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Original Writer: Unknown
Rewritten: Udhayan |
Once upon a time, in an old house, there were many rats living in the attic, and inside many holes in the walls. 1 |
They gathered all the food they got from here and there, shared it amongst them and lived happily. 2 |
One morning, when all the rats were happily living in the house, a stray cat from nowhere entered that house. 3 |
The family warmly welcomed the cat into their home and allowed it to stay. 4 |
Seeing rats running here and there in the house, the cat thought: “Oh! food everywhere,” and decided to live at the house permanently. 5 |
It roamed the house day and night without making noise and caused many problems. 6 |
Seeing the cat’s troubles increasing, all the rats gathered outside the house one day in a corner unknown to the cat and discussed what to do. 7 |
All that day and night, all the rats discussed how to get rid of the cat. 8 |
A rat in the group said: “The cat hunts us, day or night. It needs an end.” 9 |
Then another rat said: “Yes. That’s right. As the cat comes without making noise, we don’t have time to run away.” 10 |
On hearing this, another rat said: “It would be nice if we could hear the cat coming. Then we will have time to run and hide.” 11 |
A small rat, cried: “He chases us all the time. Jump and catches in one go.” 12 |
So, the rats’ discussion that day was about finding some way to know the cat was coming. 13 |
All rats made multiple comments. 14 |
Then, a little rat in the crowd said: “We will put a bell on the neck of the cat. Then, whenever the cat comes, the bell will be heard. Then we can run and hide.” 15 |
All the rats liked and supported this idea. Then their discussion turned to how to bell the cat. 16 |
Then, a rat in the crowd said: “The cat always sleeps after eating a lot in the afternoon. We can go and bell the cat at that time.” 17 |
As usual, all the rats liked and supported this idea, too. 18 |
It was then that the old rat in the group asked everyone: “It is an excellent idea to bell a cat. But, who bells the cat?” 19 |
Hearing this, they looked at each other: “Who will bell the cat? Who will bell the cat?” 20 |
That question went unanswered. All the rats grumbled to each other. No one was ready for it. 21 |
The little rat who gave the idea was not ready to bell the cat either. 22 |
With this, all the rats quietly left the place with the question of who was going to bell the cat. 23 |
Until now, we have never heard that there was one rat who did bell the cat. 24 |
The cat, which was their problem, stayed there forever. 25 |
The story means many solutions are more manageable in words than in action. 26 ★ |
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