Little Mouse and the Giants

Written 3-24-2023

Once upon a time, there was a Little Mouse who lived happily in a junkyard with his large mouse family. The Little Mouse loved to scurry atop the large pile of junk to see the river close by and watch the giants drive scary machines. The Little Mouse was never afraid, knowing that when the scary machines were alive, they would replace some junk with others, increasing the size of their home.

Every morning, Mama Mouse told her kids to never stray too far from the junkyard. She warned that the giants are dangerous as they will kill any mice they see; gesturing to several of their siblings who were taken by the giants. The mice siblings knew well to listen to Mama Mouse. They each would give her a kiss on the snout before venturing out with Papa Mouse to forage for food.

One day, the Little Mouse was having trouble finding food in the junkyard and was growing frustrated when he came home with very little to show. He decided he would venture out of the junkyard and find plenty of food to bring back to his family.

The Little Mouse raced across a long and rocky field. He scurried around the scary machines driven by the giants, dashing his way to a building across the lot before he could be crushed by the machine’s massive wheels.

Little Mouse took several deep breaths, before getting a whiff of delicious food close by. He walked around the building until he found a crack in the wall. Squeezing through, he followed a large pipe through several twists, turns and an upward climb.

Eventually, he reached an opening to a big room with white walls and a large table. Looking around, he spotted dozens of crumbs on the floor and the smell of food in a large black bin.

Excited, the Little Mouse ran toward the crumbs. But he ran too fast and did not notice when his foot got stuck on a flat piece of paper. Confused, he tried pulling his foot free, which caused his other foot to get stuck. Panicking, the Little Mouse tried desperately to break free, but every movement got him stuck onto the flat paper more. It wasn’t long until his entire body was glued to the piece of paper. The Little Mouse squeaked out for his family, hoping someone would come and rescue him.

The squeaks alerted the attention of a tall giant with long hair. The giant looked down and saw the Little Mouse, and released a soft spoken aw while watching it struggle to break free. The mouse wrestled on the glue trap, trying to escape the giant’s gaze, but every movement proved futile. The giant walked away for a moment and came back with a tall and skinny giant holding a strange bottle.

The long-haired giant took the bottle while the skinny giant reached down and pulled the Little Mouse and paper closer. The Little Mouse remained still, hoping to trick the giants to not eat an already dead meal. The Little Mouse felt the giants carrying it somewhere; speaking and giggling as they walked. The mouse closed its eyes, thinking back on its family and how he never should have left the junkyard like his Mama told him.

The Little Mouse felt the giants stop moving and lowered themselves to the ground. The Little Mouse opened its eyes, and saw the junkyard it called home several feet away. The mouse thought if only he could break free, he would race home and apologize to his Mama for disobeying her. The giants poured a strange liquid on the mouse, making its hair and feet very slippery and slimy. Little Mouse twitched with the liquid but was suddenly able to free his paw from the glue. He struggled more and soon his other leg was free. The giants poured more liquid on the Little Mouse, who wriggled around to free its head and back legs. Soon, Little Mouse was completely separated from the glue trap and shook off to remove the strange liquid.

Little Mouse turned to face the giants. The skinny giant tore up the glue trap while the long-haired giant placed a long vine of raspberries on the dusty pavement. The Little Mouse squeaked in joy, grabbed the vines holding the berries and lugged them into the junkyard for his family.

His family celebrated, wondering where did Little Mouse get so many berries. The Little Mouse told his story and how he was rescued by the giants. Mother and Father Mouse thanked their son for bringing them food, but grounded him for disobeying their orders. The Little Mouse accepted his punishment, happily eating a raspberry while walking to his room.