THE MOUSE, THE BIRD, AND THE SAUSAGE
A mouse, a bird and a sausage decided to set up home together. For a long time they got along happily, living within their means and managing to save a little. The bird’s job was to go into the forest every day and bring back wood for the fire, the mouse had to get water from the well, make the fire and lay the table, and the sausage did the cooking.
But people are never happy with living well when we think there is a better life to be had. One day, as the bird was in the forest, he met another bird and boasted about his pleasant way of life – the other bird called him an idiot. “What do you mean?” asked the bird.
“Well, who’s doing the lion’s share of the work? You are. You have to fly back and forth carrying heavy bits of wood while the other two take it easy. I think they’re taking advantage of you.
The bird thought about it. It was true that after the mouse had lit the fire and carried the water in, she usually went to her little room and had a snooze before getting up to lay the table. The sausage stayed by the cooking pot most of the time, keeping an eye on the vegetables, and from time to time, he’d slither through the water to give it a bit of flavouring. If it needed seasoning, he’d swim more slowly. That was more or less all he did. When the bird came home from with the wood, they’d stack it neatly by the fire, sit down to eat, and then sleep soundly till the next day. that was how they lived, and a fine way of life it was.
However, the bird couldn’t help thinking about what the other bird had said, and the next day he refused to go and gather wood.
“I’ve been your slave long enough,” he said,” you’ve been taking me for a fool. it’s time we tried a different arrangement.”
“But this works so well!” Said the mouse.
“You would say that, wouldn’t you?” Replied the bird.
“But this arrangement suits our different talents.” Said the sausage.
“Only because we haven’t tried any other way.” Said the bird.
The mouse and the sausage argued with the bird, but the bird wasn’t having it. Finally they gave in and drew lots. The job of gathering wood fell to the sausage, the mouse had to do the cooking, and the bird had to fetch the water and light the fire.
What do you think happened?
The sausage went out to gather the wood, the bird lit the fire and the mouse put the saucepan on the stove. Then they waited for the sausage to come back with the first load of wood, but he was gone so long that they began to worry about him, so the bird went out to see if he was all right.
Not far from the house the bird came across a dog, licking his lips.
“You haven’t seen a sausage, have you?” Asked the bird.
“Yeah, I just ate him. Delicious!”
“What do you mean! That’s terrible! I’ll call the police!” Said the bird.
“He was fair game.” Said the dog. “After all, he was a sausage.”
“but this is murder! He was just going about his daily business and you ate him!”
But there was nothing the bird could do. In a fight between a bird and a dog, there can be only one outcome, and it wouldn’t be the bird that won. He went back home and told the mouse what had happened.
“Eaten?” the mouse said. “Oh, that’s dreadful!” I’ll miss him terribly!.
“It’s very sad. We’ll just have to do the best we can without him.” Said the bird.
The bird laid the table while the mouse put the finishing touches to the stew. She remembered how easily the sausage had managed to swim round and round in the stew to season it and thought she could do the same so she climbed into the pot, but either it was too hot and she suffocated, or else she couldn’t swim at all and she drowned, but anyway, she never came out of the pot.