One day a town mouse met a country mouse. They quickly became friends and spent a lot of time together. The country mouse showed his new friend all around the countryside and let him taste all the foods of the land.

Having never seen fields or farms before the town mouse was very excited, although the country mouse’s plain food wasn’t nearly as exciting as his own town meals.

To thank his friend for the lovely day he invited the country mouse to visit him in the town.

The next day the country mouse arrived in the big town and when he saw the food cupboard at his friend’s house full of cheese, bread, biscuits, jam and lots and lots of other goodies, he stood there speechless.

“I’ve never seen anything like it!” said the country mouse, “Are all these wonderful things for us to eat?”

“Of course!” came the reply. “And you are my guest, so tuck in!”

They began to eat everything they could see. “You’re the luckiest mouse I’ve ever met!” said the country mouse to his town brother who was listening with delight to his friend’s praise when suddenly the sound of heavy footsteps interrupted them.

“Quick, run for it!” whispered the town mouse “The lady is coming and if she catches us we are in big trouble!”

They were just in time as they managed to hide from the lady of the house who had come in to try and catch them. She had a quick look around the kitchen before leaving the room again.

“It’s all right!” said the town mouse when the coast was clear, “She’s gone, we were lucky because she hates mice! Come on, now for the jam, it’s delicious! Have you ever tried it before?” “Never” replied the country mouse and dived head-first into the jar.

Suddenly there came the sound of footsteps again and the two mice once again ran away to hide.

The man of the house had come to fetch something from the kitchen and when he saw the jam on the floor, he roared: “Arrgh, those terrible mice! I thought I’d got rid of them.” In his loudest voice he screamed, “Cat! Cat! where are you? Come and get rid of these mice that keep eating all my food”

Trembling with fear, the mice stayed hidden as the door creaked open and from around the corner appeared a big pair of eyes.

The large cat scanned the room in search of his prey while the country mouse and the town mouse did not move a muscle. But, as luck would have it, the cat was distracted by the jam and started to lick it up.

After a while the cat forgot why his master had sent him into the kitchen in the first place. He stopped eating and, no longer hungry, decided that he might as well leave mouse hunting for another day.

So off he walked, to have a sleep in front of the fire in the other room.

As soon as the country mouse realied the danger had passed he did not waste a second.

Quickly he shook hands with his friend, saying: “Thanks so much for everything! But I must go now, I can’t stand all these shocks! I’d much rather sit down to a meal of a few berries in peace in the country than eat all of your delicious food in fear of my life every second,!”

And that was the last time the country mouse ever visited his friend in the town!

The end