little mouse.

"'Oh, wife, wife!' he cried as if he had seen some horrible animal.
'Bring me the butcher knife so that I can kill this mouse!'

"But the little mouse put her paws together and begged for her life. She
promised to keep the mill free from mice if the miller would spare her
life. Well, after a good deal of talk the miller agreed that she should
be allowed to live in the mill, and for a whole month she kept her word
so well that not even a mouse's tail was seen anywhere around the place.
Then, one morning the miller heard a faint squeaking, and he cried out
angrily:

"'What's this, Mrs. Mouse? You have forgotten your promise, and let in
some of your friends.'

"No,' answered the little mouse, 'I have kept my promise. Those are my
three babies, who were born last night,' and she led the way proudly to
her nest, where the three squirming little mouse babies lay.

"'So this is the way you keep your word, is it?' the miller cried
angrily. 'You promised to drive all other mice away from this mill, and
here are three who have come to get their living from me!'

"Then he picked up the babies and threw them into the river. Oh, but the
little mouse was angry! Yet she was only a mouse, and he was a man, so
she said nothing; but after that, whenever she got a chance, she gnawed
and gnawed and gnawed at the outer post of the mill, sometimes working
the whole night long.