The Christmas Tree Mouse
Image courtesy of Allies Interactive via Shutterstock
Chapter 1 / The Exciting Arrival
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“They’re here! They’re here!” Topo ran from burrow to burrow spreading the news. “Kiota!,” he called, sticking his head into one burrow. “Hurry up.”
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“Is it safe?” Kiota wanted to know.
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“Yes, the Two Legs are gone,” Topo answered before running off to the next mouse family’s nest in the ground.
It was the season when the Two Legs raided the forest. They had been coming for almost a moon now. Soon they would disappear again, except for an occasional stray.
But these last few days of their invasion were the most dangerous. During this spell, the Two Legs carried off more trees than at any other time.
Topo ran forward with a small group of mice children following quickly behind him.
“Where are we going? Why are we running?” Myshka, the littlest mouse asked between breaths. It was her habit to ask a second question before anyone had time to answer the first one.
“Hush,” her older sister, Souris said. “We don’t have time for all your questions right now.”
“But, but…” Myshka stammered as she raced to keep up with the older mice children.
Nas waited for the little one who was being ignored by the rest of the group. “You’ll see in a minute,” he smiled at the youngster. “Just be patient.”
The mice ran to the old land where most of the trees had been devastated many years ago by the Two Legs. They suddenly stopped at a tree that was little more than a stump with two rings of branches. A few small shoots sprung up from the trunk, offering hope that another tree would one day stand here.
This was Uncle Pontikos’ tree, or rather where his tree used to be.
He was already outside of his burrow, waiting for them to arrive. “Welcome,” Pontikos told the mice. “Gather ‘round.”
The little does and bucks spread out around a pile on the ground that was covered by a white square.
“What is it? What’s under there?” Myshka asked.
“Quiet,” Souris told her sister. “Stop with the questions.”
Nas crawled over to the tiny one. “Be patient,” he told her. “It’s worth the wait.”
“Are we ready?” Uncle Pontikos asked.
“Yes! Yes!” squealed the children.
And with that, Pontikos ripped away the white square to reveal what was piled beneath. Three puffy discs sat on top of a larger, flatter disc. The puffy discs were a very light brown color on the bottom. Each one had a different color topping. One was red, one was green and one was white.
“What are they? What are they?” Myshka asked.
“The Cookies!” several said at once, though not in answer to the youngster.
“Cookies? What are Cookies?”
“The best thing you’ve ever tasted!” Impuku laughed.
“Except you’ve never tasted one!” Panya chuckled.
“That’s a good one, Panya,” her friend, Fara, added.
Myshka tried not to pay attention to the older girls laughing at her. She reached out for the nearest Cookie.
Souris slapped away her little sister’s paw, and hissed, “Not yet.”
“But why not? Why can’t we?”
“Because you haven’t heard the story yet,” Uncle Pontikos told her.
“What story? Whose story?”
“The story about the day my tree and I were dragged down the Black Path,” the old mouse answered.
Myshka’s eyes grew wide with awe. “You went on the Black Path? And you survived?” Mice children were taught very early not to go near that dangerous place.
“Well of course I did,” Pontikos laughed. “I’m here, am I not? But the question is, how did I survive?”
Chapter 2 / Dragged Away
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The mice children all quieted down as Uncle Pontikos began his story.
“It was a day like any other, almost at the end of Two Legs season…
I was enjoying a morning nibble and tidying up my burrow when I heard the most dreaded sound. The Two Legs were right above me.
Small clouds of dirt fell from the ceiling as they walked above my burrow. The roots of my tree shook with their weight.
“Move on, move on,” I muttered. The longer they hung around, the worse I knew it was for me.
I could hear several of them communicating with each other. From the best I could tell, there were three different Two Legs up there.
Before I knew it, everything in my burrow started shaking wildly. Loose dirt poured down like rain in a storm. I wanted to get above ground. But I was paralyzed with fear.
I don’t know how I finally came up with the courage. But I realized that I had to get out of my burrow before it collapsed.
I ran to the south tunnel, but my escape was blocked by one of the Two Legs. Another one was blocking my north tunnel. Surely, I can get out the east tunnel, I thought. But that too, was blocked by a Two Legs.
So the west it would have to be. Except that escape route was also blocked by something that I found out later is called a Purse. I don’t know what a Purse is for, but it’s very heavy.
That meant that my only escape was the tunnel that was right by the tree trunk. The most dangerous one of all, of course.
When I reached the trunk tunnel, I knew it was bad. A hail of wood chips and dust were raining down the passage. But that was my only escape.
I took a deep breath to suck in as much air as I could. Then I raced toward the surface.
The bright light stunned my eyes. The dust made it hard to breathe. There was a loud whir-whir sound. The tree was shaking so badly, it was hard to keep my footing. I ran up the trunk solely by instinct.
In all the chaos, I didn’t see the Jaw with Many Teeth that the Two Legs use to cut down our trees. It must have been hiding inside the gash in the wood. As I ran up the tree, the Jaw reached out and cut off the tip of one of my toes. To this day, I shutter to think of how narrowly I escaped those terrible teeth.
A few seconds later, the whir-whir sound made by the Jaw with Many Teeth stopped. The three Two Legs stepped back a few steps. I thought that was good news. But no.
Before I could jump free, my tree went toppling over. It crashed down in a tangle of branches and pine needles. The sound was so loud, I felt it rumble through my body.
I held onto the trunk as best I could. We hit the ground incredibly hard. My tree immediately bounced back up as high as a lavender plant. I held on for the second thud.
And then everything went dark.
When I woke up, I was racing down the Black Path as fast as a hawk can fly.
And that wasn’t even the worst part.
Uncle Pontikos paused for a moment and looked out at the spellbound does and bucks.
“No,” he continued, “the worst part was that I couldn’t move a muscle because I was trapped against the tree by something.”
“But you escaped?” Myshka interrupted. “You got away?”
“Well of course I did,” Pontikos nodded. “I’m here, am I not? But the question is, how did I escape?”
Chapter 3 / Hanging On
A cloud crossed over the sun, casting a shadow on the group. Out of habit, the mice looked skyward to make sure no predators were looming above.
“As I was saying,” Uncle Pontikos continued, “We were speeding down the Black Path…
The first thing I had to do was free myself from what was trapping me against the tree. It was just twisted grass, which I could have easily chewed through. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near my teeth.
So I tilted and turned and pushed and pulled until I finally wriggled out of the restraints.
But now I faced a new challenge. The wind was stronger than any I’ve ever felt. Even last winter’s blizzard was nothing like this. Needles were flying at me, poking me all over my body.
It took me a minute to shield my eyes and see where I was. The first thing I realized was that my tree was on its side. The twisted grass that had been around me was way longer than I realized. It went all the way around my tree several times and held down the branches.
I turned away from the wind and peeked through the branches. All I could see was the blur of the Black Path. Then I turned back into the wind. The dreaded Black Path went on and on and on that way too.
There was no clear escape route. But I knew I had to get away from this blustery perch. So I closed my eyes, hoped for the best and jumped free of the trunk.
Now mind you, I had no idea whether this would be my doom or my salvation. But jump I did.
I was amazed to only drop a short distance before landing on something strange. It looked like a pool of water. But I wasn’t sinking. No, it was solid as a rock. And I could see through it.
To my horror, the Two Legs were right below me.
I jumped back up on the trunk, trying to get as far away from the Two Legs as I could. But I was no match for the fierce wind. It blew me backward like an autumn leaf.
I bounced from branch to branch, getting battered and bruised. It was all a painful, green haze.
The branches kept getting smaller as I was blown toward the top of my tree. In less than a sparrow’s wingspan I would fly off into oblivion. But at the last moment, I reached out and grabbed the very tip of my tree. I hugged it to my body and held on for dear life.
