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Children's Stories — Perez the Mouse. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
Perez the Mouse adapted from the Spanish Apadre Luis Coloma by Lady Morton. Once upon a time there lived a king called Bobby the First, who was very kind to poor children and mice. For the children he built a factory for making dolls and cardboard horses, for the benefit of the mice he made wise laws to stop cats catching them and absolutely forbade the use of mouse traps. Bobby began to reign when he was only six years old, under the care of his mother, who was very good in clever, and who watched over him and guided his steps, as good children are guided by their guardian angel. Bobby was a darling little boy, and when on great days they put on his gold crown and his embroidered robes, the gold of his crown was not brighter than his hair, nor the urmin of his robe softer than his cheeks and hands. He was just like a little Dresden China figure, which had been put to sit on a throne instead
of standing on the chimney-piece. One day while the king was eating his bread and milk, one of his teeth began to wobble. There was a great fuss and the court doctors arrived in a hurry. They were all agreed that his majesty had begun to change his teeth, and at ten length they settled to pull out the loose one. They wanted the king to have laughing gas as he did when his hair was cut, as he always fidgeted so. But Bobby was a brave little boy and made up his mind to have it out with nothing. The oldest of the court doctors tied a bit of red silk around the tooth, and then gave a tweak, and he pulled so cleverly that while the king was making a face, out came the tooth as round and white as a little pearl. And there was another fuss as to what was to be done with it. But Bobby's mother, who as we have said, was a very wise queen and very loyal to old customs,
settled that the king should write a very polite letter and put it with the tooth in an envelope under his pillow that night, which has always been the proper thing to do ever since the world began. And no one has ever known Perez the Mouse forget to come and fetch the tooth and leave a lovely present in its place. King Bobby found writing that letter a dreadful task, but he managed really quite well in the end, and only inked all his fingers, the tip of his nose, his left ear, his right shoe, and his bib. He went to bed very early that evening and ordered that all the light should be left in his room. He put the envelope under his pillow inside up in bed, determined to keep awake to see Perez the Mouse, even if he had to wait all night. Perez the Mouse was a long time coming, so little king began to make up a little speech to say to him when he did arrive.
After a bit, Bobby began to open his eyes very wide, fighting against the Miller, who was trying to make him shut them. But they did shut it last, and the little boy slipped down into the warm bed clothes. His head on the pillow, with one arm over it, as a little bird tucks its head under its wing when it goes to sleep. Suddenly, he felt something very soft, just tickling his forehead, and sitting up quickly, he saw in front of him standing on the pillow, a tiny little mouse in a straw hat and slippers and big gold spectacles. A red satchel was slung across his back. King Bobby stared at him in his astonishment, and Perez the Mouse, seeing that his majesty was awake, took off his hat and made a very low bow, waiting to be spoken to. But the king said nothing, because he had quite forgotten all he had made up to say, and
after thinking and thinking he faltered out at last, good night. Perez answered with a low bow, God gave your majesty a very good one. The civil speech is quite broke the ice, and the king and the mouse became the greatest friends. It was easy to see that Perez was a mouse, who was accustomed to polite society, and to run about on soft carpets, as he had such very good manners. It was wonderful what a lot of things he could talk about, which made him a very pleasant companion. He had traveled through all the pipes and drains of the capital, and in the royal library alone he had eaten up three books and less than a week. He talked to about his family. He had two quite grown-up daughters, Adelaide and Elvira, and the son nearly grown up called a Dolphus, who was studying for diplomacy in the drawer where the minister of state kept
his most secret notes. He did not say much about Mrs. Mouse and the little king somehow fancied that she was rather vulgar. His majesty listened to all this with his mouth open, from time to time he put out his hand to try and catch Perez by the tail, but each time the mouse gave a sort of whisk and placed his tail out of reach without being in the least rude. It was getting late and the king forgot to dismiss him, so Mr. Mouse cleverly hinted that he had to go that same night to a street not far off to fetch the tooth of a very poor little boy called Giles. It was rather a difficult, dangerous journey because near there lived a very wicked cat called Don Pedro. The king at once wanted to go to and beg Perez to take him. The mouse stood thinking it over and twisting his whiskers. The responsibility was very great, and moreover he was obliged to go back to his own house
to fetch the present for little Giles. The king said he would like to go and see the mouse's home, which so much flattered Perez that he had once offered him a cup of tea and agreed to take him to see little Giles. Perez the mouse lived underneath a grocery shop near a big pile of gruyard cheeses which supplied the whole family with breakfast, dinner and tea. Overjoyed King Bubby jumped out of bed and began to dress himself. And all at once Perez the mouse, bring on his shoulder and put the tip of his tail into his majesty's nose. Then a wonderful thing happened. The king sneezed very hard and turned into the most darling little mouse he ever saw. He was all soft and shiny and had wee green eyes like emeralds. Perez the mouse took him by the paw and disappeared with him down a tiny hole under the bed, which had been hidden by the carpet.
