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Naughty Mouse
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June 5, 2012
Bored after being holed in all day by the monsoon, a little mouse decides to go into town. As he sets off, he has no particular destination in mind – he is simply fed up of staying in. He notices a shopkeeper just about to enter his shop and Naughty Mouse decides that this shop will be his first stop. Disregarding the shopkeeper’s derisory dismissal of him, Naughty Mouse claims to be a customer wanting to buy cloth for a new cap. The shopkeeper’s refusal to serve him angers Naughty Mouse and there begins a battle of wills between the shopkeeper and the mouse. As a final act, Naughty Mouse issues a threat to come in at night with his soldiers and chew up the shopkeeper’s cloth till he has nothing to sell. The threat is delivered in song. Before long, Naughty Mouse has the shopkeeper offering him not just any ordinary piece of cloth, but rather, a piece of silk – and for free. Triumphant, Naughty Mouse travels on to a succession of businesses and finally to the king’s palace. In each case, first he either politely requests or calmly states what he wants then resorts to angry demands followed by threats to either destroy valuable property or cause painful personal injury (e.g. chewing off the king’s ears) when his wishes are not delivered. On every occasion his strategy is successful. After a long rest on the king’s throne, satisfied with his achievements, that night Naughty Mouse returns home where all his friends are keen to hear of his adventure and he is very proud to show off his beautiful glittering cap.
Originally delivered orally over generations in India, this story begins with a typical call to the audience “Listen children, …” Images of children huddling close to the storyteller, eyes and faces alight with anticipation are unavoidable. The overall tone of this story is one of humour, primarily at the ‘cheek’ of that little mouse. In a sense, it is also funny to note the extent to which the humans are intimidated by such a tiny creature which they had all at first encounter dismissed as insignificant. Although the blurb describes this story as one of no particular moral, embedded are a host of subliminal messages – some more-or-less so than others. For example, it is noteworthy that all of the mouse’s ‘victims’ were grown men – businessmen and even the king - thus bringing to mind the saying, ‘Are you a man, or a mouse?!’ Probably the most apparent themes in this funny little story are confidence and power - the king is held to ransom by a mouse; the mouse knows that he can destroy the humans’ livelihoods and status and the humans know that too). Arguably, from the opposite perspective, themes of manipulation and cowardice or vulnerability would be prevalent. Clearly, this story can be deeper than first impressions suggest. This said, children may be more likely to perceive it as the simple funny story of a cheeky little mouse that went out looking for a way to alleviate his boredom. The mouse’s song of threat is a handy feature for enhancing active pupil participation – they could be invited to sing along. Having very few, but characters of importance; repetition; song; and a simple storyline, ‘The Naughty Mouse’ would lend itself very well to dramatisation. The themes arising make it amenable to having children assign it a different title and/or ending- the possibilities are many. A dual language picture book - available in English-Urdu, -Bengali, -Turkish, -Punjabi and -Arabic.
Originally delivered orally over generations in India, this story begins with a typical call to the audience “Listen children, …” Images of children huddling close to the storyteller, eyes and faces alight with anticipation are unavoidable. The overall tone of this story is one of humour, primarily at the ‘cheek’ of that little mouse. In a sense, it is also funny to note the extent to which the humans are intimidated by such a tiny creature which they had all at first encounter dismissed as insignificant. Although the blurb describes this story as one of no particular moral, embedded are a host of subliminal messages – some more-or-less so than others. For example, it is noteworthy that all of the mouse’s ‘victims’ were grown men – businessmen and even the king - thus bringing to mind the saying, ‘Are you a man, or a mouse?!’ Probably the most apparent themes in this funny little story are confidence and power - the king is held to ransom by a mouse; the mouse knows that he can destroy the humans’ livelihoods and status and the humans know that too). Arguably, from the opposite perspective, themes of manipulation and cowardice or vulnerability would be prevalent. Clearly, this story can be deeper than first impressions suggest. This said, children may be more likely to perceive it as the simple funny story of a cheeky little mouse that went out looking for a way to alleviate his boredom. The mouse’s song of threat is a handy feature for enhancing active pupil participation – they could be invited to sing along. Having very few, but characters of importance; repetition; song; and a simple storyline, ‘The Naughty Mouse’ would lend itself very well to dramatisation. The themes arising make it amenable to having children assign it a different title and/or ending- the possibilities are many. A dual language picture book - available in English-Urdu, -Bengali, -Turkish, -Punjabi and -Arabic.
Displaying 1 of 1 review