Now just like most of your trees, the topmost branch of mine was as thin as my paw. So with heavy me on this little branch, you can imagine what happened. I drooped down dangerously close to the Black Path. If I couldn’t hold on, I would be smashed to smithereens on that horrid monster.
My paws began to shake badly from trying so hard to hold on. I started losing my grip needle by needle. At last, I had no more strength left. I let go.
“But you didn’t get smashed?” Myshka cut in. “You didn’t get smashed to smithereens, right?”
“Well of course I didn’t,” Uncle Pontikos smiled. “I’m still in one piece, am I not? But the question is, how did I not get smashed to smithereens?”
Chapter 4 / Trapped Inside
Uncle Pontikos arched his back and let out a long, slow breath.
“If I hadn’t let go at that exact moment,” he shook his head without completing the thought.
So here I am, at the very tip of my tree, which is tied to this moving burrow of the Two Legs. And we’re racing down the Black Path. I was horrified about what awaited me when I let go.
Well as luck would have it, the very same instant I lost my grip, the moving burrow made a very sharp turn.
The tree tip swung wildly to the east side before swinging all the way over to the west. But remember, I had let go. So instead of flipping from side to side, I was slammed into the sharp-needled branches.
I quickly scrambled inward toward the trunk. As soon as I located some of the twisted grass, I wriggled back under it. Lashed against my tree like this, I would be safe from the wind.
I didn’t know where the Two Legs were taking me, or how bad it would be. But I did know that I had no chance out there in the wind and the elements.
We kept hurtling down the Black Path, making turns this way and that. At last the moving burrow came to a stop.
I crawled out from under the twisted grass and peered through some branches. The burrow suddenly spread out three wings. Out of each wing came a Two Legs. The wings folded back against the burrow again with a loud BLAM, BLAM, BLAM.
One of the Two Legs disappeared while the other two got on different sides of the burrow. It took me a few minutes of watching to see that they were removing the twisted grass from around my tree.
The Two Legs that had walked away returned carrying the largest green spider I have ever seen. This was placed on the ground.
The largest of the Two Legs reached up and put its massive paws around my tree. They were as wide as a cougar’s, but with longer toes. One paw was only a tail’s length away from me.
Before I could back away, the Two Legs pulled my tree completely off the moving burrow. With a quick flip, the largest animal turned it upright again. I had to quickly shift my position to hold onto the trunk.
The Two Legs lifted up the tree and brought it over to the big green spider. I thought the spider would squish. But it must have had a very hard shell.
The smallest Two Legs bent down and moved its paws over the spider. I saw silver teeth come out from its mouth and bite into the trunk of my tree. The spider’s bite was enough to hold up my tree, just like roots do for our trees around here.
The Two Legs backed away and stood looking at what they had done. I should have taken that moment to escape. But I was still too scared to move.
So once again, I found myself being jostled around as the two big Two Legs turned my tree on its side.
From my perch among the pine branches, I watched them carry me toward a massive structure. It was taller than the oldest trees in our forest.
The smallest Two Legs walked ahead and moved aside something that looked like a huge, flat rock. This created an opening into the structure. The larger Two Legs carried me and the tree and the spider through this opening. Then the little one moved the rock back over the opening, trapping me inside.
“But you got out of there?” Myshka piped up, unable to wait for the story to continue. “You escaped, right?
“Well of course I did,” Uncle Pontikos agreed. “I’m here, am I not? But the question is, how did I get out of there?”
Chapter 5 / A Different World
“Look at us,” Impuku said. “We’re Two Legs!” He and Kiota were standing up on their hind legs. They had picked up a small branch and were pretending they were carrying it between them.
The mice children laughed.
“And I was just a little speck right there,” Uncle Pontikos said, pointing to the middle of the branch.
The Two Legs carried me deeper inside what I was to find out later was their main burrow. They turned the tree upright and once again, the spider held it in place.
They spun the tree around slowly several times, communicating all the while with their loud voices while waving their paws. I had to keep running around to the far side of the tree so they wouldn’t see me.