The way was dark and sticky, but they scampored along. Sometimes Perez the mouse stopped at some crossway and looked about before going on, which rather frightened the king and made him feel little shivers right down to the tip of his tail, and he knew that he was afraid, but he remembered that fear is natural to the prudent, to conquer it is to be courageous. So he would not let himself be frightened, which is being really brave. Once when you heard a tremendous noise like dozens of motor omnibus is passing over his head, he whispered to ask Peter if that was where Don Pedro lived, but Mr. Mouse said no with his tail and on they went. After going down a gentle slope they came to a big cellar, which felt nice and warm and smelt very much of cheese. Behind a pile of gruyard cheese they found themselves face to face, with the huntly and
Palmer biscuit tin, which was the home of the Perez family. Here they lived as happily as the rat of the fable did in the Dutch cheese. Perez the mouse introduced the king as a foreign tourist, who was on a visit to the capital, and the family welcomed him very cordially. The two Miss Mouse's were at work with their governess, Miss Stilton, who was a very learned English mouse, and Miss's mouse was embroidering a beautiful smoking cap for her husband, sitting by a bright fire made of raisin stalks. This happy family party delighted King Booby, adulating Elvira, May T, and Port Attsam into lovely wee cups, may out of the skins of white beans. Then they had a little music. Adilates saying Dismonus song, O Willow Willow, in a way which much pleased the king, and Elvira recited about a little mouse who was ill of fever, and a naughty kitten who wanted
to pounce on it. After this Adolphus came in from the jockey club, where, to the sorrow of his father and mother, he wasted all his time playing cards with the mice from the foreign embassies. King Booby would willingly have stayed longer, but Perez, who had slipped away, King back with his satchel on his back, and said it was time to start. So the king said goodbye very politely, and Miss's mouse gave him a kiss on each cheek in her homely way. Adilates put out a paw in a laxed a daysical fashion, and Elvira shook hands like a plump handle. While Miss Stilton made him a beautiful cheese of a curtsy, and then stared at him through his eyes, and was out of sight. Adolphus too was very gushing, and conducted him as far as the lid of the tin, and offered to introduce him at the polo club, for which the king thanked him very much, thinking all the time that, though he might be a very smart young mouse, he was rather a bore.
Then Booby and Perez the mouse again began their scamper, with such a quantity of precautions that the king was astonished. And front of them, when a regiment of ferocious mice, soldiers whose bayonets made a fine needle gleamed in the darkness, behind them came a second regiment, also armed to the teeth. Perez the mouse then confessed that he would not have undertaken this expedition without the soldiers to protect the person of the young monarch. Before the son King Booby saw the garden front, had disappeared on a little hole, through which came a faint light. This was the moment of danger, Perez the mouse slowly waggling his tail from side to side, put his head very cautiously through the hole, and looked around it. He then went back two steps, and finally suddenly seizing the king's paw, dashed through the hole like an arrow, crossed a big kitchen, and disappeared through another hole in the
opposite side near the range. As one sees telegraph posts out of the train, so Booby saw that kitchen. By the hearth and the glow of the fire lay in a enormous cat, the dreadful dawn Pedro. Its great whiskers heaving up and down as it breathed. The guards silently formed up from a hole to hole ready to fire to protect the king's route from the sleeping cat. It was all very grand in imposing, an ugly old woman sat in chair, Oswis sleep with her knitting on her knee. One through the hole the danger was over, and they had only to get upstairs as this was where little giles lived. King was open in his poor room, which was all cracks and drots. King Booby scrambled onto the arm of Viscedal's chair, the only one in the room, and from there could see a picture of Parvati, such as he had never dreamt of.
