The Bremen Musicians' Neighbor: The Traveling Cat

An old mill cat, once prized for keeping the granary free of mice, grew too slow in her later years to catch much of anything, and the miller, seeing no more use for her, decided to be rid of her rather than continue feeding an animal that no longer earned her keep.

Overhearing his plans, the cat slipped away that same night rather than wait to be driven out, setting off down the road with nothing but her years of experience and a stubborn refusal to see herself as finished. Along the way, she came upon a struggling bakery plagued by mice eating into their flour stores each night, far too many for the exhausted baker to handle alone.

Though slower than she once was, her decades of experience reading a mouse's habits and hiding places made her far more effective than any younger, faster cat with no real knowledge of the craft. The baker, delighted, gave her a warm hearth and steady meals for the rest of her days. The old cat, reflecting by the fire each evening, understood that being pushed out of one place had never meant she was without value — only that she needed somewhere that still recognized what her years of experience were actually worth.