One night a traveller came and asked if he could spend the night. At first she refused him, but she was happy to take him in when he said he would teach her a sutra.
But the truth was that the man didn't know any sutras. He realized that he was in a fix, but he was still reluctant to say that he didn't know any. As the time approached that he would have to start teaching, he gazed at the ceiling, wondering what to do. Then he saw a mouse poke its head through a hole in the ceiling, and he heard the rustling sound of steps up there.
Suddenly the traveller had an idea, and began "Om, rustle rustle."
The mouse ducked into the hole, then came out again, so the traveller said, "Again rustle rustle."
The mouse peeked into the hole, and then a second mouse came out and they both peeked into the hole. The traveller intoned, "Hole peeking by two mice."
Then the two mice faced each other as though they were conversing. The man chanted, "Something or other, mutter mutter, thus it is spoken." He ended the sutra with that.
The old woman thought that was a very useful sutra, so every day she would repeatedly intone it.
"Om rustle rustle.
Again rustle rustle.
Hole peeking by two mice.
Something or other, mutter mutter, thus it is spoken."
One night two thieves set their sights on the old woman's house. The first thief crept in with a little rustling noise just as the old woman began her sutra, "Om, rustle rustle."
When he heard that, the thief was very surprised, and stopped still. Then he withdrew with a slight rustle.
That was just as the old woman intoned the next line of her sutra, "Again rustle rustle."
The thief signaled to his comrade, and they both peeked through knotholes in the rain shutters just as the old woman got to the "Hole peeking by two mice" line of the sutra.
The thief whispered, "This is no good-- we can't pull a job tonight."
Then the old woman finished her sutra with "Something or other, mutter mutter, thus it is spoken."
The two thieves where thoroughly frightened, and escaped as fast as they could.