The Mouse and the Princess
Once upon a time, there was a king who had a beautiful daughter. Countless nobles and ministers sought her hand in marriage, but the king refused to marry her off because every night a voice would wake him, saying, “Don’t marry off your daughter, don’t marry off your daughter!”
The poor girl would stare into the mirror all day, thinking, “I’m so beautiful, why can’t I get married?” She became more and more melancholic. One day, as everyone was sitting around the dining table, she said to the old king, “Father, why can’t I get married when I’m so beautiful? I’ll give you two days. If you can’t find me a fiancé within these two days, I will kill myself!”
“Well, in that case,” the king sighed and replied, “then listen. Tomorrow, before the sun rises, dress in your most beautiful clothes and stand by the window. The first one who sees you will be your husband!”
The next day, before dawn, the princess got up early. The king and ministers also came to witness the moment. The princess put on the most gorgeous dress of her life and stood by the window, facing the country road. Suddenly, a little mouse with a long, stinky tail scurried up the windowsill, “Hello, beautiful princess! It’s an honor that I’m the first to see you!” Everyone was stunned! They didn’t know what to expect next. “Oh no, no, how can this be? Am I to marry a mouse?”
The old king squinted, crossed his arms, and after some thought, solemnly replied, “Yes, my child, I have said it, and I will not repeat it! A king never goes back on his word! You must marry it!” Soon, the king announced this news to the entire country, and the wedding was set for a full moon night.
It was the grandest banquet in the history of the kingdom. All the nobles and dignitaries came to attend. After everyone was seated, the groom still did not appear. Then there was a knock on the door. Who could it be?
It was the little mouse with the stinky tail.
“What do you want, you damned stinky mouse?” the servant disdainfully asked.
“Please announce me. I am here to marry the princess!” the little mouse proudly said.
“The mouse is here to marry the princess!” the chief steward announced.
“Let him in,” said the king.
The little mouse excitedly ran in, wriggling his fat and clumsy body on the floor and climbed up to the chair next to the princess.
The poor princess, seeing the little mouse preparing to sit beside her, was both ashamed and disgusted. But the little mouse pretended not to notice. The more she avoided him, the closer he got.
The king explained the whole story to the guests, and to please the king, they all laughed and said, “Yes, this little mouse should be the princess’s husband!”
They laughed and mocked the little mouse openly. The little mouse was very unhappy and signaled the king to go outside. He said, “Listen, Your Majesty, you must warn these people not to make fun of me, or they will regret it!”
This was so threatening that the king agreed. Returning to the table, he ordered everyone to stop laughing and to respect the groom.
The food was finally served, but the little mouse was too short and couldn’t reach the table. People put a cushion under him, but it still didn’t work, so he simply climbed onto the table.
“Does anyone object?” he questioned, glaring around angrily.
“No, no one said anything,” the king assured him.
However, among the guests, there was a picky lady who couldn’t stand the sight of the little mouse burying his face in the dishes, with his long, stinky tail flicking around.
“What a filthy creature! It’s disgusting!”
The little mouse looked up at her, his whiskers bristling with anger. He exploded like a volcano, jumping up and down the table, swinging his tail, and biting the faces and wigs of the ministers. With each swing of his tail, everything it touched vanished: soup bowls and fruit plates disappeared, food and cutlery disappeared, the table disappeared, the palace vanished, leaving only a barren plain.
The princess found herself alone, abandoned on this desolate plain, and began to cry, sorrowfully saying, “Oh, my little mouse! At first, I didn’t like you, but now I need you!”
She kept calling out as she walked forward, leaving her fate to destiny.
On her way, she met a hermit.
“Pretty girl, what are you doing in this desolate place? What will you do if you encounter a lion or a dragon? Poor thing!”
“I don’t know,” the princess said blankly. “I just want to find my little mouse. I didn’t like him before, but now I need him.”
“I don’t know how to comfort you,” the hermit said, “although I can’t help you much, I can give you some useful advice. Follow this path westward without stopping until you meet an even older hermit than me.”
So, she continued walking forward, saying, “Oh, my little mouse! I didn’t like you before, but now I need you!”
Soon, she met an even older hermit. The old hermit said to her, “Do you know what you must do? Dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it. A miracle will happen!”
The poor girl took off her golden hairpin and used it to dig the earth. She dug and dug until the hole was as big as herself, then crawled in, entering a huge, dark underground tunnel. The tunnel was filled with cobwebs that stuck to her face, the more she tried to pull them off, the more they stuck. After a day of crawling, she heard the sound of water and came to a fish pond. She dipped her foot into the pond and found it very deep. She couldn’t go forward, and she couldn’t go back because the entrance was blocked.
“Oh, my little mouse!” she repeated, “Oh, my little mouse!” Rain began to fall into the pond from all directions.
With no other way out, she jumped into the pond.
After jumping in, she found herself not at the bottom of the pond but lying in a magnificent palace. The first room was entirely made of crystal, the second covered in velvet, and the third with floors of gold. She wandered from one room to another, walking on luxurious carpets under splendid lights until she lost her way.
“Oh, my little mouse! I didn’t like you before, but now I need you!” she called softly.
In the fourth room, she found a table laden with food. Hungry, she didn’t care about anything else and devoured the food.
After eating, she entered a bedroom, lay down, and fell into a deep sleep. During the night, she heard a rustling sound, opened her eyes, and saw nothing but darkness. She heard mice running in the room, climbing onto the bed, crawling under the covers, brushing against her face, and squeaking softly. The princess was too scared to make a sound and huddled in a corner of the bed, trembling.
The next day, she wandered around the palace again but still saw no one.
At night, the table was set with food again. After eating, she went to bed and again heard mice running in the room, almost touching her face.
On the third night, the rustling grew louder. She was no longer afraid and summoned all her courage to call out, “Oh, my little mouse! I didn’t like you before, but now I need you!”
“Light the lamp,” a voice said.
The girl lit a candle and saw not a mouse but a handsome young man.
“I was that little mouse with the stinky tail,” the young man said. “A spell turned me into that form. It needed a beautiful girl to fall in love with me and endure hardships to break the spell. And you are the one I’ve been looking for!”
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
