Story about fear: Mice, and their perfect plan for the cat

Not far away from Athens, there was a farm and on that farm lived a farmer, some farm animals, and many different species of hundreds and hundreds of mice. The farmer was pretty old and could hardly see. He knew the mice were there but they never really bothered him. So they were free to run around the farm as much as they pleased without any fear. The mice with the golden fur nested in the cornfields, pearl gray mice settled in the barn, and some mice settled in the room where the farmer made his cheese, others would live in the pantry, and even in the pillows all over the house. The mice lived like counts and countesses until one morning at breakfast the farmer found some mice excrement in his honey. If anything was sacred to the farmer it was his honey. So when he discovered that mice had been in his honey he got really angry, and that was the last straw. Right there and then he came up with a perfect plan on how to get rid of the mice. He was going to get a cat and let it hunt every single one of them that lived on his farm or near it!

So the farmer got the cat and his perfect plan worked like a charm. The mice lived in fear as the cat was hunting them day and night, outside and in the house. The biggest problem for the mice was the cat’s soft paws with which the cat would crawl silently behind them and then catch them. The mice could not stand the new situation on the farm for long and called a meeting in the tree grove behind the house. The mice gathered in the late afternoon when the cat was napping on the garden fence. They sat down under the trees and each had something to say about the cat. However, none of the mice had any real idea of how to protect themselves from this monster. Some mice suggested locking the cat in a barn, others suggested pushing the cat into a well or a river. However, despite all the suggestions, the oldest mouse explained to the others that if this cat somehow disappeared, the farmer would just get a new one and the problem would not be solved. The mice were overcome with fear and anxiety at the realization that they would never get rid of the cat.

It did not take long before three white mice raised their paws to get a word and share their plan based on what the oldest mouse told them. In an instant, everyone fell silent and listened to the three white mice, who were considered very clever as they had made their home in the wooden chest in which the farmer kept all of his official papers and anything else that was important. The three white mice were considered very clever because they have devoured entire “scrolls of wisdom” that the farmer kept in the wooden chest. “The awkward thing about cats is that they can’t be heard when they crawl towards us. Owls flap their wings, snakes hiss, and cats are completely silent. There is nothing, no noise.” says the first white mouse.”The solution to our problem is very simple. Any fool can see what needs to be done. All we need is a bell. A little bell and some tape.” continues the second mouse. All the other mice looked at each other and wondered if they could be hard of hearing or if there was something else wrong with them because even if their lives depended on the answer they could not come up with a reasonable answer what would a bell and a piece of tape solve. Then the third clever mouse cleared his throat and explains, “If one of us climbs on top of the cat while she’s sleeping and ties a bell around her neck, we’ll all be safe because whenever the beast will move, the bell will jingle. That way we’ll all hear her when she’ll try to creep up on us and we’ll be able to run away before she can catch us.” The word of the third mouse was greeted with an excited shriek. What a great idea! and how simple. Who would have thought? A bell and some tape! Only these three wise mice could have devised such a perfect plan.

The old mouse, who called the meeting, climbed one of the trees and waved his paws until all the assembled mice were silent. “The plan of the white mice is really clever and daring. But which one of us will be the one that will tie the bell around the cat’s neck?” At that moment there was instant silence. All eyes turned to the garden fence, on which the kitten was still sleeping. Even from afar, everyone could see that it wouldn’t be an easy task. “We are too small to climb on the backs of the cat,” said a field mouse. “One of us would do it, but we are too loud to get close to the cat. The cat would wake up before we could get close to it,” squealed one of the barn mice. “We would do it but we smell like cheese and the cat would smell us before we could complete the plan,” explained the mouse from the cheese room. While the mice were coming up with excuses why they couldn’t execute the “perfect plan”, the cat woke up.

It’s been a long time since she last ate so she looked around and was nicely surprised to see all of the mice gathered in the tree grove. She proceeded to jump off the fence and slowly walked towards the mice. Before the mice noticed the cat was already right behind them she jumped straight into the middle of them and started eating them one by one. First, she ate the tree white “smart” mice, and then the rest she could catch. Because of the sudden shock, some mice froze but most just ran in all directions trembling with fear. And then and there their perfect plan was foiled.