Sections: Information | Plot Description
Information
- First published:
- November 1945 issue of The Atlantic
- Connections:
- The glue plot is very similar to “The Upsidedown Mice” as well as the ending from The Twits.
- Magazine publications:
Plot Description
Spoiler warning! A pilot named Bipou lived alone in a house that was infested by mice. Bipou hatches a plan to get rid of the mice. He starts by gluing mousetraps to his ceiling and baiting them with smoked cheese. The mice just laughed. Then Bipou glued his furniture and carpet to the ceiling, with everything hanging upside-down. When the mice came out that night, they grew alarmed. “This is awful,” said the oldest mouse of all. “This is awful. We must do something about this at once.” They decide to stand on their heads, and they all end up dying due to a “rush of blood to the brain”. Bipou was very pleased to see all the dead mice the next morning. “Ah-ha. I knew they’d go for smoked cheese.”
Fun Stuff
Complete Text
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Special thanks to site contributor Marvin Winitz, who tracked down this story and provided me with a copy. Marvin also notes:
“John L. Lewis [there is a reference to him in the story] was a trade union leader in charge at that time of labor strike action. The Atlantic Monthly was a sophisticated magazine that included current events analysis, considered several grades above the more popularistic Saturday Evening Postand their ‘factual’ stories. [Marvin is referring to the “Shot Down Over Libya” controversy.] … Another change [from “The Upsidedown Mice”] that really hit me funny was that instead of a television set glued to the ceiling it was changed to a radio set glued to the ceiling. … R. Dahl was really with it on glue. The glue episodes here and in The Twits evolved into superglue in Matilda.”