The Story of the Little Mouse.



A little mouse was living very well and safe in her family. But, one time she said, "Far, far away, I can see a big red mountain. I feel that I have to go to this big red mountain and climb to the top".


Her sisters, brothers and friends were against this plan and they said to the little mouse, "Why do you want to go? That will be a lot of trouble for you. Here you are at home, you are with your family and friends. You have enough to eat and you are safe. You should forget this crazy idea!".


But the little mouse answered, " I have set a new goal in my life and that is to climb that mountain."


Nothing could stop the little mouse, not the warnings of her friends, nor the dangers of leaving her family. She packed all the important things that she would need on her journey. Water, blankets and even a big piece of cheese found their way into her rucksack, and with courageous steps, she started her walk-to reach her new goal.



The sun was burning very hot and after awhile the little mouse had to cross a big meadow. She was thinking about all the warnings of her friends, would a hawk catch her and eat her when she tried to cross the meadow without cover? But she was determined to go to this big red mountain and there was no way back!


The little mouse gathered all her courage together and ran across the meadow as fast as she could. Nevertheless, she suddenly saw the big hawk that she had feared would be there. But she was running so fast, the hawk couldn't catch her with his sharp talons! After recovering from the fright she recieved from this, she decided to travel only at night. Although even at night there were dangers in spite of the darkness. She decided all the snakes and owls couldn't stop her! She was not afraid of them and nothing in her life was so important to her as to reach this big red mountain and to climb to the top. She couldn't see very well in the darkness, so it would take a little longer to travel the long way to the mountain, and she would have to be very, very careful. She would not give up!



After walking a long, long way and feeling pretty exhausted, she reached a big, big torrential river. Would this be the obstacle that she couldn't overcome? She thought about going home because she was so exhausted. Her friends would laugh at her! They would say, "We just knew you would give up and come back, we told you to stay here!".


By having such thoughts, she was even more determined not to give up! But there was still the big, big torrential river. How could she cross this water? To swim wasn't possible, she would surely drown. But what to do? While looking for possibilities, she spotted a very large buffalo standing near by. "Hey brother, can you help me cross this river?", she boldly asked. "I don't believe that I can help you. To cross this big river is dangerous for me too!", answered the buffalo. But the little mouse wouldn't let herself be discouraged and said, "I must go to this big red mountain far away and therefor I must cross this river. But I need help, I can't do it by myself. If you do I will give you something!". The big buffalo looked thoughtfully at the big red mountain far away and said, "If you give me one of your eyes, I'll bring you to the other side of the river."



Immediatly the little mouse promised the buffalo one of her eyes. It was the only way to reach her goal. She had some trouble climbing up onto the back of the buffalo and she was afraid that she would fall off, but she settled in and the buffalo made his way carefully into the water of the big river. The water flooded over them and was pulling at them, and the buffalo had to strain with all his might to reach the other side. When he came out of the water again the little mouse was still in his coat shivering from the cold water. Then he turned to her and asked for the eye. As she started again on her way the buffalo said to her "Take some water with you, you have to go through a big desert. Only go at night because there are a lot of buzzards out there!". The little mouse thanked the big buffalo and left. She tried to stay under cover on her way to the big red mountain and step by step she saw it coming nearer. Thirsty and completly exhausted she reached the foot of the mountain. She took cover under some trees. She was afraid of being caught by an owl during the night. Her goal was very near but she had no energy to climb up the mountain. She so wanted to look down from on top and see the wonderful valleys all around. Would she reach her goal?


Suddenly she heard a noise from the bushes, a fox rushed out and tried to catch the little mouse. "STOP!", she cried, "I've been walking for a few weeks. That is a very long time and it has been a long way that I have come. Please don't devour me now! The buffalo helped me to cross the torrential river, please help me climb up this mountain. I am so exhausted and I have no more energy, I just can't walk another step!". The fox thought awhile about the words of the little mouse and asked, "What will you give me for your help?". The little mouse answered, "I have nothing more to give you.". To that the fox replied, "Give me your second eye and I will carry you up to the top.". The little mouse thought this over and realized that if she wanted to reach her goal there was no other way. If she refused, the fox would devour her. On the one hand, how could she look down from the mountain with no eyes, but if she said no, she would not reach the top. So she decided to give the fox her second eye. The fox took her up onto his back and started up the mountain. On the way the air got colder and there was more and more snow on the ground. Suddenly the fox jumped to the side and ran away. She couldn't understand what motivated the fox to do this.


Since she was so tired she couldn't hold herself on the back of the now running fox and she fell onto the ground. The next moment she heard an uncanny noise and felt a stabbing pain. An eagle caught her! Was this the end of it all? She was very dispared and saddened by thinking that she would never reach the top of the big red mountain. She had no more eyes to see and the eagle would devour her. She thought that that can't be everything...


The eagle flew high with the little mouse in his talons. She started to think very deeply and suddenly she could see the wonderful valleys around the big red mountain-she could see all of those wonderful things with her heart. She had never beleived that this would be possible and she could see details that she had never seen before in her whole life.



The little mouse recognized...


How Wonderful the World is!!!

You ONLY HAVE HAVE THE WILL TO REALIZE IT!!!
 

This story is a Comanche Story and was given to us from John Redeagle Castillo to share it with everybody who is interested in.