the
struggle to get away. "Keep still! keep still," cried the mouse,
"and I will really save you." Then with a few quick bites with his
sharp teeth he cut through the string, and the next moment the cat
was hidden amongst the barley, and the mouse was running off in
the opposite direction, determined to keep well out of sight of the
creature he had kept in such misery for so many hours. Full well he
knew that all the cat's promises would be forgotten, and that she
would eat him up if she could catch him. The owl too flew away,
and the lizard went off to hunt flies in the sunshine, and there
was not a sign of any of the four inhabitants of the banyan tree
when the hunter reached the snare. He was very much surprised and
puzzled to find the string hanging loose in two pieces, and no sign
of there having been anything caught in it, except two white hairs
lying on the ground close to the trap. He had a good look round,
and then went home without having found out anything.

When the hunter was quite out of sight, the cat came forth from the
barley, and hastened back to her beloved home in the banyan tree. On
her way there she spied the mouse also hurrying along in the same
direction, and at first she felt inclined to hunt him and eat him
then and there. On second thoughts however she decided to try and keep
friends with him, because he might help her again if she got caught a
second time. So she took no notice of the mouse until the next day,
when she climbed down the tree and went to the roots in which she
knew the mouse was hidden. There she began to purr as loud as she
could, to show the mouse she was in a good humour, and called out,
"Dear good little mouse, come out of your hole and let me tell you how
very, very grateful I am to you for saving my life. There is nothing in
the world I will not do for you, if you will only be friends with me."

The mouse only squeaked in answer to this speech, and took very good
care not to show himself, till he was quite sure the cat was gone
beyond reach of him. He stayed quietly in his hole, and only ventured
forth after he had heard the cat climb up into the tree again. "It
is all very well," thought the mouse, "to pretend to make friends
with an enemy when that enemy is helpless, but I should indeed be a
silly mouse to trust a cat when she is free to kill me."

The cat made a good many other efforts to be friends with the mouse,
but they were all unsuccessful. In the end the owl