data/Arthur_the_rat.txt

Set1_Author_01  Once upon a time, there was a young rat named Arthur who couldn't make up his mind.
Set1_Author_02  Whenever the other rats asked him if he would like to go out hunting with them, he would answer in a soft voice, "I don't know." 
Set1_Author_03  And when they said, "Would you rather stay inside?" he wouldn't say yes or no either. 
Set1_Author_04  He'd always avoid making a choice.
Set1_Author_05  One fine day, his aunt Zelda appealed to him, "Now look here!
Set1_Author_06  No one is going to care about you if you carry on like this.
Set1_Author_07  You have no more mind of your own than a greasy old blade of grass!" 
Set1_Author_08  Arthur coughed and looked wise as usual, but said nothing.
Set1_Author_09  "Don't you think so?" said Zelda, stamping her foot, for she couldn't bear to see the poor little rat so coldblooded.
Set1_Author_10  "I don't know," was all he ever answered,
Set1_Author_11  and then he'd walk off to think for an hour or more
Set1_Author_12  about whether he would stay in his hole in the ground or go up into the loft.
Set1_Author_13  One night the rats heard a loud noise.
Set1_Author_14  They lived in a very dark and dreary old place.
Set1_Author_15  The roof let the rain come washing in,
Set1_Author_16  making shallow pools on the muddy floor. 
Set1_Author_17  The beams and rafters were all rotten through,
Set1_Author_18  so eventually the whole structure was quite unsafe.
Set1_Author_19  At last, one of the joists gave way and the beams fell down. 
Set1_Author_20  The walls shook and the ceiling collapsed with a loud bang.
Set1_Author_21  The rats shrieked and their fur stood on end with fear and horror.
Set1_Author_22  "This won't do," said their leader with a scowl.
Set1_Author_23  "We can't stay cooped up here any longer." 
Set1_Author_24  So he sent out scouts to search for a new home.
Set1_Author_25  A little later on in the evening they came back, 
Set1_Author_26  having found an old-fashioned barn near a stone house where there would be room, 
Set1_Author_27  board and food for all of them. 
Set1_Author_28  There, they saw a kindly mare named Alberta, 
Set1_Author_29  a cow, and some birds in the garden with an elm tree in the middle. 
Set1_Author_30  The leader gave the order at once, "Company fall in!". 
Set1_Author_31  The rats crawled out of their holes right away and the sad mob stood on the floor in a long line.
Set1_Author_32  Just then, the old rat caught sight of young Arthur.
Set1_Author_33  He wasn't in the line, and he wasn't exactly outside it; 
Set1_Author_34  he stood just nearby, ears pricked. 
Set1_Author_35  "Come on, get in line!" growled the old rodent unamused. 
Set1_Author_36  "You are coming too, aren’t you?” 
Set1_Author_37  "I don't know," said Arthur calmly. 
Set1_Author_38  "Why, the idea of it! You don't think it's safe here anymore, do you?" 
Set1_Author_39  "I'm not certain," said Arthur undaunted. 
Set1_Author_40  "The roof may not fall down yet." 
Set1_Author_41  "Well," said the old rat, "you would be stupid not to join us." 
Set1_Author_42  Then he turned to the assembled group and shouted, 
Set1_Author_43  "Right about face! March!" 
Set1_Author_44  and the long line marched out of the barn while the young rat watched them.
Set1_Author_45  "I think I'll go tomorrow," he said to himself, 
Set1_Author_46  "but then again, perhaps I won't 
Set1_Author_47  it's so nice and snug here. 
Set1_Author_48  I guess I'll go back to my hole under the log for a while before I make up my mind."
Set1_Author_49  But during the night there was a big crash. 
Set1_Author_50  Down came beams, rafters, joists — the whole business in a pile of rubble.
Set1_Author_51  Next morning, there was a foggy dew. 
Set1_Author_52  Some boys and girls ran to the barn and a man in boots came to view the damage. 
Set1_Author_53  It seemed odd that the old building was not haunted by rats. 
Set1_Author_54  But at last one of the children happened to nudge a board and he saw a puny rat, 
Set1_Author_55  quite dead, tail half in and half out of his hole. 
Set1_Author_56  Thus the coward got his due, and there was no mourning for him.