In long-past times there was a chieftain of a company of mice who had a
retinue of five hundred mice. And there was also a cat named Agnija. In
his youth he had been wont to kill all the mice in the neighbourhood of
his dwelling-place. But afterwards, when he had grown old, and no
longer had the power of catching mice, he thought: “In former times,
when I was young, I was able to catch mice by force. But now that I can
do so no more, I must use some trick in order to make a meal off them.”
So he began to watch the mice by stealth. By means of such watching he
found out that there were five hundred mice in the troop.
At a spot not far distant from the mouse-hole, he took to performing
fictitious acts of penance, and the mice, as they ran to and fro, saw
him standing there with pious mien. So they cried out to him from a
distance, “Uncle, what are you doing?”
The cat replied, “As in my youth I have perpetrated many vicious
actions, I am now doing penance in order to make up for them.”
The mice fancied that he had given up his sinful life, and there grew
up within them confidence nourished by faith.
Now as they returned into their hole every day after making their
rounds, the cat always seized on and devoured the mouse which came
last. Seeing that the troop was constantly dwindling, the chief
thought: “There must be some cause for the fact that my mice are
diminishing in number, and this cat is thriving apace.” So he began to
observe the cat closely. And when he saw that the cat was fat and well
covered with hair, he thought: “There is no doubt that this cat has
killed the mice. Therefore must I bring the matter to the light of
day.”
Now as he kept careful watch from a hiding-place, he saw how the cat
ate up the mouse which went last. Then from afar off he pronounced this
verse—
“As the uncle’s body waxes bigger, but my troop on the contrary becomes
smaller, and as he who eats roots and berries will not become fat and
well covered with hair, this is not a genuine penance, but one
performed only for the sake of gain. Because the number of the mice
diminished have you, O Agnija, thrived.”