what is the earliest thing you can remember? master meadow mouse's earliest memory was of lying in a soft nest of dried grasses. sometimes the nest was in inky darkness; and then it was night. sometimes a shaft of light fell upon the nest through a round hole just above his head; and then it was daytime.

that round hole went upwards—straight upwards—for about a foot. and when master meadow mouse looked through it he could see, on pleasant days, a patch of brilliant blue, which was a bit of sky.

one day a desire seized him to touch that round blue spot. so when his mother was away he crawled up through the hole. but when he reached the other end of it he found, to his great surprise, that the blue disk was ever so much bigger than he had thought it, and seemed further away than it had when he gazed at it through the round tunnel.

all this was very puzzling. and he stood in the meadow near the mouth of the tunnel, peering around and wondering what this, that and the other strange thing might be. for he saw many wonderful new sights.

if his mother hadn't come home and found him out of the nest there's no telling what would have happened to him.

"get back!" she cried, pushing him towards the mouth of the tunnel—their doorway. "it's a mercy henry hawk hasn't spied you."

master meadow mouse hung back. he didn't want to be hurried away from the new world that he had just discovered.

"i don't see henry hawk," he squeaked.

mrs. meadow mouse gave a sort of grunt.

"humph! you wouldn't know him if you saw him," she retorted. "besides, he could see you long before you could see him, for his eyes are wonderfully keen." then she gave her son a poke that sent him into the tunnel and bouncing down upon the soft nest at the bottom of it. "you stay there until i come home again!" she called. "do you want to go where your two brothers and your three sisters went?"

mrs. meadow mouse did not wait for her son's answer. she went off again and left him to ponder over her question.

master meadow mouse decided to mind his mother. although he didn't know what had become of his squirming companions, who had already begun to crowd the nest, somehow his mother's query carried something of a threat. he wondered if the mysterious henry hawk had had anything to do with the vanishing of the rest of the children.

master meadow mouse proved to be a hearty eater. and since he no longer had to share with others the food that his mother brought home to him, he grew fast. it wasn't long before mrs. meadow mouse took him above ground with her and let him play near home.

she taught him many things—how to find ripe seeds to eat, how to keep still as a mouse and not squeak when there was danger of any kind, and how to dodge into their tunnel when there was need.

little by little master meadow mouse wandered further from his own dooryard. and he began to think that his mother was too careful. there seemed to be no need of heeding all her warnings.

then came the day when he met the kitten from the farmhouse.