Page 29 - The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Jr.

"Come inside and I'll explain it to you," said the miller.

Puss walked inside and sat down on a bag of flour. "All I do is to grind corn for people," continued the miller,
sitting down on a dusty stool. "They bring their corn in to be ground and then they leave. When they come
back the corn is ready for them,--that is, the flour. They take it away and I'm left all alone. So what do I do?
Well, I make friends with a little mouse and a big rat that live in the old mill." As he spoke the little mouse ran
out of her hole and sat down by the miller. "We are great friends, aren't we, mousie?" he said.

The little mouse squeaked, "Yes, Mr. Miller."

Then the big rat came out and sat down by the miller, only on the other side.

"Aren't we great friends?" asked the miller.

The rat said, "You are the best friend I have." At which the miller smiled and Puss grinned.

"Animals make good friends," said the miller.

"Yes, indeed," replied Puss, "but rats and mice are so destructive. They eat your corn."

"Not much," said the miller; "only a little bit."

"We only eat what we need," said the mouse and the rat in chorus.

PUSS, JR., RENDERS A MOTHER AID

Puss, Jr., was very much interested in the jolly miller and his two small friends, the rat and the mouse. It
seemed strange to Puss that a miller should have two such friends as these. But when he thought it over he
saw there was much reason to the miller's words.

At the time the miller was talking the mouse and the rat kept a close watch on Puss, Jr. They knew from
experience, most likely, that cats are not millers, and although Puss, Jr., with his boots and cap, his clothes
and staff, did not resemble an ordinary cat, at the same time he was a cat. So the rat and the mouse kept at a
safe distance.

"Tell your little friends," said Puss to the jolly miller, "that I won't hurt a hair of them."

"Mousie," said the miller, leaning over and patting the little mouse, "Sir Cat says he will not harm a hair of
your tiny head."

"That's very kind of him," replied the little mouse in a squeaky voice.

The rat made the same answer when the miller patted him.

Just then the mother of the baby who was in the cradle on the tree-top came by. She smiled at the miller, who
took off his rusty, dusty cap. "There she goes," he said to Puss. "She's going to take the cradle down now.
She'll take 'cradle, and baby, and all' home with her."

Puss stepped to the doorway to watch her. First she stood on tiptoe and looked into the cradle. Then she
smiled and leaned over and kissed the baby, who began to crow and clap his hands. After she had kissed him
many times she lifted him out of the cradle and danced him up and down on her knee. As she danced him
gently up and down, she sang: