How the Mouse Got Big Ears

by Sarah Reynolds

Have you ever heard the story of how the mouse got his big ears?

As all the animals were formed, some were made bigger and others smaller. As the years passed, the animals forgot why, and so did I.

One of the smallest animals that I’ve seen living on a farm was Mouse. Now Mouse didn’t always have large ears.

It all started one day, when Mouse was eating seeds in the barn. That’s when Horse stepped on his tail. Mouse yelped out, “eeeekkk, eeeeekkk.” Several minutes passed in desperation, Mouse couldn’t escape. That was until Horse meandered to a tasty hay bale nearby.

Once freed, Mouse scurried onto the hay bale to confront Horse. Face to long face. He yelled out to Horse, “Did you not hear my cries of pain when you stepped on my tail?”

Horse replied, “I heard your annoying squeaks. In fact, your overreaction made me stay a little longer. The farmer CUTS my tail every month and you don’t hear me complaining.” Mouse, feeling ashamed and small for not noticing that Horses tail was cut and his was only stepped on, listened. Horse stammered on, “Maybe you should just stay out of the barn if you don’t want your tail messed with.” Mouse listened.

Mouse decided that he might have more luck in the field. There he saw Dog. Dog barked and barked. When Dog barked, the other animals moved. Mouse saw this and asked Dog, “Why do other animals listen when you speak?”

Dog replied, “Don’t people listen to you when you speak?”

“No,” replied Mouse.

“Hmmm.” pondered Dog. “I bet it’s because you don’t have teeth. If you borrow some of mine, maybe you can speak more clearly and folks will listen.”

So Mouse gladly took Dog’s flat teeth and Dog kept his pointed ones. Mouse went to the barn and showed Horse his new teeth. Horse laughed, “You look so cute when you show your teeth. They don’t even fit in your head.” Ashamed again, Mouse returned to Dog.

Dog saw Mouse coming towards him and barked out, “Did folks listen?”

Mouse replied, “No, they just laughed.”

Dog said, “Folks only laugh when you're doing something funny, that's my experience. You shouldn’t feel bad! Stop overreacting.” Mouse listened and was ashamed.

Determined not to overreact, but needing some space away from Dog, Mouse walked straight onto the porch. There sat Cat. Cat meowed and meowed and meowed at a little bowl by the door. After doing so for several minutes the farmer came by and poured some milk.

Hungry, and determined to not take things too seriously, mouse used his voice again. “SQUEEEEEK. SQUEEEEEK. Cheese Please!” The farmer saw Mouse and began trying to step on him in rage. “AAAAHH!” Screamed both mouse and farmer.

Narrowly escaping, Mouse proclaimed, “Farmer almost stepped on me!” Cat, overhearing this, told Mouse, “The farmer only steps on folks on accident. That’s been my experience.” Cat in indignation also proclaimed, “If you are worried about being stepped on then you need to go somewhere where no one bigger than you exists.” So, Mouse listened.

Mouse went to the field and every animal was bigger. He went to the yard and every animal was bigger. He went into the farmhouse and every animal was bigger. He went to the stream and saw that there were some animals in the water, but he couldn’t quite make out if they were bigger or smaller. Not being able to see the strange new animals, he got closer and closer until he began to panic.

Not only were these strange animals bigger than him, but he forgot that he couldn’t swim! The fish bumped into Mouse as the current overtook him. “My hands! My arms! I am not large enough to overtake the current!” The current carried Mouse straight towards the bank. Gasping for air and exhausted, Mouse was able to take a breath. But how? Mouse was levitating. “Am I dead?” thought Mouse to himself. He noticed a pinch to his side… “What is this?” A hawk had snatched him from the water. Looking down he saw that everything from there was smaller than him. Everything but the hawk.

He began to cry. How was it that he could not see it until now? Now at the time of his demise. If he moved to the sky he could see how small everything was. How everything was small. Not just him.

What about the hawk? Hawk brought Mouse to his nest. Once there, his hatchlings looked at the mouse and said, “I wanted fish, Mommy!”

“Oh my! I guess you’ll have to fix your eyesight.” Mouse replied.

Momma Hawk, so embarrassed, left her nest to go fix her eyesight which gave Mouse an opening to scurry away.

Mouse scurried, walked, ran, and then walked again. Over and over and over until finally he reached the farm.

On his way he thought. After thinking entirely too much, he began to listen. He listened to the birds chirping and how small they were in the trees. He listened to the stream that had overtaken him, now not as scary as before. He listened to crickets, smaller than he remembered but loud and powerful. He listened so hard that his ears grew larger and larger. Large enough that he could finally listen to something more. He could barely hear it at first but then. There it was. Himself.

He could hear something begin to form inside him. A twinge from his ears, he heard a thought that had never entered his head. “Maybe they don’t understand that they are small too.” He laughed.

He laughed and laughed and thought of how small everyone and everything was while in the air. He laughed when he remembered that from that perspective he saw that Horse’s tail was made of hair! Horse's world was so small from being big that he couldn’t see that Mouse's tail was made of flesh.

He laughed as he remembered how small Dog’s world was, since he never had to think twice about his words because of how sharp his teeth were.

He laughed at Cat. His world was so small because he didn’t have to work for his food and probably wouldn’t have fared as well with the hawk.

When he got back to the farm, with his new larger ears, he heard an emptiness in the wall. With his new teeth he burrowed a hole to his place in the world. He was comfortable there. There he could hear his thoughts and go out when he wanted. Now when he talked to Horse he could laugh at how obscured his perspective from the barn was. His new ears allowed him to hear exactly how ignorant Cat was. How boisterous Dog was. Everyone was smaller than he previously thought. And since everyone was smaller. Being small was no longer bad. Not with his new big ears.