chest
standing near the door. At the sight of this a brilliant idea
immediately popped into his head!

Now listen! In that chest were some tiny black pellets, about the
size of mustard seeds.[3]

[Footnote 3: Thistle-Whistle and Grasshopper Green had become
great friends that winter and the Fairy had told Grasshopper
Green about these Magic Pellets; you swallowed one of them and
then wished yourself any size you wished to be--as small as a
Flea or as big as an Elephant, or any size in between.]

Snatching up two or three of the magic seeds, he jumped out of
the hole and hopped back to the hollow apple tree even faster
than he had come. He got in by way of the little window and
immediately swallowed one of the pellets, then wished himself as
large as a bull-dog!

It was fortunate for him that he didn't choose any larger size
than that, for as it was, his head just bumped the ceiling.

Not more than two seconds after Grasshopper Green had changed his
size, Mouser managed to burst open the door!

[Illustration: What a strange-looking Monster he would be!]

At the sight that met his eyes, the Cat was nearly paralyzed with
surprise. And no wonder.

Although a Grasshopper is usually a very good natured little
fellow he has a really terrifying face, but we don't notice it
because he's so small.

Look very closely at one sometime and then try to imagine what a
strange looking monster he would be if he were as big as a dog!

Great-Grandfather Goodheart said, when he told me the story, that
Mouser never stopped running until he got to the next village,
five miles away, and that he shrieked out to every animal he
passed on the way that he had seen a dragon!

At any rate, he was never seen about Farmer Green's place again.
And that certainly was a great relief to all the Meadow-Mice, I
can tell you.

As soon as Mouser had disappeared in the distance, Grasshopper
Green swallowed another pellet and wished himself back to his
usual size. Then he called to the Meadow-Mouse children to come
out of their hiding places and told them the good news. For
Long-Tail and Sharp-Eyes had been squeezed in the cupboard and
Pink-Ears and Mouseykins under the bed all this time.

Pretty soon Father and Mother Meadow-Mouse returned with their
sacks full of corn.

When they heard that Mouser had been so frightened that he would
probably never come back to worry them, you can guess how happy
they were and how they capered about.