Creighton University

This version of TMCM works almost entirely in terms of food.  The town visitor asks if his country host does not have other food to offer.  When told "No," he answers "Then come with me.  I will show you all the tasty food I eat everyday."  Cake and juicy fruits are both mentioned and pictured.  Pictured are also cheese and crackers.  By contrast with most versions, here a pretty woman disturbs their feast, followed by a cat.  "I can't eat.  I don't feel safe here!"  Upon arrival in the country, "He was happy and safe in his home."  Moral: "No pleasure is greater than a safe life."  Each page has two or three lines of text and a large, energetic picture.  Perhaps the best illustration shows the country mouse still shaking and sweating on 13.

This version of LM has the mouse entering the lion's cave during the lion's nap after lunch.  This mouse pleads "If you free me, then, one day, I will also help you."  The lion's English seems a bit strange in his answer: "How a small mouse like you can help me?"  The art establishes well from the beginning that all this takes place in a forest.  Each page has two or three lines of text and a large, energetic picture.  Perhaps the best illustration is the lion's wake-up look at the mouse on his paw (3).  The editors were wise to choose it for the cover picture.

In this version of BW, the boy lies to the villagers on his first joke that "It was here just a few minutes ago.  It might have run away after seeing so many people."  He does the same on the next day, and they are not sure whether they believe him.  After a few days, they see and hear him again and pay him no heed.  The villagers later find several sheep dead.  This large 8½" x 11" pamphlet has 16 pages.  Each page has two or three lines of text and a large, energetic picture. Best illustrated is the excited villager on 5, who also appears on the front cover.