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