Electronic Resource
E-book Secrets of the woods
Little Tookhees the wood mouse, the 'Fraid One, as Simmo calls
him, always makes two appearances when you squeak to bring him
out. First, after much peeking, he runs out of his tunnel; sits
up once on his hind legs; rubs his eyes with his paws; looks up
for the owl, and behind him for the fox, and straight ahead at
the tent where the man lives; then he dives back headlong into
his tunnel with a rustle of leaves and a frightened whistle, as
if Kupkawis the little owl had seen him. That is to reassure
himself. In a moment he comes back softly to see what kind of
crumbs you have given him.
No wonder Tookhees is so timid, for there is no place in earth or
air or water, outside his own little doorway under the mossy
stone, where he is safe. Above him the owls watch by night and
the hawks by day; around him not a prowler of the wilderness, from Mooween the bear down through a score of gradations, to
Kagax the bloodthirsty little weasel, but will sniff under every
old log in the hope of finding a wood mouse; and if he takes a
swim, as he is fond of doing, not a big trout in the river but
leaves his eddy to rush at the tiny ripple holding bravely across
the current. So, with all these enemies waiting to catch him the
moment he ventures out, Tookhees must needs make one or two false
starts in order to find out where the coast is clear.
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