|
 Alfred Cat was running through the
woods. He was chasing Sarah Mouse through the thistle and gorse. He chased
her up the hill and down into the glen. He chased her so much that he was
tired, but not as tired as Sarah was. Alfred lay down against a tall tree
to rest. Sarah, seeing how tired he was, lay down next to him. The cat
looked up at the tree. "What is that growing on the tree?" he asked the
mouse.
She looked up. "It looks like some
big, juicy pears. I love pears. Do you?"
"I love pears too. I like to eat
mice more than pears, but at least I don’t have to chase pears through the
glen and up the hills," Alfred sighed.
"I’d like to eat one. How can we
reach them? They are growing at the top of the tree," Sarah said.
"Can’t you climb? You’re a mouse,"
Alfred said.
"I can’t climb THAT high!" she
replied. "You’re a cat. Cats can climb trees too."
"Not this cat! I don’t climb trees,"
Alfred said.
"Then how will we get those
delicious looking pears?" Sarah asked.
"Why don’t we use a ladder and climb
up?"
"Brilliant idea!" Sarah said. The
two went to Mr. MacDonald’s croft to get the ladder. They carried it back
to the tree. "There we go," she said, leaning it against the tree.
"How will we climb the ladder? Look
how far apart the rungs are," Alfred noted.
"You stand here, at the bottom and
I’ll climb on your head. I’ll reach the rung, pull myself up, and then
help you up. We’ve got to climb so high! Right now we’re at the bottom.
Whew! It’s going to be a lot of work, but together we can do it," Sarah
said. She stepped on Alfred’s head, grabbed the first rung and pulled
herself up. "Grab my hands." She pulled Alfred up. He struggled and
groaned but made it to the first run. They did this until they’d reached
the top of the ladder.
"We sure were down low. Look how
high up were are now!" Alfred said, looking down.
"Let’s just grab some pears and get
back to the ground. I’d rather be low than high," Sarah said. She was
nervous about being so high up in the tree. They grabbed a few pears and
dropped them to the ground. They climbed back down the ladder. When they
reached the bottom they picked up the pears and sat against the trunk of
the tree. They ate all the pears and their tummies were soon full. "We
were so high up!"
"That’s where the best pears are. I
think from now on, though, I’m going to stick to eating mice. I don’t have
to climb high ladders." Alfred looked at Sarah. "In fact, I’ve got room in
my belly for a fat, juicy mouse like you."
Sarah ran away as fast as she could,
with a belly full of pears. |
