The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

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Country mice, from The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology

Town mice, from The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, illustrated by Milo Winter

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is a fable attributed to Aesop.

In the story, a proud town mouse visits his cousin in the country. The country mouse offers the city mouse a meal of simple country foods, at which the visitor scoffs. He takes the country mouse back to the city to show him the "fine life". But their city meal of cakes and jellies was interrupted by a couple of dogs which forced the mice to abandon their feast and scurry to safety. After this, the country mouse promptly returns to the country, and says:

"Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear"

[edit] Later Adaptations

The story was adapted by the Middle Scots poet Henryson, in 'the Taill of the Uponlandis Mous and the Burges Mous', where the mice are female. Beatrix Potter retold this story in The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse.

Disney made a loose adaptation of the story in the Silly Symphony The Country Cousin. The animated short won the Academy Award for Short Subjects, Cartoons in 1937.

Sesame Street had a two-part Muppet skit based on the fable, narrated by Jerry Nelson, with Anything Muppets portraying both mice, featuring the Country Mouse (Jerry Nelson) in rustic clothes and the City Mouse (Frank Oz) as an apartment dweller with a hi-fi and pepperoni pizza for lunch.