“I’ll try it first,” said the mouse mother. “If it is large enough for me it will be big enough for my little ones.”
So the mouse mother first poked her head out of the hole which Flop Ear had gnawed. Then she found she could get her front paws out, and, by squeezing a little, she could get all the way out.
“Come on, children!” she cried. “It’s all right! Now we can get out of the trap. Oh, how good it is to be free again! Now we can go back to our home—back to your father. Oh, Flop Ear! I do not know how to thank you enough!”
“Well, I am very glad I could help you out,” said the white rabbit. “Are you sure you can find your way to your home now?”
“Oh, yes, it is only a little way from here now,” said the mouse mother. “We will soon be there. Will you not come and pay us a little visit? Of course, you are so large that you would not fit in our tiny home, but you could sit outside. And I am sure Mr. Mouse would be glad to meet you, and thank you for what you have done for us. Do come.”
“I will,” said Flop Ear. “Thank you.”
“This is the way to our house,” said the mother mouse. “We shall soon be there.”
She led the way, and the little field mice followed after, just like Jill tumbling down the hill after Jack, who went to get a pail of water. And Flop Ear came last. The rabbit had to hop very slowly or he would have gone on far ahead of the little mice.
“Here is our home,” said the mother mouse, as she pointed with her paw to a little hole in the ground. “And there is your father, children! See!”