Little Jumping Mouse

There once was a mouse. He was a good little mouse. He kept his nose close to the ground like all good mice should. He spent his days collecting and storing grain for his people. One thing bothered him though, he kept hearing a roaring in his ears. Now and then he would ask his friends if they also heard this roar in their ears but they never did. They did not understand what little jumping mouse was talking about and the more he brought it up, the stranger they looked at him. Little jumping mouse decided never to speak of it again. He tried to ignore the sound but there came a day when it simply was no longer possible. He finished his mouse duties and decided to follow the sound in his ears.

We all have a calling that no one else can hear. It may be our life’s work, our true mission, how we are to give-away to the world, or simply who we truly are. We may try to fit in with the rest of society and follow the path they have chosen for us but if it does not sing in harmony with the calling in our ears the day will come when we can no longer ignore this dissonance.

He left his familiar surroundings and followed the sound. As he grew further and further away from his people, the roaring became louder and clearer. It became so loud that it filled his head with sound and he could hardly hear himself think.

Once we finally let ourselves follow our true self after denying it for so long, we may find that we can not push it to the background any longer. It is as if we are obsessed. We can think of nothing else.

Little jumping mouse followed the sound until he saw a parting in the trees and discovered the river for the first time. He had never seen water moving like this. The river ran as far as he could see from left to right. On it he saw all the things he was familiar with in life. There were logs with branches, rocks, leaves and bits of grass that floated by as he stared in awe. His eyes came to rest on a frog at the waters’ edge sitting on a rock.

The river is knowledge. We see things we are familiar with in a new way when we have knowledge.

The frog could see that little jumping mouse’s eyes were wide and he was overwhelmed at the sight of the river.

“If you think that’s something, bend down real low, then jump up as high as you can and look over there in that direction.”

Little jumping mouse was eager to see what was over there so he did as he was instructed. When he reached the full height of his jump, he looked in the direction the frog and pointed. He saw the most incredible sight. It was a tall purple mountain majestically rising in the distance. Little jumping mouse had never seen anything so big and glorious. He wondered what it would be like to be on that mountain, to see what was below from that height, to know the other beings that lived there. Then little jumping mouse fell unceremoniously into the river water with a splat! He quickly scampered to the dry land and shook himself off.

“You tricked me!” He cried.

“No,” said the frog, “it is just water and you have had a glimpse of greatness. ”

Sometimes we have to be tricked into learning. A trickster is often seen as a coyote but they can come to us in any form. They trick us into learning. We may think what has happened is bad, but with time and reflection, we realize we have been tricked into growing. It happens to us often in life that something good comes from something bad. We may never have made a move to a better job, relationship or living environment if things had not gone horribly wrong in the one we had become so stagnant in.

Little jumping mouse shook himself off and went back to his people, anxious to tell them about all the wonderful things he had seen. When his friends and family saw him, they were confused. He was all wet. It had not rained. The only time they had ever seen a mouse who was all wet if it had not rained was when an animal had tried to eat him and had then spat him back out because he tasted bad. They wondered if perhaps little jumping mouse was poison.

Little jumping mouse tried to explain about the river and the mountain but they had never seen such things and did not really understand. They remembered how he had spoke of the roar in his ears and they began to talk about how strange he was. They decided to shun him.

After some thought, little jumping mouse decided he would leave those who had treated him so badly and go out in search of the beautiful mountain. He left his village and traveled under the brush, guided by the roar in his ears and the vision in his heart.

When we have a dream or begin to recognize our true self, it is often doubted and misunderstood by others. We either decide to let the dream die, or we go pursue it. We leave our comfort zone behind as we venture out towards our sacred dream.

As little jumping mouse traveled on the prairie he found the brush getting sparse. When he ran out in the open he worried the eagles and hawks could see him. He was afraid they would swoop down and grab him for their meal. Mice can only see well what is close to their whiskers so he could not tell if the birds were coming closer. Every speck he saw in the sky, he imagined was probably an eagle, waiting to eat him. He ran as fast as he could from scrub brush to clumps of weeds and to small trees for a short rest to catch his breath.

As we go through our every day life we find ourselves rushing from one small bit of sustenance to another. We fear a catastrophe awaits us around every turn.

Finally, he came to a small creek with some bushes and trees. He rested here and met a female mouse. She was very kind to him and shared her food and home. He stayed with her for many nights, always watching the sun rise and set on the mountain in the near distance.

Sometimes we may find ourselves in a comfortable spot with our goal in close view. We may be satisfied to stay here for a long time or even for the rest of our lives.

After many days, little jumping mouse felt he could not simply look at the mountain any longer. He had to go to the top of it. He thanked his friend dearly, he would surely miss her, but he had to follow the path of his heart.

