XI
MISCHIEVOUS ANNA AND PETER
NOW, you must know that the Story People met at a certain hour every day to hear and to tell stories, new and old; for, as you may well believe, it is no small task to provide stories enough to feed the story-hungry children of the world.
Accordingly, when all were assembled, the Story King in his place, and Mary Frances in the seat of honor beside the Story Queen, the Story Lady began to tell the story of Mischievous Anna and Peter.
Anna and Peter were always in mischief. One day they climbed to the top of a high wall. It was a fairy wall, and it grew higher and higher, until at last it went so high that they got frightened, for they did not know how they should get down again. So they held tight by each other and the wall, and began to cry.
But no one heard them. For they were far away from home; besides, they were as high up in the air as the top of a mountain.
“Oh! oh! oh!” sobbed Anna.
“Oh! oh! oh!” sobbed Peter.
And their eyes were red and their faces quite wet and dirty.
“I shall fall,” said Peter.
“I can’t hold on much longer,” said Anna. And then they both sobbed “Oh! oh! oh!” again.
Then they heard a voice saying, “Oh! oh! oh!” after them. Only it was not any one crying, for the “oh! oh! oh!” had a very sweet sound.
They could not look round, for they dared not move their heads, and they dared not look down for fear of getting dizzy. But the voice seemed to be coming nearer. And so it was, for a fairy gate, with a tree beside it, and a little bit of ground to stand upon, was shooting up into the air just as the wall had done. And when it was as high as the wall it stopped, and Peter and Anna saw that a boy was leaning against the gate. He was playing on a whistle-pipe, and that made the sound they had heard.
“I will play you a tune,” said the boy. And he played so softly and sweetly that Peter and Anna left off crying.
“How did you come up?” asked Anna.
“On the gate,” said the boy.
“How are you going down?” asked Peter.
“On the gate, to be sure,” said the boy; “I have only to say—
And as he said the words, down he went.
“Let us also try,” said Anna.
Then down went the wall to the ground, and Peter and Anna slid off, and stood staring at the boy, who was still playing on his pipe.
“What do you want most?” asked the boy. “My pipe will bring anything I ask for.”
“A silk frock with a flounce and a sash, and a bonnet with blue ribbons,” said Anna, who was fond of fine clothes.
“A new suit and pair of leather reins to play at horses with,” said Peter.
The boy played a lively tune, and before Anna could say “ready,” she found herself dressed in a fine new frock; while Peter had the reins in his hands, and a new suit of clothes with a great frill and a round hat.
Then the boy said “Good-by,” and Peter and Anna went towards home.
“I will go this way,” said Peter.
“I will go that,” said Anna.
So they parted.
Anna, as she walked along, heard little feet behind her; and when she reached the steps leading to her home she looked round, and what was her surprise when she saw a large mouse dressed like a lady, with a parasol in its hand.
said the mouse.
Now Anna was afraid of mice, and she said, “But I do not want you; besides, we have a large cat that will eat you up.”
“No, it will not; I am a fairy mouse, and can eat up the cat if I please.”
Anna was much frightened; this was truly a dreadful mouse.
“Go away! Oh, go away!” she said.
“No,” answered the mouse; “as long as you wear my clothes I shall stay with you and take care of them.”
“They are not yours,” said Anna; “a boy with a whistle-pipe gave them to me.”
“But he piped to me for them,” said the mouse; “I have wardrobes full in my castle. You are quite welcome to them; but I must see that you do not spoil them. I shall sit by you at dinner, and play with you, and walk out with you, and sleep on your pillow at night.”
“Oh dear! oh dear!” said Anna; “I wish I had never asked for a silk frock and bonnet.”
“Shall I take them back?”
“Well, as you have made a rhyme, I will do so,” said the mouse, and she slapped Anna’s arm sharply with her parasol. Then Anna’s new clothes fell off, and she found herself in her old cotton dress again. And the mouse grew larger and larger, and ran away to her castle with the silk frock and the grand bonnet.
Now while this was happening to Anna a queer-looking man in a peaked hat and long overcoat said to Peter, “Shall I be your horse?”
“Yes,” said Peter. And the man took the reins, and they went along merrily enough.
When they were close by his home, Peter said, “I am going in here.”
But the man said—
“They cannot be yours,” said Peter; “a boy with a whistle-pipe gave them to me.”
“Ah, but he got them from me! I am a saddler, and have hundreds of them. And I want some little boys to help me to make more.”
“I don’t want to go,” said Peter.
But he could not loose the reins, and the man pulled him along faster and faster.
said Peter.
“As you have made a rhyme,” said the man, “I’ll take them back, and you may go home.”
Then the man hit Peter sharply with one end of the reins, and his new suit fell off, and he found himself in his old pinafore.
Then Peter went home and told Anna what had happened to him; and Anna told Peter all about the mouse, and they both thought that they had had a lucky escape.
Just then the boy with the pipe came down the street. And the pipe played these words—
Then the boy turned round the corner of the street, and Anna and Peter never saw him again.
“My, but the mouse must have looked cunning!” Mary Frances said. “Thank you for telling me that story. I—I wish——”
“Would you like to hear another—about Isabella and her cruel stepsisters?” asked the Story Lady.
“I should love to hear it!” replied Mary Frances.
The story people smiled and nodded, and the Story Lady proceeded.