Author Topic: Mice in folklore (Read 6969 times)

Sefiru · « **on:** July 09, 2015, 07:03:35 pm »

Some of you may have noticed that my avatar is a mouse.
<==
This is because I've had several memorable encounters with mice in my life, either positive (the one that came out on my dorm-room floor to eat sandwich crumbs) or negative (the dead one that turned up in the light fixture above my desk at work). Not to mention my general approach to life is kind of mouse-like. If I were doing work with spirit animals, mice would be it, I suspect.

So I got to thinkig about mouse lore. They feature in several children's stories: The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, Doctor Dolittle, The Great Mouse Detective, Stuart Little. And there are nursery rhymes about them: Three blind mice, Hickory Dickory Dock.

I'm sure there's more out there. Does anyone else have a favorite bit of mouse lore (or a mouse encounter story)?

veggiewolf · « **Reply #1 on:** July 10, 2015, 08:41:47 am »

Quote from: Sefiru;176936

Some of you may have noticed that my avatar is a mouse.
<==
This is because I've had several memorable encounters with mice in my life, either positive (the one that came out on my dorm-room floor to eat sandwich crumbs) or negative (the dead one that turned up in the light fixture above my desk at work). Not to mention my general approach to life is kind of mouse-like. If I were doing work with spirit animals, mice would be it, I suspect.

So I got to thinkig about mouse lore. They feature in several children's stories: The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, Doctor Dolittle, The Great Mouse Detective, Stuart Little. And there are nursery rhymes about them: Three blind mice, Hickory Dickory Dock.

I'm sure there's more out there. Does anyone else have a favorite bit of mouse lore (or a mouse encounter story)?

I thought of two: Aesop's "Town Mouse and Country Mouse" and Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

Sophia C · « **Reply #2 on:** July 10, 2015, 11:18:57 am »

Quote from: Sefiru;176936

Some of you may have noticed that my avatar is a mouse.
<==
This is because I've had several memorable encounters with mice in my life, either positive (the one that came out on my dorm-room floor to eat sandwich crumbs) or negative (the dead one that turned up in the light fixture above my desk at work). Not to mention my general approach to life is kind of mouse-like. If I were doing work with spirit animals, mice would be it, I suspect.

So I got to thinkig about mouse lore. They feature in several children's stories: The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, Doctor Dolittle, The Great Mouse Detective, Stuart Little. And there are nursery rhymes about them: Three blind mice, Hickory Dickory Dock.

I'm sure there's more out there. Does anyone else have a favorite bit of mouse lore (or a mouse encounter story)?

Reepicheep from the Narnia book 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' is one of my favourite mice in modern myth. I like rodents a lot - I've always had hamsters, until the last few years (when the cats have meant it would be a bit cruel to keep them).

Sefiru · « **Reply #3 on:** July 10, 2015, 06:57:31 pm »

Quote from: veggiewolf;176951

Aesop's "Town Mouse and Country Mouse"

I can't believe I forgot about that one!

Faemon · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2015, 03:20:22 am »

Quote from: Sefiru;176936

I got to thinkig about mouse lore. They feature in several children's stories: The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, Doctor Dolittle, The Great Mouse Detective, Stuart Little. And there are nursery rhymes about them: Three blind mice, Hickory Dickory Dock.

I'm sure there's more out there. Does anyone else have a favorite bit of mouse lore (or a mouse encounter story)?

The Little Princess had a pet mouse that Sara Crewe named Melchezidek, which she preferred to cockroaches (because you can't tame or befriend a cockroach) and kept her company in the attic during her riches-to-rags story. Watership Down had a field mouse help the rabbits because rabbits ate the grass, which allowed field mice to more easily move through fields.

Of course, there's also a dark subversion of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" fairy story by Terry Pratchett mayherestinpeace: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents.

Walt Disney might have really liked mice for some reason. Look at Mickey Mouse, Cinderella's animal friends...

But my personal experience with mice has been a fear of contacting leptospirosis. They're cute otherwise.

Sefiru · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2015, 05:26:24 pm »

Quote from: Faemon;176969

The Little Princess had a pet mouse that Sara Crewe named Melchezidek,

I remembered this once you mentioned it ... oddly, I seem to recall an episode in a Dr Dolittle book about a prisoner who also called a rat in his cell Melchizedek. I wonder if it's a reference to something, or if I'm misremembering?

Quote

But my personal experience with mice has been a fear of contacting leptospirosis. They're cute otherwise.

From what I know of biology, real-life mice are nasty little bastards, much worse behaved than rats. I'll stick with the fictional version.

