There lived an old, kind woman
in a small white house.
She lived in the middle of the
woods, and grew her own food
since she lived so far away
from the grocery store.
The old woman's only companion
was a border collie named, Miko.

The old woman and Miko made a
great team. When it was time to
start planting the vegetables,
Miko would dig the holes and the
old woman would drop in the seeds.

When it was time to harvest
the vegetables, Miko would pull
them out of the soil and the old
woman would pick them up in a
basket and wash them with a hose.
The two were inseparable and
loved each other very much.

The woods had a lot of animals
and many stray and runaway animals
went there. It was one hot day,
when Miko and the old woman were
taking a walk through the woods,
that they found a skinny black cat.

It's fur was tufted and patches
were missing, and the old woman,
with her kind loving heart, took
the black cat home and fed it.

However, Miko had a bad feeling
about the cat. He didn't voice
his thoughts to the old woman,
but he decided to keep an eye on
the cat, which the old woman
decided to call Lucky.

Finally, the harvesting of
the vegetables was over two
days later and the old woman
decided to take a walk.
Miko refused to go with her
because he was suspicious that
Lucky would do something bad.

So the old woman set off
for her walk and Miko was left
alone with Lucky. He watched
the cat closely. But soon Miko
grew tired and his eyes began
to droop. As Miko began to fall
asleep, Lucky snuck into the
kitchen and began to knock
down the metal pots and pans,
and the wooden spoons.

The noise woke Miko up
and he rushed into the kitchen,
trying to catch all the glass
bowls that were now crashing to
the floor. Lucky cackled, "The
old woman will never love you
again;" he said, "She'll think
that all the mess was made by
you and I'll be gone!"

Miko said, "Not if she trusts
me as her best friend." He rushed
to stop a pot full of flour from
going through the window. Miko only
managed to save a few glass bowls
and a couple pots of sugar and
salt, but the rest lay in a mess
on the floor.

Soon the old woman was home and
Lucky scampered out the open window,
laughing cruelly. The old woman
screamed when she saw the mess in
the kitchen, and Miko was standing
right in the middle of it all.

The first thing she did was scold Miko.
"What have you done!" she yelled at
Miko, who looked sadly back at her. He
had no way of telling her exactly how
it happened.

The old woman sent Miko outside
to sleep there for the night while
she cleaned up the kitchen. The sky
grew dark, and the old woman was
almost finished with cleaning the
kitchen. She was just about to sweep
the flour off the windowsill, when
she saw the cat tracks, and there
were also some in the pile of flour
outside as well.

She knew then that it was
Lucky that made the mess, and
she was unfairly accusing her best
and most loyal friend, Miko.
She quickly dashed outside, hugged
and apologized to Miko, who licked
her face in affection.

"I am so sorry, Miko!" she said.
"I now have learned two valuable
lessons; to trust your best
friends and have faith in them.
And that if you give enough love,
you will get more in return.
Thanks for trying to save my
kitchen, Miko."

The old woman did abide by these
three lessons and she and Miko
lived a very happy life together.