The Mouse and the Bull

Nip! A mouse bit a bull, then turned and ran for his life.

The bull roared with rage and thundered after him, but the mouse shot into a little hole in the wall and was gone. So the bull put down his head and dug at the wall with his horns. He dug and he dug until the dust flew and the stones fell around his feet, and still the mouse stayed just out of reach.

At last the bull grew tired. "I will wait right here until he comes out," he puffed, and he folded his legs and lay down beside the hole. Before long he was fast asleep.

Two bright eyes peeped out of the dark. The mouse crept from his hole on quiet feet and climbed up the bull's side, as soft as a shadow. Nip! Then he was gone again, before the bull could even blink.

The bull lurched to his feet and looked left and right, shaking his huge head. He had no idea what to do.

A small voice came from the wall. "The great do not always win," said the mouse. "There are times when the small make the most mischief of all."