Cat and Mouse in Partnership

"Cat and Mouse in Partnership" is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

Plot

A cat and a mouse decide to keep house together. In times of need they bought a pot of fat and put it in the church where it would be safe. After a little while the cat yearned for the fat and made up an excuse that her sister had a kitten and that she was asked to be the godmother. But she went to the church and ate the top off the fat in the pot. When the cat came home the mouse asked the name of the kitten. The cat said, "Top-off".

The same thing happened again, the mouse asked once more what the kitten's christening name was. "Half-done," answered the cat.

Then the cat went one more time to the church, and ate the rest of the fat. Meanwhile, the mouse was cleaning the house. When the cat came back the mouse asked what name was given to the kitten: "All-gone," said the cat.

In winter, the mouse was hungry and wanted to go together with the cat to the church to eat the fat. When they arrived they found an empty pot. The mouse started to understand what happened and accused the cat of eating the fat: "First 'top-off,' then 'half-done' and then ..." The mouse was not able to finish her sentence because the cat ate her.

Moral

"'All gone' was already on the poor mouse's lips; scarcely had she spoken it before the cat sprang on her, seized her, and swallowed her down. Verily, that is the way of the world."

It is just the way life is.

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