A Cat, a Mouse, Lizard, and an Owl

This is the story of four creatures, none of whom loved each other, but who lived in the same banyan tree in a forest in India. Banyan trees are magnificent and very useful. They get their name from the fact that “banians,” as merchants are called in India, often gather together in their shade to sell their goods. Banyan trees grow to a very great height, spreading their branches out so widely that a number of people can stand beneath them. From those branches, roots spring forth, which, when they reach the ground, pierce it and look like columns holding up a roof. If you have never seen a banyan tree, you can easily find a picture of one in some dictionary. When you have done so, you will understand that a great many creatures can live in one without seeing much of each other.

In an especially fine banyan tree, outside the walls of a town called Vidisa, a cat, an owl, a lizard, and a mouse, had made their homes. The cat lived in a big hole in the trunk some little distance from the ground, where she could sleep very cosily, curled up out of sight with her head resting on her forepaws, feeling perfectly safe from harm; for no other creature, she thought, could possibly discover her hiding-place. The owl roosted in a mass of foliage at the top of the tree, near the nest in which his wife had brought up their children, before those children flew away to seek mates for themselves. He, too, felt pretty secure as long as he remained up there. But he had seen the cat prowling about below him more than once and was very sure that, if she should happen to catch sight of him when he was off his guard seeking his prey and obliged to give all his attention to what he was doing, she might spring out upon him and kill him. Cats do not generally attack such big birds as owls, but they will sometimes kill a mother sitting in her nest and the little ones if the father is too far off to protect them.

The lizard loved to lie and bask in the sunshine, catching the flies on which he lived. He lay so still that they did not notice him, and darted out his long tongue suddenly to suck them into his mouth. Yet he hid from the owl and the cat because he knew full well that, tough though he was, they would gobble him up if they happened to be hungry. He made his home amongst the roots on the south side of the tree where it was hottest, but the mouse had his hole on the other side amongst damp moss and dead leaves. The mouse was in constant fear of the cat and the owl. He knew that both of them could see in the dark, and he would have no chance of escape if they once caught sight of him.

The lizard and the mouse could only get food in daylight, but the lizard did not have to go far for the flies on which he lived, while the mouse had a very dangerous journey to take to his favourite feeding place. This was a barley field a short distance from the banyan tree, where he used to run up the stalks, loved to nibble the ripe ears. The mouse was the only one of the four creatures in the banyan tree who did not feed on others. Like the rest of his family, he was a vegetarian; that is to say, he ate nothing but vegetables and fruit.

Now the cat knew full well how fond the mouse was of the barley field. She used to keep watch amongst the tall stems creeping stealthily about with her tail in the air and her green eyes glistening for the poor little mouse. The cat never dreamt that any danger could come to her, and she walked over the barley, making quite a clear path through it. She was very wrong in thinking herself so safe, for that path got her into very serious trouble.

It so happened that a hunter, whose great delight was to kill wild creatures and who was very clever in finding them, came one day into the barley-field. Noticing every little thing which could show him where the wild animals had passed by, he spied the path directly and cried, “Ha! ha! Some wild animal has been here; not a very big one; let’s have a look for the footprints!” So, he stooped down to the ground and very soon saw the marks of pussy’s feet. “A cat, I do believe,” he said to himself, “spoiling the barley she doesn’t want to eat herself. I’ll soon catch her.” The hunter waited until the evening lest the creature should see what he was going to do, and then in the twilight he set snares all over the barley field. A snare, as you know, is a string with a slip-knot at the end of it, and if an animal puts his head or one of his paws into this slip-knot and goes on without noticing it, the string is pulled tight, and the poor creature is trapped.

Exactly what the hunter expected happened. The cat came, as usual, to watch for the mouse, and caught sight of him running across the end of the path. Puss dashed after him, and just as she thought she really had got him this time, she found herself caught by the neck, for she had put her head into one of the snares. She was nearly strangled and could scarcely even mew. The mouse was so close that he heard the feeble mew, and in a terrible fright, thinking the cat was after him, he peeped through the stems of the barley to make sure which way to run. What was his delight when he saw his enemy in such trouble and quite unable to do him any harm!

Now it so happened that the owl and the lizard too were in the barley-field, not very far away from the cat, and they saw the distress their hated enemy was in. They also caught sight of the little mouse peeping through the barley. The owl thought to himself, “I’ll have you, my little friend, now puss cannot do me any harm.” While, the lizard darted away into the sunshine, feeling glad that the cat and the owl were neither of them now likely to trouble their heads about him. The owl flew quietly to a tree nearby to watch what would happen, feeling so sure of having the mouse for his dinner that he was in no hurry to catch him.

