CHAPTER 1

Once upon a time, there was an old house. Some people said that it was more than 1000 years old. It was tall and solid because it had been built with love and hard work. Over the years, the old house had protected many families. It had seen mothers having babies; babies learning to walk and run and climb and play; children learning to read and write and count and sing; young people learning all there is to learn about life; and older people sharing their wisdom with those willing to listen. Generation after generation, the old house had looked after many families, witnessed the most magical love stories and watched heartbreaking goodbyes. It had sheltered so many smiles but also several tears because life is not always fair and even the best person in the world can be sad, or even angry sometimes.

It was not an ordinary house. It was a wise house! Sometimes, at night, when everybody was in bed, and everything was dark and quiet, if you listened very carefully, you could hear her whisper soothing words to the sleeping children. You see, the old house loved everyone who lived there no matter what they did, but it loved children the most because children are special. Children can sense things that adults cannot, they can use their imagination in all kinds of ways and nothing made the old house happier than to listen to the stories that little children tell themselves when they are happy or sad or curious or scared. You see the old house loved stories nearly as much as she loved children and in all these years she had heard and told so many of them that if she had moved 1 meter for each of her stories, she could have crossed the entire country!

That year, the family living in the house was particularly happy because the mother had recently come back from the hospital with a new baby girl named Leitifa. It was the third child of the family and both her brother Sammy and her sister Nada loved her very much. They sang lullabies to their little sister and read her stories when they came back from school. The old house was satisfied because the role of a house is to keep people safe and happy and houses are like people sometimes; they feel better when they know that they are doing what is right.

One morning, however, the old house woke up to the sound of tears in the kitchen. What is happening? It wondered. Was a child hurt or sick? No, the house whispered in relief, all the children were sleeping soundly in their beds. The father had just received a phone call and had to leave. His face was dark and looked unpleased. I have no choice; the father told his wife sadly. These are the orders, and I must go now. Tell the children how much I love them and that I will visit you all as soon as I can. The old house looked at the mother. She had known her all her life because before they become mothers, women are also little girls and this one was very special to the old house because she was born right in the old house's heart. The mother was born in the bedroom of the first floor many years ago. As a result, the family and the house had always looked after each other's like good friends always do.

It always made the house sad when a member of the family left because a house where there is love is more than a house, it is a home! Each time someone left, the house felt more like a building, and she did not like feeling this way. In order not to feel too sad she remembered the good moments the father had spent in the house like Sammy's first step or the first time Nada said the word ‘daddy' or all the moments of love he had spent with his wife. Those memories made the house feel much better, but it was still thoughtful. What would the children say when they find out? How would they feel with their father away? It wondered. So the old house did the only thing it knew. It whispered to the children in their dream, softly, peacefully, relaxingly, and told them the following story.

The little mouse who was always tired

Once upon a time, there was a little mouse who was tired all the time. She would fall asleep at mice school while the teacher was talking and then be scowled or sent to the principal's office. She would fall asleep during meals and whenever she was traveling under a truck or car. She did not have enough energy to run and play like other little mice. She was doing everything very slowly, and that made her mother nervous. Hurry up, she would say, we do not have all day! Wake up, she would shout, you will fall and get run over. Watch out! She would scream. There is a cat coming! The little mouse wanted to stay awake and pay attention in class, at home and everywhere but she had no energy at all. As a result, it seemed like she was always just a step away from something terrible to happen.

Would you like to know why the little mouse was always so tired? It's because she could not sleep at night! The little mouse really tried to sleep but the more she tried, the harder it was. She would turn and turn again into her little bed or curl her little tail around her body over and over or turn in little circles in her little room and every time she would hear a big noise coming from outside she would get very scared. You see the little mouse lived under a road, and whenever a car passed nearby, the house started shaking. When our little mouse was younger, her older brother used to tell her not to worry and that he would protect her until she was big and tall enough. So the little mouse would fall asleep again, feeling safe and protected by the brother she loved so much. But the brother had gone to the city a month earlier, and the little mouse did not feel safe anymore.

