2. Who Will Bell the Cat? is mansion there lived a whole family of mice. There were Grandfather Mouse and Grandmother Mouse. There were also the parent mice, aunt and uncle mice and their children. All in all there were about thirty of them living in the holes of the storeroom wall. The storeroom was large and there were many things kept in it. The people of the mansion hardly ever came into the storeroom except to store away their old and unwanted things. The mice were happy to live here. There was plenty of food to eat in the kitchen and no one ever disturbed them. Until one day! : One morning, little Eddy Mouse was feeling quite bored of playing in the storeroom all the time. He decided to go to the kitchen to look for a snack. Little Eddy’s mother had warned hii about going to the kitchen little Eddy was so bored mother. ’ “Pm sure Jn the countryside there was a huge mansion. In thought as he scampered across the floor towards the kitchen. Suddenly there was a scream. Then he saw something huge standing near him. He looked up slowly, trembling with fear. He saw a fat, angry-looking woman. She was the cook, holding up a broom to swing at Eddy. Eddy ran for his life. He ran out of the kitchen into the storeroom through a little hole in the storeroom door. The cook chased after him. She opened the door and looked in. It was dark in the storeroom but she could hear the squeaking of the mice as they ran in fear into the holes in the walls. The cook shut the door quickly. She knew that there were a lot of mice here but she could not catch all of them. She then went to see the master of the mansion. That evening, the master of the mansion brought back something from town. It was a cat — a great, mean-looking cat, brown and fat with fierce yellow eyes. The mice trembled in fear when they peeped out of their little holes and saw this monster staring back at them. The cat licked his lips and smiled evilly at the mice. “Ha, ha, ha. Your homes might be too | for me to enter, but I'll still catch you, oy+ Mouse shivered and shook with t for himself and his mily. “We have to be cay careful from now on,” he told his family But that night, when the mice went out to k for food, the cat caught two of them, killed , and ate them up. From then on, the cat ged to kill at least one or two mice each he mice became terrified as they kept on sing, their uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters and susins, They were too frightened to go out to sok for food. If something was not done about at soon, they would all die, either from hunger or killed by the cat. Then one day, Eddy’s cousin, Socrates, came p with a plan. Socrates was a very clever mouse. hat was why his parents had named him Socrates, after a wise man who had lived long, long ago. Socrates felt that his plan would help save the mice, so he called all the mice to a meeting that evening. “My relati as we all know, we are in y vay in which we can be warned when the cat is i” “How can we do that?” asked Socrates’ aunt. “We'll tie a bell round his neck,” Socrates iswered. “That way, whenever the cat comes car us, we'll hear the bell tinkling. Then we can in away and hide. Well never get caught ain. “What a wonderful plan!” cried the mice. All the mice cheered and patted Socrates on his back. Socrates’ parents smiled proudly for having such a clever son. Then Grandfather Mouse, who had been ent all through the meeting, spoke up. “But who is going to tie the bell round the cat’s neck?” he asked. None of the mice answered. Even Socrates kept quiet. Then one by one the mice slowly left the meeting. There was no one brave enough to carry out such a brilliant idea. Moral I is no use having a brilliant plan if it cannot be carried out.