[nsw-fic] Sir Mouse

[machievelli]

I read the Droid Mouse and his son, and wondered if anyone might like this. A children's book in search of an artist so I can sell it...

 

 

Sir Mouse and the Cat

 

Long ago, in a country far from here, there lived a mouse and a rat. They lived together in a great castle, where a human knight and his family lived.

 

While they didn't get along, the mouse and rat were content. After all, the castle was huge to them, and had all the room they would ever need to have families of their own. While the rat spent most of his time in the stables, the mouse spent his in the great eating hall, the library, and the rooms of the knight's children. For there was where the stories were told.

 

Just about every night, the knight would sit down, and tell his children about the monsters he had seen, the dragons he had fought, and the battles he had survived. When he was away, his wife told them, or the children's nurse would. What they didn't know was that they had one small silent listener who never asked questions, and absorbed every story like water to a dry plant.

 

The mouse dreamed of being a knight, but there was no noble mice nearby, and so he dreamed in vain. However, being a mouse that lived in a castle, he was considered important to the local mice, and soon had all the responsibility that the knight did, and was even being called Sir Mouse by the locals.

 

While he was called Sir Mouse, remember, he wasn't a knight, and had no weapons and training. He promised to help in any way he could, then wandered off to think of what he might do. He wandered into the yard, and there watched the Knight's son, swinging a stick at a wooden pole. He was entranced. Was this all he had to have? A stick?

 

Then the Knight came out, and gave the boy a small sword. The mouse watched for a few moments as the Knight patiently taught his son how to wield it. Every day when the boy practiced, a small figure aped his every move, and soon was quite good, with a stick at least.

 

When he was a year old, (a good age for a mouse) he wooed and wed a little girl mouse from the village, bringing her into the castle, and settled down to raise his family. When his children were born, he took them and his new wife to listen to the stories, and soon they enjoyed them as much as he. This happy life, however, had to end.

 

One day, a mouse came from the nearby woods, and begged him to help. A cat had moved into the area, and was killing the mice and rats that lived in the woods. She would dig into their burrows, killing their children, or wait to catch them on the paths.

 

The mouse ran through the castle, and to the blacksmith's forge. He rooted around in the small pieces of metal, and found a nail about half his height. Then he went to the blacksmith's mouse at his tiny forge.

 

"As quickly as you can, I want this turned into a sword." He said.

The Blacksmith mouse went to work as Sir Mouse ran back to watch the knight. The daily practice was stopped when a man came to call the away, and the mouse watched as he put on armor, saddled his horse, took lance to hand, and rode out to fight bandits.

 

As quick as he could, he ran back down, and the Blacksmith mouse soon had orders for a lance and armor. A short while later, the Leather worker's mouse also had orders for saddle and tack. But where to find a horse, or something to use as one? Even the smallest horse is huge to a mouse, and there aren't many animals small enough.

 

Except, thought the mouse, for something like a rat. But would he help? He went to the stable, and looked until he found the rat. The Rat was busy rooting around in the grain dropped around the manger with his wife and children.

 

"I have need of your assistance." Sir Mouse said imperiously.

 

"So?" The rat combed his whiskers.

 

"A cat has come into the local wood, and it is terrorizing the others that live outside our walls." Sir Mouse told him. "Your brothers are dying out there, and we must put a stop to this."

 

"But a cat is big!" For even to a rat, the average cat is huge. "It would eat me in five bites!"

 

"If we were to fight it mouse or rat to cat, that is true." The mouse said. "But if we fight it as men fight dragons, we have a chance."

 

Having never listened to the stories, the rat was entranced as Sir Mouse told him of his plan. If a man on a horse could kill a dragon that was as large (to them) as the cat was, then working together, they could defeat the cat.

 

The rat came with him, and soon the leather worker mouse had something to measure his saddle and tack to.

 

The next day, the blacksmith mouse delivered the weapons. The nail had become a sword, and a small knitting needle had become a lance. Tiny pieces of steel had been cut to make armor and shield. The mouse put on his armor, his son carrying the lance as he slipped the tiny sword into it's sheath, slipped the shield on his arm, and ran down to the leather worker mouse's shop.

