A Town Mouse and a Country Mouse were acquaintances, and the Country Mouse one day invited his friend to come and see him at his home in the fields. The Town Mouse came, and they sat down to a dinner of barleycorns and roots, the latter of which had a distinctly earthy flavour. The fare was not much to the taste of the guest, and presently he broke out with: “My poor dear friend, you live here no better than the ants. Now, you should just see how I fare! My larder is a regular horn of plenty. You must come and stay with me, and I promise you you shall live on the fat of the land.” So when he returned to town he took the Country Mouse with him, and showed him into a larder containing flour and oatmeal and figs and honey and dates. The Country Mouse had never seen anything like it, and sat down to enjoy the luxuries his friend provided: but before they had well begun, the door of the larder opened and some one came in. The two Mice scampered off and hid themselves in a narrow and exceedingly uncomfortable hole. Presently, when all was quiet, they ventured out again; but some one else came in, and off they scuttled again. This was too much for the visitor. “Good-bye,” said he, “I'm off. You live in the lap of luxury, I can see, but you are surrounded by dangers; whereas at home I can enjoy my simple dinner of roots and corn in peace.”
有一只城里的老鼠和一只乡下的老鼠是朋友。有一天，乡下的老鼠邀请朋友来自己在田野中的家做客。城里的老鼠来到后，乡下老鼠以大麦粒和植物根来款待客人。植物根透着一种明显的泥土的气息，城里老鼠并不太喜欢这种口味，吃了没多久，他便开口：“我可怜的朋友，你过得比蚂蚁还不如。你去看看我吃的是什么吧！我的储藏室里面满是珍馐美味，你一定得和我一起回家，我保证你会养尊处优的。”他回城的时候，便带着乡下老鼠和他一起，他给乡下老鼠展示那装满了面粉、燕麦、无花果、蜂蜜和蜜枣的储藏室。乡下老鼠从来都没有见过这些东西，便坐下来享受朋友的款待。但是他们还没开始吃，储藏室的门便开了，有人走了进来。两只老鼠立刻落荒而逃，藏身到一个狭小而不舒服的洞里。过了一会儿，一切安静下来，他们又出去继续吃，但是很快又有人来了，他们再次落荒而逃。乡下老鼠实在受不了了，说：“再见，我要走了。你是生活得很奢侈，我都看到了，但是你被危险包围着，而在我家，我可以安心无忧地享受根和谷物这些简单饭肴。”