The sloping roof joined the floor, so that one side a man could not have stood upright, and through the holes the cold air of dawn was coming, while icicles hung from the roof. The only furniture besides the chair was an empty bread basket hanging up, and in a corner of bed of straw in rags, on which little giles and his mother were laying fast asleep. Perez the mouse drew nearer, taking the king by the paw, and they could see how little giles was huddled up in the rags, and how he was cuddled up against his mother for warmth, and it made the king so unhappy that he began to cry. Why had he never known that people were so poor? How was it that he had never been told that children were hungry and had to sleep on horrid beds? He did not want any blankets on his cot till every child in his kingdom had plenty of bedclothes to keep them warm.
Perez the mouse brushed away to hear with his paw, and then tried to comfort the king by showing him the bright gold coin he was going to put under little giles pillow, and exchanged for his first tooth. Just then, giles's mother woke and sat up in bed and looked at her little boy who was still asleep. It was becoming light, and she had to earn some money by washing clothes in the river. She caught the sleeping giles in her arms and made him kneel down under a picture of the infant Christ, which was pinned to the wall near the bed. The king Perez the mouse knelt down to, and so did the soldier mice who were waiting in the empty bread basket. The child began to pray. Our father, which art in heaven? Bubby started and looked at Perez the mouse, who understood his astonishment, and fixed his piercing eyes on him, but never said a single word. On the return journey they were silent and preoccupied, and half an hour later the king
was home in his nursery with Perez the mouse, who again put the tip of his tail into Bubby's nose and made him sneeze. All at once he found himself safely back again in his own warm little cot, with the queen's arms around him, who woke him, as she always did, with a kiss. At first he thought it had been all a dream, but when he looked for the letter he had put under his pillow he found it was gone. And in its place was a case, with the order 33 of the golden fleas in diamonds, a magnificent present from the generous Perez the mouse, and exchanged for his first tooth. Perhaps I'd better explain to English children, that in King Bubby's country the order of the golden fleas is like our order of the garter, the greatest honor the king can give. The little king however paid no attention to his beautiful present, and let it lie unnoticed
on the bed, while leaning on his elbow he lay very busy thinking. Then suddenly he asked the queen in a very solemn voice, mama, why do poor children say the same prayer as I do? Our father which art in heaven. The queen answered, because he is as much their father as he is yours. Then said the king thoughtfully, we must be brothers. Yes my darling, they are your brothers. Answered the queen, Bubby's eyes were filled with astonishment. In a choky voice he said, then why am I a king and have everything I want, while their poor and have nothing? The queen gave him a squeeze and kissing him again on his forehead said, because you are the eldest brother, which is what being King really means.
You understand darling? God has given you everything in order that your younger brother should want for nothing. I never knew this before said Bubby shaking his head, and without thinking any more about his present he began to say his prayers as he did every morning, and as he prayed it seemed to him that all the poor little boys in the kingdom came round him with their hands clasped, and that he, the eldest brother spoke for them all when he prayed, our father which art in heaven. King Bubby grew up to be a great ruler. He always asked God's help in all he did, and returned thanks for his happiness, ever saying speaking for all his subjects, poor and rich, good and bad, our father which art in heaven. And when he died, a very old man, and his good soul arrived at the gates of heaven, he knelt down and prayed his usual our father.
And as he prayed the gates were opened wide by thousands of poor little children to whom he had been King. That is to say, eldest brother here on earth. P.S., the Spanish story which was written once upon a time, to mues a real little boy King ends here. But I cannot help adding that it does not seem a pity not to try and get pressed the mouse to come to England. The only way to manage this will be to take great pains over your copies and spelling, that when your first tooth comes out, you will be able to write a nice, tidy, polite letter to him. If you put it under your pillow at night, I am nearly sure you will find it gone and present, in its place in the morning. Perhaps you may even feel the same little soft tickle on your forehead that King Bubby did. But I do not promise for certain that you will see kind Mr. Mouse because he is rather shy. A.M.M. and a press the mouse by Luis Coloma.
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