“I will show you,” said Walter.
“First you must sit all in a row and I will be the teacher and you will be my pupils. But we should have desks and seats.”
“Make some,” said Percy.
Now Walter was not so sure just how good he was at making furniture since the bed and chair had crashed. He looked around him and then he said, “I know what we can use,” and then he found some nice toadstools growing nearby, big ones and little ones, and he used the big ones for desks and the little ones for seats.
“And you can write on the desks,” said Walter, “as if they were slates.”
Just then Turtle came by.
“Turtle, Turtle,” called Lulu, “come here, we are going to play school!”
So Turtle joined them. “What kind of a game is that?” he asked, and Walter said, “It isn’t a game, it is real. This is a real school.”
Then he showed Lulu and Leander and Percy how to sit nicely on their toadstool seats with their hands folded in front of them, but when he came to Turtle it was not so easy. Turtle was so large and awkward he would not fit on his seat so Walter finally arranged him by having him sit on the ground.
First Walter taught his pupils to sing the good-morning song. He taught them to sing:
“Good morning to you, good morning to you,
Good morning, dear teacher, good morning to you.”
Then Walter called the roll, but Lulu had forgotten her name again.
“This will never do, Lulu,” said Walter. “You must write your name ten times after school.”
Now Lulu, of course, did not know how to write at all so she did not know that Walter meant to punish her, so she said, “Thank you.”
“Now we will learn to count,” said Walter quickly. “Say one, Lulu.” So Lulu said “One.”
Then Walter asked Leander and Percy to say two and three, but when he came to Turtle, Turtle was inside his shell fast asleep.
“Wake up! Wake up!” shouted Walter, tapping on Turtle’s shell.
Out came Turtle’s head. “Say four,” said Walter. “Four!” shouted Turtle and he went to sleep again. Over and over, Walter asked them to count, but Turtle either would say “Four” at the wrong time or stay asleep.
Then Walter taught them to add and subtract. He taught them that two and two make five and that five from eleven leaves seven, because Walter had been such a lazy pupil in school himself that he did not know he was wrong. He taught them that k-a-t spells “cat” and r-i-t-e spells “write,” and since neither the frogs nor Turtle nor Walter knew any better, it did not make much difference and Walter felt very important to be a school teacher.
“Now remember to be on time tomorrow,” Walter said as he dismissed the class.
“What is time?” asked Lulu who had never had any reason to know about time before.
“Time is something you tell by the clock,” said Walter.
“But we have no clock,” said Percy.
“So we can’t be on it,” said Leander.
“So it doesn’t matter,” they all said together.
“Oh, yes, it matters,” said Walter. “Time always matters.”
“Then what is time?” asked Lulu all over again, and Walter tried to explain all over again although he had never thought much about it himself before.
“It’s this way,” he said, “time is when today turns into yesterday and tomorrow turns into today.”
“What is yesterday?” asked Lulu.
“What is today?” asked Leander.
“What is tomorrow?” asked Percy.
“That’s why they forget,” whispered Turtle to Walter. So Walter did not try to explain any more. It was already getting late and the sun was beginning to set.
“Look,” he said, pointing to the sun. “Turtle, you bring them to school when the sun rises in the morning.”
So, every morning when the sun rose in the sky, Walter was very careful to be at school early to welcome his pupils and he never dared be even a little lazy because he was teaching the frogs to be on time.
Chapter Seven
How Walter Needs His Coat
The days passed so quickly that summer was soon over and Walter began to feel chilly in the cool mornings of the fall.
The legs of his overalls and the sleeves of his blouse were much too short, for Walter had grown longer since he had first come to Mouse Island. His legs were longer, his arms were longer, his ears were longer. His tail was longer, and even his whiskers were longer. Also, Walter needed a coat, but he had no coat, because he had worn neither coat nor hat that day in the spring when he had started out to find his family.
“I wish I had a coat,” he said one day to Lulu and Leander and Percy and Turtle. “I am cold!” And he shivered.
“What is cold?” asked Lulu.
“When you are warm you are not cold,” said Walter, “and when you are cold you are not warm. If I had a coat I would be warm, but I haven’t any coat so I am cold!” and he shivered again.
“What is a coat?” asked Lulu.
“It is a jacket to keep you warm,” said Walter. “I need more clothes on!”
“You have more clothes on than I have,” said Lulu. “I haven’t any clothes at all, Oh-hhheoo. I am cold, too.”
And she shivered just as Walter had done.
“You’re silly,” said Leander to Lulu. “You’re silly. How can you be cold without any clothes when you have never had any?”
But Lulu still shivered.
“You silly,” said Percy, “I suppose you will begin to need a house next!”
“No, I don’t care about a house,” said Lulu. “But I would like some clothes just like Mouse Mouse.”
“Girls don’t have clothes like mine,” Walter said. “Girls wear skirts.”
“I want a skirt, I want a skirt,” cried Lulu.
Now this was the first time Walter had heard Lulu or Leander or Percy wish for something they did not have.
“Poor Lulu,” he said. “Poor Lulu, what shall we do?”
“Make one,” suggested Leander.
