PERSIAN FAIRY TALES

The Cat and the Mouse

Showing how one may be lost in wonder at the story of the cat and the
mouse, when related with a clear and rolling voice, as if from a
pulpit.

ACCORDING to the decree of Heaven, there once lived in the Persian city
of Kerman a cat like unto a dragon--a longsighted cat who hunted like a
lion; a cat with fascinating eyes and long whiskers and sharp teeth.
Its body was like a drum, its beautiful fur like ermine skin.

Nobody was happier than this cat, neither the newly-wedded bride, nor
the hospitable master of the house when he looks round on the smiling
faces of his guests.

This cat moved in the midst of friends, boon companions of the
saucepan, the cup, and the milk jug of the court, and of the dinner
table when the cloth is spread.

Perceiving the wine cellar open, one day, the cat ran gleefully into it
to see if he could catch a mouse, and hid himself behind a wine jar. At
that moment a mouse ran out of a hole in the wall, quickly climbed the
jar, and putting his head into it, drank so long and so deeply that he
became drunk, talked very stupidly, and fancied he was as bold as a
lion.

"Where is the cat?" shouted he, "that I may off with his head. I would
cut off his head as if on the battlefield. A cat in front of me would
fare worse than any dog who might happen to cross my path."

The cat ground his teeth with rage while hearing this. Quicker than the
eye could follow, he made a spring, seized the mouse in his claws, and
said, "Oh, little mouse, now will you take off my head?"

"I am thy servant," replied the mouse; "forgive my sin. I was drunk. I
am thy slave; a slave whose ear is pierced and on whose shoulder the
yoke is."

"Tell fewer lies," replied the cat. "Was there ever such a liar? I
heard all you said and you shall pay for your sin with your life. I
will make your life less than that of a dead dog."

So the cat killed and ate the mouse; but afterwards, being sorry for
what he had done, he ran to the Mosque, and passed his hands over his
face, poured water on his hands, and anointed himself as he had seen
the faithful do at the appointed hours of prayer.

Then he began to recite the beautiful chapter to Allah in the Holy Book
of the Persians, and to make his confession in this wise:

"I have repented, and will not again tear the body of a mouse with my
teeth. I will give bread to the deserving poor. Forgive my sin, O great
Forgiver, fo