ers did when
man[oe]uvres were going on. As Marie was not afraid of mice (as many
children are), she could not help being amused by this, and her first
alarm had nearly left her, when suddenly there came such a sharp and
terrible piping noise that the blood ran cold in her veins. Ah! what
did she see then? Well, truly, kind reader, I know that your heart is
in the right place, just as much as my friend Field Marshal Fritz's is,
itself, but if you had seen what now came before Marie's eyes, you
would have made a clean pair of heels of it; nay, I consider that you
would have plumped into your bed, and drawn the blankets further over
your head than necessity demanded.

"But poor Marie hadn't it in her power to do any such thing, because,
right at her feet, as if impelled by some subterranean power, sand, and
lime, and broken stone came bursting up, and then seven mouse-heads,
with seven shining crowns upon them, rose through the floor, hissing
and piping in a most horrible way. Quickly the body of the mouse which
had those seven crowned heads forced its way up through the floor, and
this enormous creature shouted, with its seven heads, aloud to the
assembled multitude, squeaking to them with all the seven mouths in
full chorus; and then the entire army set itself in motion, and went
trot, trot, right up to the cupboard--and, in fact, to Marie, who was
standing beside it.

"Marie's heart had been beating so with terror that she had thought it
must jump out of her breast, and she must die. But now it seemed to her
as if the blood in her veins stood still. Half fainting, she leant
backwards, and then there was a 'klirr, klirr, prr,' and the pane of
the cupboard, which she had broken with her elbow, fell in shivers to
the floor. She felt, for a moment, a sharp, stinging pain in her arm,
but still, this seemed to make her heart lighter; she heard no more of
the queaking and piping. Everything was quiet; and though she didn't
dare to look, she thought the noise of the glass breaking had
frightened the mice back to their holes.

"But what came to pass then? Right behind Marie a movement seemed to
commence in the cupboard, and small, faint voices began to be heard,
saying:

'Come, awake, measures take;
Out to the fight, out to the fight;
Shield the right, shield the right;
Aim and away, this is the night.'

And harmonica-bells began ringing as prettily as you please.

"Oh! th