Foolish behaviour is often punished. But not always. Perhaps a fool will never learn his lesson,
and will remain foolish his whole life.
A student of mine was looking for something short to read in
English, and I thought of James Thurber’s “Further fables for our time”
(1956). It has lots of short fables, in
the style of Aesop. The stories are
funny but a little difficult to follow.
So I have picked an interesting one and edited it to make it
easier. I hope you can enjoy it.
The foolhardy mouse and the cautious cat
The cat was away, and the mice were playing all sorts of
games. Then the cat came back.
“The cat’s back,” whispered Father Mouse.
“Hide, all of you!” said Mother Mouse, and all of the mice
except one hastily hid.
The exception was an eccentric mouse named Mervyn,
who had once bitten a bulldog in the ear and gotten away with it. Mervyn did not know that the bulldog was stuffed
and so he lived in a fool’s paradise.
The day that the cat, whose name was Pouncetta, came back,
she was astonished to come across Mervyn in the kitchen, nonchalantly
nibbling crumbs. She crept
towards him and was astonished when he turned and spat a crumb in her eye and
began insulting her.
“You’d make wonderful violin strings, if you had any guts,”
he said impudently.
“Steady Pouncetta,” said Pouncetta to herself. “There is more here than meets the eye. This mouse is probably a martyr mouse. He has swallowed poison in the hope that I
will eat him and die, so that he can be a hero to hundreds of generations of
his descendants.”
Pouncetta did not pounce, but turned and left the
kitchen and went for a nap.
When Mervyn got back home, his family were surprised to see
him alive and well.
“She never laid a paw on me,” Mervyn boasted.
After the family celebrations finished, Mervyn went to sleep
and dreamed of knocking out a cat in a boxing match in the first round.
Vocabulary:
foolhardy – recklessly bold; not sufficiently cautious
an exception – one different from the rest
to get away with something – to do something without getting
punished or harmed
stuffed – of a dead animal, preserved to look like it is
still alive
a fool’s paradise – a false state of happiness when someone
does not understand the real trouble or danger
nonchalantly – very casually; showing no concern
a crumb – a tiny piece of food, such as little pieces of
bread which have fallen off
to creep – to walk very quietly in an attempt not to be
noticed
impudently – without showing due respect for another person
“There is more here than meets the eye.” – There is
something hidden or not immediately obvious
a martyr – someone killed for a higher purpose, such as
promoting religion
to pounce – to jump on suddenly
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