Atondido Stories
about at night seeking their food were heard, and the cat feared
one of them might find her and kill her. A mother tiger perhaps
would snatch her, and take her to her hungry cubs, hidden away
in the deep forest, or a bird of prey might swoop down on her
and grip her in his terrible claws. Again and again she entreated
the mouse to be quick, promising that, if only he would set her
at liberty, she would never, never, never forget it or do any harm
to her beloved friend.
It was not until the moon had set and the light of the dawn
had put out that of the stars that the mouse, made any real effort
to help the cat. By this time the hunter who had set the snare
came to see if he had caught the cat; and the poor cat, seeing him
in the distance, became so wild with terror that she nearly killed
herself in the struggle to get away. "Keep still! keep still," cried
the mouse, "and I will really save you." Then with a few quick
bites with his sharp teeth he cut through the string, and the next
moment the cat was hidden amongst the barley, and the mouse
was running off in the opposite direction, determined to keep
well out of sight of the creature he had kept in such misery for so
many hours. Full well he knew that all the cat's promises would
be forgotten, and that she would eat him up if she could catch
him. The owl too flew away, and the lizard went off to hunt flies
in the sunshine, and there was not a sign of any of the four in-
habitants of the banyan tree when the hunter reached the snare.
He was very much surprised and puzzled to find the string
hanging loose in two pieces, and no sign of there having been
anything caught in it, except two white hairs lying on the
ground close to the trap. He had a good look round, and then
went home without having found out anything.
When the hunter was quite out of sight, the cat came forth
from the barley, and hastened back to her beloved home in the
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