[speaker 0] The story of Arthur the rat. Once upon
a time there was a young rat who
couldn't make up his mind.
Whenever the other rats asked him if he
would like to come out hunting with them, examples/files/Arthur-python.srt
he would answer in a hoarse voice, I
don't know. And when they said,
would you rather stay inside,
he would say yes
or no either. He'd always
shake making a choice.
[speaker 1] One fine day, his aunt Josephine said to
him, Now look here. No one will ever
care for you if you would carry on
like this. You have no more mind of
your own than a greasy old blade of
grass.
The young rat coughed and looked quiet as
usual, but said nothing.
[speaker 2] Don't you
think so? Said his aunt, stamping her foot,
for she couldn't bear to see the young
rat so cold blooded.
I don't know was all he ever answered.
And then he walked off to think for
an hour or more,
whether he would stay
in his hole in the ground
or go out into the loft.
[speaker 3] One night, the rats heard a loud noise
in the loft.
It was a very dreary old place. The
roof let the rain come down, come washing
in.
The beams in the rafters had all rotted
through, so the whole thing was quite unsafe.
At last one of the joists gave way
and the beams fell with one edge on
the floor.
The walls shook,
the cupola fell off,
and all the rat's hair stood on end
with fear and horror.
[speaker 4] This won't do for any leader.
We we can't stay cooped up here any
longer. So they sent out scouts to start
exploring their
home. A little later on that evening, the
scouts come by and said they'd find an
old fashioned hard farm
where there would be room and board for
all of them. The leader gave the order
at once, come new, fallen in. And the
rats crawled out of the hole right away
and stood on the floor in a long
line.
[speaker 5] Just then, the old rat caught sight of
young Arthur.
That was the name of the shaker.
He wasn't in the line
and he wasn't exactly outside it. He stood
just growled
the old rat coarsely. 'Of course, you're growled
the old
rat coarsely.
Of course, you're coming too.
I don't know,
said Arthur calmly.
Why, the idea of it. You don't think
it's safe here anymore,
do you?
[speaker 6] I'm not certain,
said Arthur, undaunted.
Your roof may not fall down yet.
Well, said the old rat, she can't wait
for us to for you to join us.
Then he turned to the other and shouted,
right about the face, march.
And the long line marched out
to burn while the young rat watched him.
[speaker 7] I think I'll go tomorrow, he said to
himself, but then again, perhaps I won't.
It's so nice and snug here. I guess
I'll go back to my hold under the
log for a while
just to make up my mind.
But during the night, there was a big
crash. Down came beams, rafters, joists, the whole
business.
[speaker 8] Next morning, it was a foggy day, some
men came to look over the damage.
It seemed odd to them that the old
building was not haunted by rats.
But at last one of them happened to
move aboard,
and he caught sight of a young rat,
quite dead, half in and half out of
his hole.
Thus, the shirker got his due and there
was no mourning for him.