The mouse, small and helpless though he was, was a wise little creature. He saw the owl fly up into the tree and knew quite well that if he did not take care, he would serve as dinner to that great strong bird. He knew too that if he went within reach of the claws of the cat, he would suffer for it. “How I do wish,” he thought to himself, “I could make friends with the cat, now that she is in distress, and get her to promise to not hurt me if ever she gets free. As long as I am near the cat, the owl will not dare to come after me.” As he thought and thought, his eyes got brighter and brighter, and at last, he decided what he would do. He had, you see, kept his presence of mind; that is to say, he did not let his fright of the cat or the owl prevent him from thinking clearly. He now ventured forth from amongst the barley, coming near enough to the cat for her to see him quite clearly, but not near enough for her to reach him with her claws, or far enough away for the owl to get him without danger from those terrible claws. He said to the cat in a queer little squeaky voice: “Dear Puss, I do not like to see you in such a fix. It is true we have never been exactly friends, but I have always looked up to you as a strong and noble enemy. If you will promise never to do me any harm, I will do my best to help you. I have very sharp teeth, and I might perhaps be able to nibble through the string round your beautiful neck and set you free. What do you think about it?”

When the cat heard what the mouse said, she could hardly believe her ears. She was, of course, ready to promise anything to anyone who would help her, so she said at once:

“You, dear little mouse, wish to help me! If only you will nibble through that string which is killing me, I promise that I will always love you, always be your friend. And however hungry I may be, I will starve rather than hurt your tender little body.”

On hearing this, the mouse, without hesitating a moment, climbed up onto the cat’s back and cuddled down in the soft fur near her neck, feeling very safe and warm there. The owl would certainly not attack him there, he thought, and the cat could not possibly hurt him. It was one thing to pounce down on a defenceless little creature running on the ground amongst the barley, quite another to try and snatch him from the very neck of a cat.

The cat, of course, expected the mouse to begin to nibble through the string at once and became very uneasy when she felt the little creature nestle down as if to go to sleep instead of helping her. Poor cat could not turn her head to see the mouse without drawing the string tighter, and she did not dare to speak angrily lest she should offend him. “My dear little friend,” she said, “do you not think it is high time to keep your promise and set me free?”

Hearing this, the mouse pretended to bite the string but took care not to do so really; and the cat waited and waited, getting more miserable every minute. The same thing went on all through the long night: the mouse taking a little nap now and then, the cat getting weaker and weaker. “Oh,” she thought to herself, “if only I could get free, the first thing I would do would be to gobble up that horrid little mouse.” The moon rose, the stars came out, the wind murmured amongst the branches of the banyan tree, making the unfortunate cat long to be safe in her cosy home in the trunk. The cries of the wild animals which prowl about at night seeking their food were heard, and the cat feared one of them might find her and kill her. A mother tiger perhaps would snatch her and take her to her hungry cubs, hidden away in the deep forest, or a bird of prey might swoop down on her and grip her in his terrible claws. Again and again, she entreated the mouse to be quick, promising that if only he would set her at liberty, she would never, never, never forget it or do any harm to her beloved friend.

It was not until the moon had set and the light of the dawn had put out that of the stars that the mouse made any real effort to help the cat. By this time the hunter who had set the snare, came to see if he had caught the cat, and the poor cat, seeing him in the distance, became so wild with terror that she nearly killed herself in the struggle to get away. “Keep still! Keep still,” cried the mouse, “and I will really save you.” Then with a few quick bites with his sharp teeth, he cut through the string. The next moment the cat was hidden amongst the barley, and the mouse was running off in the opposite direction, determined to keep well out of sight of the creature he had kept in such misery for so many hours. Full well, he knew that all the cat’s promises would be forgotten and that she would eat him up if she could catch him. The owl too flew away, and the lizard went off to hunt flies in the sunshine, and there was not a sign of any of the four inhabitants of the banyan tree when the hunter reached the snare. He was very much surprised and puzzled to find the string hanging loose in two pieces and no sign of there having been anything caught in it, except two white hairs lying on the ground close to the trap. He had a good look round and then went home without having found out anything.

When the hunter was out of sight, the cat came forth from the barley and hastened back to her beloved home in the banyan tree. On her way there, she spied the mouse also hurrying along in the same direction, and at first, she felt inclined to hunt him and eat him then and there. On second thoughts, however, 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 where she knew the mouse was hidden. There she began to purr as loud as she could, to show the mouse she was in 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 out after he had heard the cat climb up into the tree again. “It is all very well,” thought the mouse, “to pretend to make friends with an enemy when that enemy is helpless, but I should indeed be a silly mouse to trust a cat when she is free to kill me.”

The cat made 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 the rest of their lives in the banyan tree and died in the end at a good old age.