|
 "Where
can I hide? That mean old cat wants to eat me for supper," Martin, the
mouse, squeaked. "Maybe I should hide down here on the ground." He ran
behind a bush and hid. "I smell blackberries." Martin looked around. "This
is a blackberry bush. They smell sweet." He took a bite. "They taste sweet
too." He picked another blackberry and gobbled it down. "That was
delicious." He ate another, and then another. He ate so many blackberries
that his tummy got round and plump and he could hardly move. Martin lay
against a stone and putted his belly. "I think I ate too much. I hope the
cat doesn’t try to chase me now."
The cat crept through the grass. It
didn’t make a sound. "Where did that mouse go? I’ll find him and eat him
for supper." Paws looked behind a big stone, inside a hollow log, and even
in an empty rabbit’s burrow. "Where’s that mouse? I’ll find him!"
Paws sniffed the air. "I smell
something sweet. It smells like blackberry juice." Suddenly he felt rather
hungry. "If I can’t have a mouse for supper, I suppose I’ll have to eat
blackberries." He spotted the blackberry bush and ran towards it.
Martin had fallen asleep. He lay
curled in a ball snoring. Paws picked a few blackberries off the bush.
"What is that sound?" he wondered. "It sounds like snoring." He listened
again. "It is snoring." He parted the bush and saw Martin sleeping. "It’s
the mouse," he whispered. He reached through the prickly branches to grab
it.
Martin opened his eyes. "Yikes! The
cat!" He ran out of the bush and up the tallest tree.
Paws pulled his arm out and chased
the mouse. "Come back here. I’ll get you!" he shouted.
Martin went to the top of the tree
and ran out to the end of a branch. "Gulp! I’m high up." He held on
tightly, afraid that he might fall. He watched as Paws climbed the tree.
"I’m trapped." Paws stood at the end of the branch. He knew he couldn’t
walk out on it, as it wasn’t strong enough to hold him. Martin was much
smaller than Paws.
Paws had an idea. He grabbed hold of
the branch and shook it. Martin flew up and down. He held on tight to the
leaves and nearly fell. "Stop it. I’ll fall," he cried.
"That’s what I want you to do. Then
I can have you for supper," Paws said. He shook the branch again. "Just
because you’re high up, doesn’t mean you’re safe. It’s a long way to the
ground."
Martin looked down. He was scared.
If he fell, Paws would surely catch him. Paws shook the branch again and
again, but Martin held on with all his might. After a while, the cat tired
and climbed back down the tree. "Well, I guess I’ll have blackberries for
supper after all."
Martin stayed in the tree for hours,
waiting for Paws to leave. When he saw Paws run off into the woods, the
mouse climbed down the tree. "Whew, that was close. From now on I’d better
not eat so many blackberries and then fall asleep." Martin ran back to his
mouse hole, where he was safe. "Tomorrow’s another day," he yawned and
fell asleep, dreaming of plump, juicy blackberries. |
