“I’ll try them on,” Mr. Crow said.
Jimmy Rabbit held out the shoes, hoping that Mr. Crow
would take them. But Mr. Crow had no such notion
in his head.
“I mean, you may try them on me”
he added.
“You didn’t say that,” Jimmy Rabbit
reminded him.
“No further remarks are necessary,” Mr.
Crow screamed in a shrill voice.
And at that Jimmy Rabbit knelt before him once more
and began to crowd one of Mr. Crow’s feet into
one of the shoes.
Jimmy struggled for a long time without saying a word.
But Mr. Crow said several words under his breath,
for Jimmy was hurting him dreadfully.
There were two reasons for that. In the first
place, the shoe was much too small for Mr. Crow.
And in the second, Jimmy Rabbit was putting the left
shoe on Mr. Crow’s right foot.
But neither of them knew that second reason.
OLD SHOES FOR NEW
Old Mr. Crow was too proud to admit that the shoe
Jimmy Rabbit was pulling upon his right foot was too
small for him. But he would have objected, to
be sure, had he known that it was the left shoe.
He would have objected likewise when Jimmy crammed
his left foot into the right shoe a few minutes later.
But Mr. Crow only knew that his feet already ached.
“Now just stand on them!” Jimmy Rabbit
said at last.
And Mr. Crow stood up.
“Now walk a bit,” the shoe merchant continued.
But Mr. Crow could not walk. He hobbled
a short distance. And then he sank down with
a groan.
“They don’t hurt you, do they?”
Jimmy Rabbit asked him.
And Mr. Crow shook his head. He thought he could
do that truthfully. What he felt was far worse
than a mere hurt. It was torture—that
was certainly what it was.
Of course Jimmy Rabbit knew what the trouble was—or
part of it, at least. He knew that Mr. Crow’s
toes were doubled up inside the shoes. And it
was on the tip of his tongue to suggest to Mr. Crow
that he have his toes cut off. But a better way
soon occurred to Jimmy Rabbit.
“I know you’ll find these shoes very comfortable—after
they’re finished,” he told Mr. Crow.
“Finished!” Mr. Crow exclaimed. “Do
you mean to say they’re only partly made?”
“There’s just one more thing to do to
them,” Jimmy Rabbit explained. “The
holes haven’t been cut in them yet.”
“Holes!” said Mr. Crow. “What
holes?”
“Why, the holes for your toes, of course!”
Jimmy Rabbit answered. “Maybe you didn’t
know that shoes are to be worn like that this summer.
It makes them much cooler in hot weather.”
Well, Mr. Crow liked the idea. He said so, too.
He certainly couldn’t wear the shoes as they
were. And if everybody else was going to wear
shoes with toe-holes, he didn’t want to be behind
the times. But he hadn’t seen anybody with
shoes made after that fashion. And he told Jimmy
Rabbit as much.
