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Story No. 19 - The Country of the Mice · Folk Tales From Tibet

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  Section nineteen of Folk Tales from Tibet. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Kyle Stadlehoffer. Folk Tales from Tibet
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  by William Frederick Travers O'Connor. The Country of the Mice. Once upon a
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  time there was a king who ruled over a large tract of country in which
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  there lived a great number of mice. Generally, the mice were very prosperous
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  and had plenty to eat. But it happened one year that the crops of
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  the country were very poor, and the mice, who subsisted chiefly on the
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  spare grains left after the harvest, found that their stores were running short before
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  the end of the winter. So the king of the mice decided that he
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  would make a petition into the King of the country to lend the mice what
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  grain they required, on condition that they repaid the whole amount the following year.
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  So he dressed himself up in his best clothes and set off one morning
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  to the king's palace. When he got to the door of the palace,
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  the doorkeeper asked him where he was going. Oh, replied the mouse.
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  I wish to see the King of the country, as I have a petition
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  to make to him. When the King heard that a mouse wanted to see
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  him, he was very much amused, and he ordered that the little animal
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  should be admitted. When the mouse entered the king's presence, he walked slowly
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  up the hall of audience, carrying in his hand a little silk thread,
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  which he presented to the king instead of the usual ceremonial scarf. Good morning,
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  brother mouse, said the king. What can I do for you?
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  O king, replied the mouse. You must know that this year our crops
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  have fallen short, and we are threatened with a famine unless we can borrow
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  sufficient grains to carry us through the winter. So I, who am King
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  of the Mice, have come here to ask you if you can help us
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  in this matter. If you can lend us the grain we require, we
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  will repay you faithfully with interest at the next harvest. Well, said the
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  king, how much grain do you want? I think that we shall require,
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  said the mouse. One of your big barns full. But said the
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  king, if I were to give you a barn full of grain, How
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  would you carry it away? Leave it to me, said the mouse.
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  If you will give us the grain, we will undertake to carry it off.
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  So the king agreed to present the mice with one of his great granaries
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  full of barley, and he ordered his officers to throw open the doors and
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  to let the mice carry away as much as they wanted. That night,
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  the King of the Mice summoned all his subjects together, and to the number
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  of many hundreds of thousands, they invaded the barn, and each one picked
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  up as much grain as he could carry in his mouth, on his back,
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  and curled under his tail. And when they had all finished, the
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  barn was empty, and not a single grain of barley was left. Next
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  morning, when the king went out to look at his barn, he was
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  very much astonished to find out that the mice had been able to empty it
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  so effectually, and he conceived a very high opinion of their powers. And
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  when in the following spring the King of the mice redeemed his promise by repaying
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  with interest the loan he had taken from the King of the country, the
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  latter saw that they were trustworthy as well as clever. Now it happened shortly
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  after this that the king of the country went to war with a neighboring kingdom
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  which lay on the opposite side of the river, forming the frontier between the
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  two countries. This other country was far more wealthy and powerful than the country
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  where the mice lived, and its king soon assembled a huge army on the
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  opposite bank of the river and began making preparations for invasion. When the mice
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  heard what was happening, they were much distressed, for they feared that if
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  the enemy entered their country and destroyed their friend, the king, they themselves
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  would suffer considerable hardships under a strange ruler. So the king of the mice
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  set out again to visit the king of the country, and when he reached
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  the palace, he demanded an interview with his majesty. This was at once
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  accorded to him, and, finding the king looking very depressed, he addressed
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  him as follows, I have come to you a second time, o King,
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  in order to see whether I can be of any use to you.
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  The last time I was here, you did me and my people a great
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  favor for which we shall ever be grateful, And if it is now in
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  our power to assist you in any way, we shall be very glad to
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  do our best. So the King, in spite of his grief, was
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  very much amused on hearing these words from the mouse. Why, he said,
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  what could the mice do to help me in my present predicament? We
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  are threatened with invasion by a foreign army out numbering mine by many thousands,
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  and all the men I can muster will not be sufficient to enable me to
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  repel the enemy. I don't see how the mice can help me, do
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  you remember? O king replied the mouse, that on the last occasion I
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  was here, you doubted our ability to carry away the grain you had given
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  us, or to repay you the loan, and yet we proved ourselves able
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  to do both. All we ask you now is to trust us again,
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  and if you will undertake to do one or two things which we ask of
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  you, we on our part, will undertake to rid you of the invading
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  army. The King was a good deal struck by this remark of the mouse,
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  and he replied, very well, what you say is quite true,
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  and if you will inform me what you wish me to do, I will
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  undertake to carry out my share of the bargain well, then answered the mouse.
