The Velveteen Rabbit & Other Stories (4 page)

T
here was once a woman whose greatest desire was to have a child. She went to see a fairy about her wish and received a flower seed, which she planted that night. The next morning, a beautiful red-and-gold flower with tightly closed petals had grown in the pot. The delighted woman kissed the bud, and suddenly the petals opened. Inside sat a very delicate and graceful little girl. She was the size of a thumb, and so she was named Thumbelina.
Her cradle was a walnut shell, her bed was lined with violet leaves, and she had a rose petal for a blanket.

One night, an ugly toad crept through the window and leaped upon the table where Thumbelina lay sleeping. “What a pretty little wife she would make for my son,” said the toad, and she took Thumbelina's bed and jumped through the window with it into the garden.

The toad took the cradle to the pond and placed it on a lily pad, and then went to fetch her son. Thumbelina awoke and cried at finding herself in a strange place with nowhere to go. The fish felt pity for the beautiful girl and nibbled on the lily stem so that she could escape from the toad's ugly
son. Away down a stream floated the leaf on which Thumbelina sat, until a may bug picked her up and set her down in a meadow to live among the flowers and grasses.

All through the summer, Thumbelina ate blossom nectar and drank the rainwater that collected on leaves. She wove herself a bed from grasses and sang along with the birds that lived in the trees above. But autumn came, and then winter, and poor Thumbelina grew cold and hungry after the grasses died and the bitter wind began to blow. And when the snow came, each snowflake that landed on her was like a shovelful of snow thrown upon someone our size. Miserably, she left her meadow and wandered in search of food, until she came
upon a field mouse's den. Thumbelina begged for a bit of food, and the good mouse took pity on the girl and welcomed Thumbelina into her home, where they lived very comfortably.

One day during the winter, the field mouse told Thumbelina that they would soon have a visitor and that she should prepare her prettiest stories to tell. “He is very rich, with a house twenty times larger than mine,” said the mouse. “He is blind, but does very well.” And so Thumbelina dutifully recited her best stories and sang her prettiest songs to the visitor, who was a mole. She did not like him, however, because he spoke badly of the sun, the flowers, and all the dear creatures she had lived
with in the meadow. Being a mole, he preferred to live underground and rarely saw the daylight.

At the end of his visit, the mole guided Thumbelina and the field mouse through one of the tunnels that led to his house. He warned them that a dead bird lay along the passage. It was a large swallow with its wings drawn in tight and its eyes closed. After the mole and mouse had moved on, Thumbelina ran back to lay a warm blanket on the bird, so that even in death it would not be cold. As she straightened the blanket, she heard a weak
thump thump
in the swallow's chest. It was alive! Thumbelina was frightened but returned that night to cover the swallow with another blanket.
Presently, the swallow awoke. “Thank you, pretty maiden,” it croaked feebly. “I have been nicely warmed and shall soon regain my strength.” All through the winter, Thumbelina secretly fed and nursed the bird back to health. In the springtime, the swallow prepared to leave the tunnel and asked her to join him, but Thumbelina could not leave the kind field mouse. When the swallow said good-bye and soared into the warm sunlight, Thumbelina felt very sad.

Returning to the field mouse's den, Thumbelina was surprised to see her so excited. “We must start working on your wedding clothes, dear!” said the mouse. “The mole has asked to marry you. You're a very lucky girl.” Thumbelina had no choice
but to sew a wedding dress. She did not want to marry the mole and live in his underground tunnels. She would miss the sun and the sky, as well as the birds and butterflies who cheered her days last summer.

At last, it was her wedding day. Thumbelina asked permission to stand at the door and say farewell to the daylight. As she stood in the sunshine with her arms raised, she heard a familiar
tweet tweet
overhead. It was her dear swallow! And when he asked her now if she would come with him, she agreed. On and on he flew, until at last he landed near a beautiful lake where a dazzling white palace stood. His nest was among the top of the pillars, but he set Thumbelina down upon a flower of her
choosing, where she would be safe.

To her surprise, a tiny man already stood on the flower, with a gold crown on his head and gossamer wings on his back. He was the prince of all flowers and ruled over all the tiny men and women who lived on each flower. The handsome fairy prince was delighted with Thumbelina, as she was the prettiest and sweetest girl he had ever met. He quickly put his crown on her head and asked her to be his wife. This bridegroom was different from the toad and the mole! Thumbelina agreed, and they celebrated their wedding that day. The swallow sang his loveliest song, and the other flower fairies came bearing wonderful gifts for their new princess. The best gift was a pair
of fairy wings of her own, so that she could flit from flower to flower as well. Happiness had come to Thumbelina at last, and she and the prince rejoiced at their good fortune until the end of their days.

