Week 6 - Storytelling: Three Blind Congo Mice

Once upon a time, there were three blind mice; Trance (the dreamer), Pilot (the guide), and Necromancer (raiser of the dead).  These mice depended on their friend, Pal, to retrieve food for them.  One day, Pal was out in the forest gathering food for Trance, Pilot, and Necromancer when he was startled by a hawk.  The hawk winged down and pierced Pal's chest with it's beak and killed him.  As the hawk was flying off with its' prize, he dropped Pal into the long dry grass and could not find him again.  And so, there lay Pal and his lifeless body.

Back at the home of the three blind mice, Trance sat straight up from bed and cried out to his brothers, "Pilot, Necromancer!  Come at once.  Pal is dead!"

Pilot and Necromancer ran to Trance's side and said, "Trance, are you sure?"

"Yes, of course I'm sure! I saw his body lying in the field!", said Trance.

"Well, then," replied Pilot, "we must go and find his body at once! Come brothers, you know I know the way."

So Trance, Pilot, and Necromancer set off to find their friend's body.  They found him, lying exactly where Pilot said he would be.

Pilot turned to Necromancer and said, "Alright Necry....do your stuff!!  You MUST bring back Pal!! We are lost without him!  We will starve!!"

Necromancer replied, "well thanks a lot, Pilot, Trance, nothing like a little pressure to motivate the raiser of the dead, huh?"  Necromancer sighed and began to speak the words to raise their lost friend. "Cheese-Bread-Berries-Wheat-Barley-Corn-and-Oats-All Kinds of Pies.....Bring back our friend, Pal, or the three blind brothers will die!!!"

Pal spasmed a bit, his whiskers twitched to and fro, and suddenly his eyes shot open!!!  He sat up and looked around to find who had brought him back to life, as if he didn't know!  He turned to the brothers and said, "Oh thank heavens for you, Trance.  If you had not seen me die in your dream, you would not have known I was gone.  And you, Pilot, if you did not have your guiding spirit, you might not have known where to find me.  Finally, Necromancer, if you did not have the gift to raise mice from the dead, I would have lost my life permanently!  I thank you all, for if one of you had been missing from this tail, it would have had a very different ending!"

(P.S. - I did mean to misspell tale.... thought it was kind of punny)

Three Blind Mice - Deviant Art

Author's Note:
I used the story How the Wives Restored Their Husband to Life from the Congo reading unit.  In this story, it was three women who had special gifts; The Dreamer, The Guide, and The Raiser of the Dead.  The women in this story had voracious appetites and were never satiated.  The husband went out to find more food and was killed by an ox.  The Dreamer dreamed of his death and told the other two wives.  The Guide guided the wives out to where to find his body.  Finally, you guessed it, The Raiser of the Dead revived the husband.  The three women argued over whose bed/hut the husband would visit first and decided the way to settle the argument would be to serve him food and whichever pot of food he ate from first, it would be that wife who he visited first.  He told the wives, while you dreamed I was dead and you guided the others to my body, it was The Raiser of the Dead who gave me back my life.  I will eat from her pot.  I decided to change it up a bit because I felt, as I showed in Pal's final words of the story, that it was not the act of one person (or mouse), but the effort of the group that brought about a happy resolution to the plot!

Bibliography:
Image Source: 3 Blind Mice
Story Unit: Congo.  Web Source: Congo Unit
Story: How the Wives Restored Their Husband to Life.  Web Source: Congo Wives