It was so nice out in the wood , when the snow lay all around , and the hare leapt past me ; yes , even when he leapt over me : but I did n't like it then . It 's so dreadfully lonely up here . ' ` Squeak , squeak ! ' said a little mouse , stealing out , followed by a second . They sniffed at the fir-tree , and then crept between its boughs . ` It 's frightfully cold , ' said the little mice . ` How nice it is to be here ! Do n't you think so too , you old fir-tree ? ' ` I 'm not at all old , ' said the tree ; ` there are many much older than I am . ' ` Where do you come from ? ' asked the mice , ` and what do you know ? ' They were extremely inquisitive . ` Do tell us about the most beautiful place in the world . Is that where you come from ? Have you been in the storeroom , where cheeses lie on the shelves , and hams hang from the ceiling , where one dances on tallow candles , and where one goes in thin and comes out fat ? ' ' I know nothing about that , ' said the tree . ` But I know the wood , where the sun shines , and the birds sing . ' And then it told them all about its young days , and the little mice had never heard anything like that before , and they listened with all their ears , and said : ` Oh , how much you have seen ! How lucky you have been ! ' ` I ? '
said the XXXXX , and then it thought over what it had told them .
anything cheeses days fir-tree hams hare nothing second shelves stealing