“Cat and Mouse in partnerships” are among the fairy stories that were told in most cases. Each time it was told, it sounded fresh to the ears of the audience. The story has gone viral, and it is told to everyone from the children to the senior citizens for entertainment with the aim of showing people a given moral lesson from the story. Although every time it is told, it sounds interesting, its central feature remains that the cat tricked the mouse and, later on, feed on him and that no one should ever trust a cat to stay together. I am going to break down the story of “Cat and Mouse in Partnership”. The roles of cat and mouse interchange for a time, and it is the mouse who takes care of the house at times when the cat goes out on the pretext of taking care of his cousin. At the end of the story, one can think of the good friends who should never be trusted. One will ask what friends are for? What types of friends can you trust to stay with at your home? Throughout the paper, I will try to show how some kinds of friends should never be trusted at all.
Many of the fairly stories told usually end in a happy tone although the fairly story of the “Cat and Mouse in Partnership” ends in way less expected. One might think that cat will never trick the mouse by the way they had developed a good friendship to an extent of finding a solution of curbing the winter at the times of hardship. The cat has been falsely acting as a godmother of his cousin who has a suspicious name to the mouse. The cat uses these chances to feed on the fat stored in the church out of greed without informing the mouse. When the time to eat the fat came, the mouse realized that the cat ate all the fat in the pot. Therefore, there was nothing to feed on. To make the matter worse, the cat ate the mouse after these events.
The story started with a great friendship of the cat and the mouse where the mouse invited the cat to stay together. They were in great love and partnership until one could think that no one of them will ever betray the other. They had subdivided their roles very well. The partnership was great that the cat took care of the house except when it sought permission to take care of the ”cousin” although we are very aware that the cat had no cousin. She would always walk around the walls of the city to the church where the pot for future use was stored to satisfy her greedy needs without the knowledge of the mouse. The mouse was tricked to an extent that she made a request to the cat to bring her some goodies if things were well at the cousin’s place. The cat had a very good strategy to make sure that she had all the fat without knowledge of the mouse. He was so picky and every time she came home, she returned with a name that corresponded to the level of fat. The first time she went out, she told the mouse that the name of the cat was top lick.
The mouse was astonished by the name and claimed that she never heard such a name before. The reason she was given that name was all meant that she never gets out, and she remains in the house the whole time. Despite that challenge, she was not satisfied with the answer and responded to the cat by telling him that was very odd and uncommon names. Thus, wondering why and which criteria he did use to come up with those names. Did she know that was a reflection of the level of fat remaining in the church? The cat was tricky and challenged the mouse that there was nothing to worry about first because the name given to the cat was better than the mouse’s grandson name who was called “crump-stealer.” However, the mouse was not satisfied with the answer and wanted to know whether there was a person in the cat’s family who had that name.
The mouse was very interested in the cat’s plan to follow the rules from the cat regarding purchasing a pot of fat and keep it in a place where no one can reach. It would be a good idea that would prevent them from starving in hunger during periods which they can hardly get any food. The idea was another reason that strengthened their relationship. The mouse had no problem when the cat begged him to remain behind and take care of the house because they had already developed trust with each other. She fully trusted the cat and took care of the house without any doubts or the thoughts that the cat could do any harm to him since they were friends.
On the first visit, the cat ate the top of the fat. He timed very well and went back home only to give the mouse the name of the action he had done. Having tasted the fat, the cat could not rest at home without eating it again. Therefore, he tried to find out the other means to eat more fat. He pretended so well to a point that mouse could not know what plans he had. The top-off of the fat was eaten that day, but the mouse did not doubt him.
The mouse was so good to him and told him she had no doubt that the cat had a merry day. The cat did not bring the mouse what they had planned though by no doubt she knew she had been taking care of his cousin. The cat did not hesitate and replied that all was well.
The cat did not stay for long to wait for another yawn of the fat. He commanded the mouse to take care of the house again. She commanded to be given a favor again because he was asked to go and take care of the cousin once more because he had a white ring around the neck. The cat could not refuse because of the white ring on the cat’s head. The mouse was so right to the cat and consented to the cat’s request. After the acceptance, the cat did not go anywhere again. He crawled over the walls of the town and in no time he had done away with half of the pot of the fat. It felt so good to him that he even kept on saying by his mind that nothing was so sweet like something one has kept somewhere for oneself. Having done that, the cat returned to the mouse.
On arrival, the cat was interested to know what exactly had happened to the cat that day. The mouse inquired the christened name of the cat to see if it was better that the first. To make the matters worse, the second name was just similar to the first. He told him that the name was “half-gone.” The mouse was so disturbed and claimed that she had never heard of that name again. She sensed that something was wrong though she entirely trusted the cat.
It did not take long before the cat yawned for more fat. His mouth started to water for more licking and out of his courage, she told himself that all the right things go in threes. Again, she approached the mouse a third time and requested her to take care of the house again. She explained to the mouse that the cat was so black and had only white paws. She added that it had no single white hair on its body. Because this happens once every year, she was to let the cat go and take care of the child. At this time, the mouse had a little trust on the cat, and she wondered why the cousin had such funny names and said to himself that the names must have had various meanings. She was very thoughtful and wanted to know the meaning of those names. However, the cat did not hesitate and told the cousin that he had never heard of those names because he always lived in the house with a fur coat. That was the reason he had never heard of those weird names.
The cat went and ate everything that was remaining. She did not return home until it was late and the mouse had cleaned the house. Again, mouse wanted to know the name given to the third child and was told that the name was “all gone.” The mouse said that this was the most unusual name of all because she had never seen it in print. She was shocked and curled down to sleep. From this time cat was never invited anywhere else to be a godmother.
Finally, the winter had come, and there was nothing to eat. So mouse proposed that they go to the pot of fat they had kept for their provision. The mouse did not know that there was no fat. The pot was right in the place where they had put it, but the fat was gone. Immediately mouse realized what had happened. The cat had devoured her all the times he pretended to be a godmother. She threatened to swallow him if he uttered a word. The cat was swallowed down, and that is the way of the world. One helps a friend, and the friend pays back the way cat did.
Works Cited
Keyes, Angela Mary. Stories and Storytelling. D. Appleton, 1999. Print.
