情けは人の為ならず
授業活用例：Write an English proverb that best describes this story.
回答例：One good deed deserves another.
ミッキーマウスの誕生秘話です。
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Mortimer the Mouse
Walter wasn’t doing very well as a businessman. He didn’t have enough money to pay the rent or even eat a decent meal. Every day his lunch consisted of a small cheese sandwich. Although he didn’t have enough to eat himself, there was a little creature even more pitiful. A little mouse lived in Walter’s office that had even less. Walter felt sorry for Mortimer, the name he gave to the little mouse. He decided to share his lunch with him. Every day he gave him a little piece of cheese from his sandwich. By and by Walter and Mortimer became good friends. Mortimer would sometimes even sleep with Walter.
Business got so bad that Walter decided to give up and move. But he was worried about Mortimer. Some people in Walter’s office building used the same kind of cheese that was in the sandwiches as bait in their mouse traps. Walter was afraid his little friend would be killed. So he took Mortimer to the forest and let him go. Walter hoped Mortimer would be safe there. He missed Mortimer, but he knew he had done the right thing.
Walter decided to try his luck as an artist, and draw cartoons. He traveled to California, where his brother, Roy, lived. Together they set up a little animation workshop in their uncle’s garage. They began making animated films. Unfortunately they couldn’t sell any of them. Then one day Walter recalled his old friend, Mortimer. The brothers decided to make a cartoon about a mouse. But not just any mouse. This mouse would be able to talk and sing. They called their cartoon “Steamboat Willie.” It opened on September 19, 1928, and it was a big hit. The mouse in the cartoon became a super star. The brothers also became famous and very rich. You have probably heard of one of them, Walter (“Walt”) Disney. And everyone in the world knows the mouse. Of course Walt Disney didn’t use Mortimer’s real name. He called him Mickey Mouse.
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