A rat
looked through a crack in the wall to see
the farmer and his wife opening a package.
What food might it contain?
He was aghast to discover
that it was a rat trap.
Retreating to the farmyard
the rat
proclaimed the warning;
"There is a rat trap in the house,
a rat trap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
"Excuse me, 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 pig and told him,
"There is a rat trap in the house,
a rat trap in the house!"
"I am so very sorry Mr. Rat,"
sympathized the pig,
"but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.
Be assured that you are in my prayers."
The rat turned to the cow. She said,
"Like wow, Mr. Rat. A rat trap.
I am in grave danger.
Duh?"
So the rat returned to the house,
head down and dejected,
to face the farmer's rat trap 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 that 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.
She returned home with a fever.
Now everyone knows you treat a fever with
fresh chicken soup,
so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for

the soup's main ingredient.

His wife's sickness continued
so that friends and neighbors
came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them the farmer

butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well.
She died,
and so many people came for her funeral
that the farmer had the

cow slaughtered

to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that
someone is facing
a problem
and think that it does not concern you,
remember
that when there is a rat trap in the house,
the whole farmyard
is at risk.

"MORE NEW STORIES"
" CLICK"