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 pig and told him,
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is
a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig 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 neighbors came to sit with her
around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
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 doesn't concern you,
remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are
all at risk.