A Bat who fell upon the ground and was caught by a Weasel pleaded to be spared his life. The Weasel refused, saying that he was by nature the enemy of all birds. The Bat assured him that he was not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free. Shortly afterwards the Bat again fell to the ground and was caught by another Weasel, whom he likewise entreated not to eat him. The Weasel said that he had a special hostility to mice.[1] The Bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second time escaped.

[1] If the bat could pass as a mouse with weird arms, the hateful weasel could probably pass as a sickly squirrel—unless he irrationally hates squirrels, too.

Moral of the story: You are treated as the person who other people think you are.