He set out again, rushing from brush to bush. After some time he came upon a very large animal laying down and breathing heavily. He had never seen a being like this before and he got the feeling it was ill. He ran behind the bush that was near by to study the animal for a bit. After a while, he came out and spoke.

“Brother, are you okay? I have never seen a being like you before.”

“I am a buffalo and I am very ill. In fact, I am going to die.”

Little jumping mouse felt very sorry for the buffalo.

“I wish there were something that I could do to help.” He offered, “You are such a magnificent being. I do not want you to die.”

“That is very kind of you,” said the buffalo “but I am going to die. The only thing that can save me is the eye of a mouse, but I do not know what a mouse is, so I certainly could never find one.”

Little jumping mouse hopped quickly behind the bush. He thought it was a good thing the buffalo did not know he was a mouse!

After a long time of watching the buffalo suffer, little jumping mouse began to think. He had two eyes and he could probably get along alright with just one. He felt sorry for the buffalo. He came back out from behind the bush and spoke to him.

“Brother buffalo, I am a mouse. I hate seeing you suffer like this and if there were some way I could give you my eye so that you may be healed, I would but I do not know how……”

Just then, his eye popped out and the buffalo rose to his feet, strong and healed.

“Little brother mouse, you did not have to give-away to me but you did! I know what you want! You want to go to the mountain. I will take you there. Run under me and be careful of my hooves. I will protect you from the hawks and eagles. They will not see you under me.

The buffalo is a spirit guide. When we give away our way of seeing, our way of perceiving things, we open up new ways of achieving our goals. It is not until we are willing to let go of the vision we have of how it must be that we see other options of how it could be.

Little jumping mouse ran safely under the sure-footed buffalo. Together they made it all the way to the base of the mountain where they stopped to rest.

“Little brother, I have taken you as far as I can. I am an animal of the plains and my hooves can not climb mountains. You will be safe here under the brush. I must return to my people. Thank you again for your sacrifice!” The buffalo turned and headed back towards the plains and little jumping mouse began his journey again on his own.

He ran under the bushes until there were greater distances between them and he had to pace himself, taking great care to run quickly from cover to cover to avoid being spotting by eagles. He was half-way up the mountain now. As he rushed to another safe place, he noticed something large on the other side. It was an animal that was laying down. It appeared injured and it was breathing slowly. After some time, little jumping mouse decided to investigate.

“Excuse me, I’ve been watching you from behind the bush. I have never seen a being like you. Are you alright?”

“I am a mountain lion and I am very ill. I am going to die. There is nothing that can be done to save me. The only thing in the world that could heal me is the eye of a mouse, but I do not know what a mouse is. It is a good day to die.”

Little jumping mouse quickly disappeared behind the bush. “Oh, my!” he thought, “She is such a beautiful being, but I only have one eye left! I can’t give away my only eye! I will be completely blind!” He started to shake. After much time had passed, he began to think “I am very far from my home. I will never go back there. I have come to the mountain, I have fulfilled my dream. What does it matter if I see any more? I have seen so much. I have come so far. This beautiful mountain lion deserves to live. How majestic she is!” He came out from behind the bush and spoke to the mountain lion.

“Beautiful mountain lion, I am a mouse. I have great respect for you and I wish to give you my eye so that you may be healed.”

As soon as he finished speaking the words he was blind. He heard the mountain lion rise to her feet and shake her fur.

“Brother mouse, you did not have to give-away to me! I will take you to the lake on top of the mountain. I will cover you with my body and the eagles will not see you on our journey to the top.”

Again we must let go of every vision we had of how our dream must be fulfilled before we can have the help of our spirit guides.

At the top of the mountain, little jumping mouse came to the lake. All the things of the world were reflected on its surface.

“I must leave you now, little jumping mouse, for I am a spirit and I have others to guide.”

Little jumping mouse sat by the lake. He could feel the sun warming his fur. The wind gently moved his whiskers. He could hear the fish splash and he was very happy indeed. However, he never forgot about the eagles who could now see him clearly in the open so he wasn’t surprised when he heard the caw and flapping of the wings. He felt the eagle hit………………………………..

Then little jumping mouse saw a bit of light. There was a blur and he rubbed his eyes, things became clearer. He looked into the lake and was surprised by what he saw. Sitting there on a rock was that same frog from the river! Little jumping mouse must have shown his surprise because the frog said, “If you think that was something, bend down real low and jump up really high…..”

“That’s what started this whole thing!”

“Trust me!”

So little jumping mouse bent down real low, then jumped up real high and he kept going up, and up, and up………He looked down back to the ground at the frog who said “Didn’t you know? You are Eagle now!”

It can be just when we think we are dying that we find our wings.