O
nce upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a cozy cottage near the edge of the woods with her mother. The girl liked to wear a red cloak with a hood. In fact, she wore it so much that soon she was known as Little Red Riding Hood.

One day her mother said, “Little Red, your grandmother is very sick. Bring her this basket of goodies but be very careful. Keep to the path and no matter what don't talk to strangers.”

Little Red Riding Hood kissed her mother on the cheek. “Don't worry, Mama. I'll run all the way to Grandma's without stopping.”

Little Red stayed on the path and spoke to no one…until she saw a bush full of raspberries. Raspberries were her grandma's favorite! She began picking berries, unaware that a wicked wolf was watching her from the woods.

“What a nice snack she will make,” the wolf said under his breath. Just as he was about to pounce, the wolf heard the chopping sound of a woodsman working nearby. “Drat!” he muttered. He needed a plan.

“Where are you going, my pretty girl, all alone in the woods?” the wolf asked, with a toothy grin.

Little Red was so excited about the berries that she forgot her mother's warning. “To see my grandmother!”

“Have you far to go?” asked the wolf.

“Yes,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “Her house is all the way on the other side of the woods.”

“Well, then,” the wolf said, with a little bow. “You had better be on your way.”

Little Red Riding Hood skipped down the trail. But the sneaky wolf knew a shortcut. He dashed through the woods until he was at Grandma's door.

Knock! Knock!

“Who's there?” cried Grandma from her bed.

“It's me,” said the wolf, trying to make
his voice sound soft and sweet. “It's Little Red Riding Hood. I've brought you a basket of goodies.”

“Come in,” said Grandma.

The door opened, and a horrible shadow appeared on the wall. “Oh, my!” was all the poor old woman could say as the wolf leapt across the room and grabbed her. He tied her up with rope and put her in the closet.

The wicked wolf put on Grandma's night-clothes and climbed into her bed. Moments later, there was a knock on the door.

“Grandma,” called Little Red Riding Hood, “may I come in?”

The wolf tried to imitate Grandma's quivering voice. “Come in!”

Little Red opened the door and set the
basket down, and came closer. “Why, Grandma,” she said, “what a deep voice you have.”

“The better to greet you with,” said the wolf.

“And what big eyes you have.”

“The better to see you with.”

“And what big teeth you have!”

“The better to
eat
you with!”

The wolf grabbed the girl and let out a sinister howl! His howl was so loud that it echoed through the woods. The woodsman, fearing the worst, grabbed his axe and ran toward the terrible noise. He burst through the door and found Little Red in the wolf's clutches. The woodsman swung his axe! The wolf jumped back, the blade just barely
missing him, and let Little Red go.

“I'll get you next time,” he said before running off into the woods.

Little Red Riding Hood ran to the closet and untied her grandma as the woodsman looked on.

Later, the three sat down to enjoy the goodies Little Red had brought…and she never, ever,
ever
spoke to a stranger again!

T
here was once a happy little mouse that lived in the country. In the summer, the country mouse scampered around the wheat field, eating grain whenever he felt like it. As the weather grew cold, the little mouse moved into the farmhouse. Inside he gathered nuts and barley that were dropped on the kitchen floor. When winter came, he had a good supply of food in three neat piles: one for
nuts, one for barley, and one for crumbs.

One snowy winter day, there was a knock at the door. It was his cousin, all the way from the city! When the little city mouse sat down to dinner, he couldn't believe the country mouse had nothing to eat except barley, nuts, and crumbs.

The city mouse shook his head and said, “My poor country cousin. You do not live well at all. Why, you should see how I live! I have fine things to eat every day.”

The country mouse immediately felt ashamed of his simple home.

The city mouse went on, “Tomorrow, we'll go to the city. I'll show you my home and you will see how much nicer it is where I live.”

In the morning, they went to the city where the houses were big and there were people everywhere.

The very first place that the city mouse took his cousin was the kitchen cupboard. Inside there was a sack of brown sugar. They began to eat at once. The country mouse had never tasted anything so delicious in his life!

“Wow, cousin,” the country mouse said. “You are so lucky!”

Just then, the door swung open with a bang. The city mouse ran for the hole in the corner of the cupboard but the country mouse froze with fear. A cook reached into the cupboard and to her surprise came nose to nose with the country mouse.

She let out a scream and dropped the flour on the floor.

“Don't just stand there, cousin!” shouted the city mouse. “Come on!”

The country mouse scurried through the little hole. When they were safe, the country mouse said, “Whew! That was close.”

The city mouse dusted the flour off his whiskers. “Don't worry. She'll be gone soon and then we can go back.”

