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Read Ebook: Les amours du chevalier de Faublas tome 4/5 by Louvet De Couvray Jean Baptiste Avril Paul Illustrator
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Ebook has 1026 lines and 71995 words, and 21 pages
"Yes!" said Master Meadow Mouse. "I know that. I've been told about them already."
"You have!" his mother exclaimed. "Who told you?"
"A greenish gentleman with a very wide smile and queer, bulging eyes," Master Meadow Mouse replied.
"That's Ferdinand Frog!" Mrs. Meadow Mouse cried. "He's as dangerous as any Pickerel that ever swam. Where did you meet him?"
"I stood on the bank of the creek one day and saw him among the lily pads," her son explained. "We had quite a long talk together.... I forgot to mention it to you," he added.
The news made Mrs. Meadow Mouse turn slightly pale. She shuddered although the day was warm; for she feared and detested Ferdinand Frog.
"Don't ever go near that slippery villain!" she warned her son. "If you ever see him when you are swimming in the creek, make for the shore at once."
Now, Master Meadow Mouse sometimes thought that he knew more than his mother, about certain matters. And he was inclined to take her advice lightly.
"Ferdinand Frog was very pleasant when I met him," he remarked. "He cracked jokes. And he laughed at them himself."
"Oh, he's pleasant enough," Mrs. Meadow Mouse agreed. "He'd grin and swallow you at the same time with that great mouth of his. That's what makes him so dangerous."
"Well, he's a fine swimmer, anyhow," her son declared.
"Another reason why you should avoid him!" his mother retorted.
"You ought to see him dive," said Master Meadow Mouse. "He promised to teach me to dive if I'd join him in the water."
"It's a mercy you didn't,". Mrs. Meadow Mouse gasped. "I'm glad you had sense enough to stay on the bank."
"Oh, I knew better than to take a swim in the creek that day," Master Meadow Mouse said. "The Pickerel family were nosing about among the pickerel weeds around the bend of the creek. I saw them myself. And Mr. Frog told me I ought to beware of them. He was very anxious--so he said--about me and the Pickerel. He said he didn't want them to catch me. He was very kind, I thought."
"Kind!" Mrs. Meadow Mouse spluttered. "He didn't want them to catch you because he hopes to catch you himself!"
Mr. Frog Insists
MASTER MEADOW MOUSE had come to Black Creek to enjoy his first swim in its dark, sluggish water. But when he arrived on the bank he changed his mind about swimming there that day. For whom should he see but Ferdinand Frog, sitting on a rock at the edge of the creek.
For once Master Meadow Mouse was ready to take his mother's advice. She had told him to beware of Ferdinand Frog and never, never, never to enter the water when that pleasant gentleman was in it.
Ferdinand Frog proved to be as agreeable as ever. When he caught sight of Master Meadow Mouse Mr. Frog bade him a hearty good morning in a deep voice which was vastly different from the tiny squeak of the small person on the bank.
"You've come for a swim--haven't you?" said Ferdinand Frog.
"Come right in and have your swim!" Mr. Frog urged him. "You can change your clothes as soon as you get home."
"Oh, no--I can't," said Master Meadow Mouse.
"Why not?" Mr. Frog asked him.
"Because I haven't any more!"
"Now, that's a pity," Ferdinand Frog told him. "A handsome youngster like you ought to have a best suit to wear on special occasions."
Master Meadow Mouse looked interested.
"I'd like a nice new suit," he replied. "But where am I going to get it?"
"You've come to the right place!" Mr. Frog cried. "Maybe you didn't know that I'm a tailor. I'll make you a new suit myself!"
"That's very kind of you," said Master Meadow Mouse a bit doubtfully. "But I don't know how I could pay you."
The tailor laughed merrily.
"Don't you worry about that!" he exclaimed. "I'll get my pay somehow. And now you must come to my shop at once. I want to take your measure."
Mr. Meadow Mouse shook his head.
For once Ferdinand Frog forgot to laugh. He was so surprised that his mouth fell wide open as he stared at Master Meadow Mouse.
He had an enormous mouth. Master Meadow Mouse shivered slightly as he looked down Mr. Frog's throat.
The tailor closed his mouth almost immediately. For a huge pickerel came nosing among the lily pads. And spying Mr. Frog, he at once darted towards him.
Mr. Frog swam off in great haste.
"That Pickerel person," said Mr. Meadow Mouse aloud, "means to take Mr. Frog's measure if he can."
Meeting Mr. Crow
DURING his first summer in Pleasant Valley Master Meadow Mouse had often noticed old Mr. Crow flying from the woods to the cornfield. Once in a while Mr. Crow dropped down into the meadow on some business or other. But Master Meadow Mouse did not fear him. The grass was high in the meadow, screening the goings and comings of Master Meadow Mouse from prying eyes.
But after haying time the meadow was a different place. There was no cover over Master Meadow Mouse's paths. He had to be watchful all the time, because Henry Hawk had an unpleasant habit of sailing high up in the sky and dropping down like lightning when he saw anybody like Master Meadow Mouse stirring.
Old Mr. Crow continued to journey daily between the cornfield and the woods. But Master Meadow Mouse paid little heed to him. He believed Mr. Crow to be harmless, so long as he didn't catch small folk in the cornfield. The old gentleman was very touchy about corn. He flew into a rage when anybody but himself ate even one kernel.
Though Master Meadow Mouse would have liked a taste of corn as much as anybody else, he was careful to keep away from the cornfield in the daytime. He didn't wish to bring down Mr. Crow's wrath upon his small head.
"Never let Mr. Crow catch you taking any corn!" Mrs. Meadow Mouse had told her son during one of the daily lessons that she gave him. "If you must have corn, wait until after sunset. Mr. Crow goes to bed early."
Now, it happened that just before haying time Mrs. Meadow Mouse had stopped giving her son lessons. She said that she had told him everything she knew. She had told him everything at least a hundred times. And she declared that if he hadn't learned what he needed to know, he never would.
Mrs. Meadow Mouse, however, had forgotten one thing--one very important thing. There was a little trick of old Mr. Crow's that she had never mentioned to her son.
So it wasn't his fault that he was caught unawares one day, soon after Farmer Green cut the grass in the meadow.
Those two, he knew, were every bit as dangerous as Henry Hawk.
You see, Master Meadow Mouse had learned to expect birds to descend upon him from the air. It had never occurred to him that a bird would lurk on the ground, in wait for him. So he had a sudden fright, almost at his doorway, when he ran plump upon a big black person standing behind a knoll.
It was old Mr. Crow. And Master Meadow Mouse thought he had an odd glitter in his snapping eyes.
"I--I haven't been taking any corn," Master Meadow Mouse stammered.
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