The mouse’s eyes darted around. He had been maneuvered into a corner and there was no way out. He looked up and up again. There towered a great gray cat with evil and hunger in its eyes.
“Oh, please, please, Mr. Cat! Please don’t kill and eat me!”
The cat was amused. “Whyever not? I am hungry and you are food. This has been the way of things since our kind first shared the earth.”
“Please! I … I could pay. I could get something for you that you wanted,” the mouse pleaded.
“You are what I want,” the cat replied reasonably, and he lifted his right forepaw for the coup de grâce.