The Cat, the Mouse and the Cheese
Once upon a time, in a wooden cellar behind the yellow wheat fields, the aroma of fresh cheese rose into the air. In one dark corner of that deep cellar lived the Cunning Cat, and in the other corner the Sharp-Eyed Mouse. One morning, on the wooden table at the very centre of the cellar, there appeared an enormous wheel of cheese, dazzling in its richness. With its golden colour and the delicious scent it spread around, this cheese was enough to whet the appetite of them both. Yet each of them lay silently in ambush, waiting for the other to make the first move. Overcome by impatience, the Sharp-Eyed Mouse stepped a pace out of its hole and called to the cat.
"O my eternal rival, this huge cheese is more than enough for the two of us; come, let us share it like brothers," it said. The Cunning Cat twisted his whiskers, narrowed his eyes and answered with a most charming air. "You are right, my friend; there could be no finer chance to make peace," he purred. "Come closer first, so that I may portion out to you the freshest and softest part of the cheese," he said, trying to deceive the mouse. Heeding the rumbling of its stomach, the mouse fell under the spell of the delicious scent and glided towards the cat. The moment it reached the cheese, it noticed the greedy spark in the cat's eyes, but by then it was far too late.
With a single blow of his paw, the Cunning Cat cornered both the cheese and the mouse. When it understood that it had fallen into a trap, the mouse managed with one last effort to slip out from under the cat's paw. It rolled the wheel of cheese off the table, distracted the cat and fled into its dark hole. The cat, who paid the price of his greed by being left without the tasty food, wasted the fallen cheese as well. Thus the mouse escaped with its life, and the cat's sly trick turned back upon himself. Those who are taken in by the sweet promises of an enemy and set out to form a partnership lose in the end even the chance they held in their hands. Throwing the helve after the hatchet.