a young mouse, on his return to his hole after leaving it for the first time, thus recounted his adventures to his mother: "mother," said he, "quitting this narrow place where you have brought me up, i was rambling about to-day like a young mouse of spirit, who wished to see and to be seen, when two such notable creatures came in my way! one was so gracious, so gentle and benign; the other, who was just as noisy and forbidding, had on his head and under his chin pieces of raw meat, which shook at every step he took; and then, all at once, beating his sides with the utmost fury, he uttered such a harsh and piercing cry that i fled in terror; and this, too, just as i was about to introduce myself to the other stranger, who was covered with fur like our own, only richer looking and much more beautiful, and who seemed so modest and benevolent that it did my heart good to look at her."

"ah, my son," replied the old mouse, "learn while you live to distrust appearances. the first strange creature was nothing but a fowl, that will ere long be killed, and, when put on a dish in the pantry, we may make a delicious supper of his bones, while the other was a nasty, sly, and bloodthirsty hypocrite of a cat, to whom no food is so welcome as a young and juicy mouse like yourself."