Once a big fat Mouse and a lively little Mouse were hopping along together when they had the misfortune of jumping into a pail of fresh milk. They swam for hours and hours hoping to get out somehow; but the sides of the pail were steep and slippery and death seemed to be certain.

When the big Mouse was exhausted he lost courage. There seemed no hope of rescue. 'Why keep struggling against the inevitable? I cannot swim any longer.' He moaned.

'Keep on! Keep on!' urged the little Mouse, who was still circling the pail. So they went on for a while. But the big Mouse decided it was no use.

'Little brother, We may as well give up' he gasped. 'I am going to quit struggling.'Now only the little Mouse was left. He thought to himself. 'Well, to give up is to be dead, so I will keep swimming.'

Two more hours passed and the tiny legs of the determined little Mouse were almost paralysed with exhaustion. It seemed as if he could not keep moving for another minute. But he thought of his dead friend, and intoxicated with determination, the little Mouse kept on swimming around and around the pail, chopping the milk into white waves. After a while, just as he felt completely numb and thought he was about to drown, he suddenly felt something solid under him.

To his astonishment, he saw that he was resting on a lump of butter which he had churned by constant paddling! And so the successful little Mouse leaped out of the milk pail to freedom.

Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached - Swami Vivekananda