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What’s so funny about this? I guess you could say that this joke is really some “words to the wise”. This is an expression that doesn’t mean exactly what it says, making it an idiom. These words imply that taking them to heart will make you wise or wiser than you are now. In other words they are supposed to provide some kind of enlightenment perhaps, or stimulate deep thoughts. We’ll get to those is a second. But first I want to point out that the actual meaning is that these words are for those who are already smart or wise. If said people were that smart then they would have already figured this out and these words would be unnecessary, wouldn’t they? As to the actual words, well, the first part is an old proverb, ascribed to Benjamin Franklin, I believe. It states something obvious which is that it’s generally good to be the first to arrive someplace because it will secure you an advantage. If you are a bird in a flock of birds, all hunting for food, then the first bird to arrive, that is, the early bird, has the best chance of catching a worm. Worms do like to come out of the ground early in the morning. But this is a proverb, not an axiom or law. It does not always hold true, as exemplified in the second part of the joke, our punch line. Occasionally the first to arrive may end up like a scout in war who arrives first to make sure that the coast is clear, that there are no traps. Alas, the first mouse did, in fact, find a trap and got caught by it. Since the trap fulfilled its function of eliminating at least one mouse, it meant that the second mouse ends up with the cheese which had been used as a lure, or bait, an unexpected bounty by the looks of this cartoon. It just goes to show you the importance of being in the right place at the right time. And THAT’s what’s so funny and true!