1After a while Hem's and Haw's confidence grew into the arrogance of success. Soon they became so comfortable they didn't even notice what was happening.

2As 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.

3One morning they arrived at Cheese Station C and discovered there was no cheese.

4They 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.

5They 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.

6The mice did not over analyze things. To the mice, the problem and the answer were both simple. The situation at Cheese Station C had changed.

7So, Sniff and Scurry decided to change.

8They 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.

9They were quickly off in search of New Cheese.

10Later 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. They were unprepared for what they found.

11"What! No Cheese?" Hem yelled. He continued yelling, "No Cheese? No Cheese?" as though if he shouted loud enough someone would put it back.

12"Who moved my Cheese?" he hollered.

13Finally, he put his hands on his hips, his face turned red, and he screamed at the top of his voice, "It's not fair!"

14Haw just shook his head in disbelief. He, too, had counted on finding Cheese at Cheese Station C. He stood there for a long time, frozen with shock. He was just not ready for this. Hem was yelling something, but Haw didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to deal with what was facing him, so he just tuned everything out.

15The Little people's behavior was not very attractive or productive, but it was understandable. Finding Cheese wasn't easy, and it meant a great deal more to the Little people than just having enough of it to eat every day.

16Finding Cheese was the Little people's way of getting what they thought they needed to be happy. They had their own ideas of what Cheese meant to them, depending on their taste.

17For some, finding Cheese was having material things. For others it was enjoying good health or developing a spiritual sense of well-being.

18For Haw, Cheese just meant feeling safe, having a loving family someday and living in a cozy cottage on Cheddar Lane.

19To Hem, Cheese was becoming a Big Cheese in charge of others and owning a big house atop Camembert Hill.

20Because Cheese was important to them, the two Little people spent a long time trying to decide what to do. All they could think of was to keep looking around Cheeseless Station C to see if the Cheese was really gone.

21While Sniff and Scurry had quickly moved on, Hem and Haw continued to hem and haw. They ranted and raved at the injustice of it all. Haw started to get depressed. What would happen if the Cheese wasn't there tomorrow? He had made future plans based on this Cheese.

22The Little people couldn't believe it. How could this have happened? No one had warned them. It wasn't right. It was not the way things were supposed to be.

23Hem and Haw went home that night hungry and discouraged. But before they left. Haw wrote on the wall:

24[The More Important Your Cheese Is To You The More You Want To Hold On To It.]

25The next day Hem and Haw left their homes, and returned to Cheese Station C again, where they still expected, somehow, to find their Cheese.

26The situation hadn't changed, the Cheese was no longer there. The Little people didn't know what to do. Hem and Haw just stood there, immobilized like two statues.

27Haw shut his eyes as tight as he could and put his hands over his ears. He just wanted to block everything out. He didn't want to know the Cheese supply had gradually been getting smaller. He believed it had been moved all of a sudden.

28Hem analyzed the situation over and over and eventually his complicated brain with its huge belief system took hold. "Why did they do this to me?" he demanded. "What's really going on here?" Finally, Haw opened his eyes, looked around and said, "By the way, where are Sniff and Scurry? Do you think they know something we don't?" Hem scoffed, "What would they know?"

29Hem continued, "They're just mice. They just respond to what happens. We're Little people. We're smarter than mice. We should be able to figure this out." "I know we're smarter," Haw said, "but we don't seem to be acting smarter at the moment.

30Things are changing around here, Hem. Maybe we need to change and do things differently. "

31"Why should we change?" Hem asked. "We're Little people. We're special.

32This sort of thing should not happen to us. Or if it does, we should at least get some benefits. "

33"Why should we get benefits?" Haw asked.

34"Because we're entitled," Hem claimed.

35"Entitled to what?" Haw wanted to know.

36"We're entitled to our Cheese."

37"Why?" Haw asked.

38"Because, we didn't cause this problem," Hem said. "Somebody else did this and we should get something out of it."

39Haw suggested, "Maybe we should simply stop analyzing the situation so much and go find some New Cheese?"

40"Oh no," Hem argued. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."