Musmys

A Book of Persian Fairy Tales, 1906

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The frontispiece to this volume is a reduced facsimile of a whole page in a Persian book, showing both the pictures and the reading as they were published in Persia. The other illustrations for "The Cat and the Mouse" are copies of drawings by a Persian artist.
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"Two friends on one carpet may with contentment sleep;

Two monarchs in one kingdom the peace can never keep.

While earth revolves, and little children play,

Cats over mice will always hold the sway."

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"The Cat and the Mouse" är en annan förfärlig historia som handlar lika mycket om de stackars mössen som om katten.

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_ _ _ 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, for have I not come to Thee bowed down with sorrow?"


He repeated this so many times and with so much feeling that he really thought he meant it, and finally wept for grief.