THE TALE
OF
TWO BAD MICE
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ONCE upon a time there
was a very beautiful
doll's-house; it was red brick
with white windows, and it
had real muslin curtains and
a front door and a chimney. |
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IT belonged to two Dolls
called Lucinda and Jane;
at least it belonged to Lucinda,
but she never ordered meals.
Jane was the Cook; but she never did any cooking, because the dinner had been bought ready-made, in a box full of shavings. |
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THERE were two red lobsters
and a ham, a fish,
a pudding, and some pears
and oranges.
They would not come off the plates, but they were extremely beautiful. |
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ONE morning Lucinda and
Jane had gone out for
a drive in the doll's perambulator.
There was no one in
the nursery, and it was very
quiet. Presently there was
a little scuffling, scratching
noise in a corner near the fire-place,
where there was a hole
under the skirting-board.
Tom Thumb put out his head for a moment, and then popped it in again. Tom Thumb was a mouse. | 
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A MINUTE afterwards,
Hunca Munca, his wife,
put her head out, too; and
when she saw that there was
no one in the nursery, she
ventured out on the oilcloth
under the coal-box.
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THE doll's-house stood at
the other side of the
fire-place. Tom Thumb and
Hunca Munca went cautiously
across the hearthrug. They
pushed the front door—it was
not fast. |
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TOM THUMB and
Hunca Munca went
upstairs and peeped into the
dining-room. Then they
squeaked with joy!
Such a lovely dinner was laid out upon the table! There were tin spoons, and lead knives and forks, and two dolly-chairs—all so convenient! |
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TOM THUMB set to work
at once to carve the ham.
It was a beautiful shiny yellow,
streaked with red.
The knife crumpled up and hurt him; he put his finger in his mouth. "It is not boiled enough; it is hard. You have a try, Hunca Munca." | 
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HUNCA MUNCA stood
up in her chair, and
chopped at the ham with
another lead knife.
"It's as hard as the hams at the cheesemonger's," said Hunca Munca. |
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THE ham broke off the
plate with a jerk, and
rolled under the table.
"Let it alone," said Tom Thumb; "give me some fish, Hunca Munca!" |
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HUNCA MUNCA tried
every tin spoon in turn;
the fish was glued to the dish.
Then Tom Thumb lost his temper. He put the ham in the middle of the floor, and hit it with the tongs and with the shovel—bang, bang, smash, smash! The ham flew all into pieces, for underneath the shiny paint it was made of nothing but plaster! |
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THEN there was no end to
the rage and disappointment
of Tom Thumb and
Hunca Munca. They broke
up the pudding, the lobsters,
the pears and the oranges.
As the fish would not come off the plate, they put it into the red-hot crinkly paper fire in the kitchen; but it would not burn either. |
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TOM THUMB went up the
kitchen chimney and
looked out at the top—there
was no soot. |
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WHILE Tom Thumb
was up the chimney,
Hunca Munca had another
disappointment. She found
some tiny canisters upon the
dresser, labelled—Rice—Coffee—Sago—but
when she turned
them upside down, there was
nothing inside except red and
blue beads.
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THEN those mice set to
work to do all the mischief
they could—especially
Tom Thumb! He took Jane's
clothes out of the chest of
drawers in her bedroom, and
he threw them out of the top
floor window.
But Hunca Munca had a frugal mind. After pulling half the feathers out of Lucinda's bolster, she remembered that she herself was in want of a feather bed. |
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WITH Tom Thumb's assistance
she carried the
bolster downstairs, and across
the hearth-rug. It was difficult
to squeeze the bolster into
the mouse-hole; but they
managed it somehow. | 
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THEN Hunca Munca went
back and fetched a chair,
a book-case, a bird-cage, and
several small odds and ends.
The book-case and the bird-cage
refused to go into the
mouse-hole. |
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HUNCA MUNCA was
just returning with
another chair, when suddenly
there was a noise of talking
outside upon the landing. The
mice rushed back to their hole,
and the dolls came into the
nursery.
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WHAT a sight met the eyes
of Jane and Lucinda!
Lucinda sat upon the upset kitchen stove and stared; and Jane leant against the kitchen dresser and smiled—but neither of them made any remark. | 
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THE book-case and the
bird-cage were rescued
from under the coal-box—but
Hunca Munca has got the
cradle, and some of Lucinda's
clothes.
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THE little girl that the
doll's-house belonged to,
said,—"I will get a doll dressed
like a policeman!"
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SO that is the story of the
two Bad Mice,—but they
were not so very very naughty
after all, because Tom Thumb
paid for everything he broke.
He found a crooked sixpence under the hearthrug; and upon Christmas Eve, he and Hunca Munca stuffed it into one of the stockings of Lucinda and Jane. |
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AND very early every morning—before
anybody is awake—Hunca
Munca comes
with her dust-pan and her
broom to sweep the Dollies'
house!
THE END.
PRINTED BY
EDMUND EVANS, THE RACQUET COURT PRESS, LONDON, S.E. |
