Atondido Stories
banyan tree. On her way there she spied the mouse also hurry-
ing along in the same direction, and at first she felt inclined to
hunt him and eat him then and there. On second thoughts how-
ever she decided to try and keep friends with him, because he
might help her again if she got caught a second time. So she took
no notice of the mouse until the next day, when she climbed
down the tree and went to the roots in which she knew the
mouse was hidden. There she began to purr as loud as she
could, to show the mouse she was in a good humour, and called
out, "Dear good little mouse, come out of your hole and let me
tell you how very, very grateful I am to you for saving my life.
There is nothing in the world I will not do for you, if you will
only be friends with me."
The mouse only squeaked in answer to this speech, and took
very good care not to show himself, till he was quite sure the cat
was gone beyond reach of him. He stayed quietly in his hole,
and only ventured forth after he had heard the cat climb up into
the tree again. "It is all very well," thought the mouse, "to pre-
tend to make friends with an enemy when that enemy is help-
less, but I should indeed be a silly mouse to trust a cat when she
is free to kill me."
The cat made a good many other efforts to be friends with
the mouse, but they were all unsuccessful. In the end the owl
caught the mouse, and the cat killed the lizard. The owl and the
cat both lived for the rest of their lives in the banyan tree, and
died in the end at a good old age.
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