A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening
a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a
rat trap. Retreating to the farmyard the rat proclaimed the warning; "There is a
rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!" The chicken clucked and
scratched, raised her head and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Rat, I can tell this is a
grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by
it." The rat turned to the pig and told him, "There is a rat trap in the house,
a rat trap in the house!" "I am so very sorry Mr. Rat," sympathized the pig,
"but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my
prayers." The rat turned to the cow. She said, "Like wow, Mr. Rat. A rat trap. I
am in grave danger. Duh?"
So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's
rat trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat
trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the
darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had
caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital.
She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh
chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main
ingredient. His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to
sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer butchered the pig. The
farmer's wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her
funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them
to eat.
Moral to the story: The next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and
think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a rat trap in
the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please
authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances
dictate.
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