Cats and mice didn't use to be such bad friends as they are now. They
used to visit back and forth, once upon a time, just like neighbors.
What made them fall out?
Well, it came about this way.
Old Miss Pussy Cat lived in the country but she was very curious to
know about town doings. She told all her friends and relatives how she
longed to see the sights.
In the middle of the night Mr. Gray Moose knocked on her door, and
said that he had a cousin going up to town. If Miss Pussy Cat still
wanted to see the sights this cousin would be proud to give her a
lift.
Then Miss Pussy Cat tied on her bonnet, and put on her shawl, and
packed a basket full of victuals, and started out with Mr. Mouse. Mice
do their travelling by night, and the cat and the mouse travelled all
night, and they got to town the next day.
When they came where all the people were, Mr. Mouse picked up his feet
and ran down a rat hole; but Miss Pussy Cat sat down by the side of
the road to eat a little. She was sitting there, spreading out all her
good country sausage and good country ham and such things, when a town
cat came prowling along past.
This town cat was hungry. He was just as ragged as a beggar man, and
he wanted Miss Pussy Cat's victuals mighty bad.
"My land," he said. "Where did you get that big lunch?"
"Oh, that's just a little snack," said Miss Pussy Cat very politely.
"I brought it with me from home. Won't you join me, sir?"
Now that old, hungry town cat wanted all Miss Pussy Cat's victuals
mighty bad. He didn't want to join her. So he said, "Do you really eat
such a mess as that in the country where you come from?"
"Yes, indeed," said Miss Pussy Cat, who was mighty glad to meet even a
beggar cat from town and learn town ways.
"Don't you eat sausages and ham in town? What do you eat in town,
anyway?" she asked.
The town cat looked all about. He was bound to send Miss Pussy Cat on
an errand that would take her away from those good victuals. Just then
he saw Mr. Mouse peep out of the hole to ask Miss Pussy Cat if she
was having a good time. The town cat reasoned that if he could start
Miss Pussy Cat running after Mr. Swift Foot Mouse he would have time
to steal her dinner.
"We eat mice!" he said in the grandest manner. "You never will learn
town ways until you learn to eat mice."
Miss Pussy Cat was bound she would learn to do as town folks did. Up
she hopped and left the lunch as quick as you could wink--and the old,
hungry town cat grabbed it just as quickly. Miss Pussy Cat chased Mr.
Mouse all the way to the Court House. There she caught him and there
she ate him, all but his squeak and his teeth.
Then, by that, she got the taste; and cats have been eating mice and
rats ever since, to this day.