---
title: "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse"
story_id: "9c7f68e8-1f35-4ed8-80f4-fcda9038ddea"
text_id: "91e26e7a-b260-43e0-a261-13b80e178875"
language: "en"
version: "modern"
part: 1
part_count: 1
url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-town-mouse-and-the-country-mouse"
recommended_version: "modern"
recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-town-mouse-and-the-country-mouse"
web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics"
---

# The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

> OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits.
> [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-town-mouse-and-the-country-mouse)

Version: Modernized

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.

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 food was not much to the taste of the guest, and soon he broke out with "My poor dear friend, you live here no better than the ants. Now, you should just see how I eat! My pantry is a real horn of plenty, overflowing with food. You must come and stay with me, and I promise you you will enjoy the finest food."



![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/2182c425-e7bf-4316-9dd9-bbe15a93ad02)



So when he returned to town he took the Country Mouse with him, and showed him into a pantry 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 begun, the door of the pantry opened and someone came in. The two Mice scampered off and hid themselves in a narrow and extremely uncomfortable hole. Soon, when all was quiet, they ventured out again; but someone else came in, and off they scuttled again. This was too much for the visitor. "Good-bye," he said, "I'm off. You live in great 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."

## Modernization notes

- a regular horn of plenty → a real horn of plenty, overflowing with food: Preserves the image of the horn of plenty and briefly explains its abundance in the sentence.

## Presented text (with modernization)

© OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved.

## Original text

Aesop’s Fables, 1912, William Heinemann; Doubleday, Page & Co., London; New York

- author: Aesop
- translator: V. S. Vernon Jones

## Illustration

[Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/2182c425-e7bf-4316-9dd9-bbe15a93ad02) — Fables choisies pour les enfants, ≈ 1888, Plon-Nourrit et Cie, Paris

## Reading music

Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 — Aria  
Johann Sebastian Bach  
Kimiko Ishizaka (piano)  
Open Goldberg Variations (project)  
[CC0 1.0 Universal](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

## Quiz

### What do the front teeth of rats and mice do throughout their lives?

- Change colour every night
- Keep growing (Correct answer)
- Disappear when they become adults

Their front teeth, called incisors, grow continuously. Gnawing wears these teeth down.

[University of Michigan — BioKIDS: Rodentia](https://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Rodentia/)

### What may a wood mouse store in autumn?

- Seeds and berries (Correct answer)
- Water in shells
- Leaves for making wings

Wood mice gather seeds and berries. They may keep these food stores in underground burrows or old birds’ nests.

[The Wildlife Trusts — Wood mouse](https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/wood-mouse)

### Besides seeds and roots, what can a house mouse eat?

- Only cheese
- Stones
- Insects (Correct answer)

House mice eat a varied diet of grains, seeds, roots, fungi and insects. Cheese is not their only food.

[The Wildlife Trusts — House mouse](https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/house-mouse)

## Other languages

- [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/the-town-mouse-and-the-country-mouse?format=markdown)
- [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/the-town-mouse-and-the-country-mouse?format=markdown)

## Rights

© 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations.

[Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)