The Little Mouse's Hat - A Marathi Fable

Once upon a time, there was a clever little mouse who really really wanted to have a nice hat. But he had no money. So, he found a rag on the roadside and took it to the washerman, who he praised and requested politely to wash his cloth. Once cleaned, he took the cloth to the tailor and once again, after some flattery, requested him to stitch him a nice hat. After he had the hat, he found various ways to accessorise it with tassels and bells of various colours and was very happy now that he had the fancy hat he always dreamt of.

He picked up a drum and started beating it, shouting, "I have the best hat in the kingdom, even better than the King's crown. Dum-dum-dumaak."

The King heard this and ordered the mouse to be arrested and his hat confiscated. The mouse, hatless now, went on beating his drum and shouting, "The King is a beggar. The King is a thief. He is jealous of a mouse. He stole my hat. Dum-dum-dumaak."

The King was livid. He ordered the mouse back and threw his hat on his face asking him to take it and get lost. The mouse went away, beating his drum and shouting, "The King is a coward. He got scared of me. He conceded to a little harmless mouse. Dum-dum-dumaak."

I don't know why but I just thought of telling everyone this story. Any connection to any comedians and anything they spoke to power are coincidental and a figment of the reader's imagination. See you around, folks. Dum-dum-dumaak.