The Parents Laugh at the Carrot

Mr. Dale looked at Jimmy. The Carrot turned his head away.

"Come here, sir!" Mr. Dale said. "Look straight into my eyes. Now answer: when did you break the looking-glass and why did you break it?"

Jimmy's face became as red as a ripe tomato, but he said nothing.

"Why did you break the looking-glass, dear?" Mrs. Dale asked him.

"I wanted to punish the red boy," Jimmy answered.

"What red boy?" his mother asked in surprise.

"The red boy in the little window. He teased me. He put out his tongue at me," the Carrot said gloomily.

His parents looked at each other. Then Father began to smile.

"OK, sonny! Tell us all about that red boy!"

Jimmy was very glad that his father was not angry with him. He raised his blue eyes and said: "You see, Daddy, I was in bed. I was sleeping. Suddenly I saw a red boy who was looking at me through the little window."

"How could you see him if you were sleeping?" Mr. Dale asked, still smiling.

"You see, Daddy, I was sleeping with one eye shut. I saw the red boy with my open eye. I said to him very politely: 'Red Boy, go away!' But he didn't. So I said again: 'Get out of here!' But the red boy put out his tongue at me. I got very angry, took a broomstick and hit him."

"OK, sonny! Did the red boy cry?" Mr. Dale asked slyly.

"Oh, yes, he did — just a little," Jimmy answered.

Polly could not sit still. She jumped up and cried: "Oh, Mother dear! How silly our Carrot is!"

"Not at all!" Mrs. Dale said angrily. "He isn't a bit silly. It isn't his fault — the poor darling never asked for anything but candies. He didn't know what it was."

Then Mrs. Dale whispered something in Polly's ear. The girl ran away. In two minutes she came back, holding something behind her back.

"Come here, Jimmy!" Mrs. Dale said to the Carrot. "Come on! I'll show you something very interesting."

Jimmy came up to his mother. He saw a little window in her hands. Jimmy's heart began to beat very fast. He looked into the little window and saw the red boy in it.

"Oh, Mother, oh, Daddy!" he shouted with all his might. "Catch him! There is that nasty red boy again! Catch him! Do catch him!"

But his parents only laughed and did not move. They laughed at poor Jimmy, the Carrot, who did not know what a looking-glass was.

Poor little Jimmy the Carrot!

Polly called him Simple Simon.