                  THE COCK, THE CAT, AND THE MOUSE

   Once upon a time . . . a little mouse decided to go and see the world. 
Packing some food for the journey, he carefully locked his door and set off 
for the unknown. And what a wonderful world he saw! Tall trees, rolling 
countryside, flowers and butterflies he had never set eyes on before. On he 
hiked till, tired out, he came to a peasant's cottage. After eating some of 
his packed lunch, he thought he would inspect what, to him, was a peculiar 
sort of building. He entered the farmyard and his eyes grew round as saucers: 
there in front of him were two strange animals he had never seen before. One
was large and handsome, with four legs, covered all over with soft fur, and 
sporting splendid white whiskers that gave it a solemn respectable air. It was
dozing against the wall. The other, a two-legged creature, had red, yellow and
green feathers and a fierce, bad-tempered look. A pair of cruel eyes in a 
red-crested head glared at the little mouse.
   "How do you do, sir! How do you do..." began the mouse's greeting, as he 
felt foollsh at not knowing the stranger's name. But the feathered creature 
simply puffed out its chest, screeched a loud "Cocka-doodle-doo!" and strutted
towards the mouse, now paralyzed with fear. The little mouse saw the big 
yellow beak hovering over him. "I must run!" he squeaked, turning tail and 
fleeing as fast as his legs would carry him. He spied a hole in the wall and 
dived into it. Inside, three faces stared at him in amazement. 
   "Where did you appear from?" they asked. 
   "I've come . . ." gasped the little mouse breathlessly, ". . . from far 
away! Where am I now?"
   "This is our home. We're field mice. What happened?" And the little mouse 
told them about the animals he had met in the farmyard: one handsome and 
harmless, the other brightly coloured and ferocious. The three field mice 
laughed. "Calm down," they said. "Have a cup of coffee. Don't you realize the 
danger you were in? The creature that frightened you is only a cock, but the 
nice harmless one is our deadliest enemy, the cat! If he'd seen you, you 
wouldn't be here to tell the tale. As you see, you can't always judge by 
appearances!"
