Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCCXVIII

by Roger L'Estrange

For other English-language translations of this work, see The Cat and the Mice.

Fab. CCCXVIII.

A Cat and Mice.

AS a Company of Mice were Peeping out of their Holes for Discovery, they spy’d a Cat upon a Shelf; that lay and look’d so Demurely, as if there had been neither Life nor Soul in her. Well (says one of the Mice) That's a Good Natur'd Creature, I'll Warrant her; One may read it in her very Looks; and truly I have the Greatest Mind in the World to make an Acquaintance with her. So said, and so done; but so soon as ever Puss had her within Reach, she gave her to Understand, that the Face is not always the Index of the Mind.

The MORAL.

'Tis a Hard Matter fora Man to be Honest and safe; for his very Charity and Good Nature Exposes, if it does not Betray him.

REFLEXION.

NO Treachery so Mortal, as That which Covers it self under the Masque of Sanctity. A Wolfe does a Great deal more Mischief in a Sheeps-Skin, then in his Own Shape and Colour. The Mouse that took this Cat for a Saint, has very Good Company, not oy in her Mistake, but in her Misfortune too: For we have seen a whole Assembly of These Mousing Saints, that under the Masque of Zeal, Conscience, and Good Nature, have made a Shift to lay I know not how many Kingdoms in Bloud and Ashes.