The Rat Trap

A rat looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

"What food might this contain?" The rat wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a rattrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the rat proclaimed the warning: "There is a rattrap in the house! There is a rattrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "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 goat and told him, "There is a rattrap in the house! There is a rattrap in the house!"

The goat sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Rat, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The rat turned to the cow and said, "There is a rattrap in the house! There is a rattrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Rat. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's rattrap 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 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 , and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his matchet to the farmyard for the soup's main Ingredient.

Alas! the farmer's wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the goat. The farmer's wife did not get well she died.

Many people came for her funeral and the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The rat looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

LESSONS: Always be concerned about the rat in your house...