“Make a skirt,” said Percy.
So Walter made a skirt for Lulu. He made it of small fern leaves and he tied them carefully around Lulu’s waist with a blade of grass for a sash. And it was a beautiful skirt because it had a long, sweeping train like a queen’s.
Lulu felt strange to have a skirt on; and at first she was afraid to move. Then she discovered she could swish it. She swished it this way and that way while Walter and Leander and Percy and Turtle all admired it.
“Let’s show The Frog,” said Walter, who was very proud of the skirt he had made. “Let’s show The Frog and all the other frogs in the pond.”
“Yes, yes!” exclaimed Lulu, jumping for joy, but alas, as Lulu jumped, off came her sash, off came her skirt, and there lay the fern leaves scattered on the ground!
“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Leander and Percy and Turtle. “Ha, ha!”
But Walter did not laugh. “Oh, look what you have done, Lulu!” he cried. “Look what you have done. You should not jump when you have a skirt on!”
“But I have to jump,” sobbed Lulu. “But I have to jump!”
“Make another, make another, make another,” said Leander and Percy and Turtle.
But Walter only shook his head sadly. “It’s no use,” he said. “It’s no use, it will always fall off when she jumps.”
“Your clothes don’t fall off when you jump,” Lulu said.
“But they are made of cloth,” said Walter, and then he began to think of his own clothes again and this made him shiver again. “I’m cold,” he said. “I’m cold without any coat on.”
“And I’m cold,” complained Lulu. “I’m cold without any skirt.”
They both looked so miserable and shivered so hard that Leander and Percy began to shiver, too.
“I’m cold,” said Leander.
“I’m cold,” said Percy.
Only Turtle said nothing; he tucked himself
into his shell, disappearing completely, but soon he came out again. “Why don’t you go to Mouse Village and get some clothes?” he said.
“But I don’t know where Mouse Village is,” said Walter. “I lost it and I lost my family and I am lost, lost, lost, and I need my coat,” and he cried because he was lost and he was cold.
“But I know,” said Turtle.
“Know what?” asked Walter.
“Know where Mouse Village is,” said Turtle calmly. “I go by that way quite often.”
Walter was so surprised that he stopped crying. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asked.
“You never asked me,” said Turtle.
“Take me back,” cried Walter, “take me back to Mouse Village!”
“Now?” asked Turtle.
“Will you bring back a skirt for me, Mouse Mouse?” asked Lulu, and Leander and Percy begged him to bring back clothes for them, too, because now they wanted them more than ever.
“I don’t know where to get any, I don’t know where my family went to,” said Walter, remembering again. “But last year Miss Gray, my teacher, collected clothes for the needy.”
“We need clothes, we need clothes, we need clothes,” sang Lulu and Leander and Percy dolefully, and Walter felt very sorry for them.
“Come, Turtle,” he said, “take me to Mouse Village and I will ask Miss Gray for clothes for the needy.” So Walter climbed upon Turtle’s back and away they went, across the pond to the mainland on their way to Mouse Village.
Chapter Eight
Danger in the Woods
Slowly Turtle made his way under tall ferns and over gnarled roots of towering trees, and Walter clung to his slippery back tightly with both knees. Soon the last rays of the sun disappeared and they traveled along in the increasing darkness of the night.
Walter grew sleepy as they lurched along, so sleepy that his head began to nod, and he swayed this way and that way, and before he knew what had happened, he forgot to hold on and down he slid, off Turtle’s slippery back.
But Turtle went on as if nothing had happened because he did not know that Walter was no longer with him.
“Turtle, Turtle, wait for me!” cried Walter as he picked himself up. But Turtle did not hear him as he shoved on through the darkness of the night.
Walter could hear Turtle scrambling through the underbrush, but he could not see him. He stumbled over the ground following the noise. At last, he had caught up to Turtle.
“Turtle, Turtle, wait for me!” he called, but still Turtle did not hear him so he did not stop.
At last Walter caught up to Turtle. He tried to climb up onto Turtle’s moving back. He was almost up when Turtle gave a sudden lurch and down fell Walter again, but this time, as he fell, he grabbed Turtle’s tail with both hands.
Turtle stopped instantly and cried, “Danger, hide, hide yourself quick!” and he drew himself quickly into his shell, shutting it tight. Walter scuttled to a rock close by and there he hid himself in a crack. He crouched there and peered into the darkness and listened. He could see nothing and he could hear nothing but the wind moaning.
Could it be an owl hovering overhead? Could it be a snake, a snake creeping, slipping through the grass? Walter did not know. He did not know what it could be, so he crouched there in the crack in the rock and waited.
He dared not call to Turtle, he dared not leave the rock, so there he stayed waiting, waiting for he knew not what. Walter stayed there all through the night until the first gray light of dawn showed through the trees, and then he saw Turtle’s head come peering out from his shell and looking carefully around him. Then Turtle called to Walter, “It’s all right, it is safe to go on.”
So Walter came running over to him. He was stiff from being still so long, but he quickly climbed up again and they were off.
“What was it? What was the danger?” Walter asked Turtle as they jogged along.
