In the corner of a house lived a band of mice. But they had no peace — because the house had a huge cat! On soft, silent paws he'd come, and no one would even notice. Pounce! — one leap. The mice trembled with fear and hid in their hole all day.
One day all the mice sat down in the hole to hold a council. Old and young, fat and thin — everyone came. “We can't go on like this!” said one. “We simply must find a way to escape that cat.” Everyone nodded — but no clever idea came.
Suddenly a young mouse leapt up — “I've got it! I've got it!” His eyes were shining. “What if we tie a little bell around the cat's neck — ding-a-ling! Then wherever he goes, we'll hear him first and run away!”
At that, everyone burst with joy! “Wow, what a brilliant idea!” “No one's ever thought of such a thing!” Some clapped, some jumped, some began to dance. The whole hole filled with cheering at the thought of that bell.
Just then, from the corner, an old mouse rose to his feet. In a calm voice he said just one thing — “It's a fine idea, indeed. But tell me this — who will tie that bell around the cat's neck?”
And just like that — a pin-drop silence fell over the hole. In an instant all the cheering stopped. One stared at the ground, another slowly backed away. Not one — not a single mouse — dared to say, “I'll do it.”
The old mouse smiled gently — “Thinking up a clever plan is easy, little ones; but actually doing it — that's what counts.” That bell was never tied around anyone's neck. So tell me — which is easier, saying or doing?