Some clever mice

Claudia was a very greedy cat. She ate almost anything, but nice fat mice were her favourite things. There were lots of them in her master's house, and every day she went to bed. After a while the mice became very frightened, and refused to come out of their holes. They sat inside them with only their eyes showing watching to see if the cat was around.

Claudia began to get hungry, so at last she thought of a trick. She fell down where the mice could see her, gave gave a little miaow and lay still, pretending to be dead. But nothing happened! After a while, Claudia said in a whisper: "I'm dead. you can come out now." But the mice called back: "We're not as stupid as you. We can tell the difference between a live cat and a dead one."