our in the
kitchen Grunty Pig pushed through a door that stood ajar. He found
himself in a long, dimly lighted hall. There were doors on both sides of
it. Grunty nosed around each one in turn. Not till he came to the last
of all, at the further end of the hall, did he find one that wasn't shut
tight. This door yielded to a little gentle pushing. And Grunty then
found himself--though he did not know it--in the parlor of the
farmhouse.

As he stood still and gazed about him, who should come stealing into the
room but Moses Mouse.

"Ah!" said Moses in a whisper. "So you've arrived at last?"

"Yes!" said Grunty Pig. "Isn't this a fine pen? Now that I've come to
the farmhouse to live I believe I'll make this pen my headquarters."

"That's a good idea," Moses Mouse told him. "Farmer Green's family don't
use it often. They seldom come here unless they have company."

While he listened, Grunty Pig sidled up to a table in the center of the
room and began, in an absent-minded fashion, to rub his back against it.
To his surprise, the table tipped over and a lamp that had stood upon it
crashed into a hundred pieces on the floor. Then a door slammed
somewhere. And steps sounded in the hall.

Moses Mouse tried not to look startled.

"I must be going now," he said abruptly. "I'll see you later." Then he
dashed into the fireplace and ran up the chimney.

"The accident was really your fault," Grunty called to him. "If you
hadn't talked so much I'd have noticed what I was doing."

Moses Mouse, however, did not reply. And a moment later Farmer Green's
wife appeared in the doorway. When she saw Grunty Pig she gave a scream.
Mrs. Green couldn't help being surprised at first. But soon she began to
laugh as if she would never stop.

"A pig in our parlor!" she cried. "Who ever would have thought it?"

Grunty Pig tried to explain that the broken lamp was really Moses
Mouse's fault. But Mrs. Green wouldn't listen. She ran out of the room
and came back at once with a broom in her hand. Then, opening the front
door, she drove Grunty Pig into the yard.

"Now, I wonder why Mrs. Green put me out of the farmhouse," he muttered.

Suddenly an idea popped into his head. "It must be," he cried, "because
I told tales. I tattled on Moses Mouse; and Mrs. Green didn't like it.
Next time I'll be careful about what I say to her."

There never was a next time. Perhaps Farmer Green took pains to keep the
door of Grunty's pen shut. Perhaps Farmer G