The Chronicles of Rats: Hope Blooming in Despair

1. Even a Rat Hole Has a Day in the Sun

In a dark and damp barn, the rats lived every day hiding in the shadow of the cat. There was no hope to be found. The rats’ lives were no different from being ‘rats in a rat hole.’ They had to risk their lives every time they went out to find food, and they lived in fear of being caught and eaten at any moment. However, one old rat always whispered, “Even a rat hole has a day in the sun. If you don’t give up, a good day will come someday.” His words were a small spark of hope.

 

2. Putting a bell on a cat’s neck & even rats bite cats when cornered

One day, the rats called an emergency meeting to find a way to escape the threat of the cat. A young rat came up with a brilliant idea, “What if we put a bell on the cat’s neck? Then we can know the cat’s movements in advance!” Everyone cheered, but soon fell silent when asked who would put the bell on. However, a few days later, the situation changed when the cat blocked all the mice's escape routes. The cornered mice had nowhere to retreat. They instinctively realized, "Even mice bite cats when cornered!"

 

3. Opening the door to a thief & breaking the wall to catch a mouse

A terrified mouse desperately tried to open the warehouse door. "We're all going to die if we keep doing this! We have to run away!" However, this was 'opening the door to a thief'. As soon as the door opened, the cat rushed in, putting the mice in even greater danger. As the cat ran wild to catch the mice, part of the barn wall collapsed. As the proverb goes, "You break the wall to catch a mouse," the cat's reckless behavior actually brought harm to himself.

 

4. Not knowing anything & blocking a mouse hole

When light leaked in through the crack in the collapsed wall, the mice saw a small hope again. At this moment, a young mouse shouted, "Let's go through this gap!" But one of the older mice criticized him, saying, "Don't talk nonsense! Don't talk nonsense. What if you go out there and meet a bigger cat?" However, some brave mice began to carefully squeeze their bodies through the gap. The cat desperately tried to block the gap in the wall 'like a mouse hole' to prevent the mice from escaping.

5. Silent as death & Unnoticed by the mice and birds

 

As the fight between the cat and the mice continued, the once noisy barn became 'quiet as death'. The cat fell asleep from exhaustion, and the mice took advantage of the gap to quietly escape the barn 'unnoticed by the mice and birds'. Now they could go out into the wide open field and start a new life. Although they had lost much, the mice found hope in despair and bravely moved forward into a new world.