It was not until the moon had set and the light of the dawn had put out that of the stars that the mouse, made any real effort to help the cat.  By this time the hunter who had set the snare came to see if he had caught the cat; and the poor cat, seeing him in the distance, became so wild with terror that she nearly killed herself in the struggle to get away.  “Keep still! keep still,” cried the mouse, “and I will really save you.”  Then with a few quick bites with his sharp teeth he cut through the string, and the next moment the cat was hidden amongst the barley, and the mouse was running off in the opposite direction, determined to keep well out of sight of the creature he had kept in such misery for so many hours.  Full well he knew that all the cat’s promises would be forgotten, and that she would eat him up if she could catch him.  The owl too flew away, and the lizard went off to hunt flies in the sunshine, and there was not a sign of any of the four inhabitants of the banyan tree when the hunter reached the snare.  He was very much surprised and puzzled to find the string hanging loose in two pieces, and no sign of there having been anything caught in it, except two white hairs lying on the ground close to the trap.  He had a good look round, and then went home without having found out anything.

When the hunter was quite out of sight, the cat came forth from the barley, and hastened back to her beloved home in the banyan tree.  On her way there she spied the mouse also hurrying along in the same direction, and at first she felt inclined to hunt him and eat him then and there.  On second thoughts however she decided to try and keep friends with him, because he might help her again if she got caught a second time.  So she took no notice of the mouse until the next day, when she climbed down the tree and went to the roots in which she knew the mouse was hidden.  There she began to purr as loud as she could, to show the mouse she was in a good humour, and called out, “Dear good little mouse, come out of your hole and let me tell you how very, very grateful I am to you for saving my life.  There is nothing in the world I will not do for you, if you will only be friends with me.”

The mouse only squeaked in answer to this speech, and took very good care not to show himself, till he was quite sure the cat was gone beyond reach of him.  He stayed quietly in his hole, and only ventured forth after he had heard the cat climb up into the tree again.  “It is all very well,” thought the mouse, “to pretend to make friends with an enemy when that enemy is helpless, but I should indeed be a silly mouse to trust a cat when she is free to kill me.”

The cat made a good many other efforts to be friends with the mouse, but they were all unsuccessful.  In the end the owl caught the mouse, and the cat killed the lizard.  The owl and the cat both lived for the rest of their lives in the banyan tree, and died in the end at a good old age.