A SIMPLE LESSON
A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife
opening a package. He soon 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 of grave concern to you, but I am a chicken,
and it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”
The rat turned to the pig and told him. “Mr. Pig, There is a rat trap in
the house, a rat trap in the house!” “I’m so very sorry Mr. Rat,” said
the pig, “but I am a pig, and it is of no consequence to me. Be assured
however, that I will be praying for ‘you’.”
The rat turned to the cow. “Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow, There is a rat trap in
the house, a rat trap in the house!” “Well like I’m in grave danger from a
rat trap at my size, DUH!” said the smart mouthed cow.
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 his 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. And the snake bit the farmer’s wife. The
farmer rushed her to the hospital where she was treated and sent back home
with a fever and to have a few days of bed rest. The old farmer thought,
“Now I know the Misses treats everything with fresh chicken soup”, so
he went out into the barnyard to get the chicken for the soup’s main ingredient.
Friends and neighbors began pouring in to see how the farmer’s wife was
doing and decided to take turns sitting with the farmer and his wife until
she was better, so the farmer had to butcher the pig to feed the friends and
neighbors. Things went from bad to worse, and the farmer’s wife died
from the snake bite and so many people came to visit the old farmer, he
had to go out and slaughter the cow to provide meat for all the visitors.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that
it does not concern you, just remember…when there’s a rat trap in the
house…the whole barnyard could be at risk!