Tom was the tiniest boy in the village; he was also the naughtiest one. But he used to get away with all his mischief as he was so tiny that no one saw him doing all those naughty things!
Tom set Mr Brown’s dog loose one day and it chased Aunt Bessie’s cat into a tree. They had to get a ladder so that they might bring down the cat. And the poor dog got a scolding from Mr Brown.
Tom quietly painted Mrs Wilson’s door bright red one morning when she had gone shopping. When she came back home, she was confused, because her house had a blue door. As she was sure, she spent the day looking for her own house! Mrs Wilson was so angry!
Farmer Hudson heard his hen clucking and squawking loudly and ran out thinking that a fox might have caught her. Then he found that she was trying to swim out of the horse’s water trough! But there was no sign of anyone there.
James, the gardener, worked in the village for the person who needed a little help cutting hedges or mowing their grass, planting flowers or raking dead leaves. All the leaves James piled up for a bonfire, were found scattered again. Hedges he had trimmed neatly were found to have been cut into a terrible mess. He spent all day trying to find out who had done all this but could not find anyone at all.
Meg was hanging clothes to dry on the line one day. When she turned around to pick up another dress, the clothes she had hung up earlier would have fallen down! She was thoroughly puzzled and upset. All the clothes had to be washed all over again. One morning, Meg washed a red rug in a large tub. It was still in the tub when Tom arrived there. He looked around and did not see Meg who had gone in for some work. He tried to pull the rug out and then the tub would be full of grass and mud. But it was heavy and Tom fell into the tub with a loud splash!
Meg came running out, hearing the sound and there was Tom struggling to get out of the tub. And he was bright red! She pulled him out and gave him a whack.
Poor Tom could not get the colour off for a week. Now he was not naughty; whenever he was around, people only had to say “Red Tom” and he would behave beautifully.
