THE MAID AND THE MOUSE AND THE ODD-SHAPED HOUSE

In the tradition referred to here as a "tell and draw" story, this old rhyme puts a "wee maid" and a fat mouse in a new five-sided house; then adds two chimneys (a dead giveaway for readers who've seen this trick in a simpler version); has the maid take off on a stumbling walk and then rush home again; and then—with a few clever touches (dirt swept out of the house becomes cat whiskers; a swept-off walk becomes a tail)—steps back to reveal house, path, and trimmings as the outline of a giant cat. In a sort of contrapuntal border, humans and animals parade sedately or dash by in predatory chase. Zelinsky gives the tale an antic elegance. (The "wee maid" is not a little girl, as that term suggests, but a spaghetti-thin, white-haired lady in 18th-century costume.) The overall effect is quaint, but spry.