16 



THE RAT 



the winter, full of pigs with curly tails, and milky 

 cows, and horses waiting to be taken out to work 

 in the fields. And right in the middle of the 

 village, where the roads went across one another, 

 there was a church, whose bells made music all 

 along the valley. 



Among the cornfields and meadows ran a stream, 

 as clear as crystal, with a mill and a big wheel, 

 covered with paddles, which the water kept moving 

 and singing to itself, ' Click-clack — tickety-tack.' 

 That mill was always full of corn and flour, and 

 the miller could never keep the rats away from it. 

 He killed lots and lots of them, and still more and 

 more came and scampered about at night, when 

 there was no need to keep quiet. It was a 

 beautiful mill. I know one like it now, and I 

 sometimes go and stay there for a while, when the 

 # weather is cold and snowy, and the ground hard, 

 and food scarce, and when all the owls and weasels 

 are as hungry as they can be, and watch every- 

 where for a nice rat to eat. 



Beyond the valley, unfortunately, as far off as 

 you could see, there was a big town, with tall 

 smoky chimneys and red, fiery furnaces, blazing 

 and flaming like a pillar of cloud in the day- 

 time and a pillar of fire in the night. And the 



