A BIG TUMBLE
"PUT on your mittens, you silly kittens,
And you shall have some pie.
Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r."
"Oh, let us have the pie,
Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r."
Mrs. Cat stood in the doorway of her little house and again she called out, "Put on your mittens, you silly kittens."
"And I'll pull on my boots," said Puss, Junior, running back to the barn. "My toes are almost frozen."
"Has the horrid old rat really gone?" asked the three little kittens.
"He has," replied Puss. "Didn't you see me catch him just before he reached the gate?"
"There was so much snow flying about that we couldn't see very well," said the gray kitten.
"Well, I caught him, all right," replied Puss, pulling on his boots, "but he begged me so hard to let him go that I did. He promised he'd never come back."
"If he really is the 'rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built' I don't believe Jack will be very glad to see him," said the little tabby cat, pulling on her mittens.
"My paws are almost frozen," cried the little gray kitten. "I'm so glad we have found our mittens."
"Good-by, mousie," cried the little black kitten, going up to the mouse hole and peeping in. "We all thank you very much for telling us where our mittens were. We're going into the house now, for mother has some pie for us. We'll bring you out a little piece of crust in a few minutes."
"Don't forget!" she answered, peeping out of her hole. "Bring us three pieces, for I have two little children who are very fond of pie crust."
"You be sure to save a little piece of crust," said the black kitty to the tabby kit, "and you, too," he said, turning to the gray kitten; "then we'll have three pieces!"
"Let's close the barn door," said Puss, before they started off for the house. "The little mouse may freeze if we leave it open."
It was a very big barn door that ran on little iron wheels, and it wasn't easy to move. "Push!" cried Puss, bracing his feet against the side of the barn.
"We can't push any harder," cried the three little kittens.
"Try again," said Puss. "Now, all together, heave ho, heave ho!" The big door began to move. "Push!" cried Puss. "It's beginning to move."
The three little kittens did their best, and pretty soon the little wheels went round and round, faster and faster, until all of a sudden the big door bumped into the other end of the doorway, sending Puss, Junior, and the three little kittens head over heels into the snow.