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Nenets Stories
Animal Stories Of The North
Translated by Fainna Solasko
freebooksforkids.net
Illustrated by Y.Rachov
Mouse
Spring came. The sun warmed the earth and broke up the ice on the river. The air was filled with the crashing sound of ice floes colliding as the current carried them off.
Mouse heard the noise, scurried to the top of a little hill and squeaked, "Don't float near the bank. Ice! My nest is right around the bend. See you don't carry it off."
"When I start moving there's no stopping me," the largest floe replied.
Mouse bristled. "Don't think you're so special. Ice! You'll get stuck in the shallows, the sun'll shine on you, and you'll just melt away."
Ice Floe fell silent, but the Sun spoke up.
"Hey, there, Mouse! Don't be so uppity. What's it to you whether I melt Ice or not? Why d' you silence someone older than you?"
Mouse threw back her head and squeaked, "Don't you be so uppity, either, Sun! Cloud'll come by and cover you up. What'll be the good of you then?"
The Sun fell silent, but Cloud spoke up.
"Why're you such a grouch, Mouse? What's it to you if I cover up the Sun once in a while? Why d' you silence someone older than you?"
Mouse squeaked at Cloud, too. "You've nothing to be proud of, either, Cloud. Wind'll blow and chase you anyplace it wants to. It'll tear you to bits."
Cloud fell silent, but Wind spoke up.
"Don't be impudent, Mouse! What's it to you if I chase clouds across the sky? Why d' you silence someone older than you?"
But there was no stopping Mouse. "I don't care what you say, Wind. You've nothing to boast about. Why, you cannot even blow far. You'll crash into the Ural Mountains, and that'll be the end of you."
Wind fell silent, but the rocks of the Ural Mountains began to rumble.
"You're smaller than a speck, Mouse, but you argue with your elders. What's it to you if we block the wind's path?"
At this Mouse turned to the Ural Mountains and said, "I may be small, but what's so special about you being big, Mountains? Anyone can trample all over you. Look! There's Wolverine squatting on your rocks, and you can't chase her off."
The Ural Mountains fell silent, but Wolverine spoke up.
"Don't poke your nose into other people's business, Mouse. Don't make me angry, or I'll swallow you whole."
"You can't scare me, Wolverine. What'll you say when you're caught in a trap?"
Wolverine fell silent.
Mouse waited a while to see what the trap would say, but the trap said nothing. It was made of wood and could not speak.
That's when Mouse decided she'd out-argued them all. She stuck her nose high in the air, twitched her tail and strutted off to her nest.
But her nest was gone. While Mouse had been busy arguing, the ice floe had floated around the bend, bumped into the bank and carried off her nest.
Mouse looked at the place where her nest had been. "I guess I didn't out-argue anyone after all. I was just wasting my time," she said and began building a new nest.