In an old library there once lived a cat, kept to protect the books and
their leather bindings from the teeth of the mice. She was descended
from a long line of ancestors, who had all held the same office, and
she was the mother of five charming kittens: a black one named Miese, a
white one named Lise, a black and white one called Purr, one spotted
with brown and yellow named Murr, and one striped with black and gray,
called Hinz. Purr, Murr, and Hinz were tom-cats, the other two were
pussies. The brothers and sisters were old enough to study, and had an
hour’s lesson from their mother every day. They could already purr,
spit, and mew, make velvet paws, clean their fur, and wash their faces
with their wet paws. Now their mother began to introduce them to the
higher knowledge, that is, she taught them to catch mice. This was not
at all easy. Behind and under the book shelves were a number of holes,
which the mice used for hiding-places and refuges, where no grown cat
and not even a kitten could possibly reach them. The chase could only
be successful in the clear open space in the centre of the library. So
it was necessary to watch patiently until a mouse ventured out, and
then catch it at one spring, before it had time to slip back into its
hole. The kittens were obliged to decide quickly and to act at once. If
they hesitated even a second, their prey escaped.
One morning the lesson was in full course. Mother and children had
chased a mouse, but it had darted past fat Purr and slipped under a
book shelf before the clumsy fellow could stop it. For this awkwardness
his mother cuffed his ears several times, and his sisters Miese and
Lise laughed at him for being such a blockhead. After some time a
mouse, the same one or another, put its sharp nose out from under a
book shelf, and looked around it. The mother and teacher instantly saw
it with her keen eyes, and motioned to her children to keep quiet. As
everything remained still, the mouse, from imprudence or bravado, came
out entirely. Like a flash of lightning the old cat was between the
mouse and the book shelf, cutting off its retreat. A wild running and
leaping began. The mouse, which could do nothing else, ran up the
books, the kittens followed, and so eagerly that they upset a pile of
books which had been carelessly arranged. It fell to the floor with a
great clatter, and behind it appeared a mouse’s nest, where ten
half-grown mice were tumbling over one another, vainly trying to escape
by flight. The mother stunned them by swift blows with her paws, and
gave them, struggling, to her kittens, that they might play with them
before killing them with teeth and claws. Hearing the squeaking of the
little mice in their pain and terror, their mother came out from the
rows of books still standing on the shelves. She could only scream with
fright, but could not help her little ones. Yet, when she was obliged
to watch the massacre, the horrible spectacle was more than she could
bear. Rushing as if crazed to the nearest little mouse, which Purr was
cuffing right and left with his clumsy paws, she ran straight into the
old cat’s claws. There was a joyful mew, a blow of the paw, and the
mouse mother lay dead beside her ten dead children.
The cat put them all in a row, called the librarian, to show him her
prey, and then dismissed her children to take a long nap.
The kittens did not follow their mother’s example. Instead of going to
rest, they gathered in a corner of the library, where Miese began:
“Those poor mice! They are really very pretty little creatures!”
“Nonsense!” growled Purr. “How can people think mice pretty!”
“You are a cannibal!” hissed Miese, angrily. “Didn’t you feel sorry for
the mother who came so bravely to help her little ones?”
Purr was silent in confusion, and Murr muttered: “That’s true. The
mother was a little heroine. I’m sorry for her.”
“I must say,” remarked Hinz, “that I am not at all proud of what we
have done. It’s really a cowardly thing for us, who are so big and
strong and active, besides being so terribly armed with teeth and
claws, to attack the weak, defenceless creatures.”
“We ought to be ashamed of ourselves,” said Lise.
“We all saw it,” said Miese. “The spectacle will haunt me a long time.
There before us was the peaceful nest. The ten brothers and sisters
were lying comfortably together enjoying their young lives. Their
mother’s love watched over them. Suddenly destruction came. We killed
and slaughtered. Now the mother and children are gone; the nest is torn
to pieces. Why do we commit such cruelties? By what right? For what
purpose?”
