The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

This story is called The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse by Aesop. This is a LibraryCall recording. A Town Mouse once visited a relative who lived in the country. For lunch, the Country Mouse served wheat stalks, roots, and acorns, with a dash of cold water to drink. The Town Mouse ate very sparingly, nibbling a little of this and a little of that. By her manner, she made it quite clear that she ate the simple food only to be polite. After the meal, the cousins had a long talk, or rather, the Town Mouse talked all about her glamorous life in the city while the Country Mouse listened. They then went to bed in a cozy nest in the hedgerow and slept in quiet and comfort until morning. In her sleep, the Country Mouse dreamed she was a Town Mouse with all the luxuries and delights of city life that her cousin had described. So the next day, when the Town Mouse asked the Country Mouse to go home with her to the city, she gladly accepted. When they reached the mansion in which the Town Mouse lived, they found on the table in the dining room the remains of a very fine banquet. There were sweetmeats and jellies, pastries, delicious cheeses-- the most tempting foods a Mouse could imagine! But just as the Country Mouse was about to nibble a dainty bit of pastry, she heard a Cat mew loudly and scratch at the door. In great fear, the Mice scurried to a hiding place, where they lay quite still for a long time, hardly daring to breathe. When at last they ventured back to the feast, the door opened suddenly and in came the servants to clear the table, followed by the House Dog. Away they scrambled again, having barely eaten a bite! The Country Mouse decided it was time to head home. She stopped in the Town Mouse's den only long enough to pick up her carpet bag and umbrella. "You may have access to luxuries I don’t," she said as she hurried away, "but I have to say, I prefer my plain food and peaceful, simple life in the country." This was The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse by Aesop. This has been a LibraryCall recording.