can have it; then you can eat it with joy.

But the old gray rat did not know it was so bad. _You_ know, but the
rat had no one to tell him as you have.

"E-e-e-e!" said the ten wee rats in the hole:

"We want our tea,
Eee-ee! ee-ee!"

"O dear!" said the old gray rat, "if I had some one to help me! O
dear!" He put his paw on the end of his nose, and then all at once
gave a jump for joy in the air. "Good! good! good!" he did cry; "I
have it! I can get all the eggs in the hole."

"Come here, Bet!" he said to his wife. "Come out, all of you, and help
me."

Up they came with a hop, skip, and jump, all ears and eyes, and each
tail gave a slap on the side of the wall, it came out with _such_ a
jerk.

"Here we are, my dear," said old Bet, the rat's wife. "Come; go to
work as fast as you can. I hear the cat."

"Well, you and I must go out to the mill, to get a wisp of hay to tie
my legs with."

"Tie your legs!" said his wife, "Why! what _do_ you mean?"

But she was a good wife, and knew how to mind; so she went with the
old rat, and they got a fine long wisp of hay, and ran back to the
eggs and the nine rat-boys.

[Illustration: "They got a fine long wisp of hay."--P. 80.]

And now the old rat-wife and the nine rat-boys soon knew what a dear,
good pa-pa they had; for, sure as you live! he made a cart of him-self.
Down he went flat on his back with all four paws up in the air.

"Now, my dear," he said to his wife, "lay an egg in-side of my legs,
then tie my paws up with the wisp of hay, so the egg can not fall out;
then you and all the boys take hold of my tail, and drag me and the
egg to the hole."

"Oh! what fun!" said all the nine rats; "let's give the egg a good
ride. Now, then,

"Oh! pull, boys, pull!
Eee-ee! eee-ee!
We'll get our nine eggs
Home for tea."

So each one took a bit of the long tail in his lips, and did try not
to bite his pa-pa, and as they sung, "Pull, boys, pull," they drew the
egg in high glee to the edge of the hole.

But Nip, the one who was at the end, did try so hard to pull, that,
all at once, snap! he had bit off the end of his pa-pa's tail.

"Ki-i! kii!! e-e-e!!!" said the poor old gray rat, "you bad, bad boy,
to bite me so! Now you can not have a bit of egg. You must go with-out
your tea."

"O pa-pa! I did not mean to! O my!" Nip did say.

"Go down in the hole and stay till we come. You must not help one bit
more."

So the wee rat had to g