Little Henry

Once upon a time there was a little mouse called Henry. He lived in a big house with his mother, father and a lot of brothers and sisters. His mother was kept very busy looking after the family and the father keeping them fed, so it gave Henry ample opportunity to sneak off from time to time.

He was a very curious little mouse and wanted to see what those funny humans were doing who lived upstairs in the daytime in the house. His mother and father warned him to stay near home when day-light came because he could more easily be seen by the humans. He wondered why that seemed to be so bad!

One morning he asked his father what was dangerous about humans. His father told him that the humans considered the house as theirs and anyone who came in uninvited was not made welcome. Little Henry was still curious about that and asked what would happen if they saw him. His father had no choice but to tell him that they laid traps by putting their favourite food, cheese, on display for them to eat. There was one catch, if they took the cheese a big mettle thing came down on top of them and killed them so they would be dead. Never to walk on solid ground again. Never to play with his brothers and sisters again, never to be cuddled by his mother when he hurt or was feeling sad, and never to be taught about things by his father.

That was enough for little Henry for the time being, it gave him a lot to think about. He could not imagine not being able to play with his brothers and sisters. The worst of it all though for him was not being able to go on his adventures upstairs.

Of course it was not long before he became bored, so, once again he slowly made his way up the chimney, which came out into the children's playroom. He noticed a little house, which was the little girls dolls house which looked very interesting to him. He got in through a little window which was just big enough for him to get through. There were some lovely little armchairs which looked so soft and cosy so he had to try one. So comfortable was he that he fell asleep.

Suddenly he was awakened by a loud whistle. The young boy of the house had come in to play with his train set and constantly made the whistle blow. Little Henry thought how much fun it would be to have a ride on that train. He became so curious that he left the safety of the dolls house and moved slowly towards the train. It had stopped now so it was a chance for him to hop on. Round the track it went until it was near the young boy. Little Henry looked up at him and gave him the best smile he ever had. Strangely enough the young boy thought he was smiling at him so he stayed put. As Henry went round the track, they young boy, who was also very curious went down very slowly to touch the mouse and stroke him. Henry loved the soft, warm gentle touch on his back so remained very still. That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship between the mouse and the boy.

As the boy gained confidence he picked Henry up and put him in his hand to stroke. He also loved the feeling of the little fluffy thing that seemed to like him, so, he continued stroking him. Then he went to his rocking horse and put Henry on the seat, rocking him too and fro. Henry loved this new experience and the little boy realized he had a new, true friend. Far removed from little Henry's mind what his mother and father had said, he was having too much fun.

Time was passing and Henry thought he had better go home before he was missed by his parents. It was the most exciting day he had had and wished he could tell somebody about it, but he knew he would get in trouble so as difficult as it was he kept quiet. He went to sleep that day dreaming about what he had done and couldn't wait to go again.

The next day the first chance he got he went up the chimney to the nursery. The little boy was already there and playing with his play-dough. He had made a model of a mouse and Henry thought he had another new friend to play with, but this one wasn't the same as him, it didn't move. He lay quietly watching the boy modelling various things and each one he was happy to show Henry. At last the little boy took Henry in his hand and started stroking him. Suddenly a funny noise came out of his mouth, which he found out was talking, and he was talking to him. He didn't understand the words he was saying but he did feel what he was saying and it was a lovely feeling of love, which he became very familiar with as the days passed.

One dreadful morning one of Henry's brothers Samson, had noticed him going up the chimney and decided to follow him to see where he was going. The little boy was busy playing with his loader, pretending to be a workman and shifting bricks to where he had decided to build a house. Little Henry was soon by his side watching him play. Samson arrived and looked round and like Henry, he didn't see anything to be worried about. What was his father thinking it was like Aladdin's cave up here. He became more confident and started looking around. Henry had warned him not to stray but he wanted to know about the rest of house, so he went out of the room. When it was time for Henry to go home he called Samson but he was not to be seen anywhere. The little boy had thought he had seen Samson leave the room and Henry picked up on the little boy's thought, so moved towards the door.

The kitchen was next to the playroom so they went to look in there. They soon discovered what had happened to Samson. He had been drawn to the piece of cheese in the corner and the temptation became too great. He was killed by the mouse trap the humans had laid. A funny noise that felt like great sadness was coming out of the little boy's mouth. He told little Henry that his brother was dead. Not knowing what that was he shouted at his brother to come, but there was no movement. Then he realized what his father had warned him about when you were dead. He would no longer have a brother to take home. He was beside himself, he knew his father would be very cross with him and his mother would be sad. He had seen her like that when her mother died. He hung his head, tears dripping down his face. The little boy picked him up and cuddled him, but somehow he could not get that warm feeling. He was wondering what on earth he was going to tell his parents.

The more he delayed going home the worse the bad feeling got until he realized he must go home and tell his parents. Slowly he made his way home. Like all mother's she noticed straight away that something was wrong but waited, she knew he would come to her eventually. He edged slowly toward her and knew he could not bear this feeling any longer and that he would only get some relief by telling her what had happened. When she heard one of her children was gone she began sobbing. She knew little Henry was feeling guilty and suffering so much for what he had caused that she just said he might have learned his lesson.

