A City Mouse and a Country Mouse were acquaintances (friends), and the Country Mouse one day invited his friend to come and see him at his home in the fields. The City Mouse came, and they sat down to a dinner of roots. The fare was not much to the taste of the guest, and presently he broke out with "My poor dear friend, you live here no better than the ants. Now, you should just see how I fare (live)! You must come and stay with me, and I promise you, you shall live on the fat of the land." So when he returned to the city he took the Country Mouse with him, and showed him into a pantry containing flour and oatmeal and figs and honey and dates. The Country Mouse had never seen anything like it, and sat down to enjoy the luxuries his friend provided: but before they had well begun, the door of the larder opened and someone came in. The two Mice scampered off and hid themselves in a narrow and exceedingly uncomfortable hole. Presently, when all was quiet, they ventured out again; but someone else came in, and off they scuttled again. This was too much for the visitor. "Good-bye," said he, "I'm off. You live in the lap of luxury, I can see, but you are surrounded by dangers; whereas at home I can enjoy my simple dinner of roots and corn in peace." Recall the second step in the process to determine theme. In two to three sentences, explain why these events happened in the fable.

Select the correct text in the passage. in richard connell's short story "the most dangerous game," zaroffs aristocratic appearance and dignified manners mask his sinister, animalistic nature. which line from the excerpt best provides a glimpse into his true nature? rainsford's first impression was that the man was singularly handsome; his second was that there was an original, almost bizarre quality about the general's face. he was a tall man past middle age, for his hair was a vivid white; but his thick eyebrows and pointed military mustache were as black as the night from which rainsford had come. his eyes, too, were black and very bright. he had high cheekbones, a sharpcut nose, a spare, dark face-the face of a man used to giving orders, the face of an aristocrat. turning to the giant in uniform, the general made a sign. the giant put away his pistol, saluted, withdrew. "ivan is an incredibly strong fellow," remarked the general, "but he has the misfortune to be deaf and dumb. a simple fellow, but, i'm afraid, like all his race, a bit of a savage." "is he russian? " "he is a cossack," said the general, and his smile showed red lips and pointed teeth. "so am i." half apologetically general zaroff said, "we do our best to preserve the amenities of civilization here. forgive any lapses. we are well off the beaten track, you know." laughter shook the general. "how extraordinarily droll you are! " he said. "one does not expect nowadays to find a young man of the educated class, even in america, with such a naive, and, if i may say so, mid-victorian point of view. it's like finding a snuffbox in a limousine. ah, well, doubtless you