STORY II

The Story of a Cat, a Mouse, a Lizard and an Owl.


CHAPTER I


This is the story of four creatures, none of whom loved each other,
who lived in the same banyan tree in a forest in India. Banyan trees
are very beautiful and very useful, and get their name from the fact
that "banians," as merchants are called in India, often gather together
in their shade to sell their goods. Banyan trees grow to a very great
height, spreading their branches out so widely that many people can
stand beneath them. From those branches roots spring forth, which,
when they reach the ground, pierce it, and look like, columns holding
up a roof. If you have never seen a banyan tree, you can easily find
a picture of one in some dictionary; and when you have done so, you
will understand that a great many creatures can live in one without
seeing much of each other.

In an especially fine banyan tree, outside the walls of a town called
Vidisa, a cat, an owl, a lizard and a mouse, had all taken up their
abode. The cat lived in a big hole in the trunk some little distance
from the ground, where she could sleep very cosily, curled up out
of sight with her head resting on her forepaws, feeling perfectly
safe from harm; for no other creature, she thought, could possibly
discover her hiding-place. The owl roosted in a mass of foliage at