One day, a small, simple-minded mouse, who had not yet learned that cats eat mice, met a kitten. The kitten was so small that it also did not know that cats eat mice. Since then, every day they played together from morning until sunset. As soon as the mouse crawled out of the hole, the kitten immediately came to him, and they began to run and frolic, enjoying life.
But one day a mouse and a kitten began to play and separated only at midnight. The kitten comes home and sees that its mother is worried and angry.
-Where have you been? - she asked sternly.
— Played with a friend.
- Who is your friend?
- Little mouse.
The cat calmed down and asked:
- Okay, what did you do with it before you ate it?
- We played together. How can I eat it if we are friends?! - the kitten exclaimed in surprise.
The cat got angry and let’s scold our son at all costs:
- Do you know, silly, that Allah created mice just so that we could eat them? They are a hundred times tastier than chicken or hare. You can't do without their meat. It helps us run fast and jump well, see everything in the dark, and in winter it warms us.
The kitten heard all this and began to ask his mother for forgiveness, and she, in response, strictly ordered to bring the mouse tomorrow and eat it in front of her eyes - only then would she forgive him. The kitten swore that he would do everything as his mother told him.
The mouse returned home to find his mother in tears. Oh, how worried she was, waiting for her son, but as soon as she saw him alive and unharmed, she spanked him and scolded him:
-Where have you been, you scoundrel?
And the mouse replied that he was playing with a friend.
- Who is he, this friend of yours, with whom you, forgetting about your mother, played until midnight?
“Kitten,” mumbled the mouse.
- Kitty? - exclaimed the mother. “How come he didn’t eat you?”
— I’ve been playing with him for a long time, not the first time. We are friends. How can he eat me? Do cats eat mice? The mother grabbed her son and pressed him to her chest:
- Glory to Allah that he saved your life! The kitten is cunning, he just lets you fatten up before he eats you. Know that cats are our worst enemies. We are the most delicious food for them. They know no mercy and are always ready to tear us to pieces. Don’t go to the kitten again and don’t get out of the hole when you see it up close.
The mouse promised that he would follow all his mother’s instructions. The next morning the kitten came to play with the mouse and was very surprised to not find him in his usual place. And then he started playing alone. An hour passed, then another, and the mouse still did not appear. But the foolish mouse still really wanted to play with the kitten, and he approached the very exit of the hole. The kitten noticed him and shouted:
- Come here, let's play!
- I won’t even think about it! Mother won't let me play with you. He says that you are my enemy and that cats eat poor mice. And your mother probably told you to catch me and eat me.
“What’s true is true,” answered the kitten. “We cats really do eat mice.” But I’m your friend, remember, we’ve been playing together for a long time. You're right, my mother really told me to eat you. But I will never do that, I love playing with you and I really want us to remain friends forever.
The mouse listened to all this, but did not dare to get out. Then the cunning kitten decided to cheer him up:
- Do you want me to swear that I won’t touch you?
- How will you do this?
“We will clasp our paws, and each of us will tell the other that we will forever remain his friend and will never betray him.”
The little mouse really wanted to play, and he exclaimed:
“Okay, give me your paw, and we will swear allegiance to each other.”
The kitten stuck its paw inside the hole, and the friends clasped their paws. Squeezing the mouse’s paw, the kitten pulled him out and mockingly asks:
“Didn’t your mother warn you never to trust cats?” Didn't she tell you about our trick?
And the mouse realized that he had been deceived, and begged for mercy. But the cruel kitten interrupted him:
- What's the point, buddy, in your prayer?! I promised my mother that I would bring you and eat you in front of her, and I would not break my oath. So don't get your hopes up, I won't let you go.
- Well, everything is God's will! - said the mouse sadly. - Now I see, my song is finished. And indeed, if I am destined to be eaten, then it would be better for a friend to eat me than for some other cat. I just ask you to show me mercy, especially since it doesn’t cost you anything. Let's go to your house and read the first surah of the Koran together. Let's ask Allah to give my parents the strength to come to terms with my death.
The kitten agreed and took the mouse to his home. They sat down and read the surah. When they finished reading, the mouse raised its paws and prayed:
- O Allah! Give my parents patience and comfort them!
- Amen! - the kitten exclaimed and also raised its paws. And that’s all the mouse needs, he quickly jumped up and snuck into his hole, and from there he asked with mockery:
“Didn’t your mother warn you not to read the Koran with little mice?”
The kitten got angry and began to rush back and forth, back and forth in front of the mouse’s hole. Then he again began to invite his friend to play together. But the little mouse, who had seen death with his own eyes, hid and was silent. The cat ran around a little more, and left with nothing. That's it.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru