At last the Field Mouse would eat no more. He said to the City Mouse, “You have a fine house to live in, my friend, and good things to eat, but you always live in fear of your life. As for me, I am a poor mouse I know. I have only corn and wheat to eat, but I am quite happy, for no one ever comes to frighten me. Good-by, I am going back to my field." THE CITY MOUSE AND THE GARDEN MOUSE -Aesop The City Mouse lives in a house; The Garden Mouse eats what he can; We will not grudge him seeds and stocks, Poor little timid furry man. -Christina G. Rossetti THE RAT WITH THE BELL In a large old country house there were many rats. Nothing was safe from these rats. They gnawed through cupboard doors and feasted on pies and cheese. They ran up the walls and dropped on to the cellar shelves. They gnawed holes in the meal boxes and apple barrels. The rats were so sly that even the cats could not catch them, and most of them were too wise to go near the traps which were set for them. But one day a foolish rat was caught. He was not killed. Oh, no! The boys in the house tied a small bell about his neck and let him go. The rat was happy to be free once more and he ran quickly into the nearest hole to look for his friends. The other rats heard the tinkle, tinkle of the bell and thought that some enemy was in their hole, so away they all ran. Some ran one way and some another. The rat with the bell ran after them, but when he came near it was all hurryscurry and not a rat could be seen. He soon guessed why they were all so frightened and he was greatly amused. He chased his old friends from hole to hole and from room to room, laughing at their fears. "This is fun," he said. "I shall have more good things to eat if they are not around." This went on for two or three days. The rat with the bell ate and ate till he could hardly walk. At last he grew tired of being alone all of the time and he began to wonder how he could get rid of his bell. He pulled at the bell with his feet until the skin was nearly worn from his neck. The bell was no longer a pleasure to him. The poor rat went from room to room hoping to get near enough to one of his old friends to ask for help, but they all kept so far away he never saw even a tail of them. One morning as he was wandering about, Puss saw him and in a moment she had made a good breakfast. The boys never saw any more rats in the big country house. They had all been frightened away by the rat with the bell and they never came back again. -Dr. Aikin |