The Five Mouse Brothers (A Beautifully Illustrated Children Picture Book Adapted From a Classic Chinese Folktale; Perfect Bedtime Story) Read online

  The Five Mouse Brothers

  Written by Rachel Yu

  Published by Michael Yu

  Copyright © 2011 by Michael Yu

  www.rachelbookcorner.com

  Illustrated by Alden's studio

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book

  A long time ago, many years before....

  There were five mouse brothers who lived in Bok Tong Goh Village, China. Each was identical to the next, right down to their light gray fur, which was the same color as the stones from the river bed. The only way to tell them apart was by the color of their vests. Brother Hong wore red, Brother Cheng wore orange, Brother Wong wore yellow, Brother Look wore green, and Brother Lalm wore blue.

  One early morning the mouse brothers went out to the wheat field to pick grain to eat. The other villagers were there as well. The day went on, and soon the brothers had filled their sacks with grain. They carried their bags over their shoulders and went home.

  Shortly after they had reached their house, the mouse brothers were confronted by an angry mob of villagers.

  "Thief!" The villagers cried. "Robber! Bandit! Crook!"

  "What is this?" The brothers asked, "We have not done any wrong."

  The mayor stepped forward. His name was Chun. He said, "Brother Hong you have stolen grain from your neighbors, thus breaking the Law of Mice."

  "What grain, Mayor Chun? I have taken only my fair share," said Brother Hong.

  "Lies!" the villagers shouted.

  Mayor Chun cleared his throat. "This morning, as the villagers of Bok Tong Goh were out gathering their grain, several bags were stolen. They found footprints nearby that matched yours, and many of them say that Brother Hong had visited them just before the sacks went missing."

  "It is true; I did drop in on my fellow mice. But I took no bags, check for yourselves," Brother Hong said.

  "You have had plenty of time to hide the food," said Mayor Chun. "Who else do you suggest stole it? One of your brothers?"

  Not wanting for his brethren to be punished as well, Brother Hong was put in prison. The rest of the villagers, not including the other brothers, held a council meeting to decide Brother Hong's fate.

  "He must face consequences!" The council cried. "Mouse stealing from mouse will not be tolerated in this village."

  "Bring out...the Wheel of Doom!" Mayor Chun ordered.

  A wooden wheel was brought out by several mice. On four different sections of the wheel were four different punishments.

  Mayor Chun spun the Wheel of Doom. Around and around it went, until it slowed down. The villagers watched intently.

  "It is decided...death by mousetrap!" Mayor Chun announced. "Brother Hong will be sentenced tomorrow at sunrise."

  Now, there was something the villagers did not know. The five mouse brothers were no ordinary mice. Each one had a special power. Brother Hong had super hearing and sight—he could hear a single butterfly's wings beat two miles away.

  Brother Cheng had super strength. He could lift whole boulders and was ten times stronger than any mouse, or even a cat.

  Brother Wong could swim like a fish and even breathe underwater. Often times he would even be mistaken for a little gray fish.

  Brother Look was one of the chattiest mice, and he could speak in all kinds of languages. He knew the chirps of the bird, the hisses of the snake, even the howls of the dog.

  Lastly was Brother Lalm. He was quiet, unlike Brother Look, and he had a stomach of steel. He could eat the richest of foods and the rottenest. Never had Brother Lalm fallen ill.

  So, as Brother Hong sat in his prison, he could listen to the council meeting and what would be his fate. He hatched a plan. In the middle of the night, his brothers came to visit him. They brought Brother Hong dried fruit to eat, and asked him what they could do to help.

  "Mayor Chun and the villagers will send me to the mousetrap," said Brother Hong. "But it will not be me they shall send. Quick, Brother Cheng, lend me your vest." The two mice switched. This was easy to do since the prison was poorly built, and the brothers were quite crafty.

  Now Brother Hong was wearing orange, and Brother Cheng was wearing red. When the villagers came to the prison, they thought they "found" Brother Hong still there. In truth it was Brother Cheng.

  Taking him, Mayor Chun brought Brother Cheng away from the wheat field to a large, wooden building, which was so big that the mice could walk underneath it quite easily. There they found the mousetrap, with such a tempting piece of cheese on it that a few of the villagers had to be held back.

  "Brother Hong," Mayor Chun said to Brother Cheng. "For stealing food from the villagers, you must face the mousetrap."

  Brother Cheng stepped up to it, and took the cheese off the trigger. What a surprise it was to the villagers when the trap sprung down on him...and he caught it!

  Holding the metal trap up over his head with one hand, Brother Cheng munched on the cheese in his other.

  "Yum! This is good cheese, Mayor Chun, I must thank you," said Brother Cheng.

  Mayor Chun just stood there, jaw dropped to the ground.

  Mayor Chun held another council meeting later that day.

  "Because the mousetrap failed, we must spin the wheel again," said Mayor Chun. "Bring out...the Wheel of Doom!"

