Two little mice were the best of friends. They were also first cousins. One of them lived in a town, whereas the other mouse lived in the country. Naturally, because of their place of residence their gestures and mannerisms were very different from each other. Nevertheless, they were very fond of each other.
The country mouse was slow and formal in her mannerisms and dressed soberly, while the town mouse walked hurriedly and dressed in scruffy clothes. However, their friendship was unaffected by any such difference. The town mouse was a frequent visitor to the country mouse’s house. She lived in a tiny house next to a school kitchen.
The country mouse was always more than happy to accommodate her favorite cousin. And the town mouse would often say, “I love the way the country air feels.”
One day, the town mouse visited the country mouse. The country mouse was overjoyed to see her cousin and welcomed her happily. She offered her all of the leftover food that she had from the school kitchen which included cheese, bread, bacon and beans. The town mouse ate the food, and felt that it was a little too rough and dry.
“Dear cousin, I do not mean to be rude, but this food is so dry and of such poor quality! How on earth do you manage to eat such tasteless food every single day? I request you to come to the town once and I will show you what great food we have.” The country mouse was a little confused initially, but finally agreed to the proposal of the town mouse after a bit of persuasion.
Both the cousins set out for the town happily. After a long and tiring journey, both the cousins finally reached the house of the town mouse. The country mouse was surprised to see the house. It was a palatial house with beautiful interiors, much unlike the school rooms that the country mouse has always seen. Exhausted and hungry, the town mouse asked the country mouse, “Cousin, would you like to have some refreshments?” The country mouse nodded her head and both of them headed towards the dining room.
On reaching the dinning place, the town mouse was simply awestruck. Never in her life had she seen such an amazing variety of food. There were leftover cakes, juices, meat balls, cheese, cookies and ice cream all over the table.
Both the cousins started gorging on the luxurious spread. Suddenly, their feast was interrupted by a loud sound of barking and growling.
“What’s that scary noise?” asked the country mouse.
“Oh it’s just the dogs,” said the town mouse, looking quite accustomed to the noise.
“But I do not feel good hearing such noise at dinner,” the country mouse said.
Right then, the door of the dining room opened with a bang and two ferocious dogs came running towards the table and leaped on it in no time.
The terrified mice ran for their lives and never turned back. Later that night, the country mouse told the town mouse, “Cousin, I shall take your leave now.”
“But why so early?” asked the town mouse.
The country mouse replied, “I would rather live peacefully and eat dry food than live in luxury with the fear of losing my life.”
The country mouse left and never thought of returning to the town again.
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