“Bravo! You speak from the soul!” cried the vivacious Hinz. He admired
his sister very much. She was the brightest, most eloquent, and best
educated of them all. She had not been born and brought up in a library
for nothing; she did not boast in vain of an endless line of learned
ancestors. She stood high above the ordinary roof and cellar cats, and
promised to be an ornament to the cat family.
“I could cry when I think of those little mice,” said Lise.
“I won’t do it again,” Hinz declared resolutely.
“But if mother orders us,” objected Purr.
“We are no longer children,” replied Miese, vehemently; “we ought to
and must act according to our own views. We will tell mother so
frankly.”
In fact, when the old cat called her children in the afternoon to take
their lesson, Miese stood boldly before her and said, “Mother, we have
determined not to catch any more mice.”
The cat could hardly believe her ears. Putting them back angrily, she
answered: “You have determined? Why, that sounds very fine! True, it is
more comfortable to be lazy. Now begin, or you’ll have your ears
cuffed.”
Miese did not allow herself to be frightened. “It isn’t for the sake of
laziness. Only we will not again commit the crime of murdering an
innocent family of little mice.”
“Mur-der-ing!” repeated the old cat, fairly stammering in her
amazement. “Have you gone crazy?”
“I think I have never been more sensible than I am now,” said Miese,
quietly but firmly. “We have agreed to keep peace with the mice in the
future. Their lives and property shall be sacred to us.”
The cat could not yet understand. “Are you my children or changelings?
No true cat ever talked so before. We are here to catch mice, and that
you will do too, or I’ll punish you.”
“I deny that we are here for that,” replied Miese, boldly. “We are here
to love one another. The mice, too, are our brothers, like everything
that lives and enjoys life.”
“What! The mice must be my brothers? Stop all this.” The cat was not
patient. She made a spring at Miese, to punish her, but the kitten
escaped the threatening paw, ran into the corner, and cried defiantly:
“Long live justice! Long live brotherhood!”
The mother tried persuasion and entreaties. “Children, this foolish
jest has lasted long enough. Let us lose no more time. To work. I will
train you to be capable cats. You must become good mousers, like your
mother and all your ancestors back to time immemorial.”
“What do we care what our ancestors have done!” replied Miese,
obstinately. “We will break with the humdrum old ways. We are
progressive cats.”
The brothers purred approvingly.
The old cat cast furious glances at them. “Progressive cats! The word
seems to please you, simpletons. No doubt you think yourselves far more
clever than your narrow-minded old mother. Have you asked yourselves
how you are to live, if you don’t catch mice?”
“We don’t eat the mice,” retorted Hinz, pertly.
“No, because we have other food. But why are we fed? Because we catch
mice. If we no longer caught mice, people would no longer feed us, or
even let us stay in our library. Then we should see how we could
manage.”
“There is food for everybody in the wide world,” said Lise.
“That’s enough!” screamed the cat, furiously. “Begin—or woe be unto
you!”
The five kittens did not stir. Their mother sprang upon them, but they
all ran through the open door, and kept on till the old cat stopped
chasing them.
They rested in a meadow near a farm-house.
“We will begin a new life, a more beautiful, more just, and better
one,” said Miese, when she had recovered her breath a little.
“Very well,” said Purr; “but meanwhile I am hungry, and would like to
have my supper.”
“You never think of anything but eating,” replied Lise, reproachfully.
Murr came to his brother’s support. “I will gladly live for fraternity
and justice. I will gladly be a progressive cat; but the stomach wants
its rights, too.”
“You are right,” said Miese. “Only have a little patience. You’ll see
that your virtue will not fail to have its reward. I have confidence in
our good cause. Follow me.”
She had seen a barn in the meadow, and quickly led her brothers and
sisters to it. They entered without any trouble through an open window.
Inside was a perfect mountain of wheat, over which countless mice were
swarming. At the sudden entrance of the five cats, they scattered,
squeaking with fright, and vanished under, behind, and within the
mountain of wheat, in mouse holes, and between the beams of the roof.
