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Tale of Grunty Pig

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<h3>XXIII</h3><h3>MOSES MOUSE'S WAY</h3> One day when Grunty Pig was at home, in the pigpen, a squeaky voiced piped "Good morning!" to him. Looking up, Grunty saw a plump little gentleman clinging to the top board on one side of the pen. "Good morning!" Grunty answered. "May I inquire what your name is?" "I'm Moses Mouse," his caller replied. "Do you live in the piggery?—or in the barn?" Grunty asked him. "Neither!" said Moses Mouse. "I live in the farmhouse. My wife and I have a nest in the wall.... The cat's away," he105 explained. "That's why I decided to stroll across the yard and visit you folks out here." "Some people," said Grunty Pig, "have all the luck. You live in the farmhouse. Miss Kitty Cat lives in the farmhouse—when she's at home. And old dog Spot spends a good deal of his time there—especially in cold weather. It must be pleasant to have your home where there's always plenty to eat, whenever you happen to feel hungry." "Miss Kitty Cat and old dog Spot always fare well," Mr. Mouse admitted. "But I've often gone to bed half starved. Maybe you didn't know that Mrs. Green is terribly neat. She doesn't leave much food around for us Mice." "Well," Grunty remarked, "it's an honor, anyhow, to live in the farmhouse. You ought not to complain about the food,106 even if it is a bit scarce at times. I'd be glad to live there. And I dare say I'd find a plenty to eat. The farmhouse is where the sour milk comes from." "If you feel like that," said Moses Mouse, "why don't you join us? Why don't you come to the farmhouse for the winter, anyhow?" Grunty Pig shook his head. "No!" he said, half to himself. "No! I can't do it." "Why not?" Mr. Mouse wanted to know. "I've never been invited," Grunty told him, with something like a frown. Moses Mouse surprised him with a merry laugh. "Ho!" he exclaimed. "Neither have I. If I had waited for an invitation I wouldn't be living in the farmhouse. I'd have shivered my days out in the barn." 107 Grunty Pig looked at his caller with growing interest. He would have said that so tiny a gentleman would be too timid to crowd in where he wasn't asked. "Don't wait any longer for an invitation," Moses Mouse urged him. "Go to the farmhouse and walk right in." "Oughtn't I to rap?" Grunty inquired. "Certainly not!" said Moses Mouse. "Make yourself right at home. Act as if the farmhouse belonged to you. That's the way I do. And nobody ever bothers me, except Miss Kitty Cat—or Miss Snooper, as we Mice call her. Even she can't drive me away from the farmhouse. I lived there before she ever came to Pleasant Valley." "She certainly couldn't drive me away," Grunty Pig muttered. "Besides, didn't you say she was away herself?" 108 "Yes!" said Moses Mouse. "And I hope she has gone for good." "Then," said Grunty Pig, "it ought to be quite safe for me to go to the farmhouse. And as soon as I have a chance to get out of this pen I'll do as you suggest." "Good!" cried Moses Mouse. And he said that he hoped to have many a chat with Grunty, at the farmhouse. "Umph!" said Grunty Pig. And Mr. Mouse was much pleased, for he took that to mean "Yes!" <hr />109 <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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