Finally, the spinning stopped. One of the Two Legs poured water into the spider. But the spider didn’t seem to drink it. The water just sat there in a little pool.
I looked around to plan my escape route, while keeping a close eye on the Two Legs. When they all disappeared, I ran down the tree trunk and hoped for the best.
I jumped out onto one of the spider’s legs. It was surprisingly hard and slippery. I slid right down to the floor of the burrow and quickly ran behind something big and soft.
The Two Legs returned before I could go anywhere else. Each one carried something about half as big as they were. They put these things down on the floor of the burrow.
Out of one of these things, the largest Two Legs pulled out the longest, weirdest snake I’ve ever seen. It was very thin, but had large bumps all over it. When the Two Legs attached the snake to the wall of the burrow, the bumps started glowing in different colors. The Two Legs wrapped this glowing snake all around my tree.
After that, all the Two Legs pulled shiny objects out of the things on the floor. These they placed carefully all over the tree.
As a final touch, the Two Legs placed a tiny Clang Clang all around the bottom of my tree. It looked just like the giant Clang Clang that roars when it races past the edge of our forest. But this little version didn’t go anywhere except around and around my tree. Imagine if we all lined up nose to tail and just chased each other around and around this tree stump. That’s what this was like.
The burrow grew darker and the snake’s glow grew brighter. Finally, the Two Legs left the part of the burrow I was in and this time stayed away.
I cautiously crept out from my hiding spot and sniffed the air to make sure there were no predators around. Then I started working my way around the walls of the burrow, looking for a way to get out of there.
The burrows of Two Legs have different sections, just like ours. I sniffed out the area where they kept their food stores. It had been a long, tiring day. But I was also hungry.
The food was on a high plateau, which I quickly scaled. I got to the top and froze. A silver snake was leaning out over a large pit. The Two Legs certainly seem to have a lot of snakes in their burrows.
This silver one was spitting out one drop of water at a time. After watching for some time, I determined that it—like the glowing snake around my tree—was harmless.
Inside the big pit where the snake was spitting water was a grey thing that appeared to be a hollowed-out tree trunk. If I walked along the slim rim of this trunk, I could catch a water drop before it fell down into the pit.
What I didn’t know was that the rim was so slippery. I instantly lost my footing. Into the center of this thin grey trunk I fell.
I splashed into a deep pool of slimy water. It was over my head. I popped back up as quickly as possible and grabbed a breath of air.
But then, the problem became clear. The walls of the thin trunk had nothing to grab onto. All I could do was keep swimming until I drowned.
“But you didn’t drown, right, Uncle Pontikos?” Myshka urgently needed to know. “You got out of there?”
“Well of course I didn’t drown,” the older mouse granted. “I’m here, am I not? But the question is, how did I keep from drowning?”
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Chapter 6 / A Young Enemy
Since the story had been interrupted anyway, Fara asked a question, too. “Uncle, how deep was the water you fell into?”
“Probably as deep as I am long from the tip of my nose to the tip of my tail,” the old mouse answered. “Which was part of the problem.”
The sides of the silver trunk were not so tall that I couldn’t have jumped out. But I couldn’t just leap or even get a running start because of the deep water. And the walls were completely smooth and very slick.
After everything I had been through that day, I knew I wouldn’t last long. I stopped struggling, ready to accept my fate.
Suddenly, there was a splash. Something plopped into the water right next to me.
It looked like a small branch that was completely smooth. One end was in the water while the other end reached up above the edge of the silver trunk.
The end near me was wider and flat. I hopped up on it to get out of the water. It felt so good not to be swimming.
Luckily, this bare branch could hold my weight. I scampered up the length of it and jumped out of the hollow trunk. As soon my feet were on the plateau again, I shook off the nasty water.
When I stopped, there was a shocking sight in front of me.
Standing there was a small grey mouse, no bigger than you young ones. She had small pink eyes and a pointed nose.
“You okay?” she asked as I tried to catch my breath. I nodded. “You looked like you needed a little help.”
