A mouse happened to look through a hole in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered. But he was sad to discover it was a mousetrap  . Back to the farmyard, the mouse announced this warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The hen clucked   and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a great concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it." Then the mouse turned to the pig. The pig sympathized, but said, "I am very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers." Then the mouse turned to the cow and repeated the same words. The cow said, "Moo, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose." So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and sadly faced the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house - the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey  . The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it. It was a poisonous snake whose tail was caught in the trap. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. When she returned home, she still had a fever. Everyone knows fresh chicken soup is good to treat a fever. So the farmer took his knife to the farmyard. The hen was killed. But his wife's sickness continued. Friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well but died. So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow killed to provide enough meat for all of them for the lunch. The mouse looked on it all from his hole in the wall with great sadness. What did the mouse do when it returned to the farmyard?
It warned its neighbors of the danger. It argued with its neighbors loudly. It had a warm talk with its friends. It tried hard to cheer its friends.