Once in a very, very old house there lived a very, very big cat and a lot of very, very little mice.
The cat, whose name was Tom, lived in the kitchen. The mice lived under the kitchen.
Where could the little mice get food to eat? In the kitchen, of course! But there was the cat there! He could eat them!
They thought what to do. They thought and thought, and thought…
Then a very, very little mouse had an idea. She said, “Let’s go to the kitchen when Tom is not there.”
“That’s not a bad idea!” said Mother-mouse. “But the cat runs quicker than you. He can catch and eat you.”
All the mice thought and thought and thought again… Then the mouse who was older than the other mice said: “I think I know what to do. Let’s buy a TV set for Tom. We all know that he likes watching TV very much. When he is busy watching TV we can eat all the food we want.”
All the mice liked the idea very much. So they went to the shop and bought a TV set for Tom.
Now every evening Tom watches TV and the mice have a very good supper in the kitchen. They can eat all the things they want.