Children's stories

Once upon a time there was a little mouse. She lived alone in
her hole and didn’t dare to go out. She was so lonely and that
made her afraid. The fear caused her more loniliness. It was just
like she was trapped.

When the loneliness was almost driving her mad she managed to
put her head out of the hole but then she became so furious she
immediately withdraw so fast in the hole again she almost got a
headache.

Her bones shivered and she got that feeling that her soft fur
would fall off and her eyes would pop out of her head and roll
on the floor. A little tear found its way down her chin and to her
noose. But nobody knew how she felt so the little mouse
couldn’t see the reason of crying. Still, this little tear was like a
glittering diamond.

Crying this tear made her so exhausted she fell into a deep sleep.

Then she had a dream. A mouse appeared in the dream, saying:
If you dont dare to go out, then just go in. When you wake up
there will be a shovel by your bed. Make your hole bigger, that
will make your loneliness smaller.

When the little mouse woke up in the morning there was a little
shovel by her bed. She started to dug, she dug and shovel all day
long so her hole grew bigger. In the evening she was ready to
admire her work expecting the loneliness was gone for ever. But
she just felt the opposite. Her hole had grown bigger, so had the
loneliness.

I must go out and meet somebody, said the mouse. She put her
head out of hole again but became so afraid that she flew like a
rocket into her bed and covered herself with the blanket. She
was so tired after digging all day long she fell asleep at once.

Then she had a dream. A mouse appeared in her dream, saying:
Cover your hole with gold and the loneliness will disappear. It
sounds splendid advice, murmured the little mouse still
halfasleep. Then she woke up like a pile. By her bed there was a
sack full of gold. She started right ahead and spent the day
covering her hole with gold. She was so excited to see the
results that she didn’t took a break. So asure that her enemy the
loneliness would vanish like a dark cloud on a sunny day.

When she finished her job she looked around and but at once
blinded by the bright light of the gold. And blinded by the
loneliness as well. It hurt her all over. She felt that the loneliness
was not only destroying soul as to say, but also her body. The
little mouse started to think heavily. The thinking took away the
pain for a moment. But then it came again.

Suddenly the little mouse became a little bit angry. It was like
she was given her mood again. She said: These stupid dreams. It
is all their fault. Dreams are nothing. Only nonsense. She
repeated those last wors over and over again like everything else
was forgotten. But one of those nonsense-moments carried an
inspiration. She had to change her dreams. Not all dreams were
stupid. How can I change my dreams, she said to herself gently.
And then she knew: I must change the reality.

Does that mean I have to go out of the hole? Then somebody
could cut my head my head off. The little mouse was becoming
so desparate of all this she wanted moust of all to run into the
world and let it swallow her in one bite. The same thinking
started to run in her brain again: Should I put my head out of the
hole. Then suddenly: Why am I always thinking of my head?
What about putting my tail out of the hole?

The little mouse thought this was the most careless thinking
ever. But she was getting so bored of being serious all the time.
She put her tail out of the hole for a moment and even waved it
for a moment.

That night she had a dream. A mouse said to her in that dream:
Go on a holiday. The little mouse wasn’t happy when she woke
up because she was sad of the dream. It is a heavy subject going
on a holiday. Then I have to buy a ticket, put my things into a
suitcase and close it. I will never be able to do it.

This thinking was ready to go in circles in her brain when she
heard a cheerful song outside of the hole. Such a beautiful and
cheerful song. She put her head out and asked: Who is singing?

The bird, said a bird who sat there boastful, I saw such a fat
wirm here yestereday, it came out of this hole. I was hoping I
could seduce it with my song and eat it.

It was my tail, the mouse said, and thougth for a moment if she
should be insulted or not.

Oh, sorry, the bird said, but why don’t you come out to your
beautiful garden.

A garden, do I have a garden, the mouse said.

Yes, a very beautiful garden, one can have a good time in this
garden. I guess you even could take a holiday here.

Do you want to sing for me all your beautiful songs, they sound
like they are coming from allover, said the mouse, I mean if we
go on a holiday in the garden.

My pleasure, the bird said, and you would maybe be so kind to
tell me the story of the loneliness, as it says there on the sign.

What sign? Said the mouse.

It says on a sign in front of the hole: Here is told the story of the
loneliness.

The mouse was forced to go out of the hole to read this. She
recognized her own script. When have I written this, she
thought.

Perhaps in your dreams, said the bird.

It started that way, ended the little mouse this story.

*

Or what? The story has a little tail becasue when the mouse had
told her friend the bird the whole story, he thought for a moment
and then he said: The loneliness is a gift for your friend.