The Thankful Rat
故事全文
On a hot summer’s day, a rat was playing happily by the pond. Suddenly, he slipped and fell into the water. The rat struggled and shouted,“Help! Save me! I’m drowning!”A pigeon happened to be resting on a tree nearby. He heard the rat calling for help and thought,“Oh dear! I should help the poor rat!”He quickly threw a twig into the pond. When the rat saw the twig, he immediately grabbed hold of it. Then, the pigeon pulled him to the edge of the pond, and the rat scrambled to safety. After the rat got out of the pond, he thanked the pigeon gratefully,“Thank you for saving my life. I promise to repay your kindness.”The pigeon smiled and said,“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”Then, the pigeon flew away.
A week passed. One day, the pigeon was resting on a tree branch. He did not see that there was a hunter hiding in the bushes who was aiming a gun at him. The rat saw that the pigeon was in danger. So, he quickly climbed onto the hunter’s leg and bit the hunter hard.
“Ouch!” said the hunter, as his shot missed the pigeon. The pigeon heard the gun shot and flew away to safety. Later on, the pigeon thanked the rat.“Thank you. You saved my life today.”The rat smiled and replied,“Don’t mention it. If you hadn’t saved me last time, I wouldn’t have been able to repay your kindness.”The pigeon laughed and said,“How surprising. I saved your life, and ended up I save my own life!”