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  All we wish you to do is to provide by tomorrow evening with one
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  hundred thousand sticks, each about a foot long, and to have them laid
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  in rows on the bank of the river. If you will undertake to do
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  this, we on our side will undertake to stave off the threatened invasion and
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  to put the opposing army into a state of confusion and panic. And if
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  we succeed in carrying out all we promise, we will ask you for the
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  future to safeguard us against the two principal dangers which threaten the existence of the
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  mice who live in your country. I will gladly do what I can,
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  replied the king, to safeguard you against these dangers, if you will tell
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  me how to proceed. The two dangers to which I refer continued the mouse
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  our flood and cats. You see, the majority of our our burrows are
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  in the low lying land near the river, and whenever the river rises a
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  little, it overflows this level country and floods our nests. What we would
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  suggest to you is that you should build a strong dam all down the river
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  bank, so as to ensure that the water cannot overflow into our nests.
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  And as for the cats, they are always the persecutors of mice, and
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  we ask you to banish them altogether from your kingdom. Very well, replied
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  the King, if you can succeed in averting the danger which now threatens us,
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  I will undertake to do all that you ask of me in this respect.
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  On hearing this, the king of the mice salaamed profoundly to the king,
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  and returned as fast as he could to his own subjects. On the
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  following evening, he marshaled all the full grown mice of his kingdom, and
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  about dusk he led down a large army, numbering several hundreds of thousands,
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  to the edge of the river, where he found the sticks, all laid
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  out as had been arranged by the King, in accordance with instructions they had
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  received. The mice at once proceeded to launch these sticks into the river,
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  and they themselves embarked upon them, two or three at a time, and
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  so, pushing off from the bank, they sailed across the river and soon
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  landed on the opposite side. It was now quite dark, and the enemy
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  soldiers were all asleep in their camp, some lying in tents, and some
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  in the open air, with their arms beside them, ready for any alarm.
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  The mice, on a word of command from the king, scattered themselves
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  without delay through the sleeping camp, and each one began to do as much
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  destruction as he possibly could in the shortest possible space of time. Some nibbled
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  at the bowstrings and the slings of the soldiers muskets, others nod the slow
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  match and the fuses, whilst others bid off the clothes and pigtails of the
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  sleeping men. In fact, they attacked fiercely anything upon which their teeth could
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  make an impression, and tents, stores, grains, and provisions of all
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  kinds were soon reduced to shreds or scattered in confusion in every direction. And
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  after a couple of hours work, they all collected upon the river bank,
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  and, embarking again on their sticks, they sailed quietly over to their own
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  shore, without having been detected by the enemy or even having caused any alarm.
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  Next morning, at daybreak, a great outcry arose from the enemy's camp.
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  Each man, as he rose from his sleep, found himself in a
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  woful plight, his clothes in rags, his pigtails, cut off his bow
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  without a string, and his rifle without a sling, and with no fuse
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  or slow match to fire it, and no provisions for breakfast. Each one
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  began to accuse the other of theft and treachery, and before many minutes had
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  passed, the whole camp was in a state of wild confusion, comrade quarreling
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  with comrade, or accusing their officers of dishonesty and ill faith. In the
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  midst of this uproar, the sound of bugles was heard on the opposite bank,
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  and a few shots were fired. And, terrified at the thought of
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  being taken unawares, the whole army took flight, and in a few minutes
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  not a man was to be seen. When the King of the country of
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  the Mice saw what had happened, he was greatly elated, and sending for
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  the King of the Mice, he thanked him very sincerely for his good offices,
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  and in accordance with the bargain they had made, he at once had
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  a strong embankment constructed all down one side of the river to guard against floods,
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  and he issued an edict forbidding all persons, on pain of death,
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  to keep a cact of any kind henceforth within the frontiers of his country,
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  and so the mice live securely and happily ever afterwards. And in order to
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  ensure against any more attempts at invasions from the side of the neighboring kingdom,
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  the king sent a herald across the river to the ruler of that country to
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  say that on this occasion he had only considered it worth while to employ his
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  mice to defeat his enemies, but that if he was again threatened, he
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  was ready to employ first all the domestic animals of the country, and if
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  they did not succeed, he would have to have recourse to the wild beasts,
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  and in the event of their failing, he was prepared to come himself
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  with his warriors in order to produce the desired results. When the ruler of
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  the other country heard this message, he considered it wiser at once to make
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  a treaty of peace, as he could not hope to defeat the warriors and
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  wild beasts of a country whose mice had shown such skill and courage. So
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  the two countries remained on friendly terms for many years after, and the mice
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  secured against flood and cat lived happily and safely, and received every year from
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  the King of the country a barn full of grain as a free gift,
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  in thankful recognition of the services which they had rendered in time of need.
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  End of Section nineteen