I read this story from Panchatantra. Found it really interesting and immediately decided to write about it. It may not be narrated in the same way as the original one, but I will try to present it in the best way I can. Even some extra bits might be added to the story.;-)
There once lived a Mouse king and its Kingdom. He had a son who was destined to become the King later. This little mouse had another little female mouse as a friend. They were very fond of each other. They always played together. One such beautiful day they were playing in the jungle. A hawk which was flying high in the sky happened to notice them. It then suddenly dived sharply towards them. Noticing this, the two mice started running to save their lives. But they were no match to the hawk’s speed. The hawk with its searing speed caught hold of the female mouse.
It started to rise up again in the sky. The female mouse struggled to loosen itself from the vice-like grip of the hawk. But it was impossible. While crossing over the Ganga, the hawk tried to change the mouse from its one claw to the other. But it lost its grip and dropped the mouse while flying.
The mouse which started to free fall from the sky, fell into the cupped hands of great sage Yajnavalkya who was performing his ablutions in the Ganga river. By the combined power of the great sage and the holy water in his hand the mouse was transformed into a baby girl. The sage took the child to his home and asked his wife to raise her as their daughter.
The child grew up to be a beautiful girl. When she reached adolescence Yajnavalkya decided to marry her off. He planned to arrange the most excellent marriage for her.
He first summoned the sun-god Surya, who appeared at his ashram. But the girl thought he was too blazing hot (Not in contemporary sense..:P). Yajnavalkya asked the sun if there was anyone greater than him. Surya recommended the cloud, because the cloud could cover his rays.
When the cloud came, the girl deemed him too black and cold. The cloud was asked if there was anyone greater than him. He suggested the mountain, who alone could stop his progress.
When the mountain came before the sage, the girl said he was too rough and stony. And the mountain, when asked, recommended the king of Mice as his superior, because he and the other mice made holes in him.
When the king of Mice was called, the girl fell head over heels in love with him. She immediately agreed, thrilled with ecstasy. But they had a problem; he was a mouse while she was a human. So she asked her dad to transform her into a mouse. She was transformed, they were married and they lived happily ever after.
Now that was an amazing story. But stories from Panchatantra always gave us a moral. When I started to think about the moral, I came across not one but many.
1) No matter how well you bring up a pig, it will go back to eat the Potty.
2) Love is blind, irrespective of the species.
3) Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. But many a times they need an Eye check-up.
4) Girls are dumb at times. She could have easily asked the mouse to be transformed into a Human.
5) Child marriage was predominant in India, right from the time we could ever imagine.
6) Destiny is such a Bitch. It will pull you down when it wants no matter how high you are.
7) And last but not the least, “What goes around comes back around”…
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