The Cat and the Mice from Aesop for ESL Students

The Cat and the Mice from Aesop with a podcast and list of new vocabulary ideal for advanced ESL students to learn vocabulary in real context

The Cat and the Mice is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project

Video of The Cat and the Mice

The Cat and the Mice

There was once a house that was overrun with mice. A cat heard of this, and said to herself, “That’s the place for me,” and off she went and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the mice one by one and ate them.

• overrun: invaded, attacked
• quarters: special area, part, territory

At last, the mice could stand it no longer, and they determined to take to their holes and stay there. “That’s awkward,” said the cat to herself: “the only thing to do is to coax them out by a trick.”

• at last: finally, eventually
• determined: decided
• awkward: difficult, embarrassing
• coax: persuade, wheedle
• trick: ploy, deception

So she considered a while, and then climbed up the wall and let herself hang down by her hind legs from a peg, and pretended to be dead.

• hind: back, rear
• peg: a short stick or hook for hanging things

By and by, a mouse peeped out and saw the cat hanging there. “Aha!” it cried, “you’re very clever, madam, no doubt: but you may turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet you won’t catch us coming anywhere near you.”

• by and by: after a while, before long
• peep out: peek, steal a look, glance, look at something quickly and secretly
• meal: repast, food, snack, feast

If you are wise, you won’t be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.

• air: appearance, look, manner