# Cat and Mouse in Partnership _Retold by Talerie (talerie.com) from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm_ · 6 min read · ages 6+ A cat and a mouse hide a pot of fat in the church for winter, but the cat keeps pretending she has been asked to be a godmother and eats it, naming her godchildren Top-off, Half-done, and All-gone. In winter, the mouse finds the pot empty and starts to say “All-gone,” and the cat springs on her and swallows her down. --- Once upon a time a cat made friends with a mouse. She talked so warmly and so often of her great love and friendship that at last the mouse agreed they should live together and keep house. “But we must lay something by for the winter,” said the cat, “or we’ll go hungry. And you, little mouse, can’t go poking around everywhere, or one day you’ll be caught in a trap.” This was good advice, so they followed it and bought a pot of fat, but they didn’t know where to keep it. After thinking it over for a long time, the cat said, “There’s no better place for it than the church, because nobody dares to take anything from there. We’ll hide it under the altar and not touch it until we really need it.” So the pot was put away safely. It was not long, though, before the cat began to long for it, and she said to the mouse, “I have something to tell you, little mouse. My cousin has had a baby boy, white with brown spots, and she has asked me to be his godmother. I’m to hold him over the font at the christening. Let me go today, and you keep house by yourself.” “Yes, yes, of course, go,” answered the mouse. “And if they give you something very good, think of me. I’d love a drop of the sweet red christening wine too.” None of it was true. The cat had no cousin, and nobody had asked her to be godmother. She went straight to the church, crept up to the pot of fat, and licked the top off it. Then she strolled over the rooftops of the town to see what might turn up, stretched out in the sun, and licked her lips every time she thought of the fat. It was evening before she came home. “Well, here you are again,” said the mouse. “I’m sure you’ve had a merry day.” “It all went very well,” answered the cat. “What name did they give the child?” “Top-off,” said the cat, cool as you please. “Top-off!” cried the mouse. “What an odd name. I’ve never heard it before. Is it a common one in your family?” “What does it matter?” said the cat. “It’s no worse than Crumb-stealer, and that’s what your godchildren are called.” Before long the cat felt the craving again. She said to the mouse, “You must do me a favor and keep house alone for one more day. I’ve been asked to be godmother again, and this one has a white ring around the neck, so I can’t say no.” The good mouse agreed. But the cat slipped along behind the town walls to the church and ate up half the pot of fat. “Nothing ever tastes as good as what you keep for yourself,” she said, very pleased with her day’s work. When she came home, the mouse asked, “And what was this child named?” “Half-done,” answered the cat. “Half-done! What are you saying? I’ve never heard such a name in all my life. I’ll bet you anything it isn’t in the calendar of saints.” Soon the cat’s mouth began to water for another lick. “All good things come in threes,” she said. “I’ve been asked to be godmother again. This one is pure black except for his white paws; there isn’t another white hair on his whole body. That happens only once every few years. You’ll let me go, won’t you?” “Top-off! Half-done!” said the mouse. “They’re such odd names, they set me thinking.” “You sit at home in your dark gray fur coat with your long tail,” said the cat, “and your head fills up with fancies. That’s what comes of never going out in the daytime.” So the cat went, and while the mouse swept the house and put everything in order, the greedy cat emptied the pot of fat to the very bottom. “Once it’s all eaten up, I can have some peace at last,” she said to herself, and she did not come home until night, full and fat. At once the mouse asked what name the third child had been given. “You won’t like it any better than the others,” said the cat. “He’s called All-gone.” “All-gone!” cried the mouse. “That’s the most suspicious name of all! I’ve never seen it written anywhere. All-gone? What can that mean?” She shook her head, curled up, and went to sleep. After that, nobody asked the cat to be godmother again. But when winter came and there was nothing left to find outdoors, the mouse remembered their store. “Come, Cat,” she said, “let’s go to the pot of fat we put away for ourselves. We’ll enjoy that.” “Oh, yes,” answered the cat. “You’ll enjoy it about as much as you’d enjoy sticking that dainty tongue of yours out of the window.” Off they went. When they reached the church, the pot of fat was still in its place, but it was empty. “Oh no!” said the mouse. “Now I see what happened! You are a true friend! You ate every bit of it while you were standing godmother. First Top-off, then Half-done, then…” “Hold your tongue!” cried the cat. “One more word and I’ll eat you too.” “All-gone” was already on the poor mouse’s lips. She had hardly said it when the cat sprang on her, seized her, and swallowed her down. And that is the way of the world. --- - Read online: https://talerie.com/en/tales/cat-and-mouse-in-partnership - Author's country: Germany (https://talerie.com/en/tales/country/germany) - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110648 - Tale type: ATU 15 (per Wikidata) - Source: Household Tales by Brothers Grimm, trans. Margaret Hunt (Project Gutenberg #5314) (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5314) - Public-domain basis: Talerie contemporary retelling (CC0 2026), based on: Household Tales by Brothers Grimm, trans. Margaret Hunt (Project Gutenberg #5314) — translation: author died 1859/1863 (+70 passed); translator Margaret Hunt died 1912 (+70 passed) - License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)