The Kind Hedgehog
The Kind Hedgehog
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| The Kind Hedgehog |
When John and Sallie went out in the garden one morning, they ran to watch their father taking down the tennis net. Summer was over and autumn was in, making the mornings crisp and cool.
'Can we help to take down the nets all round the court? Asked Sallie. 'We'd like to.'
'Yes; said their father. 'Unhook them from the posts and roll them up neatly.'
So the children began. Soon they came to a net that seemed to have a great knot at the bottom of it. They shook it but the knot stayed.
It was heavy.
'It can't be a knot!' cried John. 'It's some-thing else. Daddy, what's this? Daddy came over.
'Why, it's a poor little hedgehog that has walked into the bottom and got tangled up in it, ' he said. 'I'll have to cut the net to get him out. '
'The naughty little thing!' cried Sallie, as she watched Daddy cut the net was new this summer _ now the hedgehog has spoilt it.
There will be a big hole there next summer for balls to roll through. '
'It's a nasty, tiresome little hedgehog, ' said john. 'It ought to be punished.'
Just then Mother came up to see what all the excitement was about. She looked down at the little rolled-up hedgehog the Daddy had cut out of the net.
'Poor little thing,' she said. 'So you came wandering across the grass looking for beetles and grubs, and got caught in the net. How frightened you must have been! And there was nobody to help you or cut you loose till the children found you this morning. I am sorry for you, little hedgehog. I hope you are not dead with fright.'
Mother picked up the hedgehog carefully. It was very prickly indeed, but she knew just how to hold it so that the spines did not prick her.
'We will give it some cat food,' she said. 'It will like that. Come along and help me, children.'
John and Sallie no longer wanted to punish the little hedgehog. They wanted to help it instead. Off they all went, and very soon they had the delight of seeing the funny little brown creature uncurl itself and run to the saucer of cat food. It ate it all with its funny little snout-like mouth, and looked at them with bright, beady eyes.
'Now we will let it run off, ' said Mother. The hedgehog must have heard what she said, for it ran to the bushes and Soon disappeared.
'Let's leave some cat food out for it tonight, said Sallie. 'It might come back.
'I wish it would do a good deep in return for our kindness,' said Mother. 'You know, our kitchen is simply full of horrid black beetles at night. I can't get rid of them. They come out from under the stove and walk all over the place.
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| The Kind Hedgehog |
I wish the hedgehog would eat them for me.'
'Let's leave the cat food by the kitchen door,' said Sallie. 'We could leave the door open a little way, and if it's a nice kind hedgehog it will come in and eat our beetles, Isn't that a good idea, Mummy?'
So that night the two children put down a saucer of cat food by the back door, and left the door just a little bit open-enough for a little hedgehog to creep through if it wanted to.
Next morning the cat food was still there.
Sallie and John wondered if the hedgehog had seen it, but had made up its mind to eat the beetles instead.
'Let's creep downstairs and see tonight,' said Sallie. So that night, when everyone was asleep in bed, and the clock had struck twelve, the two children crept downstairs to the kitchen. They hated to go to the kitchen late at night, because of the beetles there, but they did so badly want to see if the hedgehog had come back.
He had! Well, you should have seen him! He was scurrying about the floor, gobbling up the nasty black beetles as fast as ever he could! They came out from the nooks and crannies under the warm stove, where they had lived for years, and as soon as the hedgehog saw them he ran over to them. His sharp little snapped them up, and that was the end of the beetles!
'Just look!' whispered Sallie. 'That little hedgehog is getting rid of all those horrid beetles that spoil our kitchen! Beetles that live in kitchens have to be destroyed, Mummy says, but she has never been able to send them off before! Now the hedgehog is doing it for us!'
As soon as the hedgehog heard their voices he ran straight out of the kitchen door in fright.
The children stayed quite quiet- and soon they saw his sharp little snout peeping in again. 'Is everything quiet?' he seemed to say. 'Then I will get back to my supper!'
Back he came, and soon the black beetles hurried away to their holes in fear. The children went back to bed longing to tell their mother all they had seen.
'We know why the hedgehog doesn't eat his cat food!' said Sallie to their mother next morning. 'It's because he's doing you a good turn, Mummy, and eating all your black beetles for you!'
'The kind little fellow!' said Mother. 'I did hope he would. We will leave a little cat food out each night for him, and as soon as he begins to eat it we shall know he has cleared out all those beetles for us!'
That little hedgehog came back to the kitchen every single night, and in a week's time, when Sallie was sitting in the kitchen, there was not a single beetle to be seen.
'Well, Mummy,' she said, 'all those creepy-crawly beetles have gone. I hope they don't come back.'
'They won’t come back, Sallie!' said Mother.
'The hedgehog has eaten them all! Hasn't he been a good friend to us!'
'Well, 'said Sallie. 'The hedgehog we got out of the tennis net must have said to itself: "One good turn deserves another!" and that's why it ate your beetles!'
'I shouldn't be surprised,' said Mother. 'It's always best to be kind to everything, big or little, smooth or prickly. You never know when you might need their help!'
