Believe me, you need seek no better
son-in-law; greater than the rat, there is nothing in the world."
"Do you hear that, wife, do you hear it?" cried father-rat in triumph.
"Didn't I always say so?"
"Quite true! you always did," returned the mother-rat in wonder, and
suddenly glowed with pride in her ancient name and lineage.
So they all three went home, very happy and contented, and on the
morrow the lovely rat-maiden married her faithful rat-lover.
* * * * *
THE MOUSE AND THE SAUSAGE
Once upon a time a little mouse and a little sausage, who loved
each other like sisters, decided to live together, and made their
arrangements in such a way that every day one would go to walk in the
fields, or make purchases in town, while the other remained at home to
keep the house.
One day, when the little sausage had prepared cabbage for dinner,
the little mouse, who had come back from town with a fine appetite,
enjoyed it so greatly that she exclaimed: "How delicious the cabbage
is to-day, my dear!"
"Ah!" answered the little sausage, "that is because I popped myself
into the pot while it was cooking."
On the next day, as it was her turn to prepare the meals, the little
mouse said to herself: "Now I will do as much for my friend as she did
for me; we will have lentils for dinner, and I will jump into the
pot while they are boiling," and she let the action follow the word,
without reflecting that a simple sausage can do some things which are
out of the reach of even the wisest mouse.
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