The Tales of Tiptoes Lightly Read Online Free PDF Page B

flies
through the air breathing frost on leaves and branches.”
    “Why don’t you ask him yourselves?” said Jeremy. “Then
you’ll know for sure.”
    “Good idea,” they agreed.
    “So where does he live?” asked Jeremy.
    Tiptoes and Pepper Pot looked at each other. They
shook their heads and shrugged. “We don’t know.”
    “Oh goody! We’ll have to go adventuring!” cried Jeremy
Mouse. “Can we eat first?”
Tiptoes asks Running River a Question
    All the frost had vanished by the time they finished
breakfast. They marched through the forest towards Running River. Tiptoes
thought Running River might know where Jack Frost lived. Running River was not
very wide, but she was long; maybe she knew something. When they arrived at her
banks Tiptoes sang:
     
    “Running River, O so wild,
    Let me see your spirit child.
    Can she say
    Where Jack Frost dwells?
    Show yourself and Tiptoes tell.”

    Out of the water rose the Spirit of Running River. She
had a long, silvery body like a snake, with soft, blue-gray wings, and a water
nymph’s dreamy head. She was very beautiful, with gentle eyes and flowing hair.
    “You want to find Jack Frost?” asked the Spirit of
Running River.
    “Yes,” said Tiptoes, “we want to know if he’s a fairy
or a gnome.”
    “I can’t tell you that,” said the Spirit of Running
River, “but the Old Woman of Snowy Mountain knows where he lives.”
    “How do we find the Old Woman?” asked Jeremy Mouse.
    “You see me as a young woman now,” replied the Spirit of
Running River, “but you must sail on me until I become a girl. Then follow me
till I grow younger still and babble like a baby. And there, where I am born
from my Mother Rock, you will find the Old Woman of Snowy Mountain.” Then the
Spirit of Running River slipped underneath the waves again.
    “I didn’t know Running River was born from a rock,”
said Jeremy Mouse, as he untied their latest boat and pushed out from the
shore. This boat was made of half a coconut shell, a twig for a mast, and a big
beech leaf for a sail.
    Tiptoes called out:
     
    “Blow, wind, blow,
    Blow as best you know,
    To Snowy Mountain we shall go!”
     
    And the wind blew, and up Running River they sailed.
    Running River meandered this way and that, but the
wind blew steadily, and always at their backs. Once the wind made a mistake as
they sailed around a bend and they crashed into Beaver’s house.
    “Hey!” cried Mr. Beaver, slapping his tail on the
water. “Watch where you’re going!”
    “Sorry, cousin Beaver,” cried Jeremy Mouse. “It’s not
easy for the wind to blow us around corners.”
    “Oh, I see,” said Mr. Beaver, and he pulled them out
into current again.
    “Bye, bye,” they all called, “and thank you.”
    Beaver splashed his tail goodbye and disappeared out
of sight.

    “I wish I could swim like him,” said Jeremy Mouse,
“but his tail is too flat. I wouldn’t like a tail like that.”
    Running River flowed through a wide valley. They
passed Farmer John’s, but they didn’t see the pumpkin patch. They sailed
through fields and meadows. They saw a big black and white cow called Maggie
standing on the riverbank. She moo’d hello and they all waved back.
    Running River became smaller and narrower. The banks
grew wilder and hills pressed in on the sides. Now it was really hard for the
wind to blow them properly, and they all grabbed sticks to stop the boat from
crashing into rocks. Soon the hills turned into mountains, and one mountain
loomed extra large. Its peak was covered with ice and snow which glinted in the
sun.
    “That’s Snowy Mountain,” said Pine Cone. “Look how
tall she is.”
    At last they came to a waterfall. Running River fell
down, and down, and down, and splashed into a huge pool.
    “We can’t sail any further,” said Tiptoes. “We’ll have
to walk.”
    So they tied their boat to the shore and climbed up
the side of Snowy Mountain.
The Old Woman of Snowy Mountain
    Up and up they