The Story of the Janjibo, and of the Frog and the Rat.
Watching the Rat.
“Once upon a time, a long time ago, a family of rats made a home for themselves in a haymow, and a good home it was. Corn, and potatoes, and hayseed and other things were handy. With all these good things handy, one of the young rats must needs walk into a trap. Two cats had long been watching the family, and when they saw this young rat go towards the trap, they sprang, and one of them caught him by the end of his tail just as he was going in, and pulled him out, but he got away and ran down-stairs, and the two cats after him, and at the bottom of the stairs he ran into something with a big hole at the big end and a small hole at the small end. He went in at the big hole, and the cats went in at the big hole after him. He went out at the small hole. It was just big enough for him to go through, and was not big enough for the cats to go through, and they turned round quick, and got tangled up in each other, and went out and went round outside and chased him, but the young rat had jumped out of a window. He was so frightened that he ran, and ran, and ran, across fields and hills, and got lost in a boggy swamp, and a great snapping turtle would have snapped him up, if a young frog had not begged the snapping turtle to let him live. The snapping turtle said he would let him live if the young frog would take care of him. The young frog said he would if his mother would be willing. The young frog’s mother said he might take care of him if the young rat would promise not to eat any tadpoles.
In After Him.
“The young rat promised not to eat any tadpoles, and the young frog took care of him and they lived together, and played tag together, and hide-and-seek together, and tiltered together, and did other things together. When the frog hid he croaked for the rat to come and find him, and when the rat hid he squealed for the frog to come and find him. When the frog hid among the cat-o’-nine-tails, the young rat wouldn’t play; and when they played tag, if the frog went among the cat-o’-nine-tails the rat wouldn’t chase. When they played tilter, they had to tilt high so that the frog’s legs need not touch the ground.
“The young rat was happy, and had no wish to return to his family. He went to all the frog concerts, and tried to get the frog tunes, but as he could only squeak them, or squeal them, and could not croak them, he could not get the frog tunes.
