And owls are to be imported, as if
there were not enough of them before! And foxes and martens and buzzards
and polecats and ermines are to be preserved for five years. It will be
a fine police-force."

"Yes," said the house-mouse, "there are bad times in store for all our
family."

They sat for a while and idled, each wrapped in her sad reflections. The
house-mouse felt horribly cold, because of her bare tail, and the
wood-mouse wished her cousin would go away, so that she might run down
to her warm nest.

"Tell me," said the wood-mouse. "How is our cousin from Copenhagen doing
over in the barn? Haven't you talked to her?"

"No, I haven't," said the house-mouse. "She was particularly friendly
when we had the packing-case: indeed, she even asked me down to see her
rooms. But she warned me not to come over there otherwise. She said that
I might run the risk of her eating me. She and some other brown rats
once ate a kitten, she said. And I could see by the look on her face
that it was true."

"Oh dear, oh dear!" said the wood-mouse. "But perhaps the rat-catcher or
the new cat has caught her?"

"No," said the house-mouse. "She escaped; and so did most of her
children. And they have multiplied in such a way that you simply can't
turn for rats, Jens says."

"Then, you'll see, they will forget you all right," said the wood-mouse,
"if only you are careful and discreet."

"Jens will forget me, perhaps," said the house-mouse, sadly. "But the
mistress will never forget me, because she believes I deceived her. And
the new cat has set eyes on my hole and she is on the look-out. Some
day, sooner or later, I shall be eaten up."

"Yes, it's awfully sad," said the wood-mouse. "But what can one do...?
Hullo, who's coming now?"

The house-mouse turned round and looked in the same direction as the
wood-mouse. A black animal came running over the snow.

"I positively believe it is our cousin the black rat," said the
house-mouse. "I didn't think there were any of them left. Yes, there's
no doubt about it, it's the black rat."

"Good afternoon, cousin," said the wood-mouse and backed down into her
hole until only her nose peeped out. "Welcome to the country. This is
the first time, so far as I know, that I have had the pleasure of seeing
you out here. You don't care much for nature, I believe."

"Give me food! Give me food!" screamed the black rat.

"I'm awfully sorry that you are hungry," said the wood-mouse.
"Unfortunat