gray mouse and white rabbit lived under the floor of the barn and were very happy. the only thing which ever bothered them was small dog. they hated small dog worse than poison.
“poison always stays in one place,” said gray mouse, “but small dog is always jumping and digging. if he lives around this barn we might as well go away. why, the other day he chased me right up to my front door, and if i had not been quick with my latch key, i am afraid that he would have jostled me very rudely!”
then gray mouse stopped talking and nearly jumped out of his skin. white rabbit raised his ears and made his whiskers tremble. right over their heads they heard a noise like thunder. gray mouse and white rabbit ran up under the manger and peeped out. there they saw something which looked like a big barrel placed on four piano legs. it had a long pipe in front of it, four or five times bigger than the garden hose, and this big pipe was swinging backward and forward.
“what’s that?” asked white rabbit, resting his paw on gray mouse’s arm.
“it looks to me,” answered gray mouse, “like an animal which the man has in the parlor of his house, at least his legs look like those of that poor beast. the man’s daughter boxes the creature’s ears for two hours every morning, and although he cries and cries she will not stop.”
“you do not know very much,” whispered white rabbit. “i heard the man say one morning that his little girl was pounding the piano in the parlor, and this thing is not a piano at all.”
just then the creature winked his little eyes and made its big ears go flop, flop.
“it seems to be alive,” said white rabbit.
“yes,” answered gray mouse, “and it looks a little bit like me only he is bigger than black horse. what a funny long nose he has! you speak to him, white rabbit.”
“i’m too bashful,” replied white rabbit, as he backed away.
he caught hold of gray mouse and pushed him right through the hole under the manger. gray mouse fell on the ground in front of the strange animal. one of the big beast’s feet kicked up the earth and covered up the hole out of which gray mouse had come. gray mouse was so scared that he did not know what to do. besides he heard small dog snuffing at the barn door and scratching with his paws.
“what in the world shall i do?” squealed gray mouse. “suppose small dog should get in? the door is not latched and he could open it, with his sharp nose and his big paws.”
gray mouse crouched down in a corner and trembled all over.
“o, o,” he cried, “what shall i do?”
then the big beast heard him and looked down, his eyes opened wide and he hopped around on his great feet and made a noise like a trumpet.
“please, mighty mouse,” roared the big beast, “don’t crawl up my trunk; please don’t bite my poor, little, tender ears. spare my life and i will always be your friend.”
gray mouse tried to stop trembling, for he saw that the great beast was afraid of him. he stood up on his hind legs, folded his arms, took a deep breath, and swelled out his chest.
“and who are you, sir?” squeaked gray mouse, “that you dare to shake down the plastering of my house with your clumsy feet?”
“please, sir,” answered the big beast between his sobs, “i am only a poor little elephant, who came in town with the circus, and they put me here in your barn until it was time to parade. i am sorry that i knocked down the plastering of your house, and if you will have mercy on me i will come down there and put it back again.”
“don’t be afraid,” whispered white rabbit, who had dug away the earth from over the hole under the manger and had come out behind gray mouse. “whip him, gray mouse; here is a straw; now give him a good beating.”
elephants are afraid of mice. so gray mouse, with his paws all shaking, took the straw and walked toward the elephant. he heard the hinges of the barn door creaking.
“come away, gray mouse,” cried white rabbit, “small dog is coming.”
“i’ll let you alone on one condition, elephant,” said gray mouse, trying to be brave, although he was trembling so that he could hardly hold the straw, “and that is when you see any of my enemies trying to annoy me, that you teach him a good lesson.”
small dog got the door open and came jumping with his mouth wide open and his white teeth shining. gray mouse and white rabbit ran into the hole under the manger. the elephant, who feared nothing on earth except mice and flies, for he had once killed a tiger, wound his trunk around small dog. he lifted small dog up to the rafters and threw him down on the ground so hard that all the bark went out of him.
“if you disturb my little friends again,” roared the elephant, “i’ll break every bone in your body.”
small dog walked on crutches for weeks after that, and he has never annoyed white rabbit and gray mouse in their happy home. in fact, all three became very good friends and many is the time i have seen them sitting out in the barnyard smoking their corn-cob pipes.
