THREE blind mice, see how they run!
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with the carving-knife;
Did you ever see such fools in your life?
Three blind mice.
There once were three mice that were all brothers: Rodney, Richard, and Ricky. At birth they were all blind. The mother did her best to provide for her boys. Just a few months after birth, their mother decided to tell them about where she went every night to gather the food that they ate. Their mother showed the boys a small map. A giant X was marked “the little living space in the wall which they called home”. The wall was one of many walls in this thing called a "house" where “the giants” lived. She said that the giants did not like mice and had to do their best not to be seen or take too much food for them to notice. Their mother told them that the house was very big. However, she told them that if they decided to venture out further than the room in the house right outside of the wall they would never return.
The mother of the three brothers always went out into the room right outside of their "little living space in the wall that they called home". She often risked her own life to steal bread crumbs and anything she could find for her family to scavenge.
One night, the mother went out to scavenge for food and found that there were no bread crumbs or anything else to be found for her family to eat. She returned to the “little living space in the wall which they called home” and had to tell the boys they could not eat tonight. The boys were angry, but they decided to continue to have hope for the following night. On the next night, the mother went out again and came back to the "little living space in the wall which they called home" with no dinner. At this point, the boys were mad. The boys stayed up late that night to plot their revenge on "the giants" the following day.
On the next day while their mother was sleeping, the boys all decided to venture out into the room next to the wall. Although they were blind, they knew they would have to use their other senses to track down “the giants”. They heard a sound of another animal off in the distance as if it were coming from behind the house, several animals actually. They suddenly heard stomping right next to them and a voice that almost made them stop what they were doing.
“Edie, I told you there were rodents in this house! What nasty creatures! They must go today.”
They heard a faint mumbling in the background, but decided to continue what they were doing. They used their senses to crawl under cabinets until they almost reached the lady giant. One of the mice would quickly have to bite one of the lady giant’s toes, in order to be a distraction, while the others would climb up onto the counter and steal the bread crumbs out of the jar.
“Go, now! Scramble up onto the counter and get the bread crumbs!," Rodney called to Ricky and Richard.
Ricky and Richard followed their brother’s orders. Rodney snuck up behind the lady giant and bit one of her toes.
“OWWWW! Disgusting rodent!”, the lady giant wailed. Rodney tried to run but was snatched up by the lady giant. He tried to break free of her grasp but was unsuccessful.
“And you two! Nasty things!,” the lady giant screamed as she watched Ricky and Richard stealing the bread crumbs out of the jar.
They both froze.
The lady giant slammed Rodney on the cutting board and chopped off his tail with her kitchen knife, and Ricky and Richard were served the same treatment as him.
The lady giant threw the three of them outside and locked the door.
The mother never saw her sons ever again.
THE END
"Three Blind Mice, Northowram Scarecrow Festival" by James Preston, 2014
Author's note: This story is based on the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice". I used this rhyme from The Nursery Rhyme Book, which was editing by Andrew Lang in 1897. For me this rhyme made me think of the mice somehow deciding to plot their revenge on the farmer and his wife and would end up getting caught in the process. That would mean that they were in fact extremely blind, because they did not see this as being a possibility before they decided to seek revenge.
I like your story. You did a wonderful writing. Creating this much interesting story from that rhyme was just fantastic. I like how you created another character, a mother mouse, and how you described places. I like how you gave a good reason, a revenge, for three blind mice to run after farmer's wife. They were starving and they wanted to punish a wife because she was not leaving the bread crumbs! I think that is hilarious. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteYou're story was so enjoyable! You did a great job of incorporating visual elements; I could literally picture the entire story playing out in my head. I also liked the story line. I agree that it was really interesting and a clever spin off of the initial short rhyme. I only wish the story went on a little longer so I could know if the mice survived outside of the thing called a "house".
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