The Harvest Mouse

Roger, was a very small and very charming harvest mouse. He lived in a little nest that was lined with the softest thistledown. It hung suspended within a field of corn. He had many friends that lived nearby too, and often you would find them frolicking or sharing picnics of sumptuous berries, insects and seeds. He was extremely content here.

One day, when the sun was rising in the morning sky, he heard a distant noise, and the ground beneath him began to tremble. He shivered in fear and proceeded to poke his little nose outside the door. There, approaching fast was a monstrous machine with teeth of gleaming steel. It puffed and squealed, lashing wildly and spewing grain as it ate the corn beneath it. Poor Roger! He was now so scared that he leapt down to the ground, and moving with such alarming speed, he charged through an opening at the edge of the field, and sat with a pounding heart behind a horse chestnut tree. This heaving giant gyrated relentlessly all day long. It ate the corn with such amazing speed, that soon the field was quite empty.

Then very slowly, peace and quiet started to descend once more. Roger crept out from his hiding place and darted swiftly for the safety of his nest. Sadly, he saw that the field was now empty. There were no tall golden stalks of corn swaying in the breeze - his home had gone!

However, Roger was quite a practical mouse and wasn’t that worried. He would just have to move and find another place to build his nest. So off he went. Soon he found a hedgerow that was laden with glorious rosehips and it seemed perfect.

That night, as the moon shone down, Roger fondly thought of all his friends. He knew that they were still close by, and tomorrow morning they would meet up once more, and frolic in the summer sun.