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Fairytale lovers of all ages, will enjoy this collection of timeless classics, as Ms. Rae takes you into the woods and to far off places.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Forget Me
Not Fairy Tales.
Classic stories for book lovers
of all ages.
Let's begin.
The Tale of Two Bad Mice.
Written and illustrated by
Beatrix Potter.
Once upon a time, there was a
very beautiful doll's house.
It was red brick with white
windows, and it had real muslin
curtains.
And a front door and a chimney.
It belonged to two dolls called
Lucinda and Jane.
At least it belonged to Lucinda,
but she never ordered meals.
Jane was the cook, but she never
did any cooking because the
dinner had been bought
ready-made in a box full of
shavings.
There were two red lobsters and
a ham, a fish, a pudding, and
some pears and oranges.
They would not come off the
plates, but they were extremely
beautiful.
One morning, Lucinda and Jane
had gone out for a drive in the
doll's perambulator.
There was no one in the nursery,
and it was very quiet.
Presently, there was a little
scuffling, scratching noise in a
corner near the fireplace where
there was a hole under the
skirting board.
Tom Thumb pulped out his head
for a moment, then popped it in
again.
Tom Thumb was a mouse.
Minute afterwards, Hunkamunka,
his wife, put her head out too.
And when she saw that there was
no one in the nursery, she
ventured out on the oil cloth
under the coal box.
The doll's house stood at the
other side of the fireplace.
Tom Thumb and Hunkamunk went
cautiously across the hearth
rug.
They pushed the front door.
It was not fast.
Tom Thumb and Hunkamunk went
upstairs and peeped into the
dining room.
Then they squeaked with joy.
Such a lovely dinner was laid
out upon the table.
There were tin spoons and lead
knives and forks and two dolly
chairs, all so convenient.
Tom Thumb set to work at once to
carve the ham.
It was a beautiful shiny yellow
streaked with red.
The knife crumpled up and hurt
him.
He put his finger in his mouth.
It is not boiled enough.
It is hard.
You have a try, Hunkamunker.
Hunkamunker stood up in her
chair and chopped at the ham
with another lat knife.
It's as hard as the hands at the
cheesemongers, said Hunkamunk.
The ham broke off the plate with
a jerk and rolled under the
table.
Let it alone, said Tom Thumb.
Give me some fish, Hunkamunk.
Hunkamunker tried every tin
spoon in turn.
The fish was glued to the dish.
Then Tom Thumb lost his temper.
He put the ham in the middle of
the floor and hit it with the
tongs and with the shovel.
Bang, bang, smash, smash.
The ham flew all into pieces.
For underneath the shiny paint,
it was made of nothing but
plaster.
Then there was no end to the
rage and disappointment of Tom
Thumb and Hunkamunker.
They broke up the pudding, the
lobsters, the pears, and the
oranges.
As the fish would not come off
the plate, they put it into the
red, hot, crinkly paper fire in
the kitchen.
But it would not burn either.
Tom Thumb went up the kitchen
chimney and looked out at the
top.
There was no soot.
While Tom Thumb was up the
chimney, Hunkamunka had another
disappointment.
She found some tiny canisters
upon the dresser, labeled rice,
coffee, sago.
But when she turned them upside
down, there was nothing inside
except red and blue beads.
Then those mice set to work to
do all the mischief they could,
especially Tom Thumb.
He took Jane's clothes out of
the closet of drawers in her
bedroom and he threw them out of
the top floor window.
But Hunkamunk had a frugal mind.
After pulling half the feathers
out of Lucinda's bolster, she
remembered that she herself was
in want of a feather bed.
With Tom Thumb's assistance, she
carried the bolster downstairs
and across the hearth rug.
It was difficult to squeeze the
bolster into the mouse hole, but
they managed it somehow.
Then Hunkamunka went back and
fetched a chair, a bookcase, a
birdcage, and several small odds
and ends.
The bookcase and the birdcage
refused to go into the mouse
hole.
Hunkamunk left them behind the
coal box and went to fetch a
cradle.
Hunkamunk was just returning
with another chair when suddenly
there was a noise of talking
outside upon the landing.
The mice rushed back to their
hole, and the dolls came into
the nursery.
What a sight met the eyes of
Jane and Lucinda.
Lucinda sat upon the upset
kitchen stove and stared.
Jane leant against the kitchen
dresser and smiled, but neither
of them made any remark.
The bookcase and the birdcage
were rescued from under the coal
box.
Pahunkamunka has got the cradle
and some of Lucinda's clothes.
She also has some useful pots
and pans and several other
things.
The little girls that the doll's
house belonged to said, I will
get a doll dressed like a
policeman.
But the nurse said, I will set a
mouse strap.
So that is the story of the two
bat mice.
But they were not so very, very
naughty after all.
Because Tom Thumb paid for
everything he broke.
He found a crooked sixpence
under the hearth rug, and upon
Christmas Eve, he and Hunkamonka
stuffed it into one of the
stockings of Lucinda and Jane.
And very early every morning
before anybody is awake,
Hunkamanka comes with her
dustpan and her broom to sweep
the dolly's house.
The End I hope you like this
story.
Stories contain many morals.
One lesson from this story is
things like people are not
always as they appear.
Someone who may look happy might
be feeling a little blue.
Someone who seems mean or bad
may be really nice.
Nice people, when they know
they've made a mistake or let
their anger get to them, they
will find a way to apologize and
make things right.