The Country Mouse and the City Mouse

One day, the city mouse went to visit his country cousin. The country mouse was very pleased to have his city cousin visit, and he gave his cousin the very best food – beans, cheese, and bread. But the city cousin turned up her nose and said, “My poor cousin, how simply you eat and live! Come to the city with me to see the good life.” So the two of them set off for the bright lights of the city.
They arrived in the evening, and immediately the city mouse took her country cousin to the dining room in the big house where she lived.
The room was empty, but the table was loaded with leftovers. The two
mice busily sampled the cakes and jam and all the other fine food.
Suddenly as they were eating, the door opened and in came the servants to clear the tables. With them came two huge dogs to eat the scraps. The mice barely escaped through a hole in the wall. The country mouse immediately asked his city cousin to show him the way home.
“Why are you going home so soon? asked the city mouse.
The country mouse answered, “Beans and bread in peace are better than cake and wine in fear.”
VOCABULARY
1. What’s the plural of “mouse”? _________________
2. “The city mouse went to visit his country cousin.” “country” means
a. a nation b. rural area; countryside c. the city
3. “The country mouse was very pleased. “pleased” means
a. pretty b. said “Please.” c. happy
4. “the city mouse turned up her nose. . .” “turned up her nose” means
a. smiled b. showed that she didn’t like something c. blew her nose
5. “the good life” means
a. poverty b. comfortable living c. good friends
6. “set off for the bright lights of the city.” “set off” means
a. began a journey b. turned off the lights c. sat down
7. “loaded with leftovers” “loaded” means
a. not very much b. loud c. filled with
8. “leftovers” means
a. lots of food
b. the food that remains after you’ve eaten
c. the best food
8. “to eat the scraps” “scraps” means a. leftovers b. the best food c. bread
9. “barely escaped”
a. almost didn’t; hardly; scarcely b. left with no clothes on c. left
GRAMMAR
1. “The country mouse was very pleased to have him visit.”
HAVE + PRONOUN/NOUN + BASE FORM OF THE VERB
e.g. a. Sally always has her students write sentences.
b. The candidates will have (or had) their supporters vote on November 4th.
Now, please write your own example of this grammatical construction.
c. _____________________________________________________
2. “how simply you eat and live”
ADVERBS MODIFY VERBS
e.g. a. She drives slowly. Her husband drives fast.
b. He writes beautifully.
c. She cooks very well.
d. The police carefully watched the criminals.
e Find three other adverbs used similarly in the story? Please write the sentence on the line. _______________________________________________
f. __________________________________________________________
g. ________________________________________________________ Now, please write your own sentence using an adverb modifying a verb.
h.


3. “How simply you eat and live!”
You can use HOW to show surprise. It is NOT a question, so the subject and verb are in regular order.
a. How nice you look.
b. How thin you are now!
Now, please write your own HOW sentence.
c. ______________________________________________________
4. “in the big house where she lived.”
WHERE can introduce a clause following a place.
WHERE is NOT a question word here.
a. I live in San Francisco where there are two beautiful bridges.
b. I’d like to go back to the place where I was born.
Now, please write your own sentence using a WHERE clause.
c. ___________________________________________________________
5. Write all the past tense verbs, the subjects and infinitives in this story (15)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.

CONVERSATION
1. Who are the characters in this story?

2. Which mouse visited the other mouse?
_____________________________________________________________
3. What food did the country mouse feed his city cousin?


4. What made the country mouse want to go home? _____________________________________________________________
5. What did the country mouse mean when he said, “Beans and bread in peace are better than cake and wine in fear.”
____________________________________________________________