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38Aesop's Fables¹  

The Rat and the Elephant

By Rob John

A Rat was walking through the city. 

He was a very proud Rat who 

believed that he was the most 

frightening animal alive .

‘Oh , yes!’ said the Rat to himself. 

‘Everyone’s scared of me.’ 

‘Scary Rat coming through. Out of 

my way.’ 

The Rat turned a corner and saw 

a crowd of people standing² by the 

side of the road.

‘Brilliant,’ thought the rat. ‘I do like 

a crowd.’

He jumped out into the middle of 

the road right in front of the crowd 

and waited for the first scream...

but there wasn’t one. Everybody 

was staring up the road. Nobody 

even noticed the Rat.

‘Look everybody,’ said the Rat. 

‘Over here. Rat. See.’ 

Nothing happened. The people 

were all too busy looking up the 

road. 

‘This is ridiculous,’ said the Rat. 

‘Are you all blind? Can’t you see 

me?’

Then the Rat saw what the people 

were looking at. 

An elephant was coming down the 

road. Sitting on the elephant ’s back 

and stroking³ a large white cat rode 

the King.

‘Wow,’ said a man. ‘Just look at the 

size of that elephant!’

‘Never mind the elephant,’ said the 

Rat. ‘What about me. Look at me. 

I’m a scary rat.’

‘Yes look at its wonderful long 

trunk,’ said a woman.

‘That’s just its nose,’ said the Rat. 

‘I’ve got a nose.’

‘And its huge ears,’ said a little girl.

‘I’ve got ears,’ said the Rat , 

jumping up and down.

But nobody was listening. They 

were too busy admiring the enor-mous elephant.

‘That is the most wonderful crea-ture in the whole world,’ they all 

said.

‘No...no!’ said the Rat. ‘There’s 

nothing wonderful about elephants. 

How many legs have they got? Four 

like me. How many eyes have they 

got? Two like me. What colour are 

they? Grey like me. See, I’m exactly 

the same as an elephant except an 

elephant’s really slow and boring 

and I’m truly the most fierce and 

terrifying creature in the world.’

But nobody noticed the Rat...

...apart from the King’s Cat. 

‘Look at me...look at me. I’m ex-actly like an elephant ‘cept better. 

Elephant’s are rubbish. I am the 

most fierce and...’

The Rat didn’t finish what he was 

saying because ... 

...in an instant the white cat had 

run down the elephant’s trunk and 

was staring the Rat in the face. 

‘Exactly like an elephant, eh?’ said 

the Cat looking down at the Rat. 

‘Well maybe not exactly,’ said the 

Rat looking nervously⁴ at the cat’s 

sharp claws. ‘Obviously my nose 

isn’t quite as long...my ears are 

a bit smaller...and I haven’t got a 

king riding on my back…’ 

Suddenly the Cat’s paw⁵ flashed out 

and pinned the Rat to the ground. 

The Rat couldn’t move.

‘Think I could do this to an ele-phant?’ said the Cat.

‘Um...not sure,’ said the Rat.

The Cat scooped⁶ up the Rat and 

held him up to her mouth.

‘Think I could do this to an ele-phant?’ said the Cat.

‘No , maybe not,’ said the Rat shak-ing in fear.

‘Think I could eat an elephant in 

two seconds flat?’ asked the  Cat.

‘Nope,’ whispered the Rat.

‘Look what I’ve found,’ said the Cat 

to the people putting the terrified 

Rat back down on the ground.

The Rat was shaking and looked 

so small and scared that people 

weren’t at all frightened of him. 

‘What is it?’ said a man.

‘Sort of mouse I think,’ said his 

wife. ‘Funny little mouse thing 

probably.’ 

As he slunk away the Rat heard the 

Cat say ‘A rat and an elephant may 

be the same colour but that doesn’t 

make them the same size. You re-member that...Mr Rat.’

And the Rat did remember that. For 

ever. 

1 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 stroking   

按抚法

参考例句：

• No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. 谁都不能抚摸一只老虎就使它驯服得像一只小猫。 来自演讲部分
• He was still fairly calm, except that he kept stroking his chin. 他依然很镇静，不过时时用手摸着下巴。 来自子夜部分

4 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

5 paw   

n.手掌，手爪；v.以蹄扒地，笨拙地使用，费力地前进

参考例句：

• He served as a cat's paw.他充当爪牙。
• Don't paw at everything you see.别见什么摸什么。

6 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》