Nursery Comedies

Jan. – Perhaps he is in the garden already.

M. – Perhaps he is. We'll go and see.

Jan. – Ah! here is Jack, perhaps he has seen Tiny.

Enter Jack

M. – Have you seen Tiny?

Jack. – Tiny? No, I haven't, indeed. Oh dear me! I am so frightened.

Jan. – What's the matter?

Jack. – I've seen the most terrible monster in the garden.

M. and Jan. – A monster!

Jack. – A monster, in the garden.

Jan. – Oh, Mabel, hold my hand! (To Jack.) Did you see him?

Jack. – Well, I did not see him exactly, because he was inside that clump of laurels, but I certainly heard him growl.

M. – (Getting very close to Janet.) Growl? Oh dear!

Jack. – Then I believe I saw two great eyes looking at me.

M. – Two great eyes?

Jack. – Then I am certain I saw the point of a hairy ear, the sort of point that a great monster's ear would be sure to have.

M. – Then, of course, now we won't go into the garden.

Jan. – I've just thought of the most terrible thing!

Jack. – What is it?

M. – What is it?

Jan. – (Covering her face.) That Tiny is in the garden!

M. – And he will be eaten alive!

(Covering her face with her hands, and sobbing loudly.)

Jan. – What shall we do? We can't leave him to die.

Jack. – (Valiantly.) No, we can't. I will go and save him.

M. – Oh, you brave boy! We'll come too.

Jack. – Come, then! I've got my knife.

    (Pulls his knife out of his pocket.)

Jan. – And I'll take my new scissors.

M. – And what shall I have? Oh, I'll take two large hairpins to stab him with.

Jack. – That's right. We'll stab him through the heart.

Enter Aunt Mary

Aunt Mary. – Why, my dear children! How warlike you look!

Jack. – And well we may! We're going into the garden to kill the most terrible monster.

A. M. – Oh, I see, you are pretending to be warriors.

Jan. – No, indeed! We are not. It is a real monster in the garden. Jack has seen him – part of him, at least.

A. M. – And what was he like?

Jack. – He's an enormous animal, with great flaring eyes, and long hairy ears.

Jan. – And probably horns and tusks, but we're not quite sure, because he was behind the bushes.

M. – And we are so dreadfully afraid he will kill Tiny.

A. M. – Oh no! He won't find Tiny – Tiny is hidden behind the laurels near the conservatory, eating a mouse which he has just caught.

Jack. – Behind the laurels near the conservatory! Then he will certainly be killed! The monster is there too! That is where the growls came from!

A. M. – Ha! ha! Now I see it all! Why, the monster that Jack saw and heard, is simply Tiny, who was growling because he feared his mouse would be taken away from him.

Jack. – Are you sure?

Jan. – Was the monster Tiny?

A. M. – Evidently. I've just seen him there myself.