The Mice and the Weasels

Close to a muddy riverbank, there were teensy mice living in their holes and homes. They were doing very well: the river gave them enough fresh water, their holes were deep enough to be safe and quiet. And best of all, there was a nearby yummy barley field they could gather and eat. In fact, the only thing disturbing their quiet little life was the buzzing of the flies.

Unfortunately, after some time, some weasels also discovered this ideal place. They liked it instantly and decided to live there, too. The weasels were big and strong, they were sly and clever. They didn’t respect the little mice at all. The place soon got too small for both the mice and the weasels, and so they started to fight for space.

Even though there were many more mice than weasels, they were small and weak. They lost every battle against the weasels. When there were already too many defeats, the mice realized they would lose the war and the weasels would push them out if nothing changed.

They called a council to think about what they should do. They fretted and argued and discussed but very few good possibilities were talked about. There were many ideas about how to fight the weasels, but none were going to work.

Until finally, one wise, old and aged mouse raised her shaky paw and said: “We need a leader! Nobody is leading us, which is why our fighting is very messy and disorganised. We need to elect some commanders. And we need a good plan!”

Murmuring took over the mouse hole, because the mice needed to talk about this idea. In the end, they agreed to pick four special mice who would become generals and lead the battles against the…