Danny Meadow Mouse

“ He is never satisfied until he has lined the hollow in the old apple-tree, which is his home, with the old clothes of Mr. Snake.
So when Danny Meadow Mouse sent for him and whispered in his ear Cresty the Fly-catcher smiled broadly and winked knowingly. "I certainly will be there, Danny Meadow Mouse, I certainly will be there," said he. And he was there. He had hidden in a tree close by the big tussock of grass, behind which Peter Rabbit had planned to place Mr. Blacksnake's old suit so as to scare Danny Meadow Mouse. ”

“ Now Hooty the Owl can fly without making the teeniest, weeniest sound. It seems as if he just drifts along through the air like a great shadow. Now he spread his great wings and floated out over the meadows. You know Hooty can see as well at night as most folks can by day, and it was not long before he saw Danny Meadow Mouse skipping about on the snow and dodging in and out of his little round doorways. Hooty’s great eyes grew brighter and fiercer. ”

“ With that, off whisked Danny Meadow Mouse as spry as you please, in spite of his lame leg, and in a few minutes Peter knew by little twitches of the wire on his leg that Danny was doing something at the other end. He was. Danny Meadow Mouse had set out to gnaw that piece of stake all to splinters. So there he sat and gnawed and gnawed and gnawed. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun climbed higher and higher [138] [137] in the sky, and Danny Meadow Mouse grew hungry, but still he kept right on gnawing at that bothersome stake. ”

“ You would always have to be thinking of your tail and taking care to keep it out of harm’s [8] way. Look at me. I’m homely. Some folks call me ugly to look at. But no one tries to catch me as Farmer Brown’s boy does Billy Mink because of his fine coat; and no one wants to put me in a cage because of a fine voice. I am satisfied to be just as I am, and if you’ll take my advice, Danny Meadow Mouse, you’ll be satisfied to be just as you are.”
“Perhaps you are right,” said Danny Meadow Mouse after a little. “I’ll try.” ”

“ So, bright and early the next morning, old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox went down on the meadows where Danny Meadow Mouse lives. Danny had felt in his bones that Reddy would come back, so he was watching, and he saw them as soon as they came out of the Green Forest. When he saw old Granny Fox, Danny’s heart beat a little faster than before, for he knew that Granny [17] Fox is very smart and very wise and has learned most of the tricks of all the other little meadow and forest people. ”

“ Oh, such fun to play in snow!”
Danny Meadow Mouse sang this, or at least he tried to sing it, as he skipped about on the snow that covered the Green Meadows. But Danny Meadow [69] Mouse has such a little voice, such a funny little squeaky voice, that had you been there you probably would never have guessed that he was singing. He thought he was, though, and was enjoying it just as much as if he had the most beautiful voice in the world. You know, singing is nothing in the world but happiness in the heart making itself heard. ”

“ Hadn’t he proved himself smarter than old Granny Fox? That is something to make any one happy. Some folks may fool Granny Fox once; some may fool her twice; but there are very few who can keep right on fooling her until she gives up in disgust. That is just what Danny Meadow Mouse had done, and he felt very smart and of course he felt very happy. ”

“ Old Mother Nature smiled. “Where should he get it but up where he lives?” she asked. “Rufous never has to worry about food. It is all around him. You see, so far as known, he lives wholly on the thick parts of the needles, which you know are the leaves, of fir and spruce trees, and on the bark of tender twigs. So you see he is more of a tree dweller than any of the Squirrel family. While Rufous has the general shape of Danny and his relatives, he has quite a long tail. Now I guess this will do for the nearest relatives of Danny Meadow Mouse.” ”

“ He thought of how he had begged Peter not to go up to Farmer Brown's young peach orchard. He had felt in his bones that it was [130] not safe, that something dreadful would happen to Peter. How Peter had laughed at him and bravely started off! Why hadn't he come home?
As he limped around, Danny talked to himself:
“Why cannot people be content
With all the good things that are sent,
And mind their own affairs at home
Instead of going forth to roam?”
It was now the second night since Peter Rabbit had gone away. Danny Meadow Mouse couldn't sleep at all. ”

“ Now Reddy Fox is quick to learn, especially when it is a way to get something to eat. He watched Granny Fox, and when he understood what she was doing, he made up his mind to have a try himself, for he was afraid that if she caught Danny Meadow Mouse, she would think that he was not big enough to divide. Perhaps that was because Reddy is very [22] selfish himself. So the next time Granny plunged into the snow and missed Danny Meadow Mouse just as before, Reddy rushed in ahead of her, and the minute he heard Danny running down below, he plunged in just as he had seen Granny do. ”

“ Why, just think, here you can come out in broad daylight and laugh at Granny and Reddy Fox and at old Roughleg the Hawk, because the good old brambles will keep them out if they try to [98] [97] get you. You can make just as good tunnels under the snow here as you had there, and there are lots and lots of seeds on the ground to eat. You know I don't care for them myself. I'm lonesome sometimes, living here all alone. You stay here, and we'll have the Old Briar-patch to ourselves.”
“I tell you what, you stay right here!” said Peter
Danny Meadow Mouse looked at Peter gratefully. ”

“ I suppose he was hunting beetles himself. He's such a little mite of a fellow that I should think a goodsized beetle could almost carry him away. I declare to goodness, I don't see how any one so small manages to live! Danny Meadow Mouse and Whitefoot the Wood Mouse are small enough, but they are giants compared with Teeny Weeny the Shrew. They have a hard enough time keeping alive, and I should think that any one smaller would stand no chance at all.”
“Do you know Teeny Weeny very well?” asked Jimmy.
“No,” confessed Peter. ”

