Pumpkin Mice Tales (5) Stinky and the Gull

 

Pumpkin Mice Tales (5)

Stinky and the Gull

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Big Brown Mouse called the Mousekins together. ‘I have some exciting news,’ he said. ‘I’ve just had a letter from our friend Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery. He has invited us to visit him and his family in Mousehole for a weekend on the beach.’ 

Little White twitched her pretty pink nose and squeaked with delight, remembering their last holiday in Mousehole with their cousins the Fishermice. 

White Mouse, with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail (startling green and quite the longest tail ever seen in Mousedom) looked thoughtful.

‘What’s the matter, White Mouse?’ said Big Brown Mouse.

‘I was just trying to remember how to say Mousehole,’ she said, rather embarrassed.

Big Brown Mouse laughed heartily and said, ‘Mow - rhymes with how – zul. Mowzul.’

All the Mousekins giggled and chanted, ‘Mowzul, Mowzul, Mowzul.’

Small Brown said, ‘We won’t forget it now, will we?’

When they arrived the next day, Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery greeted them with a big smile and introduced them to his wife and sons, Stilton and Gloucester.

Stilton, in his smart purple trunks, and Gloucester Cheeseman

Stilton Cheeseman showed them where to stow their belongings in the pretty beach hut and then hurried them down to the water’s edge where they spent a long time paddling and building sandcastles with moats. 

Big Brown Mouse and White Mouse, with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail (startling green and quite the longest tail ever seen in Mousedom) sat with Mrs Sergeant Cheeseman and played with Gloucester Cheeseman, who was just a baby.

Stilton Cheeseman asked if they could play with the yellow duck boat.

‘You may, but don’t go out any further than your knees,’ said his mother.

The Mousekins dragged the boat to the water’s edge and were having a splendid game of pirates, when a huge herring gull flew down and attempted to seize the yellow duck boat. Little Grey, the smallest Mousekin, who was sitting in it pretending to be shipwrecked, squealed with fear as she saw the gull’s great yellow beak coming closer. The other Mousekins shouted and screamed at the gull and threw pawfuls of sand at it to frighten it away as it struggled to lift the duck boat.

Suddenly, a huge voice boomed out, ‘Leave the boat, by command of the King.’ Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery  resplendent in his scarlet tunic, medals glittering in the sun, stood glaring at the herring gull, which abandoned its efforts to carry off Little Grey and the boat. It flew away, swearing loudly, and all the Mousekins cheered.

Mrs Sergeant Cheeseman, who had run down the beach to her husband’s side, smiled lovingly at him and said, ‘Oh, Stinky, you are brave,’ and Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery, blushing to hear his nickname spoken for all to hear, mumbled, ‘It was nothing, my dear, nothing at all.’

The rest of the weekend passed quietly, the Mousekins staying close to the adults, for, though they claimed they had not been at all frightened, they knew that discretion was the better part of valour. Anyway, there was lots of ice cream in the big ice box, and all Mousekins love ice cream.

                                  

Pumpkin Mice Tales (4)

 

Pumpkin Mice Tales (4)

The holiday – part one

                                                Big Brown Mouse

It was summer and the Pumpkin Mice were going on holiday to the seaside. The youngest mice had just finished their MATs (Mouse Assessment Tests), and Big Brown Mouse, and White Mouse with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail, (startling green and quite the longest tail ever seen in Mousedom) felt that they deserved a treat after all their hard work.

White Mouse with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail, (startling green and quite the longest tail ever seen in Mousedom)

The Mousekins were very excited, because they were going to stay with their cousins, the Fishermice. They knew they would be spending a lot of time in the water, swimming and sailing. They hoped they would learn how to water-ski and surfboard, too. Big Brown Mouse told them that if they were very good, they might be invited to go out in the fishing smack with their cousins and help to haul in the nets of silvery fish.

There was much noisy chatter as they journeyed to their holiday destination, with Little Grey, the smallest mouse, asking, ‘Are we nearly there?’ so often that Big Brown Mouse simply answered, ‘Yes’, each time.

White Mouse with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail (startling green and quite the longest tail ever seen in Mousedom) handed round some snacks to occupy the Mousekins and when they had finished them, she suggested they sing some songs to pass the time. They started with ‘Hickory dickory dock’ which they sang as a round until they got muddled and had to stop because they were giggling so much. Then they sang ‘Three blind mice’, but Tiny Grey and Small Brown started wailing that they didn’t want to be blind or have their tails cut off.

                                                    Small Brown

Before they became completely hysterical, Big Brown Mouse sang out in his beautiful deep bass voice, ‘A mouse lived in a windmill in old Amsterdam’, and everyone stopped to listen. They liked the song so much that they begged him to sing it again and again, and very soon they all knew the words and could sing along with him.

After a few hours, they arrived in Cornwall and soon came to the signpost for Mousehole, for, of course, that is where all good mice go for their holidays, (though sometimes they might go to East Mouse, or Middle Mouse in Anglesey.)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

They were tired and it was late, so, after a tasty supper of Mousetrap cheese, they tottered off to bed and, despite their excitement, they soon fell fast asleep, to dream of the wonders they might see. What would the morrow bring?