The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
In this fable from the Greek Aesopic tradition, a Town Mouse visits a Country Mouse and finds his food disappointing. He invites his friend to town, promising him a feast.
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 — Aria
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 roots had a distinctly earthy flavour, the latter of which had a distinctly earthy flavour. The food was not much to the taste of the guestThe fare was not much to the taste of the guest, and soon hepresently he broke out with "My poor dear friend, you live here no better than the ants. Now, you should just see how I eathow I fare! My pantrylarder is a real horn of plenty, overflowing with fooda regular horn of plentyExplanation: Preserves the image of the horn of plenty and briefly explains its abundance in the sentence.. You must come and stay with me, and I promise you you will enjoy the finest foodyou 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 pantrylarder 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 really begunbefore they had well begun, the door of the pantrylarder opened and someonesome one came in. The two Mice scampered off and hid themselves in a narrow and extremely uncomfortableexceedingly uncomfortable hole. Soon, whenPresently, when all was quiet, they ventured out again; but someonesome one else came in, and off they scuttled again. This was too much for the visitor. "Good-bye," he saidsaid he, "I'm off. You live in great luxuryin 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."