Belling the Cat · Reading Room #2 | Who Will Bell the Cat? | Avery's Toolbelt

Every morning the recycling is all over the kitchen floor, and nobody ever hears Spec the puppy do it. That night Mom reads the old fable about the mice who decide to hang a bell on the cat - until somebody asks who is going to do it, and nobody says anything. Avery is outraged. They had a plan! They're cowards! So Avery makes a plan of her own: tie the little bell from the Christmas box to the recycling lid. But the Christmas box is in the garage, and the garage at night is completely dark. Gus volunteers for everything, instantly - including clearing the table. What children find out: thinking of a plan and doing the plan are two different jobs, and the doing can be the scary part. And a story can be true about how people feel, even when mice don't really have meetings. For grown-ups: an episode about being scared and embarrassed at the same time, and a mom who says she doesn't like the garage at night either. "It means you're the one who thought of the bell." Belling the Cat is a traditional fable, retold here. Avery's Toolbelt is a calm, hands-on show for ages 3-6: real tools, real cars, real kitchens, and a grown-up's hands on anything that's hot, sharp or moving. 每天早上，回收的東西都散了一地，卻從來沒有人聽到小狗 Spec 在做這件事。那天晚上，媽媽念了一則老寓言：老鼠們決定在貓的脖子上掛一個鈴鐺——直到有人問，誰要去掛？結果沒有人說話。Avery 氣壞了。他們明明有計畫！他們是膽小鬼！ 所以 Avery 也想了一個計畫：把聖誕節箱子裡的小鈴鐺綁在回收桶的蓋子上。可是聖誕節箱子在車庫裡，而晚上的車庫一片漆黑。Gus 什麼都馬上自願——連收桌子也是。 孩子會發現：想出一個計畫，跟去做那個計畫，是兩件不一樣的工作，而「做」的那一部分可能是最可怕的。還有，一個故事可以說出人心裡真實的感覺，就算老鼠其實不會開會。 給大人：這一集講同時覺得害怕又丟臉，還有一位媽媽說她晚上也不喜歡去車庫。「這代表，想到鈴鐺的人是妳。」《幫貓掛鈴鐺》是一則傳統寓言，這裡是重新改編的版本。