Who is to Bell the Cat?

 

Once upon a time, the house of a man was infested with hundreds of rats. The man could not enjoy sound sleep at night. The mice would take away foods, cut clothes and tear holes here and there. At last, the man hit upon a plan.

One day, the man brought a cat in his house. He knew it beforehand that, mice are always afraid of cat. So, the mice fell in a great difficulty. They were not able to move here and there anymore as earlier. The cat started eating them away one by one. Finding no other way, they decided to hold a meeting. The aim of the meeting was to find a way out. The meeting started and every mouse was giving their own opinions. Several proposals also made but none of those was good enough to accept. The meeting was about to close without any possible solution. At that time, a young mouse stood up and said, ''I have a nice plan in my mind''. All other mice wanted to know about his idea very eagerly. The young mouse said, ''Let's tie a bell round the neck of the cat. When it will come towards us, we will hear the sound of the bell. Then it will be easy for us to hide ourselves in time''. The plan was liked by all. Almost all the mice praised the young mouse for his unique intelligence. Suddenly an old and wise mouse stood up and said, ''Listen to me everybody. Please keep silent''. Everyone looked at the old mouse. It said, ''No doubt, the idea is good. But the thing is, who will bell the cat? At this, all the faces of the mice turned into pale as none of them was ready to face and bell the cat. Because they know that, to go to bell the cat means nothing but to accept the death.

 

Thereafter, the mice left the house one after another. The owner of the house started living happily.