Snoutie and His Friends

Just when they thought they could not go any farther, they noticed a small, long-eared, fluffy, grey creature waving its paw at them from under a large burdock leaf. Desperate to escape from the wasps that were catching up with them, Snoutie and Michelle rushed over to the leaf at full speed. They hid themselves away beneath it and then suddenly fell down into a hole and found themselves in someone’s den.

“That’s it, you can come out now. The wasps have flown by,” the owner of the den said from above and then introduced himself to the panting and frightened travelers. “I am Loppy the Believing Bunny.”

“Thank you ever so much,” said Michelle as soon as she caught her breath.

“Yes, thank you! You saved us!” chimed in Snoutie. “But why are you called that?” he asked curiously.

“Because…because that’s what I’m called…because my den is under a big burdock leaf, which is lop-eared just like me,” answered their savior somewhat slowly. “Well, and probably also for some other reasons as well,” he added, avoiding their question as he stroked his long, grey ears with his paws.

Then he noticed that Snoutie had swollen up from the wasp bites and that Michelle had scratches on her legs. He got very worried and even started shaking out his ears.

“Oh, oh, oh! You need some emergency medical assistance!” he exclaimed, happy to change the subject.

Loppy hopped off somewhere and soon returned carrying some green leaves in his paws. He ground them up like a professional and stuck them onto Snoutie’s snunk and Michelle’s scrapped knee.

“This will do the trick,” said Loppy in his best doctor’s voice. “You won’t even notice how quickly everything heals. And these are for you, Snoutie: cold pebbles from the stream. You need to hold them up against your snunk.”

Then it was time to say goodbye. Loppy the Believing Bunny wished the friends good health and gave them each of juicy, orange carrot.

As they came out of the den, Snoutie and Michelle noticed that the sun was already starting to set beyond the tips of the trees. Dusk was settling in over the forest and the first stars were appearing in the sky.

“To tell you the truth, I’m a little hungry, and I wouldn’t mind a light dinner,” complained Michelle. “A warm bun with raisins and a mug of hot chocolate would be just right.”

Snoutie also felt quite hungry.

At that moment they heard a strange rustling of leaves and a delicate little squeak.

A small, chubby grey mouse appeared between the trees. Her round tummy didn’t seem to prevent her from moving quickly, and on her back she was carrying a sack filled with grain, which was quite large for her height.

“Into the den! Everything into the den! Don’t block the path! Move aside!” she exclaimed by way of a greeting. “I have to get everything into the den or the rains will start and I’ll lose all my supplies! Then what will we eat all winter? Into the den! Everything goes into the den right away!”

“Let’s help her,” Michelle whispered into Snoutie’s ear. “She’s so small and those sacks must be so heavy for her.”

Snoutie and Michelle helped their new friend gather up the grain and carry it into her den. After that, Housey Mousey—for that is what this little mouse who stored her food wisely was called—offered them some dinner:

“We’ve done what we needed to do! My supplies of grain are safe and well-hidden! Now we should have a bite to eat.”

Housey Mousey took all the best things out of her cold cellar: little ears of oats and wheat, grains of buckwheat and corn, dried white mushrooms, and last year’s acorns, and laid them out on a wide stump. Then she invited her guests to start eating.

Snoutie and Michelle, who were starving, threw themselves at the food and quickly ate their fill. They warmly thanked their kindly hostess for the meal, but then they suddenly felt embarrassed: together they had probably eaten a year’s supply of the mouse’s food.

“Learn how to give generously and your gifts will be returned to you,” said Housey Mousey, as if in response to their thoughts. Then she bid them farewell.

As they continued on their way, the mouse’s song carried to them from somewhere behind the trees:

Give generously

And you’ll be a plump old Mousey!

Give generously

And you’ll be a wise old Mousey!

“We really need to get home,” worried Michelle. “It’s too bad we weren’t able to find our magical white flower,” she added sadly.

“It really is,” answered Snoutie. “We must have done something wrong or looked in the wrong place.”

“H-o-o-o-t!” rang out a voice from somewhere way up high in a pine tree. “As far as doing something wrong, well you sure got that right. For starters, you never should have gone out on such a long walk without permission from your parents. And that goes for both of you,” the voice scolded. “You must have known that your parents would get very worried and upset! Well, anyway, let’s get acquainted.”

The invisible speaker flew noisily down to a lower branch.