44 



THE RAT 



of saying ' Squeaking in a cage.' ' Lying down 

 with a bad pain in her back' can mean either 

 ' Killed by a stick ' or ' Nipped by a dog,' though 

 we generally call the latter accident ' Playing with 

 the puppy.' You see, we are hardly ever ill, so 

 that there is very little chance of people failing to 

 understand. Perhaps you could now tell me how 

 to say prettily and politely that your sister was 

 dangling in the air with a noose round her neck, or 

 that Billy was squashed quite flat under a large 

 stone. Mind you make him quite flat. I could 

 do that easily. I muHt tell you my answer : 

 ' Playing at being a pancake.' Now you make a 

 better and politer answer if you can. 



To go back to my little story. We were all 

 playing outside the hedge in a grass field. It was 

 ^ ery early in the morning, but not quite early 

 enough, for the birds were awake, and suddenly 

 we saw a horrible hawk hovering over us, with his 

 wings all quivering with excitement. He was 

 there all in a moment, with his savage head and 

 beak pointing straight down at us. No wonder 

 that his wings quivered with excitement if he was 

 at all hungry, for we should have made a lovely 

 breakfast for him. It looked as if he had only to 

 choose the fattest, and I believe that the fattest at 



