The Clockwork Mouse Grade 6 · English Reader
Tec
Chapter 9 · A Short Story

The Clockwork Mouse

A lifelike toy's long, wild journey — and the way home

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Tec — The Education Consultancy | Grade 6 English Lesson & Worksheet

Jimmy is given a wind-up clockwork mouse for his seventh birthday — so lifelike, with its round ears, beady eyes, and greyish-brown coat, that it fools his sister, the family cat, and even a chatty visitor into thinking it is real. He has great fun with it at first, but as the years pass, the novelty wears off, the household grows used to it, and eventually Jimmy loses the little brass key that winds it. The mouse ends up forgotten at the bottom of the toy cupboard, gathering dust.

Years later, Jimmy's mother clears out his old toys for charity and comes across the clockwork mouse. For a startled moment she believes it is a real one, until she recognises it — but with no key in sight, she assumes it is useless and drops it into the waste-paper basket. From there it is emptied into the dustbin, tipped into a refuse lorry, and crushed flat among the rubbish, seemingly destroyed for good — until rain washes it clean and it looks almost new again.

What follows is an unlikely adventure through the countryside. A scavenging fox carries it off and drops it in a wood; woodmice, an owl, a squirrel, a badger, a weasel, a hedgehog, and a green woodpecker each investigate the strange "mouse" that neither smells nor feels quite right, and each abandons it in turn. Finally, a magpie — drawn to the gleam of its eyes — carries it up to a nest at the top of an ash tree, where it lies undisturbed for the best part of a year.

Back at home, when a carpet fitter finds Jimmy's long-lost brass key wedged in the floorboards, his mother is baffled to learn it once belonged to a mouse she threw away years before. Meanwhile, winter gales finally blow down the old ash tree, and when workmen come to saw it up, they discover the clockwork mouse still resting in the fallen magpie's nest. By extraordinary coincidence, the wood is delivered as logs to Jimmy's own house — and the woodcutter, finding the toy in his pocket, hands it back to Jimmy as part of his change.

Jimmy, now much older, winds up the mouse once more and sets it moving jerkily across the carpet, its coat faded and worn from its long journey through the wild. Holding it up and looking into its beady black eyes, he wonders aloud what adventures it might have had — never quite realising how true his guess is.

"I bet you could tell a story," he said. "I wonder what happened to you?"

Vocabulary

lifelike — looking very much like a real living thing
scuttled — moved quickly with short, hurried steps
gingerly — in a careful, cautious way
scavenging — searching for food or useful items among waste
padded off — walked away quietly and steadily
coyly — in a shy, hesitant manner
in due course — after a period of time; eventually
half a tick — a moment; a very short time (informal)

Worksheet — The Clockwork Mouse

Comprehension · Vocabulary · Sequencing — Grade 6

Name:
Class:
Date:
Score:
A. Multiple Choice Questions
1.On what occasion was Jimmy given the clockwork mouse?
Christmas
His seventh birthday✓
A school prize
A visit to the fair
2.Why did the mouse eventually stop being used?
It broke completely
Jimmy lost the key that wound it up✓
His mother took it away
The cat destroyed it
3.Why did Jimmy's mother throw the mouse away?
She thought it was broken beyond repair
She thought it was useless without its key✓
Jimmy asked her to
It frightened her
4.Which animal first carried the mouse away from the rubbish dump?
A badger
A fox✓
An owl
A magpie
5.Which bird finally carried the mouse to its nest, where it stayed for months?
An owl
A woodpecker
A magpie✓
A crow
6.How was Jimmy's lost key eventually found?
In the toy cupboard
Wedged in the floorboards when the carpet was replaced✓
In the waste-paper basket
In the garden
7.How did the mouse eventually come back to Jimmy?
His mother found it in the attic
A woodcutter found it in the tree and gave it to him with his change✓
The magpie brought it back
He bought a new one
8.Why did the tree in which the magpie's nest sat come down?
It was cut down by loggers first
It was blown down in severe winter gales✓
It caught fire
Lightning struck it
B. True or False
  • 1. The clockwork mouse fooled the cat as well as people.
    TrueFalse
  • 2. Jimmy's mother recognised the mouse instantly and knew where the key was.
    TrueFalse
  • 3. The mouse was completely destroyed when the rubbish lorry crushed it.
    TrueFalse
  • 4. Several wild animals handled the mouse but none of them ate it, since it was not real.
    TrueFalse
  • 5. The mouse stayed in the magpie's nest for only a few days.
    TrueFalse
  • 6. The logs delivered to Jimmy's house happened to come from the very tree that held the nest.
    TrueFalse
  • 7. Jimmy knew the full story of where his mouse had been all those years.
    TrueFalse
C. Match the Words with Their Meanings
1. lifelike → (d)
2. scuttled → (e)
3. gingerly → (a)
4. scavenging → (c)
5. coyly → (b)
a. in a careful, cautious way
b. in a shy, hesitant manner
c. searching for food or useful items among waste
d. looking very much like a real living thing
e. moved quickly with short, hurried steps
D. Put the Events in Correct Order (1–6)
  • Jimmy is given the clockwork mouse for his seventh birthday.
  • Jimmy loses the key, and the mouse is forgotten in the toy cupboard.
  • Jimmy's mother throws the mouse away while clearing out old toys.
  • A fox, and later several other woodland animals, come across the mouse.
  • A magpie carries the mouse to its nest at the top of an ash tree.
  • The tree is blown down, and a woodcutter finds the mouse and returns it to Jimmy.
E. Short Answer Questions
1. Why did the family cat almost pounce on the clockwork mouse?
The mouse looked and moved so lifelike that the cat was fooled into thinking it was a real mouse.
2. Why did none of the wild animals that found the mouse eat it or keep it for long?
Although it looked like a mouse, it did not smell or feel like a real one, so each animal lost interest and abandoned it.
3. How did Jimmy's mother discover what the mysterious key in the floorboards belonged to?
She showed the key to Jimmy when the carpet fitter found it, and Jimmy remembered it was the key to his old clockwork mouse.
4. What was ironic (surprising in an unexpected way) about how the mouse finally returned to Jimmy?
The logs delivered to Jimmy's own house happened to come from the very tree that had held the mouse in a magpie's nest for months, so it came home entirely by chance.
5. In your own words, why do you think Jimmy decided to keep the mouse even though he was now older?
Open-ended — accept answers that reflect sentimental attachment, fond memories of childhood, or curiosity about where the mouse had been. (Teacher's discretion for wording.)
Tec — The Education Consultancy | Grade 6 English Lesson & Worksheet