Ferocious mice . . . . armed to the teeth
Perez the Mouse brushed away a tear with his paw and then tried to comfort the King by showing him the bright gold coin he was going to put under little Giles’ pillow in exchange for his first tooth.
Just then Giles’ mother woke and sat up in bed and looked at her little boy, who was still asleep. It was becoming light, and she had to earn some money by washing clothes in the river. *She caught
the sleeping Giles in her arms and made him kneel down under a picture of the Infant Christ which was pinned to the wall near the bed.
The King and Perez the Mouse knelt down too, and so did the soldier mice who were waiting in the empty bread basket.
The child began to pray, ‘Our Father which art in Heaven.’
Bubi started and looked at Perez the Mouse, who understood his astonishment, and fixed his piercing eyes on him, but never said a single word.