Once upon a time there was a cat. He was so old that he couldn’t catch mice anymore. They were now much faster than him. But the cat thought that maybe they weren’t smarter than him.
One day he called out to the mice, “Dear mice, I have grown old. I’ve reflected on the dirty tricks of my youth and decided to live my life correctly. From now on I will not eat a single mouse again. In fact, I would like to make things right with you. Come visit me!”
The mice considered his words and decided that they believed him. “We will come visit you three times a day and keep you company!” They said.
“Just one thing,” the cat added. “When you come to visit me, walk in a straight line.” The mice thought it was a strange request, but harmless. They agreed.
Starting the next day, the mice came to visit the cat, walking up to him in a straight line. When they left, they would also walk in a straight line, and the cat would catch the mouse at the very end. Nobody noticed what the cat was doing.
One day, the two cleverest mice, Shylk-murun and Bylk-murun noticed that some mice were missing. They realized what the cat had been doing.
The next time they went to visit the cat, Bylk-murun stayed at the back of the line and Shylk-murun went right before him. As they were leaving, they called out to each other, “Bylk-murun, are you there?” “Yes, Shylk-murun, I’m here.”
The cat realized that he couldn’t eat Bylk-murun, otherwise Shylk-murun would notice that he wasn’t there. The next few times the mice visited, the same thing happened.
Eventually the cat got fed up. In his anger, he tried to catch Bylk-murun as the mice were leaving. Bylk-murun escaped, but the damage was done. All the other mice saw what the cat had done.
From then on, the mice knew never to trust the cat. They stopped visiting him, and he never caught a single mouse again. The mice all celebrated the cleverness of Shylk-murun and Bylk-murun!
