Читать книгу Anecdotes of Animals - Unknown - Страница 29

Although there are few who would dispute the cleverness and sagacity of the larger animals, it is doubtful if there are many who credit the mouse with even average intelligence. The following instance may go far to raise our humble friend in the popular estimation; more especially as the story is told by one who really saw the whole performance. In a country where berries are scarce, these little animals were obliged to cross a river to make their forages. In returning with their booty to their homes, they had to recross the stream; in doing which they showed an ingenuity little short of marvelous. The party, which consisted of five, selected a water-lily leaf, on which they placed their berries in a heap in the middle; then, by their united force, they brought it to the water's edge, and after launching it, jumped on it, and placed themselves round the heap, with their heads joined over it, and their backs to the water. In this manner they drifted down the stream until they reached the opposite shore, when they unloaded their cargo, and stored it away for the coming rainy day.