A mouse had a daughter, dainty and neat
Promised to a runt on a dead-end street
Runt leaned on a wall from dawn till late
A nobody mouse who was glad to wait
Her father scowled at the match he’d made
"I swear I'll find a better trade"
He climbed up to the Sun and bowed his head
“Please give her your hand,” the father said
The Sun said “Cloud can cover my face”
So he went down to the cloudiest place
Cloud said “Wind will tear me apart”
Wind said “Wall has the stronger heart”
Wall said “Little mouse, it’s you I fear
You gnaw me hollow year by year”
The father went home with nothing to say
And gave his daughter to the runt that day
They made their nest in the wall’s long shade
Runt kept on gnawing and was not afraid
He chewed and dug as his new wife slept
Beside the crack that wider crept
Then one cold dawn the wall let go
A crash, a cloud, a hush below
They found the pair beneath the stone
Together at last and all alone
Note: "Mouse's Bride" is an adaptive reimagining of the traditional Asian folktale "The Mouse's Wedding."
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Pikthall is a writer and therotician.
