The Princess and the Mouse

TA fable by Vittorio Canta

here was once a princess who lived in a kingdom rich in culture and traditions. The young woman enjoyed all the support and the love that her parents could give her.

Unfortunately, because of an infirmity that did not allow her to walk, her dependency on others made such affection increasingly hard to accept and with each passing day she became more aware of what she would miss in her adult life.

On the occasion of her 15th birthday the princess received an overwhelming amount of presents and, among the many gifts, she found a small silver chest.

About the size of a shoebox, it had a regular pattern of tiny perforations that covered the vertical sides and the inner surface of the lid was as shiny as the highly polished pewter plate in which she could see the reflection of her face. The princess saw no use for it until the day she began to write a daily journal and realized that the chest would be the ideal place for storing her intimate thoughts.

Every night before going to sleep, she closed the box and placed the key under her pillow.

Time went by and one night, just before sleep took over, she heard noises but could not locate their origin. On the following morning, after she had been fully dressed by her handmaiden and left alone at her desk, she discovered the source of the noise that kept her awake a good part of the night. Upon opening the silver box to retrieve her diary, she found a tiny mouse right beside the open pages of her booklet.

Since the princess showed no fear and the animal did not panic, she decided to reach into the box. The mouse walked calmly onto her open hand and began to speak with a tone so soft that she had to place him close to her ears to hear his voice. He told her that he lived in a corner of the room just behind her bed and that for the past six months he had come to read her journal every time she had left it on her desk or in the open box.

That evening, he was not fast enough and when she closed the lid he was trapped for the night.

At first, the princess felt very uncomfortable with the idea that the little creature knew her intimate thoughts in which she described the suffering caused by her condition. Yet, when he said how much compassion he felt for her and added that he had spoken to no one about her writings, a strong bond began to develop between the two and from then on, whenever the mouse came to read her diary, he always found some morsels of food beside the book.

Because of its shiny greyish coat, the princess decided to give the little mouse a name. She called him Pewter.

One late evening, when the princess was about to close the silver chest before going to sleep, Pewter came to say good night and she began to gently stroke his back with the palm of her hand. Simultaneously, some images began appearing on the inner side of the lid. At first, she thought she was hallucinating or dreaming but the mouse asked her to continue caressing him and confirmed that something was really happening in front of her eyes.

She was now looking at the world through a window. With every stroke on the back of her little friend, images kept alternating on the inner surface of the lid. For a moment, she felt having the longest legs in the world because she could at once visit places of which she had only heard the name.

She exclaimed, "Come, Pewter, look! It is coming alive... it is fantastic… what's happening?" The mouse explained that skilled artisans made similar chests that were then sold in many kingdoms all over the world and all the boxes had the same properties. When she asked how this miracle could happen, he answered that it was possible because mice like him living in the factory where the chests were built had developed a close relationship with the workers.

On the following days she repeated the ritual while lying in bed with her friend in her hand both facing the open box.

One late night, just before sleep took over, some words appeared on the lid. It was the story of a young prince describing the palace in which he lived and his daily life conditioned by her same infirmity.

She immediately asked Pewter if she could communicate with the prince through the magic box and the little friend helped her to send him a message. Then, exhausted by the unfolding event, she fell deeply asleep and her friend closed the lid before disappearing into his hole behind the wall.

For the three following days, the princess and her friend anxiously waited for a reply. Then on the fourth day, the mouse did not show up and many days went by without any sight of her friend.

Without being able to access her magic box, the princess became very depressed, began refusing her meals and her condition kept worsening while she lay in bed silently staring at the silver box and unable to tell anyone about its secret function in fear that no one would believe her.

Two weeks went by until one morning when a loud sound of trumpets woke the princess up and a murmur of voices filled the courtyard of the palace bringing the princess’s dormant soul to life.

When her mother ran into her room announcing that a young prince had come to see her, she regained energy at once and she was soon ready to meet him. After the two mobile chairs brought them closer they extended their hands toward each other and were then left alone in the audience room of the palace.

The prince explained that, after receiving a silver box as a present, he had also discovered its magic power with the help of a mouse that a few weeks before had unfortunately fallen into the cat's mouth, leaving the box without its powers. A while later, another mouse showed up in the prince's room and, before dying of exhaustion, told him that he had travelled for many days over mountains and across rivers just to bring him the news that a princess wanted to meet him.

With his sacrifice, the little creature had linked magic to reality thus bringing the two young people together. And together they lived free of their handicap since their reciprocal love gave them the legs to walk the path of happiness.