The barking mouse

A tale that might be an old joke, but that may also be a Cuban folktale

The bones of the story:

• Mouse family goes for a walk, gets accosted by a cat, and either mommy-mouse or daddy-mouse barks (like a dog) until the cat runs away.
• Moral: see why it’s helpful to speak another language, kids?
• Alternative: mouse family is at home when cat invades, sneaking around kitchen in search of food, make it up.

You can listen to the story here:

Sources:

• South Africa kids joke commonly told in schools
• Storyteller Antonio Sacre cites this as a Cuba tale, told to him by his mother. He wrote a wonderful book that’s worth taking a look at: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1820204.The_Barking_Mouse.

Classification:

TBC