Four mice and one cat

A sad story by Zheng Yuanjie. Originally published as 四只老鼠和一只猫的故事.

There were four little mice, living in constant fear and loathing of a cat named Lina. Lina was very fierce towards them and often bullied them to a corner.

One day, the little mice came upon a puppet dog from the puppet theater company, and they decided to disguise themselves as a dog to frighten Lina. They had seen Lina being scared of dogs.

They got into the body of the puppet dog like lion dancers. Two rode on the necks of the other two, and the pair at the back grabbed the tails of the pair at the front. Just like that, the puppet dog stood up.



They drilled for two days until they were satisfied about their performance.

That afternoon, the four little mice appeared in front of Lina in disguise, gearing up to give her a real fright.

But after Lina saw the puppet dog, she came over with a smile.

Only the top mouse in the puppet dog could see outside, through the small holes in the puppet's eyes. Therefore, all operations are under his command.

The little commander was just about to issue the command to attack when he was stunned -- Lina was smiling!

The little mice thought that Lina could not smile, since she always faced them with a dreadful snarl. And yet, she's smiling? And so sweetly, too...

"Why aren't we attacking?" The little mouse below got anxious.

"Wait, Lina smiled!" the commander said.

"Lina smiled? Nonsense!" said the other three little mice in unison.

"It's true, she came over with a smile." The commander said breathlessly.

"Hello!" Lina greeted coyly.

God, Lina's mouth could actually make a "Hello" voice! The three little mice below believed. Hearing this sound from Lina's mouth, they felt more intimate than from a friend's mouth.

"Hurry up and answer her!" The little mice below urged.

"Hello!" The puppet dog replied politely.

Lina was flattered by its manner. The dogs she had encountered had always bullied her.

"Shall we be friends?" Lina said excitedly.

"Okay." The puppet dog agreed.

"My name is Lina. How about you?"

"I..., I, my name is Lil' Four." The commander made up a name on the spot.

"Lil' Four, what a nice name!"

The commander heart almost melted. This Lina was so cute and gentle, he couldn't believe that Lina had bitten him.

Lina and the puppet dog Lil' Four became friends.

Since then, the puppet dog Lil' Four would come to play with Lina every afternoon. They play games together and chat together, and Lina often entertained Lil' Four with delicious food.

"Let's play catching mice!" Lina suggested one day.

"Let's not. Didn't you hear people say, 'a dog catching mice is not minding its own business'?"

"We'll play pretend."

"Still... no."

"Then what shall we play?"

"Play 'the mouse's wedding'."

"And you'll play the mouse?"

"OK, let's do it!"

Lil' Four and Lina played the game of 'the mouse's wedding'. Finally, Lil' Four and Lina started dancing paw in paw.

Lina got a bit rough and pulled off the little mouse controlling the head, and all four little mice fell down. Lil' Four fell to the ground.

Laughing, Lina went to help Lil' Four, and accidentally lifted the puppet dog's cloth -- she saw the tail of a mouse.

Lina yanked off the puppet dog's cloth. Shock! Four mice! Lina's face darkened, and she yelled, rushing forwards baring her sharp teeth.

The four little mice fled in four directions. Thank God, Lina didn't catch them.

"Don't she make friends with us?" One little mouse said breathlessly when they returned to the cave.

"Not with us! She was making friends with the dog."

"Lina is terrifying when she got angry!"

"She looked so beautiful when she smiled."

"We will never see her smile again."

"Ugh……"

"Really..."
 
Lina almost fainted when she realized she got bamboozled by the mice. She vowed to retaliate -- they dared to play with her feelings... the gall!

The next afternoon, Lina felt empty. Usually at this time, the puppet dog Lil' Four would come to her to play, but today, Lil' Four is lying paralyzed on the ground.

Lina hoped that the puppet dog could stand up and play with her as before. She walked to the side of Lil' Four, but immediately frowned and turned away. In two steps, she turned back and looked at the puppet dog lying on the ground wistfully.

That night, she could not sleep.

Since the puppet dog dropped paralyzed to the ground, Lina seemed to have lost her soul. She could not eat or sleep. Although she kept reminding herself in her heart that it was a puppet controlled by mice, and was not worth keeping in mind at all, but she still missed him. Missed him hard.

Lina ate less and less, and every afternoon she lay motionless beside the puppet dog, hoping he could stand up. Lina lost weight day by day, and her body was extremely weak.

Finally, Lina could not bear this torture. She decided to ask the four mice to come out and pretend to be the dog again, even to play with her for a while.

After their disguise was revealed, the four little mice didn't feel so good either. They missed Lina's smile. But it's really hard for a mouse to see a cat's smile. They wished they could be dogs in their next life.

Lina actually came begging for their help!

"We can't get out can we? What if it's a trap?" one little mouse said worriedly.

"She doesn't look like she's lying."

"Let's go, it'll be fine."

"Let's be on guard."

The mice wanted to see Lina's smile so much, they thought it was worth the risk.
 
The four little mice got into the puppet dog's body in front of Lina's face. Soon, the puppet dog stood up as if it was alive.

Lina's eyes lit up and she was excited. However, when she remembered that there were four little mice in the puppet dog's body, she felt sick. Lina roared instinctively and rushed forward.

Fortunately, the four little mice were prepared and escaped smoothly.

The puppet dog collapsed on the ground again. Lina froze for a moment, pounced and hugged the puppet dog and cried.

She couldn't stand it anymore and went to beg the mouse again.

The mice couldn't resist the temptation to see her smile, and once again let the puppet dog stand in front of Lina.

Like last time, Lina only smiled for a second, and immediately rushed forwards again. The puppet dog collapsed on the ground again. Lina tore at her ears...

No matter how hard Lina begged, the little mice would not come out and wear the puppet dog disguise again.

Everyday, Lina kept thinking about her games with puppet dog. She hated herself, hated that she found out the truth, that the puppet dog is a mouse. She hated the four little mice, hated that they should let her find out the truth.

Lina stopped eating or drinking, and died of melancholy.

Four little mice buried Lina with the puppet dog.