Aesop's Fables

A Country Mouse invited a Town Mouse, a close friend, to pay him a visit and share his country fare. As they were on the bare plowlands, eating wheat stalks and roots pulled up from the hedgerow, the Town Mouse said to his friend, “You live the life of the ants here, while in my house there is the horn of plenty. I am surrounded by every luxury, and if you will come with me, as I wish you would, you will have an ample share of my delicacies.” The Country Mouse was easily persuaded and returned to town with his friend. On his arrival, the Town Mouse set before him bread, barley, beans, dried figs, honey, and raisins and, last of all, brought a delicious piece of cheese from a basket. The Country Mouse, much delighted at the sight of such good food, expressed his satisfaction in warm terms and lamented his own hard fate. Just as they were beginning to eat, someone opened the door, and they both ran off squeaking, as fast as they could, to a hole so narrow that the two could find room in it only by squeezing. They had scarcely begun their meal again when someone else came in to take something out of a cupboard, and the two Mice, more frightened than before, ran away and hid themselves. At last the Country Mouse, almost famished, said to his friend, “Although you have prepared such a delicious feast for me, I must leave you to enjoy it by yourself. It is surrounded by too many dangers to please me. I prefer my bare plowlands and roots from the hedgerow, where I can live in safety and without fear.”