“ But he never once thought of Hooty the Owl.
Dear me, dear me! Forgetting is a dreadful habit. If nobody ever forgot, there wouldn't be nearly so much trouble in the world. No, indeed, there wouldn't be nearly so much trouble. And Danny Meadow Mouse forgot. He skipped and sang and was happy as could be, and never once thought to watch up in the sky.
Over in the Green Forest Hooty the Owl had had poor hunting
Over in the Green Forest Hooty the Owl had had poor hunting, and he was feeling cross. You see, Hooty was hungry, and hunger is [73] [72] apt to make one feel cross. ”

“ Blacksnake was likely to come creeping through the grass any time, and they are always hungry for a fat Meadow Mouse. And as if that weren't worry enough, Danny had to watch the sky, too, for Old Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, or his cousin Redtail, or Blacky the Crow, each of whom would be glad of a Meadow Mouse dinner. Yet in spite of all this, Danny was happy and never once lost his appetite.
But Peter Rabbit, with nothing to worry him so long as he stayed in the Old Briar-patch, couldn't eat and grew more and more unhappy. ”

“ Some of them pretend to be his friends, but Danny always keeps his eyes open when they are around and always begins to play hide and seek. Peter Rabbit and Jimmy Skunk and Striped Chipmunk and Happy Jack Squirrel are all friends whom he can trust, but he always has a [10] bright twinkling eye open for Reddy Fox and Billy Mink and Shadow the Weasel and old Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, and several more, especially Hooty the Owl at night. ”

“ Blacksnake would be so badly fooled that he would give up the chase. And Danny was right.
“Brains are better far than speed
As wise men long ago agreed,” said Danny, as he trotted on his way for the grass-seed he liked so well. ”

“ He dodged into another and presently into a third, which brought him to a tangle of barbed wire left there by Farmer Brown when he had built a new fence. Under this he was safe.
“Phew!” exclaimed Danny, breathing very hard. “That was the narrowest escape yet! But I guess I’ll get that special grass-seed I started out for, after all.”
And he did, while to this day Reddy Fox wonders how Danny got out of the old tomato can without him knowing it.
And so you see what temper does
For those who give it rein;
It cheats them of the very thing
They seek so hard to gain. ”

“ And, calling everybody around him, he explained that he was a year old, and that he had successfully dodged Miss Kitty Cat, Tommy Fox, Solomon Owl, Ferdinand Frog, Peter Mink, Old Mr. Crow and goodness only knew how many other dangerous folk.
"I'm grown up now," he told his hearers. "From this time on I expect everybody to call me Mister Meadow Mouse." ”

“ He liked to swim in Broad Brook. And in winter, when the snow was deep, he made tunnels beneath it, and a nest, too, which was snug and warm under the thick white blanket that covered it.
The only time Master Meadow Mouse was ever known to lose his temper was when Farmer Green mowed the meadow. Under the high grass Master Meadow Mouse had been able to run about his well-beaten paths unseen by hawks. But with the grass cut and raked, leaving only naked stubble, he couldn't hide even from old Mr. Crow. ”

“ And he cocked his head on one side, as if he were listening for something.
At that moment his cousin began to whistle again.
"Be quiet!" Solomon Owl thundered. "If I'm not mistaken I heard a squeak. But no Meadow Mouse will ever venture out of doors if you're going to whistle."
"I forgot," said Simon Screecher once more. "I'm so used to whistling that I don't know when I'm doing it."
Solomon Owl and Simon Screecher wait for Master Meadow Mouse
"That's the reason why you can't catch more Mice," Solomon Owl snapped; for he was angry. "There are dozens of Meadow Mice under the snow. ”

“ It was something that had been handed down to him along with his short tail and his reddish-brown back.
Somehow, as she stood and gazed at Master Meadow Mouse the kitten thought he was growing bigger every moment. She began to feel uneasy about pouncing on him. It was one thing to clap a paw down on the back of somebody that was running away from her. And it was an [14] entirely different matter to seize a person that didn't try to escape, but faced her almost boldly.
"Hunting isn't so much fun as I expected," she muttered. For a moment or two she was tempted to scamper back to the farmhouse. ”

“ Master Meadow Mouse always had one ear that was listening for that slap. And when it sounded he never waited an instant, but darted into his tunnel without even stopping to shake the water off his coat. He said that he could dry his coat after he reached home; while if he stopped to dry it at the edge of the brook perhaps he'd never get home at all.
You might think that now and then he would have said to himself, "Oh, I won't bother to look for Peter Mink to-day. He must be miles away. ”

“ The mother Meadow Mouse looked rather angry for a minute, and then she answered: "I'm not so very large and strong, but I can squeak and let the Horses know where the nest is. Then they won't step on it. Last year I had ten or twelve babies there, and one of the men picked them up and looked at them and then put them back. I was so frightened that my fur stood on end and I shook like June grass in the wind."
"Humph! Too scared to run away," said the voice under her feet.
"Mothers don't run away and leave their children in danger," answered the Meadow Mouse. ”

“ The newcomer looked the least bit like Master Meadow Mouse himself, except that his tail was ever so much longer. [38]
"I'm Moses Mouse and I live in the farmhouse," said the gray gentleman.
"I'm Master Meadow Mouse and I'm going to live in this woodpile," said the reddish-brown chap in reply.
"That's good news," Moses Mouse remarked. "But you must look out for Miss Snooper," he added.
"Who is she?" Master Meadow Mouse asked his new friend.
"Miss Snooper—" Moses Mouse explained—"Miss Snooper is our name for Miss Kitty Cat. She lives in the farmhouse. ”