Long ago, the dogs went to the king. They asked him for help. They asked him to make a new rule. They wanted people to stop bothering them.

The king agreed. He wrote a new decree. It said that people were not allowed to bother them. The king signed the decree. He gave it to the dogs. This made the dogs very happy.

But now the dogs had a problem. They needed a good place to hide it. They didn’t have any good hiding places. But they knew who did: the cats.

Cats can get into small places. They can get behind walls. They can get under roofs. The dogs asked the cats to find a safe hiding spot for the decree. The cats agreed. They put it inside a wall.

A year passed. Some dogcatchers came to town. They began to round up the dogs.

“Stop,” cried the dogs. “We have a decree from the king. You can’t bother us.”

“Prove it,” said the dogcatchers.

The dogs ran to the cats. “Where is the decree?” they asked.

The cats run to look for it. They found it. But mice had chewed it to bits.

The dogs found out. The dogs got very angry at the cats. They started chasing the cats. The cats got very angry at the mice. They started chasing the mice. And that is how it has been ever since.