To make themselves feel more at home, Hem and Haw decorated the walls with
sayings and even drew pictures of Cheese around them which made them smile.
One read:



Sometimes Hem and Haw would take their friends by to see their pile of
Cheese at Cheese Station C, and point to it with pride, saying, "Pretty nice
Cheese, huh?" Sometimes they shared it with their friends and sometimes they
didn't.

"We deserve this Cheese," Hem said. "We certainly had to work long and hard
enough to find it." He picked up a nice fresh piece and ate it.

Afterwards, Hem fell asleep, as he often did.

Every night the littlepeople would waddle home, full of Cheese, and every
morning they would confidently return for more.

This went on for quite some time.

After a while Hem's and Haw's confidence grew into arrogance. Soon they
became so comfortable they didn't even notice what was happening.

As time went on, Sniff and Scurry continued their routine. They arrived
early each morning and sniffed and scratched and scurried around Cheese
Station C, inspecting the area to see if there had been any changes from the
day before. Then they would sit down to nibble on the cheese.

One morning they arrived at Cheese Station C and discovered there was no
cheese.

They weren't surprised. Since Sniff and Scurry had noticed the supply of
cheese had been getting smaller every day, they were prepared for the
inevitable and knew instinctively what to do.

They looked at each other, removed the running shoes they had tied together
and hung conveniently around their necks, put them on their feet and laced
them up.

The mice did not overanalyze things. And they were not burdened with many
complex beliefs.

To the mice, the problem and the answer were both simple. The situation at
Cheese Station C had changed. So, Sniff and Scurry decided to change.

They both looked out into the maze. Then Sniff lifted his nose, sniffed, and
nodded to Scurry, who took off running through the maze, while Sniff
followed as fast as he could.

They were quickly off in search of New Cheese.

Later that same day, Hem and Haw arrived at Cheese Station C. They had not
been paying attention to the small changes that had been taking place each
day, so they took it for granted their Cheese would be there.