Mole Story: The Underground Light of the Mole
Old Mole Bei was feeling his way through the tunnel leading to his home, but he was already used to the darkness around him.
There were thousands of underground paths, but safety was the first rule of walking. Recently, Old Bei had been pondering a matter: he could see everything in the tunnel clearly, but what about others?
This was a special ability of the mole family. Old Bei could see well in the dark, but outside the pitch-black tunnels, he didn’t dare to open his eyes or look around.
Once, Old Bei saw a figure walking toward him in the tunnel. Since he wasn’t familiar with them, he didn’t greet them but habitually moved aside to make space for the person to pass. However, the other guy kept changing direction and ended up bumping into Old Bei.
After that, Old Bei fell into distress. If he installed lights in all the paths, it would cost a lot of money, wouldn’t it? This problem troubled him so much that he didn’t even realize when he bumped into someone else.
“Ah ha, Mr. Mole, it’s always been me bumping into you; it’s the first time you bumped into me, huh?”
Without opening his eyes, Old Bei knew it was Sige the field mouse.
Sige could never remember Old Bei’s name and always called him “Mr. Mole.” Old Bei secretly thought, “If I called you ‘Mr. Field,’ how would you feel? Hehe!”
“Sorry, Sige, I was lost in thought.”
Sige, who had been walking forward, now stopped: “Oh? What were you thinking about? Why not share it with me?”
Sige had this kind of unreserved nature, so Old Bei told him everything he had been thinking about.
As expected, Sige stopped moving. He began discussing with Old Bei: “You’re right, if we install street lights, it would cost a lot. Plus, keeping the lights on all the time would be wasteful!”
“How about everyone having a flashlight?” A voice suddenly jumped out from behind them.
Sige laughed and said, “It’s you again, Tutu! You scared me by coming up without a greeting!”
Tutu was a young mole rat, younger than both Old Bei and Sige. Although his ideas were often unreliable, his enthusiasm was abundant.
Old Bei nodded: “That’s a good idea. We don’t need everyone to have one; just take one when going out.”
“They can be borrowed and returned at the tunnel entrance, so not every family needs to buy one.” Sige came up with another great idea, which received Tutu’s approval.
Old Bei, however, didn’t express his opinion. When he got home, he came up with another idea: he didn’t need light for himself, but to make it easier for others, he didn’t need a flashlight either. He made a hat with a searchlight on it. This way, wherever he walked, he would light the way for others.
In the following days, Sige and Tutu became enthusiastic about distributing and collecting flashlights, busy all day long. Everyone praised them.
“Do you think Mr. Mole would regret not joining us?” Sige asked Tutu quietly during a break.
Tutu thought for a moment: “Maybe, although he came up with the idea, he didn’t do it, so we can’t blame him, right?”
At this time, Old Bei encountered a new problem. His searchlight could shine very far and was very bright. At first, everyone appreciated him when they met him on the road. However, after he passed by, the road ahead seemed even darker, making it more inconvenient.
Initially, people only complained quietly. Later, they would shout from a distance: “Old Bei, is that you? Turn off the searchlight, it’s too glaring, I can’t stand it!”
Old Bei felt very disappointed. He took off the light and left it at home. He continued moving forward in the dark since he wasn’t afraid of not seeing. Thinking about Tutu and Sige still being busy and himself being too embarrassed to help, he felt somewhat ashamed. Seeing them receiving so much praise, he felt a bit envious. All of this should have included him.
While Old Bei was thinking about finding some excuse to help Sige and Tutu, the underground residents began complaining about the flashlights again.
“See, see, these flashlights have made the children lose their ability to adapt to the dark.”
“Yes, yes, living underground means getting used to moving in the dark.”
“Right, right, what will happen if this continues?”
Oh dear, what started as a good deed turned out like this. Tutu and Sige were quite angry.
“Don’t be angry, blame me. I started this idea and ended up causing everyone trouble,” Old Bei said as soon as he saw Tutu and Sige.
Sige looked at Old Bei, seeing his sincere face, and burst into tears: “Such a good idea, they just don’t… understand…”
“It’s not your fault, it’s not our fault, it’s their own fault.” Tutu sniffled, trying hard to hold back his tears, but his nose was already runny.
Old Bei patted Sige on the shoulder and touched Tutu’s head: “Blaming each other won’t help, there’s still a way. Let’s think of another solution. Don’t be sad, I’ll sing a song for you.”
“I walk alone on the dark road, even the darkness is afraid of me…” This was a song Old Bei made up when he first walked at night as a child, accompanying him throughout his childhood.
After finishing the song, Tutu applauded, but Sige didn’t speak. Old Bei asked in confusion: “What’s wrong, don’t you like this song?”
“No, no,” Sige shook his head, “I found a new light.”
“So you didn’t hear me singing at all.” Old Bei couldn’t hide his disappointment.
“No, no,” Sige shook his head again, saying mysteriously, “The new light is your song.”
Old Bei didn’t understand yet, but Tutu immediately grasped it: “Wonderful, all songs are lights!”
From then on, people walking in the dark tunnels often heard continuous singing. The songs not only informed each other of someone’s presence, asking them to make way but also brought them closer, always exchanging a few caring words before parting.
As for the inventor of this “light,” Tutu, Sige, and Old Bei all said it wasn’t them but the other two.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
