The Mouse Story

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a

package. What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to

discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning to the animals, "There is a

mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The chicken clucked and

scratched, raised her head and said,

it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

"Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but

The mouse turned to the pig and the pig sympathized, but said,

Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

"I am so very sorry, Mr.

The mouse next turned to the cow and the cow said,

it's no skin off my nose."

face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap

catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned

home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to

the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the

clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well, she

died.

So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough

meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

"Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, butSo, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you,

remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this

journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to

encourage one another.