Willie Mouse

Willie said "Good-bye" to Mrs. Mole. Then he sat down and opened his parcel because it was getting late and he thought he had better have some dinner.

"I may not reach the moon yet awhile," he thought, "so I had better save a little piece of cheese for supper."

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

After dinner he fell asleep, and on waking he found that it was quite dark. He looked up and there was the moon right high up in the sky.

"Oh, Mr. Moon!" he cried, "You do seem a long way away. I think it would be much easier for you to come down here than for me to get up there." But Mr. Moon stayed where he was.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Looking up Willie Mouse saw two big eyes gleaming in the dark. They belonged to Mrs. Owl, and as Willie was only a little mouse he didn't know that Mrs. Owl had a special liking for little mice.

[Illustration]

"Please, Mrs. Owl," said he, "how can I get to the moon?"

Down flew Mrs. Owl. "This is the way to the moon," she said, and she caught him up in her beak and carried him back to the owl house where she lived.

[Illustration]

When Willie Mouse saw all the owlets with their beaks gaping open he began to be frightened, for he feared that Mrs. Owl was going to eat him all up. But he didn't know that a good green elf, who lived in the trunk of the tree, was near at hand, and just as Mrs. Owl opened her beak the leaves rustled and there stood Mr. Elf, who jumped to the ground with Willie on his back.

[Illustration]

When the good green elf had shown him the way home he thought he would ask him if the moon were really made of green cheese, but all of a sudden Mr. Elf disappeared, and Willie Mouse still thinks that one day he will find the moon and have enough cheese to last him all his life.

[Illustration]

* * * * *

But he will wait until he is a little older and bigger before he tries to jump to the moon. And perhaps by that time he may be wiser, too.

[Illustration: Willie Mouse]

* * * * *

Uniform With This Volume:

The Little Red Hen

Little Black Sambo

Wee Peter Pug

* * * * *

The Saalfield

Publishing Company

Chicago

AKRON, OHIO

New York