Free Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel Page A

chirping sound outside her window.
    “What is that noise?” asked the mouse.
    “What did you say?” asked a cricket.
    “I cannot hear you and make my music at the same time.”
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    “I want to sleep,” said the mouse.
    “I do not want any more music.”
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    “What did you say?” asked the cricket.
    “You want more music? I will find a friend.”
    Soon there were two crickets chirping.
    “I want you to stop the music,” said the mouse.
    “You are giving me more!”
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    “What did you say?” asked the cricket.
    “You want more music? We will find another friend.”
    Soon there were three crickets chirping.
    “You must stop the music,” said the mouse.
    “I am tired.
    I cannot take much more!”
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    “What did you say?” asked the cricket.
    “You want much more music? We will find many friends.”
    Soon there were ten crickets chirping.
    “Stop!” cried the mouse.
    “Your music is too loud!” “Loud?” asked the cricket.
    “Yes, we can chirp loud.”
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    So the ten crickets chirped very loud.
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    “Please!” shouted the mouse.
    “I want to sleep.
    I wish that you would all “Go away?” asked the cricket.
    “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”
    “We will go away and chirp somewhere else,” said the ten crickets.
    They went away and chirped somewhere else.
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    And the mouse went back to sleep.
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    THE THORN BUSH
    An old lady went to the door of her house.
    She was crying.
    A policeman came running.
    “Dear lady,” said the policeman, “why are you crying?” “Come in,” said the old lady.
    “I will show you.”
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    “Look, there is a thorn bush growing in my living-room chair,” said the old lady.
    “How did it get there?” asked the policeman.
    “I do not know,” said the old lady.
    “One day I sat down and something hurt me.
    I got up.
    There was the thorn bush.”
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    “You poor lady,” said the policeman.
    “I will pull the thorn bush out of your chair.
    Then you can sit down again.”
    “No!” cried the old lady.
    “Don’t do that! I do not want to sit down.
    I have been sitting down all my life.
    I love my thorn bush.
    I am crying because it is sick.
    See?” said the old lady.
    “All of the branches are falling over.”
    “The thorn bush may be thirsty,” said the policeman.
    “Perhaps it needs water.”
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    I never thought of that,” said the old lady.
    She poured some water on the chair.
    The thorn bush shivered and shook.
    Green leaves came out on the branches.
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    Little buds came out near the leaves.
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    The buds opened up.
    They became large roses.
    “Thank you, kind policeman!” cried the old lady.
    “You have saved my thorn bush! You have made my 41

    house beautiful!” She kissed the policeman and gave him a big bunch of roses to take home.
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    “There,” said the mouse.
    “I have told you my stories.
    They will make your mouse soup taste really good.”
    “All right,” said the weasel, “but how can I put the stories into the soup?”
    “That will be easy,” said the mouse.
    “Run outside and find a nest of bees, some mud, two large stones, ten crickets, and a thorn bush.
    Come back and put them all into the soup.”
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    The weasel ran outside very fast.
    He forgot to close the door.
    The weasel found a nest of bees.
    He was stung many times.
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    The weasel found some mud.
    It was wet and gooey.
    The weasel found two large stones.
    They were heavy.
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    The weasel found ten crickets.
    He had to jump to catch them.
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    The weasel found a thorn bush.
    He was pricked and scratched.
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    “Now my mouse soup will taste really good!” said the weasel.
    But when the weasel came back to his house, he found a surprise.
    The cooking pot was empty.
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    The mouse hurried to his safe home.
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    He lit the fire, he ate his supper, and he finished reading his book.
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    Dear Parent:
    Your child’s love of reading starts here!
    Every child learns to read in a different way