MR. WHISTLE-IT.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

MR. WHISTLE-IT.

In the far-away days when it wa? summer all the year round, and mulberries grew on apple trees, there lived - a 'little man called Mr. Whistle-Ife They called him that because whenever he heard a tune he would whistle it for weeks on end, and nobody, minded, because his whistle was such > a merry one.' He vised to travel about a great deal, and nobody minded that cither, because he made people happy wherever he went. Well, one day he. was walking .along’ a country road, with a new tune on his lips, when a blackbird swooped down and stole his whistle. Poor. Mr. Whietle-lt tried in vain to whistle it, but not a sound would come. And there was the blackbird perched on the topmost bough of a nearby tree, whistling that self-same tunc to the morning. “The impudence!” said Mr. WhistleIt. “I must get it back immediately!” And he climbed the tree to the ■ topmost bough, and reached out to,, seize the blackbird. . “Try again!” whistled the ' culprit, as he flew to another tree. ■ and of course’ poor Mr. Whistle-lt had to climb that also. All day long he chased the blackbird from tree to tree, until, quite exhausted, he decided to gb home. And just as ho reached his gate, down swooped the blackbird and gave' him back his whistle. “I just wanted to borrow it ” he said, “ so I could learn how to whistle.” So Mr. Whmtle-Tt went on whistling all his life long, and there will always be noisy blackbirds in the world, even though mulberries no .longer grow otb apple trees. THE HEDGEHOG. The weather was fine, and the hedge* hog roamed the fields, where all waA quiet and peaceful, and the long grass hid him from view. “I think I will venture out on 'this lane; it is so peaceful and quiet, no one will see me,” he thought. He bad not gone far, however, when he heard the sound of children’s voices. “Oh! They will sec me now, for I can only move slowly,” he sighed. “Here’s a t headgehog!” said the child-, ren, and the hedgehog hid his face and legs at once, looking just like a prickly ball. One of the cliildrcn touched it with, a stick. “We will roll it home, and put it under a box till to-morrow, and then - we’ll .see what it is like.” So they rolled the hedgehog over and over, and when they got him home put him under a tin basin with a. stone on . top, and left him outside. “We shall have some fun to-morrow,” they said. The hedgehog waited, till night fell and the children were safely in bed. Then he set to work, scraping the eath away with his feet. Soon he had made a Largo -hole under the tin, big enough for him to squeeze out. Oh, how glad he was to be free as he -ft went up the lane again! “They will not find me here again,” he «aid. ' ’ - There ib a moYal in the story. You should never tfut'a hedgehog under & tin basin. *