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Merrie Mouse sat at her kitchen table,
sipping a cup of tea. Soon all her wee ones would wake up and another
busy day would be upon her. She had much work today before then. She had
to wash all their wee kilts, mend broken toys, and prepare meals. Merrie
had to make sure each wee mouse had a matching pair of socks and shoes,
which wasn’t an easy task, as there were so many of them. She worked
hard and as the sun rose, she finished her chores. She was done just in
time. Already five of them were up and came running into the kitchen.
"Good morning, my wee ones," she said, hugging each of them. "Good
morning, Maxwell, Morgan, Melinda, Misty and Megan. Did you sleep well?"
she asked each of them.
They all nodded yes and
sat at the kitchen table. Merrie knew she had to quickly feed these
first five before the others got up. There wasn’t a lot of room at the
table. She cut each mouse a thin slice of cheddar cheese and then poured
them a glass of milk, which she’d gotten from Farmer Mackenzie’s milk
bucket. The five wee mice ate, slipped on their wee kilts, socks and
shoes, and ran out to play. "Stay close to the house," she called.
"Farmer Mackenzie’s doing some plowing today. I don’t want any
accidents!"
A few minutes later
Molly, Macy, Malcolm, Munro and Monty came into the kitchen. "Good
morning, my wee ones," she said, hugging her bairns. "Did you sleep
well?" Each wee mouse nodded yes and sat at the table, like the first
five had. Again Merrie cut them a thin slice of cheddar cheese and
poured them a glass of milk. When they finished, they put their kilts,
socks and shoes, and then ran out to play. Again, Merrie warned them,
"Stay close to the house. Farmer Mackenzie is plowing today and I don’t
want any of my wee ones hurt."
She cleaned up the
kitchen and went to make the beds. She had just finished the last bed
when Molly came running into the house. "Mummy, come quick. Wee Macy,"
who was the baby, "got squished by Farmer Mackenzie’s plow. I told him
not to go close but he didn’t listen."
Merrie ran outside and
into the field. She saw wee Macy lying in the dirt. He was crying very
loud. She picked him up and held him. After checking to make sure he
wasn’t seriously injured, she was relieved to find out he wasn’t too
badly hurt, but did have a broken leg. "Go and get the ambulance to come
and take wee Macy to the doctor to get his leg fixed," Merrie told the
others.
They ran as fast as they
could and soon were back with two bigger mice. "Merrie, we’ll take wee
Macy to get his leg fixed. Don’t worry," one of them said. They put wee
Macy on a stretcher and ran as fast as they could to the doctor.
Farmer Mackenzie was
standing near his plow with his two large horses. They were taking a
break. Plowing is a lot of hard work. Suddenly he saw two mice run by,
carrying another mouse on a stretcher. He knelt down for a better look.
"I wonder what happened to the mouse?" he said to his horses. "I think
that was one of Merrie’s bairns." He walked around the bushes and saw
Merrie Mouse sitting on a stone, surrounded by all her bairns. "Merrie,
what happened to wee Macy?" he asked.
"It wasn’t your fault,"
she said, "accidents happen." She noticed how worried Farmer Mackenzie
looked. "I warned the wee ones you were plowing today, but wee Macy
didn’t listen. I’m afraid the plow broke his leg."
Farmer Mackenzie was very
concerned. "I’ll have to be more careful from now on. I hope he’s fine."
"Och, aye. He’ll be just
fine. Don’t you go worrying yourself. The bairns need to be more careful
during plowing days." After chatting for a while, Farmer Mackenzie went
back to his plowing, watching the ground a little more carefully as he
worked.
After several hours, wee
Macy came home. His leg was in a cast, but he was doing well. Farmer
Mackenzie came back later that evening. Malcolm saw him coming and ran
into the house. "Mummy, come outside and see."
Merrie ran outside.
Farmer Mackenzie had brought them a special present. "I feel so bad
about wee Macy. I hope this helps," he said. He pulled a milk jug out of
a brown paper bag. "This is for you and your bairns. It’s milk with a
lot of cream on top. It’s all for you." The wee mice ran around the jug,
laughing and excited. There was enough milk for a week there. "Every
morning from now on, you send one of the bairns to my barn and I’ll give
you fresh milk and cheese."
Just then wee Macy came
outside. He was using a crutch to help him walk. "This is for you,"
Farmer Mackenzie said, pulling a big chunk of orange cheese out of the
bag. "This is the finest aged cheddar I have. I’m sorry your leg is
hurt. I hope you enjoy the cheese," He said to wee Macy, patting him
softly on the head. He broke a chunk off and handed it to the injured
mouse.
Macy took a bite of it.
"It’s delicious," he mumbled with a full mouth. "Thank you, Farmer
Mackenzie," he added.
From then on Merrie and
her wee mice had all the milk and cheese they wanted. They were much
more careful to stay out of the fields when Farmer Mackenzie was plowing
and he was much more careful too. |
