Let's quickly familiarize ourselves with our fairy tales!
How a mouse got married
Once upon a time, there was a mouse. It occurred to him to get married. He was very proud, so all mouse girls seemed unworthy to him. He was looking for the daughter of someone stronger than him.
So he went to the Moon, about whom it was said that there was no one stronger than him in the world.
– “Moon!”, – he said to him. “I am looking for the daughter of the strongest man in the world. They say in our land that there is no one stronger than you, and I would like to be related to you.”
– “Yes”, – the Moon answered to him. “I am strong beyond words, and there is no place or nook on earth where my light does not penetrate when I walk across the sky at night. But when the Sun rises in the morning, my light gradually dims and finally disappears. Only in the evening, when the Sun goes down and its light ceases to shine on the earth, does my power return to me and I illuminate the vast earth again. No, mouse, the Sun will be stronger than me: go to him!”
So the mouse went to the Sun.
– “Sun”, – she said to him. “I am looking for the daughter of the strongest man in the world to marry. And there is a rumor that you are the strongest in the world. Will you give your daughter for me?”
– “It is true that I am strong and powerful”, – replied the Sun. “And when I rise in the morning, the darkness of the night dissipates without a trace. The stars and the Moon himself do not dare to shine in my presence, their light on earth fades before my light, and they cannot be seen at that time from the earth. But there is someone stronger than me. It is the cloud that obscures my light, that shuts out the earth from me. So go to the cloud.”
So, the mouse went to the cloud and made his proposal. The cloud thought about it and said:
– “It was truly said by the Sun: his light is strong, and the stars and the Moon pale before him, but it cannot shine on the earth when I cover the sky with a great carpet, and it cannot be seen then. But neither can I resist the wind. When it blows, it tears me to shreds and scatters me across the sky… No, the wind is stronger than me!”
So the mouse went to the wind. But even the wind did not recognize himself as the strongest.
– “It is true”, – he said. “I'm strong and I can destroy a cloud with a single blow. But there's someone stronger than me. There are bulls in the field: even if there are only a couple of them, I can't do anything to them. Calmly, peacefully they walk down the lane as if they don't feel me. They'll be stronger than me.”
The mouse turned to the bulls. The bulls told her:
– “We are strong, but sometimes the plow can overpower us when it gets caught on something in the ground. And even when the master harnesses four more pairs to us, even then we can't do anything. The plow is stronger than us.”
The mouse went to the plow. The plow said to her:
– “It is true that I am strong, and I cut the damp earth without any difficulty. But there is one root that often stops me, and I cannot cut it. Go therefore, mouse, to him, he is much stronger than I.”
The mouse had to turn to the root.
– “Yes, I am strong”, – replied the root. “And the plow cannot cut me another time. But a mouse, even the smallest one, can chew me up very easily. So the mice are stronger than me.”
