Fable
The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse
A Town Mouse once visited a relative who lived
in the country. For lunch the Country Mouse served wheat stalks, roots, and
acorns, with a dash of cold water for drink. The Town Mouse ate very sparingly,
nibbling a little of this and a little of that, and by her manner making it
very plain that she ate the simple food only to be polite.
After
the meal the friends had a long talk, or rather the Town Mouse talked about her
life in the city while the Country Mouse listened. They then went to bed in a
cozy nest in the hedgerow and slept in quiet and comfort until morning. In her
sleep the Country Mouse dreamed she was a Town Mouse with all the luxuries and
delights of city life that her friend had described for her. So, the next day
when the Town Mouse asked the Country Mouse to go home with her to the city,
she gladly said yes.
When
they reached the mansion in which the Town Mouse lived, they found on the table
in the dining room the leavings of a very fine banquet. There were sweetmeats
and jellies, pastries, delicious cheeses, indeed, the most tempting foods that
a Mouse can imagine. But just as the Country Mouse was about to nibble a dainty
bit of pastry, she heard a Cat mew loudly and scratch at the door. In great
fear the Mice scurried to a hiding place, where they lay quite still for a long
time, hardly daring to breathe. When at last they ventured back to the feast,
the door opened suddenly and in came the servants to clear the table, followed
by the House Dog.
The
Country Mouse stopped in the Town Mouse's den only long enough to pick up her
carpet bag and umbrella.
"You
may have luxuries and dainties that I have not," she said as she hurried
away, "but I prefer my plain food and simple life in the country with the
peace and security that go with it."
Moral
-
Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and
uncertainty.
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