Without her big brother, she felt tiny, and the big world outside looked very scary. Where was her brother, she often wondered at night? When would he come back? How could he leave her like this and break his promise to protect her until she was big enough to do it herself? Sometimes she cried so much during the night that her eyes were all puffy and red when the morning came. She was upset that her brother had left her, but she was also worried about him. Did he have to fight any big, scary thing out there? She knew that her brother would want her to sleep because he used to say that it is during their sleep that little mice become tall and strong. But the more she tried to sleep, the more she missed him; and the more she missed him, the more she worried, and that made her feel even smaller.

One day, the little mouse went to collect some grains near the flour mill with her father. A lot of mice were getting their food there because the camel that turned the mill was old and tired so he could not see too well. The grains were very tasty, so the father was sure that he would make his little one happy but by the time they reached the back of the mill where the loose grains had fallen, the little mouse was so tired that she fell asleep the moment her father turned his back. The mill was well oiled and its spinning was making a beautiful sound, so the mouse was still sleeping deeply when the camel came. The camel liked mice, but he couldn't always see them because he was tall and his neck was long. So as he stretched his front leg to spin the mill further he heard a big scream. The father had just seen his daughter right in the path of the big animal. The camel looked down and saw our little friend curled around the grain that she was supposed to eat, breathing slowly. He blew on her softly to wake her up. The father observed from a distance because he knew the camel was kind and wise.

Why are you sleeping my pretty, don't you see the sun shining high? Isn't the grain tasty enough? Am I so scary that I made you faint? Oh no, mister camel, you did not scare me at all, and your grain is excellent thank you, but since my brother left our house, I cannot fall asleep at night. Is that so, asked the camel? And why would that be? Lowering her voice as if she were to admit a crime, the little mouse told him that the big world is scary for a little mouse like her, and she told him about her brother's promise to protect her until she was tall enough. And your brother, asked the camel, was he big? Oh yes, said the little mouse, very big and strong! And your father over there, is he big? Oh yes, said the little mouse, even stronger than my brother. And me, asked the camel? What do you think about me? Well, you are the biggest animal I know, said the little mouse. But I am much smaller than this mill, much smaller than those trees over there and certainly not as strong as the trucks that humans use to transport the grain to the city. You said that the big world is scary, but you are not afraid of me. That makes you a very brave mouse. It's not because you are small that you cannot be big. The little mouse looked at the camel, curious. You see, big our small depends on how you see yourself and how you look at people around you. Continued the tall animal. I wonder just how big your brother say you are. Could it be that you are bigger and stronger than you think? The little mouse looked at the huge camel in front of her, thoughtful. The father came closer, thanked the camel respectfully, and they both went back to the house carrying their precious grains.

That night, when bedtime came, the mother and father mice came to her room. You see this line on the wall, said the mother, this is how tall you brother was when he promised to protect you. That line over there is how tall you were. The little mouse looked at the lines and smiled. She was very small at the time. Now this, said the father, is how tall you and your brother were when he left the house last month. What do you notice? The mouse spent a few minutes looking at the lines on the wall and using her tail; she compared their height quietly. You see, said the mother, you were as tall as your brother was when he made you that promise. Now look at how tall you are now. I saw you carrying that grain back from the mill today, which means that you are strong too. Your brother did not brake his promise; he waited for you to be tall and strong enough to defend yourself before he left. You are now as tall as he was. But I miss him so much, said the little mouse, how can he survive in the big world? What if he meets big scary things? Remember the camel, said the father gently, he is big and kind. Some animals can be small and mean. For Mister camel, every mouse is small, but he still respects us. For your little cousins, you are big and strong. It is not your size that matters but how you see yourself.

The little mouse listened quietly, looking at the lines on the wall. She did not feel small anymore. She looked at her parents tenderly and noticed that her mother was hiding something behind her back. What is it, she asked? The mother handed her a piece of paper. It was a letter from her brother. He was doing well and sounded happy. He said he would visit them shortly and sent her his love. Smiling, the mouse that did not feel little anymore hugged her parents and went to bed. She fell asleep very easily and never again, was she afraid at night.