He Could Not Read Her Books

My grandmother used to tell me a story about a city mouse visiting the country. It was one of the few stories she ever told and she never told it quite the same way twice. I wonder how she would tell it now?

I think that little city mouse finally did move to the country and once she settled in, discovered that it was a pretty good place to live. The rain dripped off the trees and filled up the wild flowers so that there was always lots of water to drink. The farmer’s wife made all sorts of yummy cheeses to nibble on and the barn was always filled with lots of animals to share her stories with.

The little city mouse even fell in love with a beautiful golden fish that lived in the farmer’s pond. His scales, how they sparkled! His tail was so graceful! His eyes were bright and so beautiful that she could barely take her eyes off of him. He had a very handsome companion who always swam with him. His world seemed perfect.

When she was sad, he would perform the most outrageous antics and make her laugh until her sides ached with joy. When she was bored, he would stir the waters and entertain her for hours on end with his reflections. He was one of the most wonderful creatures she had ever seen, always giving, always caring, always so good and kind and sweet.

But alas, she could do nothing for him. He could barely hear her words through the water’s edge and he could not read her books at all. She could smile and cheer him on, but that was all and it did not seem like enough. Sometimes this made her sad.

And then one cloudy day, she could not find him. She ran around the pond seven times and no matter where she looked, neither he, nor his companion appeared at all. The little mouse kept writing stories about him, but it wasn’t the same, because even though the little golden fish had not read her books, he had cared that they existed and the mouse discovered that this was almost as important to her as having him read them. She was so sorry that she had wasted a moment feeling sorry for herself and decided that if she had the chance to do it all again, she would not waste a minute of her time doing anything but enjoying their friendship.

When the sun came out and she glimpsed his swishy little tail in among the cat tails, mooning her and making her laugh, she discovered her world was perfect too.