A mouse peered through a crack in the farmhouse wall one day and saw the farmer's wife come home from the store. She held up an object and told the farmer, "I've got a mousetrap to kill the mouse. We will be rid of him in no time."
The frightened little mouse ran outside and told the chickens. "What do you expect us to do about it?" they asked. It doesn't affect us.
The mouse ran and told the pig. "I don't live in the house," said the pig, "so your problem really doesn't concern me, but if you want, I'll pray for you."
Desperately seeking help, the mouse ran to the cow. "Go away," said the cow, "and don't bother me about such trivial matters. It doesn't affect me anyway."
So, the poor little mouse went back to his hole to face the big, bad trap all alone. Sometime in the night, a loud SMACK sounded from the kitchen. The farmer's wife ran to the trap to see if she had caught the mouse. In the darkness of the hour, she didn't see that she had actually caught a poisonous snake, which bit her.
The doctor came and did his best. He told the farmer that he should feed his wife some hot chicken soup to help her get well. So, the farmer butchered the chicken for his wife. As she lay, getting weaker each day, friends took turns coming to sit with her. The poor farmer had to butcher the pig to help feed them.
At last the wife finally died, and friends and family from far and near came to mourn her death. The farmer, to feed them all, butchered the cow.
**The next time you think something doesn't concern you, or other people's problems don't matter, remember that those burdens might someday be your own
