Dog, cat, mouse (folk tale)

There was a time, children, when the friendship between the dog and the cat was great. But that was indeed a long time ago, even at the creation of the world. When God created the world, the cat ate the plum and the dog ate the mushroom. But later the cat got really bored with the plum.

He goes to the dog and says:

• My dear, I’m really bored with plums, you’re probably bored with mushrooms too, let’s switch!

“I don’t mind,” said the dog, “because I’m bored of the mushroom too, it’s fine, let’s switch.” But I will tell you in advance, from now on eat plums in such a way that if I catch you, I will kill you.

Well, the cat hasn’t eaten any plums since then, and he doesn’t eat them today either. The dog doesn’t eat mushrooms either. Because of this, they would never have fallen apart, but once the dog sold his house, he received a letter about it, and he didn’t know where to put it.

He ran to this animal, to that animal, he asked for this, he also asked that his writing be put away, so that it would not somehow be lost. But among all the animals there was not one that would have accepted the writing.

Then the dog goes to the cat:

• My cat coma, take this writing and keep it until I have a house too.

“With a good heart,” said the cat, “I wish I could keep it!”

He took the writing and then stabbed it into the master beam. Time passes, the dog needed to write, he runs to the cat:

• Here’s the writing, cat coma, I already have a house.

The cat runs up to the master beam, takes the writing from there, runs down, gives it to the dog, the dog looks at it inside and out, from all sides, and then, my lord, one word is not much, he could not read that much of it, even though he went through the schools, he was still in a foreign country too.

But in vain, the mouse chewed the papyrus. The dog gets angry, slaps the cat and threatens him:

• Well, stop, cat, you haven’t taken care of my writing as long as I’m alive, I’m always chasing you, I won’t leave you alone!

But the cat also runs to the mouse, pecks it on the neck, slaps it and licks it, and threatens it:

• Well, stop, mouse, you’ve chewed up the writing, but you won’t have any more peace of mind from me! Wherever I see you, I will catch you and eat you – and he immediately ate the mouse.

Since then, the dog has been chasing the cat, and the cat has been chasing the mouse.

(Elek Benedek: Hungarian fairy-tale world, volume 2)