 

There, he helped the leather worker mouse to put the saddle and bridle on the rat. Now ready, the mouse climbed up on his huge steed, took his lance to hand, and rode out of the gate.

 

They rode out, and after a few hours came on the cat, trying to dig a mouse family out of it's hole. Angered by the squeals of the trapped family, Sir Mouse slapped down the front of his helmet, couched his lance, and spurred on the rat. Fast as the wind they charged down the slope, and with a squeak, the lance poked the cat in the bottom.

 

The cat leaped straight up squalling, then came down, angry. She spun, then stopped in amazement. She faced Sir Mouse, who had turned his steed, his lance still extended.

 

Before the cat could move, the rat charged forward, and the lance poked her in the shoulder, this time sticking in, the point breaking off. The mouse pulled his sword, waved it over his head, and with a mighty squeak, spurred his charger in to attack again.

 

While cats are huge (to a mouse) they are sometimes cowards at heart, frightened when they are wounded. The cat yowled, and turned, running down the path. Behind her came the rat, carrying Sir Mouse as he chased her from the woods into the town.

 

The Knight that lived in the castle was coming home when suddenly from the woods burst the cat, still wailing. Behind it came the tiny mouse, waving his sword, and crying his battle squeak. A moment later, they disappeared into the area beyond, the cat running, the mouse and rat in hot pursuit.

 

The Knight started to laugh, and in fact laughed so hard that he almost fell off his horse. He looked toward where the unlikely pair had disappeared, and soon the rat came walking back, the proud Sir Mouse sitting with his helmet off, riding like the lord of the manor.

 

The knight got down from his horse, and looked down at the tiny creature. "Well, a cat slayer are you, eh?"

 

"Not a slayer, sir knight." Sir Mouse admitted. "For that beast ran too fast for us to catch her. But when she comes back, I'll add cat slayer to my names."

 

The knight knelt. "Are you a knight sir?"

 

"Nay, Sir Knight." The honest mouse admitted. "There are no noble mice in the country near here. I am but a humble mouse of your own castle."

 

"Well such bravery deserves a reward!" The knight got out his eating knife, a mere four inches long. "Kneel, mouse."

 

The mouse climbed down off his rat, and knelt. Gently, the knight touched him on the right shoulder, then the left shoulder, then the right again. "As master of these lands, I take upon myself the honor of dubbing thee Sir Mouse, Catbane. Arise, Sir Mouse!"

 

Sir Mouse now in truth, he stood, bowing to the knight. Then he rode home, unsaddled his rat, and went to greet his family. The children sat around, entranced as he wove the tale of confronting the dreaded cat. He showed them the broken lance, and the blood on his sword, telling of where each scrap had come from. Then after cleaning his sword, he hung it over the small fireplace in his home.

 

He received many gifts from the mice that lived in the wood, and even spent time at the Knight's table, properly dressed as a knight should be. He was considered the lord of the local mice, though to his credit, he never claimed such a title. He was asked to judge the mice and was known for his even hand in justice. During the next year, he trained his son to be a squire, and soon they were off together on adventures.

 

But the life of a village knight is boring, even for a Mouse. Catbane was watching the knight's two sons at practice, when a field mouse came in.

 

"Oh woe! There is a terrier beyond the walls! He chases our people, kills them and eats them!"

 

Catbane waved a paw. "Son! Fetch me my armor! I shall go to the stables and talk to the Rat!"

 

But that is another story.

[Tysyacha]

This is an adorable and touching story, mach! Thanks for not having Sir Mouse kill the cat outright, for I believe that you and your rodent friend are good creatures at heart.

[machievelli]

This is an adorable and touching story, mach! Thanks for not having Sir Mouse kill the cat outright, for I believe that you and your rodent friend are good creatures at heart.

 

Part of the reason was that, but I also considered as a man who owned a hell of a lot of cats that a scared cat is among the fastest animals in the world.