After the cook had gone away, they crept back to the kitchen. This time, the city mouse had something new to share. They went through the hole in the cupboard, where a big jar of dried cherries was left open. These were even better than the brown sugar! Everything was wonderful
until they heard
scratch, scratch, scratch
on the cupboard door.

“What is that?” asked the country mouse.

Suddenly there was a loud meow!

The city mouse ran as fast as he could to the hole, and this time the country mouse followed.

As soon as they were out of danger, the city mouse said with a glint in his eye, “That old cat will never catch me! Let's go down to the pantry. There is even more food down there!”

Down in the pantry, there were rounds of cheese, bunches of sausages, and barrels full of pickles. It smelled so good that the little country mouse went wild. He scurried around the room, nibbling a little cheese
here and a bit of a pickle there, until he saw a morsel of cheese on a strange little stand in a corner. He was just about to take a big, healthy bite when the city mouse saw him.

“Stop!” cried the city mouse. “That's a trap!”

The little country mouse stopped in his tracks. “What's a trap?”

“That
thing
,” said the little city mouse, “is a trap. The minute you touch the cheese, something comes down on your head hard, and—” The city mouse made a loud
clap
with his little hands.

The little country mouse looked at the trap. Then he looked at his cousin. “I think I will go home,” he said. “I'd rather have barley and grain and eat it in peace, than have
brown sugar and cheese and eat in fear.”

The two mice shook hands. The country mouse happily went back to his home. And there he stayed for the rest of his life.

O
nce upon a time, Chicken Little was scratching in her garden when an acorn fell out of a tree and hit her on the head.

“Oh, dear me!” she cried. “The sky is falling. I must go and tell the king!”

So she ran and ran until she met Henny Penny.

“Good morning, Chicken Little,” said Henny Penny. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, Henny Penny, the sky is falling, and
I am going to tell the king!”

“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Henny Penny.

“A piece of it fell on my head!” said Chicken Little.

“Then I will go with you,” said Henny Penny.

So they ran and ran until they met Turkey Lurkey.

“Good morning, Henny Penny and Chicken Little,” said Turkey Lurkey. “Where are the two of you going?”

“Oh, Turkey Lurkey, the sky is falling, and we are going to tell the king!” they said.

“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Turkey Lurkey.

“Chicken Little told me,” said Henny Penny.

“A piece of it fell on my head!” said Chicken Little.

“Then I will go with you,” said Turkey Lurkey.

So they ran and ran until they met Ducky Lucky.

“Where are the three of you going?” he asked.

“The sky is falling, and we are going to tell the king,” answered Turkey Lurkey.

“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Ducky Lucky.

“Henny Penny told me,” said Turkey Lurkey.

“Chicken Little told me,” said Henny Penny.

“A piece of it fell on my head!” said Chicken Little.

“Then I will go with you,” said Ducky Lucky.

So they ran and ran until they met Goosey Loosey, on her way to the bakery.

“Where are the four of you going?” she asked.

“The sky is falling, and we are going to tell the king,” answered Ducky Lucky.

“How do you know it is falling?” asked Goosey Loosey.

“Turkey Lurkey told me,” answered Ducky Lucky.

“Henny Penny told me,” said Turkey Lurkey.

“Chicken Little told me,” said Henny Penny.

“A piece of it fell on my head!” said Chicken Little.

“Then I will go with you,” said Goosey Loosey.

So they ran and ran until they met Foxy Loxy.

“My, my. Look at all these plump birds,” he said, licking his lips. “Where is everyone going?”

“The sky is falling, and we are going to tell the king,” they all replied together.

“But you are not going the right way,” said Foxy Loxy, squinting his wicked eyes. “Shall I show you the way to go?”

“Oh, certainly,” they all answered at once and followed Foxy Loxy, until they came to the door of his cave among the rocks.

“This is a short way to the king's palace,” said Foxy Loxy.

Just as the little feathered folks were
about to follow the fox into his cave, a little gray squirrel jumped out from behind the bushes and whispered to them, “If you go in, that fox will eat all of you!”

The little squirrel threw a big stone and hit the old fox right on the head.

“The sky surely
is
falling,” groaned Foxy Loxy, as he fell to the ground. Happy to escape from the wicked fox, the feathered friends thanked the squirrel and continued their journey to see the king.

By and by, they came to the palace where the wise king lived. Upon entering they all shouted at once, “King, we have come to warn you that the sky is falling!”

“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked the king.

“A piece of it fell on my head!” said Chicken Little.

“Come nearer, Chicken Little,” said the king and, leaning from his velvet throne, picked the acorn from the feathers of Chicken Little's head. “You see, it was only an acorn and not part of the sky at all,” said the king.

Weary but wiser, the little feathered friends left the palace and started on their long journey home.