“I don’t know,” said Turtle, “but something grabbed my tail from behind. Did you see anything?”
“No, I didn’t see anything,” said Walter, and then he remembered. “Oh, Turtle, Turtle,” he cried, “it was not danger, it was only me!”
“You should say ‘It was only I,’” said Turtle rather severely.
They were hurrying along very fast now. Soon they were on a road, and Walter saw the roofs and the church steeple of Mouse Village not far away.
Chapter Nine
Walter Returns Home
Walter was so excited when he saw Mouse Village, so near that he slid off Turtle’s back, and this time he did not climb up again. He scampered along beside Turtle.
“Here we come to the baseball field,” he cried. “This is where I used to play baseball!”
“I will leave you here,” said Turtle, “and I will come back for you at sundown.”
“But won’t you come with me?” asked Walter. “I’d like to show you my school and Main Street and—”
“No, thank you,” said Turtle. “I must be on my way.”
“Where to?” asked Walter.
“Oh, here and there,” said Turtle, and he left Walter there at the ball field just outside Mouse Village.
The morning was yet very early and the sun was still rosy from its rising. Walter felt strange to be up and about in Mouse Village at such an early hour. It looked different from the way he remembered it. He knew it was too early to go to school, but since he did not know where else to go he went to the schoolhouse and sat on the steps. As he sat there, Walter began to wonder if perhaps it were September yet. If it were August, there would be no school and then he did not know what he would do. “Oh, dear,” said Walter to himself. “Oh, dear, what shall I do and where shall I go?”
But then, just then, at that moment, he saw Miss Gray coming up the road with some books under her arm.
“Oh, Miss Gray!” Walter called, running to meet her. “Good morning, Miss Gray!”
Miss Gray was so surprised to see Walter she dropped her books.
“My goodness sakes!” she exclaimed. “My goodness sakes! Walter Mouse, how you did startle me! I have never seen you at school so early in the morning! You are always so late. I have hardly noticed you at all lately!”
“But I haven’t been in school lately,” said Walter. “I haven’t been here at all because I was somewhere else!”
“That’s the trouble,” said Miss Gray. “You just don’t pay attention to what is going on about you.”
Now Walter was so upset because Miss Gray had not even missed him that he did not know just quite how to ask her about clothes for the frogs. Before he could bring himself to mention it, she said, “Since you are such a good little mouse today, Walter, you may ring the bell to call the others to school.”
So Walter stood on the school steps and he rang the bell calling the others to school.
Soon they began coming, coming up the road, and the first to arrive were Walter’s five brothers and six sisters.
When they saw Walter ringing the school bell they came running up to him, and all the time that he was ringing the bell they were shouting at him with joy.
“Walter, Walter, where did you come from?” they asked.
“I have been away,” shouted Walter as he kept on ringing the bell, and he shouted still louder so they could hear him above the ding dong of the bell. “Did you miss me?”
“Yes, we missed you,” they shouted back. “We missed you because there was one too many beds,” said one of his sisters.
“And one too many chairs,” said one of his brothers.
“But it is all right now,” shouted another brother. “It is all right now because—”
But before he could finish, Miss Gray called, “Time for roll call.”
So Walter and all his brothers and sisters and all the other children went into the schoolhouse and sat down at their desks.
Walter sat in his old seat at his old desk, but he was not the same Walter who had sat there in the spring because he was no longer lazy. H
e watched and listened very carefully to all that Miss Gray did and said because he wanted to learn new things to teach the frogs.
Walter heard Miss Gray ask one of his sisters, “How much are two and two?”
And he heard his sister say, “Four.”
“Correct!” said Miss Gray to Walter’s great surprise.
Walter heard Miss Gray ask a little mouse boy, “If you take seven from eleven, how much have you left?”
“Four,” said the little mouse boy.
“Correct,” said Miss Gray, and Walter was surprised.
And he heard that “write” is not spelled r-i-t-e, and soon Walter discovered he had taught the frogs all wrong!
So he decided then and there that he would not go back to the frogs right away. He might better stay in Mouse Village and come to school every day and learn all he could so that he would be able to teach the frogs correctly.
At lunchtime Walter’s brothers and sisters came running over to him and said, “Come hurry home with us and surprise Mother!”
So Walter hurried home with them and he hid behind them while they said to their mother,
“Guess what we found?”
Walter’s mother could not guess so she gave up, and out jumped Walter!
“My goodness gracious,” she cried, “if it isn’t Walter!” And she looked at him in his too small clothes and said, “How you have grown!”
“And I need my coat,” he said.
“My goodness gracious, your coat would be too small now,” his mother said. Then she gave Walter a whole new set of clothes with a coat and everything which his next older brother had outgrown.
So Walter felt very happy because he was back home and his family all remembered him and he had clothes which fitted him with a coat and everything. He told them all about Lulu and Leander and Percy and Turtle and how he had taught them to read and to write and to do arithmetic, and how much they needed clothes, and how he must meet Turtle at the ball field and give him the clothes to take back. “I would like to live at home now,” he added, “so I can go to school, and because I don’t want you to forget me again.”