248.The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk
A MOUSE who always lived on the land, by an unlucky chance formed an intimate acquaintance with a frog, who lived for the most part in the water. The frog, one day intent on mischief, bound the foot of the mouse tightly to his own. Thus joined together, the frog first of all led his friend the mouse to the meadow where they were used to find their food. After this, he gradually led him towards the pool in which he lived, till reaching the very brink, he suddenly jumped in, dragging the mouse with him. The frog enjoyed the water amazingly, and swam croaking about, as if he had done a good deed. The unhappy Mouse was soon suffocated by the water, and his dead body floated about on the surface, tied to the foot of the frog. A Hawk observed it, and, pouncing on it with his talons, carried it aloft. The frog, being still fastened to the leg of the mouse, was also carried off a prisoner, and was eaten by the hawk.
❖ Harm hatch, harm catch.
247.The Mouse and the Bull
A BULL was bitten by a mouse and, angered by the wound, tried to capture him. But the mouse reached his hole in safety. Though the bull dug into the walls with his horns, he tired before he could rout out the mouse, and crouching down, went to sleep outside the hole. The mouse peeped out, crept furtively up his flank, and again biting him, retreated to his hole. The bull rising up, and not knowing what to do, was sadly perplexed. At which the mouse said,
“The great do not always prevail. There are times when the small and lowly are the strongest to do mischief.”
At times the small and lowly are the strongest to do mischief.
246.The Mountains in Labour
ONE day the Countrymen noticed that the Mountains were in labour; smoke came out of their summits, the earth was quaking at their feet, trees were crashing, and huge rocks were tumbling. They felt sure that something horrible was going to happen. They all gathered together in one place to see what terrible thing this could be. They waited and they waited, but nothing came. At last there was a still more violent earthquake, and a huge gap appeared in the side of the Mountains. They all fell down upon their knees and waited. At last, and at last, a teeny, tiny mouse poked its little head and bristles out of the gap and came running down towards them, and ever after they used to say:
❖MUCH OUTCRY, LITTLE OUTCOME
❖ Don’t make much ado about nothing.
245.The Mother and the Wolf
A FAMISHED WOLF was prowling about in the morning in search of food. As he passed the door of a cottage built in the forest, he heard a mother say to her child, “Be quiet, or I will throw you out of the window, and the wolf shall eat you.”
The wolf sat all day waiting at the door. In the evening he heard the same woman fondling her child and saying:
“You are quiet now, and if the wolf should come, we will kill him.”
The wolf, hearing these words, went home, gasping with cold and hunger. When he reached his den, Mistress Wolf asked of him why he returned wearied and supperless, so contrary to his wont. He replied:
“Why, I trusted in the words of a woman!”
❖ Say what you mean and do not overdo it either. Gentle understatement may suit some.
