This is to be read to your children on Christmas. Please enjoy. Actually, my cat wrote it.
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The Christmas MouseWell, Dearest! Many, many years ago, there lived a tiny, brown field mouse named Sariah, who lived alone with her children in the hills of the Holy Land. Her family had been there for hundreds of years and she too had been born there with her brothers and sisters. Her husband had been away for some time, so she carried on in the hillside dwelling what they called home.
Sariah had many neighbors to watch over her. There were the donkeys and the oxen and the goats and the roosters, but, oh dearest, how she trembled in fear at the approach of Gamaliel, the cat. All her neighbors said he was a kind and generous soul, but he was still a great and fearsome thing with his large green eyes and long swishing tail, for he was known as, the Great Gamaliel.
Late one evening, a sweet, gray donkey came into their dwelling with a young woman and a young man, seeking shelter from the cold night. They made what nests and beds of straw they could and early before morning came, something wonderful happened. Right there in their poor home, the young woman gave birth, and dearest, don't you know, it was a baby boy.
Such a strange a gentle quiet fell upon Sariah. She went to her doorway and peeking out, she saw all of the animals staring in awe at the baby. He was wrapped in bundles of cloth and sleeping in the manger still filled with hay for her neighbors: the donkey, the oxen and the goats.
Well, Dearest, she tried and she tried, but she could not see the baby and Sariah knew she just had to see this child.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a voice as soft as fallen snow that said, "Sariah, would you like to see the baby?" And, oh dearest! Sariah just about fainted for she knew that voice; it was Gamaliel, the cat.
"Y-Yes, sir!" Sariah said. "But how?"
And the Great Gamaliel said to her, "Climb up my tail and hold on tight around my neck and I'll take us both to see the child."
Poor Sariah! She was shaking so badly and she was so scared, she could barely walk. But, she gathered all her courage and she was the first mouse in all of history to climb a cat's tail and perch upon his shoulders.
The Great Gamaliel said, "Are you ready, Sariah?" And she answered, "Yes, sir! I'm ready."
And then, dearest, the Great Gamaliel tensed his body low to the ground and they both flew through the air to the top of the manger.
And, oh dearest, how quickly Sariah forgot her fear and her trembling stopped. Sariah and Gamaliel looked down upon the face of the newborn baby, sleeping as only a prince of peace would sleep.
And they beheld that tiny face in wonder and awe, and the great Gamaliel himself started purr, but oh, so softly.
They stood there for what seemed a long, long time until the silence was broken by men (they were shepherds, you know) coming in to see the baby.
The Great Gamaliel hopped down off the manger and took Sariah to her doorway.
He said, "You're a mouse, and I'm a cat, and that is the way things are, but I promise you and your children this one day of peace which we will celebrate together every year, starting this very day."
And Sariah said, "Thank you, Gamaliel! My children and I shall remember this day and your kindness. And, yes! Let us celebrate together, you and me and even your children's children and remember the time that we saw the face of the king of kings."
And do you know what, Dearest! In the Judean Hills of the Holy Land until this very day, the cats and mice of Bethlehem share Christmas together and talk about Sariah and the Great Gamaliel and the face of the baby, Jesus.
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This is my first story I've ever posted. Please review. Thank you.
I would also like to thank my granddaughter, MonkeyAlien, as you might know her, for typing this up for me when my finger was too badly injured to type it up myself, and for showing me how to upload stories and for introducing me to fictionpress.net and fanfiction.net.