“I’ll break every bone in your body!”
Gray Mouse crouched down in a corner and trembled all over.
“O, O,” he cried, “what shall I do?”
Then the big beast heard him and looked down, his eyes opened wide and he hopped around on his great feet and made a noise like a trumpet.
“Please, Mighty Mouse,” roared the big beast, “don’t crawl up my trunk; please don’t bite my poor, little, tender ears. Spare my life and I will always be your friend.”
Gray Mouse tried to stop trembling, for he saw that the great beast was afraid of him. He stood up on his hind legs, folded his arms, took a deep breath, and swelled out his chest.
“And who are you, sir?” squeaked Gray Mouse, “that you dare to shake down the plastering of my house with your clumsy feet?”
“Please, sir,” answered the big beast between his sobs, “I am only a poor little elephant, who came in town with the circus, and they put me here in your barn until it was time to parade. I am sorry that I knocked down the plastering of your house, and if you will have mercy on me I will come down there and put it back again.”