The Little White Mice

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

The Little White Mice

( By

N. B. STEVENSON. )

Michael simply couldn’t go to sleep. It was Christmas Eve, and the harder he tried to go to sleep the easier It seemed to stay awake, because he kept wondering what he would And in hls socks In the morning. He would have loved a pair of whit< mice. But live mice wouldn’t like it at

all if they were packed up and carried about in a sack, besides, they might get smothered. As he lay there wondering, he heard an old tree in the garden rustling more than It had ever done before, so he peeped out of the window, and there he saw the strangest • sight. ’■

A tiny door at the bottom of the tree (lew open suddenly, and two little white mice came tumbling out, while the angry voice of an old owl cried, “OUT of here! OUT of here, before I gobble you both up! I won’t have you living in this tree an Instant longer!” Then the door was slammed, and the poor little mice picked themselves up and walked away sobbing.

This was more than Michael could bear. Pulling’ on his dressing-gown and slippers ho ran downstairs and Into the garden. He hurried forward eagerly, and was Just going to say, “Dear little mice, IT I can get a cage tor you, will you come and live with met M when the old owl flew angrily past, and the two frightened mice scampered away as fast as ever they could, leaving poor Michael an alone In the snow. Thera were ; tean in his eyes, and he turned sorrowfully to go back.to bed, when a little vorna called to him, and looking down Sta saw a tiny snow-white ttuh & sllrae bora hanging at ms side.

i “You look sad, little boy,” said the elf. i“What’s the matter?" I “There were two lovely little mice here .a minute ago,’’ explained Michael, “and if I only a horrid owl hadn’t frightened them | away, I was going to ask them to live With me if I could mahage to get a cage for them.”

“I tell you what I’ll do,” said the elf. “When Father Christmas arrives here, I’ll ask him to give you a cage—he carries all sorts of things like that.” “Could he carry mice?” asked Michael eagerly. “Well,, no,” answered the elf, “because they wouldn’t be comfortable in the sack,

but that’s where I can help him! You see this horn that I carry? It is a magic horn, and if I blow it, those little mice will hear, wherever they happen to be, and will come to me, then I will tell them that If they want a home there is a nice cage waiting for them in your bouse!" “Listen!" He lifted the magic horn to hls lips, nad blew a long note, clear as a bell.

Michael meed back to his bedroom', Jumped into bed, and covering himself over was soon fast asleep. When he awoke it was Christmas morning, and Ids socks were full of good things—but he could see something even better! He Jumped up on the bed with a cry of Joy, for there at the side, with a note on which was printed in big letters: “WITH LOVE FROM FATHER CHRISTMAS,* Was a lovely cage, and inside It, nibbling away contentedly at a large piece of cheese, were the two little white mleel