THE MICE summoned a council to decide how they might best devise
means of warning themselves of the approach of their great enemy
the Cat. Among the many plans suggested, the one that found most
favor was the proposal to tie a bell to the neck of the Cat, so
that the Mice, being warned by the sound of the tinkling, might
run away and hide themselves in their holes at his approach. But
when the Mice further debated who among them should thus “bell
the Cat,” there was no one found to do it.