THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER（8）

“Mew! Mew!” interrupted Simpkin, and he scratched at the door. But the key was under the tailor’s pillow, he could not get in.
The little mice only laughed, and tried another tune¹ —
“Three little mice sat down to spin,Pussy² passed by and she peeped³ in.What are you at, my fine little men?Making coats for gentlemen.Shall I come in and cut off your threads?Oh, no, Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads!”
“Mew! Mew!” cried Simpkin. “Hey diddle dinketty?” answered the little mice —
“Hey diddle dinketty, poppetty pet!The merchants of London they wear scarlet;Silk in the collar, and gold in the hem,So merrily march the merchantmen!”
They clicked their thimbles to mark the time, but none of the songs pleased Simpkin; he sniffed⁴ and mewed at the door of the shop.
“And then I boughtA pipkin and a popkin,A slipkin and a slopkin,All for one farthing ——
and upon the kitchen dresser!” added the rude little mice.
“Mew! scratch! scratch!” scuffled Simpkin on the window-sill; while the little mice inside sprang to their feet, and all began to shout at once in little twittering voices: “No more twist! No more twist!” And they barred up the window shutters⁵ and shut out Simpkin.
But still through the nicks in the shutters he could hear the click of thimbles, and little mouse voices singing —
“No more twist! No more twist!”
Simpkin came away from the shop and went home, considering in his mind. He found the poor old tailor without fever, sleeping peacefully.

“喵——，喵——”辛普金打断了老鼠的歌唱，急得在门上乱抓。可是，钥匙在裁缝的
枕头下，他进不去。
这些小老鼠只是笑着，又唱起另一首歌：
三只小老鼠，坐着纺纱线。
猫儿正路过，偷偷往里看。
你们在干吗，亲爱的小伙伴？
我们都在忙，为绅士做衣裳！
我能进去吗？帮你们剪剪线。
不敢，不敢，真不敢！
猫小姐你会把我们的头咬断！
“喵——，喵——”辛普金叫着。
“骗人的喵咪！”小老鼠回答道——
可怜的宠物，骗人的喵咪！
伦敦的商人，穿着大红衣；
丝绸的领子，金色的褶边，
快乐的商人，大步走向前！
他们敲着顶针打拍子，但辛普金一首歌都不喜欢。他在商店门口抽抽鼻子，喵喵地叫
着：
然后我买了
一个皮普金，一个波普金，
一个斯里普金，一个斯洛普金。
所有这一切，只花了一个子儿。
“都放在厨房的碗柜上。”一只小老鼠添油加醋地说。
“喵——，咔嚓，咔嚓！”辛普金在窗台上使劲抓着。这时，屋里的小老鼠们突然跳了
起来，像鸟儿一样叽喳地叫道：“没有捻线了！没有捻线了！”接着他们就拉上了百叶窗，
不让辛普金再往里看。
但是，通过百叶窗的缝隙，辛普金还是能听到小老鼠敲击顶针的声音，还有他们的歌
声：“没有捻线了！没有捻线了！”
辛普金离开店铺，一边想着刚才的事，一边跑回家去。他发现可怜的裁缝已经不发烧
了，睡得十分安详。