THE
MOUSE STORY
-------------------
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the
farmer and his wife open a package.
"What food might this contain?"
The mouse wondered - - -
he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:
"There
is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the
house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
"Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you,
but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered
by it."
The mouse turned to the Goat and told him, "There is
a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The Goat sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse,
but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured
you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said: "There is a mousetrap
in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The
cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's
no skin off my nose."
So,
the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected,
to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house --
like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The
farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness,
she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap
had caught.
The
snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the
hospital, and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows
you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer
took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But
his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbours
came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the
farmer butchered the Goat.
The
farmer's wife did not get well; she died.
So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the
cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The
mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with
great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and
think it does not concern you, remember ---- when one of
us is threatened, we are all at risk.