Purr looked after them with sparkling eyes, Murr made a movement to
follow, but Hinz stopped him with a sharp “Mew.” Miese climbed slowly
up the wheat mountain, and when she had reached the top, solemnly
began: “Honored mice! Dear fellow-creatures! You have fled from us. We
can understand this, after the experiences you have had with our race.
But we come without any hostile designs upon you. We are no mouse
hunters. We are progressive cats. We lament all the evil which our
relatives have done you, and would like to atone for their wickedness
during thousands of years. Dear mice, let us be brothers. We offer you
the paw of friendship. Clasp it. Join hands. A bond of love shall unite
us in the future, and we will work together until there is light in the
world, till the innocent blood no longer flows, till cats and mice
beautify each other’s short lives according to their powers.”
During Miese’s speech many mice had put their sharp noses out of their
hiding places and listened with increasing astonishment. When she had
finished, all was still for a time. At last an old mouse spoke. “I have
lived a long while and had many experiences,” she said; “but I have
never heard such words from the mouth of a cat. If we could only
believe you.”
“Your distrust is unfair,” replied Miese. “Why should we pretend to
feelings we do not possess?”
“Why?” answered the old mouse. “To lull us into security, so that you
can eat us comfortably when we are so stupid as to obey your call.”
“Dear brothers,” said Miese, “you are doing us grave injustice. Our
hearts are full of love for you, and we only wish there might be an
opportunity to show it in other ways than by mere words.” There was so
much warmth in her voice, that it made an impression upon the mouse.
“Do you speak in the name of the whole cat people?” asked the old
mouse.
“For the present we can speak only in our own name,” replied Miese.
“There is still much prejudice among us. Our old people will not give
up their wicked customs. But the young ones are with us. I am sure of
that. The future will be ours. We will set an example, which all our
race will soon follow enthusiastically. Come, brothers, come, dear
mice! Let us embrace one another. Let us celebrate the festival of
peace and fraternity.”
The mice began to whisper and mutter. Some wanted to accept Miese’s
invitation, others hesitated. Suddenly a young mouse squeaked: “I’ll
risk it! Fraternity is so grand a thought that I will gladly stake my
life to learn whether the progressive cat means honestly.” And, in
spite of the anxious squeaking of the timid ones, it came boldly out of
its hole. Miese went very gently up, that she might not startle it by
hasty movements, stroked its back with a velvet paw, licked its nose
with her rough tongue, and said, “Come to my heart, brother, this is
the happiest day of my life.”
The mouse was terribly frightened, but did not show it, and bravely
endured the caresses of the cat, even timidly returned them. At this
sight the mice burst into cheers, and a large number of them boldly
approached the cats. A few minutes later old and young mice were
crowding eagerly around the cats, exchanging embraces and kisses with
them, racing merrily through the barn, and calling to the more timid
ones, who were cautiously watching this new spectacle from their holes:
“Out with you all, cowards! The cats are our best friends! You will
offend them by your reserve! Long live the cats! Hurrah for
fraternity!”
This went on for some time, then a young mouse began: “Dear brothers
and sisters! Love for love! Faith for faith! Since the cats have seen
their injustice, we will forgive them without reserve. We will bear
them no grudge and, in future, we will be one heart and one soul. Let
us appoint them honorary mice. Let the difference in parentage be
forgotten. Let us never reproach them for their origin. We will always
treat our honorary mice like brothers, and admit them to the full
rights of citizenship among us.”
Purr and Murr looked at each other in bewilderment, but Miese cried
enthusiastically, “We will always try to show ourselves worthy of the
name of honorary mice.” An old mouse protested against undue haste, and
asked that the honorary mice should have their claws gnawed off, before
they were admitted to citizenship in the mouse nation; but the young
mice cried down the old fogy slow coach, reproached him for his
distrust, told him he ought to be ashamed of himself, the mouse nation
must not be outdone in generosity by the cats, and the motion to bestow
the rights of citizenship upon the cats was passed by a very large
majority.
