A Town Mouse and a Country Mouse were
friends. The Country Mouse one day invited his
friend to come and see him at his home in the
fields. The Town Mouse came and they sat down
to a dinner of barleycorns and roots the
latter of which had a distinctly earthy flavour.
The flavour was not much to the
taste of the guest and presently he broke out with “My poor
dear friend, you live here no better
than the ants. Now, you should just see how I fare! My larder
is a regular horn of plenty. You must come and
stay with me and I promise you shall live on the
fat of the land.”
So when he returned to town he took
the Country Mouse with him and showed him into a larder
containing flour and oatmeal and figs and
honey and dates.
The Country Mouse had never seen
anything like it and sat down to enjoy the luxuries his friend
provided. But before they had well begun, the
door of the larder opened and some one came in.
The two Mice scampered off and hid themselves
in a narrow and exceedingly uncomfortable
hole. Presently, when all was quiet, they
ventured out again. But some one else came in, and off
they scuttled again. This was too much for the
visitor. “Good bye,” said he, “I’m off. You live in
the lap of luxury, I can see, but you are
surrounded by dangers whereas at home I can enjoy my
simple dinner of roots and corn in
peace.”
