Walter the Lazy Mouse (Nancy Pearl's Book Crush Rediscoveries)

by Marjorie Flack

  “Dear me,” said his mother, “that will be very nice but we will have to do something about a bed.”

  “But you have my bed, haven’t you?” asked Walter.

  “Oh, yes, we have what used to be your bed,” she said. “But we have a surprise to show you!”

  So they all went upstairs and there on Walter’s bed were sleeping two new baby mice brothers and one new sister. “They came while you were away,” said his mother, “so it was handy to have the extra bed.”

  “But,” she added, “we will get them a bed of their own and you can have your own bed all to yourself. Now hurry off to school and I will have some clothes all ready for you to take to your friend the Turtle to take to the frogs.”

  So Walter hurried back to school. After school he went home.

  His mother had ready a beautiful dress for Lulu and a pair of overalls for Leander and a sailor suit for Percy, and to his surprise his mother had embroidered their names on each one. “They will like that,” she said, “because you have taught them to read.”

  Walter tied the clothes into a neat bundle, and his mother gave him some string to fasten it to Turtle’s back, and Walter went out to the baseball field.

  There was Turtle waiting for him. He was there, but he was hiding inside his shell. “Turtle, Turtle, come out,” shouted Walter, knocking on the shell.

  Out came Turtle’s head and then out came his hands and his feet and tail. He rose and stretched himself and said, “Hop on, Mouse Mouse, we must hurry back or the frogs might forget you.”

  “But I am not going, Turtle,” said Walter, and he explained to Turtle all about how he had decided to stay and how he must go to school because he had taught Turtle and the frogs all wrong.

  “That doesn’t matter,” said Turtle. “That doesn’t matter, because they will forget what you have taught them.”

  But Walter still felt that he should teach them correctly, so he tied the bundle tightly on Turtle’s back and he said,

  “Come for me when the first hot day of summer comes, and I will meet you at sunset here.”

  So Walter said good-bye to Turtle, and Turtle went back to Mouse Island, and Walter went back to Mouse Village to be with his family and to go to school.

  Chapter Ten

  Walter Goes Back to Mouse Island

  All winter long Walter was a busy young mouse. He was the very first of all his large family to be up in the morning. He was through with his breakfast first and on his way to school first. And every morning he would be the very first pupil in school, because Walter had become so used to being up and at school at sunrise on Mouse Island that he no longer knew how to be lazy.

  Every morning Miss Gray would let him ring the bell to call the others to school. And all day long, Walter would pay attention to his lessons and he would give his answers promptly and correctly. Walter was such a very good pupil that Miss Gray would often say, “Whatever should we do without Walter!”

  When the first hot day of summer vacation began, Walter said good-bye to his mother and his father and his seven sisters and his seven brothers and they all said, “We will miss you.”

  Then Walter met Turtle as they had planned, and he climbed upon Turtle’s back, and they set out to go back to Mouse Island.

  “Did Lulu and Leander and Percy like the clothes?” Walter asked as they jogged along.

  “Oh, yes, they were delighted with them,” said Turtle. “But they always forget.”

  “Forget what?” asked Walter.

  “Which clothes are whose,” said Turtle.

  “But they had their names on them,” said Walter.

  “Yes, but they always forget,” said Turtle. “They forget whose names are which!”

  Then Walter asked, “What about me? Have they forgotten me?”

  “Of course,” said Turtle.

  “Well,” said Walter, “I will have to teach them all over again.”

  By the time Walter and Turtle reached Mouse Island, it was the middle of the night. Lulu and Leander and Percy were nowhere in sight, and Walter was very disappointed. “I thought they would come to meet me,” he said.

  “It is because they have forgotten,” said Turtle.

  “Yes, of course,” said Walter.

  “You had better get some sleep, and I will bring them to school at sunrise in the morning,” said Turtle. So Walter went to sleep in the little house he had made for himself so long ago, and when the sun rose in the morning, he was up and out waiting for Lulu and Leander and Percy to come to school.

  At last he saw them coming with Turtle leading the way, but they did not come swimming through the water beautifully as they used to do. No, they came hopping clumsily over the lily pads and then Walter saw the reason why.

  Lulu and Leander and Percy were all dressed up in the clothes he had sent them, but such a sight they were! Leander had Lulu’s dress on, and Lulu had Percy’s sailor suit on wrong. Percy wore Leander’s overalls without fastening the straps so he had to hold on to them all the time to keep them from falling off.

  “It is time I came to teach them,” said Walter to himself.

  “Good morning,” Walter called to them. “Good morning.”

  But Lulu and Leander and Percy behaved in the same way as they had when he first met them.

  They looked at him with their large eyes smiling politely but said nothing. Then Walter heard Lulu whisper to Leander, “It’s a mouse,” and he heard Leander whisper to Percy, “Wonder where it came from.”

  “I am Walter Mouse, your friend Mouse Mouse,” said Walter patiently.

  “My name is Frog,” said Lulu and Leander and Percy all at the same moment, and Walter knew they had forgotten him and his name and their own names again, but this time he was not surprised to know this, so he did not feel sad. It did not take him long to teach them their names and to straighten out their clothes. So in no time at all they were all friends together again, and Walter was happy to be back on Mouse Island.

  Every morning at sunrise, Walter would teach school, and he knew now that he was teaching Lulu and Leander and Percy correctly.

  One morning, as he was teaching them how to count by tens, Walter heard someone calling from the mainland. He heard someone calling, “Walter, Walter!”

  He looked across to the shore, and there he saw his father and his mother and his seven sisters and his seven brothers.

  Walter could hardly believe his eyes. “It is my family,” he cried. “It is my family come to see me!”

  “How do we get over to Mouse Island?” shouted his father.

  “I’ll send Turtle,” Walter shouted back.

  So Walter sent Turtle to ferry them over by twos and by threes, and soon Walter’s whole family was on Mouse Island.

  “We have come to spend the day,” said his mother. “We missed you so much we just had to see how you were getting along.”

  “You ought to do something about the roads,” said Walter’s father. “Such a time we had to get here!”

  Walter was very proud to have his family meet Lulu and Leander and Percy. He was very proud of his friends and the frogs in their beautiful new clothes, and he had them show off how they could read and write and do arithmetic correctly. Then he showed his family his little house and his beautiful table.

  We can eat our lunch off your table,” said one of his brothers.

  “No,” said Walter. “That table is just made to look at.”

  So they all had a merry picnic out-of-doors. Then the triplets took a nap inside a pond lily for a bed while the other young mice all took turns riding on Turtle’s back.

  When the triplets woke up, Turtle took care of them while Walter and all the rest of Walter’s large family and Lulu and Leander and Percy all played leapfrog together until the sun went down.

  When it came time to go home they all said good-bye and thanked Walter for a very pleasant day. And Walter said he would come back to them in the winter, and Walter’s father said, “I am proud of you, my son!
”

  And Walter’s mother said, “Now don’t forget us!”

  Walter waved and waved as his family left for home, and he was a very proud and important young mouse indeed.