“You did that?” I asked. “You dropped the branch into the tree trunk?”
“Well, I nudged a wooden spoon into the pot so you could crawl up it, if that’s what you mean.” She looked at me a little closer. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
I shook my head no.
“I thought not. House mice know to stay away from the sink and pots of water.”
“What’s a Sink?” I wanted to know. “Or a Pot?”
“Never mind,” she answered. “Just steer clear of anything you see that looks like that. I’m Sagu, by the way.”
“I’m Pontikos. Thanks for saving me.”
She shrugged. “You hungry?”
And with that, Sagu took me farther down the plateau, where we came to a mound of what she called Cookies. “Try these.” She pulled off a piece of the nearest one and started nibbling on it.
“Aren’t you going to take it to your burrow?” I was shocked.
Sagu was shocked back. “Why would I? We just eat wherever the food is.” She gave me another long look. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?”
But my mouth was too full of Cookies to answer. They were the most delicious thing I had ever experienced.
We ate our fill, and then Sagu showed me around the burrow. She made sure to point out all the best hiding places for when I encountered the Two Legs. I also learned from her that a Two Legs named Grandma would be arriving the next day with a Cat. But Sagu told me that I didn’t have anything to worry about because the Cat was old and blind and couldn’t even run any more.
Sagu got me settled into a cozy little nest in a part of the burrow called the Pantry. I slept so soundly, I didn’t hear a peep all night.
Oh, but the next morning was awful. Sagu woke me from a sound sleep. “Quickly!” she ordered and scampered off. I followed her, still half asleep.
“It’s bad,” she told me while we were on the run. “Grandma has a new Cat.”
“What should we do?” I asked.
Before she could answer, we were stopped in our tracks by the hideous monster itself.
Sagu reversed course and I followed. We scrambled up another high plateau. But the Cat jumped up and joined us.
“The Purse!” Sagu commanded, and raced up the side of the thing that had blocked my escape back in the forest.
We both dove into the Purse. It was dark inside with lots of unfamiliar objects stacked one on top of the other. There was a hint of mint.
Above us, we could hear and smell the Cat’s breath. Sagu and I looked at each other as the Cat circled around our hiding place. We were trapped.
And then suddenly, we were falling. The Cat must have knocked the Purse off the plateau.
The instant we hit the ground, Sagu and I darted out of the Purse. We ran toward my tree with the nasty beast close on our tails.
Sagu and I made it as far as the tiny Clang Clang that circled my tree. She pushed me into an opening in one of its sections. Then she ran off with the Cat in close pursuit. I still can’t believe she saved my life like that.
“But Sagu lived, right?” Myshka wanted to know. “She got away from the Cat?
“I don’t know,” Uncle Pontikos replied. “I never saw her again.”
Myshka frowned and shook her head from side to side. “That’s the saddest story I’ve ever heard.” And for once, she was silent.
Pontikos ambled over to the little doe and lifted up her head. “Perhaps it’s sad,” he told her, “because you haven’t heard the ending. How is it that the little girl who is so full of questions hasn’t asked where these Cookies come from?”
Chapter 7 / The Cookie Clue
“How can you think about Cookies?” Myshka demanded. “All I can think about is poor Sagu.”
“Then you will want to hear what comes next,” Uncle Pontikos told her.
I landed hard in the Clang Clang. It tipped far to the east, then all the way over to the west. After a few more tiny shakes back and forth, it seemed to settle down.
My heart was racing wildly and I was breathing heavily. But I could still hear the terrifying chase going on all around the Two Legs’ burrow.
I wasn’t sure what to do next. Should I run out and distract the Cat to help Sagu? Or should I try to escape the burrow so her sacrifice for me would not be wasted?
Both choices meant I had to leave the safety of my hiding spot. I looked over at the opening I had just flown through. The sight was horrifying.
Piercing that space were the Cat’s long, vicious nails. I flattened myself against the wall as far away from the danger as possible. I can’t even describe how horrible the sound was of those nails scraping against the inside wall of the Clang Clang.
