The Mouse and the Giant: A Fable

A giant once went out for a walk to patrol his home and keep it safe on a summer’s day. He was glad to see that all was well. The fish swam in their streams as ducks paddled over them, and they were happy. The deer ate the grass in the fields and they were happy. The lions stalked the deer from afar, and they, too, were happy. The wolves stayed at their den while the pups played, and all was well in the valley. And so the giant walked, seeing that the animals were at peace and that nothing was amiss.
The day went by without incident and night slowly came. The ducks returned to their nests, the lions and wolves to their dens, and the deer disappeared into the forest. The stars finally came out, and the giant laid down beside a blueberry bush to gaze at the heavens. He counted the distant lights and used them to form shapes in his head. He saw a bear and its cub, an archer, a bull, and a woman.
Feeling peckish, the giant reached over and plucked a branch full of ripe berries from the bush. Eating them one by one, he continued to let his mind wander as far as the most distant stars and beyond. At one point, while reaching for another handful of berries, the giant heard and agitated squeak. In his hand was the tiniest of creatures, a small female mouse.
“You need to be more careful with those big hands of yours,” she told him.
He apologized to her. “What were you doing on such a high branch?”
The mouse turned her head skyward. “So that I can better see the stars,” she replied.
The giant smiled at the mouse and nodded. “They are very bright tonight.”
“Are they?” she asked. “It is very hard to see them clearly when you are so small.
He thought for only a moment before he offered to lift the mouse up so that she could see better. She happily accepted his generosity, and carefully climbed into his outstretched hand. She then made her way up his arm and perched herself in the cup of his neck. The mouse gazed up with wonder in her eyes and the countless lights in the sky.
“There are so many.” She spoke with awe in her voice.
Again, the giant nodded. “There are. I feel as though there are new ones every night, too.”
So together they stayed awake, letting their imaginations run wild with the endless possibilities for shapes in the stars. Eventually the giant noticed that his shoulder grew quiet, and when he turned his head to look he saw that the mouse had fallen asleep. Tucked away in his neck, she had found safety and warmth, and the giant smiled to himself as he turned back to look at the stars before he also drifted off to sleep.
This ritual became a usual occurrence for the mouse and the giant, meeting on nights it was clear to enjoy the night sky together. Even when it was storming, together they sat under the cover of a tree and talked. What did they talk about? It did not matter. Sometimes it was the tune to which the drops of rain fell. Sometimes it was the sound of the rest of the world around them.And sometimes there were no words shared at all. Autumn came, the days growing shorter and colder. The mouse had come out to their normal spot but was sad to see the giant was not there, and he did not come out all evening. The next day she went to him and asked where he had been.
“The nights are too cold for me,” he explained. “I do not have the fur on my body as you do to keep my warm.”
The mouse did not consider this for long before she told the giant she would be gone for some time. She scurried out of the giant's home and out into the valley, going to each of the animals in turn to ask for some of their fur. The lions gave to the mouse from their manes, the wolves from their tails, and the deer scratched themselves on the low hanging branches of trees so she could take what fell off. And so the mouse set to work for the next several weeks.
The first snow fell one morning, blanketing the ground in a heavy layer of white. The trees and bushes were bare, now nothing more than dark brown stems sticking from the snow. The giant stayed hidden away in his home, his arms wrapped around him to try and stay warm. Night fell after some time, several of the animals stopping by to make certain he was alive. The only one who did not come was the mouse.
He stood at the entrance of his home, waiting and watching. Eventually he heard something in the snow and come to investigate what it could be. He saw the female mouse struggling with a vest of the furs she had collected, and he picked both her and it out of the snow to take inside.
“Now you do not have to be cold when it is winter,” she said to him. “Put it on and come outside with me, there is something I wish to show you.”
The giant admired her work. Her stitching was as good as it could be for any mouse, of course, but it fit snuggly and kept the heat in. He promptly placed her on his shoulder as he had in the past and walked outside. To his amazement the sky was not only filled with seemingly infinite stars, but a rainbow of color danced above them. There were reds and yellows and blues and greens up in the air, creating a miraculous display for them both to watch. The aurora was magical to the giant, and he gazed unblinking at the sight.
“I have never seen such colors before,” he told her.
“I am glad you have now,” she said.
And so became the norm for the two. The night sky was their ritual year round. Such is the tale of the giant and the mouse.