“And now,” cried several young mice, “we will celebrate this historic
hour by a great festival. Come, dear honorary mice, we will share what
we have fraternally with you.”
This invitation greatly pleased the cats, especially Purr, whose
stomach was complaining, for it was long after his usual hour for
eating. He looked eagerly around, switched his tail to and fro, and
asked earnestly, “Where is there anything to nibble?”
The mice squeaked merrily, and one answered: “Don’t you see it? You
certainly have plenty of everything before you.”
Purr sniffed and peered around in all directions, then he answered
angrily, “I smell nothing, and I see nothing.”
“Is it possible?” replied the mouse. “You are standing in front of a
whole mountain of the finest wheat; you see how our whole people are
feasting, and you find nothing to satisfy your hunger?”
Purr looked provoked and began to spit. “I suppose you take me for a
fool,” he growled.
Miese interposed. “Dear fellow-citizens,” she said to the mouse, “we
can do nothing with your wheat. It is no food for us.”
“See the despisers of our fare!” cried a saucy mouse. “You don’t know
what is good,” exclaimed another. “What would you like? Probably a
young mouse?” shouted a third, snappishly. But other mice reproved them
for these unfriendly speeches, and turning to the cats, said: “Forgive
this rudeness, and don’t be offended by it. All sensible mice condemn
them. We do not yet know your taste. What do you eat, if you cannot
take wheat?”
“Could we perhaps have some beef liver?” asked Miese.
The mice looked at each other, and answered: “Beef liver? What’s that?
We don’t know it.”
“Or a little milk?” said Lise.
“Mice do not drink. There is no milk here,” was the reply. “Would you
perhaps like nuts? They are the most delicious food there is; we
haven’t many of them, but we will give them to you gladly.”
“Nuts? No,” answered Hinz; “people play with nuts, but they don’t eat
them.”
The mice smiled, and one of them said, “Perhaps, if you prefer bacon—”
“Bacon! Capital! Bring it out!” cried all five of the kittens at once,
joyously holding their tails straight up in the air.
The mice eagerly collected a few scraps of bacon, on which the cats
sprang with such haste that the mice were startled, and ran into their
holes. In an instant it was devoured, and Purr cried, “More!”
The mice, who had looked on in horror, answered: “Is it possible! That
was our whole supply for the winter. And you have eaten it at one
meal!”
“Hold your tongues, you louts!” cried Murr in a rage.
Miese soothed him and, turning to the mice, said: “No offence. We are
somewhat hungry after our long walk. And, to tell the truth, we are
still. If you could perhaps tell us where this nice bacon is—”
For a long time there was no reply. The mice put their heads together
and whispered. At last an old one said, “In the farm-house over yonder
is a garret filled with flitches of bacon.”
“Quick! Let us run over there!” cried Purr.
“Gently,” replied the old mouse, “that won’t do. You can’t get in, for
the door is locked. We have dug a passage into the room, but it is too
narrow for you.”
“Then do us the favor to go over yourselves and bring us some bacon,”
said Miese.
“We’ll take precious good care not to do that,” cried several mice at
once. “There are two abominable cats in the garret, and we can only
venture in when these two bloodthirsty murderers have gone out.”
The cats made wry faces when they heard their relatives spoken of in
this way. A mouse noticed it, and said quickly: “You see, we are doing
you the honor of considering you entirely as mice. A harsh word against
cats cannot offend you, for you certainly have nothing more in common
with those miserable bandits.”
“That is true,” said Miese. “But I thought that, for our sakes, you
would think somewhat more kindly of the cats and admit that they are
not all miserable bandits.”
“Surely you would not wish to defend the horrible cat tribe—you, whom
we have just made honorary mice?” screamed several mice, excitedly.
Miese saw that the conversation threatened to take a bad turn, and
remained silent. Meanwhile the mice had finished their banquet and,
going back to their holes well satisfied, bade the cats good night.
