"'Don't be foolish,' interrupted Grandmamma.
"'Yes; but you were just as pretty as ever you could be,' urged Grandpapa, politely.
"'I know I was considered the belle of our society;' and Grandmamma tossed her head when she thought of the admirers of her youth.
"'I concluded I would not join my cousin at all,' went on Grandpapa; 'but this I was finally obliged to do, for days passed on and they did not return. At this we all began to look grave; so the father field-mouse told me that he was afraid something had happened, and he thought we had better search for them. We made a party of eight, and set out towards the mountains, anticipating something dreadful must have befallen the travellers. Ah, what a time we had!
"'We came to a place where the rock rose so steep and straight before us, that I did not consider it possible to climb it. What do you suppose we did? We tied ourselves together, as travellers do when ascending the Alps in Switzerland, although not with such ropes as they use; we fastened the tips of our tails together with bits of grass, then marched along side by side. This was an excellent arrangement, as we afterwards found; for at one time they all slipped, obliging me to bear their weight upon my tail. It was a terrible moment: I feared it would break, or be pulled out from the roots entirely!
"'At last we reached a shelf of rock where we could rest awhile. The view from this place was splendid. The valleys lay below blooming with verdure, many-colored flowers, and golden grain almost ready for the harvest; the rivers sparkled under the clear sunlight in silvery threads; and of the towns scattered along the the hillside as far as I could see, the church steeples looked like mere arrowy spikes. When I gazed down upon this beautiful smiling earth, and up at the blue sky where the soft white clouds were floating idly along, it seemed to me very wonderful that the good God, who had made such grand things, had made also little me.
"'We climbed up and up for several days, following footprints that were certainly those of mice; and we hoped belonged to our friends. At last, even such traces ceased; and we were fairly at our wits' end, when we heard faint sounds behind a large leaf. Peering cautiously around the corner, we saw the gray mouse and his companion stretched upon a bed of moss, groaning in the most dismal manner. They were overjoyed to see us again, for they had supposed they must die up there alone. My cousin had slipped, and sprained his ankle terribly; while the field-mouse had lost his balance, in trying to assist him, and fallen down a precipice some twenty inches high, thus injuring his spine. It was all very well having found them; but how were we to get them away, when neither of them could move a step? We sat for a long time looking at each other in doubt, and then a bright idea struck me.
"'"We can braid this sword-grass together, and lower them down by it," I said.
"'We soon joined a quantity in this way, then fastened one end about the waist of my cousin, and let him down to the next ledge. In this way we got them both to the foot of the mountain. Now it remained to carry them across the country; so we tore a mullein leaf in two halves, and, placing the pieces upon birch twigs, formed excellent litters for our invalids. We reached the stump of the field-mice again, after an absence of a month. The surgeon mended my cousin's ankle, which was broken; and, as for the young field-mouse, I am told he has not known what it was to feel well a day since.
"'During the period that we remained, I made a proposal of marriage to your mother, and was accepted; so, with the understanding that I should return in the spring, we finally started home. My mother forgot to scold us, she was so frightened by our long absence. Besides, she received very sad news just at this time. My father, who was away on business, as I have said, was taken with the cholera suddenly, after eating a late supper of bacon rinds, and died. I tried to be a good son ever after,' concluded he, wiping a tear from his left eye, 'although if I had not been naughty this time, I should never have known your mother.'