THE CAT & THE MOUSE

A cat and a mouse once lived in the same house. Whenever the mouse ventured out of its little hole in the wall to get a bite to eat the cat would chase it and it would run and hide inside its little hole. The cat would laugh at it and say, ‘I am bigger and stronger than you. One of these days when you come out of your hiding place I will simply devour you, snout, tail and all.’ The little mouse was very afraid but seldom came out of the hole, as the cat was always chasing it back into hiding, wanting to eat it as one of his favorite meals. One day the mouse came out of its hole again and found a bit of cheese on the kitchen counter. As it was nibbling happily away at the slice of cheese, the cat once again appeared out of nowhere and chased it back into its hiding place and little hole in the wall. But unknown to both of them a fire had broken out inside the house because of a burning candle left unattended by its owners in a lonely corner of the room. The fire spread rapidly and the mouse was hiding safely inside its hole. ‘What am I to do?’ said the cat, ‘I am trapped inside this burning house and will surely come to a nasty end.’ ‘Follow me inside the hole,’ said the mouse from within its hiding place, ‘And we will both find a way out and escape.’ The cat tried in vain to fit into the tiny hole and hide. For it was too small for him and he was too big and strong to follow the little mouse inside it. The cat died in the burning house but the little mouse found a way out by way of another little hole that led outside to the garden and freedom at last. That just goes to show, don't rely on your size alone. Big and strong doesn’t always win the battle. The little mouse lived happily all of its days in the new house that the man had built after the old had burnt to the ground. And he was never bothered by a troublesome cat ever again.