A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife
opening a package. What food might it contain?
He was aghast to discover that it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse
proclaimed the warning: "There is a mouse trap in the house, a mouse trap
in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head
and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to
you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
"There is a mouse trap in the house, a mouse trap in the house!"
"I am so sorry Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is
nothing I can do about it but pray. Be
assured that you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned next to the cow who said,
"Like wow, Mr. Mouse. A mousetrap.
Like I am in grave danger. Duh? NOT!"
So the mouse returned to the house, head down and
dejected, to face the farmer 's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was
heard throughout the house, like 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 that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit
the farmer 's wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned
home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken
soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main
ingredient. His wife 's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came
to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife still did not get well and a few
days later she passed away. So many people came for her funeral, that the
farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a
problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a
mousetrap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.
--Author Unknown