“Once there were a mouse and a crocodile and a man and a goat and a lion,” said Bruno.

“And the mouse found a shoe, and it thought it were a mouse-trap. So it got right in, and it stayed in ever so long.”

“Why did it stay in?”

“‘Cause it thought it couldn’t get out again,” Bruno explained. “It were a clever mouse. It knew it couldn’t get out of traps.”

“But why did it go in, then?”

“No matter why!” said Bruno decisively; “and it jamp, and it jamp, and at last it got right out again. And it looked at the mark in the shoe. And the man’s name were in it. So it knew it wasn’t its own shoe.

So the mouse gave the man his shoe. And the man were welly glad, ‘cause he hadn’t got but one shoe, and he were hopping to get the other.

And the man took the goat out of the sack.... No, I know oo hasn’t heard of the sack before, and oo won’t again.... And he said to the goat: ‘Oo will walk about here till I comes back.’ And he went and he tumbled into a deep hole. And the goat walked round and round. And it walked under the tree. And it wug its tail. And it looked up in the tree. And it sang a sad little song. Oo never heard such a sad little song!

It singed it right froo. I sawed it singing with its long beard.

And when it had singed all the song, it ran away—for to get along to look for the man, oo know. And the crocodile got along after it—for to bite it, oo know. And the mouse got along after the crocodile.”

“Wasn’t the crocodile running?”

“He wasn’t running,” said Bruno, “and he wasn’t crawling. He went struggling along like a portmanteau. And he held his chin ever so high in the air——”

“What did he do that for?”

“‘Cause he hadn’t got a toofache!” said Bruno. “Can’t oo make out nuffin wizout I ‘splain it? Why, if he’d had a toofache, a course he’d have held his head down—like this—and he’d have put a lot of warm blankets round it!”

“Did he have any blankets?”

“Course he had blankets,” said Bruno. “Does oo think crocodiles goes walks wisout blankets? And he frowned with his eyebrows. And the goat was welly flightened at his eyebrows.”

“I’d never be afraid of eyebrows.”

“I should think oo would, though, if they’d got a crocodile fastened to them, like these had!”

And so the man jamp, and he jamp, and at last he got right out of the hole.

And he runned away—for to look for the goat, oo know. And he heard the lion grunting.

And its mouth were like a large cupboard. And it had plenty of room in its mouth. And the lion runned after the man—for to eat him, oo know. And the mouse runned after the lion.

“And first he caught the crocodile, and then he didn’t catch the lion. And when he’d caught the crocodile, what does oo think he did—‘cause he’d got pincers in his pocket? Why, he wrenched out that crocodile’s toof!”

“Which tooth?”

“The toof he were going to bite the goat with, a course!”

“And what became of the man?”

“Well, the lion springed at him. But it came so slow, it were three weeks in the air——”

“Did the man wait for it all that time?”

“Course he didn’t. He sold his house, and he packed up his things, while the lion were coming. And he went and he lived in another town. So the lion ate the wrong man.”