The Mouse and the Bull

A BULL was bitten by a Mouse and, angered by the wound, tried to capture him. But the Mouse reached his hole in safety. Though the Bull dug into the walls with his horns, he tired before he could rout out the Mouse, and crouching down, went to sleep outside the hole. The Mouse peeped out, crept furtively up his flank, and again biting him, retreated to his hole. The Bull rising up, and not knowing what to do, was sadly perplexed. At which the Mouse said, “The great do not always prevail. There are times when the small and lowly are the strongest to do mischief.”

雄牛がネズミにかまれ、その傷に腹を立てて、ネズミをつかまえようとした。しかしネズミは無事に穴にたどり着いた。雄牛は角で壁を掘りくずしたが、ネズミを追い出す前につかれてしまい、穴の外でうずくまって眠りこんだ。ネズミは外をのぞき、雄牛のわき腹にそっとよじのぼると、またかみついて穴に引き返した。雄牛は起き上がったが、どうしていいかわからず、すっかり困りはててしまった。そこでネズミは言った。「大きな者がいつも勝つとはかぎらない。小さくて身分の低い者が、いちばん強く害をあたえることもあるのだ」