To make matters worse, I now heard the Two Legs. They sounded very close and were chattering about something frantically.
The Cat suddenly withdrew its paw. I could now see out through the opening again.
My Clang Clang section rocked a bit north and south, then rose into the air. The next thing I knew, the eye of the biggest Two Legs appeared at the opening. It looked at me and I looked at it. I think the Two Legs was just as shocked as I was because it pulled back quickly. I saw its paw swipe through the air.
Then things went dark again. Something was over my hideout’s opening, cutting off my escape. My safe place had now become a trap.
I could hear the Two Legs chattering. There was a lot of commotion, then we were on the move. From the swinging motion, I guessed that one of the Two Legs was carrying the trap and me in its paw.
There was some noise I didn’t recognize, then BLAM, BLAM, BLAM. I knew that meant we were back inside the moving burrow. But where were we going?
On and on and on we traveled. I think I even fell asleep for a bit.
Finally, the burrow came to rest. Once again, I listened as the Two Legs communicated with each other. I could feel one of them carrying me again. Then they lowered the Clang Clang trap to the ground.
It all smelled so familiar.
I heard a sharp snap. Light poured into my space. The opening was clear again. This was my chance.
I tell you, I’ve never run as fast as I ran that day. I charged across the field and into the safety of the trees. Only then did I look back and see the Two Legs standing on the edge of the Black Path, watching me.
I couldn’t believe they let me go. But even more surprising, they had brought me home to our forest.
It was truly the wildest experience I’ve ever had in my life.
Uncle Pontikos gave a little chuckle, remembering everything he had lived through.
“But what about the Cookies?” Myshka asked. “And poor Sagu?”
“Ah yes, the Cookies,” the old mouse mused. “Those same Two Legs drop off a few every year. And one Cookie always has something special. Let me show you.”
Uncle Pontikos hopped up on the flat disc that held the Cookies. Several of the mice children squealed in anticipation. They chattered among themselves about which Cookie it would be this year.
Pontikos walked around the entire edge of the flat disc. He used his nose to nudge the white disc away from where it overlapped the red one. After inspecting the uncovered area, he moved on.
Halfway around the green Cookie, Pontikos stopped, walked backward two steps, and then stopped again. The mice held their breath while he leaned closer to the Cookie. He was so close that a little of the green topping rubbed off on his nose.
“Here it is!” Uncle Pontikos declared. “It’s on the green Cookie this year.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when the little does and bucks sprang into action. They immediately began dividing the red and white Cookies among themselves.
“You better get in there,” Nas told Myshka. “You have to have a piece for the celebration. Just don’t take any of the green one. That’s for Uncle.”
The tiny doe dove toward the middle and scooped up the last available piece.
“Don’t you eat that yet!” Souris’ command stopped Myshka just as she was ready to gobble down her small share.
“You were worried about Sagu,” Uncle Pontikos reminded the little one. “Come look at this.”
He pointed to a mark scratched into the green topping on the Cookie. The shape was straight like a pine needle, with a half moon at one end.
“What is it?” Myshka asked.
“It looks like a Spoon to me,” Pontikos told her.
“A Spoon!” Myshka exclaimed. “How did that get there?”
“How indeed,” Pontikos smiled. He pulled off a piece of his cookie and raised the green morsel. “Thank you, Sagu!”
“Thank you, Sagu!”the rest of the group repeated. And with that, the mice started eating their Cookie pieces.
Myshka took a tiny nibble and was immediately delighted. No wonder everyone loved the Cookies.
But even all that deliciousness couldn’t stop her questions. “So what are you saying, Uncle? That Sagu lived?”
“As I told you, I never saw her again.” The old buck gave the youngest doe a serious look.
Then he broke into a wide smile. “Perhaps the real question is, why is there a Spoon carved into one Cookie each year? After all, the Two Legs don’t know anything about me being saved with a Spoon, do they?”
And finally, Myshka had the answers to all of her questions.
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THE END