Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales Read Online Free PDF

hearth. Gerbil put some wooden spoons to soak for a minute, and then she ran over to her brother.

    “I’ll save you,” she said. “Be brave.”

    “How?” he said.

    “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ll think of something.”

    “Do,” he said, “if you don’t mind.” And he ran as fast as he could, tears streaming out of his eyes and pooling up on the floor.

    For a whole week Hamster ran. Every once in a while Granny Porky would come by and stop the wheel with her gnarled old paw, and she reached in to feel Hamster’s thighs to see if he was ready for butchering yet. But Gerbil had given Hamster a straw from the broom, and he held this forward when Granny Porky asked to feel his arm. “You’re thinner than ever!” Granny Porky roared. “With all I feed you? I don’t get it!”

    One day the slug had chewed up so much of the roof that he fell through onto the sofa. In a lazy voice he said, “Granny Porky, that’s a broom straw you’re testing for meat. You’d better get yourself some new glasses.”

    “Why, you little hamster,” screamed the porcupine. “I’ll roast you up tonight for that!
    Gerbil, build up the fire! We’re going to have shake-and-bake hamster cutlets!”

    “No!” screamed Gerbil.

    “How about Hamster Helper?” asked the porcupine, drooling at the thought.

    “Gross!” said Gerbil.

    “Little cocktail snacks, then,” said the porcupine decisively. “If I blow out all my quills, we could use them for toothpicks. We could put a chunk of Hamster, a chunk of pineapple, a chunk of Hamster, a chunk of onion, and round it off with a cherry tomato. What do you think?”

    “You make me sick to my stomach,” said Gerbil.

    “At least you still have a stomach,” said Hamster, and cried all the harder.

    But Granny Porky was decided. She blew out all her quills and put them in a pile on the floor. Then she opened up a can of pineapple chunks. She made Gerbil stoke the fire in the oven until it was five hundred degrees. All the while she sang to herself. “Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling porcupine,” she crooned. “Little critters fried like fritters come out crunchy and divine.”

    “Watch the gerbil,” said the slug. “She’s smarter than she looks.”

    “Shouldn’t you send the slug off to invite the guests?” said Gerbil.

    “Good idea,” said Granny Porky. “Slug, make tracks.”

    The slug crawled away, sighing.

    Granny Porky poked all her quills into a pincushion for easy handling. Then she washed some cherry tomatoes. “All we need is the meat,” she said. “Gerbil, my dear, would you crawl into the oven and see if it’s hot enough?”

    Gerbil went over to the oven and opened the door. “I can’t tell, Granny Porky,” she said.

    “What do you mean, you can’t tell?” said Granny Porky. “You dolt. Feel it with your hand.”

    “My hand is too tired from housework to feel heat anymore,” said Gerbil.

    “Well, for the love of nothing,” snapped Granny Porky. “Do I have to do everything?”

    “Beware that smart little gerbil,” called the slug from the front walk. He couldn’t move very fast and he was watching through the door. Gerbil ran over and slammed the door shut.

    “Show me how to tell if it’s hot enough,” said Gerbil.

    “Just climb inside,” said Granny Porky nastily. She thought she could fling the oven door closed and have juicy gerbil legs for her party, too.

    “I can’t climb,” said Gerbil. “My limbs are aching from all the housework. I have a pinched nerve in my spine.”

    “You simpleton,” snapped Granny Porky. “It isn’t hard! Just lean over and crawl in!”

    “Show me,” said Gerbil.

    “Beware,” called the slug, but Hamster started singing the national anthem just then to drown out the slug’s warning. Granny Porky hobbled across the kitchen floor, naked of all her bristles and wearing nothing but a filthy old apron. She climbed into the oven and said, “See, you