Perspective

The mouse looked outside his burrow which was neatly concealed along the edge of a field of tall grass. The mouse liked the feeling of safety that the grass provided. He liked being close to the ground where he knew the details of grass stems and plant roots that grew along his regular roaming path. Knowing the rhythms of the nights and days, he carefully timed his forays out of his burrow.

This day was another day of gentle steady rain which made the ground soggy and muddy along his foraging path. This did not worry the mouse for the rains always stopped. So, he looked outside his burrow and waited.

He was suddenly startled by a raven who landed right in front of him and plucked a plump worm from the soggy soil between the tall grass. The raven too was momentarily startled by the sound of the mouse retreating into his burrow. She turned to look in the direction of the sound. With the worm dangling from her beak, the raven spotted the tiny opening of the mouse’s burrow at the edge of the field of tall grass. Tossing her head back she swallowed the worm in one gulp then eyed the mouse’s hole more closely.

“Don’t worry. I won’t eat you,” the raven said to the mouse.

“How do I know that?” the mouse replied from deep within his burrow. “Ravens are known to eat mice.”

“I give you my word,” the raven replied as she backed away from the hole as a gesture of reassurance.

“Ha! Everyone knows that a raven’s word cannot be trusted!” the mouse shot back.

“Every one, or just every mouse?” she asked.

“Well, I’ve only known mice,” he admitted. “So, I really can’t be sure.”

“I’m happy to know that you might be open minded enough to consider what I have to tell you,” she said.

“What can you tell me that I don’t already know?” the mouse asked.

“Your home is in grave danger. The rains have caused the nearby river to overflow its banks, and the flood is coming this way as we speak,” the raven told the mouse.

“Ha! See! I told you! Ravens cannot be trusted! There is no such river! I’ve never seen nor heard of such things. The rains always stop and then it will be safe to come out again,” he said in disbelief.

“As you wish,” the raven replied and turned away from the mouse’s burrow.

The mouse paused and wondered. He took a step closer to the entrance of his burrow and peeked out at the raven who was now looking into the distance to a place he could not see. The raven’s head towered over the tall grass which always sheltered the mouse.

“What can you see from your vantage?” he asked her with a growing curiosity.

“I can see the edge of the floodwaters approaching,” she replied.

“What else can you see above the grass tops?”

“Climb up onto my back and I’ll show you,” she replied.

“Me? Climb up onto the back of a raven?” the mouse scoffed suspiciously.

“I told you I won’t eat you,” the raven replied.

The mouse stepped forward and peeked his nose out from his burrow. He sniffed. He moved forward, hesitant yet curious. He stepped fully out from his burrow, fully exposed, fully vulnerable. The raven did not make a move. She just stood there looking out over the grassy field.

“Shall I just start climbing up your tail?” the mouse asked the raven.

“That’s how I’d suggest you do it,” she replied.

The mouse did just that. He climbed his way up the raven’s tail feathers, onto her back then finally up to her shoulders and behind her head.

“This is terrifying!” the mouse shouted.

“Only because you’ve never done this before,” she replied.

“We are so high up! The grass looks so short from up here!”

“You haven’t seen anything yet! Hold on!” she exclaimed as the raven spread her wings and leaped into flight.

“Whoa!” the mouse shouted, as he closed his eye and gripped her feathers even tighter.

The raven flapped her wings and climbed higher into the sky, above the grass, above the treetops and circled the grassy field.

“Open your eyes,” the raven suggested.

“If I do, I’ll be afraid of what I’ll see,” the mouse replied.

“You’re already in the air. Opening your eyes won’t make it any more dangerous,” she stated.

He slowly opened one eye and looked down, then quickly shut it. He was up high, way higher than any mouse he had ever known. He couldn’t look. He also couldn’t not look. This time he opened both eyes with determination. He blinked. Looking out he saw things in the distance which he didn’t even have names for. Looking down he recognized a small patch of green the color of his familiar grass.

“Is that my grassy field down there?” he asked.

“Yes,” the raven replied.

“That patch of green has been my entire world for as long as I’ve lived. It looks so small from up here. What is the dark stuff that is eating up the green?”

“That is the flooding river I told you about,” she said.

She circled so the mouse could watch the flood waters engulf the grassy field and destroy his home.

“It’s gone!” he cried. “Everything I’ve known is gone!”

“Everything you’ve known until now,” she said. “Look around at all that is here. Where shall we go?”

“Some place safe,” he said quietly.

The raven with the mouse on her back flew away from the flooded grassy field by the river toward higher ground. She gracefully settled onto a rocky ledge which protruded from the gently sloping hill of the river valley. While only fifty yards from the mouse’s flooded grassy field, this hillside provided ample height above the river to avoid the rising waters. The mouse climbed down from the raven’s back. They both stood there silently and looked down at the river.

“Where did the river come from?” the mouse asked.

“The river has always been there,” replied the raven.

“No. Something changed today to bring the river here,” he stated.

“What changed is your awareness of the river’s presence. The river has always been there for as long as I’ve been flying up and down this valley. It’s a useful path to follow as I fly. You just didn’t need to know about the river until today,” the raven said.

“It’s a monster! It took my home!”

“It is just a river being a river,” she corrected.

“I had no way of knowing until it was too late,” the mouse admitted.

“Look at what’s around you now. Will this place suit you?” she asked.

The mouse looked around. His old field was flat and level. This place was strange and unfamiliar. The small rocky ledge protruded from a grassy slope that was home to several shrubs and a few scattered trees which he thought might be useful. He saw patches of flowers which he recognized as the kind that produced the seeds he loved best. Where the rock protruded from the grass, he noticed a place where he could dig a new burrow. This place gave him new perspectives: standing on the rock allowed him to see out over the grass; couching under the rock he could shelter and hide; climbing up the slope he could seek safety from the water; scurrying down the slope he could forage for new food.

Just then from behind a neighboring rock, another mouse emerged and looked back at him coyly.

He looked up at the raven. The raven looked back at him and said, “Now you know what you didn’t know before. Use that knowledge wisely.” She gave him a wink then spread her wings and flew out over the river.

He watched her fly into the distance before looking back at the other mouse who was still watching him. Yes, in fact this place might suit him better than he knew was possible.

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Have you read this one?