Читать книгу Forty Good-Night Tales - Rose Amy Fyleman - Страница 3
ОглавлениеTHE MOUSE WITH BOBBED WHISKERS
There was once a modest little mouse who was very good but not particularly beautiful.
One day she was trying to pick up a nice toasted crumb to take home to her old mother, who loved toasted crumbs, and she got too near the fire and singed her whiskers.
They were burned quite short.
She was very much upset, because she was invited to a fairy party that evening, and she was afraid she would look a dreadful sight.
She wanted to stay at home, but her mother wouldn't hear of that. She felt very sad though, to see her child go off feeling unhappy, and no sooner had she gone than mother mouse sat down and wrote a little note to the Queen, explaining everything and begging her to be kind to her unselfish little daughter. She sent off the note by swallow post.
When the little mouse got to the party, she stayed quietly in a corner and hoped no one would notice her; but one or two rude creatures stared at her and made remarks, and she grew more and more unhappy.
And then to her surprise one of the Queen's messengers came up to her.
"Are you Miss Bright-eyes?" he asked, politely.
The little mouse's heart thumped; she was quite frightened.
"Yes," she said, in a tiny squeak.
"Then please come with me," said the page. "Her Majesty wishes to speak to you."
So Bright-eyes was taken right up to the Royal throne, and the Queen talked to her most graciously. All the Court lords and ladies listened.
"And how charming your bobbed whiskers look," said the Queen. "I suppose that is the very latest thing."
"Charming, charming," murmured all the lords and ladies, and when the conversation was over every one crowded round the little mouse and asked her to dance.
She had a wonderful evening, and was so excited that she became quite frisky and gay, so that every one said: "Have you met the mouse with bobbed whiskers? She's delightful."
Her mother never told her about the letter she had written, but you can imagine how pleased she was at her daughter's success.
Bright-eyes set the fashion for bobbed whiskers in Fairyland.
It's rather interesting, isn't it?
If you see a mouse, you might look whether her whiskers are long or short.
