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A Busy Night in Bethlehem |
| These stories have been developed over the years for Christmas parties. The stories are meant to be told to children of all ages, and they work most effectively when young children are asked to play the parts in a spontaneous manner by acting out what the storyteller describes. For marysmountain.com, these stories will be illustrated by children who have heard the stories and have drawn pictures inspired by them. If you or someone you love would like to send in a picture for one or more of the stories at marysmountain.com, please send to Ed Noonan at the address below. You just might find your drawing or painting illustrating one of our Busy Night in Bethlehem stories. |
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The Christmas Mice
A family of mice lived in the wall of an inn in Bethlehem. There were 8
little mice and a mother. The eight mice loved to play and fight and tease each
other. They often made a great deal of noise. Their mother warned them that
making too much noise would get them in trouble. Once when their mother was out
finding food, they were giggling and rolling around with each other. They
attracted the attention of the inn’s cat. The cat found the hole in the wall
near where they were staying and was able to get his paw into the wall almost
close enough to grab the littest of the mice. The oldest sister led the mice in
biting at the cat’s paw until he let go of their littlest brother. Then they
got so frightened they ran out the hole on the far side of their nest and found
themselves in the kitchen. They huddled together shaking and not knowing what to
do.
They soon realized that they were hungry and that there was good food all
around them. They began to scurry around the kitchen floor trying to get to the
food on the table above them. They actually found some bread that had fallen to
the floor, but as soon at they started eating it, the cat leapt into the room.
The mice panicked and began to run in different directions. This confused the
cat, who knocked over a pitcher of milk trying to chase them. The cook heard the
crash and began to chase both the cat and the mice with a broom. The mice found
a small crack in the door and ran outside.
Now they were hungry, scared and lonely. They had never been outside on
their own and they didn’t know what to do. The littlest of the mice thought he
saw his mother at a distant and took off after her. The others chased after him
telling to stop. They ran around to the front of the inn and came upon a big
animal with a long nose they had never seen. (It was an elephant, of course, and
how he got there is another story.) They frightened the big animal as much as he
frightened them. They continued to run after the littlest of the mice, who now
had gone around to the back.
They saw him go into the stable where their mother sometime took them to
play. When they went inside, they saw many people and animals all together
looking with amazement at the same thing. The little mouse brother scurried in
the direction they were looking and the others followed. They climbed up a box
that was filled with hay and dug through the hay to see what everyone was
watching. Almost together they all stuck their heads up through the hay and saw
that there was a baby wrapped in cloth and being watched by its mother.
The mother said, “Look who’s arrived now to see my son.” She smiled
at the mice, who were no longer afraid. She motioned for them to be quiet, so
that they wouldn’t disturb her sleeping child. The watched her and her baby
just like all the others in the stable. As they watched they started to feel
their loneliness for their own mother. They heard a rustling in the hay and up
she popped. “Mommy,” they all exclaimed. They expected her to be mad, but
she seemed very happy once she counted them all and realized they were safe. The
littlest of the mice said it was all his fault, and they squeeked that he was
right. Their mother looked at them and said there was probably more to the story
than that.
Then she looked up at the mother of the baby and they both exchanged
smiles. The mother mouse then lined up her babies reminding them to be very
quiet. She led them down through the hay and back to nest in the wall. They soon
went too sleep just like the baby in the stable.
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| To support the creative work at Mary's Mountain and to receive updates and new chapters via email or snail mail, please send a check for $5.00 made out to Mary's Mountain, with your name, address, phone, and email address to the address below. Readers' comments and children's artwork is also heartily welcomed.
Ed Noonan Mary's Mountain PO Box 1067 Helena, MT 59624 (406) 443-0926 fax: (406) 443-0600
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