SunflowerP · « **Reply #6 on:** July 11, 2015, 06:10:34 pm »

Quote from: Sefiru;176977

I remembered this once you mentioned it ... oddly, I seem to recall an episode in a Dr Dolittle book about a prisoner who also called a rat in his cell Melchizedek. I wonder if it's a reference to something, or if I'm misremembering?

I think you're misremembering, but it's been sufficiently long since I've read that Dr Doolittle book that I dunno how reliable I am. Long, Biblical, and started with M, but not Melchizedek.

Sunflower

Sefiru · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2015, 06:33:11 pm »

Quote from: SunflowerP;176978

I think you're misremembering, but it's been sufficiently long since I've read that Dr Doolittle book that I dunno how reliable I am. Long, Biblical, and started with M, but not Melchizedek.

Sunflower

Could be, I don't even remember which Dolittle book it was. Google was unhelpful.

SunflowerP · « **Reply #8 on:** July 15, 2015, 01:14:15 am »

Quote from: Sefiru;177114

Could be, I don't even remember which Dolittle book it was. Google was unhelpful.

Neither do I. And while I did find a Dr Dolittle fan site, which was nice, it didn't go into anywhere near that level of detail.

Sunflower

Darkhawk · « **Reply #9 on:** July 15, 2015, 12:28:27 pm »

Quote from: Sefiru;176936

I'm sure there's more out there. Does anyone else have a favorite bit of mouse lore (or a mouse encounter story)?

All I've got is that Ganesha's steed is a mouse, IIRC.

Sefiru · « **Reply #10 on:** July 15, 2015, 06:48:04 pm »

Quote from: Darkhawk;177308

All I've got is that Ganesha's steed is a mouse, IIRC.

I kinda-sorta remember that too. It's a vivid mental image, for sure.

Mice don't seem to come up very much in world mythology, at least not the stuff that I've read.

goeden · « **Reply #11 on:** July 19, 2015, 04:27:16 pm »

Quote from: Sefiru;176936

I'm sure there's more out there. Does anyone else have a favorite bit of mouse lore (or a mouse encounter story)?

Most of my dads side of the family is Comanche or Lakota. My grandma used to tell me the story of Jumping Mouse. You can read it here: http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore116.html It's a good story.

Evaine · « **Reply #12 on:** August 13, 2015, 02:25:08 pm »

Quote from: goeden;177599

Most of my dads side of the family is Comanche or Lakota. My grandma used to tell me the story of Jumping Mouse. You can read it here: http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore116.html It's a good story.

There's a wonderful story in the Mabinogion, too. The Welsh Kingdom is under an enchantment - all the people are gone, and Prince Pryderi is farming. Just as the crop is ready, a host of mice come to eat the grain in the field. He catches one, and builds a little scaffold to hang it - three dignitaries come by to try to talk him out of it, until the Prince of the Otherworld who caused the original enchantment arrives - the captured mouse is actually his wife.

Scales · « **Reply #13 on:** November 30, 2015, 10:17:52 pm »

Quote from: Sefiru;177337

Mice don't seem to come up very much in world mythology, at least not the stuff that I've read.

I know I'm super late, but I really like this thread. I'm having trouble coming up with anything that isn't actually about cats (eg Dick Whittington). As far as other rodents, there's Beatrix Potter (modern, but pretty much fairy tales) with some mice, but lots of buns and (maybe closer) squirrels, and there's the rat of the zodiac. I've heard of a lot of mouse symbolic values, but not as many sources for them.

Super modern but wonderful (and also I just read the pop culture thread) is NIMH. Jonathon, Mrs Frisby, and Mr Ages are all pretty great mice (and again, there's rats too).

Things I found googling:
Various First Nations mouse folklore (no idea on site reputability or the openness of this folklore)
One story on an Indonesian Folklore blog
A modernish mouse fairy tale
This article (scroll to rats and mice) might be a start point for googling more

Wikipedia has great lists, but this is a good category. This one is probably the most immediately useful I'll get you.

And I personally had (before moving here, but I will someday set it up again) a mouse shrine, as a place of respect to my feeders.

DemeterDelusion · « **Reply #14 on:** November 30, 2015, 11:38:11 pm »

Quote from: veggiewolf;176951

I thought of two: Aesop's "Town Mouse and Country Mouse" and Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

Aesop also has "The Lion and the Mouse," iirc.

Since pop culture is welcome here, TV Tropes has a whole index of helpful mice in modern media. There's also a mention of the association of mice with Apollo, though I'm not personally familiar with the surrounding mythos.

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Author Topic: Mice in folklore (Read 6969 times)

Sefiru

Mice in folklore

veggiewolf

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Sefiru

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Sefiru

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SunflowerP

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Sefiru

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Darkhawk

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Sefiru

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