The Tale of Magpie Mouse

There was once a family of mice.  The oldest was Terence, who was very practical, and always looking for a better home for the mouse family.



Next came Clarence, who was always on the lookout for a tasty morsel or two or three.



Then there was Larry, who was a great planner.



And finally there was Magpie Mouse, also known as Maggie.



All summer long the mice prepared for the long winter ahead.  Terence was hoping to find a better location in a better neighborhood.  They had been living in a tennis ball all summer and frankly, it was beginning to smell.



So when Terence found a discarded loaf of bread, he was ecstatic and wasted no time shaping it into a new abode...



...which was, actually, quite spacious inside after Larry did some work on it.



Clarence harvested far and wide.  He gathered berries.



He collected seeds.



One day he brought home a soda can with plenty of water inside.



He even found a tiny wedge of cheese.



Larry checked all the items off on his Winter Preparedness list.  While everyone else was finding food and water and shelter, Maggie was busy, too.  Every day she collected.  She didn't bring food or bedding or a shelter.  But every day Maggie brought home a new treasure.

Soon the winds began to howl and the nights grew cold.  Snow fell and no longer could Clarence find morsels of food.  But they mice had plenty to eat.  Though it was cold, they were snug in their house.  And because Larry has carefully collected furnishings, they were comfortable.  But they weren't very happy.  They missed the sparkle of sunlight on the water.  They missed rainbows and sunbeams and drops of dew.  They began to wonder if they would ever see the beautifully sparkling world again.

That's when Maggie got busy.  She went into her private corner of the bread house and started to bring out her treasures: a bit of glass, a tiny heart of hematite, a crystal, some porcelain.  Her glass sparkled, the color of the sky.  Her crystals twinkled like dew on the morning grass.  Her stones were like the pebbles in a pond.




And finally Clarence and Terence and Larry understood that there was more to life than seeds and crumbs and a soft place to sleep.  There were also sparkly things to make every day brighter.



Their story, their bracelet.