Saturday, April 22, 2017

The Tale of the Unhappy Mouse

PAD Challenge 22: For today’s prompt, write a fable poem. 
A fable is a story that conveys a moral, usually told with animal characters.



Once upon a time a mouse
Unhappy where he sat
Thought life would be much easier
If he could be a cat
So he put on a coat of fur
And yowled his best meow
But all that answered him was gr-r-r-r
Woof-woof and bow-wow-wow
Into his little hole he fled
“I wish to be a dog” he said

He wagged his tail and tried to yelp
And beg and shake a paw
The other dogs thought he cried ‘help!’
And yipped and woofed ‘hurrah’
From every corner of the earth
 (Oh, what a sight for eyes)
With sundry speed and breed and girth
Came dogs in every size
Oh no, wee mouse squeaked in despair
I wish I was a great big bear

Then all that I would do is eat
And grow so round and fat
No dog would dare to snare my treat
No sly, old pussy cat
And I, footloose and fancy free
Would loaf in the warm sun
Nothing to fright or worry me
Hey, say?! Was that a gun?
To be a big, black bear I shan’t
I’d like to be an elephant

The children would laugh with delight
To ride way, way up high
No other creature would be quite
As big and broad as I
...but wait; what runs beneath my feet
A mouse! my greatest fear
They are so small, they peek and squeak
And then they disappear
A mouse you say....how can that be?!
 My, but I'm proud to just be me

8 comments:

  1. Oh, wonderful, Janet! Would make a great picture book.

    For a moment I thought the mouse-turned-elephant would see a mouse and get scared, and that would make the mouse proud of being a mouse :) An alternative ending, perhaps?

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    1. I am laughing because you said EXACTLY what Victoria said she thought the ending would be. I think a 'tweak' may be in order! any ideas?

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    2. ...so I 'tweaked' while supper cooked:) feel ever so free to tweak the tweak!

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    3. Thank-you ever SO much for the suggestion!

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    4. I love the tweak! Say hi to Victoria for me :)

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  2. As I am seeing this "post tweak" I don't know what the original said, but I love this one and can picture you reading it to your grandson when he is a little older.

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    1. oh, that's right! I should have included the 'original' in the comment section! here is the first version of the last stanza;(I can't wait to read it to Brantley:)

      And all the children at the fair
      Would shout and laugh with glee
      No other creature would be there
      As big and broad as me
      Then they would climb way up on top
      And ride and ride and ride
      Until worn out I’d bellow ‘stop’
      I need a place to hide
      A teeny-weeny quiet house
      I wish, I wish I was a mouse

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