His father was not so kind. He got angry with little Henry and told him he was grounded until further notice. This gave little Henry lots of time to think about what he had caused and so vowed he would never go upstairs again. He was lonely without his brother, but he felt something much more powerful than that, he was missing the little boy who had become a very special friend to him.

Days passed and little Henry became very sad. He thought more and more of his special friend until he thought he was going to burst. Then one day he decided that he would just go and see him to see how he was and explain to him and that he could only come this once. So, going to sleep that night, he got a good and happy sleep with the thought of seeing his friend. The next morning he did everything he could to please his parents until he found the opportunity he had been waiting for – to see his friend. He didn’t waste a moment, his heart beating so fast he thought it was going to burst he made his way up the chimney.

He got the shock of his life when he appeared in the playroom for his little friend was not there! But there was a little girl instead. He had been told that females were notoriously frightened of mice so what was he to do? Should he show himself or should he go home. Perhaps she as friendly, like her brother. He decided he would show himself, but in a place where he could run away quickly and escape. He decided to go in the little dolls bed and appeal to the mother instincts in the child. He lay perfectly still and at last the little girl went to put her dolly to bed.

She stared in amazement when she saw the little appealing eyes of Henry. He held his breath. What was she doing. She was getting a blanket and wrapping the little mouse in it. Then she put her dolly next to the mouse and said she would be friends with him. Henry didn’t know that the little boy had told her about Henry and she secretly wanted to meet him. What a relief for Henry. But he found the little girl very different from the boy. She wanted to dress him up and take him a walk in the dolls pram. That wasn’t very exciting for a little adventurous mouse. Then she tried to tell him stories, of princesses who were being rescued by tall handsome strangers and lived happily ever after.

He looked around disinterestedly and she felt what he was feeling and knew he wanted to see her brother. In the end she picked him up and cuddled him, telling him her brother had to go shopping with his mother but would be here the next day. She realized perhaps he would be happier doing boyish things so she popped him in the toy garage to look at the cars. Henry thought this was much more interesting and passed a thought of thanks to the little girl who stroked him gently. She seemed to be as loving and kind as her brother.

So now he could investigate. He saw a garage with a button on the floor. He stood on the button and a lift came up with a car on it. Henry moved the car in the parking and pressed another button close to the lift, he hopped on it as it started going down again. He played for quite some time with the garage and then of course it was time to go home. He sent out a thought of thanks to the little girl to say he had to go home and she said goodbye to him. He seemed to be getting an understanding of the noise that came from humans, which made life much easier.

When he got back home his mother was frantic, she had been looking for him for some time and could not find him. She asked him where had been, but he dared not tell her so told her a fib about getting stuck in one of the cupboards and had only just managed to get free. At bed time the mother said she would read her children a story so they all settled in bed. The story was about Pinocchio, a little boy that was adventurous, just like Henry, and who told fibs, just like Henry, and who got into trouble, just like Henry, and was the cause of his father nearly being killed, only with Henry his brother was killed. Henry felt his mother was looking directly at him when she got to the part where Giuseppe nearly died. Pinocchio saved him and little Henry thought he was a hero until he realized it was Pinocchio's fault that Giuseppe nearly died.

Memories came flooding back to him about his brother and what he had caused, but at the end of the story his mother said some things are very hard and it was necessary for this to happen to Pinocchio to teach him to be more thoughtful and kind and to appreciate his father, who loved him very much. He went to sleep that night very worried. He loved going upstairs, he missed his little friend. He could not bear the thought of not seeing him any more. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought he saw his brother Samson, who said he should tell his mother about what he was doing.

One day he found the courage to tell her about the little boy. She understood the plight of her son but also the danger he was putting himself in every time he went there. If the little boys’ mother saw him she would surely kill him. He remembered what happened to his brother and shivered and for a while he was happy to stay home.

One day his mother was busy doing extra cleaning and Henry asked why she was so busy. She told him she had a very special friend coming to visit who had a little girl who was very lonely. Henry picked up his ears. He had started having funny feelings about girls so it kept him busy until the visitors arrived. When he saw the little girl, it was love at first sight.

The parents thought it would be a good idea to introduce him to Henrietta, he was now of an age to have a partner, and of course it would take his mind of the boy upstairs. His new found feelings of affection for Henrietta grew daily and so his parents suggested they should start thinking of setting up home together. He never thought he would leave his parents but thinking he would be a responsible grown up mouse, looking after his partner very much appealed to him. They found a place together, not far from their parents and started building a nest and very soon had little ones of their own.

He could understand how his mother and father would worry about him because he was just the same with his little ones. He was as happy as a proud father could be until one of his little ones, who was just as adventurous as he was began asking questions about upstairs.

He had to tell him the sad story of what happened to his brother and how he thought the grass was greener on the other side. He told his son he could never be as happy as he was now with life and there was no need to venture far from home. It was too dangerous. When he thought of the possibility of never returning home his son couldn’t bear it. Thank goodness he listened to his father.

Human beings are not so wise, they prefer to listen to their own desires which they feel they must act on. Like the brother of Henry. Goodness knows what kind of trouble they get into. Perhaps they could learn a lesson or two from Henry’s son. Think about the consequences of what you are going to do and then you can make a better decision!!!!