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The Mouse and the Stonecutter
By Nancy Ross Ryan
Long ago a stonecutter worked in a secret mountain cave that had walls of wonderful stone. Each day he worked crushing and cracking the wall into small stones that he took home.
By the time he got home, the stars were out. His little house was dark and cold. After he ate a little bread and milk, he shined stones until they looked as clear as a mirror. He could buy all the food he needed with those stones.
One day while the stonecutter was out of his house, a mouse came in and nibbled on some bread. It ran behind a curtain when the stonecutter came back.
The stonecutter saw holes in the bread and said, "A mouse nibbled this. Well, there's enough bread for us both."
The next day, after the stonecutter left, the mouse ate some more bread. While the mouse ate, it looked around and saw that the house was very messy.
The mouse said, "The stonecutter lets me eat his bread. I can be helpful to him. I'll clean his house."
The mouse got very busy cleaning. When the stonecutter came back, the mouse was standing bravely by the door.
The stonecutter said, "Little mouse, you have made the house as shiny as my best stones. You have worked hard, now come and eat."
And so it came to be that the mouse cleaned for the stonecutter, and each day the stonecutter fed the mouse.
One day, while the stonecutter was out, a cat came in and got the mouse.
The cat snarled and said, "You are mine. I will have you for lunch."
The mouse cried, "Let me go, and I can bring you food today and every day."
"All right! But I want some meat and milk fast," said the cat.
So the mouse fed the cat part of its own food that day and every day. The cat made the mouse bring more and more food. The little mouse grew very thin. And the stonecutter wondered why.
One day, the stonecutter did not go to work. Instead, he watched from behind a curtain as the cat took food.
When the cat left, the stonecutter said to the mouse, "Mouse, that's the last food you will give away! That cat thinks it was born to be fed my mice. But I have a trick that will take care of that."
The stonecutter shined a block of stone until it was clear as glass. He cut a hole in it just big enough for the mouse.
The stonecutter said to the mouse, "Get into this when the cat comes. See how scared and angry that cat will get."
The next day the cat came back. The mouse got into the block and called, "Cat! You are too fat to have any lunch today."
The cat jumped at the mouse. But the mouse was safely protected by the clear stone wall, a wall the cat could not see.
The cat was so scared by the wall he could not see that he turned and ran.
The mouse and the stonecutter did not see that cat again. But they left the clear block by the door, just in case.
Whistles and Dreams - Level 6 Reader - Scott Foresman
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