Belling the Cat
- 2 minute read
- Ages 7-11
- Aesop's Fables
The mice who lived in a certain house were losing their number steadily, because of the cat.
She was quiet. That was the trouble. She did not thump or scrape or announce herself. She simply appeared, and then there was one mouse fewer.
So the mice called a council in the space under the floorboards, and every mouse in the house came.
The debate
They argued for a long time.
One proposed digging a second set of tunnels. Another said they should only come out in daylight. A third suggested moving to the barn, and was reminded that there were two cats in the barn.
Nothing was any good, and the meeting had begun to go in circles, when a young mouse stood up at the back.
"I have it," he said.
Everybody turned.
"Our whole problem is that we cannot hear her coming. So we hang a small bell on a ribbon round the cat's neck. Then wherever she goes she rings. We hear her from two rooms away and we are gone before she reaches us."
There was a pause, and then the room erupted.
It was brilliant. It was so simple. Mice were on their feet cheering and thumping the floorboards, and the young mouse was clapped on the back from every direction, and for a full minute it was the best meeting the mice had ever had.
The old mouse
Then an old mouse at the front, who had said nothing all evening, cleared his throat.
The noise died down.
"It is an excellent plan," he said. "I have never heard a better one. I have only one question."
He looked around the room.
"Who is going to hang the bell on the cat?"
Nobody answered.
He waited. He was patient about it. He looked at the young mouse who had proposed it, and at the mice who had cheered loudest, and at every other mouse in turn, and the room stayed completely silent.
Then the council broke up, and everyone went home, and nothing was done at all.
Moral of the story
It is easy to propose a plan and hard to be the one who carries it out. A plan nobody can actually do is not a plan.
Questions and answers
- Why were the mice in danger?
The cat moved silently, so they never heard her coming and could not escape in time.
- What was the young mouse's idea?
To hang a small bell on a ribbon round the cat's neck so the mice would hear her approaching.
- Why did the other mice cheer?
The plan seemed simple and brilliant, and it solved the exact problem they had been arguing about all evening.
- What question did the old mouse ask?
Who was going to actually put the bell on the cat.
- Why did nobody answer?
Because doing it would mean getting close enough to the cat to be caught, which none of them was willing to risk.
Word meanings
- council
- A meeting held to discuss something and make decisions.
- proposed
- Suggested an idea for others to consider.
- erupted
- Broke out suddenly and noisily.
- patient
- Willing to wait calmly without becoming annoyed.
Questions about Belling the Cat
What is the moral of Belling the Cat?
The moral is that suggesting a solution is easy and carrying it out is the hard part. Ideas that nobody can execute are worth nothing.
Is the young mouse's plan actually a bad plan?
No, and that is what makes the fable clever. The plan would work perfectly. It simply cannot be done, which is a different kind of failure.
What does 'belling the cat' mean today?
It describes taking on a dangerous or thankless task that everyone agrees needs doing but nobody wants to do themselves.
What is a good classroom discussion here?
Ask children to think of a rule at school that sounds good but would be difficult to enforce, and who would have to enforce it.