I Love Animal Stories. Aesop
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Название: I Love Animal Stories
Автор: Aesop
Издательство: Bookwire
Жанр: Книги для детей: прочее
isbn: 4064066399108
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Peter Rabbit looked rather sheepish when he discovered that Old Mother Nature hadn't for gotten, and resolved that in the future he would hold his tongue.
“Have any of you seen Nibbler?” asked Old Mother Nature.
“I have,” replied Danny Meadow Mouse. “Once I was carried to Farmer Brown's barn in a shock of corn and I found Nibbler living in the barn.”
“It is a wonder he wasn't living in Farmer Brown's house,” said Old Mother Nature. “Probably other members of his family were. He is perfectly at home in any building put up by man, just as is Robber the Rat. Because of his small size he can go where Robber cannot. He delights to scamper about between the walls. Being a true Rodent he is forever gnawing holes in the corners of rooms and opening on to pantry shelves so that he may steal food. He eats all sorts of food, but spoils more for man, by running about over it, than he eats. In barns and henhouses he gets into the grain bins and steals a great deal of grain.
NIBBLER THE HOUSE MOUSE. ROBBER THE RROWN RAT. Here are two of the worst pests in the world. Neither is native to America.
“It is largely because of Robber the Rat and Nibbler that men keep the Cats you all hate so. A Cat is Nibbler's worst enemy. Nibbler is slender and graceful, with a long, hairless tail and ears of good size. He is very timid, ready to dart into his hole at the least sound. He raises from four to nine babies at a time and several sets of them in a year.
“If Mr. and Mrs. Nibbler are living in a house, their nest is made of scraps of paper, cloth, wool and other soft things stolen from the people who live in the house. In getting this material they often do great damage. If they are living in a barn, they make their nest of hay and any soft material they can find.
“While Nibbler prefers to live in or close to the homes of men, he sometimes is driven out and then takes to the fields, especially in summer. There he lives in all sorts of hiding places, and isn't at all particular what the place is, if it promises safety and food can be obtained close by. I'm sorry Nibbler ever came to this country. Man brought him here and now he is here to stay and quite as much at home as if he belonged here the way the rest of you do.
“This finishes the lessons on the order of Rodents, the animals related by reason of having teeth for the purpose of gnawing. I suspect these are the only ones in whom you take any interest, and so you will not care to come to school any more. Am I right?”
“No, marm,” answered Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, who, you remember, had laughed at Peter Rabbit for wanting to go to school. “No, marm. There are ever so many other people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows we want to know more about than we now know. Isn't that so?” Happy Jack turned to the others and every one nodded, even Prickly Porky.
“There is one little fellow living right near here who looks to me as if he must be a member of the Mouse family, but he isn't like any of the Mice you have told us about,” continued Happy Jack. “He is so small he can hide under a leaf. I'm sure he must be a Mouse.”
“You mean Teeny Weeny the Shrew,” replied Old Mother Nature, smiling at Happy Jack. “He isn't a Mouse. He isn't even a Rodent. I'll try to have him here to-morrow morning and we will see what we can find out about him and his relatives.”
Chapter XIX
Teeny Weeny and His Cousin
“Of course Old Mother Nature knows, but just the same it is hard for me not to believe that Teeny Weeny is a member of the Mouse family,” said Happy Jack Squirrel to Peter Rabbit, as they scampered along to school. “I never have had a real good look at him, but I've had glimpses of him lots of times and always supposed him a little Mouse with a short tail. It is hard to believe that he isn't.”
“I hope Old Mother Nature will put him where we can get a good look at him,” replied Peter. “Perhaps when you really see him he won't look so much like a Mouse.”
When all had arrived Old Mother Nature began the morning lesson at once. “You have learned about all the families in the order of Rodents,” said she, “so now we will take up another and much smaller order called Insectivora. I wonder if any of you can guess what that means.”
“It sounds,” said Peter Rabbit, “as if it must have something to do with insects.”
“That is a very good guess, Peter,” replied Old Mother Nature, smiling at him. “It does have to do with insects. The members of this order live very largely on insects and worms, and the name Insectivora means insect-eating. There are two families in this order, the Shrew family and the Mole family.”
“Then Teeny Weeny and Miner the Mole must be related,” spoke Peter quickly.
“Right again, Peter,” was the prompt reply. “The Shrews and the Moles are related in the same way that you and Happy Jack Squirrel are related.”
“And isn't Teeny Weeny the Shrew related to the Mice at all?” asked Happy Jack.
“Not at all,” said Old Mother Nature. “Many people think he is and often he is called Shrew Mouse. But this is a great mistake. It is the result of ignorance. It seems strange to me that people so often know so little about their near neighbors.” She looked at Happy Jack Squirrel as she said this, and Happy Jack looked sheepish. He felt just as he looked. All this time the eyes of every one had been searching this way, that way, every way, for Teeny Weeny, for Old Mother Nature had promised to try to have him there that morning. But Teeny Weeny was not to be seen. Now and then a leaf on the ground close by Old Mother Nature's feet moved, but the Merry Little Breezes were always stirring up fallen leaves, and no one paid any attention to these.
Old Mother Nature understood the disappointment in the faces before her and her eyes began to twinkle. “Yesterday I told you that I would try to have Teeny Weeny here,” said she. A leaf moved. Stooping quickly she picked it up. “And here he is,” she finished.
Sure enough where a second before the dead brown leaf had been was a tiny little fellow, so tiny that that leaf had covered him completely, and it wasn't a very big leaf. It was Teeny Weeny the Shrew, also called the Common Shrew, the Long-tailed Shrew and the Shrew Mouse, one of the smallest animals in all the Great World. He started to dart under another leaf, but Old Mother Nature stopped him. “Sit still,” she commanded sharply. “You have nothing to fear. I want everybody to have a good look at you, for it is high time these neighbors of yours should know you. I know just how nervous and uncomfortable you are and I'll keep you only a few minutes. Now everybody take a good look at Teeny Weeny.”
This command was quite needless, for all were staring with all their might. What they saw was a mite of a fellow less than four inches long from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, and of this total length the tail was almost half. He was slender, had short legs and mouselike feet. His coat was brownish above and grayish beneath, and the fur was very fine and soft.
TEENY WEENY THE SHREW. This is the common or long-tailed Shrew, one of the smallest animals in all the Great World.
But the oddest thing about Teeny Weeny was his long, pointed СКАЧАТЬ