  He stood up and spun the wheel. The crowd leaned in to watch.

  "It is decided," he said. "Tomorrow, Brother Hong shall face death by drowning!”

  Of course, Brother Hong heard and saw all of this. So that night, he and the rest of his brothers went to visit Brother Cheng.

  "Quietly, now," Brother Hong said. "Brother Cheng, switch vests with Brother Wong.”

  Morning came, and the mayor once more took who he thought was Brother Hong out of the prison. The villagers brought him to the pond.

  "Brother Hong, because you have stolen food from your neighbors, you must jump into this pond. When it is over, we will hand your body back to your brothers," said Mayor Chun.

  So Brother Wong jumped into the water. He disappeared beneath the surface.

  Time passed, and after ten minutes the villagers thought that Brother Hong must surely be dead. They had long poles with nets at the end. Using them, they fished out the mouse from the pond. But when they lifted their nets out of the water, they found that he was very much alive.

  "Hello!" Brother Wong said cheerfully. "Is it over already? The water's quite nice."

  Surprised, the villagers dropped him back into the water. This time they waited an hour before they pulled him out.

  Again, Brother Wong greeted them. "Nice day for a swim isn't it?" he said.

  So the villagers put him back in. This time they waited hours and hours, until it was late in the afternoon.

  When they caught him again, Brother Wong smiled through the net and said, “My! What a wonderful dip this has been. Are you planning on putting me back in, or shall I fetch a towel?”

  The mayor was astounded, as was everyone else. Because they could not think of anything else to do, they brought Brother Wong back to prison.

  Once more the mayor called a council meeting, and said, “Bring out…the Wheel of Doom!” It was spun, and landed on “Cat.”

  Brother Hong heard and saw all of this, and that night Brother Wong was switched with Brother Look.

  The next morning, Brother Look was brought to a huge, rickety barn. The villagers dumped him there, and then scurried away to hide a safe distance off. Soon after, a large, orange tabby cat lumbered towards Brother Look. It meowed loudly.

  To the villagers’ amazement, the cat did not eat Brother Look. Instead it bent its large, whiskered head down and let the mouse scratch behind its ears. The cat purred. The villagers were too far off to hear Brother Look, who was talking away in the cat’s language. He was meowing a whole conversation to it. The two chatted for some time about the weather and dogs and such, before the cat trudged further into the barn.

  Mayor Chun was forced to bring “Brother Hong” back to prison one more time.

  There was only one punishment left: poison. So that night, Brother Look was switched with Brother Lalm.

  Morning came, and the villagers took Brother Lalm. This time they set him in front of a large, gray bag that had crossbones and a skull on it.

  “Brother Hong,” Mayor Chun said, “Because you have stolen food from your neighbors, you must eat this poison.”

  Thus, Brother Lalm ate the poison. And he ate. And ate. And ate. Eventually his tummy grew round, and he said, “My, this is awfully good grub, but you wouldn’t happen to have any hoisin sauce, would you? It would be awfully nice if you could bring me some.”

  The villagers were in shock.

  “What is going on?” they cried. “He has been placed in the trap, tossed in the pond, confronted the cat, eaten the poison, and is still alive! What are we to do?”

  They looked at the mayor.
br />   Mayor Chun, confused, stroked his mustache. “Perhaps this is the work of something we cannot perceive. Perhaps it means that we are wrong, and Brother Hong is not the thief.”

  “Perhaps,” the villagers said reluctantly.

  “If this is so—and since nothing we seem to do works—I declare that you, Brother Hong, innocent and free to go,” Mayor Chun said.

  Flashback to the present….

  “Brother Lalm was allowed to leave, and he went and told the rest of the mouse brothers, who already knew, thanks to Brother Hong. And so the five mouse brothers were allowed to live in peace,” finishes an elderly mouse, gray from the passage of years. He is telling the story to a circle of young mice, five of them, all girls, exactly identical in appearance except for the smocks that they wear and the bows in their hair.

  “Grandpa Hong,” asks one of the little girl mice. “What about the food? What happened to the food?”

  “That is a good question, granddaughter,” says Grandpa Hong. “I do not know. What happened to the sacks of food is still a mystery. The answer I may never know. But if you were to ever find out, I am sure that it would be a whole other story.”

  Coming Soon: The Magical Dragon’s Three Gifts

  Add one kind deed, a sprinkle of magical dragon, three dashes of surprising gifts, a smidgen of wicked innkeeper; mix well and you'll get a mouth watering, adventurous bowl of Bear Cub's story time recipe.

  Scoop up a spoonful of this delicious book and enjoy.

  Follow Bear Cub's tale as he shows just how far a good heart goes.

 

 

  Rachel Yu, The Five Mouse Brothers (A Beautifully Illustrated Children Picture Book Adapted From a Classic Chinese Folktale; Perfect Bedtime Story)

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