, under which 

 they have winter lodgings. In summer they live almost 

 wholly on the surface of the ground, making nests 

 among the grass, and at that season, of course, tliey 

 destroy a certain amount of corn and damage stacked 

 grain by nibbling it from the straw, but above all they 

 are garden pests. These mice do not sleep the winter 

 sleep ; and if there is no snow to protect the roots of 

 shrubs and fruit trees, they are sure to suffer severe 

 gnawing. Pearly in the season T saw a number of them 

 in the new peach orchard, but I think this deep snow 

 will save the trees this year." 



"Are they common mice?" asked Olive. "It seems 

 strange that I have never seen any before." 



