72 



THE RAT 



have all of our faults and none of our virtues. 

 I look upon them much in the same way as you 

 regard monkeys, as distant relations rather to be 

 ashamed of ; but really the little lady who owned 

 this nest, and the nest itself, were both rather pretty 

 and attractive. She had built her home right up 

 in the sky, just like a bird — a round nest made of 

 twisted grass, with a tiny hole in the side, tied 

 securely to about four stalks of corn. Can you 

 imagine a more delightful cradle for the tiny mice 

 to swing about in ? ' When the wind blew the 

 cradle did rock — ^never too much, but just a nice 

 gentle swing backwards and forwards. I quite 

 wished to live in such a house myself. And the 

 pretty little brown lady, too, must have softened 

 the hard and stony heart of even a tom-cat. Tawny 

 brown she was on the back, shading to paler buff on 

 the sides, with pure white fur underneath, and she 

 ran up the slippery stalks as easily as a spider runs 

 up a thread. When she came down she was even 

 more dainty, for she just twisted her tail two or 

 three times round the stalk and then slid down. 

 You people are very proud of having lost your tails, 

 as proud as a young rat who has just got rid of an 

 inch of his ; but if you had seen that merry little 

 lady come down a corn stalk, I feel sure that you 