They were left alone in the barn and, looking at each other in
perplexity, made all sorts of unpleasant reflections.
Hinz was the first to break the silence, “Well, dear honorary mouse,”
he asked Miese, “how do you like our new countrymen?”
“Pretty fellows,” replied Lise in the same subdued tones; “I would like
to eat them.”
Purr laughed grimly, “So would I.” And Murr added, “Miese, you are the
most clever one of us all; but to-day, I’m afraid, you have done a very
foolish thing.”
“Let me alone,” Miese spit angrily. “Of course, the old humdrum way is
easier than the bold, progressive one. We are treading entirely new
paths. We have undertaken a great educational work. So we must have
patience, and bear some discomfort without grumbling. The poor mice are
not lacking in good-will. If some of them still doubt the purity of our
intentions, we must not wonder at it. This will soon pass away.”
“But just now my stomach is hollow,” growled Purr.
“We will learn to eat wheat,” said Miese, and resolutely taking some
grains in her mouth began to chew them. But, in spite of the most
desperate efforts, she could not swallow them, and secretly spit them
out. Meanwhile there was no quiet in the holes of the mice. In every
passage and room they put their heads together, talking in low but
eager tones about the great event. Some said, “This will come to no
good end,” others, “Cats will be cats, even if we appoint them honorary
mice,” and others added, “Perhaps they are spies.”
A young mouse defended the new friends and said, “The leader of the
progressive cats is really a noble creature,” but was interrupted by
cries from all sides, “If she isn’t a swindler, if she isn’t sneaking
in among us with evil designs, she is surely crazy.”
Several voices added: “Her brothers have regular murderers’ faces. They
are tramps, who want us to feed them. All our bacon is gone already; if
we could only get rid of them pleasantly.”
But the mice finally fell asleep; for they were tired and in a safe
place. The five hungry cats on their hard beds found the night very
long. All thought of their mother’s warm fur and their ample meals, and
Miese asked herself if the whole mouse nation was worth so much
privation and hardship.
When day dawned, the rested mice came out of their holes and began to
attend to their business, without troubling themselves about the five
sulky kittens. Some were peeling grains of wheat for breakfast, others
were cleaning themselves, others still were playing. Lise watched the
bustle awhile, then she asked impatiently: “What does this mean? Are we
to have no breakfast?”
A mouse answered rudely: “I suppose we ought to feed you with pap, poor
little things?” The others laughed.
“Pardon me,” said Miese, gently. “We belong to you. You cannot let us
starve to death.”
“You bore us!” screamed a mouse. “If you won’t eat wheat, steal some
meat from the farmer, or catch birds on the trees and roofs.”
“You are not in earnest,” replied Miese. “To kill birds would be a
crime. Surely we want to have fraternity, love, and virtue reign in the
world.”
All the mice laughed. “To kill mice is murder; but to catch birds is
earning one’s living honestly.”
“Bravo!” shouted Hinz, in a terrible voice, sprang with a single bound
upon the mouse which had made this remark, killed it with one bite, and
devoured it in an instant, before Miese could prevent him. The mice
scattered in terror, pursued by Purr and Murr, who each seized a victim
before they could escape into their holes. Scarcely were they safe when
they all began to shriek: “Traitors! Murderers! Bandits! Robbers! May
you all break your necks! May you be drowned! Vagabond rabble!
Pestilent pack!”
This was too much for Miese, and she dashed furiously toward the holes,
but could not catch a single mouse. “Let us go,” she said, turning to
her brothers and sister; “nothing sensible can be done with these
uneducated creatures.”
They set out on the way to their library, and, after a long walk,
reached home weary, ashamed, starved, and downcast. The old cat
received them on the threshold with the exclamation: “Why, here come
the runaways! Have you converted the world to your reforms already?”
“Mother, give us something to eat; we are almost starved,” said Miese,
humbly. “The world is not yet ripe for our grand thoughts. And the
mice, especially, are an infamous set of wretches, who must be
exterminated. We will catch them again to your heart’s content.”