Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/The Weasel and the the Mice
THE WEASEL AND THE MICE.
A Weasel, inactive from age and infirmities, was not able to catch mice as he once did. He therefore rolled himself in flour and lay down in a dark corner. A Mouse, supposing him to be food, leapt upon him, and, being instantly caught, was squeezed to death. Another perished in a similar manner, and then a third, and still others after them. A very old Mouse, who had escaped full many a trap and snare, observing from a safe distance the trick of his crafty foe, said, "Ah! you that lie there, may you prosper just in the same proportion as you are what you pretend to be!"